Fallout

The name is, ironically, quite appropriate; there has been a steady flow of negativity towards Bethesda ever since they began work on resurrecting this classic franchise.

I recently wrote (on May 5th, but didn't publish) my own thoughts on the development of the series:

When the Fallout 3 forums recently opened I generated a new password and made my first posts at the Bethesda Forums (I had created an account the week before Shivering Isles was released, but never used it and forgot my password). What resulted was a learning experience for me. The immediate result I took out of it was a reminder of the depths of devotion - and strictness - that some hardcore gamers hold for their beloved developers. I also was reminded of the many areas in which The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion could be improved.

What was not evident to me was that I had reversed roles. When old and new collide I generally find myself on the side of tradition, because most of the time I was at times stridently [anti-Koji Igarashi, the current head of the Castlevania series].

Boy, how times change.

Since then, I've mellowed out a bit. Casual gamers need some love too, and I don't begrudge the Pokemon gang their new Castlevania games quite like I used to.

Also, there was a slight incident on the FO3 forums on the 8th. I made a post for giving away (ahem, community building exercise) free RAD/Away. RAD/Away, in real life, is a product for filtering liquids. You can't use it on your own blood, at least not easily. I then changed it to Neumune. Poof, topic deleted. Turns out a mod thought I was glorifying drug culture. To be honest, I thought it was amusing more than anything else.

Tonight I went with plan 2: Free Iguana-on-a-Stick! Strangely enough, I was counting on the first post to be exactly what was actually written, although as you can see I made only slight comedic use of the opportunity. Fans who know every last line...you've gotta love 'em.

Oh, right...a question, then: The "real" Rad-Away, Neumune, is not addictive in the least (you may feel the panicky urge to use it when rads are flowing throughout your system, but we cannot attribute this to any psychotropic effect of the actual drug!). Why is the product addictive in Fallout, then? I blame the military/industrial complex, an idea that the Fallout games make explicit use of. Simple enough. Hmm, addicted soldiers...somehow, I'm not convinced that this is a scheme the Pentagon would've been that complicit with, but who knows in the world of Fallout.

Auctions, lightbulbs, and dim bulbs

First post here, but I see no reason to make it too epic.

First order of business: I just listed one of my first gaming treasures, a copy of Akumajo Dracula for X68000, on eBay: link. Lucky me, I've got a spare.

Next up; I've finally replaced a lot of the sixty-watt (and some 100-watt) light bulbs around the house with 23 and 30 watt Sylvania compact flourescent lights. The 23W lights are advertised as being the equivalent of a 60W bulb, but I found that the 30W ('100W replacement') bulbs are closer to a 60W clear bulb (although the light emitted is clearly nicer, being bluer and less yellowish - the shorter wavelength makes reading easier). The new bulbs do get very hot to the touch but take longer to do so. They don't get as hot as the old bulbs, of course, which pour out oppressive amounts of heat as soon as they are switched on. They seem to stay warm longer as well.

Unfortunately, you'll also find that they don't fit in places the old 60W standby did. Sylvania's 23W is no bigger around than the old 60W bulb, but the corkscrew design doesn't taper around like the bulbs did. As a result, I can't put that particular variety in my ceiling lamp, which has a glass plate over it. I might be able to find a stick variety; I hope I will. The 30W (100W equivalent) is bigger in diameter (between one and two centimeters more in diameter, I think) and thus is even less versatile.

Watt for watt the new lights definitely beat out the old ones, but I'm somewhat disappointed that I wasn't able to get cold cathode CFLs - lights hanging under constant heavy foot traffic (say, in a basement) are going to get knocked out quite often, and CFLs are reportedly more resistant to this than an incadescent, but not as much as a cold cathode light. Of course, I would really like LED lights, because mercury freaks me out.

Last bit: It seems that Blizzard has put up job postings for development of some sort of Starcraft MMO, maybe a Starcraft game. I would think that they are going to try either something with a strategic element or perhaps real-time action gameplay. I'd say strategic gameplay would be a great idea, and while it seems counterintuitive for a MMO, I think it could be done with squads. Another idea being floated (less likely, I'd say) is that it'll play something like Huxley, i.e. Starcraft: Ghost.

I refuse to believe that the people at Blizzard really think that they need another standard WoW-style MMO. That would end up cannibalizing users from WoW who want a change of scenery, and would give up the chance to stake out new territory in the MMO genre. We'll have to wait and see.

Tune in next time for Fallout 3: My adventure on Bethesda's boards, and my current thinking about this series.