Bethesda's PR man Pete Hines won't talk specifics when it comes to classification and its titles, but give him a more general angle, and he's all over it:

"The frustrating thing for us is that the standards and rules can be so varied across territories, that we work with five or six ratings agencies and each one has different 'hot buttons'." ... "In one place nudity is a big deal but violence is fine, and in another place drugs are a problem but nudity is fine.

On a related note, I recently asked the Classification Board a bunch of questions, if you'd like to take a look.

Bethesda: Multiple censorship laws 'frustrating' [CVG, via PALGN] [Pic]

A few years back, Bethesda released a sprawling, open-world RPG on the 360. Then, when it came time to release some DLC for it, they dropped the ball. Released some horse armour, whole thing didn't go down too well. So it's just lovely to see that, when it comes to Fallout 3's DLC, Bethesda will be releasing content that's more in line with their later Oblivion stuff - like Knights of the Nine - than the earlier stuff. Pete Hines:

We want stuff that's going to be several hours. Not just like a one-off thing, but something like where you can download it and play it for X number of hours.

It'll be similar to what we did with Knights of the Nine in Oblivion, where it's like whole new quest lines, new stuff, that kind of thing.

Good to hear, good to hear (unless you're a PS3 owner, that is).

Fallout 3 Interview: Bethesda Addresses DLC, World Design, and 'Oblivion with Guns' Comments [Shacknews, via Eurogamer]

Remember that amazing Fallout 3 Airstream that I just won't shut up about? The one that was parked dead-centre in the middle of Bethesda's Fallout 3 booth?

We already knew that Bethesda was going to be at Penny Arcade Expo this week, but we weren't sure what exactly they were going to be up to.

Turns out that PAX will be the first chance the public will have to play Fallout 3. Now keep in mind that there is expected to be more than 50,000 at the show, so if you want some hands on time with what many consider to be the game of the year you better get there early and be prepared to wait.

Bethesda says they will have six kiosks setup in their booth for people to play on and a number of developers will be on hand to talk to folks. The booth will also include what we're told is a pretty sweet Fallout 3-themed Airstreme and the folks will be handing out Vault Dweller Survival Guides.

On Saturday Bethesda will be showing off a conducting a rather lengthy Fallout 3 demo in the Main Theatre at 2:30 p.m. Finally, on Saturday night Bethesda is sponsoring a Post-Apocalyptic Movie Night at 9 p.m. in the Raven Theatre. The movies shown there will be the ones voted on by the Penny Arcade fans. Currently it's looking like 12 Monkeys and The Road Warrior are in the lead.

Fallout 3 is coming to the PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 on October 28 in North America and three days later in Europe, Bethesda announced today.

"We are very excited to let gamers get their hands on Fallout 3, the latest chapter in this beloved and highly acclaimed franchise," said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. "To meet the huge demand for this title by our fans worldwide, we are planning one of the biggest launches of any game released this year."

Colour me freaking excited.

Although I probably should leave anything in Japanese to Bash, pictures speak any language, and there are nearly 150 of them of Fallout 3 that have hit the Internet following the Zenimax Asia expo (Zenimax owns Fallout developer Bethesda.) Tipster Brother None, the forum admin over at No Mutants Allowed, writes: "Apparently the people viewing Fallout 3 in the ZeniMax Asia showing in Taiwan did not take their NDAs very seriously". Apparently so. We have a gallery of 28 screenies on the jump, with a link to the entire set.

Here it is - the Classification Board's report on the edited version of Bethesda's Fallout 3. The refused classification from last month has been exchanged for an MA15+ and the advisories of "strong violence, drug references and coarse language". So, what can Australia expect (or not expect) from our super-special build? Sadly, the report is vague on details, but it looks like the art and names of a few drugs may have changed, and the action, not the effect, of taking drugs removed:

The drugs depicted are fictional; drugs are depicted as stylised icons on a menu with the drug use itself not depicted. Whilst navigating a post-apocalyptic futuristic landscape, players can invoke the use of a variety of "chems" listed by fictious names which include "Buff", "Rad-X", "Psycho" and "Ultrajet". Within the context of the game's narrative, the player may choose to make use of these "chems" to alter the physiological characteristics of their character in the game.

The effects of taking drugs may also have changed, according to this snippet: "The Board .. found that relationship [sic] between drug use and the incentives and rewards is not such that it promotes or encourages the use of proscribed drugs". Like I said, it's a little vague. Seeing as Bethesda and Red Ant are staying silent on the issue, we'll have to wait for the game to come out before any apples-to-apples comparisons can be made.

Anyway, I've included the section regarding drug use from the report after the jump, if you'd like to read it in full. There's also an interesting perspective from the minority view, which felt the game still deserved an RC.

Fallout 3 edited and set for a local release. It was only a matter of time. But what exactly can we expect from this altered version? Hopefully we'll have an answer for you soon. For the time being, all I have is comment from an OFLC spokesperson.

As expected, the main changes were to the portrayal of drug use in the game. According to the OFLC, the incentives and rewards for their use have been "removed". I don't want to cause alarm, but this doesn't sound like a simple cosmetic change (such as a rename of morphine). I mean, the "reward" for using morphine is the ability to ignore the detrimental effects of pain on the player. I can't see why you'd use morphine if this was taken away.

Anyway, I'm just speculating now. I should have the board report later this afternoon, so be sure to watch this space for more details.

[Pic]

In its original state, Fallout 3 was deemed no good for the Australian market. Too many drug references for the Australian Office of Film & Literature Classification's liking. But now, well, now it's all good! A revised edition of the game has been cleared for release, and has been classified MA15+ by the OFLC, a rating based on the title's "Strong violence, drug references and coarse language". For the record, an MA15+ rating - the highest Australian law permits - means persons under the age of 15 can't legally purchase the game. What's unknown at this stage is the extent of the edits made; it could be a few simple name changes to the in-game drugs, it could mean a more fundamental overhaul of the game's menu/icon system, we don't know yet. It's the middle of the night in Australia. We'll update when we do know.

Fallout 3 [OFLC]
Fallout 3 [EB Games Australia]

Well, we've hit a bit of a brick wall for now. After repeated attempts to get anything from distributor Red Ant, and an expanded "no comment" from Bethesda, it's unlikely we'll know what the exact differences are between our version of Fallout 3 and the original. Well, that is until the OFLC report is leaked.

According to Bethesda's PR dude Pete Hines, the developer does not "publically discuss" the classification of any of its games, which is understandable, if unfortunate. As for Red Ant, it's like there's no one home. Anything Fallout 3-related is flat out ignored. Not the most professional approach, but hey, what can you do?