The Wasteland Commentaries aims “to create an audio commentary track for Fallout 3 that is accessible in-game via audio holotapes.” Think of it as like the tapes in BioShock or Batman: Arkham Asylum except, instead of the developers fleshing out the fiction, the Fallout 3 community will “provide anecdotes, commentary, analysis or even humour relating to their experience with Fallout 3.”

The project is helmed by Gerard Delaney of the Binary Swan blog, part of the “brainysphere” of critical games bloggers. So you can expect the final results to be full of smart ruminations on the moral choices and metaphors found in the Capital Wasteland.

Developer commentaries, as found in games such as Riddick or Portal, add much to our appreciation of game design. But are you interested in hearing the thoughts of other gamers as you play?

The Wasteland Commentaries [Binary Swan]

Any game must “radically simplify complex systems”, and MGS4’s gun-launderer character, and fluctuating price of unlockable weapons and equipment does just that as a representation of a mercenary economy. And that, N’Gai reasons, makes a statement about the inherent amorality of war fought for profit just as much as cutscene dialogue, no matter how well written, where gamers are most conditioned to look for what was on the game creator’s mind.

That’s not to say MGS4 now goes into a pantheon of great allegorical commentaries on war and greed. It’s a video game, so whatever message comes out is necessarily refracted through your experience of playing it. And it is a hell of a lot of fun. But N’Gai’s point is that the “war economy” with which you, as Snake, must do business make it thought provoking, in addition to being an entertaining game at the top of its genre.

I Need a Hero, for Hire [Level Up]