Both games will be priced at $US30, which yet again does little to engender people to forsake a tangible game box in exchange for a convenient, if woefully overpriced download.

Oh, and New Zealanders, sorry: for some reason, Fallout 3 won’t be available to you (or Japan or India). Street Fighter, though, is good for all regions.

Yeah… we can see why that was cut from the game and replaced instead with the “Hated” reputation icon. Just in case it’s not clear to you that Vault Boy’s kicking mum in the womb, that gown helpfully indicates baby’s on board. I don’t think you’ll go to hell for laughing at this – but you will if you imagine it accompanied by a Looney Tunes kettle drum sound, like I did.

“Childkiller” was not a frivolous or even a desirable thing in Fallout 2. You got the status if you killed a kid, even accidentally, and for some characters it wasn’t obvious the game considered them children. Even without offensive art this capability was too controversial for consoles, so in Fallout 3 you couldn’t even attack a child character.

Hellforge and the Fallout Wiki both spotted this and linked to the DeviantART page of Brian Menze, where the Fallout 2 artist had published and described his work, but didn’t exactly defend it:

This image was unused and the only Vault Boy image to ever be cut from Fallout 2. (I’m sure you can figure out why) I remember when I got the request to do a perk illustration for “child Killer” that there would be no way to keep in from being offensive. I mean really! How do you make an illustration of “child killer” and keep it from being offensive? Anyway for some reason, I thought this was the least offensive way to do it. I have no idea what i was thinking. Even the designer who requested it realised it was a bad idea, so we nixed it. Looking back on it now, I can’t believe I drew this.

Menze has since removed the art and its description, but there’s no putting the toothpaste back into this tube.

Fallout Artist Reveals Original Childkiller Vault-Boy Image [Hellforge]

From Bethesda’s Pete Hines: “if you’re into Fallout or want to find out something, anything, on Fallout: New Vegas…well, tomorrow, it begins.”

From community manager Nick Breckon: Tomorrow will be a big day for #FalloutNewVegas. Whoo.

From the Bethesda Blog Twitter feed: Keep your eyes peeled for new stuff on #FalloutNewVegas tomorrow!

You know what they say, three’s a conspiracy. Whatever trickles, pours or gushes forth, we’ll have it.

In a post titled “Open World Games: What Works and Why” on his personal blog, Tom Francis of PC Gamer UK looks at several of the better open world games of recent times – Assassin’s Creed II, Fallout 3 and Far Cry 2 amongst others – and examines the ways in which they fill their “sprawling open spaces with stuff to entertain you.”

He concludes by identifying seven methods that he feels work best:

* Informal missions – opportunities you spot rather than jobs you’re ordered to do
* Collectibles that improve you, in places it’s fun to visit
* Categorised missions, so you can choose what kind of job you want to take on next
* Scraps of story scattered about to make your adventure feel meaningful
* Unique things you can find, take and use
* The ability to change or add to some part of the world
* Variety – at every stage you should have more than two meaningfully different options for fun things to do next

It’s a good list and covers almost everything I’d consider essential to a good open world game. One thing I’d add – although it’s less of a feature and more of a structural approach – is the idea of enabling the player to control the pace of the game. For me, it’s what makes open world games inherently interesting as an interactive experience.

In a linear game the pace tends to be dictated to the player. The hand of the designer is clearly visible in the rhythm of its scripted sequences. You run when they want you to run; you sneak when you’re told to; you man that turret when they bark the orders.

In a non-linear game the pace tends to be dictated by the player. As more of a collaboration between the player and the designer, the rhythm changes at the player’s behest. You tackle that assassination contract when you want to; you depart from the main quest to explore the wasteland when you desire; you shoot some pool with your cousin Roman whenever you feel like.

Have a read of Tom’s full post over at his blog and join in the discussion there. Then come back here and tell me what you think open world games do best.

Open World Games: What Works and Why [Pentadact]

So, if you’ve been holding out on even one of the add-ons because 800 Points is too high a price, today you officially don’t have any excuses. Tomorrow, you might, though. Reports say this sale is a Today Only deal. However, said report was filed yesterday morning and the sale price still remains on Xbox Live as of today.

To date, I think the only add-on I’ve actually shelled out for (at full price no less) is Knothole Island in Fable II. Because – you guessed it – I chose money over my dog at the end of the game so I could buy Castle Fairfax. Vanity, thy name is sex change side quest!

Check out the sale here.

Holiday Deal Fallout 3 [Burn360]

Here’s the score: Bethesda sued Interplay, claiming the Fallout Trilogy bundle it was selling and marketing through digital distribution services was “confusingly similar” to Bethesda’s Fallout 3 products going out this year. Bethesda also wants to terminate Interplay’s contract to develop the Fallout MMO, a deal signed when Bethesda bought the rights in 2007 – for $US5.75 million – from Interplay, the series’ original publisher.

But U.S. District Court Judge Deborah K. Chasanow rejected Bethesda’s request for an injunction, without giving any reasons, in a ruling first found by Fallout fan Web site Duck and Cover, and reported today by Gamasutra.

Court Denies Bethesda’s Motion To Block Interplay Fallout Activity [Gamasutra]

Bethesda is bringing out a line of Fallout-themed avatar wear to the Xbox Live Avatar Marketplace this Thursday, giving players six new ways to show off their love for Fallout 3 and its creators, Bethesda Game Studios. There’s three t-shirts priced to move at 80 Microsoft points apiece; the standard Vault 101 suit, complete with PipBoy, for 240 points; a Vault Boy suit for 240 points; and the pièce de résistance – a Vault Boy head that covers up your avatar’s goofy cranium.

My advice? Just buy the head and play Vault Boy dress up. It’s simply the right thing to do.

Fallout 3 items hitting the Xbox Avatar Marketplace this Thursday [Bethesda Blog]

Zeschuk told me he’s been a fan of Bethesda’s game for the best part of two decades, from all the way back to Elder Scrolls: Arena and Daggerfall right up to Fallout 3. He says he admires how Bethesda specialises, producing games that are distinctively theirs.

“For me, Bethesda is probably the best in the world in terms of creating a sense of place,” he says. “The world seems so real it actually feels like you’re there. I think if you were to describe their superpower, that would be it. Fallout 3 was utterly believable as the area around Washington DC.

“Another thing that was actually very productive we learned from Oblivion is how a game is the sum of its parts, but often something greater than that. If you picked Oblivion apart, you could nitpick about certain things, but when you put it all together it was just a spectacular package. And in fact, it’s that package that’s the impressive thing. And I think that was a great learning for our Dragon Age.”

In parallel, Zeschuk believes what makes a Bioware game utterly distinctive is the high level of integration of story into the overall experience:

“There’s folks that do similar stuff, but I think you could almost say they do it in the Bioware style. We were the first to do it that way. If you look at, for example, how story is presented in a Final Fantasy, it’s very different to what we do. I think if you can identify a Final Fantasy style game then I think you should be able to identify a Bioware style game.

“Another we do – and maybe it’s not in the easily identifiable way – is we never compromise,” he continues. “By that I mean we never release a game with features or elements that are not as good as they could be. You can always disagree with the way it was implemented or what was implemented, but I think when we do put a feature in a game we do a good job of it.

I asked Zeschuk if he would agree that perhaps Bethesda makes the more ambitious games but that they lack the polish of a Bioware game.

“I think that raw ambition comes through in both our products,” he says. “And somehow what [Bethesda] build is magnified in some way. I mean, you can never polish every single aspect in a game the size we make; we just have to make sure we polish the right stuff.”

Zeschuk laughed when I then ask him if that was why Dragon Age has taken six years to make.

“Yeah, somewhat!” he says. “I think it was really daunting to create, in our minds, the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate. I think it’s reflective of why there has never been a Baldur’s Gate 3. You know, you have this beloved product, and its very distinctive and detailed, and it’s very hard to recreat them or create a game in a similar vein. The sheer amount of stuff you have to put in it – that’s just an incredible undertaking.”

Can you identify what makes Bioware and Bethesda games unique or distinctive from each other? What style of RPG do you prefer to play?

More than 1.2 million votes were cast for this year’s Golden Joystick Awards, representing a 47 per cent jump in votes over the previous year, and a great many of those voters were Activision Blizzard fans. While Bethesda’s post-apocalyptic epic took home top honours, five of the 15 awards announced last night went to Activision Blizzard games. Call of Duty: World at War took home awards for MSN Multiplayer Game of the Year and Nintendo Game of the Year; Guitar Hero World Tour snagged the Rampage Soundtrack of the Year award, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was named the ShortList One to Watch. With those four under the company’s belt, it comes as no surprise that Activision Blizzard were named Publisher of the Year as well.

Other notable awards include Fallout 3’s PC Game of the Year award, Left 4 Dead’s Online Game of the Year, and Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars’ Handheld Game of the Year win.

Check out the full list of awards and their winners below.

Family Game of the Year: LittleBigPlanet

Bliss Handheld Game of the Year: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

Retailer of the Year: GAME

Mobile Game of the Year: Metal Gear Solid Touch

Nintendo Game of the Year: Call of Duty: World at War

MSN Multiplayer Game of the Year: Call Of Duty: World At War

The Rampage Soundtrack of the Year: Guitar Hero World Tour

Xbox Game of the Year: Gears of War 2

PC Game of the Year: Fallout 3

Amiqus Games UK Developer of the Year: Jagex

PlayStation Game of the Year: Killzone 2

Publisher of the Year: Activision Blizzard

Online Game of the Year: Left4Dead

ShortList One to Watch: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Ultimate Game of the Year, together with Zavvi.co.uk: Fallout 3