John Walker's Electronic House

Nach der Präsentation von Fallout 3 (wer es noch nicht getan hat, sollte sich die Vorschau zu Gemüte führen) erhielt das Eurogamer-Netzwerk die Möglichkeit, den Lead Designer, Emil Pagliarulo, und den leitenden Producer, Gavin Carter, zur Seite zu nehmen und ihnen noch ein paar Fragen zu ihrem neuen Rollenspiel-Spektakel zu stellen.

Three bits and pieces with which I’m involved on the Gamer website.

First off is the new ish post on the blog.

Then there’s a review of the rather rubbish Driver: Parallel Lines.

And there’s the new podcast, in which I take part along with Ross, Tom and Kieron.

C’est un jeu à la première personne. C’est ce que vous vouliez savoir, mais je vous supplie de rester un peu plus longtemps. J’ai plein de choses intéressantes à vous dire (notamment qu’il est possible de le jouer avec une vue à la troisième personne et même de rapprocher ou d’éloigner la caméra..).

My words reach around the world. I like to think I will one day bring global harmony through my humble text.

After this gobsmacking, atrocious story yesterday, Earth’s Greatest Hero, Olbermann, did something an American news anchor has never done – he called for the president and vice president’s resignation.

When invited to Bethesda for an exclusive little demonstration of Fallout 3 (you know, only about 100 different magazines and websites), we thought we’d make it a bit more personal. Tricking all the others into getting onto a bus (“There’s free booze on the bus!”) and then having them driven off into some ditch somewhere, we got to spend some alone-time with lead designer, Emil Pagliarulo, and lead producer, Gavin Carter.

Lost Planet is a game designed for the Xbox 360. And in its PC incarnation, it’s going to let you know this just about as often as possible. And by any means possible. This might be having a game mechanic entirely designed for a console, or it could be a screen-sized image of a 360 controller splashed intermittently throughout the game. Just don’t you forget its origins, okay?

You will remember Kristan’s review of the original version back in January, in which he was one of the few not to be all confused by the pretty graphics, and recognise quite how hollow the experience really was. So today we’re here to find out how Capcom have managed to shed marks in the last six months.

Like it says.

There’s this bird – a dunnock – that sits outside my house and cheeps. How lovely, you might think. A little bird singing its heart out for you to hear. You might think.

This creature, this hellborn fiend, is the bane of my existence.

Every day, every single day, for the last few weeks, this BASTARD has ceaselessly uttered its piercing micro-shriek every two to three seconds, all day long, from before I wake up until after dark. It’s like the most evil car alarm in the world, except you can’t batter its doors in with a shovel. (Oh, but believe me, if I got the chance…)

I believe it has discovered the resonating frequency of my brain. Every time, every single time, it opens its foul little beak, a piece of me dies away. But does it do it with any regularity? Oh no. Nothing so predictable. Two second gap, followed by three second, then a sudden hope inspiring (perhaps it’s had a little birdy heartattack) ten seconds, then a sudden burst of them split seconds apart.

It taunts me, sitting on high tree branches, or telegraph wires, out of reach of my cat, and indeed my own mad, chasing clawed fists. It has successfully driven me insane. To the point where I have been stood on my doorstep at 8am, in my boxershorts and a t-shirt, clutching a super-soaker, trying to drown the little shit in the air. What has become of me? But believe me, I’ve hit it a bunch of times. I’ve sprayed that demon right in its hateful little face. It shuts it up briefly, and thus is worth not only the effort, but the certified madness. My dream: that I get a droplet down its little birdy lungs, and it coughs, lets out a strangled gurgle, and falls to the floor. Dead. Where I will dance around its spiteful corpse, and then feed it to my cat.

Its motivations are territorial. And believe me – it’s working. If it doesn’t bugger off soon, I will.

It’s first-person. There, that’s what you came here to find out. But I implore you, stick around for a bit longer. I’ve interesting things to tell you. (Not least, that it can be played in third-person, even pulling the camera back and up).

But most of all, there was a sense of professionalism missing from so many games. The opening sequences for both Fallout 1 and 2, the beautiful ’40s music, the astonishingly crafted retro-future, the shocking and revelatory endings, and the sense of extraordinary freedom. That’s an awful lot to live up to.

Super-world exclusive! Except for everyone else going live with it at the same time. And some US mag already running it a couple of weeks back. But apart from that! Fallout 3 preview!

Stolen from Your Daily Awesome:

Ignore the nonsense at the beginning, and wait for the octopuses.