This week I asked the devs if they would be interested in sharing their favorite gaming moments here on the blog — whether it be from a game developed here at Bethesda or a game they played during their leisure. Cheers to Lead Interface Programmer Erik Deitrick for leading off…
Hit the jump to read his tale from Oblivion…
Looking through the responses I got to my “What we’re playing” email this morning, it seems like most of the devs are spending their time playing some of the new RPGs that are now out. In terms of single-player RPGs, Penny Arcade: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, is already becoming a fan favorite at the office. Meanwhile in the MMORPG realm, Age of Conan is beginning to impede on precious World of Warcraft play time. You’ll also notice that Square’s newest RPG on the DS, The World Ends with You, is getting some serious attention.
After taking a look, let us know what you’re playing.
Michael Lattanzia, QA: Age of Conan, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A King (whew, I think that name needs to be longer), The World Ends With You, and thinking of finally picking up On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness.
Ryan Salvatore, QA: 2 games that I will collectively call “The World of
Warcraft Ends with You.”
Fred Zeleny, Acronym Enthusiast: Finishing up TWEwY, reading some D&D4E,
and maybe picking up PA:otRSPoD.
Having lived in DC for over five years now, I can tell you that when it gets hot…it’s unbearable. Sure you can go to places with higher temperatures, but the humidity is a real killer here. While we had a rather pleasant spring in these parts, the party’s officially over this week. Looking at the weather report for Rockville, it’s supposed to get to 96 degrees tomorrow. Sounds like a good weekend for us to stay indoors and play games…like Fallout 3:).
Feel free to let us know what you’re playing, as well as the local weather forecast in your neck of the woods.
Ashley Cheng: Fallout 3
Craig Lafferty, Producer: Fallout 3
Jeff Browne, Level Designer: FO3
Last month we announced the Fallout 3 Collector’s Edition, and today we’re giving you a first look at the contents included with it. When you purchase the CE, you’ll get the following:
The Fallout 3 Collector’s Edition will release the same day as the regular edition of the game and is available for pre-order now.
Long weekends (like last weekend) are always nice, but then again, they always seem to make the next week that much more hectic. If you can believe it, the guy in the picture above was actually partying in Cabo over Memorial Day weekend. And now look at him…he’s miserable!
Thankfully the weekend’s here, and having talked with a several few people at the office, it sounds like folks are looking to get the heck outta Dodge. It’s the opposite for me. I’m relieved to not be traveling for a change, and I’m looking forward to coming into the office so I can spend some time playing Fallout 3!
Hope you all have a great weekend. Here’s the game’s we’ll be playing…
Fred Zeleny , Checking Email by Poolside: J. W. Dundee’s Honey Brown, Yuengling Lager, and McClelland’s 5 year Islay Whiskey. Vacation is a wonderful thing.
Jared Angus, QA Tester: I am flying to the Philippines tomorrow, so I’ll have lots of time to play all my DS games.
Todd Howard: Fallout 2.8a (almost there…)
Probably a little late in sharing this news with you, but over on the site Notes on Game Dev, they’re currently running their 2008 2D/3D Environment and Character Design Competition that provides a chance to win some cool prizes for aspiring gaming artists — including a selection of instructor-led game art and animation classes.
For the competition, Notes on Game Dev have recruited a few guys from the gaming industry to judge the competition — including our very own World Artist, Nate Purkeypile. So if you want to get nice with one of the judges, you might want to use the comments section of this post to tell Nate what a great Team Fortress 2 player he is.
For more details on the competition, which concludes June 15, head here.
In case you missed it, CVG put up a two-part feature over the weekend titled “The complete history of open-world games.” The staff at PC Zone take a look at the history and appeal of the genre, while talking with folks that make the games — including Todd Howard. Here’s a sample from the section entitled “Grand Theft Scrolls” in part 1:
Beginning with Arena (which you can now download for free at the game’s 10th Anniversary page at elderscrolls.com), which was followed by Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion and many expansion packs, Bethesda’s series takes in the empire of Tamriel and otherworldly realms such as the Shivering Isles, with the player character able to be a number of races (including Orc, Dark Elf, Imperial and Nord) and classes (such as knight, bard and sorcerer).
“I think that perhaps, the Elder Scrolls series has most of all pushed the idea that massive scale can also be manageable,” says Howard. “That all the little details can be done to an extreme, yet the whole world can still fit together and tell its own story as you wander through it.”
Liz Beetem is our subject today on Inside the Vault. She joined us last year as an art intern and performed so well that we’ve offered her a full time position as a character artist. When you are trying out all the interesting outfits available in Fallout 3, think of Liz.
As work on Fallout 3 gets more hectic here, it seems like less folks at the office have time to play games — save for Fallout 3 and required breaks to play GTA IV. Having not had a chance to sit and play games in nearly two weeks (outside of showing folks our E3 demo of Fallout 3), I’m looking forward to vegging out on the couch this weekend and getting to know Liberty City better.
Here’s what other folks are playing this weekend…
Tim “Visor” Lamb, Producer: Fallout 3, GTA IV
Nate Purkeypile, World Artist: Fist fighting bears in the great outdoors. Maybe some GTA IV and TF2 also.
Craig Lafferty, Producer: GTA IV, Fallout 3 (I think this is a record for me, 3 weeks playing the same 2 games).
Given that the rain shows no signs of stopping, looks like we’ll all have plenty of quality “inside time” for gaming. Here’s what we’re playing:
Craig Lafferty, Producer: GTA IV, Fallout 3
Michael Lattanzia, QA: Age of Conan Beta, Grand Theft Auto 4, The World Ends With You, Hellgate: London
Orin Tresnjak, Graphics Programmer: The World Ends With You, Puzzle Quest. Maybe some Mario Kart Wii.