This week at USA Today’s Game Hunters, Todd Howard shares his favorites games of the Naughties, Aughties, Oughties, or simply the 2000′s. Already his comments about Gran Turismo 3 have had traction (tires…traction…get it??) with readers. To see the rest of his favs, head here.
Read more after the break…
Great Scott! As one of the few creatures scurrying around the office, today already feels like the night before Christmas, even if it’s two nights before Christmas. Most everyone has left for the holidays, and I’ll be doing the same soon. But before I head out, I thought I’d round up some of the latest online coverage — this time dominated by coverage of the 2000s, 2009, and 2010.
Top games of the decade, top stories of the year, best dinosaurs of all time — with both the year and decade coming to an end, these lists keep coming in. We start with IndustryGamers’s Top 20 Stories of 2009 –which features ZeniMax’s aquisition of id Software at #18. Speaking of id, RAGE makes Telegraph’s Top 10 Most Anticipated Games for 2010.
Elsewhere, Fallout 3 is in good company in Big Download’s Best PC Games of the Decade, while Morrowind and Oblivion share a spot in GameStooge’s Top 50 (with the countdown still going). Also, at The Yorker, Bethesda Game Studios ranks #9 in a list of the Top Ten Game Developers of the Decade.
While most sites are looking back at 09 and the decade as a whole, Joystiq revisits 2008 to help gamers find great titles with better deals. Making the list is Fallout 3.
Heading back to the future, head to Splash Damage’s site — where they have news on the “most wanted” lists Brink is making for 2010.
On the subject of what people want — see what Pete and Todd (and other industry folks) told Kotaku they want for Christmas. More on that soon.
Here’s a look at some holiday-inspired mods the community has been working on…
Up first, check out TES-Alliance, where there’s an interview with WhoGuru and InsanitySorrow, who created the Happy Holidays Mod. Here’s an excerpt from the interview…
What is your favorite element of your holiday project?
InsanitySorrow: My favorite aspect of the project is working with friends; I have WhoGuru building the mod alongside me and Nicoroshi modeling some nice little things for us. I think more important than that is it’s a festive project, something that should be enjoyable for all that play and I just love that aspect of the project.
Find out more on the project here. Meanwhile, Princess Stomper has put together a new mod for Fallout 3 called Winter Wonderland. This mod adds festive lights and decorations (from Dukov’s house) to key locations in Fallout 3. The mod also bring holiday treats, and some hidden Easter Eggs stocking stuffers (16 holotapes featuring A Christmas Carol).
Echoing what St. Nick noted earlier this week, let us know if you’ve worked on some cool stuff for the holidays — whether it’s cookies, mods, ornaments, etc.
Update: As mentioned in the comments below, be sure to check out Oblivion Real Estate’s 12 Mods of Christmas, where they’re sharing a new mod everyday. The countdown can be found here.
The editors over at PCGamer put up their annual “Top 100 Games of All Time” list today.
The democratically-determined list features several games developed by Bethesda and id; Oblivion and Fallout 3 both made the top 10, while Quake III: Arena and DOOM II cracked the top 30. Check the whole deal out here.
Those interested in voting for the reader-selected top 100 can do so through this link. Luckily, you don’t need to put together your own 100-game list to participate.
Planet Elder Scrolls has the latest inductees to their modding Hall of Fame. Here’s a quick look at November’s inductees, including encore honors for Plangkye and Dimitri Mazieres .
Morrowind mods
Oblivion mods
Congrats to these modders. We’ll be back in a month or so with the final inductees of 2009!
While recently navigating through Xbox LIVE, you might have noticed The Epic RPGs Sweepstakes — which gives you a chance to level up your living room with a “Gamer Lounge” — an amazing prize pack featuring the following items:
Register by downloading the Epic RPGs Gamer Picture on LIVE, or simply grabbing it off Xbox.com. You can increase your chances (i.e. gain experience) by downloading select RPG content via LIVE — including Fallout 3 DLC, Shivering Isles, Knights of the Nine, and the Games on Demand version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
There’s plenty more RPG content to choose from, and you can even enter by watching a movie on Netflix or signing up for Last.FM or Facebook. Just keep in mind the level cap is 20 (even if you purchase Broken Steel), and content must be purchased between 12:01 A.M. Eastern Time (ET) on December 1 and ends at 11:59 P.M. ET on December 14, 2009.
To learn more about the sweepstakes, including the official rules, head to Xbox.com
Congratulations are in order for Game Informer, who are celebrating the release of their 200th issue. To commemorate the occasion, they’ve put together a list of The Top 200 Games of All Time. Among the games included on the list are DOOM (#6), Oblivion (#30), Fallout 3 (#65), Morrowind (#101), Quake 2 (#132), and Wolfenstein 3D (#139). Additionally, the top eight games on their list each received a special edition cover. Above is the cover made for DOOM. You can check out the other seven at Game Informer’s website.
Be on the lookout for the 200th issue on newsstands or in your mailbox.
Last week IGN counted down their top 25 Xbox 360 games of all time. The top 5 were announced on Friday, with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion making the list at #4, and Fallout 3 coming right after it at #3.
Check out the entire list here.
Before heading out for vacation, I thought I’d squeeze in another “around the web.”
We’ll begin with news on Brink. Splash Damage Senior Game Designer Ed Stern recently discussed Brink in a new interview at Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Here’s a snippet…
RPS: The game is quite bright and exaggerated, however. Colourful, even. It’s going against a trend for photorealism, isn’t it?
Stern: I think we’ll see more of this stuff. Look at TF2 or Borderlands, they have unrealistic characters too. And look at all three next to each other, take a screenshot from each of them and none of them look alike.
Brink is also included in a new list of the Top 10 original video games of 2010. You’ll also find that RAGE made the list at #4. For more on RAGE, check PC Zone’s preview that’s currently up at GamesRadar.
In Fallout news, there’s new DLC reviews up. Here’s a snippet from a new review for Point Lookout at GamingBolt…
“With Point Lookout, Bethesda has given a near-perfect reminder of why we love Fallout 3 so much. This game is simply a joy to play. A dirty, morally questionable joy – but a joy nonetheless. If you’re looking for a chance to jump back into the world of Fallout 3, Point Lookout is a great place to start.”
More after the jump…
This week we have a new modding interview with Sulteric Drums from our forums.
How did you first get involved with modding for Oblivion?
It all started when I was looking for companion mods. The available companions were good but they weren’t exactly what I was looking for. There was no real interaction with the female companions other than just commands. I missed the glory days of Baldur’s Gate II — Shadows of Amn, when I could romance an NPC and even flirt with them. After reading the tutorials on the Wiki site, I thought it would be easy. I had no idea what I was in for! I started planning a “Flirt” mod but I soon realized how difficult it would be to hook it into existing companions. I poked around, got permission to use an existing companion (thanks to Jumonji and The Priest) as my base and I took it from there. Three companions later and here we are.