Fallout 10th Anniversary Contest Winners Announced

After plowing through more entries than we ever thought possible, we whittled the list of over 17,000 entries down to the 12 finalists and picked a winner for the Fallout 10th Anniversary Contest. The entry that came out on top was ‘Grim Reaper’s Sprint,’ which restores all your action points whenever you kill an opponent. Congratulations to Marc-AndrÃ© Deslongchamps from Montreal for his winning entry. He selected the PC Grand Prize and takes home a boatload of goodies in addition to getting his Perk in Fallout 3. We’ll have a little interview up with Marc-AndrÃ© today or tomorrow.

But Marc-AndrÃ© wasn’t the only winner, and a lot of folks won some pretty cool stuff for their creative entries, as well as a few lucky folks who were selected at random just for entering the contest: ATI and NVIDIA cards, and an Xbox 360 from Microsoft, keyboards and mice from Logitech, Logitech PS3 controllers, bobbleheads, lunchboxes, etc. If you’re one of the lucky winners, you’ll be hearing from me shortly about your prize(s). Hit the jump for the list of winners and the Perk they submitted.

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Now Shipping: Shivering Isles on PS3 (and coming to PSN)

For those playing Oblivion PS3 that have been waiting for a chance to buy the Shivering Isles expansion (by itself, not as part of GotY), it will be shipping throughout North America beginning today. You can hit the jump below for the full release.

Of note in that release is a this part at the end: “Shivering Isles for PLAYSTATION®3 system will also be available for download on the PLAYSTATION®Network (North American, English only) beginning November 29th.”

So, there’s your confirmation that we finally sorted out how to make it available as a download on PSN and it will be out next Thursday for N. America. We will let you know about availability of Shivering Isles in Europe/Australia/Everywhere else in any format just as soon as we can. It’s just not something I can confirm for you at this time.

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Inside the Vault: Charles Harribey

Bethesda is not just a developer but a publisher as well. So today’s Q&A is with Charles Harribey, one of our producers who handles external projects. Charles is primarily reponsible for our Star Trek games, and since we shipped his latest project today – Star Trek: Conquest — we thought it fitting to give some insight into Charles’ world.

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Now Shipping: Star Trek Conquest for Wii and PS2

Losi sent out a release this morning that Star Trek Conquest is now shipping for both Wii and PS2 in North America. The Wii version is only $29.99 and the PS2 is a mere $14.99…that’s a pretty darn good deal. If you’re looking for a little turn-based strategy mixed with some arcade-like real-time combat (not unlike Star Trek Encounters) give it a look.

Full press release after the jump. Also, if you’re still looking for more coverage about the game, check out another interview with Frank Arnot over at Star Trek Games.

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Breaking and Entering: The “Pinata” Edition

We had a request that we talk a bit about getting into the industry on the PR/Marketing side, and since it’s a question that I get asked quite a bit, I thought I’d take a shot at it.

First, let me suggest a career as a pinata. The pay is probably a little better, the day-to-day routine is roughly the same (I found the pinata gig slightly less painful, with fewer bruises, but your results may vary), and there’s candy. So, it has a lot going for it and I urge you to look into it. If, however, you find the idea of working with games is even better than being filled with candy, I’ll offer what insights I can.

As I tell everyone who has emailed me on this, there isn’t any one way to get into this business, regardless of what it is you want to do…programmer, designer, pr manager, whatever. Seneca, a Roman Philosopher, once said that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. So getting into games is a lot about luck, but you can learn to make your own luck. Put yourself in a position to be at the right place at the right time and have the kind of skills someone is looking to hire (like me, since I’m still hiring).

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What we’re playing: It’s that time a year!

For a couple of weeks now, there’s been plenty of new games hitting the market that have had the office abuzz. Last week it was Call of Duty 4, and now this week we’ve got Super Mario Galaxy and Assassin’s Creed, which you’ll see folks are pretty excited about. Not only that, Ash and a few other guys have already started digging into Bioware’s Mass Effect. Earlier this week, a bunch of members from the team headed into the theater to get a peak at the game.

Speaking of games hitting early, there’s rumors that some guys at the office will be rocking to a new game very soon…

Chris Esko, Systems Programmer: Mass Effect (thanks, Microsoft!), Super Mario Galaxy, Guitar Hero III

Ashley Cheng, Producer: Mass Effect

Jennifer Noland, QA: Super Mario Galaxy.

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Calling Skycaptain for a Mod Interview

This week’s modder interview is with Aki TeliÃ¶, also known as Skycaptain within the BGS forums. The 24-year-old from Finland is studying Engineering in the Helsinki University of Technology and, like myself, is a strong supporter of frisbee golf. As he puts it, “It’s a perfect past time hobby for a student, I like the fact that anyone can have fun playing the full 18 ‘holes’ without any experience at all, but the more you learn the more you find out there is to it.”

Of course, when Skycaptain isn’t studying for frolfing, he’s spending time modding Oblivion, hence the interview.

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Inside the Vault: Orin Tresnjak

This edition of Inside the Vault features programmer, Orin Tresnjak. Orin is one of the awesome programmers who work on multiple systems. He’s worked on a variety of interfaces and shaders, and even made tools for creating DLC and PC installers (Orin even pitched in and made the installer for Star Trek: Legacy). In short, we drop Orin in and cool stuff results.

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Star Trek Legacy Aftermath Mod Reaches Stage 2

Tjoz from our Star Trek forums has informed me that their mod project for Star Trek: Legacy, entitled The Aftermath, is coming along nicely as they work towards releasing “Stage 2.” To get a glimpse, check out the trailer above and then head over to download the Stage 2 beta. According to Tjoz, here are some of the plans for this Legacy mod:

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My Faves: Full Throttle

Where we talk about stuff we love…

Having just heard Tim Schafer talk at a conference, I got thinking about one of my favorite games of all time — Full Throttle, a point and click adventure game and one of Tim Schafer’s best games in my opinion. Published by LucasArts in 1995, Full Throttle represents LucasArts’ adventure game golden years – along with Day of the Tentacle, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and the Secret of Monkey Island. Let me say, however, that I LOVE all these games. I’ve loved every adventure game LucasArts released starting from 1987′s Maniac Mansion to 1998′s Grim Fandango. I was heartbroken when the sequels to Full Throttle and Sam & Max were canceled.

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