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Bethesda Announces Fallout 3 Mod Tools, DLC
by Chris Remo
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November 25, 2008
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Bethesda plans next month to make available user content creation tools for its open-world RPG Fallout 3, with paid downloadable content for PC and Xbox 360 users coming in January.
The official editor is entitled G.E.C.K., or Garden of Eden Creation Kit. It will be offered free to PC players.
Even as recently as the month before Fallout 3's release, the fate of its mod tools were in question, with marketing VP Pete Hines claiming that mods were "not on the schedule," because "it takes a lot of time and effort."
The new single-player DLC, on the other hand, has long been promised ahead of the game's release, and is exclusive to the PC and Xbox 360 platforms; on PC, it will be distributed through Microsoft's Games for Windows Live platform, which is integrated into the game.
The first DLC pack, "Operation: Anchorage," will reproduce the liberation of Chinese-occupied Alaska, and will ship in January 2009. Another pack, the Pittsburgh-area "The Pit," will ship in February, and a third, "Broken Steel," will ship in March, continuing the main quest line by allowing players to join the armored Brotherhood of Steel.
Modding has been a significant part of Bethesda's player community since 1996s The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall, which players modified despite having no sanctioned tools with which to do so. For the third and fourth main entries in the series, Morrowind and Oblivion, Bethesda released official mod tools, each called The Elder Scrolls Construction Set.
No price points were given for the paid downloads.
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Bethesda's games have greatly benefited from community modding. Not only is Fallout 3 a great game, but I'm sure its longevity and appeal is also a result from the community-friendly reputation the developer has earned in the past.
on a more serious note; I'd like to see what they do with operation: anchorage. honestly I never felt there was a high degree of polish to the levels of fallout3. It was very 'quest-y' and not very 'puzzle-y'. The location base damage was nice and the ability to 'frenzy' creatures was intresting; but I never really used it. Also some gameplay types were not very fleshed out. Sneaking was useful, but lacked some depth. The converstations were sometimes good, but not consistently impressive. Also there was a lot of junk in the game. It would've been nice if you could've used some of it.
I would honestly like to see some a smaller shorter level with a lot of smart design and polish. I don't want it to just be another map with genenticly mutated Caribou, I want something a ninth the size of fallout with 3x the polish and inovations to gameplay (but I still kinda want geneticly mutated Caribou).
Fallout 3 - Editor comes in December. Paid for DLC comes in January. 4 weeks (with Christmas in the middle) for modders to produce free content to equal paid for DLC. Result: Many DLC downloads.
Funny how big publisher that make millions want to nickle and dime their customers to death, whereas small publishers like CD Projekt (The Witcher) and Reality Pump (Two Worlds) can release huge expansions free of charge!