Before it had been announced as being certified gold, it appears a leaked copy of Fallout 3 for Xbox 360 (and, somewhat surprisingly, not PC) had appeared on the internet and torrent sites. Gamasutra speculates that the leak may have come from the manufacturing plant. The purported 6.52GB download requires a modified console to use. Unlike Spore, there is no activist justificaiton of "doing it because of the DRM."

When contacted by Joystiq, Bethesda had no comment for the story. According to Parental Guidance, it appears the publisher-developer has already begun sending cease-and-desists to websites who link to it. While we can't prevent you from downloading the game, if you're decide whether or not to fork over $60, trust us, it's pretty good.

Note: We're not going to provide links to torrent sites, and if you do, expect a banhammer in the very near future.

Washington D.C. resident John Cangany sent us a tip this morning about a Fallout 3 advertisement he saw in the Metro last night and subsequently blogged about. Amused by this ad push in Fallout 3's setting (before the nuclear apocalypse), we actually wanted to know if there were more ads than the one we were told about at the Metro Center station.

We contacted Fallout 3's PR people and they sent us several images of various ads found in the city's subway. We didn't receive any details about which stations these images were taken from, but we've placed all the pictures we got in the gallery below. So, residents of D.C., can you name the stations you've seen the ads in while going about your pre-Vault lives?

Update: Pete Hines, Fallout 3's product manager, wrote us to say the ads are currently only at the Metro Center station. He explains the company took over all the ad space there for the month, adding that DC residents will start seeing bus and bus shelter ads in the near future. The company plans to promote Fallout 3 in other US cities soon.

Original Fallout designer Chris Taylor – not to be confused for Total Annihilation and Dungeon Siege designer Chris Taylor – has re-upped with his former employer Interplay to work on unannounced MMO "Project V13," currently in development with several other members of the Fallout team.

While Interplay isn't coming out and saying it, all signs point to this being the Fallout MMO. Besides the Fallout-infused dev team, the company itself reaffirmed plans for the game last April. Even the logo bears resemblance of the Fallout aesthetic, and V13 could stand for either "V13" or if you interpret 13 as a 1337 version of "B", you have Project VB, the initials of which make the codename for Interplay's Fallout 3 (i.e. Project Van Buren) from before Bethesda took the reins. If Interplay's looking to ride next month's Fallout 3 hype train, we'll know more soon enough.

[Via EuroGamer]

Didn't get your hands in on a Fallout 3 Vault Boy puppet from this year's PAX? The folks at Bethesda have donated a hand-ful (har) for us to give away, along with a couple of Vault Dweller's Survival Guides. All we want to know is what perk you would want in real life, whether it's an actual Fallout perk or something you just made up. (Our pick: Bloody Mess, without question.)

To enter this giveaway:

• Leave a comment telling us what perk you would want to have in real life. Be creative and descriptive!
  
• You must be 18 years or older and a (non-zombie) resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec and Megaton).
  
• Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day (comment more than once and the Brotherhood will pay you a visit).
  
• This entry period ends at 10:00pm ET on Friday, September 26th. We'll randomly select three winners at that time to each receive a Vault Boy puppet (valued at approximately $15); two of those will also receive the Vault Dweller's Survival Guide (approx. $0.15). Please check your e-mail!
  
• For a list of complete rules that you can expose to radiation, click here.

We've all decided that this whole Joystiq thing may not be for us (and unlike the last time, we're totally serious now). Thanks to the Fallout 3 G.O.A.T. exam, we know exactly what we'll be doing with our future selves. Oh, and here's what we'll be playing this weekend. Be sure to let us know what games will be occupying your time!

• Alexander Sliwinski: The GOAT tells me I'm a "Fry Cook." Coincidentally, I like making fried food. Anyway, this weekend I'll be playing Infinite Undiscovery, Company of Heroes and seeing if I can get the hang of Civ IV: Colonization.
  
• Christopher Grant: This Vault Chaplain will spend the weekend helping others, as is my want. I'm at my sister's new house helping her fix the place up. Some sheetrock; some trimwork; some demolition; good times. I've brought my good friend Professor Layton along to pitch in with sage advice at opportune times: "Every puzzle has an answer." When I return back home I'll be repenting for my sins ... namely the sin of not having played Beyond Good & Evil earlier! Just a few hours in, BG&E has already revealed itself to be one of the best games I've played in the last couple years.
• Griffin McElroy: According to the GOAT, I'm the Vault Chaplain. While not attempting to save some post-apocalyptic souls, I wager I'll be spending this weekend as I likely will spend most from now on -- playing Rock Band 2 with the roommate. Unfortunately, on more than a few occasions, the drum part of "Aqualung" has made me lose my religion (an activity not befitting a man of the cloth such as myself).
• Kevin Kelly: I'm playing in traffic, for the most part. Plus I'll be visiting the Arcade UFO in Austin, TX to get some quarter-licious gaming on. Oh, and GOAT tells me I'm a Clinical Test Subject.
• Kyle Orland: This Waste Management Specialist is taking out the trash... all the way to Maryland, where he's paying his family and friends a visit this weekend. My sister and mom both really want to try out with Wii Fit, so it seems that's what I'm going to be forced to play all weekend.
• James Ransom-Wiley: This PIP-Boy Programmer is considering a new career. In the meantime, he'll find some time this weekend to accept the 5¢ trade-in value for the original Rock Band at GameStop -- at least it's something toward Rock Band 2, right?
• Jason Dobson: GOAT says I'm a Pedicurist, who knew? Now that I'm with consoles again (unboxed!), this weekend will be spent lacing up and taping my virtual stick as I hit the ice in NHL 09. It may be the only way I ever get to see the Buffalo Sabres lift Lord Stanley, after all.
• Justin McElroy: This Pedicurist is going to be enjoying some Warhammer Online, with occasional breaks for Force Unleashed. Or at least, that's what I would be playing if I played video games on the weekends, instead of doing what you all should be doing: Partying hard. Like, Andrew WK hard.
• Ludwig Kietzmann: With the Prince of Persia trilogy behind me (much like my career as a Clinical Test Subject), I imagine this weekend will be dedicated to finding the answers to Eternal Sonata's mysteries -- chief of which is, "Why am I still playing this?" If I can break the level-up cycle, I'll almost certainly be giving Tomb Raider: Legend yet another replay. Gotta be prepared for Underworld!
• Randy Nelson: When I'm not busy with my work as a PIP-Boy Programmer, I'll be hacking my way through The Force Unleashed with an elegant weapon (though not a very elegant camera) for a more civilized time. Then it's time to get up-to-speed – quite literally – with the Burnout Bikes expansion. Vroom!
• Ross Miller: The Fry Cook inside me (wow, that sounds awkward) will be making up on hours of missing sleep. If I do have any energy this weekend, I will be overcoming the mid-chorus fill in the expert drums of "Everlong" for Rock Band 2. Once I master that, I will have the whole song and feel an overwhelming sence of silly pride.
  

Bethesda's VP of public relations, Pete Hines, has confirmed with Edge Online that the US, UK and Australian versions of Fallout 3 will be "identical" to one another. A reference to the real-world drug Morphine has been removed, explains Hines, to abide with each country's ratings and classification boards, replaced with "Med-X."

While "material promoting or encouraging proscribed drug use" has been replaced with more fictional drug references, Pete Hines tells Joystiq that "nothing else" has changed, including the over-the-top violence we've been enjoying in the screenshots. Full statement from Hines after the break.

We were given one hour with Fallout 3 at this year's PAX, and we don't mean some pared down, nerfed, demo-ized level; this was the full version. Not only that, but the Bethesda folks showed it to us in the tricked out Fallout 3 Airstream Trailer, complete with a nuclear family peering in.

Lead designer Emil Pagliarulo started us out roughly an hour into the game, when you exit the vault for the very first time. We missed the whole "growing up" phase in order to rush right into the action. We didn't mind. but what of our first 18 or so years? Maybe you start out on the cellular level, and fight your way out in a glorious Spore/Fallout hybrid. Your guess is as good as ours.

Vaultnews Shacknews caught up with Bethesda veep Pete Hines and Fallout 3 art lead Istvan Pely during PAX and asked the duo a whole mess of questions about – you guessed it – Fallout 3. One of the most salient responses came to a question regarding how the developer expects DLC quests for the game to shake out.

On the scope of DLC, Hines told Shacknews: "We want stuff that's going to be several hours. Not just like a one-off thing, but something like where you can download it and play it for X number of hours," further clarifying plans by adding, "It'll be similar to what we did with Knights of the Nine in Oblivion, where it's like whole new quest lines, new stuff, that kind of thing."

As for a post-launch DLC roll-out time line, Hines was non-committal, saying only that "we already have folks starting to look into what [the DLC] might be."

Bethesda's Fallout 3 booth pretty much won the "Oooooooh!" contest at PAX by about a million rads. Not only did they have an Airstream trailer, fully kitted out in 1950s style and with Fallout 3 goodies inside, but they also had some of the best schwag at the expo. Vault Boy Puppet? Yes, please. Fallout 3 Penny Arcade poster? Don't mind if we do. The Vault Dweller's Survival Guide, Pocket Reference Edition? Oh my stars and garters.

In the gallery below you can check out the entire guide that they were handing out at the show, and it may very well be the actual game manual. You get 50 pages chock full of tips for surviving in the wastelands, info on the different weapons, details about the creatures you'll encounter, and tips from Vault Boy himself. It even has a map and notes section in the back for your own enjoyment and doodling.

Of course, the best advice can be found on Page 39: "Are you in immediate danger? You are beyond help. Drop this book and run." Update: Download it as a PDF!

Is your craving for Fallout 3 currently and properly satiated? If so, hold onto this link for a fix later, but otherwise check out Xbox360Achievement's listing of the game's, well, Achievements. Aside from the usual (30 quest-based, 9 level and karma-based), our favorite new achievement is going to be Psychotic Prankster, which essentially involves adding to your "Exploding Pants" statistic by "placing a grenade or mine while pickpocketing." Of course, the highlights of these little Gamerscore supplements are the associated Vault Boy icons, which would make a great collage for our desktop background.

[Thanks, Dan]

Bethesda has dropped a ... wait for it ... megaton of Fallout 3 walkthrough footage on PAX, and, thankfully for those who can't attend, GameTrailers has upped it for your post-apocalyptic viewing pleasure. There are five (count 'em five) videos showcasing Megaton, the Wasteland, Super-Duper Mart, and more after the break.

"Prepare for the future" indeed! And by "future" we specifically mean October 28th (or October 31st for our European pals) because that's when Bethesda's "Best of E3"-award winning Fallout 3 – including the Collector's and Survival editions – falls into retailer's laps.

Vlatko Andonov, Bethesda Softworks prez, teases, "To meet the huge demand for this title by our fans worldwide, we are planning one of the biggest launches of any game released this year." We're not sure what Bethesda's got in store, but when discussing a game set in a post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland, we're excited to see how big of a splash it can make. Bunkers, everyone!

After returning to its old stomping grounds, last week's E3 was a bittersweet reminder of not only what the annual event used to be, but also what it had become, its once bustling halls now comparatively vacant as handfuls of press scurried past. Even so, while some continue to call the occurrence irrelevant, others, such as Bethesda marketing front man Pete Hines, believe that E3 remains an important event for the gaming industry.

"I'm a firm believer that we need an E3," Hines told TechRadar UK in a post-show interview. However, the exec qualified his statement, adding that "we just can't have it like this year." Hines instead feels that E3 needs to become an "improved version" of 2007's Santa Monica beach side trek, or even a more controlled version of previous years' media bazaar. It will be interesting to see where E3 goes from here; with the event being a few pounds short of a megaton, we couldn't shake the feeling that we were attending both a showcase and a wake.

[Thanks Adam]