No matter what platform we choose to take on Fallout 3's radioactive wasteland, we will be doing so to the musical styling of seasoned game music composer Inon Zur.

If Zur's name isn't familiar to you, it's likely you've hummed along to some of his more notable tracks heard in games like Crysis as well as each of the three expansions to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. And speaking of three, a trio of the songs Zur created for Bethesda's hotly anticipated RPG are available to listen to on the official Fallout 3 website, from in-game tracks "Megaton" and "Into the Wasteland," to a bass-heavy title track that has us climbing the walls in our underground shelter in the march up to the game's release this fall.

Cake, pizza, fabric, all things you can take a chunk out of to judge the quality. But Fallout 3, it's more like a Jenga tower or a baby: Taking a sample slice out of it won't end up well for anyone. To that end Eurogamer reports that Bethesda's Pete Hines says there will be no demo for the sprawling action RPG.

"When you build it as one thing, there's no way to portion off a section and have it stand on its own without putting the whole game in the demo, which we're just not going to do," Hines told the publication. But honestly, if at their heart demos are to help consumers make wise buying decisions, do you really need one for Fallout 3? We'll be fine waiting to have our minds blown by the whole package. In the interim, enjoy these three new screenshots Bethesda released today, to take the edge off.

Did you know that it was scientifically possible to desire Fallout 3 more than you already do? We didn't until this morning when we saw the (unconfirmed by Bethesda) listing for the collector's edition of it at Gamestop. For $70, you'll get a Vault Boy Bobblehead doll, a hardcover book of art and a behind-the-scenes DVD. Oh, and the whole thing comes in a metal Vault-Tec lunch box. Yes. Please.

There's also a date for the game of October 7, but that could just be an estimate. As far as we're concerned (thanks in part to today's announcement) the official date for Fallout 3 is "Not even close to soon enough."

In a hotel conference room, Bethesda's Pete Hines recently demoed the latest version of the Fallout 3. He trudged through a collapsed building, firing a machine gun at ambling, radiated mutants. The gore made me wince a little, with blood gurgling from zombie limbs. Earlier, he shot the head off another enemy, and blood arced straight out of the neck, as if it was trying to reach the brain one last time.

Only minutes earlier, he'd shown me how the player's character grows up in an underground bunker, with those moments acting partly as tutorial and partly as a character creator. Your father, for example, stays hidden in the shadows after your birth until he checks out how the infant will look grown up. Players use a medical gadget to see (read: design) their appearance, then he emerges with roughly similar, paternal features.

We've covered the game a few times before, so in addition to my general impressions, I talked with Hines about some recently revealed features.

It's been awhile since we've had an update on Interplay's long-promised Fallout MMO. To get some of you up to speed: plans for a Fallout MMO that could revive the ailing company were teased out of a November 2006 SEC filing. In April of the following year, Bethesda – already hard at work on Fallout 3 – bought the rights to the series from Interplay for $5.75 million. The deal allowed Interplay to be a licensee, paying Bethesda a 12% royalty on net sales of the still-vaporous Fallout MMO. In August, Interplay's CEO stated in an earning statement that "Fallout Online will play a key role in the future of Interplay" and in November the company revealed ambitions to rekindle franchises like Earthworm Jim, MDK, Descent, and Dark Alliance.

Now, in yet another earnings report wrapping up their 2007 fiscal year, Interplay reaffirms its ambition to secure funding for the Fallout MMO as well as "creating sequels to some of its most successful games," notably the four listed above. To that end, it's hiring developers and will be launching a new web site "imminently." Regrettably, we won't be seeing any of these games as "imminently."

[Via MCV]

Did you know that Oblivion and Fallout 3 dev Bethesda had a sibling named Vir2L Studios? Known primarily for releasing games for cellular phones, the ZeniMax-owned outfit has announced plans to bring a pair of titles to the Nintendo DS this summer. However, while this would have been great news had the company decided to bring its Elder Scrolls Travels mobile titles to the handheld, life has taught us that life is seldom that generous.

Vir2L will instead release touchable versions of its AMF Bowling and Ducati motorcycle racing series on the DS. Both AMF Bowling Pinbusters! and Ducati Moto promise multiple characters and Wi-Fi connectivity, and will each carry a budget price of $19.99. Still, our hope is that Vir2L is simply testing the waters with these titles, and we may someday be able to save Oblivion's Tamriel, stylus in hand.

Fallout fans can look forward to over 200 different endings with the upcoming Fallout 3, according to Executive Producer Todd Howard. Speaking on the OXM podcast (interview starts at 37-minute mark) Howard said, "Being that we are Bethesda, everything gets a bit big. So as of last week, we're over 200 endings. That is not an exaggeration, but it deserves some descriptions."

The clarification is that, like other Fallout games, choices you make in the game will affect aspects of the ending, so that figure is really a combination of many sub-endings. The real question, then, is how many times do you have to beat the game to see every sub-ending?

Howard also confirmed that Fallout 3 is twice the size than anticipated and close to the size of Oblivion. "The game is easily 100 hours," he said. Howard also goes into detail about the dog companion. Fallout 3 is still on track for release this Fall.

[Via Shacknews]

PS3 owners worried that Fallout 3 might come to their system of choice later than Microsoft's box(es) can put their fears to rest. Executive producer Todd Howard said that Fallout 3 should (unlike the company's last big release Oblivion) see a simultaneous release. "They should all be the same date," he said. "That's our plan."

It's definitely happy news, but we're going to wait until a bit closer to the game's Q3 release before we go get our SIXAXIS-shaped champagne flutes out of hock. As evidenced by a bevy of PS3 game delays, programming for the system is apparently about as predictable as raising mogwais.

It's said that bigger is not necessarily better, and it's a mantra that Oblivion dev Bethesda seems to have subscribed to for their next sprawling adventure, Fallout 3. In a massive interview with Gameplayer, Bethesda spokesperson Pete Hines said that, though no one had walked Fallout 3's post-apocolyptic D.C. from end to end, it's probably 50 to 80 percent as big as the world of Oblivion.

That said, it's not necessarily bad news. Fans of the series (or opponents of walking) might be relieved to hear that Bethesda is taking the quality over quantity route. Not to mention that 50 percent of Oblivion's land mass is still pretty darned big. Check out the rest of the interview for a vaultful of other non-geographic info.

Having already upped the ante in Portal challenges with Ren_Test2 in November, Bethesda's Daryl Brigner has returned with a new custom-made map aptly titled Ren_Test3. The download, available at TWHL, also includes Ren_Test 1 and 2 as well as Step, Time and Portal challenges for the maps.
We haven't had a chance to play it yet (such is the crazy, fast-paced life of a blogger), so tell us what you think in the comments below. Let's hope Valve finds a way to pool some of the best custom maps for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners, too.

We really wish we had a better understanding of the Oblivion PSP game (formally known as The Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion) but we still don't get it. We saw the first nugget in OPM in the fall of 2006 and it's been radio silence since then. Last we heard, folks who pre-ordered the game were being called by retailers in November to learn that it had been canceled.

Today though, CVG thinks they might have found a sign of life with a listing for the PSP title appearing on Amazon with a ship date of June 30, 2008. Bethesda was mum, telling us: "[We] still aren't talking about what's up with Oblivion PSP. We'll let folks know when that changes." So, a listing, but no confirmation. Hey square one. Good to see you again.

Are you the kind of vault dweller not wanting to seek life outside your safe vault dwelling but still longing for excitement? Bethesda is hiring Quality Assurance (QA) testers for the upcoming Fallout 3. Sure, you get to play the game before anyone else, but as an added incentive, Bethesda's Ashley Cheng notes that top testers usually get pulled to be interns for the company.

The developer diary for Fallout 3 has also been updated to give a profile for the Brotherhood of Steel, as well as show off some concept art for the game that you can also peruse in our gallery below. Fallout 3 is still slated for a Fall 2008 release.

"Every time you kill an opponent, all your action points are automatically restored." So goes the description for the perk "Grim Reaper's Sprint," winner of Bethesda's Fallout 3 Create a Perk contest. The designer, Marc-André Deslongchamps of Montreal, will see his perk included in the final game as well as receive a package of PC-related prizes.

The contest, announced in early October, was in honor of Fallout's 10th anniversary. Eleven runner-ups and five random entries were chosen to also receive gifts; be sure to check out their submitted perks at the contest page. We're hoping to see some of these other perks, especially Kleptomaniac, find their way into Fallout 3 in some facet.

Now that we know one of the perks, anyone want to place bets on what the others will be?

With help from money it gleaned from selling the Fallout franchise to Bethesda, Interplay intends to revitalize its in-house game development studio and "has hired a veteran game developer," according to an SEC filing. Interplay also noted that, should it be able to obtain further financing, the developer intends to "develop sequels to some of the most successful games, including Earthworm Jim, Dark Alliance, Descent and MDK." The developer also plans to continue work on a Fallout MMO.

The connection to Interplay's former post-apocalyptic franchise doesn't end there; it's as interwoven into this story as the characters from LOST are to each other. The "veteran game developer," as it turns out, is former Fallout designer Jason Anderson, who worked on the first and second games before leaving with fellow Fallout devs Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky to form Troika games. Anderson is reportedly working on an MMO for Interplay unrelated to Fallout.

[Via Gamasutra]

We don't know what makes us jealous of Bethesda developer Ashley Cheng more: that he procured a copy of Mass Effect early (thanks to Kmart) or that he drinks Nuka Cola (of Fallout 3 fame). Check out the highlights for today:

Joystiquery
Metareview: Crysis (PC)
Metareview: Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)
Readers pick best webcomic: The Littlest Hashshashin

News
Fall Xbox 360 dashboard update revealed: download Halo December 2
See the first trailer for Lego Batman
Brash to make game based on Jumper
Watch NiGHTS transform into a fish, rocket in new trailer
PS3 DivX support announced
South Park's Timmy, Freezepop in Rock Band
Alone in the Dark confirmed for Wii, PS2
The Office game is better than you'd think
Tim Schafer would 'love' to make an XBLA game
MS confirms downloadable Xbox games, free Carcassonne for Live anniv.
NBC's 'Life' investigates Prince of Persia
Some LEGO Batman details to whet your appetite for vengeance
Fable 2, Alan Wake not cancelled either
Wii Photo Channel gets better, worse in December
Mario more recognizable in Canada than Prime Minister
Supreme Commander confirmed for Xbox 360
Haze on track for December release
Geometry Wars: Galaxies delayed to 2008 in Europe
Gametap's 'Re\Visioned' animated series concludes first season

Culture & Community
Study shows that parents avoid playing video games with their kids
Midnight launch for Rock Band keeps Best Buys open late
Zero Punctuation guy makes games too