2 November 2008
Josh

Fallout 3 downloadable content coming to Xbox 360 and PC and PS3 later

It was revealed at E3 2008 that downloadable content (DLC) for Fallout 3 is exclusive to the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game, and will not appear in the PS3 version… until late September 2009.

Analyst Colin Sebastian with Lazard Capital Markets told Edge Online that Microsoft and Bethesda likely came to some sort of financial agreement to leave PS3 DLC out of the equation as a timed exclusivity.

“…I think it’s a very good possibility that Microsoft and Bethesda were partners in this decision. Obviously Microsoft paid up to secure exclusive online content for Grand Theft Auto IV, and online is a cornerstone for Microsoft’s digital media strategy.”

Officially Bethesda had this to say in an e-mail to Edge Online, “We aren’t going to get into the details of the hows and whys. DLC will be exclusive for PC and 360. We’re not going to give any other qualifiers or clarifications as it relates to other platforms.”

The DLC will reportedly be several hours long and will include an entirely new quest line!

“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,” Hines told ShackNews. “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. We want to do stuff like that, where it’s adding hours of tangible stuff to the experience. And it plugs into your existing game, so whether you’re starting a new game, or you’re playing for 40 hours, you can go off and play this,” said Hines.

Work on the DLC for the game is well under way at this point, “We stopped doing content a pretty good way before we finished the game in terms of adding new stuff. So we already have folks starting to look into what [the DLC] might be,” added Hines.

UPDATE November 25th 2008: The three downloadable content packs will be released on Xbox 360 and Games for Windows Live in January 2009, with more due in February and March. They will add new quests, items and content. Here are the details on the three DLC packs:

1. Operation Anchorage: Enter a military simulation and fight in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe – the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. An action-packed battle scheduled for release on January 27. — All-in-all you get 4 to 5 hours of gameplay for a price of 800 Microsoft Points (that’s US$10 / €9.60 / £6.80 / CAN$12.40 / AU$13.20).

2. The Pitt: Journey to the industrial raider town called The Pitt, located in the remains of Pittsburgh. The Pitt consists of a large dungeon area, an abandoned steel yard, as well as a settlement divided into two halves; Downtown, occupied by slaves, and Haven occupied by their masters. For the first time players will be able to interact with Raiders other than by fighting them, and one major quest has you taking on the role of a slave, investigating rumors that the Raider boss has found a cure for mutation. It won’t be as combat-heavy as Anchorage. Scheduled for release on March 24. — It’s also priced at 800 Microsoft Points.

3. Broken Steel: Join the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel and rid the Capital Wasteland of the Enclave remnants once and for all. This pack will raise the player’s level cap to 30! It starts about two weeks after the events of Fallout 3’s main quest, opening up in the Capital Wasteland by Project Purity, which is now up and running. The new area has lots of new enemies, including a super mutant overlord, a feral ghoul reaver and an Enclave hellfire trooper; new weapons, like the Tesla Canon (which you have to help build) and a projectile flame thrower; new achievements and even new perks like Puppies, which reincarnates a dead Dogmeat automatically as a puppy. It will take 4-6 hours to complete. Scheduled for release on May 5. — It’s also priced at 800 Microsoft Points.

4. Point Lookout: Explore a massive new swampland area filled with new quests and content. Point Lookout will be available in late June for Xbox 360 and PC. It will be available through Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live and through token cards available at retail. Point Lookout will be available on PS3 after the first three DLCs will have finally been released on PS3 during September 2009. — Cost will be 800 Microsoft points or $9.99.

5. Mothership Zeta: The aliens have returned, and they’re pissed. Experience an alien abduction first hand and find out if you’re tough enough to survive. Mothership Zeta is scheduled for release in late July for Xbox 360 and PC. It will be available through Xbox Live and Games for Windows Live and through token cards available at retail. Mothership Zeta will be available on PS3 after Point Lookout. Scheduled for release on August 3. — Cost will be 800 Microsoft points or $9.99.

3 February 2009 09:04
jake

yes x box 360 did sell more units but considering i work for them and I know the truth that we only sell so many because so many break and people have to go buy a brand new one. Sony forever.

7 February 2009 13:05
bartle22

um ya u fanboys suck, i own a ps3 and xbox360 and fall out suks on both systems, play it on a gaming pc rig or shut up

9 February 2009 21:26
sgtpepper

how the heck do ya see the ps3 having worse graphics, only thing that pissed me off is that bethesda didnt upgrade the graphics to fit 1080p otherwise ive never encountered your so called bugs you (you know who) were talking about, oh and on a side note ps3 may have less sales but it costs almost (if not more) than a xbox360

9 February 2009 21:29
sgtpepper

my bad i meant it cost twice if not more than a ps3 also your right its best on the pc but not everyone can afford a pc.(sony rocks)

10 February 2009 17:51
JDRIZZLE15

Bethesda, you cut me deep. I don’t know what kind of deal you made with Microsoft, but its just not fair! I am a PS3 owner, I bought this game specifically because I knew there would be download content, and it would be worth my time and money. Because of this deal you could possibly lose valuable customers, and in this economy I ask you is it worth it?!

12 February 2009 16:30
Aiden

yeah well back on the subject of sales an xbox 360 elite has a 120 G hard drive is only 700+ so i think its still better than Ps3 not that i dnt like ps3 just concider the fact the microsoft the best computer sytem company in the world making gaming consoles just makes xbox a lil bit better

20 February 2009 23:13
Bob Club

I think this illustrates the type of company that Bethesda has become. They could honestly give a s*** about there customers, because Microsoft bribed them. PS3 owners paid just as much for FO3 yet we don’t get any of the DLC? I guess it’s their prerogative, but that is the kind of business that is going to hurt them in the long run. At $10 a pop, and three DLCs for O3, that probably would have translated into millions for Bethesda. Not to mention that if Bethesda took pride in their product and didn’t just see it as a way top make money, they would want to get FO3 to as many customers as possible. Sorry Microsoft, nobody is going to run out and by an xbox just for the FO3 DLC. You basically threw your money away by giving it to Bethesda and gaining no competitive advantage over Sonyand made the world worse off for many FO3 fans.
Oh well. It seems Bethesda has lost touch with their customers too. While it seems half of that company have it together, and make games because it’s what they love to do, it seems that the other half in marketing and PR are a bunch of hot shot entertainment industry execs who wear lots of cologne, use business buzz words like ’synergy’ and ‘mock-ups’, and think that they could bottle their own piss and sell it at the corner store for $4.99 as the hip new energy drink. Sadly, that seems to be where this whole video game industry is headed…

On another note, this whole console war is ridiculous. I read through a few of these posts and it seems that most (not all) of the 360 owners need to stop playing so many hours of Halo, start hitting the books and improve their proficiency in the english language. Yes, it’s horribly pretentious to say that, but it’s for your own good. Its very hard to make a persuasive argument as to why the 360 rulez without basic language skills. But the whole point of even saying that is that I am mostly certain that 360 owners are a younger demographic.

Microsoft hasn’t done anything right for years, and now that Bill Gates has left to spread Malaria around the world through his foundation, Microsoft has no vision or direction. Just keep copying Apples business model and sell gaming systems.
Now that the economy is tough, and parents will no longer buy their teens video game systems in such large quantities, the only people who are going to be buying video game consoles are males in their 20s-30s with steady incomes(PS3s for the phenomenal deal on a great blu-ray player and gaming console combo) and the Wii for everyone else. I don’t know a single person over 23 who has ever bought an xbox 360 because it just doesn’t make financial sense to buy a $300 video game console that doesn’t do anything besides play games when you can buy a much more versatile PS3 for $100 more. If MS doesn’t put a blu-ray player on the 360 soon, they will begin to lose market share to Sony and Nintendo very quickly. You can only re-release the same version of Halo but with a new dune buggy so many times before people will stop buying it. If that’s the 360s ace in the hole when it comes to games, then Microsoft is in big trouble since exclusive titles are the only marginal advantage the Xbox has over the PS3.

And also, Blu-rays look waaaay better than DVDs. If you can’t tell the difference it’s either because your TVs resolution isn’t 1080p which blu-rays are, as opposed to 480p DVDs, or that you are going blind. And the PS3 blu-ray player is one of the best on the market. Don’t believe me? Just look up the c-net reviews or consumer reports reviews. Better yet, just watch it with your own eyes.

2 March 2009 13:18
justin

ok, so if anyone actually cares to get back on the subject of FALLOUT 3. i have an actual consern. will i be able to beat fallout 3 and then go back once the other two downloads come out and do them, or will i have to load a previous game save before i beat it. iv been holding off beating the last quest in worry of this. also in regards to the content only for 360, im sure it has a lot to do with the fact that the previous fallouts were on pc for the microsoft operating system. 360 has been known to be easier to program games, and im sure this is especially true for the fallout games.

4 March 2009 21:37
james

yeah…the Broken Steel quest is supposed to change the ending of the game so you should be able to go back to that point where the game actually ends and continue down the new ending and storyline.

5 April 2009 23:23
Joshua Lowry

This is rather disappointing to hear. I purchased a PS3 not too long ago and this was one of the first games Ive played on a console for quite sometime. I was hoping to find something console-wise to keep me entertained but now I just feel ripped off. If the ending I saw was truly was the end of the game I wouldn’t be upset at all… just be ready to buy the sequel and give more money to the franchise. As it is I just feel cheated. If you are going to offer dlc for a game it should be available on ALL platforms that you sell it on. Price is not an issue… I wouldnt mind having to pay a few bucks more for dlc that was worth playing…but Bethesda has taken that option away from a select group of their customers. I just won’t buy another Bethesda game again is all. Oh well /shrug… back to WoW, where the new dlc is available for both pc AND mac.