Fallout trivia - 28 little-known facts from after the end of the world
Added: 13.05.2015 14:44 | 24 views | 0 comments
The Fallout series has never been shy about letting its developers' personalities shine through - for such a grim set-up, they're remarkably humorous games, packed with winks, nods and irradiated salutes to the people and media that informed their creation.
With a , now's as good a time as any to look back on the gnomes, grannies and grenades that might have slipped your notice in the previous console outings.
Burnout’s Crash Mode replays were the original inspiration behind the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.) Just substitute severed limbs for crumpled fenders - you get it.
The sound you hear played upon entering V.A.T.S. is the combat turn sound from Fallout 1. It used to help signal the end of a fight - and, let's face it, entering V.A.T.S. usually does too.
Some secrets extend to even the wallpapers put out by Bethesda to market New Vegas – notably one of a young lady looking coquettish in a Vault 34 jumpsuit. “It’s actually the leader of the Boomers faction, Pearl, as a young woman,” says Lead designer J.E. Sawyer. “Which is why her name appears next to the picture on the side of the Boomers’ B-29 in the background of their end slide.”
Fallout 3 began development in 2004 and was announced before Oblivion – which came out 2 years earlier - was even revealed. Perhaps we can hope for the same with Elder Scrolls VI?
In the world of Fallout, the nuclear bombs fell on 23 October. Bethesda wanted to make the release date of Fallout 3 coincide with this. It ended up releasing a week later in North America.
The names on New Vegas’ Boulder City memorial are not, as is widely thought, those of developers. They’re fictional, but have links to past Fallout games. Roger Westin III is, for example, the grandson of an NCR character in Fallout 2.
Artist Grant Struthers prototyped the V.A.T.S. camera system by filming his Incredibles action figures fighting. Imagine looking at Dash and thinking about his legs falling off - we've never done that. Nope. Never. Nuh-uh.
The very first piece of Fallout 3 art was created by lead artist Istvan Pely in 2004. It was the power armour image that eventually became the game’s cover.
Bethesda Softworks was actually only based in Bethesda, Maryland for a short time. Its offices are now located in Rockville, Maryland.
Actress Courtney Cox (i.e. Monica from Friends) worked at Bethesda briefly in the 1980s. She later hosted the Fallout 3 launch party.
In another Friends connection, Matthew ‘Chandler’ Perry became such a vocal fan of Fallout 3 that he was asked to voice the character of Benny in New Vegas.
Monty Python references abound in New Vegas’ Wasteland – but only if you have the Wild Wasteland perk. For instance, in Cottonwood Cove a building is graffitied ‘Romanes Eunt Domus’ in reference to Life of Brian, and Holy Hand Grenades can be found in a Camp Searchlight cellar. And that’s not all…
Our favourite Wacky Wasteland moment is another Monty Python nod. Leave Cerulean Robotics and you’ll get assaulted by Hell’s Grannies – a gang from sketch-film And Now For Something Completely Different. “I liked them because there was actually some foreshadowing for it,” explains Sawyer.
The bell that sounds after shooting the Fat Man Nuclear Catapult is the lunchroom bell at the Bethesda offices.
The Fat Man is based on an actual nuke launcher, the M-388 Davy Crockett Tactical Nuclear Recoilless Rifle, which was made in the 1950s.
The cars in Fallout 3 are based on the Ford Nucleon, a concept car built to run on a nuclear generator in the 1950s.
Obsidian knows its beer. In a New Vegas location called Brewer’s Beer Bootlegging there’s an advert for a tipple called ‘Strategic Nuclear Moose’ in reference to mind-annihilating Scottish brew, ‘Tactical Nuclear Penguin’.
The Downtown D.C. area in Fallout 3 was originally twice as big, but the team decided it was too large and confusing and cut half the space out. Conversely, the Wasteland area eventually doubled.
The voice of the baby you play at the start of Fallout 3 is game director Todd Howard’s son Jake on his 1st birthday.
The voice of Timmy Neusbaum, who you have to make cry in Fallout 3’s Tranquility Lane, is the voice of Cullen Pagliarulo. He’s the son of lead designer Emil Pagliarulo.
Reckon you vaguely recognise the voice of the Robobrains? That’s none other than Wil Wheaton – formerly irritating child prodigy Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation and now jack-of-all-nerd-trades.
Mr. Handy and Harold are both voiced by Stephen Russell, who also plays Garrett in the Thief series of games.
At one point, Fallout 3 featured a surgery minigame, where you had to cauterize your own wounds while watching your character scream in pain. The team felt it slowed down the game’s pace to just heal your limbs.
Meat of Champions is a secret New Vegas perk that goes uncovered in the strategy guides. “It was requested by senior producer Jason Bergman,” explains Sawyer. “He wanted an additional reward for cannibalising all of the ‘Kings’ of New Vegas.” That means getting the Cannibal perk, then chowing down on Caesar, Mr. House, The King, and President Kimball – after that, you get stat bonuses for every body you eat. Tuck in…
In the original design of the Fallout 3, you were actually able to drive Liberty Prime. You also did battle with a working and floating Rivet City.
If you sneak up behind a Brahmin and activate it, your character will tip it over. Like a bastard.
“We have a unique gnome figurine in New Vegas called the Evil Gnome,” laughs Sawyer. “I asked the artist to model it after our lead world builder, Scott Everts. We like to think of him as an evil gnome, and decided to covertly slip him into the world in disguise.”
In the Hubris Comics’ building in Fallout 3, there is a terminal in the computer games division that contains an actual working text adventure called The Reign of Grelok.
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