Great news to GTA IV fans! Rockstar has finally announced that GTA 4 DLC will be coming to PS3 and PC. Previously both GTA 4 DLC  ”The Lost and Damned” and ” The Ballard of Gay Tony” were exclusive on the Xbox360 but during the few months some have hinted that GTA 4 DLC episodes are just time exclusive on microsoft xbox360.

Rockstar will be releasing GTA: Episodes from Liberty city which will include both Action pack episodes through a retail disc will be release on PS3 and Windows platform on March 30, 2010. The two action packed episodes will also be available for download on the PlayStation Network and Games for Windows® LIVE on March 30, 2010.

The two action packed episodes will also be available for download on the PlayStation Network and Games for Windows® LIVE on March 30, 2010.  Each episode boasts the same detailed and immersive Liberty City we all know and love.  Games for Windows – LIVE players can enjoy 32-player multiplayer matches and an advanced video editor, and all fans will have the chance to once again listen to the dulcet tones of Liberty City Radio.

The Lost and Damned is a dark trip through Liberty City’s seedy underbelly as outlaw biker, Johnny Klebitz, fights to keep his gang together as a rift in the gang’s leadership threatens to tear the brotherhood apart. In The Ballad of Gay Tony, players explore Liberty City’s high-end nightlife as Luis Lopez, struggling to balance the temptations of money and vice against loyalties to family and friends. Both episodes feature a slew of new vehicles and weapons, and each episode adds new activities including cage fighting, gang wars and BASE jumping.

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. It looks to me as if some publisher has misunderstood the concept of games press release, and confused games with politics. Seriously guys, there’s a difference here. If you’re going to do a press release and tell us about your game, the stuff you do tell us, the stuff that is the whole point of the release should probably be clear. This follows the announcement by 2K about the DRM that comes with Bioshock 2. Now, I know I have the unwritten rule (I just giggled at that pun. Help) against writing about DRM. But the point here isn’t that Bioshock has DRM. It’s the fact that this press release has been done so badly.

It started with the fun release of this press release which gave people the chance to see what they were saying should be the minimum specs for playing it at a decent speed. I’ve promised myself that I won’t get mad. But the bulk of it (Which is made much more clear here) was talking about GFWL and SecuROM being part of the package. The red mist is starting to well up, so let’s skip ahead 24 hours. The community manager (I think that’s who it is. I have no real idea) then posted this the day after . Which was just confusing. Something about removing the 15 secuROM activations (Whoopie!) and adding in 15 activations for GFWL. Hang on, what?

Now, I’m not a mathematician here, but doesn’t 15=15? I really don’t understand what the difference between 15 secuROM activations and 15 GFWL activations is. I’m an idiot yes, but surely the people who boycott because of activations are still going to find that annoying? A person who I found by accident posted a thing all about their views (And gives much more information about the real anger if you care about the Bioshock situation). It’s not that I don’t like them announcing DRM (even though DRM = hate, [insert rant here]). It’s the cowardly way it’s been hidden behind complicated words.

I completly understand that when a game is developed, there are secrets that need to be kept. The DRM developers are planning on using however is like that naked woman chained to your bed. If you don’t tell your girlfriend about it, she’s probably going to slap you when she finds out. Well, if we don’t know what DRM you use, it becomes a shock when the day of installing begins. You can relate that back to the analogy about the naked woman if you want. Freak. If you decide to do a press release about the DRM you’ll be using, then you need to give something clear. In this example, they could’ve just done this:

To help protect this game from piracy, there will be the use of SecuROM and GFWL. SecuROM will check that your disk is authentic, and you will link the game to 15 GFWL profiles, allowing you to play online and save/load the game. This means you can install on as many machines as you like, but only 15 GFWL profiles can use it.

That to me seems like it makes much more sense than using a naked woman analogy to describe DRM, and it is much clearer too. If you want to announce the spyware DRM that will come with your game, tell us out in the open, instead of leaving us to colour in the blanks with a red pen when it should have been blue. We might actually start trusting you.

So looks like some extra goodies coming up. Bioshock 2 will not only be a Games for Windows — LIVE title, it will also be available at release as a Games on Demand title! Can’t wait for this one, the first game was amazing. I am really looking forward to the multiplayer aspect of the sequel. I LOVE IT WHEN YOU CALL ME BIG DADDY! (I know… I know…) Get your plasmids ready, we will definitely have some events to get the community together to play this when it drop on Feb 9th.

Games for Windows — LIVE Bioshock 2 Page

GeForce users who purchased a retail (boxed) copy of Dark Void.

In order to play Dark Void with enhanced PhysX features, a patch must be installed.

You can Download at Patches-scrolls.com

Me trying not to talk about hateful DRM when I used to get hit by it is like the Daily Mirror trying not to talk about Diana: It just doesn’t happen. I generally try to keep my anger subdued when I write on here, mainly because it feels like you shouldn’t see me when I’m that riled. But it’s impossible to not get annoyed when you get to the pile of crap that is Games For Windows Live.

Sweet jesus, what a fun weeks it’s been for me. Not only has the snow made it impossible to get to college and prepare for a god awful exam which I’m planning on failing as you read this, the attempts at de-stressing myself were unsuccessful because of that pile of rubbish. As I was revising for a mechanics exam (The maths behind physics basically), Red Faction was my ‘destress’ game, since it had physics in it and so was technically revision. This game of course has GFWL used as part of its DRM (I say part, I have my copy with Steam, but Steam isn’t required, and I haven’t had a Steam issue yet).

I’ve never fully encountered GFWL before in my gaming career, only a brief spell with the DoW2 beta, which I really didn’t participate in much anyway, but a fair few horror stories have reached my ear. Being a fair person though, I refused to hate it on principle. If it works for me, and does it’s job, then it’s a fair cop. I’m not a cruel person, and not a person who complains because everyone else complains like readers of a certain paper (*cough* Daily Mail *cough*. Before this week, I saw no reason to not like it. It kept telling me to update Red Faction using their system, but I could safely ignore it, which I did seeing as my connection’s been rather flaky over the past few weeks, and it never told me what these patches were, and thus I was signed in as offline. It mostly ran in the background, not really doing much, so it was fine. As such, I continued to play, got to just before then end and didn’t notice any significant blocks to my attempts to playing. Until this week.

As stated above, my connection is rather flaky at the moment, as I’m using a wireless card (Yeah yeah, wireless gaming is stupid, blah blah blah), and I keep losing the router signal somehow. This means that I can find it difficult to log into GFWL, and other occasions it times out because the connections slow (See above). On some occasions (Read: All), the signing in just keeps trying until it can actually do it, without a check to see whether there are difficulties or not*. Then you realise how much of the game needs this sign in. Want to load up a save? Want to save a game? GFWL log in please. Volition, would you mind telling me why I need my gamer profile to play a game on my hard drive? I’d understand if my saves are in the cloud, but unless they are, why the hell are you forcing me to?

I wouldn’t be so incensed if it wasn’t so badly designed either. If I don’t install the updates it has, then it says I’ll be signed out of GFWL. But I’m not, I get signed in as offline. It’s similar to if you don’t have a connection when trying to use Steam. It tries for some time, then signs you in as offline. It tells you that you aren’t connected to the Steam servers, and that you have an issue. With GFWL, you only get that if you actually do sign in, and elect to not install an update, and doesn’t tell you it’s got issues. I can’t be the only one that thinks that’s a damn stupid idea can I?

I totally look like that guy in the middle in real life, in case you were wondering. The girl is there in my head.

Why can’t I have an offline account straight away if it realises that it can’t log in? Why do I need an online one? I wasn’t told this, I wasn’t aware that I needed GFWL to play this game. An analogy that I always end up using in a DRM debate is that we’re being treated like dolphins who have to jump through hoops to get fish. Why do Volition think it’s a fair practice to force me to have a working connection, even though I’ve got this game legally, and have played it for a while? Something somewhere knows that I’ve bought this game legally, as I’ve linked it to my account. You could just tell the game which account it’s linked to. I dunno, try a triple MD5 hash encryption and spread the characters of that hash in a file in a seemingly random way, so nobody can brute force it easily, and tell the game how to load it up and check.

Let me make this clear: I respect the purpose of DRM. I fully believe that Intellectual Property should, and needs, be protected, and a good DRM will help that. I just don’t want a DRM that makes it impossibly difficult to play a game when I have bought the game. There’s been other things in the past, like DRM that’s destroyed disk drives (Starforce I think). Gamers are right to be cautious of DRM. Gamers also pay attention to the gaming press. As soon as anyone in the press gets hit by DRM, gamers will hear about it, and then the bloodbaths begin. What annoys me the most about DRM is how the one thing it’s supposed to stop becomes the one solution. So many times I’ve had to use a torrent/download to get a crack because the DRM was preventing me play these games. Does that make me a pirate? You tell me. I’ll say it again, I respect that developers need to protect their property. I don’t respect the idea that they see the need protect it so well the legitimate gamers can’t access it.

* Just so you know, I read a book and was waiting for 10 minutes without a log in. This isn’t about it not happening straight away, it’s about the damn thing just not realising there’s an issue and telling me there is, instead of freezing my game. I finished a whole chapter of Bad Science, which I heartily recommend. Ben Goldacre, you now owe me a commision of about 0.01%. Return to reading

Geltabz – $6
I have some of these and they greately increased my accuracy and grip. I went from having my sensitivity as 3 to 6. A great buy at a great price

Turtle Beach headsets $30 – $200
These work wonders. You can hear enemy footsteps and silenced weapons from miles away, best used with SitRep pro!

Vuzix iWear £150 – £200
Imagine having a 42 inch – 62 inch screen right infront of your eyes, and surround sound volume? For just £150 – £200, a half the price of a TV? Well here you go. Your personal HD, Widescreen, 42 – 62 inch TV.

To download games for windows live click HERE

I tried it and here is my review:

First off, you download the installer for the games. So far there are about 16 games, and you only have to pay to download them. So no waitin for games to be delivered.

I just tried the free game ‘tinker’

When you open the game it says ‘enter the windows live ID accossiated with your xbox live account’ and it takes about half a minute to log you in.

The game is full-screen but windowed so you can do other things whilst playing, at the top there is your dashboard shortcut. You can click the thing at the top or the ‘home’ button on your keyboard to take you to the dashboard. On the dashboard it says: Friends, Messages, blah blah blah. You can even send voice messages.

Microsoft aims to crucify Steam

Delusions of grandeur are funny and all, but they are a sign/warning of deeper issues, especially in a company that looks to do business. For starters, how many self-proclaimed “Wow-killers” have you seen that ended up being disappointments? Aside from virtually all of them. Yes, it seems that by the time a product (WoW, Steam, Ipod,  Windows, etc) gets to the point of success where other products use it as a focal point of sales (___-killer), the product has become so successful that it has rooted itself in the number one spot, at least for the time being.

Microsoft’s Games on Demand (Or GOD) was just recently announced, and is essentially a digital download addition to Games for Windows Live. The company aims to take a chip off of Steam’s 70% hold of the digital download market, and I say good luck with that. Good luck in the same manner you tell your friend “good luck” as he dons his helmet, cape (bath towel), and proceeds to jump off the roof of a building to prove he can fly.

At this juncture, GOD will only allow you to purchase and download Live-enabled games; Which makes the market very, very small. Granted, Microsoft can play some dirty tactics and use their endless coffers to pay for exclusive titles. So you have a smaller collection, most likely at equal or similar pricing to Steam, what could possibly give Steam more of an edge?

Microsoft Points! For some reason Microsoft insists on using the Xbox Live’s point system rather than a real currency, of which you are almost guaranteed to have a small amount of cash lingering after every purchase. Why pay $25 dollars for something when you can pay $30 and see that extra five dangle in perjury for all of eternity.

If Microsoft hopes to compete with Steam, at all, Games for Windows Live needs to be less of a nuisance. There are some of us who still remember when Microsoft wanted to charge for playing GFWL games online.

“Bye bye happiness / hello loneliness” cantava quella vecchia volpe barbosa di George Harrison, assemblando la colonna sonora di oggi. Il che presume un po’ di ottimismo extra, perché tutto sommato non è proprio che ci sia chissà quale “happiness” qua (a sufficienza, comunque)… ma di certo c’è da dare il benvenuto alla futura solitudine. Eh sì, Microsoft ha aggiornato/potenziato il servizio Games for Windows Live, quella roba per cui puoi sincronizzare anche su PC il profilo giocatore creato attraverso Xbox 360*. Non è questa la notizia, anche perché in effetti si fa da tempo (da Shadowrun?). La notizia è che hanno aperto la sezione Games on Demand e quella dedicata ai giochi Arcade. Riuscite a intuire la portata del dramma? Audio Radar ora può spupazzarsi giochi anche in orari tecnicamente poco consoni alla faccenda: giochi da scaricare per profili da arricchire.
La mamma di tutti i GameProfilari ha anche pensato bene di accendere la miccia dando la possibilità di scaricare gratuitamente Tinker, un puzzle game con un protagonista di latta e un sistema di controllo di ferro arrugginito. Però guardabile e anche giocabile, tutto sommato. Se non altro per il prezzo. E per gli achievement, ovvio. Ma si era già capito. Che bisogna fare per tutto questo “ben di Dio”? Semplicemente scaricare il client di Games for Windows Live, se già non lo si ha. E poi farsi licenziare.

* Si, suppongo che da qualche parte ci sia pure gente che il profilo se l’è creato direttamente su/per PC. Ma preferisco non parlarci.

So today is the official announcement of the upcoming Games on Demand service on Games for Windows LIVE (GFW – LIVE). As of December 15th you will be able to use the GFW – LIVE client to purchase full PC games from the marketplace. Launch titles will include: Resident Evil 5, Red Faction: Guerilla and Battlestations: Pacific. Also available at launch will be World of Goo, Osmos and Tinker (Free), each of these will be available in a new GFW – LIVE enabled version.

One of the nice additions to the LIVE service/marketplace is that you will  be able to purchase games not only using Microsoft Points, but also using credit cards which simplifies the process for many people. For the most part this is a natural evolution of the LIVE platform and brings in more in parallel with the Xbox LIVE Games on Demand offering.

Anywhere I can log into a PC with my LIVE profile(Using the GFW – LIVE Client), I can install my games. Have a Desktop you use at home and a laptop you use on the road? No problem, your games are tied to your account, not to your machine.

There will be more info in the coming weeks so stay tuned!

Games on Demand Official Press Release

Dirt 2 has released on the PC with Games for Windows Live and DirectX 11 support. For more info check it out here:

Dirt 2 @ GamesforWindows.com

Dirt 2 Official Web Site

Dirt 2 @ Codemasters

For those that have been waiting to get your wheels dirty on the PC with some DirectX 11 sweetness, get your game on!

~VIDEO GAME NEWS~

Take Two: GTA doesn’t have to be an annualized franchise
details click here

Tim Shafer Brutal Legend Interview
details click here

New Super Mario Bros Wii sells over 420k first day in Japan
details click here

Bioware introduces ‘Gift of the Yeti’
details click here

Assassin’s Creed 2 glitch breaks game
details click here

FTC: Game industry best regulated of all entertainment sectors
details click here

NPD: 82% of children are gamers
details click here

Mass Effect 2 in 2 discs
details click here

White Knight Chronicles International Edition Feb 2
details click here

Dynasty Warriors Online to have 24 player battles
details click here

EA: Wii is Confounding to People
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Boderlands sequel to be call Borderworlds
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Uncharted 2 experimental multiplayer weekend
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THQ to have new dev studio in Montreal
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Microsoft announces Lips
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Playstation 15th anniversary
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Phoenix Wright ported to iphone
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Star Trek Online collector’s edition
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MGS: Peace Walker dated for UK
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Games for Windows Live getting Games on Demand
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Grand Turismo 5 demo coming Dec 17
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EA stands by Tiger Woods
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EA Sports launches Visa card
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Infamous now Playstation 3 Greatest Hits
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Saboteur day one DLC
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New costumes in Playstation Home
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Famitsu gives Modern Warfare 39
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Final Fantasy XIII Tokyo Ad gallery
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Retailer lists games that failed to meet expectations in 09
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Mass Effect 2 interview
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EA: Digital market to take over next year
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PSP go UMD add-on
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Heavy Rain dated in Japan
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EA = fewer titles, more digital distribution
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Dreamworks extends THQ video game deal
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Mirror’s edge leaping to iphone
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Final Fantasy XII Zack to appear in KH: Birth by sleep
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Man finishes World of Warcraft
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Aonuma: The Legacy of Zelda Interview
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Metal of Honor goes Modern
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Dan Hsu and Demian Linn rejoining EGM
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Pets coming to XBL
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Final Fantasy XIII 50-60 hours long
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Direct 2 Drive 24 hours of Christmas Sale
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Bayonetta pre order bonus for UK
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Bungie now hiring
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Game Companies going green with new cases
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Assassin’s creed II DLC
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DICE speakers announced
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Sonic Classic Collection for DS
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Standalone DJ hero turntable controller $70
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ESRB launches iphone app
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Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker dated for March 18 2010
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Fist of North Star Musou set for March
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Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony Black Friday console sales stats
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Dante’s Inferno Demo PS3 timed exclusive
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Final Fantasy XIII box art
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Cid revealed in Final Fantasy XIII
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Nintendo sells more than 1.5million hardware units during holiday weekend
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Prince of Persia writer wins Writers’ Guild of Great Britain award
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Nokia demos retro emulators games in commericals
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Microsoft’s Gates Subpoenaed in RROD Suit
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Sonic Relief 2010 ideas wanted
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Ubisoft planning 10 games for Natal, 4-5 for PS Motion controller
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Battlefield: Bad Company 2 PC Beta Delayed
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New Prince of Persia Announced
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Nintendo: Wii Sales up 85% since price reduction
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Media Molecule won BAFTA awards
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HMV drops PSPgo price to 148.99 GBP in UK
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Amazon Germany lists Yakuza 3
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Xbox Live on iphone and Ipod Touch
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Bill Gates on Natal
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New Challenges for Nintendo
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Link take to the skies in next Zelda
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Nintendo investigating possible copyright infringement by Nokia
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Free Dragon Ball Raging Blast DLC
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Final Fantasy XIII commercials kick off
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Final Fantasy XII JP back of the box details
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Microsoft: Natal as next TV remote
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Robin Williams named his daughter Zelda based off VG series
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Ubisoft on 3d gaming
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King of Fighters live action movie
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Alone in the Dark 2 movie sequel to DVD
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Splinter Cell Conviction co-op confirmed
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Eidos: Thief 4 coming in ‘leaps and bounds’
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Xbox 360 iplayer launch delay
details click here

New update for the Games for Windows – Live (GfWL) client today. Update notes are in the Games For Windows forums at (http://forums.gamesforwindows.com/t/8736.aspx).

What’s new in 3.1:

• An update to the in-game client to support DirectX 11 for future titles, such as Dirt 2 from Codemasters.
• An update to make finding content for games easier in the GfWL client.
• Bug Fixes

For more info hit the forums.

The other day I bought Red Faction: Guerrilla on Steam. It requires a Games for Windows Live! login in order to function completely – by which I mean you can’t save your game without a LogIn. Putting aside that fact that this is, essentially, selling you crippled software, I decided to go ahead and log in.

I can’t, so I reset my password. This isn’t too hard to do. When I try to log in again, I’m told that I don’t have the right ports open and I should contact my ISP. I work on that for a few days, when I have time, and try again.

Now it tells me that I have the wrong password. So I rest it, again. Then it tells me that I have the wrong password. Yes, again. So I checked online, and found a Microsoft web page that suggests some Internet settings changes in Windows, and that I completely clear my browser history, restart my computer, and try again. So I do.

You guessed it. Still tells me that my password is wrong. So I reset it again, and I check to see if my account exists. Games for Windows Live! says that it doesn’t. Well, that seems to be the root of the problem, right? Why it would let me reset my password when I don’t even have an account, I don’t know. Using links on the pages, I try to create an account. Yep, it says there’s already an account with that e-mail address.

Is there a number I can call? A way to chat with tech support live? An e-mail address? No, and maybe it’s not reasonable to expect such. Microsoft’s market is gigantic. There’s no way to staff that tech support department. Nonetheless, it’s a giant turn-off for buying any game with the Games for Windows Live! logo on it. That logo isn’t free, either. You have to go through a certification process to get it. So game companies are throwing away money in order to release their games with a logo that Microsoft tells them adds value to their product.

The solution, by the way, seems to be setting up a hotmail account. Once I did that, I had no problem creating an account, a working password, and savable games.

Is anything more frustrating than a Microsoft product? If you’re already sitting pretty with the latest operating system updates and the latest version of Games for Windows Live, yet your Downloadable Content is still “calculating download size,” disable all non-Microsoft Services and Startup items. Do this by clicking START > RUN , typing msconfig, clicking on the Services tab, the Hide All Microsoft Services box below, the Disable All button to the right the Startup tab above, the Disable All button below and finally Apply. Cycle the power and enjoy your DLCs.

Aqui vai uma lista com os jogos que rodam na rede da Microsoft, a LIVE mesma rede do Xbox360 que agora está nos PC’s também!

Segue a lista com alguns jogos de PC que rodam na rede:

• Games For Windows LIVE

A Microsoft lançou a nova versão da Games for Windows Live, discretamente claro, que tem como principal novidade a navegação dentro de um jogo, para compra de conteúdo, assim como o MP,  Microsoft Points.

O download está disponível aqui.

CLIQUE AQUI E VEJA AS IMAGENS DA NOVA GWL

[Direto do HardCore Gaming]

Преди около час, реших че е време да поцъкам малко Fallout 3 (не съм играл от бая време). Та пускам си аз играта, и ми изкача съобщение че трябва да се логна в Games For Windows Live. Първоначално малко се зачудих, но реших че съм “разлогнат” понеже наистина не съм играл отдавна.
Логвам си се аз, и изведнъж:

Спрях играта и започнах див сърч из дебрите на интернет. Според данните навсякъде, въпросната грешка (0×80151909) означава някакъв проблем с закачането към Live сървъра, но чека показа че въпросният си работи съвсем нормално. Последва дълъг процес по чекване на файърлоули, рестартиране на рутери, ресетване на някакви сложи майкрософтски неща из дъното на уиндоуса и резултата беше… грешка номер 0×80151909

Опитах се да пиша в официалният форум на Games For Windows Live, но се оказа че там системата е толкова добре измислена, че имате нужда от диплома по програмиране на C++ и набор от награди по “компютърни науки” само за да успеете да се логнете в профила си.

Малко преди да полудея, се сетих че може би е добра идея да чекна и в форума на Bethesda Softworks. Да, очевидно е, че проблема е в Live но все пак, там хората са далеч по сговорчиви и разбрани от съпорта на M$, а и играта е тяхна
В крайна сметка след кратко ровене, попаднах на тази тема (Games for Windows Live, Cannot connect) от която разбрах, че… днес има профилактика на Live-системата (!#(!)@*$#)&$!)@&$!*$&)$#@) – Reminder: Xbox Live Maintenance on Tuesday
E БРАВО! Дано тоя път си ъпдейтнете поне системата за грешки!

Та така де, днес явно няма да играя Fallout 3 а M$ са пълни дебили!

Apparently the third time is the charm as Broken Steel is unequivocally the best of Fallout 3’s downloadable content packs.

Broken Steel succeeds because it caters directly to Fallout 3’s central plot without weakening it. There are no diversions or trips to less-important locales in this add-on—players are brought back to the Capital Wasteland, continuing the quest that led them out of Vault 101 in the first place.

Truly, Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt were fleeting crescendos meant to build up to Broken Steel. It’s just a shame it took two tries on Bethesda Softworks’ part to get everything right.

Before Broken Steel, Fallout 3’s major flaw was its ending. After successfully pumping fresh water into the parched landscapes of the Capital Wasteland the game cruelly fades to black. The decision makes little sense considering Bethesda’s track record with its Elder Scrolls series—in the games, players could continue exploring the surrounding world at their leisure. Thankfully, Broken Steel rectifies the disappointing ending and fulfills players’ innumerable hours of investment in the main plot.

The waters of life return to the ruins of D.C.

Players can now see the pay-off of chasing their digital father’s dream to offer fresh water to the people of the wastes. Barrels upon barrels of “Aqua Pura” are carted out to the surrounding communities by way of Brahmin caravans. No need to rely on a voice-over movie to fill-in the blanks anymore.

After finishing Fallout 3’s main quest, players wake up under the care of the Brotherhood of Steel and Elder Lyons. The aging leader explains that two weeks have passed since Project Purity came to fruition, and Enclave forces, outside of a few pockets of resistance, have been largely dealt with. For once in a Fallout 3 add-on there’s no distress signal to tune into—the new content begins right away.

Broken Steel’s first mission takes players to one of the remaining Enclave strongholds outside of the regular wasteland map. The combat starts immediately with full units of both the Brotherhood and the Enclave exchanging an array of bullets, beams and bombs. Along for the destructive ride is that shining beam of Democratic pride Liberty Prime, who shows up to vaporize what it (always) thinks are Communist Chinese forces.

Unfortunately for the Brotherhood’s robotic super weapon, an Enclave orbital strike makes short work of the propaganda machine. Funnily enough, Prime’s decapitated head stops just short of the player’s feet to gasp out its poignant last words: “Death is a preferable alternative to Communism.”

Thus begins the main quest of Broken Steel: find the Enclave command center responsible for ordering the missile strikes. This is how players end up in the brand new (and final area) map of Adams Air Force Base, reachable by a tram system located underneath the White House.

Battle at the Adams Air Force Base--the Vertibirds lose.

The Air Force base is a sizable chunk of land, though it’s mainly a bunch of hangars and fortified Enclave positions. If anything, Bethesda could have done more than offer an extremely wide and flat section of land. It’s also easy to fight through thanks to usable artillery strikes and tons of cover.

However, actually reaching Adams Air Force Base isn’t a simple proposition. Broken Steel is a difficult piece of downloadable content in most other areas thanks to new enemies like the Enclave Hellfire Troopers and Feral Ghoul Reavers, who aren’t pushovers even at higher levels. The Reavers in particular are quite challenging, but it’s a welcome shift in difficulty from otherwise being able to kill most enemies in one to two rounds of V.A.T.S.

Broken Steel’s main story, lasting around six to seven hours depending on the player, is a strong addition to Fallout 3’s core plot. At it’s most basic, Broken Steel is not much more complicated than letting players become Rambo, essentially going all-out to get revenge on the Enclave; even so, it’s a perfect fit with story threads left unwoven in the regular game.

The last mission objective in the DLC is to storm the Enclave’s gigantic Mobile Crawler, and what a finale it is. Special squads of soldiers, numerous Vertibirds and deadly turrets guard the outside and inside of the base. The interior of the crawler offers a vast treasure trove of supplies to plunder for those who can carry the load–scrounging has always been one of the most satisfying parts of the Fallout experience, after all.

Once players have shot their way to the control center and discovered the computer used to order the orbital strikes, they are once again confronted with difficult choices. One payload of missiles remains, and there are several targets to choose from, including the Citadel. As always, each choice has its consequences. But really, who hasn’t thought of bombing those righteous Brotherhood bastards?

Tesla Cannons don't take no mess

Broken Steel is enjoyable because it returns players to the Capital Wasteland and adds content without changing the overall cosmetics. The new weapons, the Tesla Cannon in particular, are superb. Enclave Vertibirds aren’t at all safe from a projectile beam of electricity, but it’s curious that players don’t receive XP from destroying the aircraft. Unfortunately any additional armor selections are quite lacking outside of the new Enclave units’ equipment.

The new level cap of 30 introduces some fantastic perks. “Puppies!” prevents Dogmeat from really ever dying as his offspring spawn outside Vault 101 to take his place. It’s little additions like that which show Bethesda’s commitment to improving their game. Another useful perk, “Quantum Chemist,” converts every 10 Nuka Colas into one Nuka Cola Quantum—a very desirable option for high-level explosives experts.

On the surface not much has changed in Broken Steel, but that’s what makes it Fallout 3’s greatest DLC. It’s all about preserving the feel of the Capital Wasteland while opening up an endless story for players and their personal Lone Wanderers. The quests, weapons, armor and level cap are just bonuses. And while it may sound unfortunate to have to pay $10 for the simple luxury of continuing characters’ journeys, Broken Steel is worth it.

Hopefully Broken Steel will be Bethesda’s model for future Fallout 3 content. It might have taken the development team a few attempts to deliver a quality gameplay experience in-line with the best parts of Fallout 3 proper, but what matters most is gamers and fans finally have an add-on worthy of the Fallout name.

Now if we can just get Liberty Prime up and running again, that would be great.

Recommended for:

• The best Fallout 3 DLC Microsoft points can buy; a significant value as well over Operation: Anchorage and The Pitt
• Being able to play past the original game’s ending
• Fun weapons and entertaining quests
• By buying this, hopefully you’ll encourage Bethesda to make better and better DLC packs for Fallout 3

Not Recommended for:

• $10 for new content still sounds high to you
• Fallout 3 doesn’t mean anything to you…you savage!
• Low-level characters not close to the end quest really don’t need to purchase this content until they’re at that point

Read our policy on reviews here.

Fallout 3’s second add-on, The Pitt invites players back to an oddly comforting but desolate world, one where mutations, slavery and murder are expected factors of life. And as bad as all of those things sound, they’re what make Fallout an interesting series of videogames.

This time around, Bethesda Softworks ditches the virtual reality pods and simulation gimmicks seen in Operation: Anchorage; instead, the developers have crafted their interpretation of a post-apocalyptic Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in the process manage to create a locale as equally nightmarish as any seen in the Capital Wasteland.

It’s a satisfying return to the best parts of the Fallout 3 world, and despite The Pitt’s technical flaws, it’s a significantly more impressive experience than Anchorage.

Just like in the last DLC, players begin The Pitt’s content by receiving a broadcast distress signal from an unknown source. After reaching the source of the message, the DLC introduces its quest-giving main character, Wernher. This mysterious new character recruits the player into saving his people–slaves forced to work for Ashur, the boss in charge of the Pitt’s foundries and building projects–by infiltrating the slavers’ town and stirring up some trouble. To do that, the eye patch-wearing rogue asks for help stealing a rumored cure to the genetic mutations running rampant across the slaver-occupied town.

Precioussssss...

Although Pittsburgh wasn’t nuked during the war, 200 years of three separate rivers drumping in other cities’ radiation mixed with an incessant cloud of industrial toxins have created a special kind of degeneration for humans in the Pitt. When exposed long enough, people begin to morph into “Trogs,” which look like Fallout’s version of Gollum. Trogs are also the new Super Mutants of The Pitt, replacing them as the main flavor of enemy, and it’s actually a welcome change.

The story and setting are clear tonal shifts from Anchorage’s vision of American wartime prosperity, and though the plot is still razor-thin (it’s hard to believe even evil characters would care enough about a town of slaves for a few lousy caps), players are likely to accept The Pitt’s content because it feels like Fallout 3.

Pollution's never been so pretty

If Operation: Anchorage was a serene landscape of blues and whites, The Pitt is a hellhole colored with oranges, reds and yellows–both inside and out, Pittsburgh’s ruins look like one continuous foundry pumping rust, blood and smog into the air. It’s a perplexing (and cool) sight to gaze upon active industrial smoke stacks in what’s supposed to be a de-industrialized waste of a world.

Reaching the new area is as simple as activating a railroad handcart located outside of a train tunnel, though players are warned they will be stuck in the Pitt until the main quest is finished–a nearly five hour commitment. Travelers will want to be sure they’re ready for the Pitt before taking off. Once inside, Wernher informs players that their equipment will be temporarily taken from them. Wernher does offer to hide either a gun or knife on the Lone Wanderer (don’t ask where), so players won’t be entirely unarmed.

The first and last time you'll see the word "welcome" in The Pitt

Getting to the slaver camp requires traversing one of the more impressive pieces of architecture in The Pitt: a bridge leading into the ruined city. And although it’s technically nothing out of the ordinary, the haunting “Welcome to The Pitt” sign along with the husks of cars, dozens of frag mines and a new type of rabid dog make for a superb introduction to the new content. The experience continues to be largely solid throughout, though the occasional technical problems hamper an otherwise more-improved example of DLC.

Twice during the first mission alone the game froze in the middle of using V.A.T.S., and it crashed again a handful of times during various loading screens. It’s been widely noted that The Pitt had significant problems at release, but many seem to persist.

At the time of this review, a few textures and random geometries noticeably stick through buildings and the odd clipping of character models appear here and there. That said, The Pitt is still a fantastic-looking piece of DLC thanks to Bethesda tweaking the engine’s lighting effects. The characters may still look rather lifeless, off-colored and poorly textured, but gamers have been dealing with Bethesda’s style of modeling since Oblivion.

What The Pitt does best is adhere to the example set by Fallout 3’s main content: force players to make tough choices and give them ambiguous answers. Without spoiling it for readers, the “cure” referred to by Wernher and his accomplice Midea isn’t just a simple item to steal. In fact, if players don’t listen to some key holotapes they might believe they’re making the right decision, only to regret it later. The Pitt is by no means a masterpiece of emotional storytelling, but it does a much better job of providing complex options to problems and offering realistic consequences. But, who really cares about “feelings” when there are things to kill, right? Right.

The Auto Axe: A favorite of the post-apocalyptic Tim "The Toolman" Taylor

The most impressive piece of weaponry found in The Pitt is the Auto Axe, which is basically what a mad scientist would create if he fused a lawnmower and power saw together. Non-melee characters might not replace their projectile weapons with the brutal Auto Axe, but weed-eating a few dozen raiders and Trogs to death is grotesquely satisfying nonetheless. Unfortunately, no type of additional damage modeling for characters made it in into the DLC, as limbs still come off like they do in Fallout 3 proper. It would have been a great time to introduce more complex dismemberment animations with such an excessive weapon available.

Clothing in The Pitt receives better tending to than in Anchorage, as there are 18 new wearable pieces ranging from headgear to body armor. It’s great that characters have more opportunity to explot the “role-play” aspect of Fallout 3’s RPG side, whereas before the costume choices felt limited to a few decent options that weren’t post-apocalyptic belly shirts.

Perhaps the Pitt wouldn’t be this enjoyable if it wasn’t preceded by Operation: Anchorage’s weaker content. Still, on its own The Pitt simply works because it’s a faithful extension of the Fallout 3 world’s gritty fantasy.

With a larger and more interesting area to explore, better quests to complete and an overall impressive experience to be had, it’s not hard to recommend The Pitt, even when taking Broken Steel’s significantly more robust additions into consideration.

Players with Broken Steel will still get a lot out of The Pitt. Outside of experience points, weapons and armor–equipment useful even in Broken Steel–The Pitt’s quests, while separate, compliment Broken Steel’s if for no other reason than they both act like Fallout titles are supposed to. And that’s exactly what any DLC should have done from the beginning, anyway.

Recommended for:

• Those burned by the other DLC’s content; The Pitt steps things up significantly
• It’s Fallout 3 presented in a new light, and that’s what makes it work
• New weapons, armor and a view of somewhere other than the Capital Wasteland
• One interesting quest involving a so-called “cure” for the Trog mutations

Not Recommended for:

• There are still bugs, and mileage will vary from gamer to gamer. Still, make sure you don’t rely on autosaves–corruption does happen
• Some shoddy design here, with textures being out of place, buildings clipping into each other and so on
• Gamers on a budget that have to choose between this or Broken Steel. The Pitt’s almost as good, but this isn’t so much a negative element as a practical judgment call

Read our policy on reviews here.

Operation: Anchorage isn’t exactly a waste of time, but it’s close.

Bethesda Softworks’ first Fallout 3 DLC is by no means lacking polish or the studio’s high production standards, but it’s truly not much more than a three-hour treasure hunt with a few unwelcome gameplay additions and a shiny, non-wasteland setting to cover its overall shortcomings.

This lackluster nature makes Anchorage a frustrating piece of content to plod through as Bethesda certainly isn’t new to the idea of extending their core titles. The numerous releases for their last game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, first began with pointlessness but later ended with something epic; it certainly appeared that the company learned from its initial mistakes and mastered the delivery of DLC packages.

Unfortunately for Fallout 3, the development team manages to repeat its history of initially poor downloadable content with the uneven and unsatisfying Operation: Anchorage, which ends up looking like a failed attempt at streamlining Fallout into a first-person shooter experience.

In Operation: Anchorage, the Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts have found a locked cache of 200-year-old weaponry and are desperately trying to unlock the tasty tech treats within. The only problem is a door locked via a virtual reality program, a program which runs a simulation of the pre-apocalypse Chinese invasion of Anchorage, Alaska. Only when the training sim is complete will the vast treasures within be available to the Outcasts.

Players showing up to the Outcasts’ hideout in the D.C. ruins are told that their familiarity with the Pip-Boy 3000 is integral to interfacing with the V.R. program, and as such are suited up for the simulation pod with the promise of sharing whatever lies behind the doors.

Bethesda clearly wants to get the DLC moving along here, as the process of arriving at the Outcast base to getting into the V.R. program takes less than five minutes. It’s certainly one welcome change to the sometimes overwhelming exposition found in Fallout 3 proper.

While cool, this screen is from one of the only decent missions in the DLC

Once inside the simulation, Operation: Anchorage as a piece of content begins a systematic destruction of most of Fallout 3’s more enjoyable mechanics. While the battle for Anchorage is a virtual reality program and thus Fallout 3’s typical rules are free to change, players nevertheless shoot weapons that don’t degrade, access infinite ammo supply containers and recharge their life with unlimited health stations.

Because of these gameplay changes–new approaches intended to speed up the Fallout experience–Anchorage feels like Fallout: The FPS, and that’s not a good thing.

For the first add-on to a game all about the utter hopelessness of carving out some sort of existence in a ruined, mad world, it’s certainly a strange change of pace technically and visually. Fallout is a world of tans, greys and browns–the colors of death and destruction.

So, while Anchorage is certainly impressive with its snow-covered tress and blue-hued color palette, it’s unsettling considering the visual rules Bethesda created in the Capital Wasteland. To be fair, players are dropped into a different world 211 years prior to their stepping out of Vault 101, but it’s easy to see why the developers forgo the alien look of Anchorage and return to familiar nuclear wasteland scenery in The Pitt and Broken Steel.

With unlimited health and ammo available at every turn and guns that won’t break, literally blasting through the content is nearly effortless even without the easy-to-kill enemies. The Chinese forces in Anchorage are basically the same with a few variations as the content progresses. There are snipers, stealth units called Crimson Dragons (which look like Raiden from Metal Gear Solid 4), flamer-wielding enemies and a few Communists with missile launchers.

Chimera tanks: dead before they can do any damage

The only interesting adversaries are the Chimera tank and spider drones. Yet the drones are porcelain-weak, and the Chimera, for being described as an insurmountable death machine by U.S. troops, can be taken out by an explosives expert using three standard hand grenades. It’s a shame that one of the only non-human or mutant enemies in the entirety of Fallout is a complete pushover.

By the time the last mission is finished, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume a lot of gamers think, “Wait, that’s it?” Anchorage comes to a full stop in the middle of the most exciting mission in the entire add-on. After exiting the V.R. pod, the Outcasts are ready to open the door to the stash. Inside are likely the main reasons for purchasing this DLC: the Gauss rifle, an electricity-charged Chinese sword, winterized T-51b Power Armor and the Chinese stealth suit.

The new weapons and armor are certainly both fun and powerful, but they’re all simply upgrades to Fallout 3’s other devastating weaponry. Anchorage can’t necessarily be faulted at its time of release for being a short romp through a new setting and offering completely different play mechanics in a quest for overpowered gear, but it can be faulted now for lacking value when compared with Fallout 3’s other DLC packs.

This armor can be yours for the not-so-low price of $10!

To put it bluntly, this DLC isn’t worth the 800 ($10) if gamers have already purchased Broken Steel, a piece of content costing the same amount as Anchorage. The post-level 20 experience gains (unlocked in Broken Steel) in Anchorage amount to only one-and-a-half levels. Even the weapons will be quickly replaced with those found in the other two add-ons.

Taken as a whole experience, Operation: Anchorage tries its best to be a sharp turn for the Fallout series while offering some back-story on a conflict first mentioned in Fallout 1. But instead of being a decent companion to Fallout 3, the DLC acts like a very easy shoot’em up with only super weapons as a pay-off–it’s not exactly a worthwhile privilege.

Recommended for:

• Fallout 3 fans pining for more content, but for some reason don’t want to purchase The Pitt or Broken Steel
• Players of Fallout 3 eager to add more gear to their characters’ stashes, slowly amassing everything available in the game
• Anyone interested in more of the world’s lore, as the battle for Anchorage is an integral point in the backstory of the franchise

Not Recommended for:

• Mostly everyone else. Completionists will want the DLC just to play the content, but what’s included isn’t exactly fun
• The fact that two more interesting content packs are available makes Anchorage the bastard child of the DLC offerings
• How the add-on injects FPS and action game elements into a title that didn’t need to have them, and worked fine with its unique take on shooting (V.A.T.S.) to begin with

Read our policy on reviews here.