Working at Bethesda, it probably wouldn’t shock anyone if I said Fallout 3 is my most anticipated post-apocalyptic RPG game of the year. That was the case…until this morning. Over on Kotaku, I spotted the trailer for Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden. The highly anticipated sequel to the Sega Genesis cult hit, Barkley: Shut Up and Jam, BSUJ:G takes our hero, former NBA superstar Charles Barkley (aka the Sir Charles…aka the Chuck Wagon…aka The Round Mound of Rebound), on an adventure through post-apocalyptic New York in the year 2041.

Charles might not be a role model, but after watching this trailer and seeing his turn-based skillz against monsters made of basketballs, he can be in My Five anyday. For more details on this instant classic, head over here.

Fallout 3, Fan Videos, Misc, Post-Nuclear | 5 Comments »

Today on Planet Elder Scrolls, the site named its monthly Hall of Fame entries. For a mod to make the Hall, it must receive at least 25 votes with a score of 8 or better, while being downloaded at least 5000 times. This month, the following Oblivion mods made the cut:

• Beaming Sunglare By Sonic Ether: Using Photoshop CS3, Sonic Ether replaced the sunglare textures with new ones that enhance the glow/glare effect of the sun.
• Kafei’s Armored Circlets by Kafei: A “vanity mod” that adds various circlets that can be purchased in Skingrad at Colovian Traders. The image above displays a few examples of Kafei’s work.
• Seph’s New Animations by Keter Sephiroth: This mod released back in August works similarly to Actors in Charge, and it adds a number of new animations — including 15 kick animations, seven new acrobatic animations, and 12 new dancing animations.

Cool stuff! Congrats to Sonic Ether, Kafei, and Keter Sephiroth….keep up the good work.

Community, Modding, Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls | 2 Comments »

It’s been awhile since the last time we highlighted some new fan art on the blog, so I thought I’d give some shout outs to a few of our regular contributors.

Above you’ll find one of two Brotherhood of Steel 3D models that Rob Overall recently contributed to our Fan Art page. Having spoke to Rob, it sounds like he’s recently had a lot of free time, and it shows in his work. To see his work in motion, you can check out some videos he’s made using these models over on YouTube.

Ali Tunç sent us another one of his fantastic Fallout-inspired concept drawings. This one, called “The Reactor’s Defender,” is probably one of my favorite submissions to date. As always, you can find Ali’s work on his website.

Lastly, not too long ago, we got several Elder Scrolls-inspired artwork from Maya. All of the art is impressive, but this one, entitled Demented, I find particularly hypnotizing. For more of Maya’s work, check out her page here.

As always, if you’re interested in having your art up on the blog, send your submissions to bethblog@bethsoft.com.

Community, Fallout, Fallout 3, Fan Art, The Elder Scrolls | 4 Comments »

Today’s Inside the Vault features Gary Noonan, one of our character artists. He does mostly animation, anything from creatures to weapons. However, he’s been here so long he’s done other work including creating character art, building levels, and cranking out sound effects.

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Developers, Fallout 3, Inside the Vault, Q&A | 8 Comments »

It’s been a couple months since we released Star Trek: Conquest on the Wii and PS2, so those of you who got the game already might be looking for a new challenge. As such, we’re presenting the Conquest “Beat the Devs” challenge.

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Conquest, Contests, Playstation 2, Star Trek, Wii | 8 Comments »

I’ve been meaning to share this one for awhile. This YouTube video from Luke Harris shows him doing a speed run through Morrowind in about 14 minutes. On the video’s page, it sounds like there’s been some debate as to whether or not the video is legit or not. I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, as I’ve seen some pretty impressive speed runs in the past (like this Fallout speed run in under 10 minutes).

Luke feel free to share how you did it in our comments section. As for everyone else, I challenge any of you to do it in a faster time

Fallout, Fan Videos, Morrowind, The Elder Scrolls | 7 Comments »

Thought I’d share some interesting mentions that I came across today and over the weekend.

Next Generation has put up a retrospective piece on Morrowind that was recently in Edge. It’s crazy to think the game’s been on shelves for nearly six years. Here’s a sampling of the feature:

“The island of Morrowind that exists on the disc can be threadbare and tenuous, but be undeniable and persistent in your mind. Also, even on Xbox, it’s a game that throws up snapshots of austere, worldly beauty, where sunrise and landscape conspire against any shortcomings to provide a memorable montage; again, these moments feel personal in a way few other adventures can match.”

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Around the Web, Fallout 3, Making the Grade, Modding, Preview | 22 Comments »

Like millions of others, many of us here are caught up in the excitement of the NFL Playoffs. Sure the Redskins are long gone, and some of us are sad to see Brett Favre’s run fall short (just look how sad he is), but that won’t stop us from having a good time watching the Patriots put up their 18-0 mark against Eli “The Other” Manning and the rest of the Giants. But, all that excitement has to wait…for another week. So with no football, we’ve got a whole weekend to play games before the Super Bowl parties next week.

Here’s what we’ll be playing…

Dan Geske, QA: Maybe some WoW if I get the time, or College Football 2008 (I can’t believe there’s only one more football game left in the whole season! What do I do now??)

Erin Losi, Marketing: Portal, Call of Duty 4, Chocolate Chip Meltdown

Todd Howard, Executive Producer: Fallout 3!

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At the Office, Developers | 9 Comments »

Last week, we reported that our Team Fortress 2 specialists, Team Bethesda (aka the Vault 101 Dwellers aka [V101]), were putting their undefeated record on the line against EA Mythic. I asked Matthew Ouzounian (aka Matt Headroom) to recap the match and Daryl put together the video you see above…

Salve discipuli et discipulae! M-M-Matt Headroom, faithful m-m-m-mmmmedic and cheerleader for team Bethesda a.k.a. [V101], here to tell you a little story. You may have marked our match of mettle with Mythic in a Team Fortress 2. It is possible to present the pettifog using a plethora of playful phrases or prose, perchance, I was persuaded to portray it…but that’ll do it for the a-a-alliteration. Did we win? Well, you’ll just have to keep reading to f-f-f-find out.

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At the Office, Developers, FTW | 5 Comments »

For this week’s mod update for The Elder Scrolls, I thought I’d point out some of the featured mods currently up on FileFront’s site dedicated to Oblivion, the Oblivion Files.

The current “file of the week” is Trollf’s Hunter’s Performance Review (v1.1). While mentioned as being “a bit pointless in nature,” I couldn’t disagree more. Essentially, it provides a “kill count” for creatures killed by you, your companions, and the creatures killed by other NPCs and creatures while you were in the cell. The only downside to the mod is that at the time, it does not account for creatures that were created by modders. Still, I think the concept’s great.

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Community, Modding, Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls | 11 Comments »