Why I'm Not Playing Fallout 3 Right Now

As you will probably notice "The Continued Story of Marty Stinestein" has not been updated in a while. The reason for this is simply that I have not been playing Fallout 3. Below I've made a list (in no particular order) of the reasons why I haven't been playing Fallout 3. Please note that this list is in no way meant to discredit Bethesda Softworks who made an excellent game and my problems with the game are merely my own personal hang-ups.

1) Fallout 3 is Huge- there is a lot that you can do in Fallout 3 and the thought that I could easily spend 80-100 hours exploring the wasteland , and also that fact that I will probably miss something (or several things) that are really cool makes me hesitant to play it.

2) Orienteering- While questing I focus on my compass and map and arriving at the next spot on a quest line more than the actual purpose for my travels. This makes quests seem trivial and takes a lot of the emotion out of playing.

3) Metro Stations- In a similar vein to point number 2, navigating the metro stations is difficult (due to the large population of ghouls) but also the number of caverns and hallways that lead away from where I'm trying to go. While its true that I'm not great at navigating I tend to end up back where I started a lot more often than I would want.

4) Lack of Ammo- Ammo is not that plentiful in the world and traders are few and far between. Though this is not bad in and of itself, it is complicated by the high cost of ammo from the traders and the number of hits required to kill an enemy (which can be quite a lot). The VATS system also thinks that you are made of bullets and will fire a burst from a semi-automatic or automatic weapon when you choose to shoot an enemy once.

5) Weight in Pack- While I think that a weight limit in your inventory is reasonable and helps to make the experience more realistic, I often find myself becoming over encumbered because I wary to get rid of something that may be useful later. I also suppose that part of the problem is that I don't know what is useful/ worth money.

6) Broken Housebot- My housebot in Megaton, Wadsworth, is as far as I'm concerned broken. The joke emitter takes a fairly long time to recharge, and I fear that his condensation emitter will be recharging infinitely, dashing my hopes for free purified water.

8) NPCs Don't Acknowledge My Fashion Sense- Marty has an impeccable fashion sense and loves to wear fancy suits in business districts and his lab coat in the various laboratories. He tries really hard to look good (and in my opinion succeeds) yet the other characters don't seem to notice or give him complements.

Ok, that last one was kind of a joke. Some of these issues are fixable with mods and Fallout 3 is not a lost cause for me as I will return to this game sometime soon. I am also occupied with several other games including: Opposing Force, Shadow Complex (Xbox 360), and Trine.

The Continued Story of Marty Stinestein- Part 2: Its Business Time

Note: This post does not contain any plot spoilers from any side quests or main quests. Though throughout this series some of the consequences of stupid actions in Fallout 3 will be revealed.

After a week of exploring the wasteland, Marty has become a successful businessman owning TWO fancy suits, a fedora hat, a nice multilevel home (with no toilet), and... his own ROBOT BUTLER. Unfortunately, his new employers did not like the rugged adventure look. To please his boss, he got a slick new haircut and shaved his beard (he kept his mustache). Now, lets see a snapshot of Marty's life and learn what happens when you piss off your robot butler (Spoiler Alert: it doesn't end well).

Marty wakes after a restful night's sleep and is almost ready to face the world.

Marty heads downstairs and asks his robot butler, Wadsworth, to tell him a joke so he can start his day off on the right foot. Wadsworth responds that his joke emitters need to recharge which angers Marty.

Next Marty heads to his locker so he can get dressed for work.

Look how stylish Marty looks in his suit and hat.

Marty draws his assault rifle to take care of some unfinished business. "What do you mean your joke emitter needs to recharge, how hard is it to tell a joke?... Oy!"

It doesn't end well.

So, this week we learned that it is not a good idea to attack your robot butler (even if you think he deserved it).

Shalom, and tune in next week for... The Continued Story of Marty Stinestein- Part 3 where we will find out what happens when you, uh?... do something. I'll tell you what, if you have any ideas for what Marty should explore next submit it in the comments.

News! Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead DLC, and USB Microwaves!

1.) Steam's Weekend deal is Fallout 3! Originally priced at $50, it will be $25 until midday Monday July 6. I've heard that this is a great game and this may be a great opportunity to purchase it if you (like me) are a little on the fence about buying Fallout 3. See Chris Livingston's 1fort.com and Pentadact's "Fallout Girl" for some great storytelling in Fallout 3.

2.) In a recent interview with Computer and Video Games. com Doug Lombardi of VALVe (best Games Developer EVAR FTW) announced plans to announce(confusing right) a new DLC pack for Left 4 Dead by the end of the summer. Lombardi's world are below:

"We plan to keep supporting Left 4 Dead 1. There will be some announcements coming before summer's out about what's coming there, and then we haven't shown everything that's in Left 4 Dead 2 yet."


Hopefully the new DLC includes some of the features announced in Left 4 Dead Too (melee combat for example). Though I really do believe that L4D Too is offering a great new experience (after all, the second half of that quote mentions that there are still plenty of new features in L4D Too that haven't been announced). (Story seen via Kotaku)

3.) This last story as seen on Gizmodo.com (follow the link to see the Beanzawave in action) Heinz is currently developing a small desktop microwave called the Beanzawave. It is powered by rechargable batteries and presumably will also be powered via USB. I can image this being used as an excuse by large corporations to cut lunch breaks ("What do you need a break for, you can make Beanz at your desk?" MI rite) or for some gamers simply too busy to go to their kitchen to make their beans and hotpockets. This invention is sure to revolutionize desktop eating for years to come.

Happy Fourth of July ol chaps!

Shalom