1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:16,759 Speaker 1: I am your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: with iHeart radio and how stuff Works and a love 5 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: of all things tech, and people who know me know 6 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:24,800 Speaker 1: I am a big fan of computer and video games, 7 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: though I don't get to play them very often. I'm 8 00:00:27,480 --> 00:00:32,440 Speaker 1: very busy. But my favorite genre of video game is 9 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 1: probably open world sandbox RPGs. They don't have to be fantasy, 10 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:39,559 Speaker 1: they don't have to be science fiction. I just I 11 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: like that kind of exploration mode RPG kind of style. 12 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: And my love of these games dates back to when 13 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: I was a kid and I would play old paper 14 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,200 Speaker 1: and pencil role playing games with friends, you know, actual 15 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:55,640 Speaker 1: staying around the table, you got dice and all that 16 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:57,760 Speaker 1: kind of stuff. I was also a big fan of 17 00:00:57,840 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: various computer role playing games, but keep in mind those 18 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: games in the early computer days definitely leaned much harder 19 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:09,960 Speaker 1: on game mechanics rather than on actual role playing because 20 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: the limitations of the medium. You didn't typically have super 21 00:01:14,440 --> 00:01:16,680 Speaker 1: deep role playing mechanics in there. You just had a 22 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:21,440 Speaker 1: lot of statistical mechanics to uh to negotiate stuff like combat, 23 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: for example, But I still love those games anyway. One 24 00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:30,679 Speaker 1: of my favorite series and these open world RPG genres 25 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:35,120 Speaker 1: is uh the Fallout franchise, which is currently the property 26 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:39,679 Speaker 1: of the video game developer Bethesda Softworks, but that was 27 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,119 Speaker 1: not always the case. Now, first, I want to give 28 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:47,320 Speaker 1: a quick word about the subject matter of this game series. 29 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:50,840 Speaker 1: The game series is a game series for mature audiences 30 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: according to the E s r B because of the 31 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: subject matter. There's a lot of violence in the games. 32 00:01:56,480 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: The Fallout series of games take place in a post 33 00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:04,480 Speaker 1: apocalyptic setting, so it's Earth, but it's not really our Earth. 34 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,560 Speaker 1: It's an Earth that has a similar history to our own, 35 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: leading up to just after World War Two, and then 36 00:02:11,360 --> 00:02:14,679 Speaker 1: at that point after World War two sometime between then 37 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:19,360 Speaker 1: in present day, the Fallout universe's history goes in a 38 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: different direction than our real world history does. Within the 39 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: Fallout Universe, the United States becomes increasingly embroiled in a 40 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:33,280 Speaker 1: conflict with countries that have communist governments, largely China, and 41 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,560 Speaker 1: then technology continues to become more sophisticated in the Fallout Universe, 42 00:02:37,800 --> 00:02:42,359 Speaker 1: but it maintains a sort of nineteen fifties era esthetic. 43 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 1: Some people call it ray Gun Gothic, so you get 44 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 1: the sort of retro futurism thing going on, where everything 45 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: looks like the way people in the nineteen fifties imagine 46 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: the future would look like. One of the key elements 47 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,200 Speaker 1: of Fallout is that there was a company within the 48 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,639 Speaker 1: mythology of the game world called Vault Tech that started 49 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:06,640 Speaker 1: building out nuclear bunkers across the United States UH in 50 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:11,079 Speaker 1: the years before the nuclear war. Some of those bunkers 51 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: were purely intended as survival bunkers for a relatively small 52 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: number of citizens, but other vaults appeared to be standard 53 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: bomb shelters, so externally you just think, oh, this is 54 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:25,800 Speaker 1: just a normal shelter, but in actuality, they were masking 55 00:03:25,919 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: a range of different experimental facilities meant to run tests 56 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: on unknowing human subjects. Those tests could involve anything from 57 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:38,280 Speaker 1: using chemicals to try and manipulate people's emotions, or to 58 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: find out what happens if you put no established hierarchy 59 00:03:41,400 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: in place before you seal the vault shut. So, in 60 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:48,280 Speaker 1: other words, it's all this dark science fiction, unethical type 61 00:03:48,360 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: dystopian kind of stuff now in the world of Fallout. 62 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:56,760 Speaker 1: On October twenty three, two thousand seventy seven, the global 63 00:03:56,840 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 1: nuclear powers engaged in a nuclear war, and one's really 64 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:04,080 Speaker 1: sure who fired first or but it was a full 65 00:04:04,080 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 1: retaliation and entire sections of the globe were UH irreversibly 66 00:04:11,520 --> 00:04:16,640 Speaker 1: changed or apparently irreversibly changed. People in the vaults survived 67 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: the initial blast for the most part. Some of the 68 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,640 Speaker 1: experimental vaults would devolve into chaos before any of the 69 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,000 Speaker 1: games would begin UH, and some people on the surface 70 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:30,000 Speaker 1: of the world would manage to survive, though not necessarily unscathed. 71 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,000 Speaker 1: There are mutated people called ghouls who can live to 72 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 1: be incredibly old, but they also tend to lose their 73 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: humanity as they get older. And then there are also 74 00:04:39,680 --> 00:04:43,320 Speaker 1: super mutants. Those are the result of various experiments with 75 00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: a substance called the forced evolution virus. But you get 76 00:04:46,960 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 1: the idea, and the games try to balance a lighthearted 77 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,280 Speaker 1: and sometimes absurd tone in some of the games with 78 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:55,960 Speaker 1: some of the more serious dark themes that you find 79 00:04:55,960 --> 00:05:01,480 Speaker 1: and post apocalyptic fiction. Sometimes it works, some times it doesn't. Anyway, 80 00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:05,160 Speaker 1: that's the quick lowdown on the mythology of the game world. 81 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: Now let's talk about the history of the actual development 82 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 1: of the games, so the original Fallout game did not 83 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:17,080 Speaker 1: come out of Bethesda Softworks. There was another company called 84 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:22,719 Speaker 1: Interplay Productions, later known as Interplay Entertainment. It was founded 85 00:05:22,720 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: by Brian Fargo and j Patel, Rebecca Hineman, and Troy 86 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 1: Worl in nineteen eighty three. The studio produced some illustrated 87 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:37,400 Speaker 1: text based adventures. Early on, in they released the first 88 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:41,039 Speaker 1: game in the Bard's Tale series of computer RPGs. That 89 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: series also happens to be one that I'm really fond of, 90 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: though I would say that the gameplay of those earlier 91 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:49,160 Speaker 1: games is much more limited than what you would find 92 00:05:49,160 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: in current generation games. I don't know that someone brand 93 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: new to the genre of computer role playing games would 94 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: find those old games compelling, although you can't find remastered 95 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:03,360 Speaker 1: versions of them out there. Interplay began development on Fallout 96 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: back in nineteen four. A guy named Timothy Caine was 97 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:11,200 Speaker 1: the lead on development. In fact, at first he was 98 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:15,480 Speaker 1: the whole team for Fallout. Now. This was after the 99 00:06:15,560 --> 00:06:19,479 Speaker 1: days when video game development was handled by very very 100 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: small groups, like sometimes just one or two people. This 101 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: was past that point, uh so this was particularly small 102 00:06:28,680 --> 00:06:32,800 Speaker 1: for even for now. According to Kane, the whole game 103 00:06:32,839 --> 00:06:36,440 Speaker 1: development came about because he wanted to design his own 104 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: game engine. I did an episode recently on tech Stuff 105 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:41,799 Speaker 1: about what game engines are, and he wanted to build 106 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:45,080 Speaker 1: one of his own. And at that time, Interplay had 107 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:48,279 Speaker 1: been using game engines that other companies had developed, and 108 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: so he said, give me a chance to make my own, 109 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: and I'll make a game around the game engine that 110 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,720 Speaker 1: I create. So when he first got started, there was 111 00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: no actual game planned. They would have to make stuff 112 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: to demonstrate the game engine, but they had no idea 113 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:08,120 Speaker 1: of what the game would be, what its purpose would be, 114 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:11,720 Speaker 1: what its theme would be. So Kine was just creating 115 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 1: this asset, this game engine. One of the early ideas 116 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:18,040 Speaker 1: for the game would have involved the player controlling a 117 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 1: character who would travel through time, encountering science fiction and 118 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:26,119 Speaker 1: magical elements in the past and and alternate futures, before 119 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,680 Speaker 1: eventually returning to present day to rescue his girlfriend. But 120 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,880 Speaker 1: that game was never meant to be, so they abandoned 121 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,320 Speaker 1: that idea. Probably would have been interesting, but I doubt 122 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:41,400 Speaker 1: that we would have found the franchise uh like Fallout anyway. 123 00:07:41,520 --> 00:07:44,000 Speaker 1: From there, they thought about doing a game in which 124 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: aliens had taken over the planet except for one city, 125 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:50,840 Speaker 1: and that city would be the player's home base, and 126 00:07:50,880 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: the player would venture out to fight aliens using that 127 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: city as their base of operations. Now that eventually would 128 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: morph into the idea of Fallout, except instead of a city, 129 00:08:02,280 --> 00:08:04,840 Speaker 1: it was a vault that was your base of operations, 130 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 1: and instead of aliens, it was mutants, schools, and survivors 131 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: out in the waste land. The team tried to negotiate 132 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:16,000 Speaker 1: with Electronic Arts to get the license for an older 133 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 1: post apocalyptic video game called Wasteland that e A had 134 00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:22,480 Speaker 1: published in order to make an official sequel to it, 135 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: but they weren't able to do it at that point, 136 00:08:25,760 --> 00:08:30,600 Speaker 1: so they started making Fallout instead. Although they really tried 137 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 1: to make it a sequel to Wasteland for a long time. 138 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:37,720 Speaker 1: Fallout was unusual and that it was not a licensed game, 139 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:42,559 Speaker 1: and it eventually was just its own new intellectual property, 140 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:45,640 Speaker 1: and it all started as sort of a personal project. 141 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:49,160 Speaker 1: Kane says that other people Interplay would stop by and 142 00:08:49,240 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: help him out early on, but this was all stuff 143 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:54,959 Speaker 1: that had to happen outside of normal business hours because 144 00:08:54,960 --> 00:08:58,960 Speaker 1: everyone else, said the company was already assigned to other projects, 145 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:03,360 Speaker 1: so For the first six months of developing Fallout, Timothy 146 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:06,760 Speaker 1: Kane was the only person officially working on the game. 147 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:09,439 Speaker 1: He had other people stopping in and helping him out occasionally, 148 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:13,720 Speaker 1: but never in an official capacity. After six months, he 149 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: finally got two other people on his project. One of 150 00:09:17,679 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 1: them was an artist, one of them was a script or. 151 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,960 Speaker 1: Both of them had the name Jason, so they became 152 00:09:22,960 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: known as Timothy and the Jason's for a while. Kane 153 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: also cited that several other examples of media h were 154 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: very influential for both the mechanics of Fallout and the 155 00:09:35,800 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: content the theme of the game. So one of the 156 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 1: big ones that he took a lot of inspiration from 157 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:46,199 Speaker 1: was x coom that's a turn based small group tactics 158 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:50,720 Speaker 1: and strategy game. Thematically, the electronic arts video game waste 159 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 1: Land was a huge influence, obviously because for a while 160 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:57,120 Speaker 1: they were hoping to make a sequel, so it's kind 161 00:09:57,160 --> 00:10:00,079 Speaker 1: of a spiritual sequel to waste Land, but not and 162 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: actual thematic or or I guess thematically it's a sequel 163 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:07,960 Speaker 1: but not not by actual content. Other influences would include 164 00:10:08,360 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: a role playing game called the Generic Universal role Playing System, 165 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 1: also known as Girps. Girps is a game out of 166 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:19,120 Speaker 1: Steve Jackson Games. It's a paper and pencil style role 167 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:22,199 Speaker 1: playing game, and the reason why it's called generic universal 168 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: role playing system is that, at least in theory, you 169 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:29,720 Speaker 1: can apply those rules for all sorts of different settings. 170 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: You could do Girps and have a fantasy role playing game, 171 00:10:34,120 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: or a Western or horror based or science fiction. The 172 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:41,800 Speaker 1: idea is that the basic rules can handle all the mechanics, 173 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:44,960 Speaker 1: and then the details are up to whoever's running the 174 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 1: game and the players. Interplay was working on getting a 175 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,280 Speaker 1: license for Girups and actually had one for a while, 176 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 1: and that would become the center of a really big 177 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:57,679 Speaker 1: legal problem later on. I'll get to that in a bit. 178 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:02,600 Speaker 1: The development process was arduous, and part of the issue 179 00:11:02,720 --> 00:11:07,199 Speaker 1: was that tech was changing rapidly. In the mid nineties, 180 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:10,800 Speaker 1: games were starting to move from sprite based games to 181 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:15,960 Speaker 1: polygonal based games, so while Fallout would stick with sprites, 182 00:11:16,520 --> 00:11:19,880 Speaker 1: one thing the game included were some talking head segments. 183 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:24,680 Speaker 1: Characters that were voiced, often by recognizable actors, and had 184 00:11:24,760 --> 00:11:29,760 Speaker 1: fully animated heads that were delivering this this dialogue or 185 00:11:29,800 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: monologue to you. So you have this animation there. In 186 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:36,840 Speaker 1: order to make that work, there was an incredibly involved process. 187 00:11:36,920 --> 00:11:40,679 Speaker 1: There was an artist assigned who would sculpt physical models 188 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:46,080 Speaker 1: out of clay and build out a full three dimensional 189 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:49,400 Speaker 1: model of the head of the character, and then use 190 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:53,920 Speaker 1: a tool to scan the face of that clay model 191 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:58,080 Speaker 1: to create a computer model. Then they would have to 192 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:01,280 Speaker 1: do textures, and then ifter they got all the textures 193 00:12:01,280 --> 00:12:03,439 Speaker 1: put in place, they also have to do animation. This 194 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: process would take a really long time just to make 195 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: the head before you even got to the part where 196 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,840 Speaker 1: you were lips sinking. The animation would take eight weeks 197 00:12:12,920 --> 00:12:16,440 Speaker 1: per head. So it's a very long and involved process. 198 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 1: One funny story that Timothy Kane tells about the development 199 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:23,080 Speaker 1: is that he was told to make sure the game 200 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:27,200 Speaker 1: would be certified for Windows. The team had made Fallout 201 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:32,280 Speaker 1: to run on multiple platforms, including Windows and Windows in T, 202 00:12:32,960 --> 00:12:38,160 Speaker 1: but Microsoft denied the certification initially because it required the 203 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:43,280 Speaker 1: program to run on Windows but to quote fail gracefully 204 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:47,240 Speaker 1: end quote on Windows in t Kane tried to convince 205 00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: Microsoft that the game working on in timant that it 206 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: was failing as gracefully as it gets, but that explanation 207 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:58,960 Speaker 1: didn't fly, and so one of his other programmers actually 208 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:04,199 Speaker 1: built into the code that Fallout would fail if it 209 00:13:04,280 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: detected it was running on a Windows in team machine, 210 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,280 Speaker 1: so it failed on purpose. That was how they were 211 00:13:10,320 --> 00:13:15,600 Speaker 1: able to get the Windows nine certification. Interplay nearly canceled 212 00:13:15,640 --> 00:13:19,040 Speaker 1: the game twice. The first time was within its first 213 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:22,800 Speaker 1: year of development, after the game had been you know 214 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: several months along. Interplay had acquired the rights to create 215 00:13:27,000 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: games set in the D and D Forgotten Realms universe, 216 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: and company executives were worried that Fallout was going to 217 00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:37,200 Speaker 1: drain resources that could be used elsewhere. Timothy Kane was 218 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:41,480 Speaker 1: able to convince leadership, especially Brian Fargo, to allow his 219 00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:45,440 Speaker 1: team to keep working on the Fallout game. The second 220 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:48,679 Speaker 1: time it was nearly canceled was due to a dispute 221 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 1: with Steve Jackson Games and the Groups role playing system 222 00:13:51,880 --> 00:13:55,240 Speaker 1: I talked about earlier. So Fallout was at one point 223 00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 1: intended to be a game based on the GIRPS system, 224 00:13:59,080 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: but well into the element of the game, the team 225 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:05,200 Speaker 1: got pushed back from Steve Jackson Games. They objected to 226 00:14:05,320 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: several things and fall Out. One was the level of violence, 227 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 1: because the game was incredibly violent. Another was the art style. 228 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:15,640 Speaker 1: The folks over at Steve Jackson Games didn't really like it, 229 00:14:16,120 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: but it was the game was so far along in 230 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:21,600 Speaker 1: the development process even though they were still years from launch, 231 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 1: they couldn't really make any changes. If they did, it 232 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: would have delayed the game even more, and interplay just 233 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 1: wasn't in a place financially where they could, you know, 234 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 1: continuously put off the release of a game. Kane was 235 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: told by Fargo that if his team could rewrite and 236 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,080 Speaker 1: code in a new combat system that was not based 237 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:46,840 Speaker 1: off the Groups system, if the mechanics of the game 238 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:50,600 Speaker 1: could be completely unique and not dependent upon that RPG 239 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:55,800 Speaker 1: within two weeks, then they would not cancel Fallout. That's 240 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:58,080 Speaker 1: a huge amount of work to do in just two weeks, 241 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,080 Speaker 1: but somehow they managed to do it and fall outstayed alive. 242 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 1: The original name for this game was Vault, but Brian 243 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 1: Fargo played it and then said we should come up 244 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: with a better game name and said, why don't we 245 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 1: call it Fallout, And Timothy Kane said, no, that's perfect. 246 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: It's a great name. Let's go with it. By the 247 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:18,440 Speaker 1: time the game shipped, the number of people who had 248 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: worked on it was around thirty and there was never 249 00:15:22,600 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: an official budget that Timothy Kane ever encountered, but he 250 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: said it was somewhere in the neighborhood of three million dollars. 251 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 1: That's when Fallout would publish. It was called Fallout, a 252 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,160 Speaker 1: post nuclear role playing game. It featured a camera angle 253 00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:44,920 Speaker 1: that's technically called trimetric projection. That's essentially a way to 254 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,920 Speaker 1: represent a three dimensional object in two dimensional space, and 255 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 1: it's a slightly overhead angled view similar to isometric, but 256 00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:58,480 Speaker 1: technically it's trimetric. The game introduced a lot of stuff 257 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:02,320 Speaker 1: that has become in trends to fall Out lore, including 258 00:16:02,360 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: the character traits that your character possesses, which is called special. 259 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 1: That's an acronym that stands for strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility, 260 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,440 Speaker 1: and luck. This was the replacement of that Girp's system 261 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,240 Speaker 1: they had been using, So your character has ranks in 262 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:23,600 Speaker 1: each of those that determines his or her abilities and 263 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:27,080 Speaker 1: chance of success for certain types of actions. I've got 264 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: more to say about the Fallout games, but before I 265 00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 1: get into it, let's take a quick break to thank 266 00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:44,400 Speaker 1: our sponsor. So in that first Fallout game, the player 267 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:48,280 Speaker 1: controls a character known as the Vault dweller obviously, is 268 00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 1: someone who has lived all their life in a vault. 269 00:16:52,160 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 1: They've been in the protective confines of the bunker since 270 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:59,120 Speaker 1: they were born. The year in Fallout one is twenty 271 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:02,560 Speaker 1: one six d one. And remember the nuclear war in 272 00:17:02,600 --> 00:17:07,040 Speaker 1: the Fallout world happened in twenty seven, so it's almost 273 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:11,240 Speaker 1: been a century since the nuclear war, so several generations 274 00:17:11,680 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 1: have been born and have died in the vault since 275 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:20,119 Speaker 1: that time. Your vault that you live in needs a 276 00:17:20,160 --> 00:17:23,800 Speaker 1: new water purification chip because obviously the water in the 277 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:27,800 Speaker 1: area has radiation. It's toxic, so it needs this purifier 278 00:17:28,560 --> 00:17:31,200 Speaker 1: and so that is why you are sent out of 279 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:33,920 Speaker 1: the vault. You're told to go out find a water 280 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:37,240 Speaker 1: purification chip and bring it back or else everyone's going 281 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:41,439 Speaker 1: to die. So the action and Fallout one was turn based, 282 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: which meant that all combat would take place in rounds 283 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 1: rather than in real time. The game would keep track 284 00:17:48,240 --> 00:17:51,760 Speaker 1: of how much time has passed in game, and initially 285 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,480 Speaker 1: players had just one hundred in game days to retrieve 286 00:17:55,520 --> 00:17:59,119 Speaker 1: the water purification chip before everyone back at the vault 287 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:02,280 Speaker 1: would die, though there were ways to extend that deadline 288 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 1: a bit if you encountered certain water caravans and hired 289 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:09,040 Speaker 1: them to bring water to your home. Now, this was 290 00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:11,040 Speaker 1: just the first part of the game. Getting the water 291 00:18:11,119 --> 00:18:13,720 Speaker 1: purification chip and coming back to your vault did not 292 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: end the game, but it wasn't necessary step in order 293 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:21,320 Speaker 1: to progress through the story, and Timothy Kane would later 294 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: say that he wished they had left out the time 295 00:18:24,840 --> 00:18:29,560 Speaker 1: dependent component because he said it didn't work the way 296 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,840 Speaker 1: we had intended. They wanted to create a way of 297 00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:36,359 Speaker 1: of building a sense of urgency to make the player 298 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:38,679 Speaker 1: feel like they need to get certain things done and 299 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:42,000 Speaker 1: not just wander around. But then Timothy Kane said that 300 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:44,280 Speaker 1: he came around to feel that this was a bad 301 00:18:44,359 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 1: choice because it would discourage players from just exploring and 302 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 1: experiencing the game. So and later versions this got patched out, 303 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:56,119 Speaker 1: but in the original one, that first major part of 304 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:58,680 Speaker 1: your mission you had to complete within a certain time 305 00:18:58,800 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: or the game was over. The game introduced ghouls, super mutants, 306 00:19:03,600 --> 00:19:07,240 Speaker 1: introduced a faction called the Brotherhood of Steel. They're known 307 00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:11,119 Speaker 1: for wearing these big exoskeleton armor suits and they tend 308 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:15,360 Speaker 1: to hoard technology, and the purpose for that is that 309 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:19,959 Speaker 1: they want to protect humanity from another catastrophe like nuclear war. Essentially, 310 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:25,080 Speaker 1: they're saying mankind is irresponsible and they cannot handle the 311 00:19:25,119 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: power of these massive weapons, so we're gonna take them 312 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:33,200 Speaker 1: so that no one else can. It's a little hypocritical, 313 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:35,359 Speaker 1: but that's part of the element of the story that 314 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:37,760 Speaker 1: plays out in the Fallout universe. It's meant to be 315 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: that way. In fact, one of the important things that 316 00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:43,400 Speaker 1: Timothy Caine and his group wanted to do was create 317 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 1: a game that did not have a strict morality to it. 318 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 1: The various factions have their good points and they're bad points, 319 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:53,800 Speaker 1: apart from some of the ones that are just kind 320 00:19:53,800 --> 00:19:59,680 Speaker 1: of almost mindless destruction machines, but almost everyone has their 321 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: they're good aspects and their bad aspects, and even the 322 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,880 Speaker 1: player can choose to behave in a way that's ethical 323 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:10,520 Speaker 1: or unethical. The Timothy Kane did not want to put 324 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:13,440 Speaker 1: restrictions on what players could do. He did want there 325 00:20:13,600 --> 00:20:16,320 Speaker 1: to be consequences to your actions. So if you choose 326 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: to do terrible, terrible things, let's say in the context 327 00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:22,400 Speaker 1: of a town, then the people of that town are 328 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,000 Speaker 1: going to recognize that you're terrible, terrible person and they 329 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,240 Speaker 1: will treat you as such. But you can still choose 330 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: to do it that way, you're not prevented from behaving 331 00:20:31,680 --> 00:20:36,720 Speaker 1: any particular way. So these are all basic elements of 332 00:20:36,720 --> 00:20:41,639 Speaker 1: Fallout that would become core components of the mythology and 333 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:43,919 Speaker 1: the world building that would move forward and would be 334 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:47,800 Speaker 1: carried forward in future titles, and it became the foundation 335 00:20:47,840 --> 00:20:51,320 Speaker 1: for all future games. It also creates some gameplay elements 336 00:20:51,359 --> 00:20:54,280 Speaker 1: that would last from iteration to iteration. So one of 337 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: those was the perk system. So again in fall Out, 338 00:20:57,600 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: you have your basic abilities, those special abilities, but then 339 00:21:01,880 --> 00:21:04,560 Speaker 1: you also have skills, like you might have lock picking 340 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,440 Speaker 1: or energy weapons as a skill, so you can build 341 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,560 Speaker 1: up your skills that you're better at those things than 342 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:13,920 Speaker 1: other things. But the parks system was added super late 343 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,960 Speaker 1: in the game to give a little more umph to 344 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: the leveling in within it. So the perks might involve 345 00:21:21,720 --> 00:21:26,560 Speaker 1: kind of interesting features, like a mutation that gives you benefits, 346 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:29,359 Speaker 1: or that you do more damage during night hours than 347 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:31,000 Speaker 1: you do in day hours, or you might be able 348 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:33,720 Speaker 1: to find more resources when you scavenge that kind of stuff. 349 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:37,000 Speaker 1: According to Kane, it was actually really easy to insert 350 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,320 Speaker 1: this into the game, which is good because it was 351 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:43,080 Speaker 1: introduced very late in the game's development, and it was 352 00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:46,239 Speaker 1: effectively invented by a guy named Chris Taylor in just 353 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:48,920 Speaker 1: a day. The benefit was that the parks really gave 354 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 1: players more opportunities to customize their character and to customize 355 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,080 Speaker 1: their play style. It also set a precedent for the 356 00:21:57,080 --> 00:22:01,360 Speaker 1: way these games end. In Fallout, you typically have your 357 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:03,879 Speaker 1: main quest and a bunch of side quests that you 358 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,920 Speaker 1: can elect to pursue or ignore, and as you make choices, 359 00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 1: the game takes note of the choices you have made. 360 00:22:11,240 --> 00:22:13,439 Speaker 1: At the conclusion of the game, when you have completed 361 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: the main storyline, you get a slide show like presentation 362 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:21,399 Speaker 1: that tells you how things unfold in the world because 363 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,600 Speaker 1: of the decisions you made, both the good ones and 364 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,080 Speaker 1: the bad ones, and this would become a hallmark of 365 00:22:27,119 --> 00:22:31,120 Speaker 1: the series, even as other elements of Fallout would change dramatically. 366 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:34,880 Speaker 1: One other thing that became a hallmark was the presence 367 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:39,119 Speaker 1: of Ron Perlman as one of the voice actors in 368 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,919 Speaker 1: many of the Fallout games. He acts as the narrator 369 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: for the game. He opens the games with the emblematic phrase, 370 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:53,000 Speaker 1: the iconic phrase war war never changes. He hasn't narrated 371 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:55,720 Speaker 1: every single game, but most of them, and he has 372 00:22:55,760 --> 00:22:58,320 Speaker 1: been a voice actor in almost every single game as well. 373 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,920 Speaker 1: The first game sold well and was praised by critics, 374 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 1: and it led to the decision to develop a sequel. 375 00:23:04,840 --> 00:23:08,520 Speaker 1: No big surprise there. Interplay, which by now was called 376 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:13,440 Speaker 1: Interplay Entertainment, created a division within the company, so as 377 00:23:13,480 --> 00:23:17,439 Speaker 1: a studio within Interplay Entertainment, and it was called Black 378 00:23:17,600 --> 00:23:21,879 Speaker 1: Isle Studios. That internal department would take on responsibility a 379 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:25,000 Speaker 1: developing Fallout two. Several of the people who worked on 380 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 1: that had also worked on Fallout, but technically speaking, Black 381 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:33,880 Speaker 1: Asle Studios came into being towards the end of Fallouts development, 382 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:37,480 Speaker 1: and fall Out one was not officially part of Black 383 00:23:37,480 --> 00:23:40,560 Speaker 1: Asle Studios work, although some of the people who would 384 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,680 Speaker 1: be in Black Asle Studios did work on Fallout one. 385 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:47,760 Speaker 1: Fallout two takes place years after the first game, and 386 00:23:47,760 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: the player controls the descendant of the character from Fallout one, 387 00:23:51,960 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 1: and the goal and Fallout two, which features similar mechanics 388 00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:58,399 Speaker 1: and graphics from the first game, is to recover a 389 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:02,679 Speaker 1: machine called the Get G E c K, and the 390 00:24:02,720 --> 00:24:06,439 Speaker 1: Get is supposed to be able to restore irradiated environments 391 00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,240 Speaker 1: to their pre apocalypse status. It would become a big 392 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,879 Speaker 1: part of Fallout three as well. The game was a 393 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:16,840 Speaker 1: bit more absurd in tone than Fallout one and made 394 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: some fans a little uneasy that the the humor got 395 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:25,159 Speaker 1: a little more zany in the second game. That's a 396 00:24:25,160 --> 00:24:29,040 Speaker 1: trend that's continued as well. The Focused team was able 397 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:31,920 Speaker 1: to publish Fallout two just a year after the release 398 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: of the first Fallout, although again a lot of the work, 399 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: the game engine and a lot of the assets had 400 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:40,720 Speaker 1: already been developed, so that was a big part of it. 401 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:44,080 Speaker 1: But still was a huge effort to turn a game 402 00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:46,760 Speaker 1: around in one year, and it was bigger in scope 403 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 1: and included some new features as well. It wasn't like 404 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:52,560 Speaker 1: it was just a new story built on the bones 405 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:57,600 Speaker 1: of Fallout one. It was more than that. In Interplay 406 00:24:57,720 --> 00:25:01,240 Speaker 1: filed its initial public offering and also financing from a 407 00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:06,119 Speaker 1: French game company called Titus Software. In two thousand, Interplay 408 00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,040 Speaker 1: founder Brian Fargo would resign from the company he had 409 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: co founded after having some disagreements with Titus about the 410 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:18,520 Speaker 1: direction of Interplay. Fargo would leave and go on to 411 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,520 Speaker 1: found a new company in two thousand two called in 412 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:26,639 Speaker 1: Exile Entertainment, and years later this company would produce waste 413 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,040 Speaker 1: Land To the sequel that Timothy Kane had wanted to 414 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 1: make years earlier, and it would become its own thing, 415 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 1: eventually evolving it to fall Out, the the one that 416 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:39,720 Speaker 1: Timothy Kane worked on Now you had in exile creating 417 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:44,000 Speaker 1: the actual sequel waste Land To. Also, they created a 418 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,480 Speaker 1: sequel to Or. They created the remaster to the Bard's 419 00:25:47,480 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 1: Tale series, which was nice back to fall Out, though. 420 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: The next game in the franchise came from a totally 421 00:25:53,840 --> 00:25:57,720 Speaker 1: different developer and publisher. It was a game called Fallout Tactics. 422 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:02,600 Speaker 1: Brotherhood of Steel, a company micro Forte, developed it, and 423 00:26:02,640 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: another company called fourteen Degrees East published it back in 424 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:09,600 Speaker 1: two thousand one. This was different from Fallout one and 425 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: Fallout two. Those were those sort of open world isometric 426 00:26:13,040 --> 00:26:18,800 Speaker 1: view more or less isometric really trimetric view RPGs. Fallout 427 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: Tactics was a tactical combat game, a little bit closer 428 00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:25,919 Speaker 1: to Xcom than Fallout, so it wasn't as much of 429 00:26:25,960 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: a role playing game. Some of the elements would become 430 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:31,879 Speaker 1: canon and later Fallout entries, but a lot of what 431 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: happened in that game is considered non canon. In other words, 432 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,200 Speaker 1: is not part of the official history of the Fallout mythology. 433 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:44,400 Speaker 1: The Fallout games are not perfectly consistent. That's a nice 434 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:46,920 Speaker 1: way of putting it. There are a lot of inconsistencies 435 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,240 Speaker 1: from game to game, things that seem to contradict previously 436 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 1: established lore, but a lot of Fallout Tactics was just 437 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: thrown out. The game did get really good reviews, however. 438 00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:01,920 Speaker 1: It was a well does signed tactical game, but there 439 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,440 Speaker 1: were some Fallout fans who were disappointed because it wasn't 440 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:06,439 Speaker 1: a role playing game the way the first two in 441 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:10,840 Speaker 1: the series were. In two thousand four, Interplay produced Fallout 442 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:15,280 Speaker 1: Brotherhood of Steel, which, despite the similar title, is a 443 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:19,800 Speaker 1: different game than Fallout Tactics Brotherhood of Steel, which is confusing. 444 00:27:19,840 --> 00:27:23,920 Speaker 1: I know. This game wasn't an open world style game either. 445 00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:27,240 Speaker 1: It had a much more linear storyline, and you would 446 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:29,560 Speaker 1: progress from the beginning all the way through to the end, 447 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: and you couldn't really backtrack. You couldn't go back and 448 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 1: revisit stuff that you had already seen. It was always 449 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,320 Speaker 1: moving forward. This was the first Fallout game developed specifically 450 00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 1: for game consoles. Both the two thousand one and two 451 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:46,520 Speaker 1: thousand four games allowed players to control Brotherhood of Steel characters. 452 00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,400 Speaker 1: You could also play the Vault Dweller from the original 453 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 1: Fallout game as a character in the two thousand four game. 454 00:27:52,560 --> 00:27:55,080 Speaker 1: And I've never played the two thousand four game, but 455 00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:59,840 Speaker 1: in general it got pretty mixed to negative reviews. A 456 00:27:59,840 --> 00:28:03,400 Speaker 1: lot of people consider it the weakest game that's related 457 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,080 Speaker 1: to the Fallout series, and a lot of folks just 458 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:08,680 Speaker 1: don't pay attention to it. Now. I have a little 459 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:11,080 Speaker 1: bit more to say about the Fallout franchise, but before 460 00:28:11,119 --> 00:28:13,480 Speaker 1: I get to that, let's take another quick break to 461 00:28:13,600 --> 00:28:24,439 Speaker 1: thank our sponsor. While Interplay Entertainment was at work on 462 00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:28,560 Speaker 1: Fallout Brotherhood of Steel for the game consoles, the black 463 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:33,240 Speaker 1: Isle Studio division within Interplay was working on several titles, 464 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:38,000 Speaker 1: among them what was supposed to be Fallout three. This 465 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:40,760 Speaker 1: also gets confusing because it's the same company. You have 466 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:43,640 Speaker 1: a division within the company working on one game, and 467 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:46,360 Speaker 1: then you have the overall company working on another game, 468 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,480 Speaker 1: both of them in the same franchise. Uh. I don't 469 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 1: pretend to understand the business side of all this, but 470 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 1: it is interesting to me. The code name for the 471 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: black Isle Studios Fallout three game was called Van Buren. 472 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,800 Speaker 1: The player was to control a character who started off 473 00:29:03,840 --> 00:29:07,160 Speaker 1: the game in prison. Then the character would be thrust 474 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,800 Speaker 1: in the middle of a conflict between the Brotherhood of 475 00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:15,560 Speaker 1: Steel faction and a relatively young New California Republic group. 476 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:19,360 Speaker 1: But Interplay went bankrupt in two thousand three and black 477 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:24,000 Speaker 1: Isle Studios shut down. Everyone on the black Isle Studios 478 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,960 Speaker 1: staff was laid off. Some of the elements of Van 479 00:29:26,960 --> 00:29:30,720 Speaker 1: Buren would eventually find their way into a future Fallout game. 480 00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:33,920 Speaker 1: More on that in just a bit, But this version 481 00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: of Fallout three died because the studio that was developing 482 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 1: it was no more. Interplay continued to exist, by the way, 483 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,880 Speaker 1: even though it was bankrupt um, but black Isle Studios 484 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 1: was folded. So then we get to Bethesda Softworks. Bethesda 485 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: Softworks started back in six and it was known for 486 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:57,400 Speaker 1: making lots of different games, including the Elder Scroll series. 487 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:01,760 Speaker 1: In two thousand four, beth As announced it had secured 488 00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:05,680 Speaker 1: the licensed rights to create a single player Fallout game, 489 00:30:06,080 --> 00:30:08,479 Speaker 1: and they had secured these rights from Interplay, so they 490 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:13,240 Speaker 1: were paying Interplay so that they could create a Fallout game. Interplay, meanwhile, 491 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 1: was in the middle of overseeing a Fallout based massively 492 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,640 Speaker 1: multiplayer online game MMO and this was being developed by 493 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:25,560 Speaker 1: another company at the time called Masthead Studios. In two 494 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:31,040 Speaker 1: thousand and seven, Bethesda negotiated to purchase the intellectual property 495 00:30:31,120 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: of Fallout outright from Interplay for five point seven five 496 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:39,320 Speaker 1: million dollars. Interplay was still going to be allowed to 497 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:43,360 Speaker 1: work on this MMO, which was known as Fallout Online, 498 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 1: so the idea was Bethesda would work on the single 499 00:30:46,560 --> 00:30:51,520 Speaker 1: player game and Interplay would oversee the development of this 500 00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 1: online multiplayer game. This remained the case until two thousand nine, 501 00:30:57,320 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 1: and then Bethesda Softworks announced it was going to send 502 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:04,800 Speaker 1: the license it had granted to Interplay for the Fallout MMO, 503 00:31:05,200 --> 00:31:10,280 Speaker 1: and the reasoning for Bethesda's decision was that the Bethesda 504 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:14,440 Speaker 1: claimed Interplay had failed to meet its obligations to get 505 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:18,560 Speaker 1: proper funding together and to enter into full scale development 506 00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:23,440 Speaker 1: on time, and so according to Bethesda Softworks, Interplay was 507 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:28,360 Speaker 1: in breach of contract. Interplay disputed these claims, and it 508 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:32,720 Speaker 1: all eventually headed toward court. Eventually the two companies would 509 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:35,800 Speaker 1: arrive at a settlement agreement, but part of that agreement 510 00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:41,120 Speaker 1: was that Interplay would officially cancel the Fallout Online project, 511 00:31:42,120 --> 00:31:44,880 Speaker 1: and so I got the AX. While all that was 512 00:31:44,960 --> 00:31:49,720 Speaker 1: unfolding in courts. Bethesda was developing its own Fallout single 513 00:31:49,760 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: player game in house, and it started in July two 514 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:57,280 Speaker 1: four UH. Much of the early work was limited because 515 00:31:57,440 --> 00:31:59,840 Speaker 1: the studio was also in full production mode for the 516 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: fourth game in the Elder Scrolls franchise. The new game 517 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: that they were working on would become Fallout three, which 518 00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:12,960 Speaker 1: had a dramatically different gameplay approach than Fallout one or two. 519 00:32:13,320 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 1: Rather than that third person tri metric view of Fallout 520 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: one and Fallout to, Fallout three could be played first 521 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,240 Speaker 1: person style, so from the perspective of the player, you 522 00:32:24,280 --> 00:32:28,160 Speaker 1: were in a three D world and you saw through 523 00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,800 Speaker 1: your character's eyes, or you could play as kind of 524 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:34,239 Speaker 1: a sort of over the shoulder third person view if 525 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: you wanted to. The game was largely true to the 526 00:32:38,400 --> 00:32:43,040 Speaker 1: thematic and stylistic elements of its predecessors, despite this new 527 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,960 Speaker 1: approach to presenting the world to the players, so while 528 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:52,040 Speaker 1: while on a gameplay level it was dramatically different, it 529 00:32:52,160 --> 00:32:56,440 Speaker 1: was true to the tone and themes of the pre 530 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,840 Speaker 1: existing Fallout games. It's also the first Fallout game I 531 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:02,719 Speaker 1: ever played, so I have a really soft spot in 532 00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:05,720 Speaker 1: my heart for Fallout three in that game. You play 533 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:08,720 Speaker 1: as a character who was born in a vault. Your 534 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:12,240 Speaker 1: father has mysteriously disappeared, so you're searching for him out 535 00:33:12,240 --> 00:33:14,440 Speaker 1: in the waste Land, and it leads you on an 536 00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:19,520 Speaker 1: adventure through the post apocalyptic Washington, d C. Area. That 537 00:33:19,560 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: game came out in October two eight. It was another 538 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:29,040 Speaker 1: big success, despite having some pretty weird bugs. A lot 539 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:33,720 Speaker 1: of Bethesda Softworks games launch with some odd bugs in them. 540 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:38,360 Speaker 1: There are numerous videos on YouTube of Bethesda Softworks games 541 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:41,920 Speaker 1: in which things are not behaving the way they should, 542 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:45,080 Speaker 1: and that's true for Fallout, it's true for Skyrim. That 543 00:33:45,160 --> 00:33:48,200 Speaker 1: doesn't mean they're bad games. It just means weird stuff 544 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,560 Speaker 1: sometimes happens in them for no apparent reason. But then 545 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:55,840 Speaker 1: Bethesda had seen that the success of Fallout three met 546 00:33:55,880 --> 00:33:59,640 Speaker 1: there really should be a sequel. However, the in house 547 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:03,080 Speaker 1: developed first were already working on the next Elder Scrolls game, 548 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 1: which would be Skyrim, so they didn't have the resources 549 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 1: to dedicate to another Fallout game. But they wanted to 550 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,800 Speaker 1: strike while the iron was hot, so but Thesda partnered 551 00:34:12,840 --> 00:34:18,719 Speaker 1: with another game developer company called Obsidian Entertainment. Obsidian was 552 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:22,840 Speaker 1: founded in two thousand three by several former Black Isle 553 00:34:22,960 --> 00:34:28,080 Speaker 1: Studio employees, in other words, people who had come from Interplay. 554 00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,240 Speaker 1: Some of them had worked on the previous Fallout games 555 00:34:31,239 --> 00:34:34,400 Speaker 1: like Fallout one and Fallout two, and now they were 556 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 1: going to work on the next Fallout game, skipping over 557 00:34:37,280 --> 00:34:39,759 Speaker 1: Fallout three. So I thought that was really interesting that 558 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 1: some of those people had gone on to found their 559 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:45,000 Speaker 1: own company and they started working on an i P 560 00:34:45,239 --> 00:34:47,600 Speaker 1: that they had been involved with years and years before. 561 00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:49,879 Speaker 1: So I'm sitting and got to work on the next 562 00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:52,279 Speaker 1: Fallout game, and it would rely on the same game 563 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,600 Speaker 1: engine as Fallout three. It had numerous tweaks to the 564 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:59,040 Speaker 1: Fallout three source code, so it wasn't exactly the same thing, 565 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,320 Speaker 1: but kind of like how Fallout two was able to 566 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:04,280 Speaker 1: take advantage of assets that were built for fall Out one, 567 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:07,960 Speaker 1: Fallout New Vegas, which was the next game in the series, 568 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,920 Speaker 1: took advantage of the stuff that was built for Fallout three. 569 00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:14,600 Speaker 1: This game would incorporate some of the elements that have 570 00:35:14,680 --> 00:35:17,480 Speaker 1: been intended for Van Buren. So you remember when I 571 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:21,960 Speaker 1: said some of those ideas that the original Interplay team 572 00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:25,359 Speaker 1: had in mind for Fallout three, they found their way 573 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:29,200 Speaker 1: in to fall Out New Vegas, including this concept of 574 00:35:29,200 --> 00:35:32,320 Speaker 1: the new California Republic and its conflicts with the Brotherhood 575 00:35:32,320 --> 00:35:36,520 Speaker 1: of Steel. New Vegas came out in t and like 576 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:41,920 Speaker 1: Fallout three, it was met with with pretty good praise, 577 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:46,040 Speaker 1: also had some silly bugs in it. I actually really 578 00:35:46,080 --> 00:35:49,080 Speaker 1: like New Vegas a lot. Has a very different tone 579 00:35:49,400 --> 00:35:52,080 Speaker 1: in many ways than Fallout three and later fall Out 580 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:55,279 Speaker 1: games do, but I still found it a lot of fun, 581 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:57,640 Speaker 1: and I didn't think it was different enough to be 582 00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:04,160 Speaker 1: a problem, so I personally enjoy it. At E three, 583 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,400 Speaker 1: Bethesda Softworks had a couple of really big announcements, and 584 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,080 Speaker 1: one was that the studio had developed a Fallout themed 585 00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:13,160 Speaker 1: mobile game called Fallout Shelter, in which you play is 586 00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:15,719 Speaker 1: the overseer of a vault. You manage what goes on 587 00:36:15,760 --> 00:36:19,759 Speaker 1: inside it, you build out rooms, and you scavenge and 588 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,600 Speaker 1: essentially it's a kind of a management SIMS style game. 589 00:36:23,719 --> 00:36:25,920 Speaker 1: A light one because it was meant for mobile platforms 590 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,920 Speaker 1: and eventually came out for other platforms as well. That 591 00:36:29,040 --> 00:36:32,520 Speaker 1: was a fun E three event because they announced the 592 00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:35,120 Speaker 1: game and then they announced it's available right now. You 593 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,120 Speaker 1: can go ahead and download it right now, which was 594 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:40,480 Speaker 1: a power move to announce a game that had been 595 00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:44,279 Speaker 1: kept completely secret and then reveal that it was available 596 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:48,439 Speaker 1: that day. But the bigger announcement from that E three 597 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:51,640 Speaker 1: was for Fallout four, which was set in New England, 598 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:55,920 Speaker 1: specifically in the Boston area, and it featured the largest 599 00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:59,440 Speaker 1: Fallout map up to that point. Now, in that game, 600 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:02,000 Speaker 1: you would play as a character who was actually alive 601 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:06,239 Speaker 1: on the day that there was global nuclear war, but 602 00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,880 Speaker 1: you and your spouse and your child make it into 603 00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:14,800 Speaker 1: a vault and then you get cryogenically frozen upon entering 604 00:37:14,840 --> 00:37:18,000 Speaker 1: the vault. That was the experiment of this vault was 605 00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:23,400 Speaker 1: to do experiments on cryogenic freezing, so you are effectively 606 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:25,960 Speaker 1: asleep and miss out on all the fun waste land 607 00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:28,920 Speaker 1: stuff until you get thawed out, and then you go 608 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:31,520 Speaker 1: on a quest to try and rescue your character's son 609 00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:34,879 Speaker 1: who was kidnapped while you were on ice. The most 610 00:37:35,000 --> 00:37:38,400 Speaker 1: recent title in the Fallout series aims to do what 611 00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,320 Speaker 1: Interplay wanted to do back in the mid two thousand's, 612 00:37:41,680 --> 00:37:45,080 Speaker 1: sort of. The most recent one is Fallout seventy six, 613 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:49,520 Speaker 1: and it's an online multiplayer game. In that game, you 614 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:53,279 Speaker 1: play as someone from a vault that opens up in 615 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:56,040 Speaker 1: twenty one oh two, so it's just twenty five years 616 00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:00,640 Speaker 1: after the nuclear war happened, and that makes about seventy 617 00:38:00,680 --> 00:38:04,800 Speaker 1: six the earliest game in the chronology of the Fallout 618 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:08,000 Speaker 1: series if you look at the years that the individual 619 00:38:08,120 --> 00:38:12,560 Speaker 1: games are set in. Bethesda made several choices that fans found, 620 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:16,400 Speaker 1: let's say, controversial, and one of them is it's an 621 00:38:16,400 --> 00:38:20,600 Speaker 1: online game. You're always playing with other people, and other 622 00:38:20,640 --> 00:38:23,400 Speaker 1: people can be jerks, so there's a lot of concern 623 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:27,360 Speaker 1: about griefing. Another concern is that Bethesda wanted players to 624 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:30,279 Speaker 1: control the only humans in the game. So if you 625 00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:32,960 Speaker 1: see a human as you play Fallow seventy, you know 626 00:38:33,040 --> 00:38:36,400 Speaker 1: that's being controlled by another human being. But that limits 627 00:38:36,400 --> 00:38:39,320 Speaker 1: your interactions within the game itself. You can only interact 628 00:38:39,360 --> 00:38:43,560 Speaker 1: really with other players and then the occasional robot, maybe 629 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:46,560 Speaker 1: a couple of other NBC like characters. But most of 630 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,799 Speaker 1: the time you're if you're hearing anything, it's from a 631 00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:53,080 Speaker 1: prerecorded message that's on a hollow tape that you can play, 632 00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:58,439 Speaker 1: and that seems to be less compelling than having interactions 633 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:02,319 Speaker 1: with computer controlled characters. Um, you're just you know, listening 634 00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:06,279 Speaker 1: to recording after recording after recording, you'll find bodies of 635 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:09,040 Speaker 1: other people as you wander around. Some of those bodies 636 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:12,840 Speaker 1: appear to be fairly fresh, but you won't actually find 637 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:16,640 Speaker 1: any human characters unless they're played by other players, and 638 00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:20,080 Speaker 1: the drop and interaction is a sore spot for some people. 639 00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:23,839 Speaker 1: The game also features a camp building mechanic that lets 640 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,200 Speaker 1: the player establish a base of operations, which is similar 641 00:39:27,239 --> 00:39:30,319 Speaker 1: to a base building mechanic that Bethesda introduced for Fall 642 00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:34,080 Speaker 1: Up four. Some players really love that aspect of the game. 643 00:39:34,360 --> 00:39:38,160 Speaker 1: Other players really hate it. They find it tedious and frustrating, 644 00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:41,640 Speaker 1: and to be fair, the tools for building out these 645 00:39:41,680 --> 00:39:46,120 Speaker 1: are not necessarily the most intuitive or user friendly. Follow 646 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,359 Speaker 1: Up seventy six is set in the Virginia region, and 647 00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,400 Speaker 1: it includes several nods to local folklore, such as the 648 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:56,440 Speaker 1: Mothman legend. That game has received mixed reviews, lots of 649 00:39:56,440 --> 00:39:59,479 Speaker 1: people complaining about the lack of a cohesive story. There's 650 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:05,080 Speaker 1: some complaints about feeling like there's a huge space with 651 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:08,760 Speaker 1: not a lot to do there, that that there doesn't 652 00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:12,920 Speaker 1: seem to be enough of a sense of purpose in 653 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:17,920 Speaker 1: the game, and that ultimately it can be a very 654 00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:23,719 Speaker 1: frustrating or unfulfilling experience for people. I've only played a 655 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:27,080 Speaker 1: little bit of it, but I can definitely see where 656 00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:29,440 Speaker 1: the criticisms are coming from. It is a very different 657 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:34,279 Speaker 1: game than say, Fallout four, and uh, I don't hate it, 658 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:38,919 Speaker 1: but I certainly don't find it as compelling an experience 659 00:40:39,120 --> 00:40:41,920 Speaker 1: as the single player games were, where you had a 660 00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:46,239 Speaker 1: much more focused storyline and world building effort there that 661 00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:51,759 Speaker 1: made it easier to inhabit the world and follow Out 662 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:55,160 Speaker 1: seventy six. Everything is instanced, which means you can run 663 00:40:55,200 --> 00:40:57,360 Speaker 1: into the same things over and over and over again. 664 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:01,560 Speaker 1: Um and a lot off your experience depends upon other 665 00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:03,239 Speaker 1: people who are in the game, so it is a 666 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:07,640 Speaker 1: very different experience. That's the Fallout history up until today. 667 00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:11,160 Speaker 1: To get into the lore would take you could do 668 00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:13,520 Speaker 1: a whole podcast, like you could dedicate a podcast to 669 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:16,919 Speaker 1: fall Out lore, because there's so much that's been left 670 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:22,600 Speaker 1: in all those different games, and it gets incredibly detailed, 671 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:24,560 Speaker 1: and then you know, you don't have to dedicate entire 672 00:41:24,600 --> 00:41:28,880 Speaker 1: episodes too inconsistencies and contradictions that have happened within the 673 00:41:28,920 --> 00:41:31,960 Speaker 1: course of these games coming out. I am not going 674 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,520 Speaker 1: to do that. That is too much work for me. 675 00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:38,080 Speaker 1: But I wanted to dedicate an episode to a franchise 676 00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:41,640 Speaker 1: that I really enjoy, even though it is not always 677 00:41:42,719 --> 00:41:47,120 Speaker 1: met with the same critical reception throughout every entry in 678 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:49,880 Speaker 1: the series, but it is one worth checking out if 679 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:53,560 Speaker 1: you're a gamer to to see if maybe that kind 680 00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:56,520 Speaker 1: of genre appeals to you. It definitely has a very 681 00:41:56,800 --> 00:41:59,920 Speaker 1: you hate to say, very unique. It definitely has a 682 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:06,080 Speaker 1: unique aesthetic and perspective. I don't think that it always 683 00:42:06,239 --> 00:42:12,799 Speaker 1: handles the balance between comedy and drama really well, but 684 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:15,640 Speaker 1: it's still really compelling. And that's it for this episode. 685 00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:18,760 Speaker 1: If you have any suggestions for future topics of tech stuff, 686 00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:23,280 Speaker 1: whether it's a technology, a company, person in tech, maybe 687 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:26,319 Speaker 1: it's just a general tech topic you think it would 688 00:42:26,360 --> 00:42:28,920 Speaker 1: be interesting to hear more about, send me an email 689 00:42:29,000 --> 00:42:31,799 Speaker 1: let me know what you're thinking. Our address is tech 690 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:35,080 Speaker 1: Stuff at how stuff works dot com, or head on 691 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:38,919 Speaker 1: over to our website that's tech Stuff Podcast dot com. 692 00:42:39,080 --> 00:42:40,920 Speaker 1: That's where you're gonna find other ways to get in 693 00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:42,920 Speaker 1: touch with me, like through Facebook and Twitter and that 694 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:45,920 Speaker 1: kind of thing. Also, don't forget we have our merchandise 695 00:42:45,960 --> 00:42:48,920 Speaker 1: stores over at t public dot com slash tech Stuff. 696 00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:52,880 Speaker 1: Go check out the different designs we have there for 697 00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:56,560 Speaker 1: all sorts of stuff, tope bags, t shirts, stickers, everything 698 00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,520 Speaker 1: you could imagine a logo going on. You can get 699 00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:01,840 Speaker 1: a simple tech stuff logo. You can get a code 700 00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:05,440 Speaker 1: like a girl at a Lovelace T shirt that's my favorite. 701 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:08,360 Speaker 1: There's all sorts of stuff over there, and every purchase 702 00:43:08,400 --> 00:43:10,480 Speaker 1: you make goes to help the show. We greatly appreciate it, 703 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: and don't forget. We're also nominated for an I Heart 704 00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:18,880 Speaker 1: Radio Podcast Award. We're in the Science and Technology category. 705 00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,440 Speaker 1: If you go to the I Heart Radio Podcast Awards website, 706 00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:25,200 Speaker 1: you can vote up to five times a day. You 707 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:28,200 Speaker 1: can even dedicate all five of those votes to text 708 00:43:28,200 --> 00:43:32,719 Speaker 1: stuff if you so choose, So so choose. All right, 709 00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:36,000 Speaker 1: that's it for me. I'll talk to you again really 710 00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:43,840 Speaker 1: soon for more on this and thousands of other topics. 711 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:55,319 Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works dot com