Fallout 3 was exactly what I had hoped it would be. While KVO warned me that the humor from the first two might be missing, or different, I found that the humor was even drier, sometimes taking a turn for even deeper reaches of macabre than the originals. To me, it is as if Bethesda's team totally got the point of the first two, then decided they wanted to do it better. While some of the game admittedly draws from the formula that made Oblivion so successful, it is an evolution of both the Fallout franchise and the Oblivion play paradigms with a rich story to follow and hundreds of side stories to explore. The endgame, however, brought me both joy and the aforementioned lament.

First, regarding the humor. If you find yourself in front of anything written in the game, or anything seemingly alone and out of place, give it a second look and seek out detail, you might find a subtle joke about the human condition. You might not, of course, but there's plenty enough of the irony that made the first one so great. Carnage itself was never the point of the battle sequences from the first game, more the absurdity of the over the top animations was the point, but in 3, they went just far enough without becoming a parody of themselves. I think here they remembered their roots, but didn't keep up with that particular brand of humor, as KVO implied. All in all, it seems like they used the comparative visual power of the new technology to deliver the punch lines, rather than the dialogues or cut scenes.

Symbols are powerful and permeate the story and entire world.

The choice of the Jefferson monument for the water purification project dedicated to the betterment of humankind, the shopping mall turned into a slave camp, the worship of an unexploded nuke by cultists. All these things point to the developers own impressions of the world and are believable because they are definitely possible.

One final bit of worship before I tell of my lament and that is on the beautiful machine that is "Liberty One". I had an idea a while ago to do a bunch of posters, based on anime giant robots, but customizing them for different military forces, as each culture would have a different design aesthetic. In my mind, not all giant robots would look the same as our friends in anime. In particular, the United States would have a big, tough, blocky design, utilitarian and beefy. Liberty One is all of this and done with an eye for military hardware designed in the 50's, just like the rest of the game. Impressive, Bethesda, impressive. You even read my mind while making this game, how thorough.

Now, my lament. Having closed off my adventure and completed the circle, I know that I would do nothing differently, because my character was a real extension of me. I can hardly bear to go back into the wastes using an older save. I must and I shall, there are many there who still need my help, but it will be hard and I will have to forget that I have seen the end. I would very much have liked an option to have ben spat out back into the wasteland, the end forgotten, leaving the rest of the adventure open ended, for my perusal.

-T Out.

Saw this on the Internets this morning. Awesome. Also, I know it's probably old, but it's new to me!

It's as exciting to see people clamoring for Little Big Planet keys as it is dissapointing to see them vent their frustration in harsh ways about "delays" or "bait and switch". I wish we could give every user a key who asked, but due to demand and limited number, we cannot. I also wish we could distribute them without having to deduplicate lists, manually verify correct answers and the like, but fact is, we need to make sure people who deserve them, get them, and those that do not, do not. In any case, I'm certainly grateful to all the people who have watched the show and I hope a lot of them keep coming back!

Greetings, programs. We are back from E3 2008 and busy getting a lot ready for our post E3 live shows and more events that are looming on the horizon. I'm very glad to be a part of GameSpot and the GameSpot Live crew as we go into what looks like a very fun year. With DS and Wii changing the paradigm of control and XBOX 360 and PS3 battling it out for power supremacy, the people who are going to win with gaming are you and I.

What we saw at E3 was definitely not as, how shall I gently state this, exciting, as years past. Simply put, the companies did not put a huge show around each game, like they did in the legendary pre-2007 days. For us, it was amazing, we could get access to the game, produce our content (which is to say tell you all about the game) and get back on the track to the next game. In the past, the press of the crowd must have caused a lot of challenges to getting stories and videos finished and posted (I wouldn't know, I wasn't with GameSpot in those times). Many people must be missing the spectacle of the old times and maybe that is what I'm hearing as a general grumbling about how E3 is dead.

I've never quite understood how an inanimate thing could be dead, but that seems to be the word most people are bandying about. I can tell you firsthand though, that it is very much alive. The millions of visitors to our site and hundred plus thousand viewers of the stage show will tell you as well, it was alive and kicking. My best guess about the dead comments is that they are all coming from people who very much wanted to see what was coming new and were a little sad they couldn't attend.

Regardless, it was a great time and a huge challenge. Be sure to check out the behind the scenes clips and I'll see you next week, On The Spot.