Fallout: 10 Things Only Die-Hard Fans Know About The Games

The Fallout franchise has been one of the most consistent game series in the history of the medium. The series has successfully made the jump from PC to console and has spanned generations of systems and gamers alike.

The Fallout games are filled with tons of little details that keep players returning year after year to learn more about the post-apocalyptic universe in which the games take place. Whether they are in the game or behind the scenes, the Fallout series is filled with interesting facts casual players may not already know.

Fallout And Burnout

One of the best aspects added to the game for Fallout 3 was the V.A.T.S targeting system. The limb targeting system added an interesting layer to the first person shooter and is one of the best mechanics in first person shooter games.

Interestingly, according to Game Informer, the idea for the system came from the crash mode in the successful Burnout racing games. Though the two games are very different, the inspiration helped to modernize Fallout and add elements to the game that would help it flourish as a first-person shooter.

Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Wasteland

Fallout as a series pulls inspiration from a lot of different sources. Whether the inspiration comes from franchises like the Mad Max series of films, or from literature, the creators love a good reference. In Fallout 2, Douglas Adam’s classic novel Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy gets a specific shoutout.

While wondering the vastness of the post apocalypse, players can stumble across the smashed carcass of a sperm whale and a pot of petunias. The whale and flowers are a direct reference to a scene in Hitchhiker’s Guide when a pair of missiles are transformed in midair to the hapless aquatic creature and a potted plant.

From The Final Frontier To The Wasteland

The Fallout series has cast several big-name talents over the years in many of their voiceover roles. Some actors have a very specific connection to nerd culture and were clearly included in the series because of their popularity with fans.

Actor Wil Wheaton has positioned himself as an ambassador of nerd culture and is mostly remembered as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Interestingly enough, Wil Wheaton appears in the Fallout series as the voice of the Robobrains as well as the specific Robobrain named Super-Ego from the Old World Blues add-on.

Fallout 3 Launch Party

Video games have become increasingly mainstream over the last few decades and often the hype surrounding new releases is the talk of the town. Fallout 3 was a long-awaited sequel and thus its release was greeted with great fan-fare from gamers and critics alike.

The release party for Fallout 3 was a star studded affair that featured musical performances by the Foo Fighters and was even hosted by popular actress Courteney Cox and her then-husband David Arquette. The release party wasn’t Cox’s first encounter with Bethesda Softworks as the actor had briefly worked for the company in the 1980s before her acting career blossomed.

Location, Location, Location

Bethesda Softworks was founded in the 1980s, but it rose to prominence in the modern video game industry when it acquired the Fallout franchise from Interplay Entertainment. The company revolutionized the franchise and brought it into the world of FPS gaming.

The company chose its name based on the city in which it was founded: Bethesda, Maryland. However a few years into its existence, the entire company pulled up stakes and relocated to nearby Rockville, Maryland. Though the company would continue to flourish in its new digs, it chose to honor its original home and has never changed the name.

Cow Tipping In The Wasteland

Most of the time, an Easter egg or special event is a one-time deal in video games. Programmers enjoy adding special things for the players to discover as they explore the unique world of a game. The best gags stand the test of time and become part of the game’s universe.

Brahmins are a unique species of cow that was created by the fallout of the nuclear war. The animals have been part of the games since the first installment but a lot of fans are unaware that cow tipping has also been around since the beginning. Starting with the original Fallout, players have been able to play the age-old (but cruel) joke of tipping over cows.

Nuclear Release Date

Gamers often follow the production of their favorite games from start to finish. Bethesda and their executives are known to be very open with information about their productions and fans are always excited to get the scoop.

On Oct. 23, 2015, Bethesda announced that Fallout 4 had officially “gone gold.” Going gold means that the game is officially approved for release and that it can hit shelves soon. The date was chosen for its significance in the Fallout universe. Oct. 23 is the date in 2077 that the Great War officially begins. Though a grim day within the world of Fallout, the date was an exciting moment for fans in the real world.

Wasteland Once Again

Before the rights to Fallout were acquired by Bethesda, the developer Interplay created the beloved original games. However, Fallout wasn’t Interplay’s first foray into a post-apocalyptic wasteland setting for their games.

In the ’80s, Interplay developed a game called Wasteland which features many concepts that would be familiar to Fallout fans. Unfortunately, Interplay wasn’t able to wrestle the rights away from Electronic Arts, so they rebooted their post-apocalyptic world under a new name: Fallout.

Fallout: Van Buren

The games within Interplay’s Fallout universe were quite different from the installments created by Bethesda. Relying on a turn-based gameplay system, the original games were a far cry from the fast-paced action that modern fans have come to expect.

In the early days of the new millennium, Interplay was hard at work on their second stab at a third Fallout game within the main series. The developers experimented with not only the traditional turn-based gameplay but also with real-time gameplay that was new to the series. Unfortunately, the entire project was cancelled when Interplay fell on hard times and eventually folded.

Indiana Jones In Fallout

Developers often love to have a little fun with their fans and they will give them fun Easter eggs to discover in the games. The developers of Fallout have always had a particularly macabre sense of humor and were never afraid to poke fun at established franchises.

In Fallout: New Vegas, players were shocked to find a reference to the much maligned Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull that had recently been released. When exploring the wastelands, players can find a refrigerator that contains the skeleton of a fedora wearing adventurer that looked a lot like Indiana Jones.

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