Fallout Online coming in 2012, will be 'extremely funny'

Remember the in-development Fallout MMORPG, Fallout Online? If not, here's the gist:A while back, Interplay, the publisher of Fallout 1 and 2, licensed Fallout from its newand current owner,Bethesda Softworks(not without a bit of legal dispute), to create an MMO based on the series. While we haven't heard or seen much of the game, it's apparently progressing well. That's great news, because it could be totally awesome. Totally.

Above: Early concept art for Fallout Online, from when it was still code-named "PV13"

Speaking to Edge Magazine, Interplay president Eric Caen commented, "We have 90 people working on it. Even in January 2009, you were already able to move across the world."

Fallout Online is scheduled to begin beta testing in 2012, and Interplay plans to release the game in the second half of that year. At least the timeline seems realistic - creating an MMO is no walk ina radiation-free park. But with a teamthat's 90 strong, over a year before the beta, and arecord of brilliance, Interplay may be on its way to delivering our new favorite massively-multiplayer online game.

Caen continued, "An MMOG must be a lot deeper than a standalone game. It’s not a shooting game we’re making. You can shoot, but it’s a very small portion of the game. The game itself is about reconstructing the world. What is unique about our project is how we’re trying to get it into many communication systems.

"This is a big problem for World Of Warcraft, because the fantasy universe is not compatible with modern communication systems. It would be odd to receive an SMS from a troll. But in a post-apocalyptic world…"

...Things get awesome!

Caen also made a diplomatic-but-honestcomment about Bethesda'streatment ofthe series, saying,"We appreciate some portions of [Bethesda's work], and we’re not necessarily fans of everything. I think they miss a lot of the humour, and the fans seem to agree with that. Fallout 3 was a little bit too serious - that’s definitely not where we’re going. Our Fallout MMOG will be extremely funny."

It's true, humor was a big part of Fallout 1 and 2, andwe're excited to see how it's handled in the MMO environment. That is, assumingwe don't all die before the game is finishedlike the people who built Y2K bunkers seem to think we will. Wait... but then we couldbeliving the Fallout MMO! That would be cool! Until someone stabbed us for a piece of bread, of course.

Despite being a ways out, you can register for updates and put your foot forward as a possible beta tester onthe game's official site.

The full interview is available in Edge 221.

Oct 22, 2010