Four Fat Chicks Forums got hacked again. Whoopee!
In other news Bethesda released the eagerly awaited first expansion for their hit Fallout 3, Operation Anchorage. Link to the download here for the PC version.
This means I will finally have to break down and download Microsoft’s Games for Windows Live which you can find at the above link along with instructions on how to proceed. If you have an Xbox I assume you already know what to do. Continuing with my frigid theme it looks like it’s Refridgerator Heaven for me for a while. It also being an especially cold Oregon January, it’s art mirroring life, mirroring ice and snow and big guns.
Did you read on Rock, Paper, Shotgun about John Walker’s hoop jumping to get that DLC? Nuh-uh, I’ll let you go first.
Your very best friend,
🙂
Actually I can’t even get the Live Client to launch without crashing much less purchase the expansion and install it. I’ve already spent more time on the download program than it probably takes to play the entire expansion.
I doubt I’ll be playing this anytime soon. I’m curious but not crazy.
I was totally awed by Fallout 3 and then drifted away from it for no tangible reason. I have been meaning to get back into it… maybe once they fix the Games for Windows issues, I’ll grab this and it’ll be my impetus.
My game’s performance was great, except in VATS, when it slowed to eight or nine frames a second. Anyone else have this issue?
I had that VATS problem on my puny laptop (which sat right at the minimum requirements and by all rights shouldn’t have even ran the game)but not on my swiftly aging gaming rig. Fallout 3 seemed to be pretty well optimized…at least compared to the system crusher that Oblivion was.
My issue is the Games for Windows program needed to download Anchorage. It sees something in my system it doesn’t like, slaps up a generic error message at the first screen and forces me to exit.
Someone else will have to report back about the quality of the actual gaming experience…what all this was supposed to be about. Instead Beth has only succeeded in entangling a lot of customers in needless time wasting.
I would like to have this expansion, but after reading the article Toger directed me to, I doubt I will. Too bad that Microsoft has created this complicated mess. Why can’t we just buy the expansion at a retail outlet and avoid all this?
Uh oh. It’s finally happened. I’ve directed someone to something and I don’t remember anything about the encounter. On the other hand, there is an impressions thread for the Anchorage DLC over at Gaming Trend: http://www.gamingtrend.com/forums/index.php?topic=29956.50
Scroll to the bottom to read the post by DreamShadow.
I was looking for more comments on this, so thanks for that, Toger. I was referring to your first post that directed me to Rock,Paper, Shotgun. I’ll check out the one at GT too.
That was Yap. *whew!* I haven’t completely turned my brain to mush. Yet.
Oops, guess it is my mind going to mush. I was reading another blog and carried your name forward. Sorry for the confusion.
The GT impression thread sounds like this is heavy on the action and light on the RPG. Still, you get to take your skills with you so all is naught for naught. Maybe they’ll eventually bundle all the expansions and release them on a DVD so I won’t have to bear the taint of GFWL. The whole idea of downloading games is that it is supposed to, to steal a phrase from Apple, “just work”.
But that is MS for you. The first time I used one of their products, a variation of MSDOS, I complained that it was too fussy. The more things change, the more they remain the same.
If anyone knows a good site that explains how to get this client running, I’d appreciate it. I’ve Googled for longer that I thought I was willing and still haven’t come up with a hint of a fix.
I might just drag out my old WIN 98 computer and replay Anachronox. Oh wait….I sold it. Crap.
I usually don’t openly encourage people to pirate games but this sillines just begs for it. Microsoft paid to Bethesda for what is essentially a monopoly on distribution rights for this DLC (not to mention, it paid for it not to be produced for PS3 as well) and then it forces you to buy their virtual money so you can purchase it. And you can never spend all their virtual money on one product so when you spend 800 points on this DLC you still have 200 unspent, that you have already given MS money for. Then they give you a faulty service. So, essentially, Microsoft asks you, the consumer to make a credit investment in their business so they can buy a monopolistic position on the market and then provide worse service than what is already out there. That’s… like… whoa!
I think not. I got this through… unofficial means, and will buy it once Bethesda makes it available through some more sensible service (like Steam, for instance, where you can use proper money) or, *gulp* starts selling it on disc.
Also… it’s not very good. It’s combat-centric and has very little of anything else. No exploration, very little conversation, and very little decisionmaking. And, since Fallout 3, stripped down to just combat is somewhat clunky and not really up there, then this is not very good.
Thanks for the commentary Meho. Yeah, this doesn’t sound like much of a deal, huh? You’d think in these hard times, companies would start to hold their customers in a bit higher regard. This whole thing stinks of barely suppressed contempt. “Screw the gamers. Take it or leave it.” Guess what? I bet plenty of people are going to leave it or take other measures to get around the lame distrubution. Color me unimpressed with this whole thing. And just when Beth was climbing back into our good graces…they go and pull this. I’ll pass for now.