According to http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/02/06/ken-levine-todd-howard-highlights-from-our-comic-con-panel/, Todd Howard is working on an iPhone game.

Given that Todd is involved personally, and not just Bethesda (or Vir2L Studios), to me it means that it must be either a Fallout game or a TES game.

If it's Fallout, could this possibly mean a return to iso/turn-based? Or are we looking at a Doom clone?

Ah ffs. :facepalm:

A phone game isn't new for Beth. They made a pseudo TES game for a phone before.

I have this God-awful vision of a Fallout Arcade game.

Oh, it's probably going to be a "shoot the bad guy" dungeon crawl, but who cares, it's not like it's FO4.

Well see Fallout : BOS. Never good to just be putting black marks up on the series' good name.

It' for a phone. it's going to be a phone-like game.

Gee thanks, Kjarista, I hadn't noticed. But hey, Bethesda needs to cash in.

Feeling snarky, are we? The point is that, since it's going to be a phone game and not a "real" game for console and PC, then who cares how crappy it is. Phone games are inherently crappy.

Yes, I heard your point the first time. My response is still the same, if it's crap..why make it ? But then again, we already know the answer to that.

Yes, we do, and from a business point of view it's a good move, considering that the future of phone-like portable devices seems rather bright. Why not get into the market?

We are also, or maybe you are, using PC game standards for a very less capable platform. IFallout could be the best IPhone game app out there.

I'd say don't get into it, because you're working on something that's out of your genre of expertise (or what passes for it at Bethesda) primarily, as the phone really doesn't really offer support for an RPG. And it's not an issue of beating someone to it, if mobile devices allow for an RPG (God knows how, but hypothetically), it shouldn't be too hard to put a game out for it, as the games are ancillary to the main purpose of the device (so not a "support it or it'll die" stance). Even if this is a TES Arcade game, still shouldn't bother with it.

They have already released a TES game for phone. I haven't played it because I've never had a phone which could play it, so i don't know how much of an RPG it is. It's an emerging market, why not build a presence. IPhone apps are huge right now.

You know, back when computers started being used for games, a lot of table top purists made the same argument you are making now.

I might check it out (if my phone ends up being able to run - I don't exactly have a top-of-the-line cellphone at the moment, and some games run far too slow on it's limited capabilities.)

Actually, there have been some pretty decent RPGs released in this format - it's just an underused game platform that few developers have spent much time trying to advance in any meaningful ways - it's not like a game released for a phone is going to be inherently bad. There's nothing wrong with the medium, it's just that few companies have bothered with it that much.

I find the ones that work best are sort of throwbacks to some more old-school game mechanics. Orcs and Elves I thought was actually a very quality dungeon-crawl, for example. And I messed around with the Oblivion cell-game and thought it actually worked fairly well. It even had multiple ways to complete objectives and such - you could play sneaky, or rely on ranged weapons, magic, or just charging in and hacking at enemies. It's not full-scale Oblvion, but that's not a negative point when that's not what it's trying to be.

It's not like they're going to be trying to remake Fallout 3 to fit on a cell-phone (or at least it would be folly to do so.) But it could still be a very good addition to the franchise in the same way that a Fallout game released on any platform, with any type of gameplay, could be successful. That it's a cell-phone is absolutely irrelevant as to it's relative quality. Whether or not they actually put the effort into making it a quality game is another matter, but again - that has nothing to do with the platform it's released on. It would be like saying "Any Fallout game put out on the Wii is going to be lame." That's an entirely subjective opinion with no grounding in objective facts.

I'd play any sort of Fallout game, on any platform I own, so long as it's a good game. I'd play a Fallout puzzle game, a Fallout dancing game, a Fallout racing game - so long as it was a quality game that stayed true to the source material. I'd play "Barbie: Wasteland Fashion Show" if it was a good game. (Well, that's a stretch, I suppose - I'd feel a little funny playing a little girl's game... But it doesn't mean it can't be a good game and a welcome addition to the franchise.) I'm still eagerly awaiting Fallout: Wasteland Chef.

Fallout: BOS failed mostly because it was just an outright poor game. It wouldn't have been a fun game even if didn't have Fallout in the title. I had fun playing the Baldur's Gate and Bard's Tales games that were done in that gameplay style and enjoyed them very much. I would have liked seeing the same type of game in the Fallout universe had it showed any actual respect for the source material, and didn't fail on it's own merits (or lack thereof.)

No I don't see the similarity with TT vs PC games. For one, the phone as it is right now can't really support an RPG that's beyond, say Diablo - hah, watch it be that level. PC games have never really come close to TT RPGs, but they've done a solid job it, due to the power as well as the interface the user has (mouse, keyboard). Phones might be able to support a full fledged RPG, but things like the screen size causing dialogue to be really terse and junky and just the difficulty in navigating a game like Fallout 3 with a touchscreen are holding it back. As much as you'd try to paint me as a luddite or something, I don't think that they should bother or at least not yet. The phone market will mature, and it's not as if they'll die out - as it's not a gaming platform primarily, so they can wait until it can support a game worthy of their, heh, talent. Glad to see some good consumers will buy any Fallout game, though.

What part of they have already released a phone game didn't you get? If you don't want it, then don't get it.

Edit: Back in the table top days, we had an argument among our group about how it would be impossible to play RoleMaster on an Atari 400. Sound familiar? That didn't stop developers from making the best game possible for the available platform. Those early computer games are typically craptastic compard to modern games, but platforms get better, and as they do, so do teh games for them.

For a Software engineer, you don't have much imagination, it seems.

Oh cute - you're sort of ignorant of engineering if you think it requires tonnes of imagination. TT vs PC are two very different platforms for games, obviously. Not quite the same with phone and a PC or console. Both are pretty much the same deep down, except out of the three, the phone - as it's not dedicated for large applications yet - is by far the weakest of the set. So taking this deep RPG and then designing it for, basically, a vastly inferior PC you end up producing a subpar product - see if it's an arcade clone or some incredibly silly hack n slash. Now of course, I doubt Bethesda would care as their sheep would fork out the cash for it - but it's just a case of they should stick to what they do best.

I also have a bad feeling about this.

But I'm known to sound like Marvin the Manic-Depressive android at times.

I also agree that CPRGs and PnP RPGs are not interchangeable... They just have a few similarities.

Here is Oblivion for the phone. Tell me, is this an arcade game?

http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivionmobile_overview.htm

I don't actually see why a Fallout game for the phone inherently has to an incredibly deep and layered RPG for it to still be a good Fallout game...

It's a spin-off. This has nothing to do with the main series, it's allowed to do it's own thing. I'll buy a quality game regardless of the platform it's on, if it's a good game - putting Fallout in the title is just another selling point, the way I see it.

If I'm being honest, I don't get this argument that "It's not going to be the ultimate Fallout RPG so it's going to svck and drag down the whole franchise with it." It has nothing to do with whether or not any future Fallout PC/Console games are going to be as deep and intricate as we'd like.

If it ends up being a good game that succeeds at what it's trying to accomplish (which since it's being developed for a Cellphone, I'm going to assume is to be a casual fun game that you can pick up and play for a couple minutes at a time,) then I don't see why it's a bad thing to have another Fallout game out there. Does every single game with the Fallout name have be the perfect RPG? Can't it just be a fun little game that entertains for a couple minutes at a time?

Like I said about BOS: I don't think it was necessarily a bad move, it just failed in it's implementation and that it didn't do credit to the source material. Had it remained grounded in established canon and stayed true to the Fallout atmosphere and visual style - and been a well-designed game, I would have welcomed it with open arms. (I did, actually, until about an hour after I'd purchased it...) I feel the same way about the idea of a phone game. So long as it's good and doesn't try to be anything it's not, I think it's a good thing, actually.

Well again, glad you're happy to buy up something as it has the Fallout name, heh. Just that it's sort of depressing to see the series just [censored]d out as a cash cow, of sorts Kjarista's on his way in to tell me that gaming is a business now, I'm sure. I wonder if they'll make a Fallout FPS..or RTS, heh.

They already made one, it's called Fallout 3.

Can you explain this position to me, at least? I honestly don't understand the reasoning behind it. It's not like there's some crack team of developers that were going to make the perfect Fallout RPG, and then they got pulled away to make another game - it just doesn't work like that. Putting out a Fallout game of another genre (or on a more limited platform since that's what the topic is,) doesn't have anything to do with whether or not any future Fallout games will be excellent RPGs.

Does that make sense? I don't see the connection from "We're making a Fallout game for Cellphones," to "This ruins the entire franchise, regardless of whether or not it's a quality game."

And please don't put words in my mouth. I never said I'd happily buy up anything that has the Fallout name. I will rephrase that part again, just for you - I'll buy any game on any platform if it's a good game. That it has Fallout in the title is just an extra selling point. But I don't see the connection where every Fallout game has to be a particular type of RPG - Tactics was a good game, and that was a Squad-Level Tactical game...

Well despite what you say, I still get the sense that you would from that statement, the caveat at the end is a bit of indicator. I don't see why you don't understand my point, made it pretty clearly. I fail to see, other than the cash in on the name (who says living of others' work is out of style), any reason for a spin off - especially one as low end and simplistic as a game on a cellphone. It doesn't add anything to the series' name except the possibility of a second BOS. But fine, you can keep on with your "Why not?" thinking, heh.