Just curious but this is for anyone who has been to DC. When i was in DC i coudnt stop thinking about Fallout 3. In the metro i could just picture a ferel ghoul charging out of the blackness, or seeing the washington monument crumbling. Just kinda eery when i think of the Capital in ruin like in Fallout.

The fallout 3 DC is much different to the real city. Because its what DC would have looked like when the fallout universe diverge from our own.

When I went to DC this summer, I thought I would see everything as Fallout, but I didn't. I noticed the area for its glory and how amazing it was. (too bad the reflecting pool was drained...)

yeah DC is huge compared to the fallout version but you get the basic idea in fallout. The reflecting pool was drained when i was there too unfortanatly

I went to DC a couple of times when I was younger, next time I go there I will probably (subconsciously) think that Fallout 3's interpretation of D.C. is what I am going to find.

It is a beautiful city but I actually prefer F3's look, F3 proved that ruins can be beautiful too.

I think I even tired to imagine Fallout's version, but the sheer size of the mall made it impossible for me.

Fallout 3s version of the mall is scaled down and with less buildings simply put. But the mall is huge and theres so much in it.

And due to that I couldn't see Fallout's version. For example when I came out of the metro inside the mall I noticed that everything was huge, but it didn't discourage me. We went into some of the museums first so I never got a look at it, and when we were going to the monument I would say something about fallout which would annoy my brother.

Then you get there and see the ticcket vendor, and walk up to it and there is the circle. It seemed to me that the circle in real life would have been the distance from building to building in Fallout 3, then there are also roads going through the width of the area, just making size even more of a problem. Then it takes forever to walk from one end to another.

Also there are the several museum as opposed to each side covered with buildings, so that may have ruined the similarity for me too.

The Arlington area is vastly different as well.

I live in the DC area (Northern Virginia) and clearly there are a lot of differences, but some eerie similarities. Of course Bethesda is located right outside the city (Maryland) and so the developers should be very familar

As mentioned above the real life city is hugely larger than the game, which should be expected. Some of the architecture is similar, like the metros are very much like real life. Washington Monument and Capitol Building also seem similar. Also some of the stone buildings. But the in game statues and giant faces are not there in real life and are very creepy. There are lots of statues in DC but nothing like in game statues.

One thing that I always thought was strange was that some of the in game names are real life names and some are variants. For example Bethesda, Germantown, Fairfax, Fall Church, Alexandria are all real life places. Most of DC is too. Anacostia is a real life place but on the wrong side of the river in game. However some places appear to be varients. Like real life Springfield appears to be Springvale in game, and real life Annandale appears to be Andale in game, and real life Warrenton appears to be Warrington in game.

And someone did this photo comparison a while ago:

http://www.gamesradar.com/fallout-3-vs-reality-photo-comparison/

Yeah also theres Lafayette square and the metros do look very similar to the games. With the alternate timeline and all the differeences can be justified in the game, not to mention if the mall was actual size DC would have been pretty much the whole game map and there would be little wasteland to explore.

Also Georgetown is very similar in game as the real Georgetown. Not exact, but the townhouses etc, have the same type of "feel".

Kinda figured out the similar town names, but I've never seen those comparison photos before. Very Cool. Thanks for the link.

I've been to D.C. a few times, great city to visit, I love the Smithsonian.

Been to DC a few times. It's huge as hell. Neat place.

Though Arlington is VASTLY different than FO3. For starters, the house isn't some little shack.

The Arlington Cemetery house is probably supposed to be Lee's Mansion - which is of course a Mansion not a small house.

No Mama Dolce Food Processing near by either.