Latest news with #Fallout3
Business Insider
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
Gaming Industry is calling for Renaissance: How illustrator, designer and game creator is reshaping the global stage
Monsters, zombies, vampires, dark souls wandering the dark halls, prophets of doom and gloom - you name it, he drew it. Several generations of PlayStations, XBox, Microsoft Windows games feature the characters drawn by Dmitry Parkin, an award-winning illustrator, designer, and game creator who started his journey in a provincial Russian town. Almost three decades in the game-developing industry won Dmitry Parkin wide acclaim and various awards varying from many Games of the Year to Best RPGs, Best Art Direction, Best Storytelling, and even the Most Violent Game to Make It Past Aussie Censors. Whatever best-selling post-apocalyptic-world action role-playing video game you are choosing in PlayStore, it is highly likely to feature his characters or images. Monster Darlings Reaping Awards His pensive paintbrush created the Ghost of Tsushima, Mortal Shell, Metro: Exodus & Last Light, Fallout 3, Doom 4, The Order: 1886, Aliens, Halo: The Master Chief Collection to name a few. Some, like the open-ended Fallout 3 with its flexible character-leveling system, marked a major shift in the series by using 3D graphics and real-time combat, replacing the 2D isometric graphics. It is still considered one of the greatest video games of all time, with 18 international awards it got coverage by many national media: CNN, BBC, New York Times, Hollywood Reporter etc. Others, like Ghost of Tsushima, became the first American game to earn the Famitsu 's Game of the Year award. Some (Aliens: Colonial Marines) revamped the old film classics like James Cameron's 1986 film Aliens; others (Order: 1886) won rewards for outstanding visual effects in a real-time project. His games bring about nostalgia, allowing one to have the first impression the second time. Much like his Mortal Shell released in 2020 that many reviewers claimed to resuscitate the same emotions experienced when they played the good old Dark Souls. Hitting 1,6 million views on its YouTube debut trailer and thus being nominated as the Best Trailer of Gaming Awards 2020, Mortal Shell sold over million copies by 2023 ploughing in the gross revenue of about $29 mln. It was nominated for Best Debut Game at The Game Awards 2020. With a well-established reputation in the industry and extensive expertise in character art, Sony extended Dmitry a job offer and facilitated his relocation to work on Ghost of Tsushima as a Senior Character Artist. In two and a half years, the game was officially released, becoming an overnight sensation. It sold over 2.4 million copies within the first three days. As of 2023, the game had generated an impressive $397 million in total revenue. Not only that. Ghost of Tsushima received 38 nominations and won 26 awards, including some of the most prestigious honors in the industry — Best Art Direction, Outstanding Character Design and Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Best Visual Art and Audience Award Winner, and it was just in 2020 alone. Even four years after release, Ghost of Tsushima continued to dominate the market. In May 2024, it was the best-selling game in the U.S., reaffirming its status as a modern classic. How can a man have his thumb in all those many pies? Where does that creative passion come from? Allure of the Dangerous The answer is simple. 'I never went with the flow, yet created the waves by myself', says Dmitry. The wave started with a ripple. Staring at the shallow waters of a small river, the young Dmitry was mesmerized by newts slowly paddling by, weirdly crawling crustaceans, slimy leeches and hissing snakes. 'All those amphibians evoked thoughts about the ones living in constant danger, the coldness and the darkness, hunting some and hiding from others, all those spiky shapes and wriggly tails were scary, hypnotizing, and irresistible', describes Parkin. Vivid illustrations found in the home library encyclopedias nurtured the passion for studying the structure and the movement of those unearthly-like creatures. The inexplicable allure of death and fear drove him to explore the mechanisms and images that cause these emotions. In general, it formed the foundations for the perception of fear, death, domination, the cruelty of nature where one animal eats another, the incomparable suffering of the devoured compared to the feeling of satiation of the other, there has always been a feeling that there is something wrong with it. 'Reading Nietzsche and listening to the deafening rumble of dense bass-and-drum metal rock solidified the idea that art should challenge and evoke emotions, otherwise, it is a meaningless doodling', explains Dmitry Parkin. Not by Art Alone Born and raised in Saratov, a city in the Russian 'midwest', Parkin could have become a local Banksy, drawing graffiti on the grey city walls. Yet, being inspired by H.R. Giger's works, he would have added more to Saratov's blues if his monsters had ever appeared there. Instead, he dived into polishing his techniques, experimenting with materials in the dire quest to discover a formula, a combination that would trigger a certain emotion. 'Eventually, it was acrylic or pencil that let add more layers in post-processing hence making the image more complex and allowing hiding technical nuances, brush strokes or touches to get away from the feeling that it was a drawing', he said. Back in the 1990s, when he was 14-15, Dmitry met a friend who was into programming, they started hanging out together — the guy programming, Dmitry drawing basic visuals for the games. This was the dawn of the era of the first 3D editor software, the best time to dive into the unknown and grow. Dmitry mastered some software, plunged into several projects which brought handsome pocket money for a schoolboy; he had got a solid portfolio and 4 years of working experience by the time he left school. Dmitry never studied design or art in high school. After graduating from school he made an attempt to study programming at a polytechnical university in his hometown but soon dropped out. 'Soon I realized that university lectures were too boring for me. On the other hand, drawing and creating my own gaming worlds enchanted me', Parkin recalled. Starry-eyed and passionate, he got project after project usually without test assignments, his works being the best proof of eligibility. The Way to the USA Building up his technical expertise, Dmitry made a perfect partner for programmers as few could do both - create art for the game and help develop it. The first job in Moscow in the early 00s was with a publishing house Buka where Dmitry worked as an artist, not limited by narrow frameworks. 'Working there, I realised the power of freedom and eventually moved to freelance which allowed taking up more projects. I went really global in the mid 00s, doing jobs for XBox, Microsoft, Sony, indiebrands, etc.', he says. By the time Parkin engaged in 3D graphics professionally, he had chiselled his art techniques and style — the fundamentals for any creator. Digital tools are just tools to enhance one's technical prowess, it is the idea and the message that gets the project skyrocketing. And sometimes luck. Hardly could Dmitry fathom when he agreed to participate in Liquid Development 's startup project, that it would turn out to be the Fallout 3 game he was signing up for. It was his favourite game, now being part of the art team, it felt legit. Winning the War of GameDev Dominance Winning 2008 Dominance War 3 was like 'fire meet gasoline'. 'In the art world, a benchmark for fame is not the amount of paintings you produced, but the amount of replicas and 'spin-offs' you generated', explains Parkin. The Imrod character after the personal award of 2008 Dominance War 3 became the most popular and replicated character, often copied by 3D artists. The original version was made freely available and became often used for various tests and demonstrations, indie game projects, youtube tutorials and even SIGGRAPH 2008 presentation. That victory brought an avalanche of job offers. When the focus within the game industry shifted to creature design, character art and 'digital sculpture', Dmitry's full potential became unleashed. The early passion for amphibious creeps coupled with advanced technical expertise raising the detail and quality to a new level helped to get as close as possible to hyper-realism, and become a key element that set the trend in the modern (at that time) game industry. Over years, he has been putting skins on, adding light, assembling the settings in games, reviving somewhat lame code into sturdy demos that went viral overnight and generated millions of views. Some games like Mortal Shell became great career boosters as working there he combined art and art-directing, thus getting the ultimate freedom of expression. 'I once did what turned out to be a life-saving project for Playstack who was virtually on its last legs and looking for a flagship project that would champion a good market share', recalls Parkin. With his vast portfolio of monsters, Dmitry happened to find himself in the eye of the storm, always trendy, regardless of the fleeting fashions in the industry. There has always been a place where he belonged. Dmitry's creed is to create characters with a mission, vision and message. Quite a refreshing view on the over-commercialised game-developing industry that churns out gazillions of games 24/7. 'The generic games developed now are mostly like a stack of books on a railway station stall - identical bland time-killing amusement. The industry is calling for Renaissance bringing about something tangible, real, savoury and wholesome. Everybody is getting tired of the trite eviscerated visuals and ideas that lack finesse and, most importantly, message. There is no art in it. The much-hailed AI cannot provide a valid substitution for human creative spirits. It might in the future, but now it is up to a human with a solid set of art skills to generate the ideas and navigate the art projects from concept to fruition', Parkin shares his thoughts about the industry development.
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Why is Schedule 1 removed from Steam in Australia
(Image via YouTube/Schedule 1) Schedule 1, the popular indie game that lets players build a drug-dealing empire, has vanished from Steam in Australia . As the game was a breakout since its release in March, it left the fans confused and sparked a lot of discussions. While the initial concerns suggested a ban, the available details suggest regulatory compliance concerns. Here is all we know about the disappearance and if the fans must expect some quick resolution. Why was Schedule 1 removed from Australian Steam? — Tyler_TVGS (@Tyler_TVGS) The drug-dealing simulator game Schedule 1 gained massive popularity since its release. It was, though, pulled from Steam in Australia due to the lack of an official age rating. The Developer admitted that they were unaware that the digital PC games needed classification in Australia— a rule they initially believed only applied to the console and physical releases. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Your Finger Shape Says a Lot About Your Personality, Read Now Tips and Tricks Undo It's mandated by the Australian Classification Board that all the games that are sold in the country must carry the age rating. As Schedule 1 was without one, it violated the local guidelines and got temporarily delisted. The developers, as per reports, have since contracted the rating agency to resolve this issue swiftly, ensuring the game returns to Steam sooner. Australia's strict stance on gaming content This is not the first time when any game has faced Australian authorities' restrictions. Some titles like Grand Theft Auto : San Andreas and Fallout 3, among others, were banned/delayed due to concerns about content. Many got reinstated later after receiving appropriate ratings or minor edits. For Schedule 1, the issue lies within the drug-related gameplay. It's a sensitive topic for Australian regulators. The Developer, though, is confident that the game will return with an 18+ rating soon, allowing the players to resume building the virtual drug empires without censorship concerns. As of now, the purchases are paused until the game receives rating clearance. What is next for the Schedule 1 game Australia and its players? While the Australian players wait for the return of Schedule 1, the game is available in the other regions, and the updates continue to be received. It's been assured by the developers that the gameplay experience is going to remain intact. With the massive player base and some overwhelmingly positive reviews, the temporary absence of Schedule 1 in Australia is just a minor setback. The game can be expected to soon reappear on Steam, allowing the players to dive back into the criminal underworld. Get IPL 2025 match schedules , squads , points table , and live scores for CSK , MI , RCB , KKR , SRH , LSG , DC , GT , PBKS , and RR . Check the latest IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings.
Metro
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Fallout 3 remaster needs major improvements says former designer
One of Fallout 3's original designers has explained what the priority should be for the game's rumoured remaster. Even if it hadn't leaked ahead of time, the announcement of The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered wouldn't have been too surprising, considering The Elder Scrolls 6 is still years away and Microsoft needs something to fill the gap. It's why the same can be assumed for Bethesda's other role-playing game series Fallout, since the Amazon TV show attracted a lot of new fans and the next game, Fallout 5, is even further away. As such, rumours of Microsoft and Bethesda planning a Fallout 3 remaster sound perfectly believable and one of its original designers knows exactly what it needs to please modern players. Recently, VideoGamer sat down with one Bruce Nesmith, a former Bethesda employee who worked on Fallout 3 and several other Fallout and Elder Scrolls games during his tenure, including The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim as its lead designer – until his departure from the studio in 2021. When asked what he would like to see from a Fallout 3 remaster, Nesmith's chief expectation is that Bethesda would update the gunplay and bring it more in line with how it is in its sequel, Fallout 4. Nesmith candidly describes Fallout 3's gunplay as 'not good,' which he attributes to it being the 'the first time they ever tried to do a shooter style game.' As a reminder, the first two Fallout games (which were made long before Bethesda acquired the series) are more traditional computer role-playing games with turn-based combat, rather than the real-time gun combat seen in Fallout 3 and 4. Nesmith says Fallout 3's combat 'didn't hold up to shooters at the time. … But a lot of work was done on that for Fallout 4. So I anticipate seeing a lot of that work go into it, assuming they're doing the same thing.' Fallout 4's combat was an improvement over its predecessor but it was still pretty awful, compared to an actual first person shooter, and relied heavily on the V.A.T.S. system, which pauses the action to allow you to target individual body parts. Although evidence of a Fallout 3 remaster was first discovered in 2023, courtesy of leaked documents from Microsoft, there is no telling when Microsoft aims to have it out. Last week, reliable insider NateTheHate only claimed that the Fallout 3 remaster is 'Planned but won't be for a while.' This could mean it hasn't even entered development yet, but it could just as easily mean it may not come out until next year. More Trending 2026 would be a smart time to release a Fallout 3 remaster since that's when the second season of the TV show is scheduled to air. With the second season taking the show to the city of New Vegas though, a remaster of Fallout: New Vegas would make more sense, especially since it's lauded as the best entry in the series by many fans. It's not as if it'd be difficult to get the idea off the ground either since New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment is owned by Microsoft and has expressed interest in giving the game the remaster treatment. Obsidian is currently busy with The Outer Worlds 2, which is coming out later this year, but it clearly has the capacity to juggle multiple projects considering it launched Avowed, a fantasy role-playing game, just a couple of months ago. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up to our newsletter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Atomfall review – Fallout in the Lake District is a fun nuclear disaster MORE: Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered teased for Switch 2 as it tops sales charts MORE: Get 10% off Doom: The Dark Ages and nine extra games for less than £22
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Remastering Recent Games Is A Pointless, Sisyphean Task
Leaks yesterday revealed screenshots from the still unannounced but imminently releasing remaster of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Today, other leakers say Bethesda is also working on a remake of Fallout 3. This happens the same month the PC received The Last of Us Part II Remastered, meaning we can only be minutes away from the announcement of The Last of Us Part I getting a re-re-remaster for PS5 Pro. Meanwhile, gaming history is being lost to the grim swamps of forgotten copyrights, anti-piracy measures and advancing technology, while fresh new ideas are so vanishingly rare as to be considered wildcard maverick moves. I obviously understand why companies want to remaster their games. It's a lot of hard work, but it's a lot less hard work than making a whole new game, and only one of them is certain to make lots of money. New games, and especially new IPs, now come with enormous risk, where hundreds of millions of dollars can evaporate in a single disastrous launch week. The teams creating Concord and Suicide Squadworked incredibly hard, exhaustingly so, and the results were massive financial black holes. If their time had instead been dedicated to making a proven success look prettier, profits would have been practically guaranteed. Remastering games is a pragmatic decision based on prudent economics. It's just that it also sucks. Here's a secret fact about The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: It works just fine. Great, in fact. Released in 2006, you can buy it from Steam right now for $15 (and frequently far, far less), and it works perfectly right away. It runs in 2560x1440, requires no hacks or mods, and within minutes of booting it up just now I wasn't noticing that the graphics are dated. Heck, Bethesda games' graphics are dated at launch, invariably improved by modders in the months that follow—no one was buying Oblivion for its looks in 2006, not least the hilariously terrible character models. And given Starfield's are just as embarrassing, it's not like that's going to suddenly improve either. The point is, Oblivion already exists in a very playable form that's just as entertaining and flawed as it was 20 years ago. Also, there are 20 years' worth of mods to improve all the aspects that Bethesda is pathologically incapable of doing well—UI, facial animations, inventory arrangement, voice acting, textures—to have the game look and run exactly as you want. So what, precisely, is an officially remastered Oblivion for? Yes, like I said, it's for making money, especially from long-term fans of the game who do want to see it look prettier, returning to a Cyrodiil whose graphics look like their two-decade-old invented memories of the original. There's also the potential to draw in a new audience who's perhaps only ever played Skyrim, so they can be disappointed to learn the predecessor wasn't nearly as good. But even Skyrim's original audience is noticing a little more grey in their hair, given that was nearly 14 years ago. This is then made more frustrating given the extraordinary efforts of the Skyblivion modders, who have spent over a decade remaking Oblivion in Skyrim's engine, hoping to finally finish their herculean project in 2025. They say they aren't too upset by the clash with this official remaster, but come on—how incredibly galling for them. Yet it's worth noting that Skyblivion has a far more distinct aesthetic than the wishy-washy meh-ness of what we've seen of Bethesda's version in the leaks. Releasing remasters is now incredibly commonplace, for all the reasons given above, but there's also a sad irony to this focus on remastering big-name titles from the past few decades. While GOG has recently launched some significant efforts to preserve PC gaming, it's barely scratching the surface of a vast history of video games that are being lost to time and technology, because those who own the rights either don't care or are actively hostile to anyone attempting to preserve their games for them. Games that cannot just be bought from Steam and run with a click are certainly not receiving elaborate remakes, and can now only be played via illegal methods. Now, I'm not daft, and I'm not advocating for publishers to spend millions of dollars remastering forgotten, obscure games from their 1980s and '90s catalogues; I know they're far more likely to plunder them for titles to attach to wildly different new games (cough-Marathon-cough). Still, I do really believe that dedicating a fraction of the resources that go into remasters to preserving a company's back-catalogue would be beneficial to humanity. Or, you know, just releasing them into the public domain like they obviously should. However, I think this should also be recognized as part of the existential malaise in which video games now find themselves, where the AA game is all but non-existent and new ideas are kryptonite to publishers. Yes, the ballooning costs of game development would be the subject of a whole other article, and the industry's obsessive focus on live-service is yet another, but these and other crippling aspects of game creation under late-stage capitalism all contribute toward the reasons why remastering has become so endemic. As I've said, it's safe. And right now, publishers are retreating toward perceived safety like terrified kittens. But doing this can only make the problems worse—they can only solidify the notion that the only sure way to make a profitable game is to have it be one you've made already. What we need are bold new ideas made at sensible prices. And it's agonizing to watch the indie world produce original hit after original hit, and publishers unable to recognize how they could be funding and profiting from this phenomenon at a AA level. The reason there are so many great games to plunder and remaster is because for decades previously, this is how game development worked! There was no need for a game to make half a billion dollars for it to have been worth releasing, when doing so gave the developers the opportunity to create fresh conceits that could gain widening popularity that fueled ever-more sequels and spin-offs. Because while it's grimly amusing to joke about Naughty Dog remaking the same three games for the rest of eternity, the company also demonstrates that it's a Sisyphean task. Endlessly updating a game to reflect the latest gimmicks in graphics is folly, that boulder always rolling back down as fast as it can be pushed up, withe the miserable irony that it's just as good of a boulder when left at the bottom of the hill. Bethesda, for crying out loud, get on with making TheElder Scrolls VI and leave the perfectly good and perfectly enjoyable Oblivion and Fallout 3 to the modders. And, for goodness sakes, release Morrowind's source code. And the same goes for everyone else. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Axios
21-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Asteroids, zombies and nukes: Virginia's apocalypse survival odds
The probability of that asteroid everyone's talking about hitting Earth days before Christmas 2032 and ending life as we know it isn't likely. But it got us thinking about how Virginia would fare in an apocalypse, and spoiler: According to apocalypse movies, which frequently mention us because of our proximity to D.C. and military bases, our odds aren't great. Threat level: Our location makes us likely targets in nuclear wars. For climate disasters or asteroids hitting the Atlantic Ocean, Virginia's coastal areas are devastated first. In zombie or contagion scenarios, cities like Richmond are doomed. Rural Virginia is usually the best place to hole up. We've rounded up five apocalypse-related movies, shows or games mentioning Virginia to break down our survival chances in each scenario. Deep Impact (1998) Apocalypse type: Giant comet. Virginia mentions: The 7-mile comet set to collide with Earth is discovered by an astronomer in Richmond. Survival chances: Low unless you can make it to the Appalachian Mountains because a comet fragment hits Cape Hatteras and causes a 1,000-foot tsunami to destroy most of the East Coast. Day After Tomorrow (2004) Apocalypse type: Climate. Virginia mentions: There's a scene around the 1:04 mark where the protagonist played by Dennis Quaid draws a line across the U.S. and says to evacuate everyone south of it. Virginia is the first state on the East Coast below the line. Survival chances: NoVa: Low because of the extreme cold. Richmond: Moderate if people can get further south. Hampton Roads: Moderate if it's not flooded. Fallout 3 (2008) Apocalypse type: Nuclear. Virginia mentions: The game takes place in D.C., Maryland and Virginia in an area called "Capital Wasteland." Survival chances: Extremely low, unless you're in a fallout shelter, because of radiation storms and mutants. The Walking Dead (2010-22) Apocalypse type: Zombies. Virginia mentions: Multiple settlements or "safe zones" are located in Virginia, including the main one throughout the series, which is in Alexandria. The series spinoff was also filmed in Richmond, which is name-dropped in Season 5 of the original show. Survival chances: Low unless you find a settlement. Falling Skies (2011-15) Apocalypse type: Alien invasion. Virginia mentions: The main characters seemingly walk through the state in Season 5 and stay in Richmond for at least a week. There's a shot of two of them looking out onto Richmond's skyline and the James River. Another resistance group was also based out of a Norfolk naval base. Survival chances: It does not look good for Richmond considering one character says "it's like a ghost town out here." NoVa: Low because of high alien presence. Hampton Roads: Moderate. Norfolk has a resistance group but it's messy.
