Fallout 3 finally finished

The eagerly awaited nuclear winter is almost here. A full decade after the release of the postapocalyptic role-playing game Fallout 2 on the PC and four years after work on the project began, Bethesda Softworks today announced that Fallout 3 has gone gold for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Some 200 years after Washington DC is devastated by a nuclear war, players explore the wasteland surrounding the US capital. As one might expect, the area is marginally less hospitable as lobbyists and lawmakers have given way to mutants, ghouls, and heavily armed militia factions.

The remaining sane population lives in subterranean bunkers called "vaults," and there are few reasons for people to venture into the wastelands above. However, Fallout 3 has the protagonist taking the first brave steps into the world outside in search of a missing father.

The game has a lofty heritage to live up to, as it is Bethesda's first crack at the beloved line of PC games originally produced by Interplay, as well as the company's biggest release since the critically adored The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in 2006. For more on Fallout 3, check out GameSpot's previous coverage and recent video Q&A with Bethesda's Pete Hines.