Fallout: The nuclear-powered gaming brand capturing new audiences
A new update has been released for the nine-year-old video game Fallout 4, the first of its kind for the hit title since 2017.
It follows the roaring success of the Fallout TV show, which this month became the most-watched programme on Amazon Prime Video, overtaking both The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm.
Game publisher Bethesda issued free next-generation iterations for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, to boost graphics, frame rates and fix bugs.
PlayStation players are the biggest winners from the update, as the Xbox Series X already upscales graphics and framerates of older titles, while PC gaming giant AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution product achieves the same effect.
The release of the TV show has propelled Fallout game titles back into the Top Sellers category on the PC game platform Steam, with two Fallout games in the top 10 most-sold, with Fallout New Vegas even beating Call of Duty Warzone (which is free), at time of writing.
HBO’s smash hit, The Last Of Us, based on Sony Interactive Entertainment’s platinum intellectual property raised the bar for future game adaptations, but producers breathed a sigh of relief when pre-release reviews were universally positive.
The franchise is a jewel in the crown of publisher Bethesda, which was purchased by Xbox in a $7.5bn (£6bn) acquisition in 2021. Other popular titles include The Elder Scrolls and their latest release Starfield.
The Fallout story begins in 1997 when the first iteration was released by a North American publisher, Interplay, on Windows MS-DOS to critical acclaim and successful sales.
Fallout 2 followed just a year later (developed in a third of the time of its predecessor) to an equally positive reception and was deemed to be a worthy successor.
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Walton Goggins plays The Ghoul in the Fallout show. Pic: Amazon/Everett/Shutterstock
The award-winning move to 3D
The first-ever 3D version came in 2008 following the partial sale of the Fallout IP to Bethesda, in the form of Fallout 3.
It beat the sales records of both its predecessors in the first week alone, and received outstanding reviews across the board.
By the end of the following year, Fallout 3 had won multiple awards, and in 2012, was displayed in The Art of Video Games exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, earning the franchise a permanent place in the public’s cultural consciousness.
The notable spin-off Fallout: New Vegas was released swiftly afterwards, quickly cementing itself as a fan favourite. Following the release of the TV programme, New Vegas is currently out-selling Diablo IV, Elden Ring and Grand Theft Auto V on Steam.
Fallout 4 was released in 2015 to a mixed but largely positive reception, introducing some new features such as base-building and managed to please a majority of players.
The Brotherhood of Steel in the Fallout show. Pic: Amazon/Everett/Shutterstock
‘Historically bad’ and ‘pointless’ release
Then Bethesda published Fallout 76.
The first 3D multiplayer outing for Fallout ever released also turned out to be the most controversial.
It drew criticism from the press and players alike. Game-breaking bugs, an initial lack of content and poor design – coupled with a fanbase who were more accustomed to the single-player format, made it a victim to ‘”review-bombing”. Forbes called it a “historically bad launch”, while the Guardian branded it “pointless”.
Imperfect game launches can badly damage reputations, as exemplified by titles such as No Man’s Sky, Star Wars Battlefront II and Cyberpunk 2077. All three games have since largely rehabilitated themselves, though a stigmatic miasma remains.
A revival
Thanks to Prime Video’s TV adaptation the very same has now happened to Fallout 76.
The TV series has spurred players on to try it one more time, leading them to discover the updates, bug fixes and content releases that have greatly elevated Fallout 76 in the opinion of many fans, and led to positive recent player reviews.
At the time of writing, Fallout 76 occupies Steam’s eighth most-sold position, beating the award-winning Baldur’s Gate 3, EA Sports FC 24, and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare III. At its peak this week the game boasted a million active players across all platforms, the highest number since its release.
It may come as a surprise to some to learn Fallout 5 is slated for seven to 10 years’ time, though some industry voices theorise Microsoft may use the series’ success to justify commissioning an intermediary instalment in the meantime to capitalise on the unexpectedly high levels of public interest.
Fallout show is proof of concept
Fallout’s TV success is proof of concept that companies can capitalise on (and sometimes rehabilitate), the public familiarity of their franchises – the box-office-hit Barbie movie being another example.
Games, like toys, will likely continue to spawn more cinematic adaptations, with The Last Of Us and Fallout receiving second seasons, while Bob the Builder, Polly Pocket and Barney The Dinosaur will all be immortalised in film.
Video games are arguably even easier to adapt for television given the narratives and universes are conveniently pre-existing, as opposed to the arduous job of inventing completely original storylines for Bob and his fellow construction workers.
Which game franchise gets the TV treatment next, however, remains to be seen, by players and non-gamers alike.
US musician and rock producer Steve Albini, who has worked with acts including Nirvana, PJ Harvey and Pixies, has died aged 61.
The “punk legend” recorded Nirvana’s third and final studio album In Utero, released in 1993, as well as Pixies’ debut studio album Surfer Rosa, which came out in 1988, and PJ Harvey’s second studio album Rid Of Me, in 1993.
Pixies were one of late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain’s favourite bands.
Albini also recorded and mixed the 1998 record Walking Into Clarksdale, the only album by surviving Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.
(L-R) Nirvana’s Dave Grohl, Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic in August 1991. Pic: AP
He also performed in his own bands including Big Black and his most recent project, Shellac.
Shellac had just finished recording a new album, To All Trains, due for release next week, and the group were set to tour the record prior to Albini’s death, according to the music website Pitchfork.
In 1997, he opened his famed Electric Audio recording studio in Chicago.
He told The Guardian last year: “The recording part is the part that matters to me – that I’m making a document that records a piece of our culture, the life’s work of the musicians that are hiring me.
“I take that part very seriously. I want the music to outlive all of us.”
Brian Fox, an engineer at the studio, said Albini died following a heart attack on Tuesday night.
Speaking in 2018, Albini said he had worked on more than 2,000 albums, mostly for underground or indie bands.
Among the tributes, Pixies posted a photo of him on X, with the caption RIP Steve Albini.
The Lord Of The Rings star Elijah Wood wrote: “Ugh man, a heartbreaking loss of a legend. Love to his family and innumerable colleagues. Farewell, Steve Albini.”
Rough Trade, a retail chain of record shops in the UK and US, wrote on X: “Musician, studio engineer and the mastermind behind some of rock’s greatest albums. A hero to us all. Thank you for setting the standard so high. RIP Steve Albini. Deeply missed, forever loved.”
Born on 22 July 1962 in Pasadena, California, he grew up in Montana and went to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where he studied journalism.
He became a fixture on the Chicago punk rock scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when he began performing with various bands and engineering albums.
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Albini remained a prominent figure in the Chicago music scene after his time at Northwestern, owning and operating Electrical Audio.
Pitchfork reported he did not take royalties from records he worked on, and he kept his day rates for artists comparatively low, especially as a producer with his pedigree.
He also became well-known for his commentary on the state of the music industry in the age of streaming.
Albini is survived by his filmmaker wife Heather Whinna.
Legislation dubbed the “Taylor Swift bill” has passed in Minnesota in an effort to help people buy concert tickets.
The bill, officially called House File 1989 in reference to Taylor Swift’s hit album and the year she was born, was signed into Minnesota law on Tuesday.
It will require sellers offering tickets to people in the state or tickets for concerts being held there to disclose all fees up front and prohibit resellers from selling more than one copy of a ticket, among other measures.
Minnesota State Representative Kelly Moller, chief author of the bill, pushed for the legislation after she tried to get tickets to one of Swift’s concerts in 2022.
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Ms Moller said she was among thousands of people who became stuck in ticket sales company Ticketmaster’s system after it crashed amid the huge demand for Swift concert tickets and attacks from bots, which tried to buy tickets for resale at inflated prices.
The situation led to congressional hearings but no federal legislation.
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Governor Tim Walz, who signed the bill into law at First Avenue, a popular concert venue in downtown Minneapolis, said it was “protection so you don’t get a bad ticket, a fraudulent ticket, and resellers can’t snatch them all up before you get an opportunity”.
Two young girls – one wearing a shirt that said “A LOT going on at the moment” in a nod to Swift, and another wearing a shirt that said “Iowa 22” in reference to basketball star Caitlin Clark – attended the bill signing with their dad, Mike Dean, who testified in support of it.
An eras tour ticket. Pic: Fernando Gens/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Mr Dean said his daughter came to him in December and said she wanted to see Clark play. He said the website initially showed the tickets would cost $300 total, but they ended up costing over $500 because of hidden fees.
The timer had begun in the online checkout process, so he had just minutes to decide whether to buy the tickets for the higher price or lose them.
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He ultimately bought them, but he told the Associated Press these practices mean customers can’t make informed decisions. The new law, he said, will bring transparency to the process.
Sky News contacted Ticketmaster for comment.
A spokesperson for fellow ticket sales giants StubHub said: “StubHub has long advocated for legislation that protects fans from anti-competitive and anti-consumer practices in the ticket buying process.
“We share the goals of HF1989 and look forward to continuing discussions with policymakers to advance policies that provide more transparency, more control, and more choice for ticket buyers.”
The law takes effect from 1 January 2025 and applies to tickets sold on or after that date.
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