There has yet to be a sequel to Bethesda Games massive video game franchise Fallout 3, but there has been rumors of a release date for Fallout 4. We have heard that the release date for Fallout 4 for the PS4 and Xbox One will be some time in 2016, and that Fallout 4 will be on display at E3 2015.
While there has not been any official announcement from Bethesda regarding the release date for Fallout 4, CultureMob reports that "almost every news website, magazine, and critics pages have confirmed that Bethesda is preparing to announce Fallout 4 during the E3 [Electronic Entertainment Expo] 2015 event".
For those who aren't familiar with E3, it is an annual event devoted to video games, held annually at the LA Convention Center in the summertime. Many video games that are unveiled at E3 often come out during the holiday, but sometimes, only a preview is shown and players have to wait over a year. This looks like the case for Fallout 4, as it looks like it will have a 2016 release.
We also know that Fallout 4 will be next-gen systems only, which means that it will not be available on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. The reason behind it is Fallout 4 plans to have some of the best visuals, and these won't appear on older generation consoles. This is going to really benefit players, because Fallout 3, released almost 10 years ago, had so much maps and content, but Fallout 4 is going to have even more. This Fallout 4 sequel might be worth the wait.
As far as where the game is going to take place, there seems to be three words that dispel previous rumors about Fallout 4: It's not Boston. Fallout: New Vegas took place in a bombed-out Las Vegas, but this game will be set in either New York or Boston. Personally, I hope for Chicago because Tom Clancy's The Division, another anticipated video game, is already set to take place in a post-apocalyptic New York City.
The Venture Captial Post reports that one of the reasons for the delay of Fallout 4 would be bugs. That is, Bethesda does not want to release their highly anticipated franchises with a lot of bugs that would negatively affect gameplay. As stated before, the game will have a very expanded world, and it would be terrible if these broader elements crashed for players in mid-game. Bethesda is very tight-lipped on what will be revealed about Fallout 4, but all will hopefully be made clear at E3 2015.
Fallout is one of those video game series that is long overdue for a sequel, as Fallout 3 premiered in 2008 with amazing reviews and has developed quite a following. The last offering of Fallout 3 was Fallout: New Vegas, which also received a lot of praise from both critics and gamers.
Design and Trend reported that it seems that Bethesda may be hiring voice actors to work on a certain "AAA video game title", but this looks like it would be less Fallout and more Elder Scrolls 6. So this work could be a sequel to the hugely popular The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. It seems odd that a sequel to Skyrim would happen before Fallout 3, as the former was released in 2011 and the latter released in 2008. One would think that the greater demand for a sequel would be in the older gaming franchises, and not the younger. Still, they are both pretty old, as far as video games are concerned, and released in a time before the Sony PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
In December 2013, there was a tease of a Fallout 4 with a website called "TheSurvivor2299.com", but Kotaku revealed that it was a hoax. Soon after, Kotaku reported a leaked script code-named Institute had several references to things in the Fallout setting and locations. This script took place somewhere in the Boston area, with the name referring to Boston's MIT technology lab. The plot of the script dealt with "The Institute" producing self-aware Android robots that could add some element into the already well-developed post-nuclear world of the Fallout game series.
Fallout 3 was designed as a shooter game that takes place in a post-apocalyptic future after a great thermal nuclear war of 2077. The player gets to see him or herself be born and then leave the Vault of a bomb shelter that they grew up in, entering a realm filled with radiation and weird creatures. Players each have a Pip-Boy, a wrist console that gives information via a green-glowing monochrome screen, and receive information by Vault-boy, a darkly funny little mascot of this failed Duck and Cover civilization.
Fallout 3 was definitely a step up for the series, and perhaps what keeps Bethesda from following up on it is that it would be a tough act to follow. Look for Bethesda to unveil more information about Fallout 4 at E3 2015, which will hopefully reveal a release date sometime in 2016.
