An iconic image from the original game

Bethesda are certainly busy lately; not only are they off upsetting people all over the place, they're also apparently ready to dish out the sort of tasty news gamers are hungry for as well as dashing their hopes and dreams. The latest excitement to hit the press arrived in a glorious double-decker whammy, with the surprising news that Bethesda seems to be planning both movies and a TV series based on the Fallout universe acting as an appetiser to the astonishingly-timed if not unexpected main course: a second Bethesda RPG in the Fallout universe is already on its way.

This earlier-than-expected announcement is most welcome, although the timing has a few fans worried; will this distract the development team from delivering on the further high quality Fallout 3 downloadable content we've been promised? Apparently not, according to Bethesda's Pete Hines, who also clarifies what exactly we ought to expect from the newest entry:

"It's not a sequel to Fallout 3, it's just another game in the universe, and it has no impact whatsoever on whatever Todd Howard and his team are working on ... It's not Fallout Tactics, it's not Brotherhood of Steel; it's another RPG."

More of the same? Many gamers will be saying yes, please! But the new game, tentatively titled Fallout: New Vegas, will actually come to us courtesy of Obsidian Entertainment, of Neverwinter Nights 2 fame, which seems like a winning combination, and is expected to arrive sometime next year. What to do while waiting? Well, you could take a break from theorizing about the new game to turn your attention to the possible live action entries to the franchise. Maybe Bethesda are just covering their tracks in case someone else thinks to get their mitts on the IP, but they've gone ahead and filed a trademark application for "motion picture films" and "an on-going television program" under the Fallout banner. I think the world is ready, even overdue, for a big-screen or small-screen exploitation of this franchise; but who will Bethesda trust with their preciously hoarded franchise?

If only any of these attractive-sounding projects were due any time soon, or even released a few screens to drool over! Alas, it seems we'll all just have to drive ourselves crazy with hype.