Secrets of the Wasteland

The Fallout series has never been shy about letting its developers' personalities shine through - for such a grim set-up, they're remarkably humorous games, packed with winks, nods and irradiated salutes to the people and media that informed their creation.



With Fallout 4 so very, very close, now's as good a time as any to look back on the gnomes, grannies and grenades that might have slipped your notice in the previous console outings.

Burnouts Crash Mode replays were the original inspiration behind the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System (V.A.T.S.) Just substitute severed limbs for crumpled fenders - you get it.

The sound you hear played upon entering V.A.T.S. is the combat turn sound from Fallout 1. It used to help signal the end of a fight - and, let's face it, entering V.A.T.S. usually does too.

Some secrets extend to even the wallpapers put out by Bethesda to market New Vegas notably one of a young lady looking coquettish in a Vault 34 jumpsuit. Its actually the leader of the Boomers faction, Pearl, as a young woman, says Lead designer J.E. Sawyer. Which is why her name appears next to the picture on the side of the Boomers B-29 in the background of their end slide.

Fallout 3 began development in 2004 and was announced before Oblivion which came out 2 years earlier - was even revealed. Fallout 4's surprise reveal and speedy release has gone in the opposite direction.

In the world of Fallout, the nuclear bombs fell on 23 October. Bethesda wanted to make the release date of Fallout 3 coincide with this. It ended up releasing a week later in North America.

The names on New Vegas Boulder City memorial are not, as is widely thought, those of developers. Theyre fictional, but have links to past Fallout games. Roger Westin III is, for example, the grandson of an NCR character in Fallout 2.

Artist Grant Struthers prototyped the V.A.T.S. camera system by filming his Incredibles action figures fighting. Imagine looking at Dash and thinking about his legs falling off - we've never done that. Nope. Never. Nuh-uh.

The very first piece of Fallout 3 art was created by lead artist Istvan Pely in 2004. It was the power armour image that eventually became the games cover.

Bethesda Softworks was actually only based in Bethesda, Maryland for a short time. Its offices are now located in Rockville, Maryland.