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Though we already know the bulk of the March release schedule for new content on the Xbox Live Marketplace, Major Nelson's blog recently laid out how the rest of the month will play out. Tomorrow, we'll get our hands on Scrap Metal for 1200 ($15), next Wednesday will see the release of Perfect Dark for 800 ($10), and on March 24, we'll get our hands on the (somewhat) free Game Room hub. Oh, and the Games on Demand service got a bit crazier today with the release of Condemned: Criminal Origins for $19.99.

If you're an insatiable value-hound, you should turn your attention to the upcoming Deals of the Weeks: The original Fable will have its price reduced to 800 ($10) from 1200 ($15) during the week of March 15. All of Fallout 3's add-on packs, including Operation: Anchorage, The Pitt, Broken Steel, Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta, will be offered at half price (400, or $5) during the week of March 22. For the rest of the schedule, including Avatar outfits and add-on packs, check out the list after the jump.

Attention would-be wastelanders, Fallout 3 is now available on Xbox Live Games on Demand. The game clocks in at 5GB and is available in all Xbox Live regions except India, Japan and New Zealand. It costs $29.99 in North America, which is about even with most retailers. As usual, prices for other regions will vary.

Meanwhile, Street Fighter IV -- previously available only in North America and Asia -- is now available in all Xbox Live regions. Before you plunk down the cash for Street Fighter IV, though, don't forget that you can grab something a little more super next month.

Shortcut - Add Fallout 3 to your Xbox 360 download queue [Via Xbox.com]
Shortcut - Add Street Fighter IV to your Xbox 360 download queue [Via Xbox.com]

Aside from a cursory description of the game's premise on its official website, we've heard very little about Fallout: New Vegas. Today, friends, that changes, with a USA Today feature that reveals the game's protagonist as a shot and left-to-die package delivery boy who finds himself in Sin City "and the surrounding area" in 2280. "You were a courier, and you were obviously carrying something that somebody wanted," Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines says of the player's character. "Part of the story is finding out what you had and what they took."

Hines additionally insists New Vegas will "feel" far different from 2008's Fallout 3 through one key aspect: the setting. "Vegas is up and running. It is not a ghost town. It still exists and thrives. There are casinos, and you can go down onto the Strip. It will have a very different feel from that standpoint."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hines also notes that the New Vegas will "take you hundreds of hours to explore every nook and cranny" -- not unlike the 2008 iteration of the Fallout franchise. We'd be straight lying if we said we weren't unbelievably ready to invest that time in more of the Fallout universe this fall, even after all of last year's DLC.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Amazon is now offering a special buy two, get one free deal on Xbox 360 Platinum Hits titles. The deal is fairly straightforward: just pop three Platinum Hits games into your cart and the cheapest of the three will be knocked down to the wallet-friendly price of zero dollars. It's really the perfect excuse to pick up some great games you might have missed, especially considering many of them have sequels out this year -- notably Fable II, Halo 3, Fallout 3, Mass Effect, BioShock and Dead Rising. You'd better do it quick though, as the offer is only valid through February 13 and only while supplies last.

[Thanks, Goldenchild]

Valkyria Chronicles
"BUT THAT GAME WAS 2008!!11one!1!" Well, yes, in the strictest sense. Sega's strategy role-playing game, an epic tale chronicling the hardships and victories of Gallian militia Squad 7, was sent out to die by the publisher when it released in November 2008. However, word-of-mouth, critical praise and some discounted pricing helped the saga find a place in many people's lives (and hearts) by mid-2009.

One of the most endearing mechanics implemented in the game was giving all the playable members of Squad 7 bonuses (or flaws) based on their neuroses, relationships and desires. Also, every character had a different personality that shined during their turn through little quips and order recognition comments. It gave the entire cast more depth of character, even as the player only saw a handful of the troops during cutscenes. Despite the requisite Japanese RPG flair and melodrama, there was a simple beauty and charm in the storytelling, while the gameplay introduced a great basis for iteration. Valkyria Chronicles is a series that, with love and attention, could become so much more. I look forward to returning to Gallia and hope future installments recognize that the delightful characters are as important to the series as the strategic gameplay.

Watch your head, folks, because prices are falling. Today's Xbox Live holiday deal of the day is targeted directly at DLC for Bethesda's critical and commercial darling, Fallout 3. If you're looking to add more intense VATS-related action to the RPG, each add-on pack is available for 400 ($5) a piece -- a 50% savings of your Microsoft-branded space bucks.

New to the Fallout 3 universe? There are five DLC add-on packs for the (already) lengthy RPG. Arguably the most important -- and one you should tackle first -- is Broken Steel, which increases the game's overall level cap to 30 and allows players to continue playing beyond the conclusion. Also, a Game of the Year edition is available in stores, which includes all of Fallout 3's downloadable content -- making it cheaper if you don't already own the game to begin with.

Add Fallout 3's Operation Anchorage DLC to your Xbox 360 download queue
Add Fallout 3's The Pitt DLC to your Xbox 360 download queue
Add Fallout 3's Broken Steel DLC to your Xbox 360 download queue
Add Fallout 3's Point Lookout DLC to your Xbox 360 download queue
Add Fallout 3's Mothership Zeta DLC to your Xbox 360 download queue

[Thanks, Brett]

YouTube user ProfessorGigaton has a pair of videos showing off his latest diabolical creation: a life-size model of Fallout 3's Railway Rifle. If you're inclined to take on the project yourself, one of the videos features a full tutorial to help you create your very own non-working replica. Lazy, like us? The supposed professor -- we're waiting on his school transcripts -- is also selling the model featured in the videos on eBay. The starting bid is $45, and it's sure to look great with your Fallout 3-inspired cosplay ... and will definitely come in handy in the post-apocalyptic world of 2012.

Source -- YouTube Tutorial
Source -- eBay Listing

• Vault 101 Suit -- 240 ($3)
• Bethesda Game Studios Shirt -- 80 ($1)
• Fallout 3 Ringer Shirt -- 80 ($1)
• Vault Boy Shirt -- 80 ($1)
• Vault Boy Suit -- 240 ($3)
• Vault Boy Head -- 80 ($1)

Incredibly specific patch news now, with the release of a save recognition remedy for the French Canadian version of Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition (product code "BLUS-30455"). The patch will allow the GOTY re-release of Bethesda's wasteland wandering sim to recognize save files generated by Fallout 3 sans accolades.

As a Bethesda community manager helpfully points out, your old save files will only show up if there are new saves (GOTY) present -- if you only have old saves, start a new game and, you know, save. If you have in excess of 130 save files (a sign of prudence!), you'll have to delete older ones in order for the new ones to be displayed. Oh, and one more thing: "If your saves are taking a long time to load you might want to resave them and back up or remove the old ones."

And now we've exhausted our supply of the word "save," save for one which we were keeping for the en ... dammit, we wasted it!

[One thank you "reserved" for: Harry]

Ever since Fallout 3's Vault Boy went to space in Mothership Zeta, we've been at a loss for where to find the congenial gent. Alas, we never expected to see his mercurial face gracing the cover of a Massachusetts pizza shop's menu. Expresso Pizza of Billerica, Ma. put the young lad to work on the menu's cover, holding a pizza and pretending he's a waiter. We all know you're a Capital Wasteland Wanderer, silly Vault Boy!

The only question now is "How long until Bethesda shuts this down?" We contacted the Fallout publisher to find out its reaction, and were told, "Well he is a big part of our Fallout brand and is copyrighted, so, yeah, deciding on your own to use him to promote your business or product, or to sell stuff, or whatever, without getting permission from us ... not a good idea." Ruh oh!

(Thanks, Dan)

[Via BadCartridge]

Canadian owners of the Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition may soon have a fix for the save game issue plaguing their corner of the globe. As reported a couple weeks back, those friendly folks of the north are having problems getting the GOTY edition to recognize save files created by the original retail release of the game.

Bethesda now has a fix for the problem, which is currently being tested. There is no word on when it'll release, but hopefully it'll be before the Chinese actually invade Anchorage.

[Thanks, Harry S.]

A couple of threads over at Bethesda Softwork's forums reveal that Canadian PS3 owners are having a problem getting their previous Capital Wasteland save files to be recognized by the newly released Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition. Speculation by forum posters about the cause of the issue seems to revolve around either improper/outdated patching or that the GOTY edition isn't compatible with a version of the game sold in the region.

We've been in contact with Bethesda this morning, which is aware of the problem and is currently trying to figure out precisely what the issue is before it makes a statement. We'll update as soon as we learn more.

The highlight in this week's PSN Update is that The Bats is back with more free DLC. Also, for Fallout 3 owners not planning to trade up to the "game of the year edition," the single most important piece of DLC for the game, Broken Steel, is now available from the PSN store for $10. For those who don't know, Broken Steel takes away "the ending" of the game and allows the (anti-)hero of the Capital Wasteland to continue their journey with an increased level cap. Check out the full update after the break -- and, sadly, no Trine.

Remember Harrison Krix, that talented mofo that made the Portal gun and that crazy awesome Big Daddy costume? Well, Krix has done it again, this time recreating the early-level staple of Fallout 3, the Laser Rifle. He's provided his usual ridiculously long step-by-step process on the creation of the almost-a-firearm, so give it a gander if you're so inclined. Now if only he'd make some replica Mirelurks for us to pretend-shoot at ...

[Via BethBlog Twitter]

Bethesda assured us that the Fallout 3 downloadable content packs for PS3 would be available starting at the "end of September," and, as promised, Broken Steel will be up on September 24. It'll be followed by Operation Anchorage and The Pitt on October 1, and Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta on October 8. Today, the publisher released an update for Fallout 3 to add trophy support for these DLC packs. In just a few weeks, PS3 owners will be totally caught up with Xbox gamers! Except, of course, for the ... many hours of gameplay required to complete any of these packs.

Bethesda also confirmed the October 13 release date for the Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition, available on PS3, Xbox, and 360, and including the game and all the DLC. It will indeed cost $59.99, as retailers listed the title last month.