austrian otaku

 

I wasn’t very active in the blogsphere, Twitter and so on. The reason is that I finally got around to play a game I wasn’t able to when it came out (cause I was in the army at that time).

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Lately acquired stuff: Fallout 3 Collectors Edition and Apple Universal Dock.

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Fallout 3. Just too addictive and awesome. I’m playing for one week now (not 24/7 though), finished the main and a ton of side quests, the addons Operation Anchorage, Broken Steel and Mothership Zeta (which was just released last week). Have to decide if I’d like to start Point Lookout or The Pitt next…  Guess this is one of the best games I’ve played so far.

Most of you know the story behind Fallout 3, but here is a short round up for those not familiar with it below the trailer:

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[youtube=[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYHo1Z5KODQ&w=873&h=525&fmt=18]

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The background story of Fallout involves a United States alternative history scenario which diverges from reality following World War II. The transistor was invented just before the war, while vacuum tubes and atomic physics became the cornerstones to scientific progress, eventually achieving the technological aspirations of the early Atomic Age and locking society into a 1950s cultural stasis. Thus, in this alternative "Golden Age", a bizarre socio-technological status quo emerges, in which advanced robots, nuclear-powered cars, directed-energy weapons and other futuristic technologies are seen alongside 1950s-era computers, telephones and typewriters, and the aesthetics and Cold War paranoia of the 1950s continue to dominate the American lifestyle well into the 21st century.

The federal government organizes the states into 13 commonwealths to promote economic stability, but this only divides the U.S. as they put their own ambitions before those of the nation. Tensions rise over the next century due to an increasing energy crisis caused by the depletion of petroleum reserves, leading to the "Resource Wars": a series of events over the next few decades which included a Europe-Middle East war, the disbanding of the United Nations, the US annexation of Canada and a Chinese invasion and military occupation of Alaska. These eventually culminated in the 2077 Great War, a cataclysmic nuclear exchange that created the post-apocalyptic setting of Fallout.

Much earlier in 2054 however, the U.S. government had begun a nationwide project to build fallout shelters known as "Vaults" which would officially house privileged segments of the population within. In reality and unknown to most of their inhabitants, a large number were actually built for human subject research.  Each was built to help test something in some way, ranging from overpopulation to deliberate radiation contamination.

Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277, 36 years after the setting of Fallout 2 and 200 years after the nuclear war between the USA and China. The game places the player in the role of an inhabitant of Vault 101. When the player’s father disappears under mysterious circumstances, the player is forced to escape from the Vault and journey into the ruins of Washington D.C. to track him down.

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The setting is soooo awesome. Especially the 1950s style of the blown up DC city area , 50s music which plays on the radio and the level of detail of nearly everything. The developers pointed out that the are quite familiar with the fact that 200 years after such an event most building would be completely destroyed (even the most massive skyscrapers and such would collapse around 200 years if no humans would be around) and that there would be green grass, trees and what not but they wanted to create a Fallout-like atmosphere.

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The Collectors Edition comes in a real life version of the lunch boxes you’ll see in game from time to time.

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Backside view.

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That’s what’s inside the box. (Besides the game DVD itself of course).

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Vault Boy booble head figure. (Just like the Vault-Tec promotional items ingame) Rin approves ^_^

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“The Art of Fallout 3” hardcover book of exclusive concept art and commentary.

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Special DVD “The Making of Fallout 3”. (Yah, that’s how a glass desk looks after some gaming.)

. of Fallout

Buying this game is really worth every cent. Highly hikky approved, but you won’t be able to stop playing it once you started xD

As we are already ttalking about addictive stuff lets move on to some supply for another thingh you don’t want to miss once you’ve tried it. The iPhone.

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I really like my X-tand for my desk but definitely needed a second Dock thingy for my bedroom. After browsing trough a lot of 3rd party Docks which are only 3G compatible I decided to buy the original Universal Dock. 40€ isn’t that much given the fact that you can charge every iPod and iPhone with it

The worlds best Smartphone disserves a great Dock anyway. (Those who haven’t seen the light yet, should consider to try a jailbreaked iPhone for one week.)

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The Universal Dock comes with a Apple Remote. Quite handy because with this I don’t have to navigate to the iPod App and push “Play” when the iPhone is docked on the bedside table.

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Dock Connector and AV-/ Audio-Out on the back.side.

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To conclude this post I’d like to share the panorama pics which I took yesterday.

Huge file ahead! Click to get the full-sized picture.

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On top of Hohensalzburg Castle in the center of Salzburg. with a length of 250 meters and a width of 150 meters, it is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. Construction of the fortress began in 1077, it’s also known for the “Reisszug” the worlds oldest funicular railway.

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Unfortunately the second one is messed up. Seems like there were some smudges on the lense.. ToT

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