Fallout 3 is invading the DC metro
As both a DC resident and gigantic dork, I thought it would be worth snapping a photo of the newest ad in the bowels of the Metro (at least as of 7:00 tonight). Fallout 3, by Bethesda Softworks (their offices are actually in Rockville), is set to hit store shelves at the end of the month.
I imagine I was one of the few who knew this background info, because in the four minutes I had to waste while waiting for the metro to come, I counted 37 people walk by, stop, and stare at this ad. For those who don’t know, Fallout 3 takes place in a post-apocalyptic DC, and word on the street is that you can play down in the metro tunnels in addition to roaming the streets. I wonder if my house is still standing? I doubt it. It sounds pretty rickety to me in 2008.
Anyway, metro riders were transfixed by this ad. Unlike the “Fred, your ass is looking fat” hippo posters or the metro etiquette ads, the crumbling Washington Monument and mutated American flag caught a lot of eyes, and people STARED. Like, legit stared, as if the ad were either a really pretty or really ugly, disfigured lady.
I am actually surprised this game hasn’t gotten more press from news outlets around here, considering it’s set in DC and developed by a local studio. I, for one, can’t wait to see what’s been recreated and decimated. Anyone know how accurate the game is (streets, sights, etc.)?
If you want to check out the ad, it’s on the blue/orange platform at Metro Center (headed toward New Carrollton). Nerds of the district, unite.
Tags: ad, Bethesda Softworks, DC, Fallout 3, game, Just for Fun, Metro, PC, RPG, XBOX 360
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
October 6, 2008 at 8:55 pm
I’ll have to check out the game. Thanks!
October 7, 2008 at 6:37 pm
[...] a tip this morning about a Fallout 3 advertisement he saw in the Metro last night and subsequently blogged about. Amused by this ad push in Fallout 3’s setting (before the nuclear apocalypse), we actually [...]
October 7, 2008 at 6:59 pm
[...] a tip this morning about a Fallout 3 advertisement he saw in the Metro last night and subsequently blogged about. Amused by this ad push in Fallout 3’s setting (before the nuclear apocalypse), we actually [...]
October 7, 2008 at 8:06 pm
[...] a tip this morning about a Fallout 3 advertisement he saw in the Metro last night and subsequently blogged about. Amused by this ad push in Fallout 3′s setting (before the nuclear apocalypse), we actually wanted [...]
October 7, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Thanks for sharing this.
October 7, 2008 at 8:20 pm
[...] Metro last night and subsequently blogged about. Amused by this ad push in Fallout 3’s [...]
October 7, 2008 at 8:45 pm
shevonne and killzig: thanks! glad you guys liked it. i am really looking forward to the game. these ads are really cool. very smart of them.
October 7, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Hey I just read about this blog post via Joystiq.com. Nice. Kinda cool to see a game like Fallout 3 shown off in this fashion to the public, especially in my home city no less. I have yet to see them but that’s only cause I haven’t been to Metro Center in a bit (Time to change that)
Now it’s time to keep our eyes open for the Bus and Bus Station Ads as Bethesda told Joystiq.com that they will have more Fallout 3 ads plastered on Metro Buses and Bus Shelters.
October 8, 2008 at 4:46 am
Heh, I’d been amused by this all week. Still sends some nice little shivers seeing the Pip Boy everywhere interspersed with all the ads showing the devastation.
October 8, 2008 at 8:29 am
Douglas: thanks for visiting. I love anything with a connection to DC; you don’t really see a lot of games tied to DC like this, so I really enjoyed the ad campaign at Metro Center. Very smart.
Heather: Seeing Pip Boy on the way to work makes it so much harder not to run for shelter somewhere, thanks to the impending nuclear disaster. Thanks for stopping by!
October 8, 2008 at 9:58 am
[...] It still makes me smile to walk past someone in a three piece suit puzzling over a fallout ad, much like this guy. [...]
October 8, 2008 at 11:00 am
digitalmetropolis: Yeah, it was a smart move to start pushing the game out in this fashion. And it’s uber cool to see them advertising upfront right here exclusively. I seriously may try to ask if there’s going to be some way to obtain this ads locally, by giveaway here or buying, for the fact that all are pretty cool, killer ads.
I’m glad that right after I type this, I’m heading to Union Station so I’ll make a small detour and finally see the ads upfront.
What I HATE about this, for me personally is that I don’t own a 360 but I’ve been entranced and tempted into picking up a 360 this holiday season to play this game (And Bioshock, among others) and having this here DOES NOT help my restraint at all =P.
Bioshock)
October 8, 2008 at 7:22 pm
It’s post-apocolyptic, but the bomb dropped here sometime after the original end of WWII…I think early ’50′s or so? So, depending on how old your house is, I’m guessing they’re taking a lot of liberty with that type of stuff. I did read that they were going back to that timeframe to see what was or wasn’t built, and determine how it would withstand a nuke and still keep it recognizable as DC.
October 8, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Kind of – the concept behind FO is that history diverges during the fifties, its set around… 2270 give or take.
The fallout setting is essentially the atomic nightmare of the 50s come true, complete with communist invasion and massive nuclear exchange. (Long in the past by the time of the game.)
Since the game is based on a 50s worldview, you see lots of fun 50s themed architecture, and a lot of the styling of DC will be themed after the 50s version.
That said, its also set 270 years in the future, so they can take as many liberties as they want.
Expect any really iconic landmarks to be present and correct.
October 8, 2008 at 11:08 pm
[...] riders don’t quite know what to make of the marketing campaign. digital metropolis reports: In the four minutes I had to waste while waiting for the metro to come, I counted 37 [...]
October 20, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I go through Metro Center every day and, yes, every ad spot in the cavernous underground station is taken up with Fallout 3 ads. I enter and exit through the 13th Street escalators and over there they have a line of ads with a paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel helping up a fallen Uncle Sam against the backdrop of a (modern) U.S. flag. On the far wall near the underground entrance to Macy’s they have a series of repeating “Sugar Bombs” cereal ads and “Abraxo” cleaning powder ads. They get quite a few looks from passers-by.
I was a big fan of both Fallout and Fallout 2 on the PC and the third installment is on my list of must-get games for the Xbox 360.
October 21, 2008 at 8:07 am
Douglas: did you ever get a chance to check out the ads? also, i highly recommend getting the 360. having owned a ps3 as well, i think the 360 is the clear winner between the two, particularly with bioshock and the orange box — both are better games on the 360, without a doubt.
Jason: the house is probably 100-110 years old. I doubt it would be in the game, but I live near the Capitol and thought it might be possible. it could blow my mind if i could walk around in my house in the game while sitting in my house playing it. the world might collapse.
ShineDog: does eastern market count as an iconic landmark? ben’s chili bowl? now THAT would be cool.
chryse: i only played the first fallout. worth getting for the pc? well, macbook? i put xp on it and can give it a try…
October 26, 2008 at 8:07 am
[...] write a letter to the editor at The Washington Post about the Fallout 3 metro ads first mentioned here at Digital Metropolis a couple of weeks [...]