Six new Fallout 3 screenshots have been released, showing off some of what you can expect from the downloadable content (DLC) releasing early next year, available exclusively for Xbox 360 and PC owners of the game.

The first of three DLC packs to be released over the course of 2009, these shots are from the first pack, Operation: Anchorage, releasing next month, described by developers Bethesda thus:

“Enter a military simulation and fight in one of the greatest battles of the Fallout universe – the liberation of Anchorage, Alaska from its Chinese Communist invaders. An action-packed battle scheduled for release in January.”

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Bethesda Softworks have announced their intentions to release game expanding downloadable content as well as a mod construction kit for PC players.

The DLC comprises three packs each seeing individual releases in January, February and March next year. The first is entitled Operation: Anchorage following the liberation of a Chinese-occupied Alaska, while the second, The Pit, adds an industrial raiders town in the ruins of Pittsburgh. The third, Broken Steel, places you in the boots of a Brotherhood of Steel member, attempting to exterminate the pockets of Enclave supporters in and around Capital Wasteland. This DLC will be available for an unspecified price exclusively on PC and Xbox 360, through Games for Windows LIVE and Xbox LIVE Marketplace respectively.

The mod construction kit, on the other hand, called G.E.C.K (Garden of Eden Creation Kit) is a toolset allowing PC players to create and change Fallout 3 content to create their own maps, missions and items. This construction kit will be available for free in December.

Where in the world do you live? In that part of the world, do they have gigantic advertisements and banners adorning the local skyscrapers? No? Well, that’s how they do it in New York, as Valve and EA’s marketing push goes into overdrive for their next collaboration, the zombie co-operative shooter Left 4 Dead.

Not only that, Bethesda have taken out the entire back page of the New York Times for a full colour advert, featuring their latest behemoth, Fallout 3.

Now that’s advertising!

Thanks Kotaku!

Can you wait for Fallout 3? No? Well, a few screenshots will have to keep you satisfied until you get your hands on it for real… but they’re good screenshots!

Fallout 3 can be considered the pre-eminent, post-apocalyptic action-RPG shooter to release this year. Playing in the mammoth nuclear wasteland of Washington D.C. (now known as Capital Wasteland) after an atomic war has ravaged the US, you’ll be able to make important choices about how you progress through the game, leading to over 200 endings. You also get to shoot mutated humans and animals - transformed, shambling husks of flesh, waiting to be blown up with explosives, beautifully rendered in the vast landscapes. Can’t wait!

The release date for this behemoth draws ever nearer, showing up on store shelves on October 28th in the US, October 31st in the UK and Europe, coming to PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Click through for more visual amazement:

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Many an action/RPG gamer is desperately looking forward to the imminent release of Fallout 3 on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. Providing an expansive, post-apocalyptic Washington D.C. to explore and allowing your in-game actions and decisions to have real weight in the world, Fallout 3, in development at Bethesda Softworks, is the successor to the popular isometric RPG series of the 90’s.

Recognising the importance of the upcoming title, Megarom Interactive (Pty) Ltd. of South Africa have announced their exclusive Fallout 3 distribution deal, ensuring South African gamers can get their hands on the title the second it’s available.

“Fallout 3 is a key title for us and we are looking forward to a successful launch,” said Sean Brennan, Managing Director of Bethesda Softworks’ European publishing operation. “Having the right distribution partner in place is vital to this success, which is why we’re delighted to be working with Megarom for Fallout 3.”

Having already won numerous awards during its previous showings at game exhibitions such as E3, including ‘Best of Show’ and ‘Best Role-Playing Game’, Fallout 3’s reception when it releases on October 31st is sure to be astounding.

Bethesda is currently putting the finishing touches on what seems to be a masterpiece of a game, Fallout 3. While only the third game, the Fallout series has a loyal and rabid fanbase who no doubt revolted when Bethesda gained the rights to the franchise and decided to take it on its current, fully 3D, action-RPG course.

Those fans have been very vocal about what a Fallout game should be, but Bethesda haven’t really taken notice of their feedback as they maintain that their own input, from people in the trenches actually creating the game, is more valuable. When Bethesda Softworks vice president, Pete Hines, was asked how much the input from series’ fans factored into their decisions, he replied, “Not much,” before saying:

“When you’re designing a game, you have this group of people on the inside who are working on it every day and who know everything about the decisions that are being made. You don’t just take a chunk of that, throw it out to the community and say, ‘We don’t know how this question works, so let’s ask the fans.’ You’re working and changing every day - it’s a constant, fluid process. It’s not like we say, ‘Okay, everything is done now, let’s see what they say then go back and change it’.”

So, series fans, stop complaining. They’re not listening, and the game is almost done anyway, with a release date of October 31st in Europe and October 28th in North America, coming to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It can’t come soon enough!

It appears the first-person, action-RPG game, in the works at Bethesda Softworks, finally has a date.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world in an alternate Washington D.C., Fallout 3 allows players to tackle problems in any way they choose, starting with the way they customise their character to the ability to destroy an entire town. Fallout 3 follows on from the niche but popular isometric Fallout RPGs of the 90’s, continuing in the fine tradition of the series’ humour and open-ended game play decisions.

Fallout 3 is up for release on the 31st of October in Europe and October 28th in the US, releasing on PC and Xbox 360.

Here are a handful of Fallout 3 screens, looking lovely as usual.

Fallout 3 tells its story based on the player’s actions, while exploring the vast and beautiful post-apocalyptic environments of Capital Wasteland. Entire cities are yours to destroy or let be, as the mood takes you, changing the story dynamically leading to over 200 endings.

Upgrade your character in hundreds of ways and take on combat in real-time, or target individual body parts in turn-based RPG style, either in a first person or third person perspective.

From Bethesda Softworks, creators of Oblivion, Fallout 3 is due for release later this year on Xbox 360 and PC.

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