The Fallout series was developed and published by Interplay Entertainment in 1997 as a spiritual successor to Wasteland. Initially, it was intended to be a direct sequel to Wasteland but eventually became its own unique game. The series was later acquired by Bethesda Game Studios, which revamped the game's style and gameplay.
The Fallout games contain numerous Easter eggs and references to real-world objects, movies, and TV shows, such as Doctor Who, the Dirty Harry movies, and Star Wars. The series also parodies real-world religions, like Scientology.
In the Fallout universe, the Vaults were originally designed to protect the American population from a nuclear holocaust. However, the government and Vault-Tec only built 122 Vaults, which were actually social experiments to study human behavior in extreme conditions. These experiments led to bizarre and interesting stories, such as the creation of ghouls, cloning facilities, and the psychological effects of isolation.
Some notable examples of these experiments include Vault 6 and 12, where radiation was leaked into the vaults, turning the residents into ghouls; Vault 77, which contained a single man and a crate of puppets; and Vault 11, where the inhabitants were forced to sacrifice one person per year through a democratic voting system.
Here are the key facts from the text:
1. Fallout was developed and published by Interplay Entertainment in 1997.
2. Fallout was an open-world post-apocalyptic role-playing game.
3. Fallout was the spiritual successor to the game Wasteland.
4. The game was initially developed as an official sequel to Wasteland.
5. The game's development team was led by Jason Kane.
6. Interplay Entertainment wanted to turn Fallout into a real-time online multiplayer game, but Jason Kane and others refused.
7. Fallout was released in 1997 after three years in development.
8. The game received a sequel, Fallout 2, the following year.
9. Interplay Entertainment sold the rights to the Fallout franchise to Bethesda Game Studios in 2004.
10. Bethesda Game Studios released Fallout 3 in 2008, which was a first and third-person real-time combat action RPG.
11. Interplay Entertainment and Black Isle Studios worked on a third Fallout game, known as Van Buren, before it was canceled.
12. The game's development was well underway, with the Jefferson engine 95% complete, before it was canceled.
13. Some content from Van Buren was later used in Fallout: New Vegas.
14. Nuka-Cola, a popular soft drink in the Fallout universe, was invented in 2044 by John Caleb Brad Burton.
15. The name John Caleb Brad Burton is an amalgamation of the inventors of Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
16. The Fatman, a tactical nuclear catapult in Fallout 3 and New Vegas, was based on a real-life weapon called the Davy Crockett.
17. The Davy Crockett was a nuclear rocket launcher developed during the Cold War.
18. Vault-Tec, the company that built the Vaults in the Fallout universe, was a front for social experiments on pre-selected segments of the population.
19. Only 122 Vaults were built, not enough to shelter the entire American population from a nuclear holocaust.
20. The Vaults were designed to test the effects of extreme conditions on the human population.
21. Some Vaults were used for specific experiments, such as Vault 6 and 12, which were exposed to radiation, and Vault 77, which contained only one man and a crate of puppets.
22. Vault 106 was used to test the effects of psychoactive drugs on the human mind.
23. Vault 108 had a cloning facility that quickly got out of hand, leading to aggressive clones.
24. Vault 11 was designed to test the effects of sacrifice on the human population, with the inhabitants being told to sacrifice one person per year or everyone would die.
25. The inhabitants of Vault 11 eventually discovered that they had been living a lie and that the computer had been manipulating them all along.