I'm hoping it's as good as Fallout 1 and 2, but from the videos it appears to be Oblivion with a total conversion mod. Am I completely wrong? I want to be wrong. :)

1. It will most likely not be as good
2. but it won't be utter failure
3. if you paid any attention, it is much more than just an oblivion total conversion, read the diaries, read reviews, look at the features. It is more than just a total conversion. A few small examples that set it apart from Oblivion, is the V.A.T.S. system, as well as third person actually being useable, the game, as defined on the website, is both a first and third person RPG. I highly recommend looking deeper into what is available on the website.
As for me, I pre-ordered the game and should have it tomorrow. I'll give you an update, if I'm not too busy blasting mutants heads off.

I'd use the website as a guide and look at what people are saying. Aside from the reviewers and fanbois that is.
I got around to watching the videos last night. I think it's actually turned me off a little :(

Let's just wait, it is out in US already, innit? Friday for me, half day off and tbh I do not expect it to be as good as old Fallouts, it just simply cannot live up to the greatness of Fallout 1&2. Let's play it first and then judge it. I just hate all the usual "naysayers" and forum trolls who shout "teh gameh is gonna suxxor!!!" even before playing it and more importantly: without playing the original ones. Damn people, let real gamers assess the game. F3 is defo going to be different but good in its way. Weclock is right, it defo isn't Oblivion conversion. Apparently it is much more serious as well ;]
First review: [url=]http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/924/924346p1.html[/url]

metacritic has an aggregate score of 93 for the PC version of fallout 3 (93 for the Xbox version, 91 for the PS3 version).
the game has gotten several 100's, and the lowest score for any platform was 80. metacritic also has links to the reviews used for the aggregate score.

I am really excited about this game. Friday it is... Whole weekend with Fallout 3;]

same here. been waiting 10 years for fallout 3. i'm picking up my pre-ordered copy tonight! i think i'll be pretty groggy coming in to work tomorrow... heh.

I've taken a day off on Friday. Got really hypo at work today after I read some reviews and people are rather happy to get rid of me ;]

It wont matter if it's rubbish, it'll walk out of the stores anyway.

I have a copy in my hand (unfortunately at work, eastern US)... I'm loading it up tonight! Mabbe I'll swing by the forums and give a bit of an update when I've played a few hours. I really wanna get off work already.

Looking forward to your update ilves. :)

I pre-ordered the special edition from Amazon, but I went with the free shipping so I probably won't get it for a few weeks.
But when it comes, I'll have a Vault Boy Bobble Head and a Pip Boy replica that works as a clock!
I hope the game is as good as the toys. ;^)
I never played Oblivion, but I liked Morrwind, so I'm looking forward to playing Fallout 3.
But I will probably have to upgrade my rig to play it. :(

I would suggest that if, like myself, you are a big fan of the original two games, then fallout 3 may be disappointing. From what I have seen and read, I would think that an 8/10 score would be most appropriate, given that it will most likely be an enjoyable experience, and have many interesting areas, but will have a few too many problems to be considered a all-time classic like the Fallout 1+2. I think I'd recommend waiting until there's a price drop, or special offer, although I'm sure there will be plenty of folks who will be desperate to get their hands on it, as it is one of the bigger (budget and hype) releases of the year.
I'll be concentrating on some of the classics you can buy on this site though, and have just bought $30 worth, so that will keep me going for some time...

Alright quickie first impression update... minor spoilers
I'm a few hours in, but really haven't had time except to get out of the vault and explore two locations, one of them being the town that's about 50 feet from your vault exit (well not really but its visible).
The intro section is pretty well made, everyone probably has read how it goes through being a baby to an adolescent to a teenager (and you get to play as all these, as the baby you can make baby noises). Some of the early vault stuff has some humor in it, but its pretty light in context and nothing quite on a deranged level like the original fallouts. The vault architecture reminded me a little of Shadow Of Chernobyl in terms of construction and set-up, with a bit more high/low tech (whichever you want to call the motif) thrown in. Oh, don't forget to look for souvenirs in the in between stages (hint hint), i found something pretty valuable.
Just as background, I've played both fallouts and also morrowind and oblivion, I was a fan of fallouts and morrowind, oblivion was a bit meh in my opinion.
Anyway, the exit from the vault is actually pretty cool, I won't go into details but its not quite the same as the previous series where you just get thrown out there. This part of the game seems to want to set itself up as figuring what type of player you are with your gameplay choices.
Once you get outside you can pretty much go anywhere... by this point I had a pistol and a bat so I went around looking for some enemies to try out combat. I have pretty high perception so I could basically hit anything withing 30-40 feet with my pistol with 95% accuracy. I feel the ease of hitting with high perception (mine is 7) is a little too easy in VATS. I'm playing on the PS3 so I can't comment too much on how the non-VATS aiming is, but it feels pretty true to normal FPS aiming as I've headshotted a few raiders without VATS so far with small guns being ~33%. Oh, pet peeve, small guns is now at the bottom of the skills list instead of top (its alphabetical). Really small point, but I noticed it right off the bat.
Explored Megaton: A lot of people to talk to and a surprising amount to do. I basically robbed everyone blind, got a sledge hammer, hunting rifle, crap load of ammo (I had 150 exiting the vault, which is a bit much IMO. in a wasteland isnt' ammo supposed to be hard to get??), nice armor (not stolen), picked some doors, hacked a computer or two, and my karma is still good. Go figure.
From there I picked up some quests and on my way to complete one I ran into an explorable location filled with raiders and some random goodies. There I got my first taste of combat. The raiders, even at early levels, will hurt pretty easily, but go down in VATS with a couple well placed shots, especially if hiding. My hunting rifle was basically a sniper rifle if I was undetected and took a couple out in one crit hit to the torso or head. Oh, and just because you can aim at a part in VATS doesn't mean there isn't an obstruction in the way like a freaking desk, wasting all your ammo, so be careful.
Anyway, overall, its a good game. I don't know if it has that same wasteland I'm all alone with barely any ammo to start with feeling since I've come across a couple decent armor sets already (actually 1 within the vault) and I'm carrying about 10 other sets after my first 'dungeon.' Did I mention I was playing on Hard? So far, without having traversed any advanced levels, I'm not having much difficulty if you play it smart and don't run into a room of 10 enemies at once. Oh I did find a follower, but my karma was too high for him to join me.
Oh, worst aspect of the game yet. I found a child, and it was untargetable/unkillable. Not that I really wanted to kill her, I just wanted to see if I could. Couldln't even VATS target once she became hostile, though the entire town was about to murder me so I reloaded.
One small graphics glitch, one guy didn't have a head, but did have floating hair....
As a game its so far better than Oblivion (Granted I haven't had time to explore), but in terms of feeling its a bit too cluttered and easy on the supplies early on to be as unforgiving as the Fallouts, but then again this is the console age (I'm also going to 'procure' the pc version if mod tools come out), so what do you expect. If you're a hardcore fallout fan, its not Oblivion with guns, but it isn't quite Fallout, but it's still a good game in its own right. I'd recommend playing it if you aren't going to hold every single little aspect against it if it wasn't how Fallout would do it.
I'm still debating blowing up Megaton... hmmm...

Oh and melee weapons, though un-targetable specific body part wise (but you can use VATS for them) are surprisingly fun and effective. Liking the sledge hammer.
I'm also thinking of starting a garden gnome collection... found two so far.
EDIT: and one last strange VATS quirk... if you're too far away for VATS to have a good chance at hitting, normal shots outside VATS are actually more accurate, which seems to me to show that your weapons skills doesn't really have squat to do with aiming outside VATS. Maybe someone with lower perception skill can give this a whirl, though small guns are guided by Agility in this game instead and mine's at 6 ATM.
Oh, and you can apparently choose the +1 to any SPECIAL skill at level 2, and consecutively at the next levels as well. Don't know if there's a cap, but I would think if you just ugpraded that all the time you'd be ridiculously unstoppable. I'm not, cause I want to try out other fun perks, but I wonder...