Is it possible for the best video game of 2008, Fallout 3, to get even better? Why, yes it is — as long as you’re playing the Xbox 360 or PC version.

On Tuesday, Fallout 3’s first downloadable content — or DLC, as they call it in the biz — becomes available for those two systems. The new adventure, Operation: Anchorage, gives “nuclear winter” a whole new meaning as players head to post-apocalyptic Alaska to kick some irradiated booty. The new episode is actually a simulation within the story of the original game, according to developer Bethesda Softworks, but that surely won’t make it any less fun. A new wrinkle, besides new weapons, is the ability to command a stealth strike team in a wintry assault on a Chinese base — sounds like a combination of Lost Planet and Rainbow Six.

The DLC will be available Tuesday on Xbox Live and Games For Windows Live for 800 Microsoft Points. That’s $9.99 in real money. Before you can add it though, you’ll have to download a recent update for the game that fixes various bugs and other issues. Xbox 360 users are prompted automatically for the free update when they start up the game, although they might have to be signed in to Xbox Live. PC users can find the patch at Bethesda’s website.

I’m hoping to get a look at Operation: Anchorage as soon as possible. The only catch for me is that I’ve logged all of my time playing the PlayStation 3 version of Fallout 3. In fact, I actually finished the main quest on that version, although there are still dozens of side quests to do. But realizing that the DLC was coming and that there is no PS3 version — and no firm word on when one might be available — I started the game all over again last week on the 360. I’m only several hours into it. Ironically, I’ve started with places I’d never visited before and quests I’d never done previously, so it’s already like a whole new game. I just hope I’ve gotten far enough to try the DLC.  I’ll post my thoughts later in the week.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 26th, 2009 at 12:38 pm and is filed under Video games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.