After the E3 2007 Fallout 3 Demo there was a Q & A session that followed. The guys over at strategycore.co.uk were nice enough to get it all down. Here is a small exert

Q: Can you give us a generalized development timeline over the next year?
A: Sure. You look at our 45-50 minute long demo and it looks like there’s a lot there. But on the design side we want to have these important character interactions. We want players to feel like they are real people. In order to do that it simply takes a lot of time. In Oblivion there is what we call essential characters, characters that you cannot kill. A lot of games have them. For Fallout 3, our goal was not to do that. If a NPC gives the player a quest and the player blows his head off, how does that affect the quest? We have to deal with that, and it takes a lot of time to do that. Multiple pathways to fulfill a quest take a lot of time to develop. In Oblivion, the player makes his decisions on a higher level: if I want to be evil I join the Dark Brotherhood, whereas Fallout quests have multiple pathways to complete the quest.

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Bethesda Softworks to Develop and Publish Fallout 3

July 12, 2004 (Rockville, MD) — Bethesda Softworks® announced today that it will develop and publish Fallout 3 — a sequel to the highly popular Fallout role-playing game franchise. Bethesda licensed the rights to the Fallout franchise from Interplay Entertainment Corp. (OTC Bulletin Board: IPLY) in a deal that awards Bethesda exclusive worldwide rights to the Fallout franchise on the PC, home consoles, handhelds, and other media, with the option to develop and publish additional sequels.

“We’re extremely excited about this opportunity and what it means both for Bethesda and for Fallout fans around the world,” said Vlatko Andonov, president of Bethesda Softworks. “Fallout is one the great RPG franchises. Millions of Fallout games have been sold worldwide, and fans have been eagerly awaiting the release of a Fallout 3 title. Bethesda’s proven expertise in this genre, building on our experience and the tremendous success we have enjoyed with our cutting-edge Elder Scrolls® series, will enable us to create the next chapter of Fallout that is worthy of the franchise.”

Originally released in 1997, Fallout places a player in the role of a Vault-dweller, who ventures from his secluded, underground survival Vault into a post-apocalyptic world of mutants, radiation, gangs and violence. The game has been widely hailed as one of the outstanding role-playing games and video games of all time with its unique gameplay, style, and setting.

Commenting on this development, Interplay Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Herve Caen said, “This is a good agreement for both companies and for gamers. Although several parties had a high level of interest in licensing Fallout, we are most impressed by Bethesda’s execution of role-playing titles. Bethesda is an ideal steward of the Fallout franchise.”

Fallout 3 will be developed by Bethesda along with the next chapter of The Elder Scrolls, both under the direction of Todd Howard, executive producer of The Elder Scrolls. The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind® won every national and international award of note in 2002, including Game of the Year and RPG of the Year, and is one of the best-selling games ever released on Xbox.

“We are overjoyed,” said Howard. “Fallout is one of my favorite games, and we plan to develop a visually stunning and original game for Fallout 3 with all the hallmarks of a great RPG: player choice, engaging story, and non-linearity.”

Future announcements about the release of Fallout 3 will be made as work on the title progresse

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