MovieTome: Crashout 3 Intervention

First I was angry, then I was sad, then I saw the light. You see, Fallout 3's incessant crashes aren't a mistake. They're an intervention to break me from my post-apocalyptic scavenging addiction. I kept on fast-traveling back and forth from locations all over the map, selling things that didn't really belong to me and making insane money ("feh, this power armor isn't in my favorite color. You can have it!"). Then something broke deep within the bowels of the game -- I swear it has something to do with Dogmeat as it started to happen when the mutt suddenly disappeared in the middle of a battle -- and ever since that fateful moment the game crashed every time I fast-travelled.

My solution? More exercise; more walking. The challenge level went up a bit as I didn't lightspeed back to a bed somewhere when the going got tough. I also was a bit more careful about the size of enemies I took on. I was working around the rules of the bug and adapting to the game's unfortunate crash system. Alas, then the crash AI evolved. Now Fallout 3 crashes when I get close to Vault 101... and a few other locations North and West of Megaton. Even on foot! My immediate thought: only a horse can save me now. Sadly, neither horse nor horse armor seem to have survived the end of the World. So here I am. Stuck in a wasteland filled with nasty monsters, radioactive lakes, and an invisible crash curtain that could strike at any time.

As I was working out the new rules of the game and charting an invisible no-go-crash-zone, it struck me. I have other games.

http://www.r3portfolio.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/fallout-3headexplode.jpg

If someone told you videogames aren't addictive, you have my permission to scoff loudly. Not only did I want to play Fallout 3 at the expense of the rest of my game catalog, I actually started to tolerate its negative effects. Well, no more. Until Bethesda releases a patch to fix this nonsense, it's time for some World at War, Gears 2, and Left 4 Dead again.

Although, perhaps there's a way to spot the crashes coming from afar. A twitch in a texture or flicker in the sky texture... Hmmm. Let me go check that out.