My wife’s birthday is almost here and after having a look online for ideas I had been reminded of an old saying, ‘it is the thought that counts’. One Reddit user set an example when publishing some photos earlier this month, which reveals 8 months of work to create a Fallout 3 and New Vegas-inspired Monopoly board.

The image above and below reveal how smart his creation is, which had been for his wife’s birthday and of course she’s a big Fallout fan. You can see a collection of photos on this page that feature all the parts used to create the Fallout Monopoly board and reveal some of the New Vegas-inspired twists used during gameplay.

The Reddit user explained they included different playing strategies and new Fallout rules, which include perks, items and attacks.

Fallout: The Board Game After the Apocalypse – this of course isn’t the first time a Monopoly board has been created in the theme of Fallout, and those of our readers that follow the majority of Fallout news will remember another custom board game from a couple of years ago. One photo of that creation can be seen below, which this time had been created as a gift for a boyfriend.

If you want to see more photos of this Fallout Monopoly board then head over to this page. We’d also love to know what you think about both board games and if you’ve ever created a custom game like this?

Do you have the best memories from Fallout: New Vegas, or did Fallout 3 deliver more for you? Those of you keeping up with Fallout 4 news and ideas for the next game might want to see our opinionated article on mods vs. official features and how most gamers want Fallout 4 to stay bloody and violent.

What’s particularly interesting is that this job listing is clearly asking for Future Generation Console Programmer who will slot into Bethesda Game Studios’ programming department. The job’s requirements also give us a few hints as to what the next game could be.

Some of the boring requirements include having a passion for making great games as part of a great team, being able to contribute innovative ideas and being able to undertake work with minimal oversight, but here’s what got us a little excited: Bethesda want someone with ‘extensive experience’ in regards to programming and optimizing for the PS3 and Xbox 360, DirextX 11 experience is seen as a plus. Perhaps the biggest giveaway is that they want someone who has played Bethesda Game Studios games.

We’re no experts in regards to hiring people for game development, but from what we have read it seems as if everything points towards a job listing for a next-generation Bethesda game which will be coming to the next Microsoft and Sony consoles, as well as PC – two titles fit nicely into this category, Fallout 4 and Elder Scrolls VI – seeing as how Skyrim is still only a few months old we think it’s safe to assume that Bethesda is looking for a Future Generation Console Programmer who’ll be working on Fallout 4 – do you agree?

There is a possibility that Bethesda could be looking for someone to help create a game completely separate to Elder Scrolls and Fallout, however with such a following for these established franchises we don’t necessarily feel a new IP is required – with that said we sure that anything Bethesda’s team put their mind to will be a success.

Seeing as how it’s now been almost four years since Fallout 3 took the world by storm we really think that it makes sense to release this game’s sequel next. Many believe Sony and Microsoft’s next-gen consoles will show up at E3 2013 and arrive later in the year, therefore realistically we’re looking at 2014 before Bethesda’s “unannounced game on future-generation consoles” arrives – that means that fans of Fallout will have waited over 5 years for the sequel – very similar to the wait Oblivion fans had to endure before Skyrim finally arrived.

As we hear more on the matter we will keep you posted. Do you think Bethesda’s next game will be next-generation only? Or do you think they may sneak in a release next year before we see sight of Microsoft and Sony’s next-gen consoles?

What was originally thought to be a small update to the Fallout: New Vegas game turned out to be one of the biggest patches the game has ever seen. In fact, according to Harry Monogenis over at buypoe.com, the latest update contains more than 120 fixes and improvements. This includes massive world optimizations in major areas, in order to provide better performance and stability with multiple DLC installed.

Once players have downloaded the update, they will find that their character’s arms will no longer lift above their head when sneaking with specific weapons. The update has also made it so that a system save is now automatically created prior to endgame sequence. After the credits, players are prompted to load save game. This enables single save players to play the DLC without creating a new game.

The update has also made various tweaks to the audio system, in order to improve memory performance. Gamers will now be able to have 6 or more DLC installed without experiencing the infinite ‘loading DLC’ message upon startup. One of the issues that have been fixed with this update is the one where Minigun audio would sometimes get stuck/continue playing indefinitely when fired out of VATS.

Players will also notice that the Searchlight Troopers won’t bump into each other as often now, radio stations will now work correctly if downloadable content is uninstalled, the NPC AI packages will no longer get stuck at HD, Big Sal / Nero will no longer accept yield if the other is already dead and Veronica won’t wait for a player to speak to her before she leaves after Hidden Valley is destroyed any more.

The update has fixed a large number of problems that gamers were experiencing, including the issue where the sound cut out after extended playthroughs, a bug where upgraded ED-E could be killed in non-hardcore mode, the crashes that occurred in Ultra-Luxe, the issue where Lily’s weapon would be displayed oddly on her back and the rare case of a black screen during dialog at the REPCONN facility.

You can read the full list of changes, fixes and improvements via the buypoe.com website. Have you downloaded the Fallout: New Vegas patch yet?

We can now tell you that the reports are no longer rumors, as according to Johnny Cullen at vg247.com, Bethesda has recently revealed both dates and details for the forthcoming DLC. It wasn’t just the upcoming Honest Hearts DLC pack the publisher confirmed details for either.

They also revealed details for the Old World Blues and Lonesome Road DLC packs as well. The Honest Hearts pack is the first downloadable content to arrive, with the launch date down as May 17th on Xbox Live Marketplace for Xbox 360 and PC, and May 18th on the PlayStation Network for PS3.

The Honest Hearts DLC takes place in Zion National Park in Utah, where players will find themselves caught up in a battle between tribes. The Old World Blues and Lonesome Road packs will release in June and July respectively, and will be available for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Old World Blues sees players as a lab rat in a science experiment that’s gone wrong, while the Lonesome Road pack brings the courier’s story to an end. You can read a little more about the DLC over on vg247.com. Will you be downloading the new Fallout: New Vegas DLC packs?

KanedaGallon from FeedYourConsole has spent 12 hours with Fallout New Vegas so far, and has not scratched the surface. For those of you who would like to know the story, you play the part of a Courier who has been shot and left for dead. Your mission is to find who did this and why – by any means possible.

The game is huge, and will take much longer to compete – something that is sure to make a few people happy. How often do you get into a game, only to find that you have come to the end? Hopefully this one will keep you occupied much longer.

There are a few nice touches to this game, the reviewer picks up on the point that you need to stay hydrated in order to carry your ammo crates – if not then you will die just as you would in the real world.

For an early review of the game ahead of tomorrow’s release visit FeedYourConsole.