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Incredibly Awkward Moments From GDC: When East Meets West Meets Fallout

Pro tip: when two Japanese video game designers are your co-panelists, mind your references to the atomic bombing of Japan. It makes talking about future game development… weird.

Unfortunately, Fallout 3 designer Emil Pagliarulo from Bethesda Softworks unintentionally referenced that very subject during today’s ā€œEvolving Game Design: Today and Tomorrow, Eastern and Western Game Designā€ panel at GDC. It was an innocent poor choice of words, of course, an unintended flub that was both instantly cringe-worthy and darkly comedic.

After sarcastically revealing that he drinks cold medicine to find game design inspiration, Goichi Suda asked Pagliarulo whether Bethesda was planning on ā€œa Japanese version of Falloutā€ to which the Fallout 3 designer said, ā€œWell, what can we destroy in Japan?ā€

After processing that post nuclear destruction and an awkwardly long pause, Suda simply said ā€œWowā€¦ā€

ā€œI just realized how stupid it was of me to say that!ā€ Pagliarulo said, surprisingly understandable with foot in mouth. Obviously, he didn’t mean it that way, but it made the room a bit more ill at ease.

As Fallout 3 is already available in Japan and sold relatively well for a Western-style RPG, Suda wasn’t asking for a localization, but one in a more Japanese style setting apparently.

https://lastchance.cc/japans-bestselling-game-its-a-gamecube-game-5137235%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E

Guess we need to be careful what we ask for.

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