Skip to main content

Interstate Fallout




No, this is not going to be about a nuclear war erupting in one of my Wargame: AirLand Battle games, although if there were nukes available in a skirmish game you might be reading just that by now.   No, rather this is going to be about one of those interesting and increasingly common events where a game crosses over into mainstream culture. 

Have you seen this TV ad for Interstate Batteries?




Seems kinda familiar, doesn't it?


Now, if you are a gamer, I suspect this immediately reminded you of a rather successful ad for a rather successful (to put it mildly) video game by the name of Fallout 3:



Am I right, or what?  The derelict vehicle that appears to have been rusting away for ages; the warm, yellow glow of an old analog radio that plays out a haunting tune from decades ago; the way the camera slowly moves in / out from the vehicle.  The coincidences are just too strong.  Either the ad agency that did the Interstate commercial are fans of Fallout 3, or the Interstate people are!

Now, I thought it was possible that it might just be this game-addicted fan reading more into a commercial than was there, but based on the comments posted on YouTube others seem to agree that the similarities are just too striking:


"War. War never changes."
 
 
"im glad im not the only person to think fallout when i saw this. i wonder if anyone from interstate batteries is a fallout fan."
 
 
"Fallout 4 Confirmed!" [LOL!  I liked that one! - ST]
 
 
"I don't want to set the world on fire..."


Yup.  It's not just me!

Whoever is responsible, I think this is just great.  I love it when gaming crosses over into other media because it is indicative of how gaming is beginning to influence the wider culture.  Only good things can come from that as far as I am concerned.  Not only that, but this commercial also is a great tribute to a great game. 

I already have an Interstate battery in my car, so I won't be running out to get one.  But if I didn't, yeah, this could get me to do so.  In fact, if Interstate Batteries would include an official Vault-Tec 3000 Pipboy bobblehead with a battery purchase, I would run out to get another battery just for the bobblehead!  

pipboy bobblehead 02
Labels:

Comments

  1. JayedubJanuary 14, 2014 at 6:22 PM

    I've got one of those bobble heads!

    ReplyDelete
  2. RooksBaileyJanuary 15, 2014 at 11:52 PM

    Lucky! I have to confess that I do regret not getting the collector's edition of Fallout 3. It was one of the rare games that lived up to the hype. Really need to re-install the game and finish it for once and for all! I got real close but lost my save game files. :(

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My World War 3: The Patrol of the USS Jack

[It was inevitable.  Whenever I write about the glorious decade that was the 1980s, my mind inevitably turns to the culmination of the Cold War that occurred in the final years of that golden age (one I consider to be the last gasp of traditional America).  Fortunately for the world, that culmination was non-violent even if it could have easily been otherwise .  Of course, as an avid Cold War wargamer, it is the now speculative violent end that continues to intrigue me.  Eh, what can I do?  After all, it was the Cold-War-Turned-Hot wargames of the 1980s that formed me into the gamer I am today. With that in mind, here is an AAR of a patrol by the submarine USS Jack in the opening days of World War 3, circa 1984.  It is based on a session with Killfish Games' Cold Waters , their modern re-imagining of the Microprose sub sim classic,  Red Storm Rising .]
Post a Comment
Read more

Gamer's Review: Hellsing Ultimate

Is it too early to start queuing up some entertainment for Halloween?  Just a bit.  Regardless, I find myself doing just that.  Part of the reason is that summer for my region never really arrived.  Instead of the requisite heat and humidity, we were treated to largely cool, dry days.  Really, it has felt like little more than an extended late spring or early autumn.  As a result I have found myself yearning to get autumn underway as there isn't any point of continuing this useless summer.  This is why I have been looking forward to Halloween: it is THE holiday of autumn! But in addition to that, two games have recently awakened in me a love for the horror of "urban fantasy":   Shadowrun Returns , and The Secret World .  As I detailed here , those two games have hit a home run with me, and made me reconsider the whole horror genre - a genre I never particularly cared for seeing the low budget "torture porn" tripe coming out of Hollywood these days.   And t
4 comments
Read more

Chapter 2: The Soviet Right Hook

Chapter 2: The Soviet Right Hook As we detailed in the previous chapter ( "Red July" ), STAVKA had conceived of the assault on the Fulda Gap not as their central effort but as a grand diversion to draw NATO forces away from other sectors of the West German front.  As expected, NATO, long expecting Fulda to be central to a Warsaw Pact onslaught, took the bait and committed the bulk of its ground forces to holding off the fierce Soviet offensive. STAVKA waited three full days to ensure that NATO forces were fully engaged before committing their strategic reserve to opening a new front to the north of Fulda.  Known as "Operation Gold Pluto," this daring Soviet plan would put NATO in a perilous position. Final unit dispositions of Operation Gold Pluto with operational overlay (courtesy 8th Guards Army Archives , Volgograd, 1985) Historical Redux If this sounds a bit familiar, it should: Operation Gold Pluto was based on the plan used by Germany during
2 comments
Read more