So I'm about to go to bed when the first word on Broken Steel, the third and final (for the time being only I hope) DLC for Fallout 3 is released.

Damn you Interwebs! Let me sleeeeep!

Super Mutant with a Gatling Laser, they were bad enough with the board with a nail in it!

So what have we learned Charlie Brown? Well it's going for 800 MS points, no surprise there. That's been the price for Operation Anchorage and The Pitt previously. Good news is the game will also feature a whole new area outside of the Wasteland like the two previous expansions, a zone based on Andrews Air Force Base.

The big draw for Broken Steel is that it raises the level cap from 20 to a whopping 30. I've been stuck on 20 since about two thirds of the way through the story campaign and I was pretty dissapointed all those dead raiders were going to waste.

That's a fancy new bazooka you have there and it seems you may have to battle Enclave vehicles

Naturally you can expect more new weapons and enemies (including a mysterious Supermutant Overlord!) to pop up in the game and Bethesda have even promised a few new perks. One in particular allows you to ressurect your poor mutt Dogmeat when he gets killed, I've been too scared to even let him leave the house.

Broken Steel actually changes the conclusion of the game all together, (Spoilers ahead) so now activating Project Purity doesn't end the game and you get to continue the fight with the Brotherhood of Steel against the remaining forces of the Enclave. Missions will include escorting purified water acros the wasteland to settlements and helping the Brotherhood assemble a Tesla Cannon to battle the Enclave. Even when you complete the main story quests in Broken Steel the game will not end and you will continue to have free reign of the Wasteland to mop up those remaining side quests. Broken Steel will also open a series of side quests offered by the Brotherhood which has nothing to do with the main story.

Curse those Enclave dogs

The story missions will apparently be a bit longer than the quests for Operation Anchorage and The Pitt, that plus the new side quests will add a good bit of depth to the campaign. Most intriguing of all is that as you progress in the Broken Steel story line you'll actually see the changes your actions are making to the Wasteland.

Color me tickled pink.

Broken Steel should be releasing in early May.

Nice clean Rad free drinking water