From the first time the Vault door rolls open to your initial encounter with a 15-foot-tall mutated monster with eight-inch claws to a climactic ending battle that we won't spoil for you here, Fallout 3 is a game you can't possibly experience by playing just once. It's all of these memorable moments - just a few of which are captured right here - that put Fallout 3 ahead by a nose in the tough competition for this year's PC Gamer Game of the Year Award. In an effort to give them huge egos, we asked Bethesda's Lead Producer Todd Howard and Lead Designer Emil Pagliarulo what they hope that other game developers learn from the success of Fallout 3.

(Great ideas never die. It didn't matter that Fallout was a series that was silent for 10 years. The world and core mechanics of Fallout 1 are so inherently awesome that they deserved to be done again, but in a new way. So much of reinventing something again is the presentation. Read old game reviews and see how the audience responded at the time, and find a way to make that happen again. Don't let anyone tell you '˜People no longer like that.' What I wouldn't give to see X-Wing or Wing Commander reborn again. Hmmmm.) - Todd Howard