Quote Originally Posted by halfeye View Post
They really can't do that. Computers are changing, and have been since they first appeared. First there were the eight bits, with up to 64k of memory, then came the 16 bits with megabytes and more. Now we're on 64 bits with over 4GB of memory (that was the 32 bit limit), if they don't use all of the computer then somebody else will, and it will look and feel better. The same old engine won't last 20 years (that would be Quake about now) while computers keep changing.
Actually they can and are doing that. The Gamebryo engine for Fallout 3 was released in 2003, the precursor engine was NetImmerse released in 1997, and the Creation Engine was the successor released in 2011. Exactly how much changed between the versions is hard to tell, but the Creation Engine specifically was a branched development of the core Gamebryo code. I think they flat out said they weren't going to change engines because they could easily port assets from the older games into new games as well as keep using the same asset creation software (aka creating models and animations). So while there have been iterative changes to the game, there are parts of it that are almost 20 years old, if not older.

Granted a lot of the core of other engines are also older and it is hard to know how much any versions actually change. But at least here the biggest issue seems to be that many of the same issues have stayed around and not been fixed over many different games. You would think after 16 years of working with essentially the same engine and having re-written part of it themselves, they would have all the kinks worked out and be able to release really solid games. But no, instead the games are just as unstable and bug ridden as ever.