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Incredibly specific patch news now, with the release of a save recognition remedy for the French Canadian version of Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition (product code "BLUS-30455"). The patch will allow the GOTY re-release of Bethesda's wasteland wandering sim to recognize save files generated by Fallout 3 sans accolades.

As a Bethesda community manager helpfully points out, your old save files will only show up if there are new saves (GOTY) present -- if you only have old saves, start a new game and, you know, save. If you have in excess of 130 save files (a sign of prudence!), you'll have to delete older ones in order for the new ones to be displayed. Oh, and one more thing: "If your saves are taking a long time to load you might want to resave them and back up or remove the old ones."

And now we've exhausted our supply of the word "save," save for one which we were keeping for the en ... dammit, we wasted it!

[One thank you "reserved" for: Harry]

If you're a busy body with an infinitesimal attention span, Sony's added a feature to the PSP Go that should land squarely in your wheelhouse. First unveiled during a Gamespot UK unboxing of the new handheld (around the 10:00 mark), the Go allows players of any game to save their progress and perform other functions on the device. Upon returning to the game, you can instantly hop right back into whatever it was you were doing at the time of your save.

In the aforementioned unboxing video, Gamespot UK's Guy Cocker saves his progress during a Motorstorm: Arctic Edge race in order to watch a trailer for Motorstorm: Arctic Edge. Rarely do we get urges to watch trailers for games we're currently playing -- but we suppose we've succumbed to stranger impulses before.

When BioWare told us to hold on to our save files from Mass Effect for use in the highly anticipated sequel, our minds drew simple conclusions. We figured it would determine our character's appearance, for example. However, a recent PC World interview with Mass Effect 2 lead producer Casey Hudson reveals the save file's true purpose: it keeps track of your every decision during the first game, which in turn will affect the plot of the second.

Not just the big decisions, either -- Hudson says that the player made "hundreds" of choices in Mass Effect that have an impact on the sequel. For instance, Commander Shepard superfan Conrad Verner made a brief appearance in the first game. Players could respond to his fandom in a number of ways (ignoring him, threatening him, supporting him) -- however you decided to treat Conrad will ultimately affect his subplot in the second game. Us? We sent him to hostile alien territories to go snipe hunting. We're worried he'll have a bone to pick with us.

This all sounds very cool, but we're still curious whether or not our characters' stats, abilities and equipment will carry over from the first game. Screw the story elements -- we're attached to raw, unbridled power.

[Via VG247]

The upcoming DS-exclusive RPG, Dragon Quest IX, is massive. In fact, producer Ryutaro Ichimura notes that "the amount of freedom we give players is huge." The consequence? "The data that needs to be saved is enormous." Instead of providing multiple save slots, as found in most DS games, Dragon Quest IX is too large to fit more than one save file in the DS cartridge's limited memory.

While those who prefer creating multiple save points (before a dungeon, for example) will be disappointed, we're reminded of yet another huge DS game: Pokemon. And like Nintendo's monster collecting RPG, Dragon Quest IX will feature a backup system just in case your DS battery dies. "The scariest for save data is when the battery dies," notes DQ creator Yuji Horii. With this system in place, you'll be safe knowing a failed save won't result in hours of gameplay lost.

[Via Kotaku]

We know that a lot of you are running out of space on your Wiis, and many of you are using SD cards. We're curious, though, as to whether or not you like to back up your save files on them.

Because we're paranoid, and terrified of losing hours worth of data in games like Fire Emblem if our Wiis ever kick the bucket, we usually tend to put our files on our SD cards, for piece peace of mind. What about you? Are you equally as paranoid? And does it freak anyone else out that you can't back up your Brawl data? DOES IT?!? (Deep breath.)

Unlike Datel's Action Replay Max Duo, this game-save manager from Gametech doesn't require any GBA-slot jury-rigging or an unsightly device that sticks out of your handheld like an air conditioner. All you have to do is pop your DS cart into Gametech's discreet USB dongle, hook it onto a PC with the installed software, and you're good to go.

This $30 device can be really useful for titles like Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja or SimCity DS, both of which having only one save slot. You can also keep a back-up of your progress in case you accidentally lose the game or decide to trade it in later.

[Via Game Watch]

Pokesav is an editor program that allows you to hack your Pokemon Diamond and Pearl saves, adding rare Pokemon, changing their abilities, and doing all kinds of crazy hacky stuff. It appears that not only can you generate any Pokemon, you can then assign them abilities outside their type, and with more PP than the abilities can usually have. You need some kind of homebrew ability to do this, obviously, since you need to get your savegames onto the computer.

There's even a database of downloadable Pokemon, so you can get started cheating right away. We wouldn't recommend you use ill-gotten Pokemon online, but for your own use, we don't see why you should be bound by the limitations of the game.

Check after the break for a tutorial video sent to us by the Hall of Bards. Pokesav is serious business.

Have you gotten so bad at playing video games that you've actually managed to have your character die in Wii Sports: Golf? Has it gotten to the point where you need some sort of "infinite lives" code just to finish a course? Well then, that is pretty shameful.

Datel's PowerSaves 512MB SD cards helps you live with that shame, giving you access to hundreds of cheats. Many of the saves on the $24.99 card have been hacked to enable features and codes that developers never even intended for their games. To sweeten the deal, Datel has also bundled in its MAX Media Manager Pro software to help users organize and transfer their photos, videos, and music to their consoles. You'll be the envy of all your friends when they see the effortless life you've made for yourself. Just like you've always wanted.

Innocent bystanders get hurt in every war. In Microsoft's war on online cheating, those victims are sports game fans that make and share customized rosters online.

5WG did some digging and found that the latest Microsoft dashboard update stealthily disables hundreds of customized rosters that are shared on unofficial sites like 360gamesaves. Apparently, the new update checks all save files against a list of banned system IDs extracted from sharing sites. Files from banned systems will not work on other systems.

Why does Microsoft care whose save files you use on your machine? We can only assume the move is an effort to stop players from getting Achievements without earning them by using downloaded save files. This is somewhat understandable -- Achievements are good for both bragging rights and real freebies, and it's important to keep that playing field level.

The side effect, though, is the destruction of a small but vibrant community of players using these game saves to extend the value of their sports games. As 5WG points out, "there's no cheat here: just a group of people giving back to the community for little or no compensation."

Hopefully Microsoft will come up with a solution that protects their Achievement system and allows for a healthy roster trading community at the same time.

[Via ArsTechnica]

Portable gaming is fundamentally designed for more sporadic, shorter periods of play. Bus rides, waiting rooms, you know the sort. And thus a fundamental problem arose: how does one allow a gamer who needs to stop playing immediately to save one's progress? Allow a true save anywhere, and the game's difficulty is compromised. If the system was left alone, however, frustration would set in as players would be quite often forced to replay the same thing over again.

Recently, many games have begun implementing a "quick save" option, which allows a temporary save and one-time load upon rebooting the system (the Final Fantasy Advance series comes to mind). This is confusing for many gamers, though, and accidents are bound to happen. What do you guys think? What's the ideal way to handle the situation?

Perhaps some of you are reading this article via your smartphone, waiting in bitter cold weather because you're sick and tired of not having a precious Nintendo Wii. We understand. Tomorrow's deluge of Wii's, which should be occurring at many nation-wide outlets (Best Buy, Target, and Circuit City all seem to be proper candidates), may make many people quite happy. It may make many people really, really pissed off.

While you might be willing to spend whatever it takes, we have a bit of thrifty advice. First off, EB Games is taking your soon-to-be-completely-worthless Gamecube as fifty dollars of trade-in credit for a Wii. Normally, they only give twenty-five. While EBG and Gamestop have not been officially confirmed as having units available for tomorrow, it's worth a phone call (why would they advertise such a deal if it were impossible to use?). Also, it seems Tower Records is having a massive sale, with 25% off of pretty much everything, including games. Pick 'em up cheap! And good luck, troopers.

[Thanks, Dave and Vincent!]

Here's a reason for genuine holiday cheer: Amazon is letting Xbox 360 Wireless Headsets go for $44.99 with free shipping. Stuff one in your own stocking if nobody else will.

[Thanks Ryan]

Nintendo has made it pretty hard to connect with other Wii owners through the Wii itself, but this hasn't stopped some intrepid web users from creating online trading posts for Wii codes, messages, game saves and Miis.

Here are a few of the better resources out there so far:

• MiiPages - A country-by-country list of Wii owners looking for other Wii owners to connect with. Users can search for fellow gamers with similar games and interests and put in a friend request -- your Wii code is hidden until you accept a request. With over 1000 users already, this is shaping up to be a premiere Wii sharing community.
• Wii-play - An extremely large Wii forum and chat community that supports easy Wii code sharing and a clever system to redirect private messages to your friends' Wii consoles. The site is a little overwhelming at first and requires a little work to figure out all its features, but its worth it to find fellow Wii owners to connect with.
• ConnectMii - Basically just a forum to broadcast your Wii code to hundreds of strangers who have done the same. If you're friend list goals involve quantity and not quality, this is the site for you.
• Wii Save - A growing community devoted to sharing Wii save files through SD cards, complete with step-by-step upload and download instructions. The site is mostly Zelda saves for now, but hopefully we'll see a wider range of saves soon.
  
• MiiPlaza - This site doesn't let you exchange Wii codes or data, but does let you share photos of your Mii Channel creations with the world. Kind of small at the moment, but sure to grow as more users try to give their Miis digital immortality.
  

Stumble across any good Wii community sites we missed? Leave a comment and maybe we'll add it to the list.

Wired's Game|Life scored a rare PlayStation 3 memory card adapter (for PS1 and PS2 game saves) and found the subsequent transfer process to be "kludgy" -- the adapter gets the job done, but clumsily.

Game|Life faults the device for its rather steep price ($14.99), given that the adapter could very well be used only once (if you possess just a single memory card). But even if you've amassed a collection of cards, you'll be frustrated by the adapter's insistence upon creating a new "Virtual Memory Card" directory on the PS3's hard drive for each card. That is, the system is not intuitive enough to combine and separate your PS1 and PS2 saves into two, easy to navigate categories. In addition, the entire contents of a card must first be copied to the HDD, and then users can single out specific game saves for permanent storage or deletion. Sounds like there's a new PS3 annoyance to add to the list...

Is there ever a bad time? Well several pretty good deals expire this month, so it might pay to do your Christmas shopping earlier rather than later. Speaking of the Christmas rush, with all this focus on Microsoft's stated goal of 10 million consoles shipped by year end, shouldn't there be a special prize for the soul who takes home that shimmering 10 millionth Xbox 360 and makes Robbie Bach's holiday?