Revisiting the DC Wasteland....

Folks that know me are aware of how much I enjoy the simplicity of the console game environment.  It really is about as simple as things get.  Have the console, insert game play, probably enjoy.  When I took Fallout 3 for it's initial run back after its release, I had a GRAND time wandering the desert wasteland around what once was a nation's capitol and killing off mutants, slavers, radioactive roaches, and of course...the occasional nut who started shooting at me for no apparent reason.  Now the advent of DLC on both the XB360 and Playstation 3 have greatly extended playability for a good many games on both systems...then I grew curious.  The Fallout 3 story features an element called the GECK (or Garden of Eden Creation Kit)... a tool made available to the modding community by the good folks at Bethesda shortly after release, that allows for fundamental alterations to the game world and changes to the environment.  Now I'd been away from the Capital Wasteland for quite some time, but I was immensely curious to see what kinds of stuff folks have come up with for one of the best post-apocalyptic stories I'd ever experienced.
The answer?  A LOT.  There is a TON of new material available to extend or re-define your gameplay with Fallout 3 on the PC.  Granted a great preponderance are little cheats or god items or items of an AHEM, adult nature... but when you sift away a lot of the things that aren't going to increase your enjoyment... there's still a ton of material.  Theres quests by the cartload, new locations to be explored, new characters, and stories that folks are using the GECK to make interactive fan-fiction for all practical purposes.  One of my favorites was actually a mod that DRASTICALLY ramps up the difficulty of the game.  Making the acquisition of clean water a priority, by creating the possibility of dying of thirst or starvation was an intriguing additive. The game was an exceptional piece of work before and some of these good folks in the modding community went ALL OUT to increase that gaming experience. And for that I salute you good sirs one and all.  So, if you're revisiting old games on a PC, take a look around and see if there's any modders doing anything interesting with it.  You never know, it may just change the way you play the game.