Fallout: New Vegas

Story

Fallout: New Vegas takes place in and near its titular city, three years after the events of Fallout 3. Players control a wasteland courier who, at the beginning of the game, is shot in the head by an unknown assailant in a checkered suit, and buried in a shallow grave while attempting to travel to the town of Primm. The courier is then found by Victor the Securitron, a robot who happened to see the murder attempt from afar and dug the courier out of the potential grave once the assailants left the crime scene. Victor then brings the courier to the small, nearby Nevada town of Goodsprings, more specifically to the home of Doc Mitchell, the town's resident doctor. Once players are back at the town, Mitchell removes the bullet pieces that were scattered in their skull. After the bullet fragments are removed and the wound is cleaned and healed, Mitchell asks players their name; afterwards, he holds a mirror in front of the player and asks if he "left anything out of place," and this is where players create and customize the look of their character.

Soon after, Mitchell shows players the Vit-O-Matic Vigor-Tester. After that, he asks players some word association questions. Once those are answered, he gives the player a Rorschach test. After all of his tests are finished, he gives the player some items, including a Pip-Boy 3000 and then sends them on their way. Players are then free to explore the Mojave in order to find the identity of their assailant and why the package they were carrying was so important.

Development

Sometime in early 2009 Obsidian Entertainment was approached by Bethesda Softworks to develop a title in the Fallout franchise for them. The Obsidian higher-ups quickly agreed with Bethesda and work on the game was started shortly thereafter. During the Bethesda Softworks London event on April 20, 2009, the company announced the development of a new video game entry in the Fallout franchise, in development at Obsidian Entertainment.

Back in 2003 when the original creator of Fallout, Black Isle Studios, was shut down by Interplay Entertainment due to financial troubles, Feargus Urquhart, the founder of Black Isle Studios, went on to create Obsidian Entertainment that same year with Chris Avellone, Chris Jones, Chris Parker, and Darren Monahan.

Fallout: New Vegas was developed by many of the people that created the first and second Fallout games. For example, Josh Sawyer was the lead designer and project directer of Fallout: New Vegas. He was previously the lead designer of " Van Buren", the canceled first attempt to create a third Fallout game and, besides location, some story elements were also used from Van Buren.

Fallout: New Vegas is known by many employees at Obsidian as Van Buren's spiritual successor. New Vegas features many locations that were set to appear in Van Buren, such as the Hoover Dam.

Fallout: New Vegas uses the Gamebryo engine, the same engine that was featured in Fallout 3. The G.E.C.K. editing software, which is based off the Gamebryo engine, was used to create Fallout: New Vegas. New Vegas also re-used many assets from Fallout 3, such as models and textures. Fallout: New Vegas was released on October 19, 2010 in North America and October 22, 2010 in Europe, for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the PC.

Gameplay

Fallout: New Vegas plays identically to Fallout 3 with some added improvements, including the following: customizable weapon attachments, such as extended clips and sights (all of which are reflected by the in game weapon model), specialty ammo, special attacks in VATS mode for all weapons (for example the "fore" attack with the 9 iron, which is an upward swing at the target) and more dialogue options based on the players stats: explosives, bartering etc. A good example of this is when you're in Goodsprings you can use your explosives skill to convince Easy Pete to relinquish his dynamite stash to you. You can now aim using iron sights instead of just zooming the camera in. The third person view has been improved and the developer acknowledges that people wanted to play it as more of a shooter instead of relying on V.A.T.S. so the shooting mechanics have been improved to accommodate for this. In Fallout 3, the level cap was level 20, then raised to 30 once the Broken Steel downloadable content was released. In Fallout: New Vegas the level cap is 30 right from the start and expands to a maximum of 50 with the DLCs. Perks are now earned every 2 levels instead of every level in Fallout 3 and every third level in Fallout 2.

The character customization options are virtually the same as Fallout 3's. After Doc Mitchell brings you back from the desert and fixes you up he will ask you your name and then give you the Reflection. The Reflection is a mirror that will allow you to choose your race, facial options, and your age. After your character is to your liking Mitchell will escort you to the Vit-O-Matic Vigor-Tester, which will allow you to assign your S.P.E.C.I.A.L character points. The game also introduces the companion wheel where you can give various commands to each of your companions such as how far they should be following you and their combat tactics. You can also tell them to use a stimpak if needed.

Fallout 3 protected the lives of story-related characters by having them fall unconscious instead of dying. Obsidian has completely gotten rid of this (Note: there is only one adult of the 2200 NPCs in the game that cannot be killed though children are still unkillable). Now players can complete the game by killing all the NPCs featured in the game, or they can play the entire game as a pacifist. Bean bag ammunition for your guns and boxing gloves have a "Fatigue" effect which will knock out a NPC rather then killing them, allowing the player to be a pacifist.

Karma & Reputation

The karma system returns once again, but this time it isn't the primary way other characters perceive you. The primary purpose of the karma system is to show how moral or immoral you are based on your total actions throughout the game. Having karmic extremes still carries consequence, though, as certain followers will refuse to join the Courier if they dislike the player's karmic alignment. In addition to the karma system, Fallout: New Vegas is re-introducing the reputation system featured in the original Fallout games. Raising your reputation in individual towns, settlements, and factions will give you special privileges with that town/settlement/faction. There's also a reputation meter that shows you how well liked or hated you are. Based on your actions there are several reputations in the game.

Health & Item Degradation

Like in Fallout 3, characters' limbs can become crippled after receiving too much damage. Each limb will have a different effect when it's crippled. For example, a crippled leg will cause the character to move slowly while a crippled arm will decrease accuracy dramatically. Crippled limbs can be repaired using Stimpaks or a new item called a Doctor's Bag, which automatically heals all crippled limbs. In Hardcore mode, Stimpaks cannot be used for this purpose. Instead, players must find a doctor or use a Doctor's Bag. Unlike Fallout 3, consumable items like food and beverages heal over time instead of automatically. The same chems from Fallout 3 are in Fallout: New Vegas including some new ones. They are all just as addictive.

Item degradation returns as well. Equipment including clothing/armor and weapons will wear out over time and become less effective. Items can be repaired using parts from another item of the same type or by paying someone who is capable of fixing items (this generally costs a lot of caps depending on the item and the amount of wear the item has).

Finally, radiation is once again something that can affect the player if they aren't careful. Some places have life-threatening amounts of radiation such as Camp Searchlight, a town that is practically drowning in it.

Minigames

Lockpicking and computer hacking are frequent occurrences in Fallout: New Vegas, and a minigame is present for each. Lockpicking is done with a screw driver (something that the player has with them at all times) and bobby pins. The player must rotate the bobby pin to a certain position in the lock and apply torque with the screw driver. Too much torque in the wrong area will cause the bobby pin to snap. The Lockpick skill dictates the difficulty level of locks that the player can attempt to pick.

Hacking computers is a longer and more challenging process. The screen comes up with a list of jumbled characters containing possible passwords. By guessing a password, the player is shown how many letters of the guessed word are in their correct positions in the password the terminal is actually looking for. This allows the player to narrow down future choices. If the player uses up their limited supply of guesses, they are locked out of the computer. The Science skill dictates what computers the player can hack.

Factions

There are several major factions in the game that have an important impact on the plot, the player will have an option to either, side with, attack or remain neutral with any given faction.

Major Factions

• NCR - The New California Republic, is possibly the last form of an organized government. As its name would suggest, it was founded in California, in the settlement of Shady Sands.
• Caesar's Legion - A slaver faction, made up of tribes that were united under Caesar.
• Mr. House - The head of New Vegas, he is the man that re-established the casinos with the help of 3 major tribes.

Minor Factions

• Brotherhood of Steel - An organization devoted to salvaging pre-war technology.
• Followers of the Apocalypse - A humanitarian organization, founded to help and aid people all across the United States.
• Boomers - Descendants from Vault 34, their base is located in a pre-war facility known as Nellis Air Force Base.
• Great Khans - A group of raiders, the Great Khans were included in Fallout 1 and 2. They are located at Red Rock Canyon.
• The White Glove Society - A clan of former cannibals, they control the Ultra-Luxe casino on The Strip.
• Omertas - A faction resembling the Italian Mob, they control the prostitution ring outside of their casino, the Gomorrah.
• The Chairmen - A former warrior tribe until their make over in 2274, they are the definition of "cool" from the 1950's. They control "The Tops" casino.
• The Kings- A gang of Elvis impersonators headquartered in The Kings School of Impersonation. They are the main power in Freeside and are lead by a man only known as The King and his right-hand man, Pacer.
• The White Legs(Honest Hearts DLC)- A hostile tribe in league with Caesar's Legion who are attacking the other tribes and trying to kill Joshua Graham and his New Canaanites
• Dead Horses- A friendly tribe allied with Joshua Graham and the surviving New Canaanites.
• The Sorrows- A docile tribe that New Canaanite citizen Daniel is trying to evacuate from the wasteland to avoid conflict with the White Legs. The player can choose weather to let them go or convince them to fight alongside Joshua Graham and the Dead Horses to drive the White Legs out of Zion

Weapons

Unlike in Fallout 3 where you only found a version of the pistol with a silencer on it and in Fallout 2 you could only upgrade certain weapons with a pre-chosen upgrade, Fallout: New Vegas features fully realized weapon modifications. These include: scopes for longer range and more precise shots, extended magazines for a expanded ammo pool, silencers for a more stealth based character, and faster reloading for lever action rifles. You can even find mods for Melee weapons, such as a cork core for the baseball bat, increasing damage. Weapons can only have a max of three weapon modifications at a time.

Specialized ammunition appears in Fallout: New Vegas, such as hollow point, armor piercing and United States Military grade ammunition. There are also ammunition variations that do a great deal more damage than standard ammunition, but the downside to having this type of ammo means your weapons' quality degrades faster and requires you to repair it more often. These types of ammunition appear more commonly in explosive and energy based weapons.

Traits

In a recent interview a developer confirmed that traits would be making a return appearance from Fallout 1 and 2 into Fallout New Vegas. Traits are like perks, but are chosen during character creation and usually don't allow modifications or additional traits throughout the game. Players can choose up to 2 traits, or none at all. Traits mainly focus on making each character appear distinctly different as well as play differently right after character creation by having each trait contain a bonus to one specific playstyle, while detracting from another such as:

• Built to Destroy - 3% chance to critical hit with all weapons, but their condition decays 15% faster.
• Claustrophobia (Old World Blues) - +1 to SPECIAL attributes while outdoors, but -1 when indoors.
• Early Bird (Old World Blues) - +2 to SPECIAL attributes from 6am to 12 pm, -1 from 6pm to 6am.
• Fast Shot - You fire 20% faster when using guns and energy weapons, but shots are 20% less accurate.
• Four Eyes - Bonus to Perception while wearing glasses, but negatively impacts perception when not wearing them.
• Good Natured - Bonus to Speech and Barter skills, but decreases ability with weapons.
• Heavy Handed - Melee and unarmed attacks do more damage, but damage from critical hits is reduced.
• Hoarder (Old World Blues) - The player gains +25 lbs. to total carry weight, but suffers a -1 to all SPECIAL attributes when the weight of carried equipment is less than 160 lbs.
• Hot Blooded (Old World Blues) - When the character has less than 50% health he gains a +15% increase in damage, but he/she also receives a -2 to Agility and Perception.
• Kamikaze - Bonus 10 Action Points, but -2 to Damage Threshold.
• Logan's Loophole (Old World Blues) - Chems last twice as long, no chance of addiction. Level cap of 30.
• Loose Cannon - Thrown weapons are 30% faster, but have 25% less range.
• Skilled (Old World Blues) - +5 to all skills, -10% experience gain.
• Small Frame - Bonus to Agility, but limbs break more easily.
• Trigger Discipline - Guns and energy weapons are 20% more accurate, but are 20% slower.
• Wild Wasteland - Adds humorous random encounters to the game.

Interactions

Throughout the game you will meet people who will join your team. Unlike in Fallout 3 you no longer have to go through a dialogue tree in order to do simple things such as sort through inventory or administer a stimpak. Instead when you select a companion a radial wheel will appear in order to make selections easy. The radial wheel is very similar to the one seen in the Mass Effect series.

The gameplay of companions is very different in Fallout: New Vegas, mostly because of the revamped AI for NPC's in general. Not only are companions smarter in combat but they also have opinions and quest lines. Depending on how you interact with your companions you will get various results. These results will range from entire quest lines to just making him/her or it angry or various other emotions depending on what you make them equip or do. You are allowed one humanoid, and one non-humanoid in your party at one time.

Hardcore Mode

One of the new features in Fallout: New Vegas is Hardcore Mode. The new feature is first offered right before the courier leaves Doc Mitchell's house. If the player turns on Hardcore mode and plays through with the feature on all the way to the end of the game, the player will receive an achievement/trophy at the end of the game. The mode can be toggled on and off at any time in-game. In Hardcore Mode the player can suffer from dehydration,starvation, and sleep deprivation which requires players to keep those cycles in check or the courier can be suffered with deadly side effects and eventually death. Ammo has weight, and Stimpaks and Radaway heal over time as opposed to healing instantly in normal mode. Also, the only way to treat crippled limbs in Hardcore Mode is to visit a doctor, use doctor bags, or use the addictive chem of Hydra. Another note worth thing is that sleeping does not have the same effect in Hardcore mode compared to the normal version of the game. Unless the courier is sleeping in an owned bed, the courier can not heal themselves or their limps by sleeping. Lastly, any companions that the courier acquires can permanently die off.

Weapon Mods

This section details every weapon mod in Fallout: New Vegas (not including DLC weapons). Weapon mods can be purchased from the following places: 188 Trading Post, Crimson Caravan Company, Goodsprings, Novac, Fortification Hill, Silver Rush, Great Khan armory, Gibson Scrap Yard, and Gun Runners.

Pistols

Rifles

Submachine Guns

Shotguns

Heavy

Characters

Protagonist: The Courier

Gender: Player's Choice

Race: Human

Ethnicity: Player's Choice

Age: Player's Choice

Overview: The Courier is the main character of New Vegas. Almost everything about The Courier is customizable including gender, ethnicity and age. This makes them more akin to The Chosen One or The Vault Dweller, of Fallout 2 and Fallout respectively, than they are to The Lone Wanderer of Fallout 3.

Companions (Fallout: New Vegas)
	Arcade Israel Gannon (Voiced by Zachary Levi) Gender: Male Race: Human Ethnicity: Caucasian Age: 35 Specialty: Doctor, Member of the Followers of the Apocalypse Perk: Better Healing (The player regains more health from all sources) Location: Old Mormon Fort How to acquire: You must have a Speech level of 75 in order to convince Arcade to join you or you must have a good reputation with the Followers of the Apocalypse.
	Craig Boone (Voiced by James Marsden) Gender: Male Race: Human Ethnicity: Caucasian Age: 26 Specialty: Town Guard, former New Californian Republic First Recon Sniper Unit Perk: Spotter (Hostile targets are highlighted whenever the player is actively aiming) Location: Novac How to acquire: Complete the mission you receive from Boone (One for my Baby), then convince him to join you.
	Rose of Sharon Cassidy (Voiced by Rachel Roswell) Gender: Female Race: Human Ethnicity: Caucasian Age: 37 Specialty: Water Merchant, Owner of Cassidy Caravans Perk: Whiskey Rose (Both she and the player gain Damage Threshold when they drink Whiskey. Additionally, the player does not suffer intelligence loss from consuming alcohol and ignores the negative effects of alcohol addiction.) Location: Mojave Outpost How to acquire: While completing "Heartache by the Number", you will be told to purchase Cassidy Caravans for the Crimson Caravan company. Convince Cass to sell her company, then convince her to join you.
	Veronica Renata Santangelo (Voiced by Felicia Day) Gender: Female Race: Human Ethnicity: Caucasian Age: 27 Specialty: Journeyman Scribe, Procurement Specialist, Brotherhood of Steel Perk: Scribe Assistant (The player can craft Workbench items through Veronica’s dialogue) Location: 188 Trading Post How to acquire: Veronica actually wants to join you! She can be easily recruited once you find her on the top side of the 188 Trading Post.
	Lillian Marie Bowen (Voiced by David Anthony Pizzuto) Gender: N/A Race: Nightkin Super Mutant Ethnicity: African Age: 203 Specialty: Farmer in Jacobstown Perk: Stealth Girl (The duration of Stealth Boys is increased by 200% and all Sneak Attack Critical Hits do an additional 10% damage) Location: Jacobstown
	Raul Alfonso Tejada (Voiced by Danny Trejo) Gender: Male Race: Ghoul Ethnicity: Meztiso Age: 230 Specialty: Repairman Perk: Regular Maintenance (The condition of weapons and armor decays 50% slower, 75% if convinced to let go of his gunslinging ways in his past, and 33% to firearms damage if he dons his cowboy costume by convincing him to go back to his gunslinging ways in his sidequest) Location: Black Mountain How to acquire: Rescue him from the prison in Black Mountain and he will join you. You must have a Science or Lockpick level of 100 in order to free Raul without killing Tabitha in completing the quest "Crazy, Crazy, Crazy".
	Eyebot (Duraframe) – Subject E Age: 6 Specialty: Shop Security Perk: Enhanced Sensors (The player can detect enemies at an increased range. Additionally, enemies will appear on the player’s compass and can be targeted in V.A.T.S. even when cloaked) Location: Primm How to acquire: ED-E can be found inside the Mojave Courier office in Primm. You will need to have a Science level of 55, a Repair skill of 35, or a repairing him using certain required items said in-game.
	Cyber-Hound Mk. III, LEO Support Model, Serial Number B955883 Gender: Male Age: 209 Specialty: Sidekick to The King Perk: Search and Mark (Unequipped chems, firearms, and ammunition within a short distance are highlighted when you zoom the camera.) Location: The King's School of Impersonation How to acquire: After completing the initial quest for The King, you can open up a dialogue tree regarding Rex. Turns out Rex needs a new brain and if you offer to help him, The King will allow you to take Rex.

Companions (Dead Money)
	Dog/God (Voiced by Dave B. Mitchell) Gender: Male Race: Super Mutant Specialty: 2nd Generation Super Mutant Perk: Because of their split personality Dog/God have separate perks. Ravenous Hunger (When Ghost People are knocked out Dog will deal the final blow by eating them), In His Foot Steps (When God is in control he will give the player a bonus to their sneak skill). Location: Villa Police Station How to acquire: Dog is gained by progressing through the main story arc of Dead Money
	Christine Gender: Female Race: Human Specialty: Former Brotherhood of Steel Knight Perk: Signal Interference (Delays alarms for a short period of time) Location: Villa Clinic How to acquire: Christine is gained by progressing through the main story arc of Dead Money
	Dean Domino (Voiced by Barry Dennen) Gender: Male Race: Ghoul Perk: Unclean Living (Delays the affects of toxic clouds and reduces damage from them) Location: Sierra Madre - Residential District How to acquire: Dean is gained by progressing through the main story arc of Dead Money

Companions (Honest Hearts)

Follows-Chalk (Voiced by Christian Lanz)

• Gender: Male
• Race: Human (Scout for the Dead Horse tribe)
• Perk: Well-Stacked Cairns- Reaching viewpoints (such as Ranger stations) grants +3 Perception for 3 minutes.
• Location: Angel Cave
• How to acquire: Follows-Chalk comes up to you shortly after entering Zion after a battle with the White Legs.

Waking Cloud (Voiced by Misi L. Lecube)

• Gender: Female
• Race: Human (Midwife for the Sorrows tribe)
• Perk: Quiet as the Waters- Makes it much easier to sneak by White Legs (Decreases their Perception by 3)
• Location: Sorrows Camp
• How to acquire: Waking Cloud offers to be you guide to help you along with certian quests once you reach the Sorrows camp

Joshua Graham aka The Burned Man (Voiced by Keith Szarabajka)

• Gender: Male
• Race: Human ( War Chief of the Dead Horses)
• Perk: The Way of the Canaanite - decreases the fire spread and increases two times the chance to score a critical hit with any .45 Auto pistol.
• Location: Angel Cave in the Dead Horse Camp
• How to acquire: After telling Daniel that you want to go slaughter all the White Legs, you will automatically be transported to Joshua Graham where he will run down the plan of action to exterminating the White Legs. When that conservation is finished, Joshua Graham will be your companion.

Casinos

All casinos in Fallout: New Vegas have their own feel and appearance, outside and inside. Casinos feature all sorts of gambling mini-games, such as, blackjack, poker, roulette, and slot machines. Each casino keeps track of the players winnings in each game if the player wins enough in a certain mini-game, for example: blackjack, they will be allowed to start betting at the high roller table. If the player makes an enormous amount of money, they will bust the casino and be forced to leave, three of the major casinos on the strip have a winnings limit of 10.000 caps. If the player busts all of the casinos in the game they will be awarded with an achievement or trophy.

• The Strip

Contains most of the Casinos in the game. Each casino is almost a mini faction if not part of a bigger faction in the game. You can gamble in each and the rules and style is different for each one. Most if not all of the casinos accept each of the games two new currencies and bottle caps. The two new currencies are NCR dollars and Caesar's Coins. The player is allowed to win a maximum of 9,000 chips in the Gomorrah, 10,000 in The Tops and 15,000 in the Ultra-Luxe. Once the player reaches the respective limits, they forced to stop gambling at the casino.

• Lucky 38

The Lucky 38 is the home of the mysterious Mr. House. Nobody has been seen entering the Lucky 38 in quite some time. The Lucky 38 towers over everything else on the strip; it can be seen from nearly everywhere in the Mojave Wasteland.

• Vault 21

This Vault was designed with a Vegas flavor as the rules were designed with gambling in mind. Every dispute was determined by bets until Mr. House bet them for the vault and won. Vault 21 is located underneath New Vegas. It is still populated with it's original inhabitants but has since been opened to the outside world. Vault 21 is now a hotel and a gambling hot spot in New Vegas.

• The Ultra-Luxe

This is the fancy place that everyone wants to go to enjoy finest dining in the Mojave wasteland. It is fancy and you'll most likely find very good health boosting food here. The casino is one of the most pristine buildings in the in-game world.

• The Tops

The most secured casino in all of New Vegas. The Tops is known for its Frank Sinatra music, slot machines, roulette wheel, and blackjack tables. The casino has the most security personnel of any casino in New Vegas, having guards posted everywhere you look. Weapons are strictly forbidden inside the tops. When attempting to enter the tops you will have to relinquish your weapons to the security guards outside.

• Vikki and Vance

Located in Primm, the casino is named after the notorious bandit duo Vikki and Vance (an homage to Bonny and Clyde) the player needs to eliminate the Powder Gangers and reestablish law within the town for the casino to open up again. It's one of the few things that attract people towards the town of Primm. The winning limit is 2700 caps.

• The Atomic Wrangler

A casino that is situated in Freeside. This casino is by no means luxurious,but if you cant get into Vegas, this is the place to be. The casino is run by the Garret twins (James and Francine) they can usually be seen at the reception. The winning limit is 5.000 caps.

• Sierra Madre Casino

The Sierra Madre Casino can be found in the Dead Money addon, the casino is surrounded by rumors of great pre-war treasure which many have tried to steal but none have succeeded. Unlike any other casinos in the Mojave Wasteland this one only uses Sierra Madre chips, which the player can use to gamble or buy items from Sierra Madre vending machines. Once the player wins 7500 chips he gets a complementary voucher which he can use at the vending machines to get a 1000 free chips. The winning limit is 10.000 and unlike other casinos slots in this one have only a 25 maximum bet instead of 200 this means that the player can't exceed the winning limit, at least not to 32.000 chips. Once the player leaves Sierra Madre he can still get complementary vouchers (provided he won one in the casino) he can use the vouchers at the Sierra Madre vending machine in the Abandoned BoS Bunker to get the 1000 free chips and then buy items from the list, provided he found their codes while in Sierra Madre.

Downloadable Content

On August 18, 2010, Senior Producer Jason Bergman told gaming website, Destructoid in an interview, that downloadable content is already being planned. He also added that it will be out shortly after the launch of Fallout: New Vegas.

On October 18, 2010, Bethesda's Pete Hines announced that Obsidian would be bringing it's first downloadable content exclusively to the Xbox 360 at the end of the year. Later on November 17th it was announced that the first addon would be called Dead Money.

Dead Money

Dead Money brings players to the unfinished resort/casino, Sierra Madre. The courier is lured to Sierra Madre by a radio signal, similar to the downloadable content in Fallout 3. The area is highly radiated and to make matters worse the casino is armed with one of the most grand defense systems in the west. The courier will encounter many new characters in Sierra Madre, including the hostile hazmat suit wearing inhabitants known only as the Ghost People.

The addon also includes new achievements, perks, and raise the level cap from 30 to 35.

Honest Hearts

Honest Hearts drops the courier into a conflict between waring tribes, The Sorrows and The White Legs, The Burned Man and a New Canaanite missionary, Daniel, when a caravan they're escorting is ambushed. The main location of this DLC is Zion National Park in Utah. The addon also adds new perks, weapons, and increases the level cap from 35 to 40.

Honest Hearts was first hinted at, like Dead Money, via in-game graffiti, sparking speculation that it would be the next DLC. This speculation was seemingly confirmed when ZeniMax registered "Honest Hearts" as a trademark.

The graffiti hinting at Honest Hearts refers to Joshua Graham and New Canaan, which were originally to appear in Van Buren, Black Isle's canceled Fallout 3 project.

Honest Hearts was confirmed when a listing for it was spotted on the trademark filing website, Trademarkia.

Old World Blues

Old World Blues will be the third released piece of downloadable content for Fallout: New Vegas. It will take place in and around The Big Empty, an area that was to be featured in Van Buren (Fallout 3), and the character Ulysses, who has been heavily mentioned in Fallout: New Vegas, Dead Money, and Honest Hearts.

Old World Blues has been confirmed to be released on Tuesday, July 19th (according to the official Fallout New Vegas site).

Lonesome Road

The "Lonesome Road" DLC was released September 20, 2011. The Courier (The playable character) is contacted by the original Courier 6, Ulysses, who refused to deliver the Platinum Chip at the start of Fallout: New Vegas. He did so when he learned that the Courier's name was on the list of the six couriers. In the transmission that the Courier receives, Ulysses promises to answer why, only if the Courier took one last job to the Divide. An area that has been ruined by frequent earthquakes and storms. There begins the fabled location of the battle between Ulysses and the Courier. This DLC will raise the level cap by 5, bringing to maximum level to 50.

Courier's Stash

Will include all preorder bonus packs. This includes the Caravan Pack, Classic Pack, Mercenary Pack, and Tribal Pack.

Gun Runner's Arsenal

Gun Runner's Arsenal adds more unique weapons, weapon mods, ammo types, and recipes to the vendors of the Mojave Wasteland. Many of these weapons have high prices, high stats, and are acquirable at any point in the game.

Bug Reports

Fallout: New Vegas was the center of attention on forum outlets for weeks due to launching with hundreds of game-breaking bugs and glitches which have been reported by players all over the world. All though some players insisted they did not encounter any bugs, many others claimed the game was literally unplayable. While its predecessor Fallout 3 had similar issues many consumers expressed their outrage over New Vegas, accusing Bethesda of shipping a broken and unfinished product. All major bugs have since been fixed though here are a few examples of previously reported bugs:

• Quest givers would disappear from the game, making it impossible to proceed.
• Save games were permanently corrupted if the player accumulated too many save files.
• Using fast travel, upon arriving at their destination players would instantly be killed.
• If players fired their gun just after loading a save file, the game would freeze.

One infamous bug occurred at the very beginning of the game in which Doc Mitchell's head was slowly revolving on itself 360 degrees. (pictured)

All Roads

A graphic novel written by Fallout 2 designer and Fallout: New Vegas senior designer, Chris Avellone, and drawn by Welinton Alves & Jean Diaz. Following from the perspective of two characters as they're tracking down the Courier, a week before their failed execution. All Roads is a prequel to Fallout: New Vegas. The novel will be published by Darkhorse Comics and Bethesda Softworks. All Roads is scheduled for a release in fall 2010. A hardcover copy of the graphic novel will be included in the limited edition of Fallout: New Vegas.

Another All Roads to Fallout: New Vegas addition is letting the reader/player witness characters leaving behind or storing items at in-game locations. Allowing the player to find them when they're playing the game.

Collector's Edition

The collector's edition of Fallout: New Vegas was announced on May 11th 2010. It will be sold for both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 for $80, and $70 for the PC version. The collector's edition Was released on October 19, 2010.

List of what is included in the collector's edition

• "Lucky 7" poker chips
• A specialized deck of Fallout: New Vegas themed cards
• "Lucky 38" platinum poker chip
• The Fallout: New Vegas Dark Horse Comic book All Roads (hardcover)
• The Making of Fallout: New Vegas DVD

Ultimate Edition

On the 7th, February, 2012 the Ultimate Edition of Fallout: New Vegas was announced on BethBlog and it is readily available at stores for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. This edition contains all the the DLC (Dead Money, Honest Hearts, Old World Blues and Lonesome Road) along with Gun Runners's Arsenal and Courier's Stash (which contains all of pre-order bonus packs), which, true to it's name, makes this the ultimate edition of Fallout: New Vegas indeed.

Pre-Order Bonuses

On May 28, 2010, a pre-order bonus known as the "Classic Pack" was spotted on the Australian portal of the EB Games website. The pre-order bonus advertisement was taken down not long after it was put up on the site. It is assumed that these items included in the classic pack and the classic pack itself are genuine. The classic pack includes nostalgic items from Vault 13. On June 10, 2010, four pre-order exclusive packs were announced including the classic pack.

Classic Pack (Gamestop)

• Armored Vault 13 Suit
• Weathered 10MM Pistol
• Vault 13 Canteen*
• 5 Stimpaks

Tribal Pack (Amazon)

• Tribal Raiding Armor
• Broad Machete
• 5 Bleak Venom doses
• 10 Throwing Spears

Caravan Pack (Steam and Walmart)

• Lightweight Leather Armor
• Sturdy Caravan Shotgun
• 4 Repair Kits
• Binoculars

Mercenary Pack (Best Buy)

• Lightweight Metal Armor
• Mercenary's Grenade Rifle
• 3 Super Stimpaks
• 3 Doctor Bags

Voice Talents

The voice talents in Fallout: New Vegas are many, both in quantity and quality. The list would go on and on, but here's a list with a few of the talents involved and their respective in-game characters.

• Matthew Perry ... Benny

• Wayne Newton ... Mr. New Vegas

• Kris Kristofferson ... Chief Hanlon

• Ron Perlman ... Narrator

• Zachary Levi ... Arcade Gannon

• William Sadler ... Victor

• Rene Auberjonois ... Mr. House

• Michael Dorn ... Marcus

• Danny Trejo ... Raul Tejada

• John Doman ... Caesar

• Felicia Day ... Veronica Santangelo

• Dave Foley ... Yes Man

• Rob Corddry ... Billy Knight

• Michael Hogan ... Doc Mitchell

• Alex Rocco ... Big Sal

• Ian Gregory ... Papa Khan

• James Horan ... The King

• Kirsten Potter ... Colonel Moore

• Dave B. Mitchell ... Festus

• Mitch Lewis ... Legate Lanius

• Fred Tatasciore ... Rhonda

• James Marsden ... Craig Boone

• Jason Spisak ... Vulpes Inculta

• Monte Markham ... President Kimball

• David Anthony Pizzuto ... Lilly Bowen

• Rachel Roswell ... Cass

• Wil Wheaton ... Robobrain

• William Mapother ... Colonel Hsu

• Zoe Bell ... Melissa

• Jude Ciccolella ... Thomas Hildern

• Emerson Brooks ... McMurphy

• Laura Bailey ... Julie Farkas / Lt. Boyd

Soundtrack

Inon Zur returns as the composer for the majority of the original music, as with Fallout Tactics and Fallout 3, additionally the entire soundtracks for Fallout and Fallout 2 by Mark Morgan are included in the game. In the PC version, the complete soundtrack (in MP3 format) is available in the game's install folder.

New Vegas Radio

• "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?" - Dean Martin
• "Blue Moon" - Frank Sinatra
• "Green Clouds and Dust Whirls" - J.E. Sawyer
• "Home on the Wastes" - J.E. Sawyer and Nathaniel Chapman
• "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" - The Ink Spots
• "(I Got Spurs That) Jingle, Jangle, Jingle" - Kay Kyser
• "Love Me as Though There Were No Tomorrow" - Nat King Cole
• "Mad About the Boy" - Helen Forest
• "New Vegas Valley" - J.E. Sawyer and James Melilli
• "Something's Gotta Give" - Bing Crosby
• "Streets of New Reno" - J.E. Sawyer and Nathaniel Chapman
• "Why Don't You Do Right?" - Peggy Lee

PC System requirements

Minimum system requirements

• OS: Windows 7/Vista/XP
• Processor: Dual Core 2.0 GHz
• Memory: 2 GB RAM
• Hard Drive: 10GB of free space
• Video Card: Nvidia Gforce 6 series, ATI 1300XT

Xbox 360 Game Installation

Installing this game to the Xbox 360 hard drive requires 4.8GB of memory.

Steam integration

As revealed in a Q&A session on the Bethesda forums, the game uses Steamworks SDK for achievements and other features (friends list, cloud storage). Retail PC copies also have to be activated using Steam.

New Perks

Cowboy

Required Character Level: 8

Required Attributes/Skills: Guns 45, Melee 45

You do 25 percent more damage when using any revolver, lever-action firearm, dynamite, knife, or hatchet.

Jury Rigging

Required Character Level: 14

Required Attributes/Skills: Repair 90

You possess the amazing ability to repair any item using a roughly similar item. Fix a trail carbine with a hunting rifle, a plasma defender with a laser pistol, or even power armor with metal armor. How does it work? Nobody knows…except you.

Rad Child

Required Character Level: 4

Required Attributes/Skills: Survival 70

You truly are a rad child. As you go through the increasingly devastating stages of radiation sickness, you will regenerate more and more health.

Laser Commander

Required Character Level: 22

Required Attributes/Skills: Energy Weapons 90

From the humble laser pistol to the mighty Gatling laser, you do plus 15 percent damage and have plus 10 percent chance to critically hit with any laser weapon.

Shotgun Surgeon

Required Character Level: 6

Required Attributes/Skills: Guns 45

Your precision with a scattergun is something to behold. When using shotguns, regardless of ammunition used, you ignore an additional 10 points of a target's damage threshold.

Long Haul

Required Character Level: 12

Required Attributes/Skills: Endurance 6, Barter 70

You have learned how to pack mountains of gear for the long haul. Being over-encumbered no longer prevents you from using fast travel.

Math Wrath

Required Character Level: 10

Required Attributes/Skills: Science 70

You are able to optimize your Pip-Boy's VATS logic, reducing all AP costs by 10 percent.

Pack Rat

Required Character Level: 8

Required Attributes/Skills: Intelligence 5, Barter 70

You have learned the value of careful packing. Items with a weight of two or less weigh half as much for you.

The Professional

Required Character Level: 6

Required Attributes/Skills: Sneak 70

Up close and personal, that's how you like it. Your sneak attack criticals with pistols, revolvers, and submachine guns, whether guns or energy weapons, all inflict an additional 20% damage.

Purifier

Required Character Level: 14

As a purifier of the wasteland, you do plus 50% damage with melee and unarmed weapons against Centaurs, Nightstalkers, Spore Plants, Spore Carriers, Deathclaws, Super Mutants and Feral Ghouls.

Steam Achievements

• Cheat Codes

  Press ~ key during gameplay to open the console menu. Then enter in the code.

  Effect	Code
  Add # of sunset sarsaparilla blue star bottle caps	player.additem 00103b1c
  add # special points	addspecialpoints #
  Add Debug MegaPistol (Most powerful pistol.)	player.additem 001465A6 1
  Add Perks	player.addperk (perkcode)
  Advance one level	advlevel
  All mapmarkers	tmm 1
  Bottle caps	player.additem 000000F (number of caps)
  change all face options	ShowPlasticSurgeonMenu
  change all hair options	ShowBarberMenu
  Change faction reputation	SetReputation [Faction ID] [0/1] [1-100]
  changes leve to #, doesn't affect anything else.	player.setlevel #
  Changes sex	SexChange
  Closes All Menus	CloseAllMenus
  Create gamesave with desired title	Save [what you want the save to be called]
  Debug-like filter/mode	tcg
  Gives x karma points(use negative values for negative karma)	RewardKarma x
  God mode	tgm
  HP cheat	player.modav health #
  Increase the Gamespeed of all NPCs & the User (Default is 4)	setgs fmoverunmult #
  Increases maximum carry weight by number specified	player.modav carryweight #
  Infinite health	tdm
  Kill every NPC in area	killall
  Kill selected NPC or enemy	kill
  No clipping	tcl
  Opens door without unlocking it.	activate
  Perfect VATS Aiming	SetGS fVATSHitChanceMult 100
  Player can wear power armor	setpccanusepowerarmor 1
  Player health and Limb Health will be restored	player.resethealth
  Quits game fast.	QQQ
  Remove Perk	player.removeperk [Perk ID]
  Removes all items of selected NPC	removeallitems
  Repair items.	player.srm
  Restore health and limb health	player.reset health
  Resurrect selected dead NPC or enemy	resurrect
  Save and quit	saq
  Set ownership of selected item	Set Ownership
  Set S.P.E.C.I.A.L. level	setspecialpoints [number 1-10]
  Set skill level	modpcs [skill name] [number 1-100]
  Set the scale of a NPC ( 1 = normal)	setscale 1
  Set the scale of yourself ( 1 = normal )	player.setscale 1
  Sets ownership to a item(must select item first)	setownership
  Sets player jump height (default is 64)	setgs fJumpHeightMin #
  Sets skill level to #. Max 100. this sets all skill bonuses but those from gear, tag skills, or attributes.	player.setav <SKILL> #
  Sets your currently equipped weapon's condition to 100.	player.setweaponhealthperc 100
  Teleports player to quest target	movetoqt
  Toggle detection	tDetect
  Toggle Free Camera Mode	tfc
  Toggle gore	bDisableAllGore=0/1
  Toggle leaves	tlv
  Toggles fog of war in local map	tfow
  Toggles Grass display	tg
  Unlocks any selected physical lock (doors, chests, etc) and terminals.	unlock
  Unlocks door, safe or computers.(must click the objet first, may cause glitches)	Unlock