Mr. House

Robert Edwin House is the master of the city of New Vegas in the Mojave Wasteland in the year 2281. House is responsible for the creation of Mr. New Vegas.

Background
Mr. House was born and lived in the period before the Great War. Before the Great War commenced, it was implied that he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ("...an institute in Massachusetts"). He was the president, founder, and CEO of RobCo Industries. He supposedly cryogenically froze himself and survived in stasis for centuries before reawakening, which explains his age of 261 years. He is an elusive man, and also played a big part in why New Vegas was not directly hit by the nuclear devastation of the Great War. It is assumed that he had a girlfriend named Jane (the filmstar Jane Russell was under contract to Howard Hughes and also his lover for a time), as he reprogrammed one of his Securitrons to fulfil his "needs". Mr. House is also extremely interested in the collectible snowglobes found in the game, and he will pay greatly for each. The snow globes can be given to Jane to exchange them for 2000 caps each.

Shortly before the Great War, Mr. House ordered the "platinum chip" to arrive to him on the afternoon of October 23rd. However, the nuclear warheads arrived before the delivery came, and consequently, 200 years later, it has still not made it to Mr. House. Mr. House is also responsible for preventing over 90% of the nuclear warheads that were headed in the vecinity of Las Vegas from detonating.

He lives in the Lucky 38 and is in charge of the Securitrons that roam New Vegas. At some point after emerging from stasis, House won Vault 21 in a bet and has since converted it into a casino/hotel.

Mr. House is extremely physically decrepit and can only live inside a self contained life support unit. The Courier later has the opportunity to break through his security and see his true, decaying form. However, opening his isolation chamber, even for a second, means that Mr. House will die within a year from exposure to outside contaminants.

Interactions with the player character
Mr. House hires the Courier to eliminate local New California Republic activity in order to maximize his influence over the strip. Mr. House can be killed. When facing Mr. House, turn left. Access the computer terminal and open the door. (This will make all of Mr. Houses' robots hostile). Go through the door access the next terminal to unlock the elevator. This will take you to Mr. House. Access the next terminal and open the case he is preserved in. You then can talk to him in person. You can leave him there but he will no longer have control over anything or you can kill him which will make you automatically fail all Mr. Houses' quests.

Behind the scenes

 * His personality, appearance and role resembles Andrew Ryan of Bioshock
 * In casino parlance, the house refers generally to the gambler's opponent, the casino itself, as in the idiom, "The house always wins."
 * "He's very much inspired by Howard Hughes," says J.E. Sawyer in the Game Informer Fallout: New Vegas preview article May 2010.
 * At first appearance, he can be asked if he is simply a computer, to which he will deny. This is a small homage to one of the key characters from Fallout 3; President Eden, who was a ZAX Computer.
 * Further discussion on who Mr.House is will prompt for the player to come to the conclusion that he is a 'brain in a jar'. This is another homage to Fallout 3's DLC Point Lookout Character; Professor Calvert.

Appearances
appears in Fallout: New Vegas.