Mr. House

Robert Edwin House is the autocratic leader and profiteer of the city of New Vegas in the Mojave Wasteland in the year 2281. House is foremost responsible for the founding of RobCo Industries, the creation of Mr. New Vegas, and civilizing the current New Vegas casino tribes.

Personality
Mr. House can be described as efficient and pragmatic. He foresees the rebuilding of humanity on the shoulders of New Vegas' economic strength (namely, the tourist economy). For instance, he boasts that he could have a man in space within 50 years; within 100 years he claims he will have colonization ships ready to find an unpolluted planet. He does not wish to be worshiped, or to rule the Wasteland, but to maintain economic control and ownership of New Vegas (specifically the Strip), and believes he can do so through his Securitron army. It's important to note that he "owns" all of the casinos on the strip and the families simply lease them from him. He sees the NCR's wealth as an asset to his plans but wishes to avoid annexation and keep Vegas independent. Anyone and anything that stands in his way will be removed, with money or force.

Biography
Born June 25th 2020 to a wealthy Nevada tool magnate, Robert Edwin House was orphaned at an early age when his parents died in a gyro lighting freak accident. Cheated of his inheritance by his half-brother, Anthony, he nevertheless attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He later went on to found RobCo Industries in his hometown of Las Vegas. It would soon become one of the most profitable corporations in the world, owing mostly to House's considerable technical genius and business acumen, and he used the wealth and power to gain controlling interests in myriad other businesses, including REPCONN Aerospace, the Lucky 38 Hotel & Casino on Las Vegas Boulevard, and perhaps most personally, the H&H Tool Company - the family business usurped by his greedy half-brother (although curiously, the factory on the outskirts of Vegas was still under his brother's control in 2077).

A staunch pragmatist by nature, Mr. House would regularly design and run mathematical paradigms based on global political and socioeconomic conditions in an effort to predict future events; by 2066, these projections led him to the inexorable conclusion that the world would be engulfed in a nuclear war within fifteen years. Worse still, his contacts within the military informed him that seventy-seven Chinese warheads were aimed at his beloved Las Vegas. Armed with this knowledge and his projections, House went to work on a secret plan to ensure the city would survive this apocalypse and that he would live to see the world after the war. He programmed multiple mainframes with satellite links meant to disable the vast majority of the Chinese missiles while in flight, then designed an array of high powered laser cannons, which he had installed on the roof of the Lucky 38, to deal with any missile his program had missed. To preserve himself, he took equally drastic steps: his body was permanently connected to an extremely sophisticated life support device to take care of his physiological needs, while his brain was wired directly into his vast information network via an enormous supercomputer. Essentially, he became a one-of-a-kind humanoid brain bot, with the Lucky 38 and an army of Securitrons serving as his "body".

An integral element of his plan was the platinum chip, which in reality was a combination access card and high capacity data storage device, containing a massive OS upgrade for his Securitrons and the laser defense network. The chip was to be delivered in the afternoon of October 23rd, 2077. Unfortunately, about 20 hours before it could be delivered, the Great War happened. The chip was lost and was rediscovered over 200 years later by some of multiple scavengers hired by House. Forced to work with an inferior version of the OS, he has suffered numerous system crashes and was even forced into a coma by one of the failures, before being able to reboot an earlier, stable version.

House regained consciousness in 2138. Biding his time, he entered the world stage once again in 2274, when Securitrons under his command emerged from Lucky 38. This action was prompted by the arrival of New California Republic scouts at Hoover Dam. In order to establish his rule, he enlisted the help of tribes living in Vegas (later known as the Three Families) and rebuilt the city just in time to welcome the arrival of the New California Republic army's advance forces. In exchange for help with the Hoover Dam and permission to use the McCarran Airport as its headquarters, House signed the New Vegas treaty, ensuring cooperation from NCR and, for a time, protecting The Strip from annexation.

Post-War status
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 the leadership of Vault 21 in a bet, stripped it of all useful technology, and then planned to permanently seal the Vault away by filling it with cement. At the pleadings of Sarah Weintraub he left the top section of Vault 21 as it used to be, and she converted it into a hotel (all the casino equipment was already there from the vault experiment).

Mr. House is also extremely interested in the collectible Snow Globes 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. Once the Courier has sold a Snow Globe to Jane it is placed on display (on a mantle) in the Lucky 38 Presidential Suite.

Health
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 form. However, opening his isolation chamber, even for a second, means that Mr. House will die within a year from exposure to outside contaminants.

Quests
Mr. House plays a major role in the game. The Courier hears a lot about him while traveling, but upon reaching New Vegas he is invited by Mr. House himself to visit him in Lucky 38. There, Mr. House gives the player vital information about Benny and the Platinum Chip. Also, he allows the Courier and his companions to use Lucky 38's Presidential Suite as a safehouse.

Mr. House gives the player The House Always Wins quest, which leads to one of the final quests, All or Nothing. If the player chooses to complete these quests, he allies himself with Mr. House, leading him to control New Vegas by defeating Caesar and driving NCR off. In this case, player communicates with Mr. House only through the computer terminal in his office.

However, if the player decides to side with NCR, Caesar, or fight for independent New Vegas, Mr. House has to be killed. In order to do so, the Courier has to locate his real body, first. It is done by activating the "forbidden" terminal on the left wall of House' office, and then unlocking an elevator which is hidden there. Mr. House will try to prevent this, though, and all the Securitrons in his office will attack (PC: The Securitrons, except for Victor near the elevator, may not turn hostile. This might be due to the progression of the quest The House Always Wins and House's level of trust in the courier). The hidden elevator will take the Courier to Mr. House's Control Room. There, Robert House's stasis chamber is located. Upon activating its terminal, House's cybernetically-augmented body is released from the chamber. He is unable to move and barely speaks, and the fact that his chamber was deactivated means he now will be dead in a year at most, as he was exposed to microorganisms. After talking to him, the Courier has several options: to kill Mr. House himself, or to sterilize his chamber using the chamber terminal. It will result in Mr. House being electrocuted. The last option is to deactivate cerebral implant, leaving him alive, but unable to control either The Lucky 38 nor his Securitrons. All options result in negative Karma, but this is considered to be the most vile of options.

Other interactions
After Mr. House is killed if the player has the Cannibal perk he/she can eat the body of Mr. House which is a requirement to get the perk Meat of Champions which requires the player to eat Mr. House, The King, Caesar, and President Kimball.

Appearances
Robert House appears in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * 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.


 * Jane, House's computer companion, is likely an allusion to the filmstar Jane Russell, who was under contract to Howard Hughes and also his lover for a time.


 * Mr. House had another Securitron gal named Marilyn (based on Marilyn Monroe) that was apparently cut. However, she appears alongside with Jane in a card from the deck of card of the collector version, the texture file for her "face" is still in the game's files and there's a reference to her in the G.E.C.K. Also, after meeting Mr. House, Veronica will say she's surprised he only has two robot sex slaves. This was likely meant to reference Jane and the absent Marilyn, but the line was never removed or changed.

Bugs

 * Talking to Mr. House on the start of the quest "The House Always Wins" you're given the option "Who exactly are you, Mr. House?" He will tell you his background some what and then the option for "You appear to be a computer, not a man," will open, if your medicine is high enough (35) you can choose the option "The lifespan you're claiming is impossible, except for ghouls and super mutants." Passing this will give you +35 xp. You can repeat this step as many times as necessary to level up.


 * A barter check of 50 can be accessed as many times as you want, giving you 50XP every time you do so.


 * Sometimes when you activate the terminal to access Mr. House's life support chamber, only two securitrons will become hostile. When returning to the penthouse suite from the life support chamber, no securitrons will be hostile. And in some cases, the securitrons won't attack at all.


 * If you choose to kill Mr. House using weapons instead of the life support system terminal, many of your bullets will go through his body. You also won't be able to target him in VATS. Addendum: This seems to only be a problem in some copies of the game, as other copies of the game still recognize him as a normal enemy, albeit connected to a giant tank.


 * Choosing to kill Mr. House with an energy weapon, that results in a critical hit, will cause both him, and his cryostasis chamber, to disintegrate into goo/ash.


 * If you choose to deactivate the cerebral implant from the terminal, Mr. House will remain alive, but you can still attack him. This is an easy way to complete challenges. He will never die, but you will gain kills with whatever weapon you are using.