Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas is an upcoming role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks. While New Vegas is not a direct sequel, it will use the same engine and be in the same style as Fallout 3, and is being developed by some of the people who worked on previous Fallout games at Black Isle Studios. It will be set in and around post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. It has a projected release date of Fall 2010 and will be available on the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Development history
Fallout: New Vegas was announced on April 20, 2009 at Bethesda's London showcase. As of December 2009, no official information about the project has been released, aside from the development team, which includes J.E. Sawyer as project director and lead designer and Chris Avellone as senior designer. The first official information will be released in the February 2010 issue of the Official Xbox Magazine. A cinematic trailer has also been released.

Setting
The game is set in a post-apocalyptic, retro-futurist Las Vegas following the Great War between the US, China and other countries, a conventional and nuclear war that occurred on October 23, 2077 and lasted less than two hours despite causing immense damage and destruction. Before the Great War were the Resource Wars, during which the United Nations disbanded, a plague rendered the United States paranoid, and Canada was annexed. The city of New Vegas itself didn't get hit as much as other districts, and most buildings were left intact. Hoover Dam supplies all the free electricity and water to those who control it.

Story
The story will continue some parts of the Fallout and Fallout 2 stories, but will not be related in any way to the one in Fallout 3.

Fallout: New Vegas will take place in 2280, 3 years after the events of Fallout 3 and 41 years after Fallout 2, making this installment set the farthest in the series. The New California Republic will play a major part in the story, in a three way struggle between the NCR, the Caesar's Legion slavers, and the local New Vegas populace.

The player will play as a courier, who was left to die in a shallow grave, rescued by a robot named Victor, and patched up by a Doctor Mitchell.

Gameplay

 * The gameplay system will be similar to the Fallout 3 gameplay, although some changes have been made.

Hardcore mode
Aside from the normal gameplay mode, which is similar to how Fallout 3 is played, the game includes an optional "hardcore mode", in which the character needs to drink water, ammo has weight, healing isn't instant and other changes, making the game more realistic, were made.

Character system
The SPECIAL system returns, and directly influences speech options and quests. Like in Fallout 3, perks are gained every level.

Combat
The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System, or VATS, is an active pause combat system implemented in the game, just like in Fallout 3. While using VATS, the otherwise real-time combat is paused. VATS also allows the gory deaths in the game to be shown in slow motion and great detail. Attacks in VATS cost action points, and the player can target specific body areas for attacks to inflict specific injuries. Unlike Fallout 3, melee weapons now have special moves in VATS, such as "Fore!" for golf clubs.

Karma and Reputation

 * Karma is back, but now incorporated alongside a reputation system, similar to Fallout 2.

Developers
Fallout: New Vegas is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment, a company founded by Feargus Urquhart and Chris Avellone, two of the makers of Fallout 2 (originally at Black Isle Studios). The project is led by J.E. Sawyer, one of the lead designers of Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 project by Black Isle Studios. John R. Gonzalez is the lead creative designer, while Obsidian founder Chris Avellone, who worked on Fallout 2 and Van Buren is a senior designer. Joe Sanabria is the lead artist.

Videos
thumb|300px|left|Fallout: New Vegas Trailer