Video game

A video game, occasionally referred to as a holotape game, is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback. There are two types of video games in the Fallout world, holotape games, and VR simulations.

Holotape games
Prior to the Great War, holotape games were a rising medium of entertainment that saw moderate success in public, with holotapes being sold stand-alone or being included in magazines to entice sales. Dedicated companies and divisions of companies were created to develop holotape games in an attempt to get a foothold in this burgeoning market. Holotape games spanned a wide spectrum of genres, including strategic defense, platforms, and text adventures.

Terminals would attempt to keep up with the rapid progression of holotape games, with RobCo Industries developing consumer terminals capable of handling the highest-end graphics.

Holotape games (and in turn holotape game players) are often looked down upon for being childish and generally a complete waste of time with no redeeming social value. However, even if holotape games are largely useless, they can pass the time and offer a distraction from the reality of a hellish post-apocalyptic wasteland. There are some individuals, human and robot alike, that not only enjoy playing holotape games but also boast about their skills.

Virtual reality
Similar to video games, virtual reality simulations were also utilized by the United States Armed Forces for training pilots in aerial dogfights tactics and training soldiers in past battles. Vault-Tec also used virtual reality for some of their vault experiments, most notably in Vault 112 where the overseer and all residents have been in a simulation for over 200 years.

Virtual reality or VR simulators were a fairly new technology before the Great War and are known to have been in use only in the United States military and in at least one Vault-Tec vault dedicated to virtual reality, with other vaults having SimTek 5000 VR devices.

The extent to which the simulators replicate reality is unknown - in some cases, being killed in the simulation results in the person being killed in real life. It is possible this is only an extreme case, as it is a fail-safe in Vault 112, and a simulation used to open an armory in the VSS facility. Since, as previously stated, these simulators are known to have no civilian or entertainment applications, the question remains whether they were part of a previous training simulation or other projects, possibly involving the development of power armor. Again, due to the limited information available since the bombs fell, this may never be known.

Appearances
Holotape games appear in Fallout, Fallout 4 and Fallout 76. Virtual reality appears in Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas.