Fallout: New Vegas

In July 14, 2009 - After years of lurking in the hearts of classic role-playing game fans, the Fallout franchise is back in a big way. Since purchasing the license from Interplay, Bethesda revived the post-apocalyptic series last October with Fallout 3 and has been releasing a steady stream of expansions ever since. The last of those add-ons, dubbed Mothership Zeta, is coming soon but that doesn't mean Fallout is returning to the vault to stagnate once more. Another full game is on the way, called Fallout: New Vegas.

Very little is known about this next Fallout game, but that won't stop us from speculating. Here we've gathered everything we know about it and use our powers of guesstimation to peer into an uncertain future. Many questions remain unanswered, but that doesn't mean there aren't educated guesses to be made.

What's Known So Far
Fallout: New Vegas was announced for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on April 20, 2009 at a press event in London. Very few details were given at the time and the game was not shown in any form. The target release date is 2010 and Bethesda has said that you can expect the "same type of game" as Fallout 3, though this is not a direct sequel. That means that New Vegas will indeed be a true role-playing game and not an action title like Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. It won't, however, continue any storylines from Fallout 3. In fact, Todd Howard, Design Director for Fallout 3, has told IGN that nothing in that game hints at anything in New Vegas.

Fallout's Atomic Future
Fallout's game world is built on the concept that the future as imagined during the post-war 1950s in America came true…shortly before a massive nuclear war destroyed civilization as we know it. This was an idyllic view of the future filled with atomic cars, robot servants and wholesome family values. As we know now, it's a far cry from reality, but this space age future filled the pop air waves a half century ago.

This atomic future is important to consider when imagining what New Vegas will be like. Remember, the Las Vegas of today is very different from that of the 1950s. The Bellagio and other swanky casino-hotels did not exist. The glitz and glamour of the main strip simply was not there. In fact, the world famous strip was just being populated with some of the classic hotels during the first boom period in the '40s and '50s with the Sands, Riviera, Fremont, and Flamingo hotels all being built. It's hard to imagine that the futurism of this period would have depicted the massive Luxor pyramid or the New York, New York fake skyline.

developer: Obsidian Entertainment
publisher: Bethesda Softworks Namco Bandai
release date: June 2010
genre: Role-playing game
engine: Gamebryo
modes: Single player
ratings: TBA
platforms: Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7,Xbox360, PlayStation 3
media: Blu-ray disc, DVD

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