Giving time for hype to build up, probably. If Fallout 4 is released, followed by Fallout 5 three or four years later, it won't seem so significant. Fallout: Spin-Off followed by Fallout: Main Series Sequel makes the latter seem more important.
edited 24th May '10 9:47:27 PM by Seamus
I've got two guns pointed west and a broken compass.Also, if Black IsleObsidian were going to make a main-series installment of Fallout rather than a Gaiden Game, I think they'd go for something more traditional in their own engine, rather than quickly banging something out based on a fixed version of Bethesda's efforts.
Think of it like GTA: Vice City or San Andreas to GTA: 4. The former two are legitimate and goood sequels to GTA 3, but when GTA 4 came around SHIT GOT REAL. [--Supposedly--]
Edit: ARGH!! How do fucking make potholed text smaller?
edited 24th May '10 10:03:56 PM by MedicoreNed
Simply put, Fallout New Vegas is built on top of the same engine, doesn't have enough new shiny features (meaning that Obsidian concentrated on game balance, improvements to already existing mechanics and tried to add depth to the existing gameplay instead of adding features such as the oh-so-requested drivable vehicles), sports pretty much the same graphics with some new higher resolution textures and blue skies, and even reuses a lot of assets. Granted, you could say the same about Fallout 2, but people complain a lot more about it now, they're actually complaining about New Vegas, just imagine the backlash if it was called Fallout 4.
I'm not a bug, I'm a feature!Sameish and buggy as it was, Fallout 2 was also many times larger and more intricate than the first game. Still, I guess Bethesda probably got the Mission-Pack Sequels out of their system by making… Actual Expansion Packs.
^^ Obsidian didn't make the engine, just reworked the renderer/graphic side, and pretty quickly too. That doesn't completely excuse the bugginess of the game, but it feels unfair to say that Obsidian can't make a 'proprietary engine' considering they actually have one, though they still haven't developed a game on it (they were developing Aliens Crucible on it, and they're probably using it for the Wheel of Time project).
I'm not a bug, I'm a feature!It's rejected concept art for the Childkiller perk from Fallout 2. It's been floating around the internet since the original artist posted it to his deviantart account (which was promptly C&D'd be Bethesda, if I am thinking correctly).
^^How much do we actually know about the Aliens RPG? I wasn't paying too much attention once I heard it was canceled, but they could have been using someone else's engine like UE 3, etc. Oh and Wheel of time RPG? Couldn't they have picked a better property to license? How long is long enough for a Discworld RPG?
^The Alien RPG was confirmed by various Obsidian's devs to have been worked on their own proprietary 'Onyx' engine. As for the Wheel of Time, technically they didn't 'pick' the licensed, they actually struck a deal with Red Eagle Games (they have the license) so that they help with the development (which considering that the Red Eagle team pretty much consists of a couple of designers, probably means that they'll do a bit of broad design and Obsidian will do the rest under their supervision, but that's speculation on my part, the details of the deal aren't clear). There has been a video of the Alien RPG floating on the net, but it was pretty much 30 second of a pre-production video, it wasn't even an alpha, so I'm not sure how much it would have resembled the game, but it was definitely something between an action-rpg an a survival horror.
I'm not a bug, I'm a feature!There's also Alpha Protocol. If you're about to complain that “it's just the Unreal engine,” then remember Bethesda didn't write NetImmerse/Gamebryo themselves either, by “engine” what I really mean is the entirety of the game's mechanics rather than what's kicking around the art assets.
This game is already making me salivate, I imagine it will be a huge improvmant to three and I thought three was better than the first tw- *gets whipped*
Wait you get an orbital laser!!
edited 28th May '10 9:19:45 AM by Zolnier
Life's Gonna Suck When You Grow Up... But Is It That Great Now?... Also I'm Skylark2 now.Who cares if you can only unleash it once a day it's still a Kill Stat death weapon! Eventaully someone will find a way of splicing the weapon into three, then wer can reanact those youtube videos of Sticky being orbitaly bommarded.
Life's Gonna Suck When You Grow Up... But Is It That Great Now?... Also I'm Skylark2 now.Interview with the project director. I must admit, after all the Alpha Protocol fuss, I'm a bit more concerned with the game, though being a hopeless Fallout fanboy, I'll get it anyway and judge only after a playthrough.
I'm not a bug, I'm a feature!Well, didn't the "disgruntled employee" that posted about what a failure Alpha Protocol was still have good things to say about New Vegas?
I have a hard time imagining the crew working on FO:NV screwing it up.
"The secret we should never let the gamemasters know is that they don't need any rules." - E. Gary Gygax^ Honestly, my worry is basically 'should I wait a couple of patches before buying it?' not 'will they screw it up?'. I'll have to play Alpha Protocol for myself (damn mail!), but the part of the huge review spread I think depends also on how tolerant you are about bugs.
By the way, while I think that the 'tired dev' comment is credible, keep in mind that he was just an anon. Even I can go on and write something like that :P
Discussing the interview itself, I found the bits about crafting and SPECIAL interesting and promising.
I'm not a bug, I'm a feature!Bump.
Oh, for a reason too.
Gameplay footage : http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14341976/fallout-new-vegas/videos/falloutnv_vdp_060310_v3.html?show=hi
Aaaaaand.
Fallout New Vegas fan interview : http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1096751-fallout-new-vegas-fan-interview/
There will be a 2nd part next week. Some VERY promising info there.
I'm not a bug, I'm a feature!

So why don't they just make two sequels?