I don’t generally pay much attention to rumors, unless I think they are legit or extremely interesting.  The details surrounding Fallout: New Vegas that surfaced today certainly fall into the later category.  I have no reason whatsoever to believe the following information is remotely true, but I think any fan of the series will at least be interested enough to read on:

• Concrete info on the game will be out “very soon”, possibly in the next Gameinformer
• It’s possible for the player to either start as a blank slate character, or as one of several characters with a predetermined story, SPECIAL arrangement, TAG-ed stats etc.  Some examples of these characters are a Chinese spy and/or a Ghoul.
• Some perks are unique to the character the player chooses to start with (i.e the Ghoul starts with a perk where he will not be attacked by other Ghouls).
• Character specialization will be more broad — it’s unlikely a character can max all attributes.
• Gambling is available to the player.  Skills like stealth, science, etc. can be used to cheat depending on the form of gambling.
• It’s possible for the player to acquire a customizable vehicle.  A number of parts can be bought, won, etc.  Enemies may also have vehicles, meaning some skirmishes may be vehicle on vehicle (awww yeah).  Vehicles are a necessity since the wasteland in New Vegas is considerably larger than in Fallout 3, also a number of very large monsters appear in the game which would be difficult to combat on foot.
• There will be a Colosseum  run by a group of raiders known as Caesar’s Legion.  The player can compete or gamble there.

Some elements of these details are a bit fishy to me, but still interesting.  One thing I wonder about is the vehicle combat.  Let’s say I best an enemy vehicle; can I walk up to it, loot it and the driver’s corpse?  How would that work?

Does the character specialization mean that there is a level-cap, and that it is low like it was in Fallout 3?

I guess I could ask questions all I want, but ultimately there is no way to know, or check the validity of these details.  I think it’s probably just the rambling of a Fallout fan with an active imagination, but damn if I don’t find it interesting just the same.

***UPDATE***

Executive editor at Game Informer Andrew Reiner has confirmed that Fallout: New Vegas will not be their next cover.  This effectively debunks all this other information.  Bummer.

Roy bethesda, ps3, rumor 1 comments