More people played and bought FNV, so ha!!!
Do you have a source for that? I keep seeing it mentioned but the only figures I could find are for F3's opening week (4.7 million copies) and FNV's first THREE weeks sales (5 million copies). So, they appear to be about the same (assuming F3's sales trailed off sharply after the opening week).
The fact, like it or lump it, is that most people came to Fallout through F3, because the opening weeks sales beat the total sales of all the earlier games combined; so you have to assume that most people were hyped for FNV because they enjoyed F3.
I like stuff from both games, and both have their faults. I miss the exploration from F3 in NV. I'm currently replaying F3, for the 5th time, and I've discovered several locations that I've never seen before. It all adds spice.