I've put about 40 hours into the game so far, and when things are running smooth, the game has a huge amount of depth to it, enough to pull you in so many directions.

However, within that 40 hours, I probably crashed to desktop somewhere near the vicinity of 20x or so. A crash every 1-2 hours seems to be the normal with this game, and, sad to say, such stability issues DO have to factor into my current rating of the game. Because they reflect on the developer's technical prowess as someone who knows how to make a sold game.

That being said, I'd give the game a 74/100. If the stability issues were non-existent, we'd be looking at more of a 85/100. Aside from the aggravation of CTD's, there's no denying they did give you a lot for the money.

I'm playing the PC version as well, and I've only had one crash in the 20+ hours I've played. Other than that, the only bugs I've encountered are NPCs and creatures dropping through the scenery.

Is your rig fully optimized? Defragged, latest drivers, etc.?

Oh yeah. I keep on that stuff like a bum on a ham sandwich. And the PC's no slouch either:

i7 920 2.67Ghz Quad
12GB PC-10666 DDR3
Windows 7 Professional x64
BFG GTX 285 OC

I remember FO3 having the same stability issues, but admittedly, not as bad as New Vegas. Funny though, I had a 12 hour run last night that didn't have 1 crash.

Windows 7, eh? Are you getting the slowdown while NPCs are talking bug?

I was getting that bug, and it actually compelled me to reformat and install Windows XP SP3 instead. The bug doesn't show up on this OS, oddly enough.

I'm waiting on a patch to completely eradicate that so I can use Windows 7 again.

(I guess that tells you how dedicated I am to the Fallout series, going so far as to switch operating systems in order to get a better experience. )

Instability was a huge issue with Fallout 3, as well as Oblivion. I think the problem lies with Gamebryo (the game engine) rather than Obsidian.

Yeah, the way that Gamebryo is implemented with these games is certainly to blame. There's a lot wrong with it, so Obsidian really isn't as much at fault as some people would like to believe.

It's the new patch, It has been making the game crash a lot more.

That's horribly and dramatically inaccurate. If stability issues were non-existent this game would get a 997/1,000. It would be missing the three points because I feel the casinos could use some game variety.

Someone seems to be unfamiliar with the concept of opinions.

And yet you frequent a forum....odd.

Anyways, yes, there is a good chance the engine is at fault here (which is why I hope for future Fallout and Oblivion games that they steer towards a new one; this one has seen better days)

BTW, I don't experience the NPC slow-down glitch/bug. But I've seen what my rig can do in phenomenally more graphically intense games (with better engines), and there's lots of optimizations this engine needs.

I'm on PC with a lesser computer then the OP. 18 hours in, 1 crash. I've encountered very few bugs, none of which were game breaking. The game is incredibly deep with so much to do and so much I need to take care of. I was able to make each character I had on Fallout3 last around 30-40 hours. I have a feeling I'll be dumping around 100 hours into each character in New Vegas.

I'm not going to bother rating the game because I'm only 18 hours in but I like the game a lot so far. It's challenging, full of quests, the exploration is fantastic, graphics are good (enough)...I could go all day. There's also a list of bad, but it pales in comparison. Out of all the games that have come out in the past two years, this one has to be my favorite. Well done, Obsidian.

I am loving this game so far.

I've had one or two CTDs in normal gameplay, just when exploring, and also whenever I try to get a closer look at a certain canine.

No real quest errors yet, Apart from an very Megaton like bug in which a certain two people from a certain place north west of Vegas somehow fell off the map and arrived at the inaccessible parts of Black Mountain.