I played the crap out of Fallout 3 a couple years ago on the PS3. It was fun until I bought all the DLC, then the game became a buggy mess and really didn't enjoy the DLC, cause of the lag and crashing.

Since then I got an XBox 360 and played New Vegas and Skyrim. Played the crap out of them but still got tired of both, not the same pull in that Fallout 3 had. It could be that Fallout 3 was my first Fallout game (never did play 1 or 2, but do remember almost buying number 2 for my Mac years ago).

So I seen Fallout 3 GOTY for $20 and decided what the hell, I have a gift card so no money lost to me. I put it in and once I heard Ron Perlman's voice I was pulled back in. Once I got out of the Vault I noticed how much better looking and smoother playing it was compared to the PS3 version I have. Bethesda really did screw us PS3 players over. This isn't a bash to the PS3 it's more for a bash to the terrible coding and testing they did, you can look at some of my older posts in the PS3 issues area about how I tracked the lag and crashing.

The only flaws that I seem to stand out are iron sights, weight of items (seriously an empty bottle is 1 pound?) and ammunition. Obsidian added some really great features for the gameplay, but New Vegas lacked in atmosphere, real emotional connection (father) and the Mojave wasteland was too empty. The DLC for New Vegas was better because they all tired together, as for Fallout 3, Point Lookout and the Pitt are really the only good ones, Broken Steel is alright but brought a lot of bugs like the lone Enclave soldier hanging around Super Duper Mart, that should have been patched.

When it comes to characters, I really didn't care much for the Courier, he seemed to just be in it for himself, no real reason to support one or the other, everything grey, no background other than Lonesome Road and even then it really didn't shed any light since your character seems to not really care or remember the Divide, maybe a bullet to the head was the cause. The Lone Wander had that emotion of escaping out of the vault and finding your father, I wish that quest was longer and if you have the emotional connection to finding your father, then I can see Broken Steel's story making more sense, since the Enclave are responsible for what happens with your Father.

Anyways that's it so far. Currently my character is near death with no ammo or melee weapons outside Megaton, I got owned by 4 vicious dogs after being attacked by the lone Enclave Soldier hanging around the Super Duper Mart, but it's still the funniest game I've ever played. Hoping for some news at E3 this year for Fallout 4 but that is wishful thinking.

You will still have laggy issues in PL. Otherwise, put a bullet in 3 Dog for me.

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I agree with you about the atmosphere of the two games. New Vegas feels very empty compared to Fallout 3. Especially when you get past Novac and the 188 Trading Center. Also agree that the NV settings are superior, and I would even go as far as the weapons and ammo as well. But FO3 just offers so much more to do, to see, and it has that wasteland awe to it. I know others will disagree. Just wish I had a pc so I could add NV settings and hardcoe mode to FO3.

I also noticed that New Vegas runs a lot better on xbox compared to PS3. I've only had FO3 for xbox, but I have never had any problems at all with it, even with DLCs added.

Yeah, Fallout 3 has always had my heart as far as Bethesda games go. I loved every minute of it, the first time I played through the game I was in utter awe by how great everything was. My only regret is that I never had it for the PC.

I totally agree. It might of just been that fallout 3 was my first game like this, but i just remember going through springvale and the dc area and was thinking wow, this used to be full of life and now everything is destroyed and long dead. But on new vegas it just seemed like a desert with no real feeling of being in a post-apocalyptic world. Only thing that was a sort of problem for me in fallout 3 was how the dc mall was blocked off by fallen down buildings so you had to use the metro, but that helped add to the atmosphere of being in some dark place with these ghouls that want to eat you. Both are good in their own way though!

I adore the atmosphere in Fallout 3. It actually felt a real apocalypse to me. While I love New Vegas too, it just doesn't have that atmosphere that I loved in 3. I don't think I'll ever get tired of roaming through the Capital Wasteland.

Same here. I feel like there's way more to explore in the Capital Ruins...you could only go so far in the Mojave. However, I really liked the feeling of civilization in New Vegas, what with all the factions and what not. If they'd only had that in F3, it would have been perfect.

I enjoyed both for differing reasons, although NV took a lot longer to grow on me due to feeling quite awhile after FO3 (less radiation, clean water on tap, clearer skies, fewer small gangs holed up in buildings).

Voice acting in FO3 is worse though and they don't really wrap up their DLC's properly.

Fallout 3 took me into a world I didn't even know I could get lost into... I loved it, played it for 300 hours.. I say go for it

Oh I could never kill Three Dog. He's the voice of the wasteland.

I think what bugged me most about New Vegas was the map. North of Vegas it was pretty empty and the strip was so small with the gates in-between (I know this is an issue because of hardware cause there is a mod to fix that on PC). New Vegas just didn't seem so alive to me as what was promised, a jewel in the wastes so to speak (stole that from Ron Perlman and Vault 101). Still I do miss the ammo, weapons and iron sights from NV. The DLC for Fallout 3 doesn't bug me that much, it's just extras that you can play or choose not to.

One thing that is clear is that Bethesda should have released at least one more patch after all the DLC was released, you know tied up any bugs/glitches that the DLC added to the game. New Vegas needs another patch too.

Anyways, going to finish the first chapter for Moria's book then heading off to DC in search for Dad.

Okay another thing just happened in Fallout 3 that never seemed to happen in New Vegas, and that's the stuff Raiders say. I totally forgot all the funny things they say in VATS when you chuck a grenade at them. "Holy Shi..." or "What the fu...". I could never get the various gangs around New Vegas to say anything, they were just mute most of the times. It's these little details that make Fallout 3's atmosphere better. I hope Bethesda takes the gameplay (ammo, weapons, hardcoe mode, etc), perks, character improvements from NV, but keep the exploration and atmosphere of F3 for Fallout 4.

I haven't managed to get my hands on New Vegas...but during my time in Skyrim, I could feel this desire...this urge to revisit Wastleland DC (which reminds me).