You are only taking about the Capital Wasteland in Fallout 3, not on the west coast Core Region or the Mojave area.
A. So does most post-war settlements. Many of them have their own power generators as long as they are not tribals living in the wild . Even most towns in the Capital Wasteland can get power from what remains of the the pre-war energy grid.
B. But it was falling apart due to the energy crisis. And the NCR has rebuilt railways and repaired old highways in the Core Region as well.
C. So does the post-war world? If even a dangerous and under developed area like the Capital Wasteland can have 3 radio stations, I will not be surprise if ever major settlement in the West Coast have their own newspaper and radio station.
D. Other then the Capital Wasteland, everyone else is producing their own food and farming has largely recovered. I don't think it is likely that the only food that the people in DC eats are 200 years old potato chips. In Point Lookout you can see that some merchants are importing fresh products into the area.
E. A fair point. But again, in more civilized like NCR territory, the land is mostly under control. And in the months before the Great War, many cities such as Denver and Mexico City were no better off then they were after the war due to the food shortages and riots.

Just look at the areas controlled by the New California Republic. They don't have many of the problems that you mentioned. And then read about the pre-war historical timeline.

Ok stop Thomas. You act as if the NCR is an amazing happy place that reflects all of America. From what we've seen of the U.S the NCR is an exception. Are you saying that people living under slavery and totalitarism in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah are better off? That people in slavery in the Pitt are better off? The Commonwealth which is basically the whole Northeast which is in the same state as D.C. is better off? With para-military fascist, techno-religious nuts, totalitarian slavers, power crazied mutants, un democratic militas are better off? The drug addicted masses of slum dwellers around Vegas are better off? Every five mintues in the Fallout universe someone is trying to kill everyone, enslave everyone, or both. Even in the NCR gangs still roam the countryside raiding, cars are almost noexistant for long distance travel.

Even if you try to make argument that the NCR will take over everything, and bring back the pre-war government but only it learns from the past mistakes. Guess what? All the oil is gone, most of the resources needed for industrialisation are gone, and everything can't just be scavenged. I will hold that the day before the bomb dropped in 2077 was better than the 200 years after by most standards. Hell if the Chinese didn't launch nukes fission would of become cheaper, computer would continue to get smaller, and man would spread from earth.

Post-War. In Pre-War society, if you're one of the targets for the more paranoid American society, just go to your native country. But in Post-War, if you're the target, you better have some good protection or else you're dead. Not to mention, most of the time, you have to survive instead of have fun. And no depression when the sun is blocked out for 10 years and causes nuclear rain.

Post-War is essentially the return of the wild frontiers of the past, even the creatures themselves represent the beasts of back then; humanity is able to adapt so long as they have available resources. Pre-War, we had a resource crisis, but Post... well you get it.
So, whilst a deathclaw is one of the most intimidating things I have ever seen in any game ever, I'd choose one of them over a nuclear war in a heartbeat. At least it's only me that gets killed opposed to everyone I care for.
On the plus side, Post-War seems a lot more fun (although that's probably just my love of the wayfaring commoner/saluaging wanderer speaking), if given the opportunity for just one day, would you choose to remain in this time were technology lives for you or go back to the basics of survival (laser rifles don't exactly coincide with that point, c'est la vie), scauaging through the ruins for supplies, never knowing what lies within?
Book of Eli and The Road fans will agree with me I'm sure.

I haven't seen The Book of Eli, but living in The Road universe doesn't seem so fun.

Overall I think the pre-waar world was much worse that the post-war one. I mean with the resource wars of the 2050's, the terrorist attacks in the middle east (especially the detonation of a nuke in Tel Aviv described in the Fallout Bible), over-crowding, dissolvment of the U.N., and the fact that the U.S. government became so desperate as to begin the F.E.V. experiments in West Tek, you have to admit that the world was looking pretty grim. I personally think that the Great War was a blessing in disguise, it allowed the doomed world to have another chance and to start over. Yes, there's murder and thievery everywhere in the wastes, but I think it is a small price to pay for a second chance.

Pre-war svcked. It svcked hard. However....

I could walk to the park and not die of radiation poisoning, raiders, and super mutants.
I can sit on a bench and read a magazine without some [censored] slapping an explosive collar around my neck and enslaving my ass.
I have clean clothes.
I have TV.
Food is hard to find- but not as hard to find after the nuclear apocalypse.
I can drink water and my hair won't fall out.
I have a life expectancy past zero.

The Pre-War World was pretty jacked up IMO:
-Robco and General Atomics had bought the FDA and EPA, which allowed them to downplay the effects of nuclear waste they were dumping everywhere. Case in point, Nuka Cola Quantum, a profitable way to get rid of Strontium-90.
-The Chinese and/or Enclave had seeded the U.S. with the New Plague in the 2250's.
-Chinese infiltrators were tainting the precious bodily fluids of U.S. citizens by subverting Mama Dolce's Processed Foods.
-Robco used political dissidents, military deserters, and criminals as guinea pigs
for weapons testing and prototype Robobrains.
-Fossil fuels were down to fumes, which put the whole world on edge.
-Nuclear fusion came too little, too late to supplant fossil fuels and nuclear fission as the power source that should've saved the world.
-The Enclave KNEW it could survive a nuclear war, so the rest of us be damned...

Why would the Enclave seed the US with the New Plague, I thought it came from South America.

The wikis and J.E. Sawyer hint that the New Plague was used as an excuse for The Enclave/West-Tek to develop the Pan Immunity Virion Project, which led to FEV.

No that was the cure...

You're right, the PIVP did "cure" the New Plague around the time of Operation Anchorage, but it provided the genetic engineering resources to make bioweapons like FEV and the modified Jackson's Chameleons that became Deathclaws.

Correct.

Unfortunately all humans are the same. You may say that you wont make the smae mistakes of teh old world. But they will, because they are still human.

Hmm, the FO Universe by 3000 A.D. would probably be like the last chapter of "A Canticle for Liebowitz", there'd be civilization again, but probably not like what we've known before. Probably just be foreplay for the next resource crunch and eventual nuclear or antimatter holocaust when the pre-war pressures make a comeback.

NECROMANCE SPELL!!!!

This was an intresting disscusion so lets reanimate it!
One of the reasons for old world being worse is the slave collar... it's prewar!

I voted prewar as worst.

Prewar in fallout sounds horrible.

Massive prices, massacred steel workers in Pittsburgh, the Enclave working behind the scenes to drive the world to war.
The Enclave planning the horrible vault experiments.
Creepy govournment initiatives.
The programming of patriotism into subliminal messages in films and tv.
Forced conscription into the army.

Not to mention the signs in holotapes, journals and logs.

One log mentions the 'new plague' is defined by desease symptoms and also socialism.

They sound nazish.

Socialism and liberalism is mentioned as being bad in many logs in many ways.
The world of fallout is a sick, dark, disturbing alternate reality.

But some of the stuff is shocking, even knowing how dark and disturbing it is.

The good stuff, Giddyup Buttercup toys, Protectrons, Mr Gutsys, Security Bots, automation, nuclear transport and other things would not make up for the horribleness of the rest of it.

Mr Handys are psychotic when they are created I think. In Fallout 3 there is one in a area of Vernon Square, in the Townhouse, that has been resting for a while or at least just cleaning the house since 2077, and he is psychotic too. Muttering under his breath.

Mr Gutsys being agressive is more natural since they are a war robot.

The post apocalyptic world is better in that the horrific govournment control has gone, and if you are strong enough you can do what you want.

And it is has cool mutated animals.

The prewar world would have been cool to look at. I wonder what the world looked like prewar, a whole completed, none destroyed city.

But it would be a hellish nightmare to live there.

[quote name='Zxhraivretiaiel' timestamp='1302372339' post='17441881'

Mr Handys are psychotic when they are created I think. In Fallout 3 there is one in a area of Vernon Square, in the Townhouse, that has been resting for a while or at least just cleaning the house since 2077, and he is psychotic too. Muttering under his breath.

Mr Gutsys being agressive is more natural since they are a war robot.

[/quote]
Handys aren't the most psycho bots, that would be the Robo-brains. They have brains of criminaly insane, even if that's unofficial.

I put Robo Brains out of my mind. They are horrible.

Yes they are the most psychotic of the robots.

And the most cruelly made.

Pre-War wasn't the calm ordered utopia that the Vault Holotapes make it out to be, that's for sure. Even if you just take into account the Vaults - calm, ordered lines to enter them, suitcase in hand? No - there would be mass panic, and riots, and guards mowing down crowds to stop them getting in. It would be chaos. That's human nature.

If there was a prequel game, I would like it to be the week the bombs went off. Martial law. Panic. Riots. You have to get into a vault, but have no idea how, because you're not on the list. What do you do to survive the impending apocalypse? Just how far are you willing to go to? Would be a mad adrenaline rush of a game.

Well I think we should all consider the Sierra Madre http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Sierra_Madre_vending_machine...

That is all.

Might sound awesome... but think again. It's just buying but with money accualy being worth something!

Dude, they break down coins, and turn them into food. That's nothing short of alchemy.