I gave my husband Fallout 3 for Christmas last year. He played it for a little while but didn't like it at all. Eventually he had to rebuild his computer and never reinstalled FO3. My nephew switched from playing on xbox to a using a PC and didn't have Fallout 3 for the PC so we gave him the copy my husband is no longer using. Is there anything we need to do to make it so the copy we gave him will work for him? I'm pretty sure my husband registered it wherever it needed to be registered. Also, he did not install it or play it through Steam.

Thank you.

If this is the disk based game, then your son should be able to install it and run it. The disk based version of the game does not use Steam, so it is not registered with them. It did use GFWL, but the requirement to set up an account is no longer there. You just have to have the latest GFWL client installed. Again, you do not need to set up an account through GFWL.

Just make sure you follow the install instructions on this thread for best results with this game on an modern OS

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1465357-installing-fallout-3-with-windows-78-and-xp/

Or, you can bypass this whole mess and pick the GOTY version of the game that has all the DLCs at one of the Steam Sales for less than $10. Note. you still have to follow the install instructions even for Steam.