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Bethesda and Obsidian recently showed off a number of locations from the next "Fallout" entry, but the one area they kept strictly under wraps is the titular city itself. New Vegas, surrounded by walls and seen by we pressers from only a great distance in game, is the sort of destination we can only dream about at the moment.

While questions were obviously reeling in our minds there were a few tidbits of information we were able to glean from our extensive tour of the game and subsequent one on one with lead designer, Josh Sawyer.

What do we know about New Vegas?

Don't Expect the Same Skyline.

Sawyer was quick to point out that New Vegas is not based on the Las Vegas we know today. The entire "Fallout" universe, as it's been devised, is set after a nuclear fallout in the year 2077 -- a world which is strikingly different than what our 2077 will (most likely) look like. It's a future as envisioned by people of the 1940s and 50s -- The Golden Age of Science Fiction, as it's called. "Our Vegas is not based on real casinos," says Sawyer. "We're basing them off of casinos styled from the 1950s."

So that leaves a pretty blank canvas for the developers to work with. Though we'd be surprised if there weren't similar "themed" casinos out there on the New Vegas strip. Something pirate-y, Egyptian themed, or maybe something eastern wouldn't be too far of a stretch.

It's Still Vegas

Sawyer confirms that there will be gambling in New Vegas across a number of the casinos but, other than that, he remains vague about the rest of the content there. "We want the strip to, well, feel like the strip. And the strip is Vegas."

How that strip ends up feeling though, may be relative to what era they're basing it on. Will we see the streets filled with prostitution banners and fliers like in the late 80s and early 90s? We can probably expect a little of that, but not quite on that level. After all, the 50s still remain the prevalent source for much of the content in "Fallout."

A Grittier "Fallout"...If That Were Possible

The original two "Fallout" games -- especially the second -- were surprisingly grim and gritty. Prostitution, drugs, a general disdain for the human spirit… those were all fairly prevalent issues that developer, Black Isle, delivered rather well. And while "Fallout 3" certainly had its dark moments, I can't remember feeling quite the same wash of grime across the entire game.

New Vegas is looking to bring some of that dirt back into the picture. "There is a very heavy influence on drugs, and sex, and gambling and the impact that it has on people," Sawyer reveals.

"You, as a character, can participate in a lot of this stuff. You can also help bust it up if you want. The focus for that sort of stuff is in the city of New Vegas itself, rather than the larger conflict between Caesar's Legion and the New California Republic…

In New Vegas you will see a lot of things that you remember from New Reno [from 'Fallout 2'], in terms of the under-handedness and how people are used and thrown away a lot."

Personally, New Reno was my favorite city in "Fallout 2" so this news is more than welcome. And whether or not the city of New Vegas is integral to the overall story (it's in the title of the game after all) remains to be seen. From the sounds of it, it looks like it's its own hub of culture like Rivet City in "Fallout 3."

What do you want to see in the city of New Vegas? Let us know in the comments below.

Tags: bethesda game studios, fallout, fallout-new-vegas, obsidian, PC, Previews, PS3, Xbox 360

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id Software's latest shooter, "Rage," may be an entirely new property for the company, but it may feel familiar to fans of last year's RPG hit "Borderlands." The game shares a very similar look and feel, almost as if both titles were rendered from very similar concept art.

Design Director, Matt Hooper, doesn't feel that stylistic similarities will be much of a problem for them though. "I can see [fans of 'Borderlands'] drawing comparisons -- and people naturally want to draw parallels between existing things -- but no, we're not just making another 'Doom' here. It's something new for us."

In fact, other than the art style, he believes they share very little in common. "Rage is not a procedural landscape with heavy RPG elements and a billion weapons. It's a very crafted, focused, action shooter with a level of attention to detail that's just off the charts."

He even points out that elements of the design came from the "Mad Max" school of post-apocalypse, but their homage to that world came out of necessity. He explains, "We knew we wanted to have vehicles, and that we could make a kick-ass shooter, so the two came together in a very natural way for the team."

And it's really the nuts and bolts of the design that he thinks will distinguish it. "We've got a finely crafted weapons, really creative engineering items like deployable turrets and remote controlled bombs. It's all about creating a rich universe to use the array of weapons and options at the player's disposal."

But he admits that it's all part of the preview process that will really reveal "Rage" to potential fans out there. "It's not a bad thing that people [draw comparisons]," says Hooper. " I just hope that people get more information and see demos and really realize what makes Rage so unique. Even if this post-apocalyptic wasteland seems familiar at first."

I'll be the first to say that I'm very excited about what I've seen from the project so far. It may instantly bring back memories of "Borderlands," but to me, that's a damn good thing. And I'll spend more time lost in a "Mad Max" universe any day.

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Josh Sawyer, the lead designer on "Fallout: New Vegas," has very strong feelings about the world in which the game is set. It's a far cry from the D.C. Wasteland, and not just geographically. In a lot of ways it's actually the next step in an attempt to return to civilization.

"One of the things we're focusing on with 'New Vegas,' is that this is a post-post-apocalyptic society. Governments have formed and have congress. There are large slaver armies and big merchant caravans."

The differences between the two worlds aren't just a matter of increased infrastructure, though. Sawyer described the world as "much more political." "'Fallout 3' presented the Enclave as very very bad, and the Brotherhood of Steel as very good in opposition to the Enclave," he explained. "In 'New Vegas' we're presenting the landscape a bit differently. You might think the [New California Republic] is purely good, but they're not purely good. And you may think Caesar's Legion is purely bad, but they're not purely bad."

It's this gray area that the "New Vegas" developers want to focus on, displaying the perils that derive from furthering civilization. "Most of their failings are based on the fact that they're huge societies that have many of the same failings that we have today in our modern world."

Civilization, as we've seen, is bound to repeat itself, and it's a theme that the developers are trying to impress on the different factions of "Fallout: New Vegas."

"One major theme in the game is that we talk about rebuilding in the image of the old world, and whether that's valid or not. For example, the New California Republic sees themselves as the torchbearers of the republic that existed in the pre-war world. They are the voice of democracy. People have representation with them. They don't enslave people. They have laws and stuff like that.

"Whereas Caesar's Legion -- which is inspired by Rome and is led by an incredibly charismatic, cunning and intelligent guy -- is specifically emulating things from the Roman empire because their leader believes that that is the only way to bring order into such a chaotic world."

Sawyer mentions the big question they want players asking themselves is, "Are we really recreating the old world or is this our own world to make?" If "our own world" includes plenty of rocket launcher caches, count me in.

Tags: bethesda game studios, fallout, fallout-new-vegas, Interviews, NEWS, obsidian, PC, PS3, Xbox 360

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At first glance, it's hard to really see anything new in "Fallout: New Vegas." Developed by Obsidian Entertainment and built on Bethesda's existing engine for "Fallout 3," the two titles look nearly identical. Sure, the rubble of DC has been replaced with tumbleweeds and Joshua Trees, but from a gameplay perspective, much appears unchanged. Until you scratch the surface, that is…

Two weeks ago at Bethesda's spring press junket, the studio finally lifted the veil on their "Fallout 3" sequel, and just minutes into the presentation it became clear that "New Vegas" was an exercise in subtle tweaks and improvements. As the old adage goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" but that's not to say you can't add a grenade launching machine gun into the mix and make combat a hell of a lot more fluid and fun. So what's changed?

Iron Sights and Weapon Mods

The most prominent fix during our hands-off demo was the ability to bring up a weapon's iron sights. In practice, it both steadied the weapon and increased accuracy. But more importantly, it allowed for the action to continue without engaging the VATS targeting system (which was how I handled nearly 99% of combat in "Fallout 3").

Obsidian also chose to expand how players use particular weapons by including what appears to be a rather simple but dense weapon modification system. Specific upgrades like extended magazines, mountable scopes, and recoil dampeners all change a given weapon's effectiveness in combat, but they are also visibly rendered on your weapon. So attaching a fancy new upgrade won't just be part of a numbers game, you'll see it right there on the weapon. Upgrades are weapon-specific though, so don't expect to be able to carry over your mods from gun to gun.

Melee For The Win

Players also have more of an incentive to use melee weapons this time around. Every single melee weapon in the game has a unique special attack accessible when using the VATS system. In our demo, a 9-iron on hand delivered a walloping "fore!" attack, knocking the head right off a bandit in glorious slow motion.

I noticed that kill cams have also changed a bit. Players now have the option to toggle how they see their deathblows on screen. Any kill can be rendered in the VATS-style killcam or trigger a brief slow-mo to let the moment sink in. Personally, I really liked the brief slow-mo because it was a bit of a visual cue to start slinging bullets at the next enemy.

Are there any other changes to combat that you'd like to see in "New Vegas"? Let us know in the comments.

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The vault is finally starting to be opened on "Fallout: New Vegas," thanks to an early batch of screenshots released by Bethesda and Obsidian. The screenshots seem to imply that there won't be a dramatic difference between "New Vegas" and "Fallout 3," but they do imply some gameplay improvements, most notably the addition of party members (beyond trusty Dog Meat, of course).

This screenshot is of a radial menu which shows off some of the handy tasks you can set your companion to do. It's much more full-featured than anything Dog Meat ever did, and mimics the variety of companion actions seen in "Fallout 2."

Check out the rest of the "Fallout: New Vegas" screenshots. There are plenty of cool surprises and questions to be answered. Like what the heck is Vault 22?

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Bethesda was supposed to announce a mystery MMO last year that never came to light, and some recent court filings suggested that the title might be a secret MMO not related to the "Fallout" series. Well, the new word on the Internet is that Bethesda's project is an "Elder Scrolls" MMO in the tradition of "World of Warcraft," and an announcement may be on its way soon.

The new title should be "very close to reveal by now,” according to an unnamed source speaking to VG247. Bethesda's official response was no comment, but the anonymous mole confirmed that the new game will be set in the "Elder Scrolls" universe.

Court documents from Bethesda's ongoing case regarding Interplay's "Fallout" MMO stated that the mystery game has sucked up “tens of millions of dollars” in investment and employed “close to a hundred people,” so something will surely have to be announced eventually if all of that money is going to be recouped.

Since the title was slated to be made public last year, Bethesda would presumably like to catch up with their deadlines sooner rather than later, even if the game doesn't come out in 2010.

Would you like to see Bethesda's unnamed game turn out to be an "Elder Scrolls" MMO? Do you want to see it come out in 2010? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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Eliza Dushku recently starred in Bethesda and A2M's "WET," an action game with '70s, Tarantino-esque style. Dushku played Rubi, a no-nonsense gun for hire who runs afoul of some pretty unsavory characters. Given its movie-inspired roots, seems like it'd be a perfect fit for a big screen flick. Check out the video of Dushku talking with MTV News regarding the role and her thoughts on maybe doing a movie based on "WET."

"This video game 'Wet' I just did, she's got a working class Lara Croft thing going on, and she's pretty kick ass. She travels the globe, she's in Hong Kong and she's in the UK and she's a gun for hire and she's got two samurai swords. She's pretty vicious. So that's been something that maybe could turn into a live-action Dushku vehicle."

Sounds like it's something she's definitely into doing. And hey, we'd have no problem with it either!

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