Fallout: New Vegas launched this week, and, as is becoming more an more common with big game releases, random people immediately turned to YouTube to post videos of bugs they found, major game sites and blogs ran with them, and suddenly everyone overreacts and the game is deemed the buggiest thing ever put onto a disc.
I’m not saying New Vegas doesn’t have bugs, because it most certainly does. I’m around 12 hours deep into the game (playing on Xbox 360), and while I have encountered glitches, the overwhelming majority have been of the silly sort, like dead enemies getting stuck hovering in mid-air and stuff like that. I’m also not excusing the bugs that do exist, but come on, the outcry so far has gone beyond overkill. For a game of this scope, small bugs were inevitable and certain things were going to pop up that the developers simply couldn’t predict.
Now, I do understand that some players are experiencing legitimate issues with save games and scripting, but there are also loads of people claiming that specific design features are “bugs” when in reality they are functional tweaks to how the game works compared to Fallout 3. Just because certain things don’t work exactly the same as they did in Fallout 3 doesn’t mean New Vegas is broken. And if you’re playing a pirated copy of the game — your right to complain about poor performance has been revoked, so don’t bother.
For players with legitimate bugs to report, Obsidian and Bethesda are busting hump to get everything in working order and have already rolled out a few initial patches within days of the game’s launch. The PC version has received two quickie updates via Steam so far — one fixing issues with quests and scripting, and the other addressing an autosave and quicksave glitch related to Steam Cloud functionality (Steam Cloud has been turned off, only to be reactivated once the problem is 100% fixed). A similar quest and scripting update was released overnight for the Xbox 360 version as well, and the same patch is in final testing for the PS3 version and should be coming soon. Apparently, there was also a problem with the digital pre-order bonuses not working properly in the PS3 version, but that has also been addressed.
So relax, take a deep breath, be patient, and enjoy the great game that is Fallout: New Vegas.
An update on updates [Bethesda Blog]
Updates on Fallout: New Vegas (Update for Aussies) [Bethesda Blog]
Please read: From the teams at Obsidian and Bethesda [Fallout: New Vegas Forum]
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Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
Very well stated, Matt! Yes there are plenty of bugs, some remaining issues from Fallout 3 and some new stuff. Some are universal and some are hardware dependent.
But when you don’t read dialogue and think you can just run and gun through and suddenly everyone is shooting at you … before you cry ‘BUGS’ think that perhaps Obsidian believes in crazy stuff called ‘choices & consequences’ and ‘enforcement of rules’ …
And some of the complaints are just silly- like some people thinking the game is bugged because they don’t get a perk every level like before. Hello, play the frickin’ game for more than five minutes before you whine about something being broken!
In other news- I’m around 20 hours in and the game just keeps getting better. Many of the changes are minor, but it really is a much, much better game than F3. And honestly, the more I’ve played it, I’ve found it to be a pretty polished game. It’s just running on an old engine.
I think it’s a legitimate complaint when the game keeps freezing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been walking along and the game locks up. Maybe you can ignore it but that seriously interferes with my enjoyment of a game I paid $60.00 for when I’m constantly wondering when the game is going to freeze and I’m going to have to restart my PS3. You would think the fact it is running on an old engine would mean the bugs in that engine would be worked out by now. I know one thing, I won’t buy another game from these guys until it’s been around long enough to be in the cheap bin and has the kinks worked out. I was really looking forward to this game as I loved the last Fallout and I’m glad the new one is similar to the old one but overall I’m really disappointed with the execution.
Hi James, thanks for commenting. Sorry to hear your experience with the game has been so poor. I’m over 30 hours into the game and haven’t had it freeze on me a single time, nor have I encountered any other serious bugs of that sort. Clearly it is unacceptable if the game is freezing on you that much, and you certainly have every right to complain and demand satisfaction from the game you paid $60 for. In no way was I attempting to ignore legitimate grievances.
My rant was more aimed at the snap-judgment YouTube crowd who seem to buy games just so they can look for bugs and over exaggerate them to get their face on the Internet, because I still don’t believe this game is nearly as buggy as it’s made out to be. I think severe cases like yours are very rare.
My game freezes every hour or so it is really getting old. A lot of times it freezes right at the end of a major battle and I have to do it over. I won’t be buying onother game like this anytime soon.
The problems go far deeper than just over-whining. The PC community has reported scads of slowdown and stuttering issues that did not occur in Fallout 3 — Both on current gen ATI and Nvidia cards. I basically paid 50 bucks for a game that is unplayable on my high dollar alienware rig. There are hundreds of complains across the support boards. There is no excuse for this. Software buyers should have the right to return defective games so that publishers are forced to correct buggy software. I work in IT so I know that bugs get through even through the best testing, but it is obvious that this game was rushed to market. No excuses.
Totally agree with Retr0Rob
Platform: PC
Have played roughly 90 hours of the game, there were bugs here and there nothing i couldnt handle, the thing that really ruined the entire experience for me is when you start getting towards the end of the game.
Certain companions wouldnt follow you even though you told them to do so, certain dialogues with game changing characters and cruicial stages not available (Ranger Grant) dont think i need to say more. and certain quests unable to be completed even though they are still showing as active in the Quest screen on your Pip boy.
Towards the end i just gave up with still undiscovered areas and uncompleted quests as i just wanted to finish the game, uninstall and forget about this horrible experience.
I have been a huge fan of the fallout series for years ever since the very first fallout many a year ago now, to me it feels like this version was rushed to market for profits sake, never mind the end user with out whom game developers wouldnt exist if we didnt continue to purchase their products.
They must have tested this game only to a certain point at which the “Boss” must have said “screw it i need a new car lets release get them hooked and by the time they get to towards the end (bug central) who cares we’ve succeeded in getting them hooked there is no recourse for a credit for those dissatisfied with an obviously defective product, job well done boys and girls”
Very disappointed and knowing none of what i have said will make a difference only thing left is to turn my back on Bethesda and never ever buy any of their series of games again.
Very upset Loyal Fallout Fan 🙁
I’ve been playing well over 20+ hours and have enjoyed it, up until recently, the game starts to slow down after awhile playing it which I don’t mind too much, but now I can’t seem to complete/start veronica’s or raul’s quests in Raul’s case because I completed a certain side quest (cant remember which one) and veronica’s I don’t know why. But I thought hey that could be my fault and then head to the strip, after meeting victor and taking up Mr House’s invite to speak with him at lucky 38 the second I walk in I get attacked, apparently because I’ve been to vault 11 I found out after some on-line research, this being part of the main storyline and character has ruined the entire game for me, if I wish to continue I have to do it through a quest line I didn’t want to follow. This is a biggie in my usually forgiving eye’s that should have been picked up during play testing.
That’s part of the game, not a bug that needed to be fixed during testing. This is a game about choices and consequences, and you completed certain quests or took certain actions that altered the course of the game. It may have taken you away from the path you wanted to follow, which sucks, but that’s why you have to pay attention to everything you do, read everything before you rush ahead and do something, and save your game regularly and in multiple slots if you want to rollback choices.
Bumped into this searching where to make an official complaint about New Vegas.
Fallout: New Vegas is now finally playable after v1.05. For the past 6 months since release, my playthrough has been ruined by constant freezing, quest glitches, overlong load times, VATS refusing to work in hectic situations, and the most game breaking of all was the constant slowdown when in the Wasteland, where the game stops for a split second (presumably to load up the next section). It was a truly broken game.
Now that it’s fixed, I’ve started a new game, and it’s apparent what the game should have been like, it’s even more annoying. It’s a great game now, but my experience has been ruined from the first playthrough.
Your article downplays the millions like me who are sick of games being rushed and released bug-ridden, then patched months later. No other product would get away with this. I will now go on to complain, fruitlessly, to Obsidian and Bethesda!
I wasn’t trying to downplay the bugs – I specifically said there were players lodging legitimate complaints that needed to be taken care of. My target was the more vocal crowd of players complaining about things that weren’t bugs, but rather purposeful gameplay changes from F3.
I was also just speaking from my own personal experience. In 40 hours with the game, it froze on me once or twice and I saw some small glitches like poor companion AI pathfinding and dead enemy bodies stuck floating in mid-air, but I never saw any of the serious stuff you described. A few friends were playing at the same time I was, and none encountered anything serious either.
I’m 100% with you on the ‘rush to release, patch to complete’ mentality that has taken over game development these days, as I even pointed out in my recent review of Conduit 2 for Wii. It does have to stop. But in some cases I think bugs are overblown, and in my opinion New Vegas was one of those cases.