Fallout: New Vegas - Preview, Interview @ Planet Fallout

I was first thrown into the middle of the outlying areas of New Vegas near the towns of Goodspring and Primm. As I wandered through the world, the landscape felt a lot less static than the Washington DC wasteland. Flags of the New California Republic were scattered around the main roads leading into town, displaying the territory under the control of one of the prominent factions. As for the graphical quality, though there have been no major improvements to the engine, the distant hills appeared much clearer and sharp than the distant landscapes of Fallout 3. The interior lighting has become more natural looking as well. Sunlight was vividly shining through the windows giving a realistic feel and contrast between areas that were and were not lit. Textures and models appeared just as they did in Fallout 3, with a slight increase in fps while still glancing across the post nuclear wasteland.

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You mentioned earlier how interacting with factions will change the story, could you be more specific?

Not without giving too much away, but in general you've got two main factions in the game fighting for control over the Mojave wasteland, NCR and Caesar's Legion. We've tried to have everything in Fallout: New Vegas not to be so black and white. These are the good guys these are the bad guys, if you join with these guys you are bad, if you join with these guys you are good. It's not quite that cut and dry. When you talk to folks, things you are doing may feel a bit more evil or feel more good guy, but you can join either side and help their cause in terms of helping them buy more control of the wasteland. There are a lot of smaller factions in the wasteland that maybe neutral in terms of which way they are leaning. And working through some of those factions and how they act, or the quests that you do for them, or how you resolve things related to those smaller factions as well as those larger faction, you're kind of helping chart the course of what is going to happen in the Mojave and who is going to win.
To put it more simply, if you join Caesar's Legion and spend a lot of time wiping out the NCR then you are helping Caesar's Legion win out over the NCR. While if you join NCR and start wiping out Caesar's Legion then you are helping them take control. So that is a more obvious example of getting involved with factions and helping determine outcome and who is going to the whole.

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