* The game can use both first-person and third-person perspective.

    * Main character creation is implemented by specifying the character's childhood. The character's mother dies in labor in a Vault hospital, after which the player chooses the character's Traits and general appearance during the father's DNA analysis. Afterwards, the father removes his surgeon's mask to reveal a face much like the one chosen by the player for the character.

    * As a child in the Vault, the character receives a book titled "You're SPECIAL", whereupon you'll set the character's 7 primary aptitudes. The character receives training weapons and a PIP-boy during childhood, and the player's performance in various tests determines the rest of the attributes. Additionally, there will be quests inside the Vault that influence the pc's relationship with his or her father.

    * Skills and Perks are similar to those in previous games: the player chooses 3 Tag Skills out of 14 to be the character's specialties, and the character will gain a Perk every other level. 4 skills have been cut out from the game (Fallout and Fallout 2 had 18 skills) but it is unknown what skills have been cut off.

    * The maximum level the player can achieve is level 20.

    * The player will have a maximum party of three, consisting of himself/herself, Dogmeat, and a single NPC. Dogmeat can be killed during the game if the player misuses him or places him in a severely dangerous situation and cannot be replaced.[7]

    * There will be a definite end to the game, with over 1700 possible ending permutations based on good/evil/neutral events you trigger.

    * The Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S. will be implemented. Various actions cost action points, and both the player and enemies can target specific body areas for attacks, inflicting specific injuries. While using V.A.T.S., real-time combat is paused creating a combat system that the Bethesda developers have described as a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat.

    * The game will have a high level of gore. While using V.A.T.S., the gory deaths in the game will be shown in slow motion. One of the featured screenshots is of a super-mutant's head exploding in great detail.

    * The game will feature a new health and radiation system. The player can measure an object's radioactivity and gauge the effect it will have on the character.


    * Firearms wear out after time; as a weapon degenerates, its rate of fire slows and it loses accuracy. However, worn out firearms can be combined to make more reliable and powerful weapons.

    * Weapon schematics can be found and used to create various devices such as rocket launchers or the clever shrapnel bomb, made out of a Vault-Tec lunchbox and bottlecaps.

For players of the previous Fallout games:

    * In addition to having Dogmeat in your party you will be able to send him out on his own to search for items such as arms and ammo, radiation meds, and stimpacks. Dogmeat cannot be killed nor harmed while he is out searching for items.

Hopefully the PC version will have a decent mod community.

statement that they haven't bothered making mod tools.

I mean if you play CSS you can't complain, they got all the fake weapon names..

I don't think I can tell you that here. It wouldn't work for you because your 360 isn't modded... That doesn't mean you should mod it though, IMO the losses are far greater than the gains and having a hard copy in your hands is just that much more rewarding.