Old World Blues (DLC)

Old World Blues is the third add-on for Fallout: New Vegas, developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks.

Release and availability
Old World Blues was released simultaneously on July 19, 2011 for Xbox Live, PC and PlayStation Store. It costs $9.99.

Like all add-ons, Old World Blues is included in the Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition, released on February 7, 2012 for all platforms.

Overview
"The residents of the Mojave have long assumed the trackless wastes of the 'Big Mountain' are a no-mans' land, a desolate stretch where no living thing can survive. In Old World Blues, you discover that it is anything but..."

In Old World Blues, the Courier unwittingly becomes a lab rat in a science experiment gone awry. They must scour the pre-War research centers of Big Mountain in search of technology that can either turn the tables on their captors or help them defeat an even greater threat.

After being transported to the Big MT research crater, the Courier finds that they're the only hope of saving the "Think Tank" – a strange group of post-human researchers who inhabit the facility. They enlist the aid of the Courier to save them from their own experiments - experiments that have gone horribly out of control. As they explore the Big Mountain crater and its many underground labs, they are confronted by strange mutated animals, battle terrifying new atomic robots and discover a new home base to call their own, complete with some robotic appliances which have individual personalities. Recover all the weapons, armor and tech of the pre-War era and use them to help save all of Science!

Behind the scenes

 * The Big Empty was a location that was scrapped from Black Isle's canceled Fallout 3 (Van Buren).
 * At some point, Chris Avellone set his location on his Twitter profile to Big MT, Mojave, placing the Big Empty as a location within the Mojave Wasteland and thus teasing its possible appearance in a future Fallout: New Vegas add-on. Since then, Avellone has also changed his Twitter avatar.
 * J.E. Sawyer has suggested that Old World Blues was the most humorous of the New Vegas add-ons.
 * This add-on is an obvious homage to the B-movie science fiction movies of the 1950s. There are many references to these types of movies throughout the add-on.
 * Old World Blues was nominated for the Best DLC Award at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards.
 * Old World Blues was jointly designed by Chris Avellone and Travis Stout.
 * Besides taking some design inspiration from the Big Empty of Van Buren, some inspiration was also taken from the EPA, a cut Fallout 2 location.

Bugs

 * Similar to a bug in Honest Hearts, while playing through the main quest, the tick marks of undiscovered locations can disappear from the compass. However, it's still possible to discover them afterward.
 * With Old World Blues installed the amount of 5mm rounds found in containers and other sources of loot is reduced dramatically, to roughly 30% of what is normally found. This change only affects containers found in the Mojave Wasteland, and not those located in the Big MT.
 * Most members of the Brotherhood of Steel become notably weaker once Old World Blues is installed, reducing their Strength and Endurance stats by 3 and 2 points respectively, and removing Explosives as a tagged skill. This affects both unnamed members, particularly those found patrolling the area around Hidden Valley, as well as some named members including Linda Schuler, Knight Lorenzo, and even Nolan McNamara and Edgar Hardin.
 * When returning to the Mojave, you may find your ratings with factions having diminished.
 * Entering the Big Empty then saving your game, waiting, or entering doors may cause the game to freeze. A way to work around this is to never save, or wait in Big MT itself while indoors. To prevent freezing while in the Sink, enter Big MT from the Think Tank entrance.
 * If you bought all three add-ons, your max level still might be 40. On Xbox 360, you can get rid of it by going the Dashboard and reloading the game.
 * After completing Old World Blues, you may find yourself attacked on sight by the Brotherhood of Steel upon re-entering the bunker, or by the caretaker of the Brotherhood of Steel safe house, even though your standing with them is unchanged.
 * When returning to the Mojave, you may not be able to talk to Victor or anyone on the Strip. This prevents you from using the Lucky 38 as a base. A way around it is to kill Victor and the rest of the Securitrons.