A few weeks back Bethesda and Obsidian started taking questions for the next Fallout title. A staff member on Bethesda's forum posted answers to a dozen of those questions yesterday, revealing that Fallout: New Vegas will rely on Steam for DRM. After looking at other options, the developers decided that Steam is the "best, least intrusive experience for PC gamers." The use of Valve's platform is great news, considering the recent string of less-than-cherished always-connected mechanisms from folks like Ubisoft.
Offering his take on Steam, senior producer Jason Bergman said the platform is tightly integrated with New Vegas. Steamworks is implemented in "as light and unobtrusive away possible," and it will be mandatory to play the upcoming Fallout. That said, you can install the game on as many systems as you want, and besides the initial activation, an Internet connection isn't required.
Tight Steam integration also means that New Vegas will rely on the platform for friends lists, storing user preferences in the cloud, achievements and so on. Additionally, you can activate and download the retail boxed versions of the game via Steam, meaning won't have to lay hands on the DVD if that's the way you want to go.
Fallout: New Vegas is due in the third quarter and made our list of 2010's most anticipated PC games. It's a stand-alone installation in the series that follows three years after the events of Fallout 3 and although it shares a similar gameplay experience to the previous entry, there are no reoccurring characters.