Earlier this month, Bethesda announced the first bit of Fallout: New Vegas DLC, an Xbox 360-"exclusive" sidebar mission called Dead Money. A few new details and the content's first image have been revealed since courtesy of Bethesda's newsletter, which has a mini-interview with Obsidian senior designer Chris Avellone about the forthcoming content.
As previously stated by Bethesda, Dead Money will task you with finding a treasure at the "legendary" Sierra Madre Casino, which isn't available as a place to visit in the core game. There's a decent reason why you've yet to see it. According to Avellone, this "opulent and extravagant" casino was never open for business and no-one has ever entered or left its grounds to talk about it. When the Fallout universe became the Fallout universe as bombs blackened the skies and fell to the earth, the casino's hardcore security system closed itself from all outsiders and locked everyone inside the casino in forever. It also killed a vast majority of its dwellers when circulation systems began spewing out chemicals.
== TEASER ==But some still remain. "Only a mysterious group called the Ghost People survived to call the city home," Avellone wrote in the newsletter, "trapped inside what appeared to be hazmat suits and never speaking to their victims… only capturing them alive and dragging them away to the depths of the city deep within the Cloud." I'm guessing the above image is one of these "Ghost People."
And, so, the Sierra Madre Casino became a place of legend--one that you and some "companions" will be forced to discover and loot. Here's what Avellone has to say about the friends you'll meet on the mission:
This being an extension of Fallout: New Vegas, players will encounter several unique characters, each with their own motivations, all of whom will have to work together if any of them are going to survive. Aside from just struggling with their would-be companions, the courier will also have to deal with the mysterious Ghost People as well as the casino's substantial defense systems.
Like Fallout 3's DLC, you'll be able to start this content by receiving a radio signal and then heading to a point on your map. Avellone notes that, obviously, you'll need to have a save file prior to the "game's ending sequence" in order to play.
Dead Money hits Xbox Live Marketplace at 800 Microsoft Points on December 22. It's still being referred to as an exclusive bit of content, but I think we all know that this is a timed thing.