pathetic anger bread: Let's Play Fallout New Vegas: initial reactions

[Note on images: Click through for accessible captions]

Double post planned for today, because I feel awkward about both not talking about the game as a player, and about including those meta-thoughts in my character's story. This will probably change as time goes on. Wev.

So, Tuesday. I'm already pretty pissed off because a guy I work with reminded me about Steam after I had already pre-ordered from physical Big Box Store X. I was going to have to wait until I got off work and the store opened, whereas he got to go home at 1 a.m. and download it right away. Grr.

Okay, so I made a poor decision, but I'm going to stick with it. Because I am poor and I already sunk $5 into the pre-order.

I get my game home, insert the disk and get ready to install it. But wait ...

The disk appears to be a mere prompt to install Steam and download the game. Sometimes Providence really has a sarcastic sense of humor.

Wev. I'm slightly too excited to worry much about this right now. I decide to skim the manual while Steam is doing its thing. I haven't done any research about the game at all, because I'm wanting to approach it with fresh eyes, so this is the first I've heard about all these features, and I'm pretty excited. Many of my complaints about Fallout 3 (and Oblivion) appear to have been addressed:

First up: Hardcore mode. Ammo has weight! My character will need to eat! drink water! sleep! The lack of the need to do these things are a criticism I have had. It could be frustrating, but I anticipate I will be more excited about the realism than I will be frustrated. I plan to play my character all the way through in hardcore.
Reputation. Different factions will have different reactions to me based on how I have acted in the past towards them. Also, wearing faction armor affects NPC reactions. More realism, more excitement.
Modding your weapons. Pretty self explanatory. From this precedent, I would guess that they're going to give you a lot more options as far as crafting your own stuff, as well.
Companions. Looks like they're making it easier to keep track and instruct your companions. I wonder if a companion's willingness to follow you will be based on your overall Karma, your reputation or some combination of the above?
Kill cam mode. You mean I don't have to have an annoying third-person view whenever I kill something? Fantastic. Three modes: Cinematic (third person, slowed down), player view (first person, slowed down) and none. At this point, I plan on sticking with none, thankyouverymuch.
True iron sights. This basically looks like the ability to disable the game's crosshair for your weapon. More realism, more excitement.