Well, I find fallout 3 more of an urban setting, for that reason it can be more interesting to explore. In NV it is more of a desert with a scattering of small settlements or settlement ruins, not as interesting to explore for the most part. Mostly my preferences are based on exploration. Although the weapon variety brought by NV is still significant. The Sierra Madre is a really nice DLC. Fallout 3 felt more like a post-apocalyptic environment than NV overall. NV was more of the frontier west being resettled.

Overall, it is a difficult call. But as it stands right now, I will say Fallout 3.
Opinion may be revised later as I replay game (by that time this topic will be long gone, most likely).

FNV It has Boone and Ulysses and Dr. Mobius also better speech options also iron sights

I vote for Fallout 3 because I like the story line more than NV. But I like better gameplay in NV too.

Fallout 3 Had a better setting but overall I prefer New Vegas because it had better characters and fixed a lot of problems I had with Fallout 3 like the lack of Ironsights, they are both great though.

Fallout 3 had a better story and more immersion and new vegas had better gameplay and more options. It's kind of like on has an edge over the other one but they both lose. :p

I love the capital it feels like it was actually nuked and your trying to survive where as mojave just doesnt quite get that eerie feeling but the gameplay mechanics in new vegas are a lot better i love the iron sights and project nevada but its enviroment is not gritty and rough enough to feel immersive i guess

I like the FO3 story better, it's way more in emotional then FNV.

But I do like the improvements FNV had, like iron sights and hardcore mode.

So I guess I'm stuck between the 2.

I have to say Fallout 3 is the better game it just has a more post apocalyptic feel to the game. I personally have played both games many times over and it think that Fallout 3 is alot more immersive as Fallout New Vegas is lot more safer and cheerful than Fallout 3. From the very start in Fallout 3 you picture what was like for the people who were not lucky enough to get into the vaults from all the empty food cans and skeletons outside vault 101 which sadly in Fallout New Vegas you don't get that feeling what it was like for people after the bombs dropped.

I think each game had their good points. To me Fallout 3 had a much better atmosphere than New Vegas, but its story was too morally black and white. It was either Poison everyone or be a great hero. Also their wasn't much decision making in the game's main story. New Vegas had a much emptier world, but had better gameplay features like hardcore mode, and actual iron sights. I preferred New Vegas' main quests where you could decide who to side with, but I still enjoyed 3's. Overall, I'd have to say I like them both equally.

for history it is true that I prefer Fallout 3, but the gameplay is better now new vegas shame that not merge the two sets
but I hope that the result will be a good mix of fallout 3 and new vegas

I choose FO3 for the story, but FNV felt like it had much better gameplay in terms of combat. They're also two entirely different perspectives in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. FO3 felt like more of a "wasteland" because there was hardly any order, people were living in slums, the city of DC was desecrated, mutants were crawling around everywhere, etc. In FNV however, just about each person had a home and some people were rich enough to be let in Vegas into the casinos. There were many factions fighting for control and people pretty much knew how to take care of themselves and survive, create decent villages, farms. FNV felt like people were recovering from the apocalypse, while FO3 they didn't quite have their grasp.

well i like the look of fallout 3 and but fallout new vegas has a bit more mods i think. so Both because i can use tale of two wastelands but i like fallout 3 better

I like them both, as they both have their merits. The DC wasteland was simply a more detailed immersive place then the Mojave wasteland (the Mojave just seemed to flat and empty). However there are a lot of gameplay features that were better in New Vegas. Such as the Hardcore mode that NV added was nice. Also NV had companion quests and story arcs where Fallout 3's companions were too simple, albeit pretty damn cool. I love Fawkes.

Both are amazing games, but I'd have to go with New Vegas.

Reasons are the amount of mods and, for some reason I love the desert setting. Guess it's because I'm a Mad Max fan or something, I just feel home in deserts
Only thing I'd add to it is more settlements.

Fallout 3.better athmosphere,better settings.It gave more incentives to go out an experience the world as you can switch between open areas, underground and urban areas.

And let's face it, take away everything else...the one thing that sets both games apart from any other games is the open world aspect, and i feel that in that regard, Fallout 3 wins..hands down

new vegas because F3NV (or TTW if you play with that)

I still prefer FO3 even though i just started playing it. I love it.

Fallout 3 has a better story i feel, while NV has more stability/features. Hope the next fallout have the best of both worlds.

I like the atmosphere and the lore of New Vegas, and even though I played fallout 3 before new vegas, I didn't get into 3 until after NV. Fallout 3 has that urban post apocolyptic feel, while new vegas has a western wastes feel.

Oh man that's a hard one hahaha because they are both my favorite games of all time sooo idk Both of them are my favorite I guess