I'm going to make a point that many of you seem to be missing:
Games evolve. As they evolve, they take on different and perhaps entirely new approaches to their source material. You may not like it, but it happens. Fallout, as an IP, has a very marketable legacy and any sequel would have to evolve to fit the current marketplace demands. Game companies don't make games for the sole reason that they love you, want to hug you and fulfill all your nerdy fanboi wet dreams. They want to make a profit based on a product that they have invested time and money in.
Fallout 3
will sell and it will sell well because it is a highly anticipated title. Some of you are going to cross your arms and pout in the corner, sniveling out a plethora of excuses/reasons why you won't buy the game. You are a small minority and you do not speak for the majority, understand that. You can point to all the forum threads and whining blog posts all you want but you are a very, very small percentage, despite the noise you make.
A point I definitely want to make is that all of you holding up the original Fallout as this shining example of gaming awesomeness for which there has never been an equal are rather myopic. Fallout was a good game but it was hardly as revolutionary as some of you are making it out to be. Fallout was an evolutionary game, picking up from where Wasteland left off. It was a "me too" game.
All of you who are wailing and gnashing your teeth have a very simple option if you are not happy: make an offer to Bethesda for the Fallout IP and make your own game based on it.
At the end of the day, there is always that option. Make your own game that appeals to your nerdy fanboyism's highest ideal.
"Just take a look around you, what do you see? Pain, suffering, and misery." -Black Sabbath, Killing Yourself to Live.
“Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains” -Jean-Jacques Rousseau