8 Tiny Issues That RUINED Blockbuster Video Game Launches

7. An Old Cowboy Hat Ruins The Story - Fallout: New Vegas

Fallout: New Vegas is now considered to be the best Fallout game since Bethesda rebooted the franchise, but at launch, fans didn't want to touch it with a ten-foot barge pole. That was partly because it came after the beloved Fallout 3 (from a different developer, no less), and partly because it was riddled with a whole host of visual bugs.

In fact, for many people, one of the very first things they saw in the game was a nightmare-inducing bug that let them know they were in for a messy experience. After being saved from a case of being shot in the head by a local doctor, you wake up to find him sitting next to your bed, as you go through a few questions and build your character.

The thing is, sometimes his head had a life of its own, spinning around like Doc Brown's legendary rotating head, as if this was some kind of unofficial Exorcist sequel.

That nabbed headlines, but the thing that totally killed the launch was an otherwise unassuming cowboy hat. A bunch of players encountered a hard crash when entering the New Vegas Strip (where the bulk of the story missions are given), which would happen over and over again with no apparent cause.

It turned out that the only way around breaking the game would be to wear a specific 'old cowboy hat' when entering the strip, and if you weren't, you couldn't progress.