David G. Schwartz (Faculty Affairs) recently had an essay, "Dreaming of Zion: The American West as Place or Process in Fallout: New Vegas's Honest Hearts DLC," published in First Person Scholar. The essay posits that, as a Western set in a post-apocalyptic Mohave, the video game Fallout: New Vegas demonstrates that the big questions that drive Western history are durable and malleable enough to survive even the (fictional) nuclear demise of the United States itself, and suggests that the game can be used to allow students to explore questions about Western history in ways that complement traditional readings and lectures.
