Thanks once again to NMA for discovering these links - just reposting them here for The Vault. User: Croatian has already posted the Gamespot article on Gonzalez; the link below is for the Gamasutra one.
Chris Avellone on returning to the Fallout franchise: What's Old is New Again
There are issues with domesticating tribals and forcing them into one view of the world, there are issues with treating a wonder of the old world as nothing more than a bloody battleground, there are issues with propping old flags from Rome and California without a clear understanding of what those flags represent, and the long-range perspectives of many characters you'll encounter in the world have strong opinions about what's going on in the present, all born from the elements above. The question of the Old World making itself heard in the present - in the Mojave - is a core theme in Fallout: New Vegas, and whether overt or not, we hope it sinks in with the player as well.
New Vegas lead creative designer and lead writer John Gonzalez on the creative process of developing a new Fallout game: Fallout: New Vegas' Gonzalez Talks Inspiration, Writing Process
The writing team didn't establish themes in the game until deep into the writing process. "I think it's best not to [establish themes too] early," said Gonzalez, because writers need to familiarize themselves with the world first. Themes that that emerged within Fallout: New Vegas were greed and the idea of not luck -- which is often associated with Las Vegas – but rather that the "machine" is rigged.