They wouldn't have been able to use Hoover Dam (a Van Buren plot element) if it was New Reno. It's too far away. You'd think Chris would want to bring in as much of Van Buren as possible.
New Vegas is Obsidian's most popular and successful game - a true phenomenon. That kind of popular appeal is something that Chris usually has respect for. That he can't find a way to say something positive about it is a major indicator of sour grapes.
Maybe slowly moving away from post-apocalypse?
In Fallout 2 things were moving away from the bombs into a new wild west of sorts.
I believe Chris advocated for the opposite at one point. He wanted to re-nuke the world.
I feel pretty confident or maybe partially deluded that Brian let slip in a stream last month there is at least one more secret NPC companion.
The official Twitter account also hints at that: https://twitter.com/TyrannyGame/status/793499989582438400
Tyranny has a boxed edition in the UK, Germany and Poland:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tyranny-Commander-Edition-PC-DVD/dp/B01M3R24E2/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1477389726&sr=8-3-fkmr0
https://www.amazon.de/Paradox-Tyranny-PC/dp/B01M260Y3Z/ref=sr_1_1?s=books-intl-de&ie=UTF8&qid=1477389476&sr=8-1
http://www.3kropki.pl/p/tyranny-limitowana-edycja-specjalna-pl-pc.html