MADNESS! The horse armor dlc easily forgiven along with most of the DLC released early in live's lifespan and which continues today (come on, DLC costume packs for Dead Space - that's the best we get?) That said, Bethesda does have a great reputation, though the earlier elder scroll titles did have their share of bugs and issues prior to Morrowind.

That said: Fallout 3 (at least ont he PC) is an amazing platform. All you have to do is browse fallout3.nexus.com to see the abundance of great content available. I use the repair rethink mod which allows you to use "logical" components for repairs. All those tin cans I can use to fix metal armor and some guns, belts to fix leather, batteries to fix energy weapon, etc. Improved Dogmeat allows him to level up with me, gives him a knock down attack, and allows you to dope him up on pharms. Also have installed Mortagen's Monster pack, which adds randomly generating (but placed logically) creatures, respawns dungeons, and adds new encounters. The new perk pack adds over 50 new perks with unique icons and includes many perks from earlier fallout games. The weapon modification mod I have installed allowed me to install a new workbench in my house that allows me to customize weapons with silencers, scopes, lasersights - all with new models to show the enhancements. For the open ended gameplay, the rich lore they were able to add their own unique twist on, and the fact (at least on the PC) Fallout 3 will remain viable and alive until FO4 comes out thanks to new content daily, I kinda think they do deserve the awards. Nice blending of classic fallout with modern gameplay design = teh win.