E3 interview with Todd Howard on Gametrailers

[raskijan]

Personaly, I liked the surgical method of stat raising from Fallout2. It makes raising stats seem like much more of an "earned reward" and also carried the theme of human experimentation and "science" ...rather than just finding a "magic bobblehead"

Fallout 1 had the surgeries, Fallout 2 had both surgeries and perks for stat increase, and both of those systems are much more versimilitudinous (sic) (thanks BN!), obviously, than bobbleheads. It's a design decision that I just can't fathom. It just makes jacknosense.

You could (barely) consider it parallel to the Tragic card game in F2, satirizing a pop-culture phenom, but having tangible game benefits arising from Collecting All 20™ is just ludicrous.