Since Oblivion, yes, and they're all stupid for doing so. Open-world RPGs are about exploring and traversing the world, an arrow that turns them into linear games is the worst offense.

There should be options to turn on and off things w/ a hot-key press such as "quest arrows" and mini-maps.

Ha! True. This is one sequel that really needed a proper subtitle rather than just the typical lazy numerical appendage.

With mods on the PC you can often do just that, but then if the game is designed around you psychically knowing where to go and the information is never provided then it's a pointless option. New Vegas does better than most, it usually gives you some kind of direction, but not always.

Heh, now that you mention it, it's sort of like the name "Core 2 Duo".