The TESRenewal modding group has posted a new update.

Development Diary #3 Our Biggest Update Yet, Remaking The World of Oblivion

Travelers! Our development diary #3 is out now!

Get a glimpse of a fraction of the latest work from the Skyblivion Team!

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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim showed us the definition of good level design and environments and Skyblivion aims to perfect this formula. 
Today we are showcasing the work that goes into remastering the assets, environments and interiors of Oblivion for the Skyblivion project. 

NeverKnowsBest continues to analyze the Elder Scrolls series:

An Elder Scrolls Analysis - Episode Two: Oblivion Strikes Back

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Part two of The Elder Scrolls series retrospective and analysis. Lots of bloom.

Henriquejr spotted some news about the Oblivion remaster Skyblivion:

Oblivions Quests and Environments Remastered + PREVIEW | SKYBLIVION Development Diary Ep 2

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Remastering Oblivion is no easy feat, Today we are showcasing the work that goes into remastering environments and quests for the Skyblivion project. Thank you all for your support and sharing our work. It means the world to us.

DSOGaming reports on a new HD Texture Pack for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Modder ‘Calthrop’ has released a new HD Texture Pack for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The Oblivion 2020 Retexture Project aims to improve the textures of rocks, roads and tree shadows. It also improves landscapes with support for terrain shaders.

As the modder noted, this is a retexture project that supports the terrain blending of mods like Detailed Terrain/OR. However, this pack does not require them and you can use it like any other retexture pack.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Nehrim: At Fate's Edge now has a Steam page.

Nehrim is a total conversion mod for Oblivion and requires that you own The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on Steam to play it.

Steam Workshop

About This Game

Nehrim: At Fate's Edge is a total conversion for TES IV: Oblivion. Explore the namegiving land of Nehrim with dense forests and deserts, delve into old crypts and caves, and experience an unusual, multi-layered storyline that takes place beyond known patterns of good and evil.

How extensive is the world space and how has it been created?
The land mass approximately equals the one of Oblivion. However, in Nehrim the landscape is entirely hand-built and thus has a lot more variety in it than those forests in Oblivion.

How long will it take me to beat the game?
As opposed to Oblivion, the Main Quest, including 35 single quests, is to the fore in Nehrim. Our Main Quest isn't just much more intense than Oblivion's, but also more extensive. You can beat Oblivion in about 10 hours. This most definitely will not be possible in Nehrim. Additionally, there will be about 30 side quests.

What is the most profound difference to Oblivion?
The skill system. In Nehrim, you level up by gaining experience points. You gain experience points by killing monsters and most of all for finishing quests. This is the best way to motivate the player to play them. At each level-up you get "learning points" you can trade for skill upgrades at a teacher - just as in the Gothic series.

Eurogamer tell the tale behind the Oblivion mod that Terry Practchett worked on.

One of the most important features that was added to Vilja was the lead-the-way function, which Pratchett had specifically requested to help with his Alzheimer's. "By that point Terry was already having serious trouble with his memory," Charles told Eurogamer. "The sort of short-term memory functioning needed to navigate the game world was a particular problem for him."

Charles and Emma worked particularly hard on implementing this function, which enabled Vilja to lead the player out of the dungeon they were in. However, this wasn't an easy task. "Since I knew there was a real need behind that request I kept thinking about it," Charles said. "Eventually, I realised that another Vilja feature moved a special marker around to track when she changed locations. Once I had that insight, combining the two features at the technical level was fairly easy." Once the function was operating properly, Pratchett could simply turn to Vilja and select the "I'm lost!" option whenever he got stuck in a dungeon, which would prompt her to lead the way out.

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

PCGamesN reports that Terry Pratchett made some Oblivion mods.

...

Pratchett’s love of modding was intense enough that he eventually donated writing to a companion mod for Oblivion. Nord alchemist Vilja, who you can find over on Nexus Mods, has more than 130 voice-acted lines of chatter written by Pratchett, and his writing was also used for the Skyrim version (Vilja's "great-great-granddaughter”).

[...]

Thanks Farflame!

Today is Skyrim's fifth birthday, and PC Gamer columnist Christopher Livingston shares five reasons he believes Oblivion is still the superior RPG, including better guild quests and a spell-crafting system.

As always, please keep it civil, everyone. :)

Skyrim turns five years old today, and what better way to celebrate its anniversary than by talking about its predecessor, the ten-year-old Oblivion, and why it’s a better game. This isn’t meant as some big diss on Skyrim, which is a great RPG I’ve spent over 200 hours playing. But Oblivion is still better, and here’s why...

Read more.

@PCGamesN they look at Skyblivion which is Oblivion updated in the Skyrim engine by modders.

This mod will bring all the quests from Oblivion into the Skyrim engine, along with the Cyrodiil map and all the DLC.

The mod will feature new textures and custom models, but it will use the vanilla animations, as they currently don't have an animator on the team. This could change, however, as they're calling for helpers in the video description. You can watch the trailer here: 

It's not even nearly done yet, but when it is released, the creators plan to make it work with both normal Skyrim and the upcoming Skyrim Special Edition. The installer will also check that you have a copy of Oblivion in your library, as otherwise it'd be piracy, essentially.

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READ PLEASE:

The Skyblivion team has made some huge progress lately and this video shows off some of that progress.
Here is a list of whats new: Armors, weapons and shields are in-game, NPC's have been manually created, new textures have been made by Anvil Citizen for the Imperial City and some clutter, flora has been replaced with custom models by 3AMt and the first creature is in-game, a video of which can by found on my channel.

From here on out progress will be faster and updates more frequent. Though there is still allot of work left a release date is coming closer and closer.

GameInformer's Did You Know Gaming series takes a look back at Oblivion and some things you may not have known.

This week's Did You Know Gaming episode looks into The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's secrets, history, and development. 

Bethesda's RPG Oblivion released back in 2006, and now, ten years later, there are still bits of knowledge you might not know. Some noteworthy trivia includes how Redguard teased Oblivion long before its release, and how the quest Unfriendly Competition gives a nod to The Lord of the Rings. Watch the video below to learn other neat facts hidden inside Oblivion's expansive open world.

Deuce Traveler of the RPGCodex has written this funny review of Oblivion. The review was released on April 1st, nevertheless there's a lot of truths in it:

[...]

You see, in Morrowind even fast leveling with minimal attribute gain was still a positive thing due to the maximum hit point and mana increases. However, once you introduce level scaling you now have an incentive not to level. Yes, Oblivion is a bizarro world RPG where you want to avoid leveling up. It may be the only RPG that has ever caused min-maxers to play with the intent of dragging out level ups. It works like this. You can choose seven skills as your major class skills. I typically lean upon Blade, Marksman, Security, Heavy Armor, and Stealth skills, with various magic skills for backup. I hardly ever use Mercantile, Hand-to-Hand, Armorer, Alchemy, Blunt, Destruction and Speechcraft. So of course I choose the latter as my major skills, and take the hit of poor starting scores for the skills I will actually depend upon in practice. Now I can almost completely control when I level up, and will likely be able to increase my desired attributes by five points each time I do. Enemies remain relatively weak while my character grows more powerful than the game anticipated. Thus a min-maxer can still game the system despite all the effort made by the developers to maintain difficulty throughout. Way to go!

[...]

The Skyrim mod, named Skyblivion, that aims to bring Cyrodiil and the Shivering Isles to the Skyrim engine has a first gameplay video.

Hello everyone!

I recently decided to try my hand at modding Oblivion a bit, and I thought, "Why not make a Let's Play in 4K resolution with lots of mods running?". So, I started one! 

I have many graphical mods running in this Let's Play, as well as Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul, which as you may or may not know completely overhauls the level-scaling and encounter design in the game, amongst other things! So, this is going to be a BRAND NEW, fresh Let's Play that you may have not seen the likes of in other Let's Plays!

Please note, the 4K option on YouTube, at least on my end, seems a bit buggy at the moment. The videos of mine I can actually view in 2160p60 play very choppy for no real good reason. Perhaps your luck will be better, or the problem will be fixed soon on YouTube's end. I assure you that if the video looks choppy on your end, it is not my fault, but rather something strange with YouTube's 4K resolution settings.

All that said, it should work perfectly fine in 1080p60, and perhaps even 2160p60. 

So, I hope you enjoy! Here is Episode 1.

Hey everyone! Wow! Today's video is super exciting because it is the first episode of a new Let's Play I'm doing in 4k resolution! That's right, all of the videos of this Let's Play will be available in stunning Ultra High Def (UHD), 2160p!

If you don't have a 4k display, fear not. The videos will still be available in 1080p60, and best of all, they will benefit from being downscaled from 4k resolution, so even the 1080p video will look better than ever! Sweet!

NOTE - This video was encoded at 32,000 bitrate. In future episodes (episodes after #2), the videos will be encoded at over 50,000 bitrate. In less words, the quality is going to get even better going forward!! =)

So, in this first episode I create my character and tackle the beginning dungeon of the game. I have many mods running, such as mods to give the characters better faces and many other graphical enhancement mods! We'll explore them all in detail as the Let's Play progresses.

Let me know what you think in the comments! Thanks for watching!

The mod team for Skyblivion has released a new teaser trailer. The trailer shows the first dungeon scene with new graphics made in Skyrim's game engine.

DISCLAIMER: Skyblivion is very early in development and as you might have noticed textures and models are pretty much untouched at this point, this is where YOU come in. In order to do this project right we will need help from the community with either the development or simply spreading the word so that we can get people interested in helping out with this project (just like Skywind)

This trailer shows what everything that might/will happen to you within your first 24 hours in Cyrodil. Escape prison, find your way through the sewers, encounter bandits in a nearby ruin, find a cave guarded by goblins, explore nature and find your way to the imperial city.

GameGrin's writer James Furlong has posted a new article where he talks about why he prefers to play Oblivion instead of Skyrim. Here is a small sampleof the article.

Skyrim is bland and shallow. That may seem a very odd statement to a lot of people, but I’ll stand by it. Games as a medium are constantly evolving yet, in another fashion, devolving. The sense that ‘bigger is always better’ is one that has always been in the gaming psyche; even when games just became longer, contained more levels, hundreds of collectables etc, there was always a want for more. This to me, is where Skyrim falls down.

The game is huge and there is a lot to do, but at no point do you have to delve very deep to do any of it. It actively throws activities at you. In Oblivion, when you found something new it felt like you’d walked miles and talked to hundreds of people before getting to this point. It wasn’t a case of going from point to point, but a great sense of discovery. With the latest entry to the series Bethesda managed to make one of its most interesting franchises bland and highly repetitive.

kotaku has an update on the 2012 lawsuit agaisnt Bethesda over Oblivion's bugs.

In 2012, Colorado resident Landis Edwards sued the folks behind The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion over a bug that erased one of his game files. The bug, Edwards said, violated the marketing copy on the back of Oblivion's box, which promised "open-ended" gameplay with "unlimited possibilities."

Edwards filed the suit as a class-action with a firm called Edelson, and they battled with Zenimax, the parent company of Oblivion developer Bethesda, for a year and a half or so. A few weeks ago, according to court documents, the case was dismissed with prejudice following a joint stipulation. Settlement terms weren't disclosed.

Edelson, it's worth noting, was once called "the most feared and loathed firm in Silicon Valley" in a Business Insider mini-profile. They like their class-action lawsuits, and Business Insider describes their strategy as: 1) File suit over something "nitpicky," and 2) "Accept a modest settlement from the accused company, which is willing to pay just to make the whole thing go away. Pay out tiny amounts to the plaintiffs who joined the class action. Take huge fees."

Fluent has taken his time to write and submit a new article were he takes a look at one of the best mods for Oblivion called Nehrim. Check back on Monday were he interviews the team about their upcoming mod for Skyrim called Enderal - The Shards of Order.

When one thinks of Elder Scrolls games, a few things come to mind. At its core, a typical TES game provides an interesting world to explore, with lots of questing, looting, fighting and lore along the way. When you take those core attributes, use the same engine that was used in TES IV: Oblivion, and completely rework the game like the team at SureAI did, you are left with something that has to be played to be believed. Nehrim presents something entirely independent from the Elder Scrolls universe, yet is constructed from the same building blocks as Bethesda's monster RPG title.

Zero1Gaming has an article in their "Defining a Generation Series" the topic of the article is all about Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion…How do you begin to describe the impact it had on this generation of gaming? I’ll be honest, when I sat down to plan how to tackle the task of doing the grand old beast justice there were a lot of words swirling around in this old head of mine. Words like ‘behemoth’, ‘epic’, ‘astonishing’, ‘vast’, ‘grand’, ‘revolutionary’ and just plain ‘awesome’ came and went as I tried to quantify just what Oblivion meant to me and the industry as a whole. One by one I took those words and turned them over in my mind; examining each one, only to discard each one in turn as not worthy. Not a single one came close to really capturing the game.

And then it came to me…

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion was a game-changer.

Now, in this modern world of tired old sporting clichés in which pretty much every word or phrase has been saturated into oblivion (if you’ll excuse the pun) this might seem trite and hideously banal.

Oblivion is 75% off at Steam until Thursday. I guess with the success of Skyrim Steam is trying to sell Oblivion to any newcomers to The Elder Scrolls series.

Another one from Rock, Paper, Shotgun, with a mod for Oblivion titled Dibella's Watch getting highlighted:

If you’re looking to take your mind off impending global catastrophe this weekend you could do worse than checking out the v1.0 release of Oblivion mod Dibella’s Watch. It’s a new “continent” for Oblivion, which includes “a major city, castles, towns, villages, farms, monasteries and all the good stuff that makes up a Medieval landscape.” It’s a pretty huge Oblivion mod put together by a single person, and, while not as ludicrously as full-featured as total conversions like the almighty Nehrim (yes, I am still meaning to come back to that one day), it’s a really impressive piece of work, and worth a look if you just want a new landscape and some fresh quests for Oblivion itself.

This feels a bit like a marketing deal - we'll give you exclusivity on the Dishonored reveal if you can squeeze in some advertorial. Anyway, head to GameInformer if you'd like to know why they love Oblivion:

The Dark Brotherhood
Like Morrowind’s Morag Tong, the Dark Brotherhood is a sinister group of assassins who shift the balance of power in Cyrodiil with their hidden blades. To even be considered for membership in this guild, you must murder an innocent civilian. Once you’re in, the real fun begins. A precursor to the medieval cloak-and-dagger routine in Assassin’s Creed, these entertaining and inventive assassination missions test your ability to get away with murder and are some of the best the game has to offer.

Celebrating the 5th anniversary of Oblivion, Bethesda has made a special edition available of the game, where the North American version is a bit more special. Here is the official announcement:

We are pleased to announce that The Elder Scrolls IV™: Oblivion® 5^th Anniversary Edition is now available in retail stores across North America.

 This anniversary edition is the complete collection of the original award-winning game as well as the Knights of the Nine® and Shivering Isles® expansions. With countless ‘Game of the Year’ awards and overwhelming critical praise, Oblivion still remains a defining game in the role-playing genre. Celebrate one of the most expansive next-generation titles ever to be released on the Xbox®360, PlayStation®3, and PC platforms with this definitive, limited-edition compilation.

 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 5^th Anniversary Edition includes:

• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: With the empire ready to crumble, the gates of Oblivion open and demons march upon the land. You must find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.

• Knights of the Nine: A fallen King has been unchained from the darkness of Oblivion to seek vengeance upon the Gods who banished him. Only a champion pure of heart can vanquish the evil that has been released.

• Shivering Isles: Enter the torn realm of Sheogorath – a world where Mania and Dementia reign. Do you have the strength to survive his trials, to tame a realm fraught with paranoia and despair, and wear the mantle of a God?

The North American 5^th Anniversary Edition also includes:

• Collector’s Steelbook: A beautiful collectible metal case masterfully embossed with Daedric symbols.

• Making of Oblivion: A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Oblivion.

• Oblivion Game Map: A full-color map of Cyrodiil and the Shivering Isles.

• Save on Skyrim: Contains a $10 mail-in rebate offer for the purchase of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and a Skyrim strategy guide.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion 5^th Anniversary Edition is available in North America for a suggested retail price of $29.99. Details on the versions that will be available in the rest of the world and their contents will be released soon. For more information on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion  please visit www.elderscrolls.com.

RPG Italia let us know they have an interview with the Russian team working on a total conversion for Oblivion titled Andoran. The English gets a little wobbly but nothing that can't be understoo - here's the opening question:

RPG Italia: What are the RPG’s elements? How players can develop a PG ( Oblivion style, Xp-leveling…)? How much you stressed  choices and morality?

A. Team: Skill training system remained unchanged as compared to the original game. Nevertheless we introduced a lot of new elements that will give you additional freedom for roleplaying, i.e. extended dialogue system. 
Gameplay outside the dialogues is also built on somewhat different principles. For example, in Andoran you’ll have an opportunity to clobber or bind any NPC (as a variant: to bind sleeping NPC, provided you have enough agility and sneaking skill), then put him into a sack and carry somewhere. This trick can be actively used when passing quests, though you can invent some more creative approach in other cases. Moreover, now citizens adequately react when they see a bound NPC lying on the ground: the passerby can free him if they are on good terms. Imagine a situation: you have imperceptibly kidnapped some citizen while he was asleep, bound and blindfolded him. The relatives may grow bothering about his absence. And here comes our hero, you know riding a white horse and so on, and suggests to retrieve “the missing one” for reward. If your speechcraft is properly high, you’ll be able to persuade the captive (provided you didn’t use violence to him) that it was someone else who kidnapped him while you are a noble savior. The profit is yours. 
Moral dilemmas will surely take place, as there will plenty of ways to solve the certain problem. You need to get some item? You can kill the owner, you can steal the desired thing, you can dress like a guard and penetrate the house. A representative of the fair sex, as long as she has proper skill, will appease the owner with women’s charm and still the wanted item while he’s asleep after the stormy night. What other options? Be ingenious and find them for sure.

News from the Bethblog that the 5th Anniversary Edition of Oblivion will be released in NA on July 12th.

The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition Available July 12th!

We are pleased to announce that The Elder Scrolls IV™: Oblivion® 5^th Anniversary Edition will available in North America on Tuesday, July 12, 2011.

The anniversary edition, which has a suggested retail price of $29.99, is the complete collection of the original award-winning game as well as the Knights of the Nine® and Shivering Isles® expansions. With countless ‘Game of the Year’ awards and overwhelming critical praise, Oblivion still remains a defining game in the role-playing genre. Celebrate one of the most expansive next-generation titles ever to be released on the Xbox®360, PlayStation®3, and PC platforms with this definitive, limited-edition compilation.

The Elder Scrolls IV™: Oblivion® 5^th Anniversary Edition includes:

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: With the empire ready to crumble, the gates of Oblivion open and demons march upon the land. You must find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.

Knights of the Nine: A fallen King has been unchained from the darkness of Oblivion to seek vengeance upon the Gods who banished him. Only a champion pure of heart can vanquish the evil that has been released.

Shivering Isles: Enter the torn realm of Sheogorath – a world where Mania and Dementia reign. Do you have the strength to survive his trials, to tame a realm fraught with paranoia and despair, and wear the mantle of a God?

The North American 5^th Anniversary Edition also includes:

Collector’s Steelbook: A beautiful collectible metal case masterfully embossed with Daedric symbols.

Making of Oblivion: A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Oblivion.

Oblivion Game Map: A full-color map of Cyrodiil and the Shivering Isles.

Save on Skyrim: Contains a $10 mail-in rebate offer for the purchase of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and a Skyrim strategy guide.

Details on the versions that will be available in the rest of the world and their contents will be released soon.

Looks like Nehrim was patched a couple of days ago (thanks Philip!) , raising the English version to v1.1.1.0.  You can read the forum thread here with installation details and the patch notes here.  There are a couple of whole bunch of fixes and a couple of new features:

Features:

(FEA) New Wanted! quests.
(FEA) New Ostian Arena fights.
(FEA) A second new Zerobilon dimension can now be explored.

Only one RPG in Steam's daily sale this time - Oblivion GoTY Edition for $9.99 or the Deluxe Edition with every DLC for $12.49.

Self-explanatory, really, but I thought I'd include this shout-out to Nehrim, which has won Mod of the Year at Mod DB.

Developer SureAI announced an add-on for their excellent Oblivion total conversion Nehrim. According to GamersGlobal takes place a short time after the events in the main game.

VoxClamant turns his attention to Oblivion to continue his love affair with mods, after selecting six content mods and choosing  to ignore the storyline.  Here's a sample:

After replaying Morrowind early this summer with a bunch of mods to improve and add to gameplay, I decided to revisit the state of mods for Oblivion.  I was stunned at how much had been added in the couple years since I last looked at them.  What really struck me was the wealth of content mods - not just UI, companions, appearance and armor/weapons.  
And that led to a fascinating question - Could you get hours of RPG fun out of Oblivion without ever doing a single guild quest or main line quest?  How much fun could you have if you never closed an Oblivion gate?  Could I benefit from the Oblivion engine but try to get Dragon Age content?

Read it here.

The English version of the highly regarded Oblivion total conversion, Nehrim: At Fates Edge is now available.  The download page offers a torrent and mirrors for the hefty 1.6Gb file.

It's worth mentioning you will need to read the Readme.txt file in the installation directory, because this installs and works differently to most Oblivion mods - and for Steam it's different again.  One catch is the default installation folder will need to be changed for Vista and Windows 7 users away from c:\program files (or similar), because these are protected directories.  You'll also need to disable your other mods, and I had to delete the old .ini file.  Bottom line: read the readme. For those not familiar, here's some information.

What exactly is this "Nehrim"? How does it fit into Oblivion? And what the fudge does "Total Conversion" mean???

Well:

Our project Nehrim does not fit into Oblivion at all. What we did is build an entirely new, discrete world that has nothing to do with Tamriel and the TES-Universe. This is characteristic of a total conversion: It works independently of the main game. Moreover, in a way Nehrim is a genuine, new game.

So much for the basics. But what is so special about Nehrim? Why should I download and play it?

Let's just give a few reasons:

    1.) Nehrim is a game focusing both on story and classical RPG gameplay. You solve quests, earn experience points, collect better equipment. Although this sounds rather conventional, Nehrim finds a perfect balance between a stunning presentation and the actual game. If you are not motivated to proceed playing once you have started, you are probably doing something wrong.

2.) There is something to discover at every corner in Nehrim. Monotonous woods and impassionately designed dungeons? Not here! And honestly: Who wants to wander through landscapes you can find outside your own home? Nehrim includes sets of landscapes that have never been implemented in any game before.

3.) There is more to the story than "Go save the world". Much more. The characters have deep personalities, they change throughout the game. And who knows, there may even be some romance...

4.) There is going to be a new soundtrack. Our team musicians Simon W. Autenrieth and Lukas Deschel have been industrious so even acoustics freaks will be comfortable in the new world. Aside from these compositions there will also be a gig by Schandmaul, a popular Folk-Rock band, who kindly have provided a song for the project.

5.) Nehrim has an elaborate synchronization. And when we say elaborate, we?re talking no less than 56 professional voice actors and a recording studio from Berlin that got our backs. Regarding this, Nehrim may just be one of the biggest synchronization projects ever having been undergone for a fan project.

6.) Nehrim is free. All you need is a copy of TES IV: Oblivion.

Thanks to crpgnut and Daniel, plus the others who emailed us in the weeks leading up to the release.

With Quakecon under way, Bethsoft is celebrating with Oblivion GotY edition (includes Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine) on Steam for $6.79.

This one is from a week or so back but serves as a good reminder, with the English version of Nehrim: At Fate's Edge due around August.  The German release of the large-scale total conversion has apparently been well received; here's a snip from Planet Elder Scrolls' interview:

What is your favorite location, quest, character, situation, etc. in Nehrim? (Multiple opinions/answers would be appreciated)

Benjamin: I love the scripted events in the quests, for example when different characters talk to each other and thus proceed the storyline. Speaking of certain situations would spoil a lot, therefore I will only say that there is a load of such events until you see the outro. It indeed feels a bit like Half-Life, because it all happens inside of the game and the player is standing admidst the characters (or is sitting in a moving object – thinking of Half-Life again? We can't deny the similarities, but this game certainly is not the worst one you can get ideas from.). Anyway, my most favorite moment takes place in the very last sidequest that I implemented. You are looking for a vanished person, and the only one who can help you wants you to rescue "his Waltraud" (that's a German female name) from some soldiers. Finally, when it is revealed who Waltraud really is, you'll have a very funny moment – that's pure slapstick.

If it's time to dust off Oblivion, PC Gamer has their list of 10 Essential Mods - although it's a pretty basic list that most will already know.  Oscuro's, Unique Landscapes and Darnified UI are among the suggestions, for example.

Didn't we post something from these guys recently?  Anyway, The Koalition has a breathless retrospective on Oblivion.  Have at it:

Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is damn near unbeatable. Sure the main storyline quest is beatable within a couple hours, but the main quest is nothing. There are literally hundreds of quests in this game, and given the world which Bethesda has created for you, you will definitely attempt to complete as many as you can. The fact that there are two huge expansion packs doesn’t make it any easier either. I have had the game for three years now, and I still have quests to finish. What’s incredible is that these quests aren’t just pitiful side quests you see in your average RPG’s or Sandbox titles. In every quest you accept in Elder Scrolls: Oblivion you will face great challenges, and once finished you obtain a great sense of accomplishment.

As the fourth anniversary for Oblivion is coming up this weekend, the guys at Spawn Kill made  a retrospective  about it. Here's a bit about the non-player-characters in Oblivion:

The non-player characters in The Elder Scrolls IV deserve a special mention here. Through proprietary technology Bethesda has dubbed Radiant AI, NPCs of various towns are enabled to make their own decisions about their lives. Many characters the players come upon throughout the course of the game are literally living their own lives - going to church, working for a living, eating, going to bed by 9 PM, and starting all over again the next day. Many NPCs hunt and kill game to be able to eat, others simply steal food from markets or people's homes.

The Bethblog has news the promised Bethsoft and 2K bundle of Oblivion and Bioshock is now available in NA.

This is a surprise pairing.  Pete Hines sent us this announcement, revealing a Bethsoft/2K Games bundle of Oblivion + BioShock:

2K Games and Bethesda Softworks Announce BioShock® & The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Bundle

June 17, 2009 – 2K Games and Bethesda Softworks are teaming up to deliver a value-packed experience that combines 2006 Game of the Year Winner The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion with 2007 Game of the Year Winner BioShock into one complete package. Beginning July 7, the BioShock & The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Bundle will be available in retailers across North America for an SRP of $39.99 on the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and $29.99 for Windows PCs. 

With a combined bounty of more than 80 Game of the Year awards from the industry’s top publications, the BioShock & The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Bundle provide two critically acclaimed experiences that have set new benchmarks for their genres. 

Taking the world by storm in 2006, Oblivion set a new benchmark for role-playing experiences for current-generation gaming. Lush visuals, expansive worlds and limitless character customization combine with unprecedented levels of player freedom and NPC interaction to form one of the most successful and critically acclaimed games ever created. 

BioShock is the genetically enhanced shooter that weaved intricate storytelling with an intense and exciting journey though a decaying underwater Art Deco utopia gone mad. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by mutated citizens, you are armed with a complete arsenal from simple revolvers to chemical throwers, but are also forced to genetically modify your DNA to create an even more deadly weapon: you. 

The BioShock & The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Bundle is rated M by the ESRB. For more information on BioShock please visit www.bioshockgame.com. For more information on Oblivion please visit www.elderscrolls.com.

Bethsoft has a sense of humour about Horse Armour, it seems.  Here's an email from Pete Hines:

In celebration of the arrival of April, the wackiness of April Fool’s Day, and the upcoming 3^rd anniversary of the release of Horse Armor (Friday, April 3), we are pleased to announce that for the next week all Oblivion DLC for Xbox 360 is half price, except for Horse Armor, which is twice as much as usual. So if you’ve been waiting for just the right moment to get The Vile Lair, or Knights of the Nine, or Shivering Isles, now is the time.

As always you can get your DLC on Xbox Live or through the marketplace on Xbox.com.

This is a different one.  GamePlasma has noticed some of the art in a Trisynergy point-and-click adventure called Limbo of the Lost looks suspiciously identical amazingly similar to Bethsoft's Oblivion.  There may well be a valid explanation - but head over and check out the screen comparisons for yourself.  You'll recognise the original Oblivion screens from the interface.

Also via Lucky Day comes news of an Unofficial Oblivion Patch.  Now, this may not be news for many because it has been around for a while and was last updated late last year but we haven't reported on it previously:

This mod is a joint effort to fix the vast amount of bugs currently existing in Oblivion v1.2.0.416, fixing over 1,100 bugs so far! If you're experiencing a bug with Oblivion and it's not fixed by our mod please by all means report the bug to us in as much detail as possible so we can try fix it! 

Remember Oblivion?  Just in case you don't, TVG has kicked up a retrospective called - wait for it - "Hines-sight":

With over 3 million sales to date for Oblivion the series' future certainly seems bright, yet underneath such success lies the backlash from an original hardcore fanbase who perceived the fourth chapter as being one-step too far in terms of accessibility and mainstream appeal. It's an opinion that Bethesda seems to acknowledge, yet the company's ambition to continue expanding its audience appears to be the prime motivator.

"Ultimately it has to please that core audience or it won't please anybody," claims Peter Hines Bethesda Softworks Vice President of PR and Marketing before adding, "for the most part it can be tough to point your finger at one person, or one group, and say 'this game is for them...they have to like it.'"

If you're a fan of Oblivion then you hopefully grabbed the free Fighter's Stronghold DLC last week.  The Bethblog is pointing out two reviews of the Stronghold, with Barry's Rig 'n Reviews awarding 8/10 and Video Game Generation 8.5/10.  Bethsoft warns of spoilers in the articles.

According to the Bethblog, the Fighter's Stronghold DLC for Oblivion is now available - you'll recall you can download free for one week:

If you haven’t downloaded Fighter’s Stronghold yet, what are you waiting for? It’s FREE. Who cares if you’re done playing Oblivion or don’t own it yet - if Santa gets you a copy of Oblivion Game of the Year and you missed out on your chance to get Fighter’s free, well, that, my friends, would be a sad tale I wouldn’t want to wish on anyone.

As always, lots of blood, sweat and tears go into everything we do, and I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the hard working and amazing team we have here, notably the ones made Fighter’s Stronghold happen.

Head over for a full list of credits.

Bethsoft is going to give away their last piece of Oblivion DLC - the Fighter's Stronghold - for one week starting the 15th:

First, I wanted to let you know that we are finally releasing the last piece of downloadable content we created for Oblivion. We had mentioned it a long, long time ago but we hadn’t released it, until now. Starting Monday, October 15 it will be available to download via Xbox Live (for Xbox 360) and elderscrolls.com (for PC). And, for one week, it will be free to anybody who wants to download it and play it. So mark it on your calendars and don’t forget.

Fighter’s Stronghold provides the last of four themed domiciles (along with Vile Lair, Thieves Den, and Wizard’s Tower) for the adventurer on-the-go. You inherit the rights to Battlehorn Castle, located on a lovely stretch of the Colovian Highlands, west of Chorrol. Dining Hall, barracks, wine cellar, training room, and your own private Shrine of Julianos. Update your castle furnishings, perhaps even a Dwemer Forge for the aspiring Armorer? Hire a taxidermist to tastfully decorate your new abode with trophies from your adventuring. You can read all about Fighter’s Stronghold here.

In additional news, Xbox360 Oblivion players will be able to buy Shivering Isles bundled with Knights of the Nine, next week.

Straight from Bethsoft:

Bethesda Softworks Announces The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition for Xbox 360™ and Windows Now Shipping

Expanded Version of Award-Winning Role Playing Game Available This Week

September 10, 2007 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, announced today that The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition (GotY) for Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows has begun shipping to retail stores throughout North America and will be in stores as early as Tuesday, September 11. Oblivion GotY includes the original version of the award-winning RPG, Oblivion, along with the official expansion, The Elder Scrolls® IV: Shivering Isles™, and the downloadable content, Knights of the Nine™.

This new product allows players who have never played the 2006 Game of the Year to experience Oblivion along with additional content. Gamers can also continue their existing games of Oblivion and experience the new quests and areas offered by the expansion and downloadable content.

Released in March 2006 for Windows and Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and in March 2007 for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Oblivion has already earned countless awards from publications around the world and won numerous Game of the Year and RPG of the Year awards. It has also recently achieved the status of both Xbox 360 Platinum Hit (North America) and Xbox 360 Classic (Europe).  The Xbox 360 Platinum Hits and Classics programs allow existing gamers and new gamers alike to have access to great games at an amazing price.

Oblivion features a powerful combination of free-form gameplay, unprecedented graphics, cutting edge AI, character voices by acting legends Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, Terrance Stamp, and Lynda Carter, and an award-winning soundtrack. Gamers can choose to unravel Oblivion’s epic narrative at their own pace or explore the vast world in search of their own unique challenges.

With more than 30 hours of new gameplay, Shivering Isles allows you to explore an entirely new plane of Oblivion – the realm of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides – Mania and Dementia –filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within.  Sheogorath himself looks to you to be his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction as you discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and much more.

Knights of the Nine features an all-new faction and quests for noble characters and answers many of the questions surrounding the Ayleid ruins found throughout Oblivion. Players can join a new faction and found their own order of holy knights – leading them into battle against a sorcerer-king and his demonic minions while exploring massive dungeons and searching for legendary relics – the holy armor and weapons of the Divine Crusader.

Oblivion GotY will be available for PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system from SCEA next month. In October, Bethesda Softworks will also ship Shivering Isles for Xbox 360 at retail as a standalone expansion. For more information on Oblivion, Shivering Isles, or The Elder Scrolls, visit www.elderscrolls.com.

Here's the press release:

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition

Expanded Version of Award-Winning Role Playing Game, for PC, Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION®3 system Available In September

July 9, 2007 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, announced today that it will release The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition (GotY) for Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system from Sony, and Windows this September. Oblivion GotY will include the original version of the award-winning RPG Oblivion along with the official expansion, The Elder Scrolls® IV: Shivering Isles™, and the downloadable content, Knights of the Nine™.

This new product will allow players who have never played the 2006 Game of the Year to experience Oblivion for the first time with additional content. In addition, gamers can continue their existing games of Oblivion and experience the new quests and areas offered by the expansion and downloadable content.

Released in March 2006 for Windows and Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and in March 2007 for PLAYSTATION®3 system, Oblivion has already earned countless awards from publications around the world and won numerous Game of the Year and RPG of the Year awards. Gamerankings.com and MetaCritic.com list Oblivion as the highest rated game of all time on both Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION®3 system.

Oblivion features a powerful combination of free-form gameplay, unprecedented graphics, cutting edge AI, character voices by acting legends Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, Terrance Stamp, and Lynda Carter, and an award-winning soundtrack. Gamers can choose to unravel Oblivion’s epic narrative at their own pace or explore the vast world in search of their own unique challenges.

With more than 30 hours of new gameplay, Shivering Isles allows you to explore an entirely new plane of Oblivion – the realm of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides – Mania and Dementia –filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within.  Sheogorath himself looks to you to be his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction as you discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and much more.

Knights of the Nine features an all-new faction and quests for noble characters and answers many of the questions surrounding the Ayleid ruins found throughout Oblivion. Players can join a new faction and found their own order of holy knights – leading them into battle against a sorcerer-king and his demonic minions while exploring massive dungeons and searching for legendary relics – the holy armor and weapons of the Divine Crusader.

For more information on Oblivion, Shivering Isles, or The Elder Scrolls, visit www.elderscrolls.com.

Slashdot's Michael Zenke is back at The Escapist with an article on Oblivion's re-rating by the ESRB back in May 2006:

Halfway through 2006, a huge story went unnoticed by game journalists. Barely a cursory glance or raised eyebrow marked its passage. Early in May the Entertainment Software Rating Board quietly changed Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion's rating from "T" to "M," forcing a recall and re-labeling of the game, and costing Bethesda a fortune. The problem? Bethesda had nothing to do with it.

A modder unaffiliated with the game's developers, working on her own time, manipulated art assets in the game, rendering female characters topless, and distributed her work over the internet. It was an act beyond Bethesda's control but to the ESRB objectionable content is objectionable content, and it needed to be weighed, measured and rated.

I tripped over this at 3D Gamers and though we don't really track much in the way of Oblivion mods, we certainly have regular readers who are fans of the game and this looks like it might be fun - especially if you've played the standard game to death.  I have no idea if it is any good but Deadly Reflex adds a number of additional combat moves and decapitation to make combat more interesting.  From the notes at 3D Gamers:

NEW Deadly Reflex 3 aims to change Oblivion´s battles into more challenging, gruesome and realistic experience.

No more doing nothing, these fights are up to YOU to take care of!

This means giving you new moves to choose from, and allowing NPC´s to use them too!

You will flip, bash and dodge and jump, and so will they - if they can!

Every NPC has their own skills, compatible with every other mod, so you will never know what to expect.

Time your blocks right, avoid the blows, land your strikes carefully and see their heads fall. :)

The Construction Set for Oblivion has been updated to v1.2.404 to deal with some small errors.  Grab it here (3.2Mb) and read the notes here,

Presumably YouGamers is a play on YouTube...either way they have a review of Oblivion with a score of 91%, declaring it the "current pinnacle of first person, role playing games":

The past iterations have all been known to allow the player to assume any role possible within the game's limits (such as a knight or an evil mage), whilst taking on quests from a series of guilds, or other entities. The main quest was always optional and the gameplay never depended on it as much as in other RPGs. All episodes of the series are based on the fictional world of Tamriel and each one expands the already complex Elder Scrolls lore. The previous episode, Morrowind, received two expansions and was universally regarded as one of the best open-ended role-playing games of the past years (although it did have its fair deal of issues and shortcomings, these were easily compensated by its virtues). The latest instalment in the series, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, is no exception to the general concept of the series.

A patch for the TES Construction Set has been released, bringing it to v1.2 (full installer 7Mb, patch 3.2Mb).  Grab it from Bethsoft's download page and here are the notes:

Update 1.2 Notes

---

New Features

---

Spell checking functionality

 

Bug Fixes

---

The Construction Set now increments the version on plugins so that old Oblivion executables will not load a plugin saved with the new Construction Set. The Oblivion executable must be 1.2 or higher to match the new Construction Set executable. Simply install the latest Oblivion patch to get the latest executable.

Under File, there is an new option to Combine Loaded Plugins. When this is selected, the user is asked for a filename. Once a valid file is selected, all loaded data that came from a plugin is resaved as a part of the new file. In order to do this, any new objects are given new IDs on entry into the new file. This means that if you have plugin A.esp and B.esp and C.esp loaded and save your game, and then merge those plugins into ABC.esp, you may have problems trying to load your save with ABC.esp.

Fixed a crash with DeleteAllCells option in the Heightmap Editor.

Fixed bug in Region Editor preventing cutting and pasting in object list.

Export functionality: Adding bExportPluginOnly=1 to General section in constructionset.ini lets you export only the data that is saved in the loaded plugin.

Fixed a bug where references generated by the Region Editor were incorrectly flagged as being owned by the user and not the region.

Bethsoft has a collection of Oblivion PS3 reviews (and one interview) - here's a straight rip:

3.27.07 - OBLIVION PLAYSTATION 3 INTERVIEW
PS3Chat.com talks with Pete Hines about the story, PS3 console, and more.

3.27.07 - OBLIVION PLAYSTATION 3 REVIEWS
Advanced Media Network has posted a review, a 9.5 score, and an AMN Gold Award stating, "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is a video game tour de force." Gamernode, ZTGameDomain.com, and Gaming Target have also posted reviews. And IGN has included exlusive gameplay footage featuring creatures from the Shivering Isles in their weekly video.

A review of the PS3 version of Oblivion is out at PS3 Advanced, with exactly the same score of 9.5/10 we've seen in the last few reviews.  Here's a snip:

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is unlike many of the RPGs out there on the market and proves that America can have a fair share in participating a very Japan-dominated genre of games. First of all, Oblivion is primarily in first person view and in real-time, which makes for some compelling and visceral combat. Melee combat, stealth kills, spell casting—you do all of it from the first person perspective. Not only that, but the combat is so well-balanced and the controls are so responsive that Oblivion’s best battles rival even the most intense FPSes on the market. Enemies are tough but fair and highly contrasting combat styles makes it all the more immersive and fun. If Oblivion had an online battle mode, it would somehow become even better than it already is.

It's been a long time in the making, but the Elder Scrolls site now has a v1.2 patch for Oblivion (4.5Mb).  The full patch notes include the entire readme file but here are the actual changes:

New Features

10 new Xbox 360 Achievements for Shivering Isles

Bug Fixes

Improved LOD visual quality for landscape.

Optimizations to file loading system.

Taking items from dead owned creatures is no longer a crime.

Fixed issue where lock/unlocked states on doors would occasionally be stored incorrectly in a save game.

NPCs no longer pop into view after player cancels out from the Wait menu.

Fixed memory leak with sitting in a chair multiple times.

The reflection from the environment map in windows now displays properly.

Fixed an issue where player is still in combat even though the creature is no longer present.

Player can no longer fast travel when paralyzed.

Fixed infinite dialogue loop when arrested by guards who have high disposition to you.

Fixed issue where guards would not properly report crime if they were pickpocketed.

Summoned creatures properly fade away when they are created from a leveled list.

Fixed issue where stolen items would lose their stolen status if the player character was female.

Fixed crash that would occur with NPCs loading in with arrows.

Pickup sound effects no longer play during the loading screen.

If you attack a creature owned by you, crime is no longer reported.

Fixed issue with LOD not loading in properly when entering/exiting worldspaces.

Fixed infinite soul gems exploit by dropping and picking up stacked soul gems.

Fixed a crash with summoning a creature and immediately exiting the cell.

Fixed a crash with stealing an object, exiting and immediately
re-entering an interior.

Fixed issue where an NPC would occasionally not perform the proper idle animation.

Fixed an occasional crash when a creature loses detection on the player.

Fixed an occasional crash with NPCs who were not loaded going into combat.

Quest Fixes

In Light the Dragonfires, fixed issue where improper journal would appear if you closed an Oblivion gate.

In Till Death do They Part, fixed an issue where Melisande would not properly give you Cure Vampirism potion.

With the author saying that Oblivion for the Xbox 360 is one of his favourite games of all time, it's no surprise the PS3 version has scored 9.5/10 in 1Up's review:

And this experience is translated almost pixel-for-pixel to the PS3. Oh sure, there are differences, but they're on an extremely minor scale. Textures far off in the distance look a bit cleaner on PS3. Colors look a little less saturated. Load times are a bit shorter, especially when moving back and forth between adjacent areas. The changes aren't all improvements; I also noticed some polygon seaming in dungeons where none exists on 360, and a couple new audio bugs I'd not seen in my 200 hours or so on the 360 version.

Bethesda let us know that the PS3 port of their successfull RPG will be available this week.

March 19, 2007 (Rockville, MD) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax Media company, announced today that the latest version of its blockbuster role-playing game, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion®, for PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system has begun shipping to retail stores throughout North America and will be in stores as early as Tuesday, March 20.

Released in March 2006 for Windows and Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Oblivion has already earned countless awards from publications around the world and won numerous Game of the Year and RPG of the Year awards. Gamerankings.com and MetaCritic.com list Oblivion as the highest rated game of all time on Xbox 360.

Oblivion features a powerful combination of free-form gameplay, unprecedented graphics, cutting edge AI, character voices by acting legends Patrick Stewart, Sean Bean, Terrance Stamp, and Lynda Carter, and an award-winning soundtrack. Gamers can choose to unravel Oblivion’s epic narrative at their own pace or explore the vast world in search of their own unique challenges.

After the mysterious and untimely death of the Emperor, the throne of Tamriel lies empty. With the Empire ready to crumble, the gates of Oblivion open and demons march upon the land - laying waste to everything in their path. To turn the tide of darkness, you must find the lost heir to the throne and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is rated “M” for Mature by the ESRB and is being published in North America by Bethesda Softworks. For more information on The Elder Scrolls and Oblivion, visit the official web site at www.elderscrolls.com. 

The Elder Scrolls forums hosts the latest fan Q&A with questions collected from forum members and answers by Design Director Bruce Nesmith and EP Todd Howard.  It's one of the most open interviews I can recall Bethsoft doing in a while starting with Shivering Isles and going on to cover some broader Oblivion issues - well worth a read.  Here's a lengthy snip that gets double points for starting the "question" with "indubitably":

Indubitably, Oblivion has seen a major shift in priorities where aspects specifically pertinent to cRPGs are concerned. Most apparent in that regard is the transition from a complex -sometimes complicated- game with faction politics, rich lore background and a large quantity of dialog to a game that emphasizes accessibility and above all else pure entertainment. Additionally, in contrast to its predecessors, Oblivion's game world is to be filled with meaning not by the game itself but rather by the player's own imagination. What are your thoughts on this? Do you believe you managed to achieve a proper balance between depth and complexity on one and accessibility and easy entertainment on the other side? What are your goals in this respect for future productions?

This is more of a statement then a question, but I’ll do what I can with it. First, Oblivion has more dialogue and books then our previous games, so I don’t see a shift there. It also has the most complex NPC behavior we’ve ever done by miles. As far as the game world being filled by the player’s imagination, that’s a common criticism we get on every game, and a valid one. I think we did a better job this time, I mean you play the previous stuff and the world is very static. It’s either nameless NPCs or ones that just stand in place all day. So that was something we tried very hard to address, to make the world feel alive. I think it’s getting better, but it’s still easy to think of 100 things to have the world do to make it feel more alive.

In regards to the politics comment, that’s a valid statement, in that Daggerfall and Morrowind both have main stories dealing with a lot of politics, and that wasn’t the story we wanted to do this time. There was a time that the Oblivion main quest featured a ton of that, dealing with the Elder Council, but we did end up cutting it while it was still on paper, in all our story reads, it really defocused the main quest from dealing with the daedra, which we wanted the focus to be. Anyway, I think the lack of actually seeing and dealing with the Elder Council is certainly one of my “I wish it had this” things, as we wrote some great stuff for it that just didn’t make it in. It was the “nobility” faction line, where you made your way up and became “The Duke of Colovia” and sat on the Elder Council. The only remnant of that questline in the dead Duke in Castle Kvatch, which was to be the beginning of that line.

The next part of the question, which is ease of play versus complexity, that’s a harder one. We’ve certainly gotten praised on Oblivion for how well it walks the line, but I wouldn’t say that all the solutions we had are the right ones going forward. Some are; some aren’t. It’s certainly our desire to push on both ends, to make the game as smooth and easy to play as possible, but have great depth. In the grand scheme of games, we’re still on the “insanely complex” end of the scale, so I do spend a good bit of time watching how first time people play the game, what hangs them up and so forth. So that always bothers me, you don’t want basic actions in the game to be difficult or confusing.

A second review of Oblivion has been posted at RPG Codex, written by Section8 (who, if I recall correctly, was an artist with Micro Forte on Fallout Tactics).  Here's an excerpt:

I would estimate that some ninety-percent of the many game locations are functionally alike - a dark place filled with cookie cut sets of inhabitants, and loot appropriate for your character level. Basically, nearly every location is a quick mission generator madlib. "I want to explore a (tileset) themed dungeon, face (monster type) and get loot for a (number) level character." And to add to this oddity of world design, dungeons respawn a few game days after being cleared, so basically you get to pick and choose once you've explored a few. I found myself taking note of the dungeons where the inhabitants exclusively wear heavy armour, and I'd revisit every couple of levels to upgrade my equipment.

GamingTarget and Playstation Universe have previews of the upcoming PS3 version of Oblivion.  No quote for these because there really isn't anything new to cover.

It's a bit of a Bethsoft day with VoodooExtreme posting a preview of the PS3 version of Oblivion based on a preview event:

The rendering quality looked very smooth, and in some spots it seemed richer than the Xbox 360 version. Pete Hines, our host from Bethesda, attributed this to a new shader the developers are using that blends higher-quality close textures with the lower-quality distant textures. Effects looked smooth when we had our mage cast a volley of fire bolts across the star-filled night sky above the Imperial City. Later on, we picked up on a small hitch where some horizontal seams appeared about an inch apart when we looked closely at a hillside. However, the problem only seemed to happen at this particular location and we could not duplicate it elsewhere.

GameBanshee has added to their Oblivion walkthrough with coverage of the main quest to complement their exisiting Factions info.

GameSpy has just announced Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion as their PC RPG of the Year for 2006. Congrats to Bethesda Softworks for bringing us such a wonderful title!

Though it certainly shares the space with an extremely worthy game (i.e., Neverwinter Nights 2), we just had to give Oblivion the nod for a number of reasons. Primarily, it's rare to see a game that is so deep and engrossing that remains so eminently accessible and playable. Whether you're an RPG vet or complete beginner, you're likely to be drawn in by Oblivion's masterfully created world. The attention to detail given to even the most insignificant elements sets a benchmark for the genre, one that, we suspect, won't be surpassed anytime soon.

Spike TV has just announced the big winners for their Video Game Awards 2006 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion took top honors by winning the Game of the Year award. VGA 2006 airs Wednesday, December 13th on Spike TV.

Gamespot has posted a review of the recently released expansion to Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Scoring Knights of the Nine at a decent 8.3, the reviewer said:

The content seems to be identical whether you play it on the PC or the 360, and the inherent strengths of the respective versions once again come into play. Don't expect much in the way of different graphics and sound from what you've already seen in Oblivion, but Knights of the Nine features plenty of new voice acting, a couple of powerful new enemies, and a few new effects. It's mildly disappointing that the Xbox 360 version of Knights of the Nine doesn't include any new unlockable achievements to commemorate your accomplishments, considering the other main quest lines all have achievements tied to them. But all in all, Knights of the Nine gives you a good day or two's worth of questing for a low price. If you haven't played Oblivion in a while, this new quest will be a great reminder of what makes it such a remarkable game.

Posting a link to a review of Oblivion with a score of 9.5/10 brings back some memories...here's a rather belated one from GameClubCentral but the score remains 9.5/10.  Here's an early excerpt:

When you first walk your character outside, you can’t help but stop and look around at the world around you. It’s like the developers after watching the Lord of the Ring’s movies said ‘You know we need to make our game have some scenic sweeping vistas like that!”. As you stand there in the grass and wildflowers that sway in the wind, you can see the walls of a far off town cradled by tree covered hills and mountains. The game draws into the world as soon as you start looking at it! Did I mention the lighting too? Torches flicker and drop embers occasionally as you hold them in your hand. Luminescent fog hovering over a dungeon floor casts a pale and eerie glow just right for that ‘cold as death’ feel. Good stuff!

Oblivion v1.1 patches for Spanish, Italian and French versions have popped up at the official site.

Shack News is carrying an official press release from Bethesda regarding a new content download that will be available on November 21st. Called "Knights of the Nine", the download will feature new quests and a new faction:

October 17, 2006 (Rockville, MD) — Bethesda Softworks® today announced plans to make its new Knights of the Nine™ content for The Elder Scrolls IV®: Oblivion™ available for the Xbox 360™ videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows via download and a new retail Windows product. Knights of the Nine will be available through Xbox Live® Marketplace for Xbox 360 and http://www.obliviondownloads.com/ on November 21st.

Knights of the Nine will also be available as a Windows boxed product at retail on the 21st. The retail version of Knights of the Nine is a compilation that will include all the other Oblivion downloadable content released to date: Horse Armor, The Orrery, Wizard’s Tower, Vile Lair, Thieves Den, Mehrunes’ Razor, and Spell Tomes. Bethesda Softworks will publish and distribute Knights of the Nine at retail directly in North America and through a co-publisher arrangement with Ubisoft in Europe.

IGN has an interview with Bethsoft's Todd Howard on the PS3 version of Oblivion:

IGN: How different will this version be from the others? If I've played this before, is there a reason to play it again on the PS3?

Todd Howard: Our goal is always to make the game look and feel consistent across all platforms. We design the game we want to make and then make that game available on as many platforms as possible. So, it's the same base game as was released on PC/ 360. The PS3 is benefiting from us continuing to develop our core technology that drives all our Elder Scrolls games. Some of that is noticeable on the screen -- like all the new graphic shaders -- and some isn't. The best examples are those new shaders we have for how "near detail" and "far detail" blend together on the landscape. You no longer have a harsh line cutting across the two levels, they blend together seamlessly and the distant detail and land looks much nicer.

So how do you go about creating miscellaneous quests for Oblivion and its inevitable expansions?

We have a staff of designers and they all submit a collection of ideas. They're all then thrown together and reviewed - depending on the project they're sometimes reviewed by committee, sometimes by the entire group. In the case of Oblivion, it was the entire group and we picked the ones we thought would be the best ideas to implement. Then those ideas get handed out to the various designers to implement and they start creating them. It's very much a group process and we try to involve everybody - it's a chance for the whole team to be creative. One of the great things about the miscellaneous quests is they go in so many different directions because they have so many different types of mind putting together the basic ideas for them.

Without a doubt you'll be astonished by the game visually and auditively but that of course doesn't mean the gameplay is good. Important here are the missions and storyline. Both are a lot better than in the predecessor, amongst others due to the handy logs and accompanying clues. There's not only an impressive amount of quests, most being beautifully finished, but also the necessary variation. There are more than enough memorable adventures to do to compensate for the obligatory missions to enhance your character. The story is nicely integrated in this all so take the necessary time to read and discover everything and look further than your nose is long. The most fun is that you can choose how, when and if you do it all. Freedom!

Meanwhile, it's fallen to the Oblivion community to work on clearing up issues with the gameplay. The range of mods that have come out in just a few short months for Oblivion is astounding. One excellent example is the indispensable BTMod, a simple program that does things like increase the viewable area of the maps, change the font sizes of the game's text, and allow players to organize their buttons to have better access to things like spells, their journal, and quest information. There are a host of graphical upgrades that offer more realistic forests, better skies, and more attractive water effects, and there is even a mod that changes the appearance of herbs after they're harvested, something that doesn't seem important until a player calculates the amount of time spent clicking on plants that have already been looted. In all, the Oblivion community has done an amazing job of adding a ton of enhancements that make Oblivion a significantly improved game than it was at launch.

This underwater hideout provides your infamous character with safe haven. Those willingly inflicted (or shall we say graced?) with vampirism will find a means to feed, and if necessary, a means to cure their infliction. Hire evil minions, pray to the dark god Sithis, and a host of other functions await.

What's your favourite quest in the game?

Todd Howard: I probably have a few favourites. I love the Painter quest from an imaginative standpoint, that you're sucked into this magical painting and you get that five seconds of, 'You gotta be kidding me!' We had a lot of fun with that, re-doing all the textures to make them look as though they were painted.

The other two - I like the quest in the Dark Brotherhood where you get invited to a dare party - kind of an Agatha Christie, kill-everybody type of thing. There are so many ways to do that quest and it isn't a 'run through a dungeon with armour' kind of quest - it feels like something really different. I also like the Dark Brotherhood quest where you have to go back into the prison and kill the guy who's an arse to you when the game starts - we thought of that early in the game.

In the main quest, I like the one where you're in the Imperial City where you're going to get some books - real adventure gaming. I also like the last few quests in the main game where you get these huge battles - they're really cool too.

The artificial intelligence in Oblivion has also been improved since Morrowind. Foes dance about during combat, varying their distance from you, backing off when you take swips at them and making the most of weapons with a long reach. They know how to block effectively and are quite capable with melee weapon special attacks; later foes are able to knock you over, cause temporary paralysis or even disarm you. Once while adventuring through a dark cave network, wading in knee deep water, I had just killed an Argonian and looted my first glass dagger. It was quite an improvement on my last weapon so I was eager to try it out, charging into the next room and starting the another fight I am immediately disarmed with a karate chop and the dagger disappears into the murky water somewhere. After dispatching the foe i start hunting about in the water for the dagger. After about 10 minutes of searching water in the dark, I gave up. In the very next fight, my opponent was unarmed and ran off behind me into the tunnel i was just in. Thirty seconds later he reemerged wielding the very dagger I had previously lost!

Of course, that says nothing about stopping the modding community from solving the problem on their own -- and that's exactly what they've gone and done. the_FERRET decided to undertake the ambitious project on his own, resulting in an alpha release last week allowing for two players to run around Cyrodiil together. The next release should support eight players engaging in deathmatch and capture-the-flag

The lost Ayleid City Varsa Baalim has been unearthed by a rogue Telvanni arch-mage, in pursuit of a fearsome Daedric Artifact, Mehrunes Razor, which he believes will give him the power he needs to topple the Imperial reign - but what horrors lie in wait beneath the Valus mountains; and can you overcome them to claim Mehrunes Razor as your own?

Conquer one of the deepest and most challenging dungeons in all of Cyrodiil to claim this fearsome weapon.

Even though the patch cleans up a number of glitches quests, many are still upset because it doesn't solve their existing issues. If you've already run into and experienced a glitch quest, there's a good chance the patch will do nothing to fix it; the patch can't fix contaminated saves. Consequently, Bethesda employees have been recommending fans start new characters if they want to experience these quests.

Specifically, what you do in Oblivion matters. If you just saved a town or someone from impending doom, they greet you as a hero and love you. If you get sick or are about to die, they ask about that too. You can do things for selfish reasons, or be a hero and help the cause of good. In the end, the overall story is your "Fight evil through the power and fortitude of Good" tale that was satisfying for the most part. The questing system in Oblivion is a bit of an upgrade from Morrowind - If you're given a quest in Oblivion, you clearly get your objectives spelled out for you - making the game very clear for first time RPG'ers on a console (or for people who hate reading everything in order to figure out what to do!). All quests you agree to take on are listed in the game system menu, and depending on your personal choice, you set the one that's active. Once active, your objectives are loaded into your mini-map and you quest from there.

At least the wait's not far off now. The company confirmed to 1UP that an official patch is in the final stages of development and certification, and should be available for both PC and Xbox 360 users sometime next week.

The lost Ayleid City Varsa Baalim has been unearthed by a rogue Telvanni arch-mage, in pursuit of a fearsome Daedric Artifact, Mehrunes Razor, which he believes will give him the power he needs to topple the Imperial reign - but what horrors lie in wait beneath the Valus mountains; and can you overcome them to claim Mehrunes Razor as your own?

Features:

* A fully-featured quest takes you deep into the fringes of the Niben.

* Earn the fearsome Mehrunes Razor, with the ability to kill foes instantly.

* 17 new magic items to discover!

* Conquer the largest dungeon in all Cyrodiil.

* Thwart a plot to overthrow Imperial rule in Tamriel.

* 12 new books, notes, and journals to help you unravel the mystery.

* Hidden treasures await!