the elder scrolls
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Greg Keyes to pen official Elder Scrolls novels
The Elder Scrolls series is known for its large amount of in-game reading material. Oblivion and Morrowind both had dozens of books to read through when you weren't busy playing the games, a lot of which were based on the rich history and mythology of the Elder Scrolls universe. Bethesda has just announced that, starting this fall, you'll be able to find books based on the Elder Scrolls games in the real world, too.These books are to be written by New York Times bestselling author Greg Keyes, who authored the Age of Unreason Tetrology and three Star Wars books in the New Jedi Order series. The first of the two Elder Scrolls book, The Infernal City, takes place after the events of Oblivion, during a time when a mysterious floating city is causing Tamriel's residents to rise again as undead. You know, that old chestnut.
The Digital Continuum: MMO-unfriendly games
It's a subject that's been touched on here at Massively not once or twice, but three times. Still, I feel like there's more to be said on the subject of making some non-MMO games into actual MMOs.Being a constant contributor to Massively means I obviously love MMOs, but that doesn't mean they're all I play. In fact I find myself constantly playing genres of all sorts on various platforms. Still, I do love to end the day (or sometimes spend most of the day) in a great massively multiplayer online game. There have been several occasions where I find myself playing a particular offline game and wonder, "Could this be developed as an MMO?" I eventually come to the conclusion that -- no, it probably can't.
UK retailer GAME faces delivery issues with PS3 Oblivion
Is United Kingdom retailer GAME refusing to stock its store shelves with the PlayStation 3 version of Oblivion as part of some shady, conspiratorial deal with Microsoft and/or Nintendo? It must be that the retailer, as an entity, is so anti-Sony that it's willing to sacrifice a hefty amount of business on a high-profile, well-reviewed game launch so as to deprive helpless Sony fans of their Elder Scrolls fix.Put your tinfoil hats away, however, because it's just not true.Though the PS3 Oblivion was released today in Europe, a spokesperson for Ubisoft has told CVG that there were some distribution issues and that the title, while missing at some GAME stores, is available elsewhere. "Rest assured," said the spokesperson, "Oblivion on PS3 is definitely out today in online and high street retailers."The real loser in this situation is GAME, for aforementioned financial reasons. Many branches are not expecting to have the game until next Monday.[Via PS3 Fanboy]
Shivering Isles patch coming Monday for Xbox 360
According to a post on Bethesda production director Ashley Cheng's blog, a patch to fix the "formID" bug in the Oblivion expansion Shivering Isles will be available for download on the Xbox 360 Monday, April 30. The patch has been available for PC since April 12, as well as some fan-created solutions prior to that.There's a chance the patch will not make its purported Monday deadline, but the good news still is that there is a patch and it is complete and coming very soon. The critical bug would essentially appear late in the game and cause items to disappear.Cheng, whose current project is Fallout 3, has also posted a handful of YouTube videos featuring the various introductions from the Fallout series. Maybe they're considering a similar opening for their version? Time will tell.[Thanks, Megen]
PS3 Oblivion content will hit 360 too
Some of you may have heard that the PS3 is getting its very own version of Oblivion, the 360's premiere RPG. Having heard this, you may also have heard that the PS3 would be seeing some content that isn't available for the 360 version. Upon hearing this, you may have been somewhat, shall we say, bummed. Fear not, bummed out Oblivionites, for Bethesda has spoken and the news is good. When IGN asked if the PS3 content -- titled Knights of the Nine -- would be available for PC and 360, Bethesda's Todd Howard replied, "We always aim to have all our content available across all platforms, so that is our goal." So there you have it, folks. Expect to see Knights of the Nine available sometime in the not too distant future.And since we can't resist kicking a little fanboy sand every once in a while, we'd like to point out that Bethesda is still in the dark concerning downloadable content on the PS3. Gotta love that Xbox Live.[Via Xboxic]
How modders saved Oblivion [update 1]
[Update: We covered this exact article yesterday. Consider this a different angle and color me foolish.]Pixel Rage has compiled a list of user-made modifications for Oblivion that should never have been necessary (i.e. features that should have been in the game out of the box). Oblivion, for all its praise, is strewn with bugs and other maladies that degrade the overall experience. You might find that harsh and overcritical, but we think its warranted to hold a title that spent over three years in development (on an engine the developer had been using for almost eight years) to higher standards. The modifications listed include: More realistic weather patterns, vegetation, and habitat, including the addition of birds and insects. Murkier, more transparent / realistic water effects. Light that shines through windows at night. Adding side effects to drinking too much wine (it's about time we get double vision for dipping to much into Skingrad's finest ... ). Inventory list customization. Interjections of silence within the constant soundtrack (a clever way to add to the atmosphere). Unique icons for spells. Various quest-specific fixes. It's wonderful to see the community perfect the game, but what are Xbox 360 owners to do? When the "vampire cure" quest was found to be broken, PC users could fix the problem themselves, while console gamers were forced to reload an earlier save (or, in worst situations, restart the game). Bethesda is currently working on Fallout 3 using a variation of the same engine used in Morrowind / Oblivion; let's hope they get the kinks out this time.[via Penny Arcade]
Mehrune's Razor shaves its way onto XBLM
In case you haven't noticed, new Oblivion content is available on Marketplace. Here's the description according to Major Nelson: "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 Mehrune's Razor as your own?" You can grab Mehrune's Razor for 250 points. Personally, I'm waiting for the next expansion: Kerrek's Aftershave.
