Bethesda Softworks Announces
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.

"As you’d expect (especially given that this is just an expansion of the core Oblivion game, The Shivering Isles looks and sounds terrific. The two realms both look great, although I was a bit more partial to the colorful palette on display in Mania. The music is just as solid as ever, and the sound effects are crystal clear. Naturally, the same issues that many people had with the original game pop up here, from the occasionally stuttering visuals to the lip-synching on the NPCs. Despite these problems, this is still a great looking game."

"Upon investigating this mysterious portal, a screaming and clearly demented adventurer exits the portal back into Nibben bay, to be killed by a guard. The guard proceeds to warn you that all who enter will be sentencing themselves to a certain death, but fear not he will be there to “clean up the mess” when you return (ekkk)! Obviously the only thing to do is to totally ignore his advice. Onward we go !"

"You'll also get some fancy new armor sets and weaponry. From new enemy types and dungeons can be procured Amber and Madness Ore, which when brought to the proper smith in the main city of New Sheoth can be forged into some attractive pieces of equipment, with all the intricate detailing we've come to expect from Bethesda. Better still, these armors level with your character, so if you're still somewhat inexperienced, you can go back and forge a new set a few levels later and reap the benefits of augmented protection or increased weapon damage. Special Matrices allow magical versions of Amber and Madness items to be produced, but if you're a high level character you'll likely be applying your own enchants. A few unique weapons pop up as you follow the main story along with some new summons, and, depending on some of the choices you make during the main quest, the armor of the Golden Saints or Dark Seducers, who guard the Bliss and Dementia halves of New Sheoth, respectively."

"The Shivering Isles – the Live Arcade expansion pack for Oblivion – is set in the realm of the God of Madness, Sheogorath. Moments after you’ve stepped through the new gate in the Niben bay and met Haskill, the mad god’s entirely-too-sane manservant, you’re dumped in The Fringe, a walled area that serves to test new entrants to the realm. You’ve got to escape from there and become Sheogorath’s new champion bitch against the rapidly approaching Greymarch, the 1000-yearly assault of the forces of order on the land of madness."

"Just like with Oblivion, it's an open world. You can head to the main city of New Sheoth where Sheogorath sits on his throne to follow the main quest or simply wander about, discovering hidden caves, ruins, and towns. The lands look significantly different from Cyrodiil. Dementia, for instance, is populated with mists, oversized spiked mushrooms, and jutting knuckles of rock. We chose to trek to the capital and check out one of the main quests from a little further on in the game, which involved a substance called Felldew."

"ActionTrip: What are the main things you felt were missing in Oblivion? Are we going to see any of that in the expansion pack?

Mark Nelson: Because of the sheer scope of Oblivion, and the number of NPCs involved, I never felt like we had the chance to really develop enough of them, to give them all stories and a real place in the world. With the Shivering Isles, we are working with a much smaller group, and it's really allowed us to develop them more fully. I think it makes the world a more interesting and believable place.

ActionTrip: Oblivion's striking visuals, unfortunately, are sometimes simply too much for modest rigs. Is your team working on certain technical improvements to make sure the original is even more enjoyable?

Mark Nelson: There's always an ongoing process of bug-fixing and optimization to the game, but we're not going to attempt to change the core game to run on slower systems."

FiringSquad: What are the dev team's favorite new monsters in the expansion?

Mark Nelson: There are so many, it's hard to choose. The Scalon is one of my new favorites. They're large, hulking, amphibious creatures that can really startle you. It doesn't hurt that they have the ability to become invisible when they are about to jump out and attack.

FiringSquad: What other content and gameplay elements have been added to Shivering Isles?

Mark Nelson: There are a ton of new quests for the player to experience in the Shivering Isles. In addition to the main quest, there are a bunch of miscellaneous quests spread throughout the world. I'm very proud of the quests. I think they're among the most expansive, interesting quests that have ever appeared in an Elder Scrolls game.

Setting the scene, it's explained that an ominous-looking gate has opened in Nibben Bay, the portal leading to a torn realm - the Shivering Isles - ruled by Sheogorath, the god of madness and dementia. Apparently, adventurers will meet the god and "plough through his trials", but it's additionally hinted that ultimately we may well be usurping the deity. A ETA of Q2 2007 has been given.

Knights of the Nine is an upcoming add-on pack for Bethesda's smash-hit The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. To date, it is the largest add-on content Bethesda has created for Oblivion and it'll easily rival the size of a standard expansion pack. After getting my feet wet with a preview of the expansion, it's pretty clear that this will provide more content for fans of not only the game but for gamers everywhere.

Knights starts out with an attack on Anvil's Chapel of Dibella. When you venture there, you'll meet a prophet who foretells a prophecy of an ancient evil (named Umaril) arising from the past to lay waste to all who oppose him. But in order to combat him, you'll need to acquire the equipment from the legendary warrior who laid the smack down on him back in the past. Note this quest-line is only for good folks, but that doesn't mean you evil folks are immediately ruled out.

It'll set you back 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, $9.99 on the PC or $19.99 for the retail version.

The game is now due to be released Q1 2007 on the PS3.

MultiTES4 is my attempt at an Oblivion mod/add-on that, you guessed, adds multiplayer to this awesome game. I started the work on this project around the 7th of May, 2006. It's come a long way, and has a long way to go, but with perseverance and a little luck, it'll go a long way. At the moment, MultiTES4 consists of three components: A client application, a server application, and a Oblivion 'esp' modification file. All these combined with a little luck (and a whole heap of code) and voila, we have multiplayer!

5. Update 1.1 Notes

Bug Fixes

Fixed an issue with falling through collision in Fort Wooden Hand.

Fixed issue with remapping controls in French, German, Italian and Spanish versions.

Fixed issue with some shadows not lining up.

Going to jail while equipped with bound armor or weapons no longer crashes the game.

Fixed issue with bound weapons not dispelling properly after dismounting a horse.

Fixed issue with player shadow being delayed after fast travel.

Fixed infinite gold issue on some dead NPCs.

Fixed issue with disease resistences that made it impossible to contract vampirism under certain circumstances.

Fixed an issue where occasionally skills would not increase properly after you received an increase in a way other than skill uses like as a quest reward.

Fixed issue where spells, powers and lesser powers were being improperly resisted when the player cast them on themselves.

Fixed an issue where creatures and NPCs would not go into combat properly after being hit by a projectile.

Fixed an issue with duplicating items and unequiping the bow.

Fixed an exploit that allowed you to sell equipped items to a vendor more than once while on a horse.

Fixed an issue with items reappearing in dead bodies after saving and reloading.

Fixed crash when NPC with active light spell on them unloaded from memory.

New Very Low Quality graphic setting available under Launcher options with improved support for low end FX cards (5700 and lower). To use this setting, go to the Launcher, select Options and click Reset to Defaults to allow the auto detect to check your system.

Implemented SLI-mode optimizations on Nvidia cards, and Crossfire optimizations for ATI cards.

Fixed a crash issue where loading a save would crash if the player had extra data on them.

Fixed an issue for LOD art for city was not unloading quickly enough when exiting an interior.

Fixed an issue where Aylied doors would not open when activated in Miscarcand.


Quest Fixes

If you are permanently expelled from Mages Guild, you can now go back into the Mages Guild buildings.

In The Siren's Deception, the door to Gweden farmhouse is prevented from locking too soon if player exits too quickly.

In the Light the Dragonfires quest, player controls are prevented from being locked if player accidentally hits Ocato during the final battle in the Imperial Palace.

In the Confront the King quest, fixed an issue where Mannimarco would occasionally stop fighting the player while the player's controls are locked.

In Corruption and Conscience, fixed an issue if player got to Llevana's house earlier than expected and she would initiate trespass behavior rather than move the quest forward.

In Theranis' Mistake, it is no longer possible to get multiple copies of Ahdarji's ring. Also, fixed an issue with player receiving Blood Price topic too early in the quest.

In the Leyawiin Recommendation quest, it is no longer possible to bypass Kalthar in Fort Blueblood.

In Revenge Served Cold, Corrick will now recognize when player had the jade amulet in their inventory if No Stone Unturned quest had been previously completed.

In Infiltration, player can no longer kill Blackwood Company members and stop progress in Fighter's Guild.

In Dark Brotherhood, if you kill fellow members and get kicked out of the guild, you can no longer continue to progress in the questline until you redeem yourself and get back in.

In The Master's Son, the player now properly receives their reward when completing the quest.

In Caught in the Hunt, fixed an issue where NPCs would not go into combat properly.

In the Cheydinhal Recommendation quest, fixed an issue where Vidkun's body would disappear if you left the well.

Getting disqualified from the first Arena match no longer blocks you from further matches.

In Till Death Do They Part, the Count no longer rewards player with gold more than once. Fixed an issue with not receiving the Vampire Ashes topic if the player picked up vampire ashes before getting the quest. Fixed issue where Bloodgrass topic was not added if player finished the Main Quest before starting quest. Hal-Liurz will now follow player properly when asked about the cure.

In Mystery and Harlun's Watch, the dead body you are supposed to find will no longer disappear from Swampy Cave if you cleared out the dungeon before starting the quest.

In Blood of the Daedra, Martin will now recognize Spellbreaker as a Daedric artifact.

In When the Vow Breaks, additional instance of Rockshatter are now prevented from appearing on Bjalfi's dead corpse after saving and reloading.

In Paranoia, game no longer crashes when Bernadette Peneles exits the city while you are following her.

For Clavicus Vile quest, fixed crash with giving or refusing to give Umbra to Clavicus Vile.

Plugin Fixes

Fixed issue with saving your game while an actor is in a new interior cell created in a plugin, and re-loading the save game without the plugin.

Fixed issue with loading previous saves with plugin that contains new base objects that are containers, NPCs and creatures.

Fixed issue with linked pathpoints scripted to switch on/off that are modified by a plugin.

NPC's companions no longer disappear when they fast travel with player to an exterior cell that is modified by a plugin.

New scripted spell effects created in a plugin now work properly.

Since we werent able to get the "Mod Of The Week" reviews done, I offered to help, and Paul let me! WooHoo!

From now on you will get full reviews of the best mods every week with no exceptions, 8-D. Khajiit has not been replaced! He and I will both be doing the reviews, alternating, so you will see my reviews every other week.

Unfortunately, my computer is messed up, so therefore I will not be posting any reviews for about three (3) weeks. But when I get it running, you get leet high-res shots!

That's all for now guys, Keep Gaming!

- Zelieo

• 3DMark05: Running the application with CrossFire enabled and then attempting to hot un-plug and then hot-plug the CRT no longer results in 3DMark05 failing to respond.
• Aquamark 3: Exiting the Start Measurement benchmark test once it is complete no longer results in the display device displaying a black desktop image with only the mouse cursor being available.
• Doom 3: Beginning a new game and selecting the shotgun in the give all console no longer results in corruption being noticed when Ultra Quality is disabled in the in game video quality settings.
• Far Cry: Installing the v1.33 patch and selecting D3D along with setting the display to 1024x768 English no longer results in the operating system failing to respond when running the benchmark.
• Catalyst® Control Center: Enabling clone mode no longer results in the refresh rate being locked at 60Hz when using an ATI Radeon® X700 series product.
• The MCE encoder no longer fails to install after the installation of the ATI display driver, WDM driver, and MMC software.