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Gavin Carter Discusses Elder Scrolls
Conspiracy_Of_Doves writes to tell us Brett Thomas over at Bit-Tech recently interviewed Elder Scrolls producer, Gavin Carter. From the article: "The size, scope and sheer graphical grunt required for Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion requires gigahertz of processing power to run, good bandwidth to update and expand, and gigabytes of hard disk space to store. Things that a console didn't really have...until now." The interview takes a look at the development with respect to the two different platforms, PC and Xbox 360.
gigabytes of hard disk space to store
XBox 360 core dosn't have gigbytes of disk space.
I shouldn't even reply to this, but I'm a woman and I'm looking forward to this game. Yes, I take the occasional shower every day.
And for all of the dirty D&D geeks out there, I already have a boyfriend.
"And for all of the dirty D&D geeks out there, I already have a boyfriend."
Ah, but one must ask, are his D20s big enough for you?
(And there goes my "always respectful" track record.)
As a college undergrad, I was interested in the Elder Scrolls 2 from watching others play. I never really had a computer that could run it. In Grad school, sans flies, I bought a computer to run Elder Scrolls 3 and was so looking forward to playing a computer/console RPG of the likes I had dreamed of since 8th grade...but when I tried it, I realized, I just couldn't get absorbed. It required such an investment of time and interest that my busy life wouldn't allow. Also, I actually felt guilty playing because I knew how much valuable 'real time' was going to waste. I guess I'm too old to play these games now. Too bad my last fling was Ultima 9. Kind of cool, but not what I had dreamed of playing. Don't you wish the sheeny scales would flute madly?
I'm gay, you insensitive clod!
If you want to try the one that started it all, go here. Its free. Windoze only and you need DOSBox.
...both interiorlly, and exteriorlly.
Why exactly won't the XBox 360 have these lighting features? The GPU in the 360 is a next generation video card made by ATI, like nothing on the market right now. Do you have some insider knowledge that it won't have abilities of current DirectX 9 video cards?
Wonder how Microsoft feels about them knocking the release date back another 6 months. I was at the local EBGames recently, and they were mentioning how many people had already called to cancel their xbox360 preorders - and this was just a day or two after the delay was "discovered". I say discovered, because the publisher, Take 2, mentioned it on their financial statement, but it took a week and >45 200 post topics on the elder scrolls forum to choke a response out of Bethesda. Even then, their response was to sliently change the release date in the FAQ. Just in the past day or so the PR guy made a statement, but I think the damage has already been done. Knocking it back another 6 months gives me time to save up for some new hardware to run the PC version instead of buying the 360 like I had planned.
-William Brendel
Without Oblivion, XBOX 360 has no real "system seller".
No Halo? no Oblivion? Perfect Dark Zero could be cool, but I don't
see nearly the same level of excitement for it.
I think this is going to have a huge impact on the bottom line
for initial Xbox sales.
I don't know about everyone else here, but for me the first Xbox
was about Halo and Morrowind.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
I shouldn't have to say this, but your statement announcing you are "a woman" on Slashdot is akin to saying you're available and looking.
So stating "I already have a boyfriend" only indicates to the rest of us that you're looking for a geekier one than you already have.
My dog does that. What kind did you get?
Modern copyright is theft of culture from everyone and it retards the progress of the useful arts and sciences.
"No one likes working in a hamster wheel, and your shop smells of cedar shavings from here." - TaleSpinner
"If I comment on this, it might damage your ego."
... it's whether or not you can roll the crit hits.
Possibly. But remember, it's not the size that counts...
(Just digging my well of depravity even deeper, aren't I?)
From TFA:
Man, a generation above current PC's! So what has it got?
or is this standard journalists who don't understand quoting people who don't understand?
Apparently you seem to know nothing about the game and just posted something half-assedly controversial to get modded up.
The game has many novel features. First, every single NPC in the game has its own life cycle including eating meals, working, sleeping, idle activities (note that I said idle activities, not just idle actions such as those in Far Cry). This enhances the 'immersion' factor, which was a VERY big part of Morrowind. Oblivion takes place over a fairly large amount of land (the # of sq. mi. is at Oblivion's website), has a weather system, open-endedness that Morrowind had (feels a lot like Fallout in the sense that you have lots of stuff to do other than the 'main quest').
The physics engine is awesome even without cloth physics. Trees, grass, arrows, etc. If you look at one of the gameplay videos here you will see a demo where the player character fires arrows into a bucket hanging from the ceiling or something, and the bucket sways and the row buckles etc. from the arrows hitting it. You can then walk up to the bucket, and you will notice that depending on how the arrows penetrated the wood in the bucket (angle, force, etc.), the bucket is tilting or perhaps moving slowly to a stop. When the player character removes the arrows from the bucket, the bucket moves to reflect each arrow you pull out, taking a different 'tilted' position or whatever as per physics. I don't know about you, but the job they did in modifying Havok is pretty damn good.
Graphics: you have to be retarded if you think the game is just bloom effects. First, you might have noticed the large number of textures and colors in the world (in the cities for example). Graphics = technical quality (engine) + artwork (textures). Second, the tree generation (I believe they are using Speedtree like Gothic and Unreal 2007) is awesome, it actually feels like a forest instead of a few scattered trees with few leaves on them. Lastly, you may have noticed that the shader effects are present almost everywhere, whereas in Morrowind they were (mostly) confined to the water. There is soft-shadowing, self-soft-shadowing, and a host of other effects you would want in a tier-1 game as well.
Sound: If you check out the videos I pointed above, you will hear some of the same songs that were in Morrowind. These songs are extremely well done, and conducive to the atmosphere of the game. Oblivion apparently has many more songs now, as expected, and an awesome all-star cast of narrators that really make characters come through more realistically.
For those who enjoy games like Baldur's Gate, Fallout, or really any of the Black Isle works, Morrowind and Oblivion are a must-play.