Category Archives: Uncategorized

Oblivion Japan makes top 10 sales charts

xbox360_japan_sales_02.jpg

Per Media Create, here are the top 10 games sold in Japan from last week. Oblivion JP debuted at #7 on the charts – the top (and only) Xbox 360 game on the charts. Not bad for only being on sale for 3 days or so.

01. Mario Party 8 (Wii) – 265,000 / NEW
02. Everybody’s Golf 5 (PS3) – 152,000 / NEW
03. Taiko Drum Master DS (DS) – 94,000 / NEW
04. It’s A Wonderful World (DS) – 77,000 / NEW
05. Mobile Suit Gundam MS Front 0079 (Wii) – 46,000 / NEW
06. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PSP) – 45,000 / NEW
07. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Xbox 360) – 40,000 / NEW
08. The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS) – 37,000 / 668,000
09. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball 14 (PS2) – 34,000 / 187,000
10. Wii Sports (Wii) – 32,000 / 1,943,000

Continue reading full article ›

Star Trek: Conquest Coming to Wii, PS2

conquest_01B.jpg

Maybe this one doesn’t come as a shocker to Trek fans who caught a sneak peek of the game’s box art last week, but today we’ve officially announced Star Trek: Conquest. Our latest Trek game delivers a combination of action and strategy set during the “Next Generation” era. Here’s a snippit from the press release:

“Players take control of Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, Dominion, and Breen forces and lead them in a campaign to control the Galaxy, one planet at a time. Build and manage your growing empire in turn-based strategy, fully utilizing the Wii Remoteâ„¢ as you select and maneuver your starships throughout the large, galactic map.”

Conquest marks the first time a Star Trek game will be released on the Nintendo Wii — taking advantage of the console’s unique control scheme. For those still struggling to find a Wii at their local gaming store, fear not, the game will also be available on the Playstation 2.

We’ll have more details on Conquest in the weeks to come. In the meantime, check out the press release and forums.

New Official Fallout Site; Todd Howard Team Diary

thoward-08.01.077.jpg

So after, oh, 4 1/2 months of work, we finally got the official Fallout 3 site done and out the door. Todd, Lindsay, Istvan, and I have been working on this thing since March, and finally got it just the way we wanted.

I think it’s a really cool site, probably the best one we’ve ever done. Many thanks to Lindsay for the 10,000 revisions she had to do until everyone was happy, to Istvan for making sure the look and feel was just right, and Natalia for pulling together all the Vault Boy images we needed.

You’ll find lots of links to all the coverage that’s come out so far, screens you’ve probably seen, new wallpapers you probably haven’t, the teaser trailer, etc. The usual stuff, but lots more to come over the coming months.

We wanted Todd to kick off the Diary section with his thoughts on undertaking the task of making Fallout 3 and what that means to him, and us. Here’s a snippit:

The massive expectations of what this game means to everyone who loved Fallout, RPGs, and gaming-in-general is not lost on us. It’s impossible to discuss the game with anyone without them referencing Oblivion and/or the Fallout legacy. In many ways, it’s the sequel to both games. It’s our “next” RPG after Oblivion while also being the sequel to one the greatest games in the history of electronics. No pressure.

Head over to the new site to read the rest. Drop us a line when you’re done and let us know what you think.

Direct2Drive Arrives in UK

buy.jpg

Yesterday IGN announced that their download service for PC games, Direct2Drive, has expanded its reach to the UK. What does this mean? Well, if you’re not one for getting out to a local game shop, you can now download Oblivion and The Shivering Isles from the convenience of your home.

Visit here to start downloading if you’re across the pond from us. For those that are stateside, you’ll want to visit the original Direct2Drive site here.

Keep in mind that if you’re downloading Oblivion and/or Shivering Isles from Direct2Drive, there’s a patch available with each download that is specific to the D2D version.

Interview with Matt Firor

mattfiror.jpg

So an announcement went out today about our new sister division, ZeniMax Online Studios. I thought it might be nice to find out a little bit about the newest member of the family and ‘that guy I’ve seen in the cafeteria from time to time.’ Matt was nice enough to answer some questions, while deftly evading others (curses!).

Is it pronounced Fire-or, or Fire-er, or…?

More like Fire-roar. Or, you can just call me Matt. Much easier.

Tell us a little bit about your background.

Most of my game industry career was spent at Mythic Entertainment, where I was the Producer of Dark Age of Camelot, an MMO that launched in 2001. Prior to that I was Producer and/or a designer of 12 other online games including Aliens Online, Silent Death Online, and Magestorm. I was at Mythic from 1995-2006. Prior to that I was a founder of a multi-user BBS game development company with some friends that eventually became one of the two companies that merged to form Mythic. I go back a long way in multi-user gaming; our first project was in 1987, when I was in college.

Hit the jump for the rest of the interview….

Continue reading full article ›

Golden Joystick Nominations

golden.jpg

For those that don’t know, the Golden Joystick Awards is an award show out of the UK that honors the best games of the year — as voted by gamers. Last year Oblivion took home three Golden Joysticks: Best PC Game, Best Xbox Game, and Ultimate Game of the Year. Even though none of us were able to attend, it’s still very cool to win and we were all excited.

We got a five nominations this year. Fallout 3 received a nomination for the “Ones To Watch” category, Shivering Isles received two nominations (Best Xbox Game and Best PC Game), and the PS3 release of Oblivion received two nods as well (Best Playstation Game and Soundtrack of the Year).

Want your favorite game to take home a Golden Joystick on October 26? Visit here to vote.

Oblivion Fan Faction — ‘Oblivion Tales’

smMillonaUmbranox.jpg

Spotted some new fan fiction last night that I thought I’d point out. Over on his (and Ruzena’s) blog, Jeremy has put up what looks like the first of several works of fiction where he takes his in-game experiences in Oblivion and turns them into stories he calls ‘Oblivion Tales.’

The first entry recounts his efforts to assassinate the Countess of Anvil, Millona Umbranox (pic above grabbed from UESP). Here’s a snippit:

The birds chirping outside the window awaken me and I leave the warmth of my bed, slowly descending the stairs of the Inn. A slight nod is given to the owner of the Inn, before I step back outside. Short conversation is exchanged with the man outside, before I notice the Imperial Legion Guard coming across the bridge on horseback. Luck could not be any more on my side, this day. After saying my goodbyes to the man, I pull my shield and dart off into the woods.

Read the full entry here and check back to see what happens next in ‘Oblivion Tales.’

Inside the Vault: Christopher Krietz

krietz.jpg

This edition of Inside the Vault features Christopher Krietz. Chris was one of our best testers on Oblivion, and is currently our QA Lead for Oblivion Game of the Year. After GOTY ships, Chris will be focusing his ninja testing powers onto Fallout 3.

Chris once won a pie for winning a three way race against Todd Howard and Jeff Browne to finish Oblivion’s main quest (during beta testing). His winning time as of the end of the final cutscene and movie: 02:12:29 (difficulty slider allowed, no console cheats).

Continue reading full article ›

Interview with Akatosh Mount mod creator – Saiden Storm

saiden.jpg

The modding community is an important part of The Elder Scrolls, especially for Morrowind and Oblivion. I am in awe of modders who are able to build amazing things on their own. Some of the talent out there is just phenomenal, and the members of the team who we’ve hired from the fan community continually exceed our expectations.

One of our designers emailed around this incredible video of the Akatosh Mount mod that lets you summon a dragon that falls from the sky. And, as if that wasn’t cool enough, it lets you get on the dragon and fly around. Very impressive. The creator of this amazing mod – Saiden Storm (AKA Kevin Tolbert) – agreed to answer some questions for us so we could find out a bit more about the mod and the modder. The way he created this mod illustrates how strong and collaborative the Elder Scrolls modding community is. You can see videos of all his mods on YouTube.

UPDATE: Updated post with a picture of Saiden. Cheers!

Continue reading full article ›

Share Your Wisdom

yoda.jpg

Those interested in getting into the modding scene with Oblivion, I just noticed that The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Files has launched a new tutorial team for helping out. If you’re interested in becoming a tutor, check out this link:

Sounds like a cool opportunity. And remember, if you have stuff that you liked to contribute to the modding community, you can always visit other sites like our very Construction Set Wiki.