Last month’s increase in people playing Oblivion (while logged onto Live) stayed with us through February. Also, Fighter’s Stronghold and Vile Lair are now available in Europe. (Similar to other smaller DLC, they are still in English but can be played with the FIGS languages).
Top Five Oblivion Xbox Live downloads for February 2008*
1. The Fighter’s Stronghold
2. The Wizard’s Tower
3. Spell Tomes
4. Vile Lair
5. Thieves Den
*ranked by number of times downloaded
If you followed Microsoft’s GDC press conference this week, you probably heard a little about their XNA service for the 360. XNA is a way for the community to create their own games, have their games reviewed by their peers, and then make them available for other 360 owners to download. Kind of like YouTube…but with games. If you’re interested in developing games via XNA, you can download XNA Game Studio 2.0 for free — though a paid membership to the XNA Creators club is also required ($49 for 4 months or $99 for 12 months). As I understand it, released XNA games would then be something you’d be able to purchase via Xbox Live.
Wait a minute, isn’t Bright Shiny Games all about trying things cool things on the cheap (and preferably free)??? Well, as announced during Microsoft’s keynote, there are seven XNA-developed demos available on Xbox Live. Some of the demos are relatively short, but you get enough time with each game to get a flavor of what they’re like. I’ve spent a few hours over the past few days playing them, and I’d recommend that anyone with Live do the same.
Fighter’s Stronghold stays #1, surpassing #2, Vile Lair, by almost twice as much. We did notice a sizeable increase in the number of players on Xbox Live, playing Oblivion, after the holidays. Thanks to everyone to purchased/gifted Oblivion to someone. 
Top Five Oblivion Xbox Live downloads for January 2008*
1. The Fighter’s Stronghold
2. Vile Lair
3. The Wizard’s Tower
4. Spell Tomes
5. Mehrunes Razor
*ranked by number of times downloaded
Major Nelson reported Oblivion is #7 on the list of top Xbox Live games of 2007. For 2006, Oblivion was #5 on the list. Amazingly, we are the sole single player game in the list. Thanks to all our fans out there who continue to give Oblivion life.
2007 Top Xbox 360 Titles (UU’s)
1 Halo 3
2 Gears of War
3 Call of Duty 4
4 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas
5 Call Of Duty 3
6 Crackdown
7 Oblivion
8 Guitar Hero II
9 Forza Motorsport 2
10 Lost Planet
Thanks to Major Nelson.
Here’s a few interesting items I noticed while catching up on things after being away the past few days.
Game Informer has listed their top ten games they’re looking forward to in 2008 for the 360. Fallout 3 cracked the list at #3. Here’s a short sample of what they had to say:
“When word got out that Bethesda was working on Fallout 3, critics assumed the worst and the “Oblivion with guns” cry was born. Having sat through a demo of the game, we can’t say who’s right here, if making such a determination is even possible. All we know is that seeing your character step out of the nuke-proof vault for the first time in his life is a breathtaking gaming moment. We’re eager to explore this terrible world all over again, through a new set of eyes.”
On the Elder Scrolls front, both Oblivion and Shivering Isles have picked up some year end accolades and nominations. At IGN, the PS3 release came away with the Best RPG award. Sticking with PS3, it was also a runner-up in the Game of the Year, Best Graphics Technology, Best Original Score categories. In their PC category, Shivering Isles was a runner-up in the Best Expansion category. On 360, Shivering Isles was a runner-up in the Best RPG and Best DLC categories.
Over at Gamespot, Oblivion and Shivering Isles also received some recognition. On PS3, Oblvion is one of five finalists for PS3 Game of the Year. As for Shivering Isles, it was recognized in two categories, Best Expansion and Best DLC, on Xbox 360.
Fighter’s Stronghold stays at #1 for November, selling more than twice as much as #2, Spell Tomes. I’m still amazed that tens of thousands of people still play Oblivion, to date.
Fun Fact: The average length of a typical Oblivion play session is around 1 1/2 hours**.
Top Five Oblivion Xbox Live downloads for November 2007*
1. The Fighter’s Stronghold
2. Spell Tomes
3. The Wizard’s Tower
4. Mehrunes’ Razor
5. Thieves Den
*ranked by number of times downloaded
**per unique user playing Oblivion while logged onto Xbox Live, worldwide
Fighter’s Stronghold was the Oblivion DLC highlight for October. Hope you were one of the several hundred thousand folks who grabbed it while it was free. My personal favorite download, The Wizard’s Tower, replaced Knights of the Nine in the top 5.
Top Five Oblivion Xbox Live downloads for Oct. 2007*
1. Fighter’s Stronghold
2. Spell Tomes
3. Vile Lair
4. The Wizard’s Tower
5. Mehrunes’ Razor
*ranked by number of times downloaded
Ash just dropped me a note to say we’ve gotten an update from Microsoft and Fighter’s Stronghold is now available, for free, in the following countries as well:
Belgium
Denmark
Finland
Ireland
Norway
Netherlands
Sweden
Hong Kong
Korea
Taiwan
Singapore
So, if you’re in these countries get on Live and download that puppy by Sunday. It will be a while before we can have it out in localized territories, but we’ll let you know when and will make sure you get your shot at “free” too.
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.
Designers
Kurt Kuhlmann
Alan Nanes
Level Designer
Jeff Browne
Artists
Tony Greco
Jonah Lobe
Juan Sanchez
Producer
Jeff Gardiner
QA
Kevin Kauffman
Chris Krietz
Ryan Ashford
James Costantino
Jon DeVriendt
Dan Geske
Mike McGinn
Aaron Mitschelen
Jennifer Noland
Matt Ouzounian
John Pisano
Ryan Salvatore
Chris Steidel
Alexander Tran
Jesse Tucker
Matt Weil
Fred Zeleny
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.