Oblivion 360 confusion sorted

By Ellie Gibson Published 14 October, 2005

Not a launch day title, oh no.

Bethesda Softworks has put an end to rumours that the Xbox 360 version of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will be in the shops on the same day as the console itself.

Blame US online retailers for starting it all - they cited a release date of November 22, which is of course the day the 360 goes on sale in the States. But now EB Games is posting a date of December 5, although it's still saying the PC version will launch on November 21.

But Bethesda said EB games was always being a little optimistic with the 360 date - and that the studio has planned to release the game in December all along.

"Our official release date is still holidays this year," PR and marketing VP Pete Hines told US website 1up.

"Nothing's changed."

So when can we expect to see Oblivion over here? Well, it's still down as a "Quarter 4" release in Europe, so we might well get it by Christmas. Fingers crossed...

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (18) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eighthours #1 6 years ago

    Yeah, I've been hearing December 5 as a possible date for the UK as well, which would be a strange day of the week for this country to have a game released on. Could well end up here on December 9.

  • SIDEARM #2 6 years ago

    Holidays is what theyve always said. But in America they include thanksgiving in 'holidays' so november 22 is still just as likely. This article tells us absolutely nothing.

    In fact just this week at the new york media event Bethesda said the title was 99% likely to hit day 1 for 360. That 1% is apparently any major certification problems.
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/05 @ 16:32

  • Hicksy #3 6 years ago

    I'm going to go for the pc version anyhow

    1) Cause it's cheaper
    2) Cause it's patchable
    3) Cause they're will more than likely be pc expansion packs
    4) It'll (probably) look and run better

    :o)

  • SIDEARM #4 6 years ago

    360 version will have downloadable content (already confirmed armour for horses) and expansions. Will also look as good as possible for the resolution (720p or 1080i) as already stated by the developer. You wont find a PC this year that runs it as well due to the 360's head start with the next generation of GFX cards

  • ave #5 6 years ago

    err sidearm, x360's gpu is a cut down version of the new x1800 line, likewise with the PS3's gpu and nvidia's 7800 line.

    Even sli 6800gt's do better than a solo 7800GTX currently.

  • Vin #6 6 years ago

    Clear as mud, then.

  • SIDEARM #7 6 years ago

    Uh no its not
    From [H]ard|OCP:

    "If I have read it once, I have read it a thousand times, “The Xbox 360 is just ATI’s next generation (fill in favorite code name here) GPU.” The simple answer to that is, “No it is not.” While most modern GPUs share many architectural similarities, Bob Feldstein and Chris Evenden of ATI went out of their way to explain to me, no matter how hard I tried to convince them otherwise, that the Xbox 360 GPU is very much an original creation. While some will try to tell you that is it simply a modified DirectX 9 GPU, you might be interested to learn that the only API spec that the Xbox 360 hardware meets is its own API. That is correct, the Xbox 360 GPU only meets it own Xbox 360 API specifications. While of course some lessons learned in DX9 and upcoming DX10 were applied, the GPU of the Xbox 360 is very much its own and comparing it directly to anything in the PC world is simply “not right” according to Mr. Feldstein. Obviously, the Xbox 360 can be thought of as a very innovative solution specifically for the Xbox and only the Xbox."

    In addition the X360 GPU has many features that PC graphics cards dont have and wont have in the forseeable future such as the Smart 3D Memory incorporating the 3D logic unit which allows amongst other things: "Yes, the 10MB of Smart 3D Memory can do 4X Multisampling Antialiasing at or above 1280x720 resolution without impacting the GPU. Therefore, not only will all of your games on Xbox 360 be in High Definition, but they also will have 4XAA applied." [H]ard|OCP again.
    Also it uses an advanced unified shader architecture which allows programmers to really customise its output to their needs.

    It is completely incomparable to any gen of PC graphics cards and is certainly not cut down from anything.
    Sorry ave but I think youve been misinformed on this one.
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/05 @ 17:24

  • bootsy_NL_30 #8 6 years ago

    Hard|OCP is an excellent site but this article that your quoting is quite old , and even though the OCP is an excellent site when it comes to getting readable/understandable information about GPU's etc it is in essence straight from ATI ...of course their going to say that it can do more than a top of the bill PC card...

    the reality is that there is no way that GPU of the Xbox is going to be competing with top of the bill PC cards in SLI ...but the architecture (risc) and the way that GPU and CPU of the 360 comunicate with each other is going to run 3D games faster than a PC (for about the next 4 months or even shorter since developers are already lining up to program for the new PC Physics Processors )

    but pound for pound just looking at benchmarks two (overclocked) 6800's will get a faster 3d mark score...but then your kind of missing the point ....that risc processor and 512mb (!!!!) ram is going to walk all over a pair of 6800GT's or XT's...

    I do think that the physics cards are going to revolutionise PC gaming and the SLI's etc are really just for hobby gamers with too much cash and an unhealthy obsession with statistics and numbers (and of course the mines bigger than yours mentality)
    Edited by 1 at 14/10/05 @ 17:56

  • Xerx3s #9 6 years ago

    Dont care. The games are region free right? So ill get one of the yank versions. Simple.

    Hicksky: They said in an interview that it ll support xbl, so patches, good expansions and such will most likely be availble in time. Also, i doubt that there are a ot of pc's that can run the 360's lvl of detail (seriously, bethesda is known for their great games, not their skill in good coding ;p).

    "err sidearm, x360's gpu is a cut down version of the new x1800 line, likewise with the PS3's gpu and nvidia's 7800 line. " - So, how many ppl can afford to spend that money on only a GPX card. And dont say its good money cause you need to buy the rest of the pc too. So, for far less money, you could play it on yer telly with nice fx.

  • dllord #10 6 years ago

    Bethesda said the 360 version was tha best! so there!

  • UncleLou #11 6 years ago

    Bethesda said the 360 version was tha best! so there!

    No, they didn't. They said the versions would be identical, but that you'd need a pretty good PC to make it look as good as the Xbox 360 version. Just as you need a pretty expensive HDTV to make the Xbox version look good. ;)

  • TardKommando #12 6 years ago

    Still a bit confused about which version to get. (Got 200 odd hours out of Morrowind so have been waiting for this for a long time.)

    I am tending towards the PC version because of the amount of mod availibility but after reading this thread am now wondering if an AMD 64 3200+, x800pro and 1gig will be ok to get the same level of detail that was displayed in the videos that have been floating around? (Running at 1280 because of lcd.)

  • dllord #13 6 years ago

    "No, they didn't. They said the versions would be identical, but that you'd need a pretty good PC to make it look as good as the Xbox 360 version. Just as you need a pretty expensive HDTV to make the Xbox version look good. ;)"

    No!!!! just any PC monitor with a res of 1280x720 and VGA will be surfice for the 360!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


  • Subquest #14 6 years ago

    Running a console on a PC monitor is kinda lame though, don't you think? Do you move the monitor into the living room, or the console into the office?

    Seems like those folks angling after a proper next-gen high-res console experience are going to have to factor in £££ for a HDTV, as Unclelou suggests. Doesn't seem so cheap now, does it?


  • nightsparkle #15 6 years ago

    enough arguing about which version will be best... 'lets talk about oblivion! i can't wait to play it! altough i'm not going to get to, because of the cash. i'm super exited about it (not about tv.com) morrowind was an awesome game. i know they're now gonna make it more possible to focus on magic or on melee or stealth. 2 things i hope they change are 1 the combat which could have been more exciting and 2 the dice-rolling system which was great but they should close the gaps in it. (like making money with buying cheaper and selling higher (and repeat) to the same salesman, opening locks that you shouldn't be able to open on your level by trying a few times, making super potions by making a potion to raise your intelligence and with that higher intelligence make even better potions (repeat). and what more...)

  • PES_Fanboy #16 6 years ago

    Seems like those folks angling after a proper next-gen high-res console experience are going to have to factor in £££ for a HDTV, as Unclelou suggests. Doesn't seem so cheap now, does it?

    Correct, as are those that are angling after a proper next-gen SKY experience in 2006. It's not like you can only use an HDTV for the consoles, I for one bought my HDTV waaaaay before any details on the XBOX 360 / PS3 high-res came out.

    Never used the HD option - but as I was out for a new telly, what on earth would the point be of buying one that doesn't do high-res?

  • nightsparkle #17 6 years ago

    seriously people arguing over such minor things.. if you ask me, hdtv and pc aren't wordt the cash. what we need isn't a higher resolution, it's a fuller design. more (moving or not) things on the screen.

    onto oblivion. anyone played morrowind?

  • Jmog #18 6 years ago

    "Dont care. The games are region free right?"

    Ehr, no they're not. Or rather, they haven't said anything about it, so we have every reason to believe that they are'nt. It really is up to each publisher whether they want to region lock the games or not, so they most likely will as they always have in the past.

    Microsoft on the other hand might do what they did with the Xbox and make all of their own releases region free.