The Infernal City released in two days, related interview posted on BethBlog
Release of the first Elder Scrolls novel, The Infernal City by Greg Keyes, is expected in two days from now, on November 24. The book will be available both at bookstores and for digital download.
Meanwhile, BethBlog has recently posted an interview with the writer. Greg Keyes talks about his past works and about the process of writing of The Infernal City. According to the interview, two senior designers of Bethesda, Kurt Kuhlman and Bruce Nesmith, participated in the storyline’s creation. Among other interesting facts, Keyes mentions that he used fan sites, notably The Imperial Library, to study Elder Scrolls lore. He also confirmed that the second Elder Scrolls book is on the way.
Vampiric chart added, new screenshot contests
A website version of the Vampire Bonuses and Special Abilities chart initially compiled by DM8954 for Cyrodiil Forums is now available. The chart contains a list of bonuses and effects that apply to vampire characters depending on how long they remained without feeding, as well as detailed descriptions of skills that vampires might gain.
Several new screenshot contests were held on the Contests and competitions forum, including Civilization and Assassin contests. As usual, you can browse the best screenshots submitted on this page.
To conclude this news post, the Cyrodiil Forums have recently surpassed the 10,000 posts count. Not that this number is impressive compared to larger communities, but we are still growing with new members, threads and initiatives. We will maintain the traditions of independence and ad-free-ness, providing a stable and not too overcrowded place for discussions where every opinion is valued. Stay with us!
New Oblivion charts and screenshots
The website was significantly updated during the last few days, with several new pages added, and old ones renewed. The first update worth mentioning is the list of Oblivion racial special abilities originally compiled by DM8954 on Cyrodiil Forums. The list contains information on starting bonuses and weaknesses of TES IV races, as well as specific abilities granted to each race.
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To recognize the winners of our regular Oblivion screenshot contests held on the forum, Cyrodiil Chronicles now has a special page listing all winners along with their screenshots. Additionally, the page contains the best participating screenshots that did not win in their nomination.
Winter news and updates
2007 is almost over. This year was rich with TES IV console releases, with three more coming in the last 3 months. On October 16, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition (GotY) for PlayStation 3 was shipped to US retailers. On the same day, shipping of Shivering Isles for XBox 360 has started. The retail disc of Shivering Isles for 360 includes the Knights of the Nine downloadable content as well as the expansion itself. As for PS3 GotY release, it includes Shivering Isles, Knights of the Nine, and the original game. The standalone edition of Shivering Isles expansion for PlayStation 3, shipped on November 20, is probably the last The Elder Scrolls IV release in America.
In October, the last official plugin for Morrowind became available for download. Named Fighter’s Stronghold, the plugin adds a large full-detailed castle located in the Colovian Highlands west of Chorrol with many new NPCs and interior locations to explore. Fighter’s Stronghold is available from OblivionDownloads.com for $1,89.
We continue to publish Oblivion-related materials with an extensive chart of Oblivion standard Race Starting Attributes and Skill Bonuses by DM8954 that contains all starting attributes for males and females of each Oblivion race, as well as starting skill bonuses available for each race.
Have a great time playing diverse and exciting games during the Winter holidays. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Autumn news and updates
Since September 11, TES IV: Oblivion GOTY edition for PC and Xbox 360 is available from stores in North America. See news article below (August 26) to know more details about what the package contains. All details, including prices, were confirmed, with one exception: GOTY for PlayStation 3 will be available no earlier than October 2007. You can see the boxshot for PS3 version on the picture to the left.
October will see one more console release from Bethesda. Since March 26, The Elder Scrolls IV: Shivering Isles expansion was accessible for Xbox 360 users via Xbox Live! for $30 (2400 Microsoft points). According to the official press release that you can read here, the expansion for Xbox 360 will now be released at retail. The retail disc will also include Knights of the Nine addon. Price tag will be the same as on Live! ($30).
Today, Cyrodiil Forums website begins publishing extensive charts related to skills and attributes of Oblivion characters. The charts were originally compiled by DM8954 on the Cyrodiil Forums. The Chart of Oblivion Skills and Attributes contains all skills of Oblivion characters, and all related attributes. Be sure not to miss the other charts and lists that will soon follow.
Oblivion Game of the Year Edition coming soon
Summer’2007 was not too rich with Oblivion-related news. With one significant exception: Oblivion Game of the Year (GOTY) edition was announced by Bethesda on July 9.
GOTY edition will include Oblivion itself, Knights of the Nine quest line, and TES IV: Shivering Isles expansion. Downloadable content items will not be included. The new edition will be available on September 10 for PC, PlayStation 3 and XBox 360. According to Bethesda, prices are going to be $49,99 for PC, $59,99 for XBox 360 and PlayStation 3. You may read the official press release here.
The Links section of this website was updated today, with multiple dead links removed, and a few new ones added. It appears that no less than one third of Oblivion fansites, blogs and forums that were created before or shortly after game release are now gone, and most of the others were not updated for a year or more. As for Cyrodiil Chronicles, we will still be posting TES-related news and maintain our forums, which are well alive and growing.
Official price and release date of Shivering Isles
Official price and release date of Shivering Isles expansion for TES IV: Oblivion were announced in the recent fan interview on Elderscrolls.com forums. Answering questions of the fans, Todd Howard (Bethesda Softworks) said that the expansion will be released both for PC and Xbox Live! on March 27. Price for both PC and Xbox 360 versions will be $30. Some time earlier Bethesda confirmed that Oblivion for PlayStation 3 will be released on March 20, however, fate of PS3 version of Shivering Isles remains unknown.
For more information, read the original fan interview here.
Shivering Isles: the first and last official Oblivion expansion
In a recent interview for Official Xbox Magazine Pete Hines confirmed that Shivering Isles, the first full-scale expansion for TES IV: Oblivion, will also be the last one that Bethesda Softworks will be making. In the near future the studio is going to concentrate on Fallout III, the highly anticipated sequel to
one of the most well-known RP franchises of the 90th. The game was announced long ago, but no information was available except for the fact that Bethesda will be developing it; we might expect some secrets to be revealed this spring.
However, Bethesda will still be making official plugins for Oblivion – even after Shivering Isles release.
The expansion was announced on January 18 2007; it will feature a whole new Oblivion plane called Shivering Isles, home of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. In addition to new lands to explore, Shivering Isles will add more than a dozen new creatures, new items and spells. Release date of expansion pack is rumored to be March 23 2007 (both PC and Xbox 360 versions), though date was not yet officially confirmed.
Meanwhile, TES IV: Oblivion for Sony PlayStation 3 that was scheduled for release in the end of last year and delayed (much like original Oblivion last year) will be available in stores on March 20.
Many news following the long silence
Unfortunately, I was unable to update the site for the last several months due to various real life issues. I should admit that one of those issues was lack of interest in Oblivion; I played Oblivion much less than Morrowind and never got enough interested to study the deeper parts of the game, like it was with TES III. However, almost contrary to my efforts, our forums are still quite busy with almost 6 thousand posts. Since this site is still visited and since forums are active, it seemed a fair decision to get back to updating the news, even though I will be hardly able to write more about various aspects of the game itself. If you could help with that – please mail me (igissmail@gmail.com).
Those months were quite rich with various Oblivion news that we missed. You most surely know the most important of those, but a brief reminder is never out of place. First of all, an addon pack called Knights of the Nine will be available for PC on December 4. It will contain new faction (Knights of the Nine) and quests for this faction, new dungeons, monsters, NPCs, and items. Even though retail version of Knights will include all buyable mods previously released by Bethesda, this addon is hard to compare with TES III expansion packs that had large new locations to explore. Hopefully Bethesda will release a full-scale expansion sometime later in 2007-2008.
Knights of the Nine will be included in PlayStation 3 version of Oblivion that will be released in Q1 2007 (according to latest information available). Next generation console by Sony is enjoying its “worldwide launch” these weeks, with 100 thousand units available in Japan, 400 thousand more in U.S. and… well, all other parts of the world will have to wait until next spring.
Meanwhile, Oblivion has recieved its first Game of the Year awards. Like everyone predicted, few if any RPGs could compete TES IV this year, so awards don’t come unexpected. Among other news – European versions of 1.1.511 patch available, more buyable plugins released by Bethesda (now also available for Xbox Live! users from Europe), and Oblivion-themed game being developed for PlayStation Portable (PSP).
Our news posted before March 14 2006 can be found on News Archive page or in RSS feed. We are still alive, so remember to come back for more soon!
INI Tweaks article posted, new page with Oblivion downloads available
Article on Oblivion configuration file (Oblivion.ini) tweaks was posted today, and though it’s not yet complete, it already contains the most important tweaks that help to improve game performance and enable several important features. Read current version here.
Oblivion Downloads is another new Cyrodiil Chronicles page published today. It contains download links for official downloads, links to websites providing useful 3rd party software for Oblivion, and unmodded Oblivion.ini files which might be needed to restore playable values after unsuccessful modifications.