"Elite Bastards: Can you give us an overview of the main features used by the games graphics engine (i.e. Shader Models, texture sizes, HDR etc)?

Gavin Carter: Oblivion’s renderer is a mix of the Gamebryo renderer with a healthy dose of our own internally developed technology. The engine fully supports shader models up to and including 3.0. We employ a full HDR lighting solution throughout the game. Textures utilize all the latest shader technology including normal maps, specular maps, and parallax maps. We’re hammering away on our soft-shadow model. There shouldn’t be any technological buzzword out there that current games are using that we don’t have built into our renderer."

"If you're wondering what happened with that Russian site that posted the screenshots and preview over the past couple days:
The preview that appeared on the Russian gaming site AG.ru was based on a build that was not intended or set up for demonstration purposes. The screenshots very clearly show visual inconsistencies resulting from non-finalized content and incorrect configuration settings. As such, please do not spread them around or post links on this forum to places where they can be found. Thanks!"

"In the past couple days, an unfinished build of Oblivion was leaked to a Russian gaming site. You may have seen screenshots and information about this build online. The site in question was not authorized in any way to post the information that it did. The build in question was not in any way intended to be used for the purposes of demoing the game.

The screenshots that got posted clearly show that the game was not properly configured by whoever was playing. The ini file alone contains over 300 settings that can be used to customize the visuals and performance of the game, and we tweak and test and change these settings daily. Because the build they are using was not one that we locked away for the specific purposes of demonstration, the likelyhood that any number of those options are incorrectly configured is very high. This can result in any manner of aberrant behavior from the game including improper visuals and reduced performance.

The upshot is that we feel the quality of the screenshots released is very far from the final game. This combined with the fact that the they are completely unauthorized by anyone representing Bethesda to publish screenshots or info means that we have to shut down threads relating to this leak.

Hopefully soon, as we get closer to release, you will see legit sites posting previews based on actual preview builds of the final game."

"There are five skill thresholds you'll need to reach in order to access the higher level benefits skill specialization yields. While your skill may start at five or 15 depending on what you've assigned yourself, it needs to reach 20 to access the next tier of skill benefits. The tier names are novice, apprentice, journeyman, expert, and master. As an example, if you're able to increase your armorer skill the master level, you can repair items beyond 100 percent, whereas at lower levels you may only be able to restore it to 50 percent and be restricted from repairing magical items. At the highest levels of the mercantile skill you're even able to invest in stores and turn a profit."

"The details present in Oblivion will make the game. You will immediately notice that the dungeons are far more dark than in Morrowind. If you would like to do some deep dungeon work you’d better have the Eye of Night ability like my Khajiit, or a torch. The dungeons look wet and slimy, the walls are slick and well textured.

As you work through the dungeon you’ll get to experience sword fighting. It is a bit more advanced than Morrowind with parry and strike timing playing a more important role. With the new casting system in place, you can switch from active spell to sword strikes without having to equip and unequip. The controls on the game are set up and maintained externally. You set up a profile in the Xbox 360 system, and that profile is saved and mapped to the game instead of each game having to be set up individually. This means if you don’t like inverted controls, you only have to set that option once."

"Like previous Elder Scrolls titles, in Oblivion your character starts out in jail. You start by choosing your character’s race, and then customize your character’s appreance. There’s a ton of customization options here and virtually unlimited faces you can create with the tools given to you. In fact, all the faces in the game were created with this tool so no two NPCs look alike. After setting up your character’s appearance the story starts. The Emperor’s sons have been killed, so the Emperor is being taken away to a safe place. Of course, the secret passage out for the Emperor is right through your jail sail. The Emperor (voice by Patrick Stewart) seesBut we're getting ahead of ourselves."

"Going up to the cell gate, we could hear another prisoner from across the way chiding our character. What makes Oblivion unique is that even a NPCs dialogue will change depending on your race and other character makeup. It appears the prisoner wasn’t too fond of our Imperial self and continued to harass us until the Emperor and his Royal Blades (guards) made an appearance. We were asked to stand aside as the Septim was escorted through a hidden escape passage in our cell. Prior to stepping underground a quick conversation is exchanged with the Emperor in which he expands on his visions, the plight of his family, and the fact that he knows you will determine the fate of Tamriel. We followed the convoy along the underground route until a few of the guards were ambushed by assassins hiding in the darkness. This gave us the opportunity to loot the remains of a fallen soldier (A button to pick up, use, or activate) in order to grab a sword. "