September 30, 2005 (Rockville, MD) - To create the perfect tone and timbre for its upcoming epic role playing game, The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion�, Bethesda Game Studios announced today an all-star voice cast of British stage and screen legends. Developed for both the Xbox 360� videogame and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC platforms, Oblivion is one of the year's most highly-anticipated games and sequel to the best-selling role playing game of 2002, Morrowind®.

Leading the lineup is Patrick Stewart, playing the role of the Emperor. Stewart is best known among genre fans as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Professor Charles Xavier from the X-Men feature films.

Providing the voice for the Emperor's lost son and heir to the throne is Sean Bean. Bean skyrocketed to the public's attention as Lord Boromir in the Academy Award-winning Lord of the Rings trilogy. While Oblivion will be his first video game role, Bean is well known for starring in a variety of films, including memorable roles in National Treasure, Goldeneye, and Patriot Games.

"Oblivion is something unique, an epic entertainment experience unlike anything I had seen before," said Bean. "I decided this was a project I really wanted to work on creatively and I hope fans of the game enjoy the results."

Terence Stamp will lend his talents to the game's heavy plot, a sinister force bent on the destruction of Tamriel, the game's geographical setting. Stamp starred in Star Wars: Phantom Menace as Supreme Chancellor Valorum and as General Zod in the legendary Superman films. Oblivion is Stamp's first foray into voice work for a video game.

"Having never done voice work for a video game before, I really had no notion of what to expect," said Stamp. "Bethesda did a great job in providing the tone and theme for the character and it was fun to give life to the villain in the story, who is a very thoughtful man from a different line of kings who seeks to realize his own vision for the empire."

Bethesda had previously announced that Lynda Carter would also be lending her voice talents to the game. Best known for her starring role as the crime-fighting superhero, "Wonder Woman," in the hit television series, Carter has appeared in more than 50 television shows and films, including this summer's hits, Sky High and Dukes of Hazzard.

"We wanted to work with voice talent that really captured the emotion and drama of the game's story," said Todd Howard, executive producer for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. "Quite honestly, we wrote the parts with these individual actors in mind. It's an honor to have them lend their talents to the project."

As the next chapter in the highly acclaimed and best-selling Elder Scrolls series, Oblivion is a single-player game that takes place in Tamriel's capital province, Cyrodiil. Gamers are given the task of finding the hidden heir to a throne that sits empty, the previous emperor having been killed by an unknown assassin. With no true Emperor, the gates to Oblivion (the equivalent of hell in the world of Tamriel) open, and demons begin to invade Cyrodiil and attack its people and towns. It's up to the player to find the lost heir and unravel the sinister plot that threatens to destroy all of Tamriel.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion has not yet been rated by the ESRB.

Gamecloud - What sort of mod support will the PC version have?

Pete Hines - We’ll be providing a new version of the TES Construction Set that PC users can use to create all kinds of plugins and mods for the game. We’ve obviously added some new functionality and changed some things to make it easier for us to make the game, and modders will enjoy the benefits of those improvements when they go to make their mods and plugins.

Gamecloud - Are there any plans for a demo of the game to be released?

Pete Hines - No, no demo. It’s really impossible for us to take a big, huge, open-ended world and try to cut it up or somehow restrict it for folks to be able to play just a little bit of it. It either is too restrictive to give a good representation of what the game is about, or it is far, far, far too big to ever release as a demo.

Gamecloud - What is the current status of the game's progress and when will it be released?

Pete Hines - Right now we’re spending all of our time on testing the game, fixing problems, and optimizing the code. Once everything is “in� the game there’s still a lot of work to do. A lot.

Why venture above ground at all when a good dungeon offers dark corridors to explore, dastardly traps to avoid, and creatures of unspeakable evil to fight? Even if you are a misguided fan of natural lighting, I think you'll come around to my way of thinking after a healthy, Oblivion dungeon romp.

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Xbox 360 launch title stuff.
PC vs Xbox 360 vs PS3.
Is gaming going stale?
What would be your perfect game.
The best way to destroy EA.
Gabe Newguy (the fat HL2 guy) vs John Carmack, who would win and why.