ROCKVILLE, MD. (Aug. 17, 2005) - Bethesda Game Studios announced today that actress Lynda Carter will lend her voice talents to the award-winning videogame, The Elder Scrolls® IV: Oblivion�. 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®.

Already receiving accolades in the games industry, Oblivion was recently voted "RPG of Show" by the Best of E3 Game Critics Awards, and Xbox.com called the game "one of the best-looking games ever seen." Created by Bethesda Softworks, Oblivion will launch this holiday season.

Lynda Carter will join an all-star cast of Hollywood actors to give voice to the Nordic race in Oblivion. Carter is a veteran in The Elder Scrolls series, having previously voiced a character in the highly successful Morrowind, which sold more than 4 million units.
"Working on Morrowind was a wonderful experience," said Carter. "It was my first foray into videogames, and it was great fun to be part of a groundbreaking title that brought millions of gamers to explore the endless world. I am honored to come back and participate in the making of Oblivion which represents another major step forward in the evolution of videogames."

Best known for her starring role as the crime-fighting superhero, "Wonder Woman," in the hit television series, Carter has since appeared in more than 50 films and television shows. This summer, Carter stars in the Disney film, "Sky High" and in "The Dukes of Hazzard" for Warner Bros, both of which have enjoyed box office success and are currently listed in the top five movies based on box office revenues. This fall Carter returns to television drama in "Law and Order" and "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit," with both programs slated for broadcast in September 2005.

"With the many projects Lynda is currently involved in, we are thrilled she was able to find time to join our cast again," said Todd Howard, executive producer for Oblivion. "Our goal with Oblivion is to deliver the most unique and lifelike gaming experience, so adding her talent and personality to some of our characters was a perfect fit."
Oblivion allows gamers to explore a graphically stunning world that helps define the next generation of videogames. To complete the game's mission, the player must trek through mystical forests and dimly lit dungeons, interact with a variety of inhabitants, and use might and magic against foul beasts in order to replace the lost heir to the throne.

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

"Bethesda is also attempting to reinvent how you'll level up, by dispensing with experience points and replacing them with a revamped system. "Basically, you improve your skills by using your skills," says Howard. "So, killing a skeleton with your sword and shield doesn't give you 100 experience points, but it does improve your skill, more specifically, at using a sword and shield. As those skills improve, your character levels up, and you'll eventually be able to do new things with those skills. So, if you get really good at blocking, there's a chance that when you block an attack your character will knock the enemy back with their shield. It's like an extra attack, and it's based on your skill, not on hitting some combination of keys." Sounds good to us."

Up against huge competitors in the cutthroat gaming industry, Bethesda Softworks, founded in 1986, is a long-shot survivor. The little outfit has quietly built a solid following in the video game industry, and its upcoming "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" is a sword-and-sorcery epic that could launch it into the big-time.

"Roughly estimated, how many quests are in the game and can we still join the factions that were found in Morrowind?

I don’t know what the exact number of quests is. We still measure our gameplay hours by the hundreds, so you can spend hundreds of hours exploring the game and doing all the quests. As far as factions, there are four guilds you can join in Oblivion: mages, fighters, thieves, and dark brotherhood (assassin’s guild). You can join each of them and experience their storylines and rise to the head of each guild, which has its own reward."

"CG: Stealth is all about statistics, shadow, and sound. Does what you are wearing make an impact on the overall ability to sneak up on an enemy and give him a good smack to remember you by?

Yes, your armor factors into your stealth rating. Unless you’re at the absolute pinnacle of thieving skills, wearing heavy, clunky armor is going to alert people to your presence very quickly.

CG: There are over 200 hand-crafted, trap-laden, player-crunching dungeons in Oblivion. Are all of these tied to various missions or objectives, or do some of them just offer up loot, experience, and the chance to spring traps on unsuspecting foes?

Not all of them are tied to quests. A lot of the dungeons are just out there to explore and loot when you stumble across them. The percentage involved in quests is higher than what it was in Morrowind, however.

CG: You can hire mercenaries in Oblivion. Are we to assume that you can hire different character classes and races to fill gaps in our own skills? For example – hiring a Nord fighter to run up front and take damage while I work on that room-engulfing fireball?

We’re not doing traditional “run-behind-me-and-attack-guys� mercenaries in the game. A couple of quests feature guys you can hire, though. We’ve come up with some interesting ways to use them within the context of quests."

"The sheer visual richness of the environments is a big deal because one of the great pleasures of the Elder Scrolls series - particularly Morrowind - is exploring.

The huge, contiguous, freely-traversable world lets you wander around and discover things for yourself. Oblivion's extraordinary sense of place, absurd level of detail and palpable atmosphere are going to combine to make in-game tourism an unprecedented thing of wonder."