Anyone who claims they don't care about graphics, or doesn't think graphics are hugely important in a TES game, is either lying or not thinking before they speak. I've made this point before and i'll make it again: It's not an either/or option! Great graphics don't result in bad gameplay! They add to the gameplay! Some people are assuming that if Bethesda focus on making a visually stunning game, for example with dynamic shadows, godrays, high-res textures, detailed faces, waterfalls cascading realistically, waves in the oceans, castle banners whipping in the wind, then the gameplay will suffer as a result. As though the team at Bethesda only work on one aspect of the game at a time. "Right guys, let's focus on making the game look awesome for a whole year!"..."Oh shoot, now we have no time left to work on that new magic system we wanted to implement, and thanks to all that work on the visuals, we only had time to put swords in the game, so that will be the only weapon skill from now on..."

That's not how it works! You know this! There will be seperate teams for all aspects of the game. The amount of attention that the visuals receive will have no impact on the attention the gameplay receives, past the point of budgeting: how much money Bethesda invests in each aspect of the game. Considering how deep their pockets are after the combined success of Oblivion and Fallout 3, I really don't see the budget being a problem for their flagship series. Especially when gorgeous visuals sell games these days, resulting in a greater profit for every beautiful pixel.

I agree that graphics aren't the be-all and end-all, but with games like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kvl31g77Z8, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkPzruS0I4U, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itHsEbDelbQ, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a--zbG_K9kI on the horizon, all due out before TES:V, a graphics engine like Oblivion and Fallout 3's is inexcusable for such a big company. So many of you are saying that the graphics are fine as they are and don't need updating. Have you been playing games other than Oblivion recently? Uncharted 2 makes Oblivion look like it was drawn by a child. Beautiful visuals directly correlate to the level of immersion a game has, and with a role-playing-game like Oblivion immersion is incredibly important.

Part of me actually hopes they do just use a slightly updated Fallout 3 engine, just so I can see so many people contradict all their "I don't care about the graphics" elitism when the forum is filled with complaints by the very same people titled "TES:V looks ugly and outdated! Bethesda svck!" It won't happen. Todd Howard himself has stated that the visuals are the centre-piece of the Elder Scrolls series, and that he and his team will always design a TES game to blow people's minds in this department. He's the lead developer for one of the most acclaimed game development companies in the world. Believe it or not, he knows what he's talking about when he says graphics are important.

I have a question a little bit off the last topic, that I think should be asked in this thread though. Do you think the reason for the long wait is because Bethesda is waiting for next generation of consoles? I mean think about it, why should they have to optimize their colective a**es off just because hardware developers for consoles are sitting on theirs and mountains of gold? Maybe they are displeased with the level of what current consoles can provide compared to PCs? TES games have always pushed the limits for hardware (I have to buy a new PC for every single game and console players have to buy new consoles), I can't imagine devs not wanting to do so again. But they are loyal to their fans on all platforms and they won't pull a reverse-Fable 2 on console gamers *inappropriate text removed by moderator* instead they take on other projects to keep the company busy and runnig while they wait for next era in console gaming. What do you guys think?

Does anyone know when does the next game informer come out? And how often does it come out? Thanks.

Hey everyone! I've found a really good reason for gamesas to hold back the next TES a little while longer!

Don't hate me, but I really think they should after what I have seen! Please note that this is hard-to-confirm stuff and only focuses on Nvidias upcoming beast cards in the Geforce 300 series, I may like Nvidia but I don't hate ATI ok? I just don't buy their stuff and I have my reasons. Still love them for pushing Nvidia forward in the war of hardware!

Okay, while looking around for more info on the Fermi cards I stumbled upon an article at Tom's Hardware that made my jaw drop. The article seems genuine enough and I think you will all want to see this, even if you don't like Nvidia...
Here are links, one to Tom's Hardware with proper english and one to the Chinese site that first posted the news.
As always, gamesas didn't have anything to do with these links! Don't blame them if there's something you get offended by at these sites!
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/Nvidia-Fermi-CUDA-GPU-GeForce,news-32164.html?xtmc=geforce_300&xtcr=1
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbbs.pczilla.net%2Fthread-5002-1-1.html&sl=zh-CN&tl=en&history_state0=

This absolutely changes my mind, I want this in TES V!! I'll sit here like a big-eyed puppy next to the dinner table making little noises, but I won't bite the hand that feeds me! NEVER!



@ llamamomma & UnknownK
Glad someone found joy in reading my ranting! Most others here seem more focused on conflicting personal opinions about this and that... Unfortunately I'll haveto retract my initial guesstimate when it comes to when we will see the first official info on TES V, but I do so with joy in my heart becsuse the only reason for them to postpone further would be the new hardware capabilities!

I'm not lying! and I think before I speak. Graphics add to the gameplay to some extent, but as it was said before a bad game will stay a bad game even if graphics are the most awesome ever. To me, Oblivion was a bad game and even if the graphics made me '' awww '' at the time, I never been able to play it more than an hour in a row because I find it so damn boring. I'd like to see the same graphics as in Oblivion un Tes 5 because it would mean they got more time to work on other aspects on the game and would probably mean a better game overall.

Time for this thread to end. There is not much in the way of "Cumulative Speculation" to add to this thread and thus folks are talking about off topic stuff such as graphics and other such which still belongs in the "suggestions thread. And since folks seem to think that if a thread exists and there is nothing new to add to it they can just talk about anything to fill the pages...we have to end this. I edited it twice yesterday, left a note of instruction for the thread and still....off topic.

OK. After a discussion with summer we have decided to reopen this topic but under the following conditions.

This is about speculating on the next TES game and when - or if- it is going to be released, it is not a place for discussion of what is going to be in it, what type of graphics there will be or any other subject of that type, they belong in the http://www.gamesas.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=1065099. If those kind of posts get raised they will be deleted and the poster warned for going off topic.
Some of you are treating this as a personal chat box with one liners and little substance. Again, that will not be acceptable.

If you have something of value to add, then great, but there is no requirement to make posts just for the sake of it. The moderators will be keeping a close eye on this thread.

I'll just repost what I said in the Ideas and Suggestions thread:

I've been doing some research, and I think I may have some bad news regarding the progress of TESV. I don't claim to be right, this is just what I think:

Oblivion was released 3 years and 10 months after the release of Morrowind. 83 people developed Morrowind, and 143 people developed Oblivion. In contrast, 68 people developed Daggerfall and 26 people developed Arena.

Fallout 3 was developed for 4 years and 3 months, and released 2 years and 7 months after Oblivion, and 159 people developed it. This means that it's very likely that the entire team at Bethesda was devoted solely to Fallout 3, and not another game such as TESV.

In November 2008, Bethesda's team was split in half; half worked on the next game, while the other half worked on the DLC for Fallout 3.

In August 2009, the team came back together after the release of the final Fallout 3 DLC.

This means that Bethesda has only been working on their next game for 1 year as of January 1, 2010. That is, if you count the efforts of half the team as a full year of work, and not 6 months.

1 year means that there will be AT LEAST another two years of development before the next game is released, probably another 3 years. It was 2 years and 4 months after the release of Morrowind before Bethesda announced Oblivion, which means that it's likely that we wont see an announcement for another year, at least.

So, to summarize, the facts suggest that we wont see an announcement for Bethesda's next game until 2011, and that it wont be released until at least 2012.

Sources:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Five-DLC-Packs-for-Fallout-3-Are-Enough-Developer-Says-119879.shtml
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/fallout-3/credits
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/elder-scrolls-iv-oblivion/credits
http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/elder-scrolls-iii-morrowind/credits
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/elder-scrolls-daggerfall/credits
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/elder-scrolls-arena/credits

P.S.: The number of people I said developed Morrowind doesn't include the people listed under “Special Thanks,” the number of people I said developed Oblivion doesn't include the Alternate Language Test Teams, and the number of people I said developed Fallout 3 doesn't include everyone listed under “Voiceovers” and every category after.

Since were the ones buying thier games, dont we deserve to know when it will be availible or how far in production it is? Im sure the stock holders would like to know, and since they get all thier money from us, the players, not tellign us anything is wel... "HULK SMASH!"

I think that Bethesda doesnt want us to buy their games after all.

And we gave them our money for TES1, TES2, TES3 and TES4, and in return got fun game experiences. So far there hasn't been any exchange like that for TES5, we haven't given them any money for TES5 at all. So if they are working on TES5, it already caused them losses and haven't earned a dime from us for it.

And there are no stock holders, it's a private company.

gamesas won't say a peep about TES5 until they are far enough into the production so they can show screenshots and various features of the game. Showing an unfinished world with unfinished monsters and unfinished weapons and broken quests isn't really impressive.

Thats true, it wouldnt be wise to show a unfinished product. Even still though, Beth can make an announcement saying "yep TESV is in the works", just that would make the forums explode.

It would be nice, but an announcement, even just saying it's being made, isn't good unless they're far into the development. An announcement would place unnecessary stress on Bethesda, and they need to focus on making the game, not on PR.

they should at least give us a date on the next book and a brief synopsis of whats to come

I really do think it will be announced this year. I simply can't picture another year passing by without them announcing TES V (or any game). I think it's more likely to be announced in the first half of the year, but it's entirely possible they'll announce it in the second half. They've got that trademark for Skyrim which they keep renewing, which will expire in June or July, or sometime around then. I highly doubt it is just a trademark to trick us about the province it will be in; I can't picture a gaming company doing that, to be honest. Then we've got that comment: "We won't hear anything about that (Peter's big project) for a while". How you interpret that depends on how long a while is for him. Some people thought several months was "a while", which I found hard to believe, and nothing was announced within that timeframe. Me? I would think a year or somewhere there abouts could be considered a while. So yes, I think it will finally be announced this year. It could be false hope, but I can't picture no game being announced until next year, 2011. They may only develop a few games compared to companies like EA, but I can't picture a year going by without anything happening.

Fallout 3 wasn't released until 2008. I doubt TES V was seriously worked on until Fallout 3 was released, and that would mean Bethesda needs more time in between TES games to make a good one that they used to. The Fallout series is in the equation now. Oblivion had about 4 years of production time, and it could have been so much more. I love Oblivion, but Bethesda can do better. I want Bethesda to take their time with TES V and make it as good as it can possibly be. If Bethesda didn't seriously start working on TES V until 2008, how can we expect TES V any earlier that 2012 or 2013, especially if we want it to be good? I don't believe we will get an announcement until 2011, but this is assuming Bethesda are taking their time making an amazing Elder Scrolls game.

I think TESV (or some other game(s)) was/were subtley announced on http://bethblog.com/index.php/2010/01/01/2010-the-year-we-make-games/.

Note the title, "2010: The Year We Make Games." "We" is Bethesda, "2010" is this year, "[making] games" means something is in or going to be in production this year. Most likely TESV.

I predicted TESV would be announced on New Years eve/day, and I was vaguely right in a sense.

So what do you guys think it means?

Lol... we've known they've been "making games" for a while now... in fact, they're always "making games." If a time comes that the employees at Bethesda come into work and don't "make games," then we're in serious trouble.

Now, if they said "2010: The Year We Release Games," then yes, that would be interesting... but that's not the case.

There is always something being produced by Bethesda. Many believe TES V is in production, but we still don't know for sure, and even if we did, we would still have to wait quite a while for the release of TES V. If TES V is to be good and not rushed, it doesn't seem likely that Bethesda will release TES V before 2012. Based on Oblivion, four years of production time isn't enough for an amazing modern-style Elder Scrolls game. Bethesda only seriously started working after Fallout 3 was released in 2008, because it is Bethesda's style to have their whole team working on a game while not producing DLC or other content for a previous game. Based on that, I wouldn't expect an announcement until 2011 and I wouldn't expect a game until 2012 or 2013, but I'm guessing 2013 if this game is to be amazing, because then, the game would have had five years of production time, and I believe that is the amount of time needed for TES V to be amazing and not rushed.

Lets just say i hope it is TESV but its probably all just speculation at this point.

It seems very unlikely that Bethesda is working on Fallout 4, and it is even more unlikely that they are working on a new series since Fallout is their new series, so could it really be anything other than TES V?

Still, Bethesda is much bigger then they were in the past. I don't think a 2010 release is realistic, but Bethesda has not said it is out of the question. Just not to look for a new TESV "any time soon," which makes little sense without explaining what "soon" means. Combine the article about the potential 2010 release, with other evidence its in development (Skyrim trademark, time between games) with this subtle allusion by NickB, and its not illogical to conlude that Bethesda is hard at work on TESV.

As to years of production, I'm gonna go with Bethesda with this one and just trust they know best. Besides, we're forgetting that Bethesda fixed many of the faults of Oblivion in Shivering Isles and Fallout 3.

IIRC, Fallout 3 was announced a year or so after OB. So, it's been over a year since Fallout 3 was out, so I am guessing that TES V will be announced sometime from Q2 - Q3 this year, though I could be wrong. And if it's not released then, I am most certain that it will be announced when the next novel is released.

Remember this is a speculation thread, not an idea thread, If you want to continue a graphics discussion, please do it in the idea thread. This thread doesn't need to be locked. My response to what you have said will be in the idea thread.

How long was Beth working on Fallout 3 after Oblivion was released?I didnt think its unrealistic to expect an elder scrolls game by 2011 if all they do is modify the engine they have been working with.

DLC, expansions and patches are not games per se. If they are "[making] games" in 2010, then they are making a game in 2010. Pete Hines already said they are hard at work on a new game and not ready to discuss it. This is another piece of evidence that they are making TESV. Besides, they don't have to make games, they can publish them, patch them, update them, etc. But making a game is making a game and that is a horse of a different color. So nyaaah! :meh:



Hence, the title of this thread...