Apparently, OXM continues to milk the cow.
After last week's questionable interview with Skyrim's lead designer on xbox live, OXM attempts to catch the attention of hungry followers by stiring up the waters with a catchy title: ?Community spotlight: why do graphics matter??, subtitled ?The OXM community takes on Bethesda?, but no new content whatsoever.

source: http://www.oxm.co.uk/26891/elder-scrolls-5-skyrim-why-do-graphics-matter/

I guess it could be justly interpreted as an attempt to raise website traffic - mind the mid-placed advert.
More imporantly, it could mean the promised podcast with Todd Howard will not be broadcasted this week, as it has already been bottled up with filler material.

LOL

He said "Poo-pooed the idea."

It's interesting to see Peter Hines talk about how graphics matter, and then OXM following it up with another article on the matter.

Meanwhile, I and I'm sure other PC gamers are sitting here thinking, it could look better.

graphics do not matter, I still have 4 1996 games on my PC and I still play them from time to time

total annihilation, birth of the federation, Gnome, Dark colony....

so yah for me game play eats graphics for breakfast and poops them in the afternoon

I hope no one is implying this is some kind of a manoueuvre to prepare gamers for less-than-optimal Skyrim graphics.
No.
I think not.
The way I see it, it's just OXM's way to stretch an otherwise scarse coverage over a period of many advertful weeks.

http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/520246-1298584608.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/1221807-1298584521.jpg
http://www.tesnexus.com/imageshare/images/1576751-1298573533.jpg

It kind of looks like Oblivion in those shots imo... (try and forget about the poor detail of some of the pictures)
So graphics-wise... meh, it looks pretty bad :confused:

Although this shot: http://pnmedia.gamespy.com/screenshots/pes/73997838.jpg
Now THAT'S what I call good-looking.
This one looks pretty natural as well: http://download3.zenimax.com/akqacms/files/tes/screenshots/Tavern01_wLegal.jpg

Only, when I look at that one, what stands out to me are those really sharp, angular edges on his clothes.

I can see where this thread is going from a mile away...

Damn it now you ruined that picture for me! :verymad:

Jk ^^
What I noticed before was the low-res textures on his clothes and quiver, and his weird-looking hair/head.

What I thought looked so nice though (and still do!) is the trees, the slight fog, and the lighting. That looks absolutely beautiful.

Yup. The rest looks smashing and perhaps that is why tthe polygon-ized clothes look like, well, that.
To me it is amazing how mod-ed Morrowind can look darn good;

Morrowind 2011 graphic overhaul.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NX-MvnYUEs

Looks superb even by today's standards.
I see no reason why vanilla Skyrim can't and won't beat that by a million miles.

I agree that the forest, the colors, etc look good. However, consider the possible implications of the fact that the object closest to the camera looks as poor as it does could have on the rest, when you get closer to them.

Never knew Morrowind's graphics could accutually be that good im impressed :thumbsup:

It's also taken them quite a few years to achieve those graphics.

It is an impressive feat. No ifs and buts about it.

The texture complaints should cease. At least until we see some PC screenshots.

I personally don't care too much about the default textures, as I know it's very easy to mod yourself.
Although I do hope it will be much much better for the PC.
I mean, it's not that hard to make hi-res textures (or even normal-res) that look good. Definitely shouldn't be a problem for game-developers.

My biggest problem with the 3 pictures I thought looked bad was the lighting. It looks and reminds me of Oblivion's lighting and it according to me that looks pretty bad now.

I'll echo the lighting complaints and add that my complaint was not the texture, but rather that the clothing looked a little too low-poly.

Todd Howard already confirmed this.

Indeed. The PC will get AA and higher rez textures, though how much higher is the real question.

I know he said it but...but what Todd think is hi-res is perhaps not what we think is hi-res?

It would be sad if another QTP3 has be done.

even if it isn't necessary you're fully aware that there will be one anyway, so i don't get why you would say something like this.

also my favorite part is when all the screenshots we've seen so far are from the 360 so everyone whining about textures is an idiot.

The low poly clothes issue is so noteworthy that i can't help but wonder why Bethesda decied to release that particular image. I mean, the forest looks stunning, colors, level of detail, mood. Everything looks scrumptious but for those clothes in the *Foreground*.

Puzzling.

I'm not worried one bit. Oblivion to Fallout 3 on ultra was a huge step (IMO). If Fallout 3 to Skyrim is a similar step, I'm fine.

Edit: (As pointed out, there's always mods).

Some picky [censored]ers, you lot...

Guilty here.
I like my games great.
I mean, in exchange for my hard earned cash.