But no one forced Bethesda decide to do DLC in the first place. They could have released the DLC on a disc or something. These are days when consoles have their own hardrives for installing stuff!

Nobody is forced to buy DLC either. If they were to do what you say, Bethesda would need discs for these dlc's these discs need instruction manuals, casing, wrapping and everything else that follows the standards of game packaging.

Why go through all that manufacturing trouble when they can simply upload their data to a Microsoft server for mass distribution? Your going to have to pay for it either way, it cost them money somewhere down the road.

Morrowind featured mini-sized free DLC and paid expansions.

With Oblivion they experimented with paid DLC of varying sizes. I'm pretty sure that I've read that they were really surprised by the number of players who actually bought their first trial balloon, aka Horse Armor. I imagine it was mostly intended to test the waters both in terms of mechanics and player acceptance. It's not at all surprising to me that it might take awhile for them to settle on the the right balance of size, price, and frequency for a new mode of content delivery.

Fallout 3 offered neither full-sized expansions nor horse armor/spell tome-type DLC. Pretty clearly they settled on mini-expansions as working best--in terms scheduling and maintaining player interest, as well as profitability, I'd imagine.

I agree that it would add to the fun if there were occasionally a bit of free DLC of the scope of a Helm of Tohan, but I think it helps to view DLC as a substitute for expansion packs (for which you'd expect to pay) rather than as overgrown Morrowind-style mini-downloads.

As for Beth being ashamed that modders with unlimited time and only their own taste to suit are able to produce content that some consider to be "improved," that's just silly. They have every reason to be proud of delivering a platform that others can mold to suit themselves.

The market forced it.

You wanna profit these days, especially after spending 4 years developing a game? You have to release PDLC. Horse armour was a [censored]-up, but PDLC was pretty much a brand new concept at that time, subsequent offerings were better values and in retrospect in-line with console gamer's expectations. It was also the only expanded content console gamers could expect.

You, me, and everybody who played the PC version could go merrily on our way without the PDLC, but those on consoles at least got something. If you're not on the internet in 20XX its TS for you, you can't go around expecting retail discs of post-release content.

I'll have to read this when I wake up, see if I made any bloody sense at all...

I think the best question to ask right now would be,

Does Bethesda have anything to do with august's cover of Game Informer.

If he cannot confirm or deny it = yes.

I don't think 5 minutes with Pete and myself would be all that cordial after the first question.

So, I will attempt to get 5 minutes of Pete's time... and although the likelihood for success is next to null, it can't hurt to try and will be a big win otherwise. If I am fortunate enough, these are the questions I think I'll be able to get some reasonable answers within that timeframe:

Are you adding any 3rd party tools in regards to animation implimentation into the engine, specifically what 3rd party apps?

How would you like to see Quakecon shaped in the future to fit it more in line with Bethesda's vision?

What are some lessons learned from Oblivion that will help shape future game development?

Does Bethesda have anything to do with August's cover of Game Informer.


I'll post anything I get on it tomorrow after I call; but the likeliest post will be "I got voicemail" But, I'll leave him my number

I would ask him one question ... WHY do you torture us? Give us some info, PLEASE! (in a very dramatic way with tears like waterfalls on my face)

You have to slip it in, intelligently like! Like this.....

1) What is your favourite cereal?
2) What size shoes do you wear?
3) What is your favourite brand of car?
4) Are you making Elder Scrolls V?
5) At home, are your gas and electricity supplies by the same company?
6) What are your views on Iraq?

...... See what I did there?

I would go all Stephen Colbert on him...

Hi Pete, so how's the wife and kids?

He answers...

So do you take responsibility for the fact that Oblivion had no soul compared to Morrowind?

He probably recovers from surprise question and answers...

Does TES V exist?

He gives the usual answer...

Does it svck less?

He answers...

This topic is so misleading.

That's honestly because of Microsoft.
I don't know if Bethesda makes a profit off of that.
But then again, seeing companies like Valve pushing for their content to always be free and pressuring Microsoft into releasing it for the least amount of points possible makes me wonder... >_>

1. Will we see any kind of Recon armor in TESV?

2. Will Fallout 3's DLC "Mothership Zeta" be compatible with TESV, if so, how?

3. Can you be able to find it or with him anymore?

4. Are Elder Scrolls edible in TESV?

5. Will TESV feature a mobile phone based menu system?

6. Many people believed the "fast travel" feature made the game to easy, have you thought of adding a "slow travel" feature to balance the difficulty?

7. It's been rumored that TESV will be integrated to work with most steering wheel controller attachments, are we to believe that TESV will feature steering wheel controlled horses?

8. Is the gamebryo engine still going to allow me to look like an action figure mad of clay?

9. What kind of Assualt Rifles will be featured in TESV? How Many?

10. Is TESV coming out tomorrow?

11. Is TESVI coming out tomorrow?

"When will TES V...I mean how are the engine overhauls coming along?"