Well spotted, this means 2 things. One, we most likely have our last city. Two, by the looks of things, open cities are back :celebration:

Or its just a ruin, like everyone is thinking.

Last city? Did I miss something?

Also, it looks like a ruin to me. You can't necessarily make that connection that open cities are back, especially if its no longer considered a city, but rather a ruin.

Ah, didn't catch that when reading through it, I read kinda fast, probably took it in as axe skill or appropriate skill or something. Well cool, now I know.

Don't see why they would ruin a perfectly good city, though I have to admit, it did look kinda ruinlike on first glance, so maybe a dragon torched it? But still, it doesn't look to be in that bad condition, weathered yes, but I wouldn't say ruinous.

Beware of her husband, he might get jealous.

Although, while the thing sound nice on paper, I really wonder how it is while playing the game...

Getting my internet up and running this morning (it fails all the time lately) was SO worth it, I am super pleased with the info and am dying to see the weather and the new animations. Also the screen looks fantastic cant wait to see one with some draw distance in it.

It might have been abandoned for other reasons. Plague, famine, maybe a curse even.

Awesome info, and that screen shot is sixy!

Must be a town or settlement of sages who have lived there generation after generation, although I'm just flinging things out there.

Click the second page button and nothing happens...

I think everything in that article sounded absolutely awesome. So awesome, in fact, that I am not taking for granted that all of it will be included in the final game. As others have said earlier, the radiant AI in Oblivion was hyped up too, and the final product wasn't what was promised earlier. So to be sure I won't be disappointed, I am taking that article with a small grain of salt.

Its basically NOS for the game.

You have to remember that Skyrim is in 4E 200 or so, which is, of course, 200 years after Oblivion. That's definitely enough time for a city to go to ruin, especially with all the goings on in Tamriel since then.

WOOT! http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1156953-monday-update-for-gi-hub/page__view__findpost__p__17005501



The Technology Behind The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Kickass update it delved into a lot of stuff too.

• New Game Engine Revealed: Bethesda rewrote every major system powering the gameplay experience. The result is the newly dubbed Creation Engine and Kit.
  
  
• Havok's Behavior Technology: Improved character and creature movements. Characters now transition more realistically between walking, jogging, and running. Combat animations are also improved as they were able to balance both first- and third-person perspective by adjusting the timing values for swings and blocks depending on your perspective. Even very detailed animations such as characters struggling to move when trapped in environmental hazards such as spider webs! :drool: “We definitely have made a significant jump in how it plays [in third person perspective],” Todd Howard proclaims.
  
  
• Greater Draw Distances: The new engine allows for a lot more stuff in the distance to appear giving a greater level of detail.
  
  
• Shadowing Improved: The immediate surroundings now have a more believable look and feel thanks to improved shadowing. The play between light and shadow on the entire world. On everything!
  
  
• Overhauled foliage system: Bethesda new system allows their artists to build whatever kind of trees they want and even dictate how they animate.
  Altering the weight of the branches to adjust how much they move in the wind, which is an effective way of, for instance, actualizing the danger of traversing steep mountain passes with howling winds violently shaking branches.
  
  
• New Precipitation System: For the first time, as far as my understanding goes, we'll have realistic precipitation effects in a video game! The new system allows artists to define how much snow will hit particular objects. The program scans the geography, then calculates where the snow should fall to make sure it accumulates properly on the trees, rocks, and bushes. :drool:
  
  
• Improved Cities: The various villages now feel more alive thanks to mills, farms, and mines.
  
  
• Improved Radiant AI: In Skyrim, the NPC's have richer individual personalities and perform tasks that make sense in their environment. During Game Informer's visited to Bethesda Studios, they demoed a "forest village where most of the citizens were hard at work chopping wood, running logs through the mill, and carrying goods through the town."
  
  
• Improved Radiant AI - Reactions: NPC's now respond differently based on how they feel about you. Depending on how you treat them, good or bad, they develop feelings about you. For Example: If you're good friends with a particular NPC and barge into his house during the middle of the night, he may offer you lodging rather than demand you leave the premises. Should you swing your weapon near an NPC, knock items off their dinner table, or try to steal something of value then they'll react with an appropriate level of hostility given their prior relationship to you.
  
  
• More Example's of New Dialogue System: Players are free to look around while engaging in conversation. NPCs continue to go about their business as well when engaged in discussion. For Example: A barkeep may continue to clean cups while talking, and even move from behind the counter to a seat. A mill worker chopping wood may engage in conversation without turning away from his duties, only occasionally glancing toward you during the exchange.
  
  
• NEW INFO ON DRAGONS!: The animations are sure to make them look believable and non-mechanical, even when the dragons are speaking/shouting or doing other powerful and menacing things like when banking, flapping their wings, gaining altitude before making another strafing run, and breathing fire on their hapless victims.
  
  
• Hints at Dragon Mounts/Mammoth Mounts:
  
  
• Radiant Story Explained Further: Instead of the same sidequests and mundane tasks for each playthrough the game tailors side missions based on who your character is, where you're at, what you've done in the past, and what you're currently doing. Many quests are still completely crafted by Bethesda so no worries about the story. The randomized stuff is strictly side quests.
  
  
• More on Random Requests: If you're really good at a particular skill, like one-handed weapons or destruction spells, a stranger who knows of your reputation may ask for training, challenge you to a duel, or beg you for a favor that will require you to show off your skill.
  
  
• Random Encounters in the Wilderness: Random events occur while you're exploring the wilderness not just within the towns around NPCs. You might run across mammoth beset by a pack of wolves.

Thanks for info,I'm not able to see the update yet since I'm on cell n away from computers:( Sounds good from what info you gave but having no werewolf Or Vampire info yet makes me sad...Glad it's info on the game tho:) Has a dev stated when the new update will be? Edit: is it just me or havent we geared some of the info before like with the snow? Great update :drools:

I wonder if the new AI can recognize the race and six of the PC better?

ill try to be friends with all the daedra worshipers near the daedric shrines or other locations, and be enemies with the aedra worshipers in the chapels :rock:

In the GameInformer article, there's a text box in the corner of the picture saying that "Skyrim is filled with crumbling ruins and ancient cities".... so I'd say it's a ruin.

The screenshot looks great. Only problem to me is that unless they are really prominent shadows I really can't see any shadows, just the old way oblivion rendered environments.

If Markarth is the home of the Imperial College of the Voice, it's very possible that with the Empire crumbling, they have pulled out of Markarth. With the College gone, there is no real reason left to remain in Markarth and the city is abandoned.

I thought that too a while back when I read the GI article scans, but they have many ideas to develop and put it under trial and error. And Oblivions AI was very good at the time, sure they did not add everything in but they had numerous problems with it, NPC's leaving towns at lunch time when the inn ran out of food and NPC's killing eachother for a tool that was needed for a daily job.

The same screenshot is in the GI article, it has a label as "Skyrim is filled with crumbling ruins and ancient cities" so it's most likely an ancient city

True, but that image is probably taken in Markath side. Reasoning? Scroll down to the screenshot viewer at the bottom of the article, on firefox, right click and open in new tab (dunno for IE). The image is called Markarth01.jpg. The map of skyrim http://uk.gamespot.com/pages/unions/read_article.php?topic_id=26743582&union_id=1481 shows the city "Markarth Side". Furthermore, it's placed roughly in the area where there large canyon lies, the screenshot looks a lot like the city/ruin is in a canyon. Moreover, it's also the area of the up to date map that is currently blurry.

My point is, that place is most likely Markarth Side, so either we've got out last city, or some interesting ruins to explore. Either way it's a win-win situation IMO.

Don't get me wrong, I am not slandering on the AI in Oblivion. I think it's great, especially for it's time. But since the AI now will be even more complex, there is nothing saying they won't have a numerous problems with it in Skyrim as well, and thus might have to cut out some of the more advanced stuff again. Hopefully they won't, but in case that happens, I am on the fence on these things.