In Morrowind we had the Imperial Dragonscale armor which was the top Imperial heavy armor available. There was also the Imperial Newtscale which was the top Imperial light armor. Newtscale was the greeny colored light armor.

A few years on from there we get to play Oblivion where the character gets his own set of Imperial Dragon armor made for him which looks as though it is made out of ebony but to a superior design (I'm guessing if there was a newer light armor equivalent called Imperial Newt armor it would be made from glass as opposed to ebony)

I take it that the dragon armor in Skyrim is something completely different to the top Imperial armors of Morrowind & Oblivion that just happen to sound similar in name?

Yeah, not sure how much has been confirmed yet, but from what I understand in Skyrim it's actually made from dragon bones (and maybe scales?). In both MW and OB it simply had dragon whatever in it's name (though, if memory serves the armor in MW at least looked scaly...)

I correct you: Imperial Dragonscale armor was the best Medium Imperial armor. The best Imperial Heavy armor was Duke's Guard Silver.

Imperial Dragon Armor in Oblivion was armor intended only for use by the emperor. We can probably assume that, since it was made in game and dragons were not around, it is not made out of actual dragon materials but is simply an exceptionally made suit of armor with symbolic significance. If you remember, Martin wore this armor in the battle of Bruma. Dragons play an important role in the imperial empire and so the naming of their best armors after dragons is probably more of a symbolic thing rather than being indicative of the crafting materials. In Skyrim, the dragon armor is forged of the bones, and perhaps other materials, of a defeated dragon. Hopefully this means that it will be far superior to any dragonscale or dragon-like armor that the imperials have crafted.

It was all black underneath as seen the back but had green / yellowy looking feather looking pointy bits on the front

http://images.uesp.net/9/99/MW_Armor_ImperialDragonscaleM.jpg
(the bottom half is not Imperial dragonscale armor. It was just the helmet, cuirass and shield
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPopuh71RO-K7Ak9E1Uoco1RdC2zB1-xL0f4CsIhnDLd15wDkTHQ

then in Oblivion
http://images.wikia.com/elderscrolls/images/1/12/ImpDraArmor.jpg




oh yer. I just looked it up. It was still as good an armor as the heavier Duke's guard Silver as both had an A.R. of 20.

Imperial Dragonscale armor was lighter than silver but just as strong

Hopefully it's better than Imperial Dragon armour. I was very disappointed with that.

The Oblivion one was based on the Emperor's own armor design and not that of any of the ones known prior. It looks to be ebony and is basically an exact replica of the Emperor's armor.

I thought the armor in oblivion was named dragon not actually made from dragons because the title give to the hero of the realm and right hand of the emperor was the dragon of the realm and it was part of some order of knight similar to the blades.

This is true. It's named after the *Imperial* dragon. Not actual dragons. It's a replica of the Emperor's armor.