Unofficial Oblivion Game of the Year Edition FAQ : IV

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 1:52 am

I figured that for the amount of times we've answered these questions on the forums, I might as well write an FAQ about the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition. If there's anything else worth adding, or if anything is flat-out wrong, please let me know and I'll update the FAQ.

1. On which platforms will the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition be released?

The Game of the Year Edition will be released on Windows PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3.

2. When will the Game of the Year Edition be released in North America?

Release dates vary around the web, but the following shipping dates seem to be the most consistent:

Windows PC - 09/03/2007
Xbox 360 - 09/03/2007
Playstation 3 - 09/13/2007

Bear in mind that these are shipping dates, so expect the game to hit stores the next day or the day after.

3. When will the Game of the Year Edition be released in Europe and Japan?

This has not been announced and is unknown at the present time.

4. How much will the Game of the Year Edition cost?

North American prices for the different platforms are:

Windows PC - $49.99
Xbox 360 - $59.99
Playstation 3 - $59.99

5. What content will the Game of the Year Edition contain?

The Game of the Year Edition will contain the original Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion game, Knights of the Nine quest line, and the Shivering Isles expansion.

6. Will it contain other Downloadable Content, such as Mehrune's Razor, Vile Lair, Thieves Den, and The Wizard's Tower?

No. On a recent episode of the http://www.oxmpodcast.com/, Bethesda Softworks Executive Producer Todd Howard had the following to say about the Oblivion Game of the Year Edition when asked why the rest of the released downloadable content will not be included:

"The two reasons are, these are the ones everybody wanted [Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles]. Secondly, these are the two that are designed to be in the game when you...if you were to start a new game, see what I mean? So if you were to have, if you download all the downloads we have and you start a new game, it starts throwing up all of these journals, it acts kinda weird....do you know what I mean? It's like you have this, you have this, you have this, you have this, so we have to go back and kind of massage them a little bit, to start differently. So we view Game of the Year as something [for] someone who's, for the most part, not bought Oblivion before, and now there's a better version of it they can buy. So they go out and buy it, and we want that first-time experience to be smooth."

7. Will there be any other fixes added to the Game of the Year Edition?

This has not been confirmed, but it is very likely that all bug fixes and patches up to this point will be incorporated.

8. Will I be able to use existing Oblivion game save files with the Game of the Year Edition?

Yes. The Game of the Year Edition will be compatible with all existing Oblivion game save files.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:20 pm

Thnk you. Thank You! I have been whining about something like this for a long time! :bowdown: Now noobs can have a reference, and stop asking the same questions over and over.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:46 am

Nice and informative for newcomers.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:51 am

Thats all i need to know for now.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 8:41 pm

Good idea. Props.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:58 am

Wow, I was going to buy the regular Oblivion but for the same price I can get shivering isles and Knights of the nine too! I have all the stuff on my 360, but PC version owns.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:47 am

Good topic. It can die though. Someone should make it a sticky.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:50 am

Good topic. It can die though. Someone should make it a sticky.

That's what I was hoping. Make it a sticky and let the constant new threads end.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:33 am

WHAT! The price is going to be the same as the Original, I'm soooo not getting it. I rather get a new game, two worlds

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:39 pm

Good topic. It can die though. Someone should make it a sticky.

Done

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 8:31 pm

Finally, we can all stop hearing "What does OB GOTY include?". Im happy.

» Sat Feb 19, 2011 5:33 am

Thought I'd add some information Pete shared over in the Shivering Isles forums following today's announcement of a retail disc of Shivering Isles for Xbox 360.

Hopefully this will clear up any confusion surrounding the console versions. PC is straightfoward since everything has been available already for PC in some form:

360

* Oblivion GotY -- Includes original game, Shivering Isles, Knights of the Nine (not all the other DLC, just Knights) -- Ships 9/10, price $59.99
* Shivering Isles retail disc -- Includes Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine (not all the other DLC, just Knights) -- Ships October, price $29.99
* Original Oblivion/Oblivion Platinum Hits -- Same game, just the original. Platinum Hits is just different packaging, everything else is the same. Already seems to be marked down in most places to $29.99.

So whether you go to buy it all together in GotY, or buy the individual components, the cost comes out the same.

All the other DLC for 360 is still only available on Live. I don't think we'll ever be able to do this stuff on a disc, except of course for Knights. Prices for all of that are still the same on Live.

PS3

* More news coming soon on GotY release date. It isn't far off, at all. It includes the same content and is the same price as Oblivion GotY for 360
* There is no Shivering Isles PS3 disc as of right now. We are looking into it still. We will let you know when we know.
* I don't have any more information right now on making any DLC available via PSN. We will let you know when we know.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 7:10 pm

Thought I'd add some information Pete shared over in the Shivering Isles forums following today's announcement of a retail disc of Shivering Isles for Xbox 360.

Here's some helpful information about GotY that Ash put up on http://bethblog.com/?p=250#more-250:

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year (GOTY) edition ships today for PC and Xbox 360. In GOTY, you'll find the entire original, award-winning game, Oblivion, plus Knights of the Nine and the official expansion pack, Shivering Isles. We also include the title update so all the latest fixes and optimizations are included.

I'm particularly proud of this version, even more so than the Morrowind Game of the Year for Xbox, which also let you play Morrowind's expansions on your Xbox. That was not an easy implementation for us. It also required you to import your original Morrowind saves to Game of the Year.

For Oblivion's GOTY implementation, we wanted to make the process easier - both for us and for our fans. We've been working on this version since late last year. The main challenge was figuring out how to include content from Xbox Live on a disk. We asked Microsoft to keep it as simple and intuitive as possible. We wanted the experience of playing Knights and Isles to be exactly the same whether you downloaded them off Xbox Live or purchased them on a disk. What Microsoft came up with was exactly what we needed.

When you open up GOTY for Xbox 360, you'll see two disks. The first disk is the original game, Oblivion - in fact, its the same disk as what is currently at stores now. The second disk has Knights of the Nine, Shivering Isles, and Oblivion's title update. When you insert the second disk, it asks to install the title update first. Afterwards, you have the choice of copying Knights and/or Isles onto your hard drive - as if you purchased them off Xbox Live. Once they are copied, you insert Oblivion and play. We also use this same functionality for the Shivering Isles for Xbox 360 retail disc.

I hope more publishers and developers take advantage of this functionality to offer expansion packs and downloadable content on disk. I think that Microsoft says 50% of Xbox owners are off line, so that's a pretty big audience there.

As for the PC version, it works the same way. Two disks. The first disk installs Oblivion. The second disk installs Knights, Isles, and updates your game to the latest version.

Some fun facts:

* Your original saves will work fine with GOTY. This is the primary reason why we wanted to ship the original game in the box - so you can continue to play with your old characters right away. No wacky importing necessary.
* The title update is mandatory. You won't be able to install Knights or Isles without it since they both require it.
* Oblivion GOTY will retail for $50 (PC) and $60 (360) ? a pretty good deal when you consider it includes Knights and Isles, which cost $10 and $30 on their own, respectively.
* What about the Playstation 3 version? We're working on it.

» Fri Feb 18, 2011 8:04 pm

Here's some helpful information about GotY that Ash put up on http://bethblog.com/?p=250#more-250:

FYI...

Someone pointed out to me that this FAQ does not state that GotY requires a hard drive on 360. For the record, this is required, as stated on the back packaging for the game.

Also, you GOTY from the store, you do NOT need to be logged onto Xbox Live. That's the whole point of selling it via retail -- so folks who don't have Live can play Shivering Isles and Knights of the Nine.