Craig Lafferty is a man whose hand we'd like to shake. The PS3 version of Oblivion is a shining example of what is possible when you bother to learn the PS3's complex architecture. A lazy port, this was not. Mr. Lafferty is senior producer for the PS3 Oblivion and says the PS3's guaranteed hard drive was extremely helpful in "optimizing things like load times." He also advises that the Shivering Isles expansion is "being worked on," but could provide no details on "when or how" they'll get that into our eagerly awaiting hands. The interview is a bit modest in its comparisons to the earlier Xbox 360 version, but after reading numerous glowing reviews, we all know graphical differences abound. Unfortunately, no news about Oblivion for the PSP. Mr. Lafferty would only advise, "nothing new to report on that at this time." Well, no news is good news, right? (gulp)[Via digg]
High Street retailer GAME has decided to hamper the sales of 
Bethesda released a nice little press statement where they build up consumers for the impending release of Oblivion for the PS3. It's not even an impending release, really... the game has been shipped! According to Bethesda, the game has shipped and will arrive in stores as early as Tuesday, March 20th.
All of you that are excited for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and their expansion pack Shivering Isles (set in the Realm of Madness, domains of Lord Sheogorath), you won't have much else to be excited about once that expansion pack rolls to an end. Why? Well, Bethesda's Peter Hines has come out and said that there won't be anything else for the game.
Gosh, hopefully I can finish this by 11AM... so let's get right to it, shall we? We're all aware that Oblivion is coming to the PS3 and we'll probably get that one expansion too -- what's it called? Something about Knights of the Nine or whatever. It's probably going to be a downloadable expansion from day one of Oblivion's release. We have to ask because the newest addition, Shivering Isles, has been sweeping up all of the attention.
It's rumor alert! That's all this is. Perhaps someone has heard more news one way or another since it surfaced, but let's assume not for now. What's the deal? Well, the PS3 super-secret launch title, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, may not be super-secret anymore but it also may not be a launch title. Let us explain the basis of this rumor and you can either digest it properly or spit it out due to its bitter taste.
It's time to overanalyze! Even though the chances have ramped up to about 84% on Oblivion being an unannounced PS3 launch title, there's still a little possibility that it's something else entirely. Where did that percentage come from? The abyss of percentage creation. Now then, when we leaked the news of a super secret PS3 title, the only real clues we had to go by were "five words", "that you've not heard of," and "won't hear about" until the Official Playstation Magazine's November issue. A lot of sources are reporting the leak of Oblivion being a launch title. From the clues given to us, how many of the criteria does it meet? Well, we've heard of the game before. We're hearing about it now, and this certainly isn't November. Five words... well, unless roman numerals and numbers are now counted as words... no. The last part is very technical and we could argue circles around it, but for the sake of argument, let's not count numbers as words unless they are explicitly spelled out. Thus: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion does not meet any of the criteria in this overanalytical, technical evaluation.
