Microsoft has announced that Fallout 3 will be the first title to offer downloadable content through the newly announced Games for Windows Live Marketplace.

Said Pete Hines, VP of public relations and marketing for Bethesda: "Games for Windows LIVE helps us expand the Fallout 3 universe and bring the full experience directly to gamers. Through the Marketplace we now have a no-nonsense way to deliver updates and great downloadable content. It’s really a complete package, and a great fit for Fallout 3."

It was previously announced that the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game would receive exclusive downloadable content. No release date for said DLC was given.

Bethesda Softworks today announced that it has established a long-term development partnership with Splash Damage, the studio behind class-based multiplayer shooters Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.

No details were disclosed, though Bethesda assured that more information will be released in the coming months.

“We are extremely impressed with Splash Damage and the quality titles they produce,” said Bethesda Softworks president Vlatko Andonov. “They are highly creative and innovative, and have demonstrated a high level of dedication to their projects.”

Bethesda has announced that it will release Shivering Isles, the expansion pack to Elder Scrolls IV, for the PS3 through retail. The standalone disc will allow gamers the chance to experience the expansion of the award-winning RPG.

This retail release follows the October release of the Game of the Year edition of Elder Scrolls IV for the PS3, which includes the Shivering Isles pack. The expansion offers more than 30 hours of new gameplay, allowing players to explore an entirely new plane of Oblivion.

Shivering Isles will hit PS3 on November 20.

Bethesda announced that the final piece of downloadable content for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will be released today, and will be free to download for all players for one week. Dubbed Fighter’s Guild, the DLC will let players own the Battlehorn Castle (pictured), replete with dining hall, training room and a private shrine.

The company also mentioned that while the PS3 won’t receive this piece of downloadable content, it did note that some content is coming to the console, though the medium was not defined. More news is expected soon.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of Fallout, Bethesda is running a contest to allow one lucky gamer to name one of the many perks in Fallout 3, the upcoming entry in the post-apocalyptic RPG.

“Think of something in the spirit of Fallout,” states the website. “What would you really want your character to be able to do in the game? Don’t worry about any stat requirements or the level you would get it at. Just design a cool perk and we’ll fit it in where it could go.”

One winner will take home one of two grand prizes, which includes their choice of either an ATI or NVIDIA video card or an Xbox 360 console. Additionally, that person will receive Logitech speakers, a Vault Boy bobblehead and more. Runner-ups and honorable mention prizes were also mentioned. The contest ends on October 31.

Hoping to cater to more gamers, Bethesda sent out a press release announcing their intentions of releasing the retail disc of Shivering Isles for the Xbox 360. Gamers will be able to play the award-winning expansion to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion without having to access Xbox Live. It will also include the downloadable content, Knights of the Nine.

With more than 30 hours of new gameplay, Shivering Isles allows you to explore an entirely new plane of Oblivion - the realm of Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness. Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides - Mania and Dementia -filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within. Sheogorath himself looks to you to be his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction as you discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and much more.

Knights of the Nine features an all-new faction and quests for noble characters and answers many of the questions surrounding the Ayleid ruins found throughout Oblivion. Players can join a new faction and found their own order of holy knights - leading them into battle against a sorcerer-king and his demonic minions while exploring massive dungeons and searching for legendary relics - the holy armor and weapons of the Divine Crusader.

The Shivering Isles disc will be available in stores this October.

CVG reports that the February 2007 issue of PC Zone reveals the first details on Shivering Isles, the first expansion pack for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Snipping from the magazine article, the add-on will see 30-plus hours of gameplay, new quests, monsters, expanded free-form gameplay and a new land “that you can watch change according to your vital life-or-death decisions.”

Setting the scene, it’s explained that an ominous-looking gate has opened in Nibben Bay, the portal leading to a torn realm - the Shivering Isles - ruled by Sheogorath, the god of madness and dementia. Apparently, adventurers will meet the god and “plough through his trials”, but it’s additionally hinted that ultimately we may well be usurping the deity. A ETA of Q2 2007 has been given.

The issue, which is already available, has first screenshots and further information on the expansion.

Bethesda has announced plans to publish Rogue Warrior, an “authentic, tactical” first-person shooter based on the best-selling book by Richard Marcinko, former U.S. Navy SEAL and founder of both SEAL Team Six and Red Cell. The game is being developed in conjunction with Zombie Studios for the PS3, PC and Xbox 360; it is scheduled for release during Fall 2007.

Rogue Warrior is a story-driven shooter that provides team-based tactical combat set in massive, contiguous levels using Unreal 3 streaming technology. Central to the game’s single and multiplayer experience is the idea of a freeform battlefield, where players are given the freedom to choose how to complete a given objective, allowing for creativity and surprises, rather than heavily scripted events and tightly contained spaces traditionally used in this genre.

An advanced AI system allows NPCs to react and fight realistically, see and hear others, and respond as a team. Rogue Warrior offers a new take on the multiplayer experience, with 10 gameplay modes and a system whereby maps are created using tiles that are selected by each team. Rogue Warrior’s tiling system allows users to experience over 200 maps in both day and nighttime settings. In addition, the campaign features solo and on-the-fly cooperative play for up to four players, where anyone can join or leave an existing campaign game at any time without having to go to menus or save progress.

In Rogue Warrior, you play Dick Marcinko, leader of an elite SEAL unit trapped behind enemy lines in North Korea on a covert mission to assess the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. When war breaks out between North and South Korea, you must try to lead your team back into South Korea while greatly outnumbered and with no support and limited resupply. Your journey will take you through a variety of never-before-seen environments inside of North Korea, including submarine pens, shipbreaker yards, prison camps, and more.

A 30-year veteran with the U.S. Navy, Dick Marcinko served in both the Underwater Demolitions Team and Navy SEAL programs, was a military attache in Cambodia, and conceived, founded, and commanded SEAL Team Six, the U.S. Navy’s first counterterrorism unit. He later created and ran Red Cell, a unit created to test the Navy’s anti-terrorist capabilities for highly-secured bases, nuclear submarines, ships, and other purported “secure areas”, including Air Force One. Dick’s experiences as a Navy SEAL were captured in his New York Times best-selling autobiography, Rogue Warrior, and his Rogue Warrior fiction series.

Three high-resolution screenshots:

To set it straight that it does not favor any particular platform, Bethesda has announced plans to make its new Knights of the Nine content for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion available for the PC and Xbox 360. The content was previously announced to be in the PS3 version set for release next month with the console’s launch.

The content will be available through Xbox Live Marketplace for X360 and OblivionDownloads.com for PC on November 21. It will also be available as a retail box for PC as a compilation that will include all the other Oblivion downloadable content released till date.

Knights of the Nine introduces an all-new faction dubbed Holy Knights, as well as new quests and more.

Bethesda has confirmed this 1Up report, which states that Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion will be a launch title for the PS3 and that the November issue of OPSM contains the first preview of the title. In addition to the PS3 version, Elder Scrolls Travels: Oblivion for the PSP was also revealed; it’s due for release in Spring 2007 in North America and Europe.

Set to release alongside the PS3 console this November, and March 2007 in Europe (by Ubi), the game will essentially be the same as the one released last year on PC and Xbox 360. However, it will introduce a new faction: “Knights of the Nine” which is described by the developers as “the good Dark Brotherhood.”

“Oblivion has these really good character archetypes for evil,” says executive producer Todd Howard. “It has the Dark Brotherhood: You get your outfit, you feel like an assassin, you feel like an evil guy, [and] you role-play like an evil guy. We [didn't] have the opposite end of that. There [was] very little reward for being a goody two-shoes.”

Looking forward to it!

Bethesda has announced that it has gotten all five actors who portrayed Star Trek series captains to do voiceovers for the Star Trek: Legacy game. The collaboration marks the first time all five actors have worked on a single Star Trek project. The five actors are:

• William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk from the STAR TREK: The Original Series - 1966-1969
  
• Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard from STAR TREK: The Next Generation® - 1987-1994
  
• Avery Brooks as Captain Benjamin Lafayette Sisko from STAR TREK: Deep Space Nine® -1993-1999
  
• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway from STAR TREK: Voyager® - 1995-2001
  
• Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer in STAR TREK: Enterprise™ - 2001-2005

In an announcement that is sure to excite the many Star Trek fans out there, Bethesda has announced that it has collaborated with acclaimed Star Trek writer Dorothy “D.C.” Fontane, along with her partner Derek Chester, to write the script for its upcoming tiles - Star Trek: Legacy and Star Trek: Tactical Assault.

Fontana has written countless Star Trek episodes, being a prominent creative force behind the Star Trek franchise since its beginnings during the ’60s. She has also worked on The Six Million Dollar Man, Babylon 5 and Earth: Final Conflict.

Bethesda sure is going all the way to make their Star Trek games great as they are “thrilled” to have her on board. “Fontana’s involvement underscores our commitment to remain true to the STAR TREK vision and provide fans with the exceptional, original and accurate STAR TREK games that they deserve,” said Todd Vaughn, the company’s VP of Development.

Star Trek: Legacy is in development for both the PC and Xbox 360, while Tactical Assault is being developed for the DS and PSP. Both titles will fall in the RTS genre and is scheduled to launch this Fall. Further information on the games after the jump.
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Bethesda sent word that “celebrated orchestral composer” Inon Zur has created the original musical score for the recently released Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow game. Available now for the PS2 and PC, the game retells the story of the original PotC film. Zur composed over 45 minutes of original orchestral music, including the main theme, specifically for the game, which was recorded with the Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra at the Bastyr Chapel in Seattle.

New premium downloadable content for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion can be found on its website for just $1.89. Titled “Thieves Den”, the DLC adds outfits for the player’s stealth-based character for missions; it also adds more:

Rediscover the legendary Dunbarrow Cove and the ancient pirate ship The Red Sabre. Dunbarrow Cove not only provides a home base to operate out of, you can purchase new vendors, trainers, and even an upgrade to your sleeping quarters with the loot from your heists.

Word comes from ESRB that it has re-rated 2K Games’ Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion to a “M” (Mature) from its former “T” (Teen) rating. Apparently, the change was invoked due to the presence of a “locked-out art file or ’skin’ that, if accessed through a third party modification to the PC version of the game, allows the user to play with topless versions of female characters.” Yes, an user mod caused the change.

The locked out content isn’t accessible in the Xbox 360 version, which has retained its “T” rating. This follows the “Hot Coffee” scandal of GTA: San Andreas - its rating was also changed due to a user-created mod that allowed the player to see (and do) naughty stuff.

Bethesda has issued a statement on the matter, standing by ESRB’s decision and clearing up a few bits of misinformation.

The ESRB has revoked their Teen rating for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for the PC and the Xbox 360 and has assigned the game a new rating of Mature. The ESRB reports that this is due to content in the game that was not fully disclosed when rating the game initially. Bethesda, not its co-publisher, developed the game, handled the ratings application before the ESRB, and stands behind it.

Bethesda will promptly implement the ratings change that the ESRB has ordered for Oblivion. We will not contest the ESRB’s decision to re-rate the game as Mature, nor will we change the game’s content to keep a Teen rating. We believe that this critically acclaimed game is not typical of Mature rated titles, and does not present the central themes of violence that are common to those products.

Bethesda will work with its co-publisher to place new “M” rating stickers on Oblivion packaging now at retail and in warehouses, and will reflect the change in rating on newly manufactured product. No product recall is being directed.

In light of the public comments that are being made about this matter, and to respond to questions we are being asked, we are releasing this statement to be on record about the circumstances giving rise to Oblivion’s change in rating.

Bethesda Softworks made what it believes was a full, accurate, and comprehensive submission on Oblivion to the ESRB months before the game’s release. Bethesda used the ESRB’s application forms and believes it adhered closely to their requirements. Nothing was hidden from the ratings agency. No effort was made by Bethesda to lobby or influence the agency for any particular rating.

The ESRB has concluded that the game deserves a rating of Mature because: 1) partial nudity in the PC version of the game can be created by modders; and 2) the game contains excessive blood and gore that go beyond a Teen rating. The facts are as follows:

There is no nudity in Oblivion without a third party modification. In the PC version of the game only - this doesn’t apply to the Xbox 360 version - some modders have used a third party tool to hack into and modify an art archive file to make it possible to create a mesh for a partially nude (topless) female that they add into the game. Bethesda didn’t create a game with nudity and does not intend that nudity appear in Oblivion. There is no nude female character in a section of the game that can be “unlocked.” Bethesda can not control tampering with Oblivion by third parties. Bethesda is taking steps to ensure that modders can not continue to hack into Oblivion’s art archives to create partially nude figures.

With regard to violence, Bethesda advised the ESRB during the ratings process that violence and blood effects were “frequent” in the game - checking the box on the form that is the maximum warning. We further advised that the game contained occasional torture, vulgar acts, and gore. We gave accurate answers and descriptions about the type and frequency of violence that appears in the game. We submitted a 60-page document listing the explicit language, acts, and scenes in the game. Oblivion packaging already contains warnings for “Violence” and “Blood and Gore.”

We value the role of the ESRB and believe the rating agency plays a valuable role in regulating our industry. As always, we will continue work in good faith to comply fully with the ESRB’s standards and policies.

We remain enormously proud of Oblivion and the standard of excellence in game development it represents. Oblivion is one of the highest rated games of all time and one of the most popular games available on the Xbox 360 and the PC. We greatly appreciate the understanding and support of our fans.

So, developers are now accountable for third-party/user-created content? That’s ridiculous!