Here is what we know. Bethesda, developers of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3, are hard at work on two games. We don’t know what the games are, but we do know that they are being worked on. So, basically — we don’t know much about anything. There are a few little gems of information in Eurogamer’s interview with Bethesda Executive Producer Todd Howard, though.
As previously stated, Bethesda is currently working on two games, neither of which has been announced. They have been secretly working on a game for coming up on two years, and Howard states that a reveal is not too far off. Howard said, "one thing I can say is that from when you first hear about it to when it’s out will be the shortest it’s been for us," which is great news. Whenever they do decide to reveal their latest project, we will be able to get our hands on it shortly therafter. While working on this current secret project, Howard says that he has already started pre-production on another game saying, "I spend a lot of my time on the game that’s in pre-production, but the new game that’s percolating takes the most of my time." Howard was ambigous about many details but said, "you almost feel like you have a new console when you see the game," when referring to the graphics of his double super secret projects.
I would recomend reading the whole interview over on Eurogamer as Todd Howard had many interesting insights about his own development team, as well as the state of the industry as a whole. When asked about DLC, and the issue of second-hand sales Howard said, "what can we do to combat second-hand sales? Make a better game." He expressed some regret about the level cap that was present in Fallout 3 saying, "if we had to completely redo Fallout 3 we’d probably not have a level cap, because it just makes the game more fun to level up." He also admitted to some of the short-comings of the animation present in all of Bethesda’s games saying, "When it comes to the characters and the animation, I think there are other people who do it much, much better. That’s something we’ve put a lot of time into – not just technology but people and talent, and how long we spend doing individual elements."
It sounds like whatever projects Bethesda is currently working on, have the capacity to be quite awesome. There are not many complaints about their games, but the fact they are hearing them and taking steps to improve them (I’m looking at you animations) shows a lot of promise. Bethesda has not dissapointed yet, and with even better graphics and improved animations, it seems unlikey that they will.
[Eurogamer condensed interview]
[Eurogamer full interview]
