HCG: Please introduce yourself and your team! How long have you been in the biz, and what games have you developed so far?

Pete Hines: I'm Pete, I handle all PR and marketing for The Elder Scrolls. I worked for about 4 years on the press side, and have been with Bethesda for five years. I've been involved in the development of just about everything we've developed/published over the last five years. I write manuals, playtest games, etc. I wear lots of hats around here.

HCG: How does it feel to develop Oblivion, keeping in mind that every RPG-fan is awaiting salvation from you guys?

PH: Well, since we've been working on this game for two years now, it's nice to finally be able to tell folks what we're up to and get such an

Pete Hines

enthusiastic response.

HCG: What opportunities are we going to have in Oblivion? What will a player experience, who has never confonted a part of the series before?

PH: They get to experience the sum total of all wisdom and knowledge that has been gained by making the previous games in the series, poured into the single greatest Elder Scrolls game, and hopefully the greatest RPG and video game, ever created.

They'll get another chance to experience open-ended, freeform gameplay in a way that nobody has ever done it, including us. Unbelievable graphics, a really fun combat system, great main quest, great faction quests, terrific AI...the list goes on and on. What the player is going to do in the game is up to them, not up to us, which is what makes it so brilliant.

HCG: How many characters are we going to get overall, and with what amount should a rookie and a pro try to conquer the game?

PH: You mean NPCs? I don't know, the game isn't done yet. Somewhere around 1,000 I would say. You'll get as many as you need to feel like you're part of this living, breathing world.

HCG: Are there going to be any combos during combat? If yes, how effective are they going to be? Could you make an example?

PH: This time we've realized how much combat people really do in a game like this and made it more of a priority for us to get right. We did three whole new combat systems before settling on the one that's in the game now. We really are striving to get the kinetic energy of guys bashing each other with swords down, and do it right, because no one has yet. So it plays better, and it looks better. You're in control of it more. There are special moves you can perform and the blocking is active. So the timing of it becomes a key strategy in fighting. It's also bloody. Not from a standpoint of we want lots of gore, but I think when you really smack someone with a sword you expect a certain level of blood to come spewing out.

HCG: Please describe the graphical engine from inside out. What makes the graphics so breathtaking?

PH: Well if we told you that, everybody would be out there doing it.

It's a new piece of technology we have been working on for some time, taking in everything we learned in our past games. It's pixel-shader heavy. We really got excited by doing the water effects in Morrowind, so now we're taking that kind of care to every surface - whether it be metal, wood, stone, blood, skin, you name it. We also work in several middleware packages like Havok and Gamebryo. The detail level is amazing, as you can see from the screenshots.

In particular we're using normal maps (for lighting), diffuse maps (for color), specular maps (for shininess), and parallax maps (for geometry detail). There's also specific shaders for skin, hair, and many others. Parallax mapping is a new and exciting technique that's similar to displacement mapping, but is much friendlier to the video cards.

HCG: What is going to be a main new and innovative feature of Oblivion apart from the graphics (which are way cool!)?

PH: It's hard to say. There are a lot of them, so which one is important to you might depend on how you play the game. If you love to bash things with a sword, then the new combat system. If you like playing a thief, maybe it's the way factions will work and how each one is almost a whole game in itself, allowing you even more options in playing the game. The list just goes on and on.

HCG: Please tell us some nifty secret info about the game (this is not a joke)! :)

PH: Sorry, we have a ways to go until the game comes out, so the nifty secrets are going to stay secret for a little while longer.

HCG: How many expansions do you plan to do for the game? :)

PH: Right now, none. If Oblivion isn't fantastic, we won't need any expansions. We have to worry about making this one great and not just asssume anything we put out will do fine. A game like this takes every ounce of energy and attention you can muster.

HCG: Are there any features that you would've done in an other way in Morrowind, and are now in Oblivion? If yes, what were these?

PH: Well, hindsight is always 20/20. It's hard to sit here several years after release and say we could have done this or that better. We made the game we wanted to make, and have learned from that experience and put that knowledge into making Oblivion a great game.

HCG: What is the first thing, that pops into your mind upon hearing "Hungary"?

PH: Food? Ferenc Puskas. Tim Howard (American goalkeeper, I think his mom is from Hungary).

HCG: Finally, would like to say anything to our readers?

PH: We appreciate your emails and support. Thanks to all of you that played Morrowind, we hope you enjoyed it, and we hope you're looking forward to playing Oblivion as much as we're looking forward to getting it out to you.