I got a note from my colleague in Japan on this and thought it was worth sharing. A group of 12 editorial staff from Enterbrain (the folks that put out Famitsu in all it’s various iterations) sat down and voted on the game they felt was the best title of the year in Japan without regard for sales figures, fame of the franchise, etc. Only one vote per person, game with the most votes wins. In the end, Oblivion took home the honor as the best game of 2007 with 5 votes. The tally was:

#1 - Oblivion (5 votes)
#2 - God of War 2 (2 votes)
#3 - Super Mario Galaxy (1 vote)
#4 - Legend of Zelda DS (1 vote)
#5 - Monster Hunter Portable (1 vote)

I emailed him twice to say “are you SURE we won?” Needless to say we were all surprised, and thrilled, that the game is that well thought of in Japan given that it’s completely different than the RPGs one usually finds in Japan. So thanks for the nod, we do appreciate it.

Awards, Game of the Year, Japan, Making the Grade, Oblivion, Top 5 | 11 Comments »

Before taking off in celebration of the New Year, I thought I’d share a few nuggets of information that we’ve come across recently…

Various websites continue to forecast which games they’re pumped to play in 2008. The staff at CVG have put up a list titled “2008’s Essential PS3 Games,” which includes Fallout 3. It’s nice to see the game make the list with such great company (MGS 4, LittleBigPlanet, and GTA IV were among some of the other games that made the cut). Discussing Fallout 3, they wrote:

(more…)

Around the Web, Fallout 3, Game of the Year, Making the Grade, Oblivion, Playstation 3, The Elder Scrolls, Xbox 360 | 4 Comments »

2007, we hardly knew thee. For this week’s “What we’re playing,” we’re reflecting on our personal favorite games from this past year. Looking through the list, you’ll see lots of the well-known favorites, including Mass Effect, Super Mario Galaxy, and Rock Band. If we had to lock ourselves in a room and fight over our official office pick for GOTY, I’d venture to say it would end up being between the Orange Box or Bioshock. If you’ve been following this blog, or playing games this year, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

As for the format for our rankings, there really isn’t one…I’ve let folks at the office format their lists as they please. If you’d like, feel free to share your picks in the comments section.

On to the lists…

(more…)

Around the Web, Developers, Game of the Year | 13 Comments »

Today we will be releasing our final Bethesda Softworks Newsletter for the year of 2007. It’s been an exciting 2007 for us — releasing Shivering Isles, Oblivion GOTY, and Star Trek: Conquest, as well as finally unveiling Fallout 3.

To celebrate the holidays, the newsletter will give access to a couple of Vault Boy-themed wallpapers for your desktop. The first is the image you see above. Be sure to check out the latest newsletter to see the other one, which is currently on my desktop. Hope you enjoy them!

To sign up for the Bethesda Softworks Newsletter, click here.

Conquest, Fallout 3, Game of the Year, Happy Holidays, Newsletter, Shivering Isles | 1 Comment »

If you live across the pond from us, you know that Oblivion GOTY is arriving soon in Europe for the PS3 (if you don’t have it already). Just to refresh your memory, Oblivion Game of the Year features Oblivion, Knights of the Nine, and the Shivering Isles expansion — all on one Blu Ray disc.

To celebrate the occasion, Eurogamer has teamed up with Ubisoft (our publishing partner in Europe) for a contest to win a 40 GB PS3 and a copy of the game. Looks like they’ll also be giving four additional copies of GOTY for the runners-up as well. To enter, register on their site and then answer the following question:

“If all the people in the world camped out in your back garden would you write and tell the king or grab a tent and join them?”

Good luck!

Contests, Game of the Year, Knights of the Nine, Oblivion, Playstation 3, Shivering Isles | 9 Comments »

With the PS3 release of Oblivion Game of the Year now in stores here in the US, we’ve been getting plenty of questions and comments as to when/if it will ship in Europe. Pete pointed out in a comment yesterday that MCV and other sites have the press release announcement that Ubisoft bringing the game to Europe this December.

Let the (final) countdown begin!

Game of the Year, Oblivion, Playstation 3, Ubisoft | 20 Comments »

First, I wanted to let you know that we are finally releasing the last piece of downloadable content we created for Oblivion. We had mentioned it a long, long time ago but we hadn’t released it, until now. Starting Monday, October 15 it will be available to download via Xbox Live (for Xbox 360) and elderscrolls.com (for PC). And, for one week, it will be free to anybody who wants to download it and play it. So mark it on your calendars and don’t forget.

(more…)

Downloads, Game of the Year, Oblivion, Playstation 3, Shivering Isles, Xbox 360, Xbox Live | 228 Comments »

So we’ve got a number of new products headed to store shelves this week. First, Oblivion PS3 (above) finally comes to Japan this week. The Japanese 360 version was released several months ago and has done very well. Hopefully the PS3 version will meet with similar success.

Next, the Oblivion GotY edition for Xbox 360 is shipping this week throughout Europe. It was released last week in the UK and will be in stores towards the end of the week.

Finally, Oblivion GotY edition for PS3 is looking like it’s on track to ship in N. America mid-October. I think we’ve cleared the few remaining hurdles we had left (although I’ve been doing this long enough to know there’s an endless supply of hurdles and someone is apt to throw one out in front of you when you least expect it). We’ll let you know when we do.

Game of the Year, Oblivion, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 | 41 Comments »

You may have noticed that I hadn’t posted anything new on the blog for a few days. I was out in Las Vegas for a GameCrazy retail event. The event pulls together folks from their stores around the country, and gives them an opportunity to take a look at what game companies have coming out.

Above is our booth from the event. There was some initial panic on my end because it took awhile for our monitors to arrive, and when they did, I realized they didn’t have any speakers. Thankfully, everything came together before the show started.

(more…)

AMF: Pinbusters!, Conquest, Fallout 3, Game of the Year, Oblivion, On the Road | 2 Comments »

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.

(more…)

Game of the Year, Microsoft, Oblivion, PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 | 32 Comments »