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If you're one of the virtual boatload of PC or Xbox 360 gamers currently, or soon to be, engulfed by the world of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion then you've probably already heard of the various downloads being offered by Bethesda Softworks to enhance your experience, such as the controversially priced horse armor and a selection of themes. But wait! As recently stated by a Bethesda representative, and relayed to GameSpot News, that's far from all the developers have in store for fans. Some brand new features, including additional locations and powers, should be available to the public (that's you) within the following weeks.

The first of which will be a venue intended for players to treat as their own turf: The Wizard's Tower. Here you'll be given a choice of many useful tasks to perform, among which are growing herbs, summoning atronachs, and conjuring spells; all your pad will likely be missing is your own pet wizard. It's unknown at the time whether or not the Wizard's Tower will be accessible as a questing reward or simply obtained as new property.

Another inclusion will be a quest involving a Dwarven Orrery in much need of repair. Since the Orrery is capable of revealing the movements of the moon and other celestial bodies, special powers related to the lunar cycles will be granted to you upon completion of the quest. Lycanthropy, a power hinted at by both the lunar aspect of the quest as well as the werewolves present in The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon expansion, is a result possibility.

Both forms of new content will materialize as parts of the ordinary map - rather than as expansions - by residing in the existing sections of the world once added.

According to Bethesda, the company plans to monitor what types of content fans prefer the most in order to determine the nature of future downloadable extras. "It certainly may be the case that some plug-ins will appeal to some folks and not others, but we hope we'll be able to provide a good variety so that there's something for everyone... and hopefully more than one something for everyone."

The price of the upcoming downloads is set at $1.99 (US) for the PC versions; the Xbox 360 variants' price has yet to be confirmed.

Source: GameSpot

NOTE: This was our 2006 April Fool. I think we got a few of you! -Tiddles

After several days of discussion with staff, Caves of Narshe webmaster Rangers51 has officially decided to take the next step in the CoN's evolution. After witnessing fewer hits on the main site, decreased participation levels in the forums, and generally lower morale among staff and members ever since the debut of the Final Fantasy VII section on February 13, 2005, R51and staff agree that sometimes the best course of action can be to admit a mistake.

The decision to eliminate Final Fantasy VII content from the CoN was not an easy one for R51 to make. Echoing the sentiments of the staff who worked on the section, R51 states, "I really loved the FF7 content we made, I thought it was the best on the web. But in the long run it just wasn't bringing in the kind of clientele we were looking for to sustain the site."

Even though this is certainly a step backwards in terms of site content, the CoN is bound to take a few steps forward almost immediately with the addition of a brand-new section to replace old content and hopefully generate new interest in the CoN. While the Final Fantasy VII section took a very, very long time to build, we've really worked hard as a group to finish up an all-new section and have it almost ready; look for it to launch sometime in the next week or so. If R51 has availability while he moves, it may even go up sooner. We know that our work will ultimately lead the CoN in a direction that staff and members alike have always hoped to see it go in.

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It will be sad to see all the hard work of the creators of the FF7 section come to naught, but I, for one, am excited about the new direction the site will be taking. Hopefully, this change will begin to diminish the influx of FF7 fanboys and instead attract fans of the next game to grace the CoN's pages!

Announced at a Tokyo press conference Wednesday, Square-Enix and Gakushuukenkyuusha (aka Gakken) have teamed up to establish a new company, named SG Lab, designed to develop and publish "serious" game titles - that is, video games with teaching purposes such as educational research, government, medicine, and more.

As unappealing a move as this endeavor may sound, some of these so-called serious games will be unintended for regular gamers. According to the presidents of both companies, SG Lab will develop the educational software after receiving and accepting orders from various clients, a task they've only recently begun. Currently there's no telling just what sort of game themes SG Lab is likely to expect in the future, but they're already working on expanding their market to include topics ranging from health care to public relations dealt within private enterprises.

Due to the amount of expert knowledge required to tackle such a business, this is one field Square-Enix would not be able to handle alone being strictly an entertainment developer; therefore entailed the decision to partner-up. As Youichi Wada, president of Square-Enix explained, video games aimed at entertaining players and serious games are of two very different leagues. Gakken, in search of a skillful and influential company within the gaming industry, found the idea of an education-based joint effort by the two rather intriguing.

With an overall lack of competition in the genre as of now, it's extremely likely SG Lab's desire to be the global market leader will be well within reach.

Source: RPGFan

At the recent Nintendo conference Satoru Iwata revealed many things featuring upcoming Nintendo products, including of course, the Nintendo Revolution. Up until now all we've known is that it would support NES to N64 on the virtual console. Of course, there were hushed whispers and rumors about Sega really liking the idea and wanting to put their games onto it.

Well, it's no longer a rumor. The Revolution's virtual console will now offer downloads from not only Sega, but the TurboGrafx-16. It won't be every game, of course. But they're going to get all the best ones.

It's things like this that make me want a Revolution more than I already do. And I mean, I really want one.

Source: 1UP (Link courtesy of Phunbaba)

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for the Nintendo DS was revealed a few hours ago by Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. The game will use an esthetic very similar to Wind Waker, and is a truly remarkable demonstration of the DS's visual capabilities. The linked source has a short trailer and a number screenshots.

To me, this is only another reason to buy a DS. A new Zelda, a new Tetris, a new 2D Mario, a new 2D Castlevania, a new Advance Wars, a "new" Final Fantasy... man I wish I had an income....

Source: some British website, found via Digg

The negative publicity of the early "batarang" build of the PS3's controller seems to have made an impact. Phil Harrison, president of Sony Computer Entertainment's Worldwide Studios division, announced that the PS3's controller would indeed be redesigned for the final product, but no official redesign has been shown yet and Harrison did not specify any particular date for revealing the new design. We'll be sure to keep you up to date on any new developments.

Source: Engadget (Note: the picture shown on this site is NOT an official redesign, but one of several unofficial user-redesigns from an engadget contest several months ago)