Bethesda have announced plans to release a beta version of an Oblivion patch soon and the Orrery part of their new downloadable content next week for 150pts on Xbox and USD 1.89 on the PC.
According to a Bethesda Game Studios employee on the official Oblivion forums Bethesda is hard at work on the first Oblivion patch both for PC and XBox and plans to release a beta version pretty soon. It is our plan to first release it as a beta patch for the PC when it has cleared our initial testing cycles internally. Since it's a beta patch you should be aware that issues may come up that we haven't found yet and we strongly recommend you backup save games and understand it may be necessary to reinstall the game when the final patch comes out. said the Bethesda man, using the name Pete on the forums.
As far as the content is concerned, Pete gives us the full details:
We have been working on downloadable content since we finished the game in February, and we continue to feel this is a great avenue for us to continue to add to the Oblivion experience.
We have already announced two of them:
The Orrery
The Orrery allows you to help the Mages Guild of Cyrodiil repair the Imperial Orrery, an ancient dwarven machine with mystical properties. Bandits have stolen a shipment of parts destined for the Arcane University; if you can return them, the Orrery will function once more.
Features
* A new, full-featured quest, including dialogue, journals, and rewards
* Access to the Imperial Orrery in the Arcane University, an incredible mechanical marvel
* New powers available for your character based on the phases of the moons
The Wizards Tower
Located high in the Jeral Mountains of Cyrodiil away from prying eyes, this Wizard's Tower, Frostcrag Spire, will become available. Packed with numerous useful enhancements, this structure will prove invaluable to magic-oriented characters.
Features:
- A fully detailed tower for you to explore
- A breathtaking view of Cyrodiil from the highest point in the land
- Simple furnishings including a bed for leveling up
- An indoor botanical garden with over 130 specimens... including Oblivion-native herbs!
- Summon Atronach Familiars that obey your commands
- Instant teleports to every Mages Guild in Cyrodiil
- New Spell and Recharge vendor in the Imperial City
- Fully upgrade the furnishings in your lair to suit your needs
- Upgrade to a fully functional Enchanting and Spellmaking station with no need to join Mages Guild
- Upgrade to a laboratory that buffs your Alchemy skill
We hope to have The Orrery available for purchase next week. This plugin will cost 150pts on Xbox, and USD 1.89 on the PC. The Horse Armor Pack has been very popular, and exceeded what we thought it would sell. Despite that, we're still trying to find the right spot, so we're putting a much larger plugin out for less than the last one and we'll see what happens. Your feedback as we move forward in this is invaluable. Tell us what you want to see, how much of it, and what it might be worth to you. No, don't say you want it free, because these plugins take a surprising amount of time to create, polish, and test (much more then Morrowind's).
