Oblivion extras revealed

Wednesday 5 March2006
Bethesda, creator of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, has launched a specialdownload sitefor PC owners of the massively single-player RPG to purchase extras for the game. Along with the horse armour add-on that appeared yesterday, two new quests will soon be available, all priced at $1.99 (about £1.14) - please note that this is the final, confirmed PC price, rather than the $1.50 we reported yesterday.

Fortunately, the upcoming downloads look a little more enticing than yesterday's simple horse bits. Grabbing the Wizard's Tower add-on will give players access to a magic-infused building to use as a home. You'll be able to grow herbs, make spells, summon atronachs (elemental demon things) and stir up other wizardly recipes.

The second download forms a brand new quest called Orrery. Your aim is to repair a Dwarf-built Orrery, which shows the movements of planets and stars through the Solar System. Complete the quest and you'll gain powers linked to the planet's lunar cycles. These could include the ability to become a werewolf, or to wield control over the planet's day/night cycle, perhaps extending the darkness of night to cover a particularly complex sneaking mission.

There's no confirmation as to when we'll be able to grab these new extras, but Bethesda is obviously serious about heading towards pay-per-quest downloads. Is that good or bad? Why not visit our forum and pin up your own thoughts on the subject.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.