Either Zenimax Online has been playing a bit too much Blood Dragon recently or there’s some corner of Tamriel we’ve yet to explore in our wanderings through Bethesda games, because I do not recall a single instance of electric lizards prior to this trailer for The Elder Scrolls Online.

In defence of the Wamasu, this footage looks like it comes from Coldharbour, Molag Bal’s corner of Oblivion, which doesn’t obey the same rules as the earthly planes. We’ll probably be spending a lot of time there.

Source: PCGamesN

There is so much stuff in The Elder Scrolls Online. As well as all the usual stuff you’d expect to find on your adventures – plants, minerals and animal products – you’ll have access to stuff right off the bat in the first town, where you can able to rifle through people’s possessions and nick all their stuff, like food, drink and ingredients. You can then craft all this stuff into other, better stuff. And that’s not the end of the stuff! The world is full of stuff to collect, for quests, to improve your skills, or just because you can. Learn about all of this stuff in the video below.

Update: We’ve been politely asked to remove the video, so it’s unfortunately gone. If you’d like to learn more about the game, please click through to our Australian exclusive preview from last month!

Some cunning industrial espionage agent has filmed and uploaded an unedited 20-minute recording of themselves playing The Elder Scrolls Online — which, quite naturally, is hugely against the rules of whatever private alpha or beta they are part of. As a result, Bethesda’s Dragon Priests have already had a crack at this video and had it pulled from YouTube and DailyMotion, but it just keeps coming.

Source: PCGamesN

At the recent Elder Scrolls Online preview event in Washington, games.on.net had the chance to sit down with Maria Aliprando, creature combat designer on the game. She spoke to us about making monsters who work together, how the Finesse System rewards masterful play, and more.

Due to a scheduling conflict, our interview time with Paul Sage, the Creative Director and guru of all things Elder Scrolls Online, was limited. As a result, ace reporter Nathan Grayson from our friends at Rock, Paper, Shotgun and I joined forces to get some firm answers about our similar concerns with the game, ranging from overall scope, to combat, player control and choice reverberation. It’s a long one, but we think that the answers we were provided will help you understand the overall direction of the title into the future.

As part of our exclusive Australian hands-on with The Elder Scrolls Online, Bethesda and Zenimax have given us a bunch of fresh screens to share with the world.

Take a look below, and see whether it kindles that Elder Scrolls feeling within you. You can click on them to enlarge, of course.

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The Elder Scrolls Online finds itself in an unenviable position, where the two elements that it is attempting to combine are, ironically, quite incompatible.

On the one hand, you have the traditional Elder Scrolls experience — in this case Skyrim — that offers a reasonably ambitious sandbox in order to meet your armour hoarding, guard pickpocking, and naked dragon-hunting needs. On the other, Zenimax need to build a title within the MMO guidelines that define the boundaries of the online framework: a functioning economy, consistent access to content, and rewarding progression.

Thus the key to creating a successful fusion of these two competing sides requires a lot of careful research and experimentation — something that may possibly disappoint the stalwarts on the hard right and left of the spectrum. But if you’re one of those sitting in the middle, willing to compromise on a few freedoms here and there in order to enjoy what is actually quite a well designed rendition of The Elder Scrolls rolled into a theme park, then put on your knee guards and come hither.

You might be surprised to find that the world has not, in fact, ended.

Interested in helping Bethesda out with The Elder Scrolls Online? Well, as of right now beta sign-ups are now available for their upcoming MMO — head over to the official website for all the details of how to sign up.

To celebrate, they’ve released this rather snazzy and impressively long trailer — take a look below for five minutes of CG goodness (or download it from our file mirror in HD). Is it as impressive as the Heart of the Swarm opening movie? It’s a very close call.

We don’t know much about TESO yet, but we do know some interesting facts, including its dedication to an almost-single-server philosophy using what they’re calling ‘Megaservers’. One of the cool things about this technology is that players will be able to select what sort of play styles they’re interested in (PVP, PVE, raids etc) and what age groups they want to play with, and the architecture will seamlessly sort you into zone instances with people matching your requirements, but never require you to switch servers to find your friends. It’s not really the same as a proper single-server, but it’s a very interesting approach nonetheless.

First and foremost, I think being a ‘lead loremaster’ would be amazing. Lawrence Schick, on top of that, looks like he belongs in a mage’s tower keeping the records and annuls of Tamriel in order. Look at him! What a dude.

Anyway, you should look at him, in this video in which he talks about the larger story behind The Elder Scrolls Online, specifically the power vacuum in Cyrodiil, the factions vying for position in that vacuum, and their reasons for doing so. It’s all very interesting, particularly if you were the type to pick up and read every one of those fluffy books in Skyrim.

Even if you weren’t, it’s interesting to check out and decide what faction you’ll be part of and why. Do you believe the elves should retake their rightful place in the White Gold Tower? Do you feel that the daedric forces in Cyrodiil must be stopped? Or do you believe a human must be in power for peace to prosper?

Even if you’re not interested in the game or any of that faction business — Look at this guy! He is a wizard!

Bethesda have started filling in some of the gaps in what will probably prove to be the fluffiest MMO to date, The Elder Scrolls Online.

Over at their site, they have the first of a series of short stories detailing the leaders of each of the factions in the game.

Today’s offering is about Jorunn the Skald-King, leader of the Ebonheart Pact, the faction featuring the Nords, Dark Elves and Argonians. And doesn’t that little book presentation just make you a little homesick for Tamriel? Sigh.

Source: The Elder Scrolls Online

I continue to be cautiously optimistic about The Elder Scrolls Online. Every modern MMO says it’s different and unique to every other, and many fail to deliver that. I feel that some of The Elder Scrolls Online‘s ideas are very interesting, though — and above all, completely doable — which means they may just deliver what they promise. Whether it works still remains to be seen.

We have here a introduction to The Elder Scrolls Online, showing us many of the concepts that make it stand out, including some of the customisation options which suggest a more free-form style of play halfway between any generic MMO and the open style of The Secret World. Anyway, I’ve done enough ranting, and don’t take my word for it – check out the moving pictures below and let us know what you think. Will it live up to its promises? Will it live up to the single player games? Will it be just another MMO? Tell you what you think.

A new batch of screens from The Elder Scrolls Online have found their way to the internet, this time coming to us courtesy of All Games Beta. Take a look below, and click to live large.

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