One of the games revealed during Spike TV's 2010 Video Game Awards was a title rumored to be in production over the past two years-- Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls 5.
Called The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Bethesda Softworks Executive Producer Todd Howard surprised the audience with the game's announcement and a dragon-themed cinematic trailer narrated by Max von Sydow.
However the big shocker following Skyrim's initial reveal was that it won't use id Software's id Tech 5 engine, but rather an all-new engine developed by Bethesda Game Studios. "We can now confirm that the TES V: Skyrim engine is all-new," said Bethesda's Nick Breckon on Twitter. "And it looks fantastic."
At the moment much isn't known about the game, however it's speculated that Skyrim may take place in a northerly province. Previous reports indicated that Skyrim may actually be a direct sequel to Oblivion rather than serve as a stand-alone chapter in the Elder Scrolls series.
Monday in a separate Twitter post (and followed up by Bethesda's official press release), Breckon said that Skyrim will be fully revealed in an exclusive cover story in the February issue of Game Informer, slated to reach subscribers in January.
"It’s exciting finally to announce the game," said Todd Howard, Game Director on Skyrim in a press release on Monday. "We’ve been working for many years on Skyrim and the technology behind it. A new Elder Scrolls game has been a long time coming, and we can’t wait to show it off."
As seen in the clip below, the teaser trailer doesn't offer a glimpse into the new engine's capabilities, but rather provides hype-building cinematics. Currently the game is scheduled to launch on November 11, 2011 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
