Skyrim World Map and Game Manual "Leaked"
A printed world map and the Xbox 360's manual for Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have been scanned/photographed and uploaded.
Monday brought reports that a printed map pulled from the Russian Collector's Edition of Bethesda's upcoming The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim RPG was scanned and published online by members of a Russian fan forum. There wasn't any question in regards to its authenticity, as the scan itself was huge and featured numerous folds as if pulled from a game box.
Turns out that the map wasn't exactly "leaked," but rather handed out to attendees of the Igromir gaming show in Moscow. Either way, the virtual landscape looks massive enough to rival an MMORPG (ok, that's an exaggeration), and the map even reveals the nine major cities as previously reported, defined by their own coat of arms.
Now it seems that the Skyrim manual for the Xbox 360 version has been obtained, photographed and uploaded to imgur. There are 38 images in all covering details like cooking, the items menu, increasing skills and leveling up, the main game screen broken down into ten components, skills, traveling, quests, bartering, sneaking, pickpocketing and lockpicking, crime and punishment, and more.
Unfortunately, because the manual was photographed instead of scanned, some of the text is blurry, making the details hard to read. Still, there's plenty to read and in-game imagery to drool over until the game lands on store shelves next month.
Was this a leak? Look at it this way: what better way to create buzz over your product than to "accidentally" release in-game footage, prototypes or other materials? The appearance of a map and a manual back-to-back just doesn't seem coincidental.
Bethesda is set to launch The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in exactly one month, on November 11, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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amk-aka-Phantom Eagerly waiting for this game and hoping it will be closer to Morrowind than to Oblivion; and give us some good graphics!Reply -
alhanelem actually i prefer if the gameplay is better in Skyrim, if the graphics are the same or just slightly better than oblivion then i dont care, someone somewhere might make a mod to make it better just like the mod on morrowwind and oblivionReply -
ThruSeer Very exciting! New skill trees, sweet graphics, expansive world, combat physics... Gonna be a dream.Reply -
killerclick What I didn't like about Oblivion:Reply
1. fast travel - discourages exploration
2. quest arrow - also discourages exploration (game was designed around fast travel and the quest arrow so turning them off via mods makes the game unplayable)
3. leveled NPCs and loot - bandits with Mithril armor and glass maces trying to shake you down for 50 septims
4. uninspiring enemies - daedra are basically mindless monsters in the game
5. closing Oblivion gates was boooring
What I know I won't like about Skyrim:
1. no weapon maintenance
2. reduced number of attributes
3. graphics suited for current gen consoles (not much better than Fallout 3)
4. world map is same size as in Oblivion
5. fast travel, quest arrow and leveled NPCs and loot
Oh well, still better than MMO crap... -
alidan killerclickWhat I didn't like about Oblivion:1. fast travel - discourages exploration2. quest arrow - also discourages exploration (game was designed around fast travel and the quest arrow so turning them off via mods makes the game unplayable)3. leveled NPCs and loot - bandits with Mithril armor and glass maces trying to shake you down for 50 septims4. uninspiring enemies - daedra are basically mindless monsters in the game5. closing Oblivion gates was boooringWhat I know I won't like about Skyrim:1. no weapon maintenance2. reduced number of attributes3. graphics suited for current gen consoles (not much better than Fallout 3)4. world map is same size as in Oblivion5. fast travel, quest arrow and leveled NPCs and lootOh well, still better than MMO crap...Reply
wow... you have no idea what was taken out of oblivion for the engine run on the consoles do you?
youtube some early pre e3 ai demos, and how the game worked.
play a bit of morrowind, and than complain about
fast travel... while i can admit was poorly done, you also have to remember the only way to fast travle is to have BEEN TO THAT AREA ONCE, it didn't discourage exploration. now on towns, im not sure, i didn't discover fast travel till i already visited all the main citys.
enemy leveling was lame, what i would love is a more demon souls feal but we all know that will never happen.
ai was SEVERELY dumbed down for the consoles. blame them not the game itself.
after playing/seeing rage, it will be hard for skyrim to be impressive ai wise.
and graphics... i go into that enough for people to know i care far more about game/gameplay than what the game looks like. -
spookyman I think I will get the PC version. At least with it you can have mods. And mod the game easily yourself.Reply -
beardguy Can't wait!Reply
I truly hope this game is optimized for PC. When Oblivion came out, it clearly was not well optimized for PC(still love the game though). I am a little nervous after the Rage PC fiasco. I pretty much updated my system just to play this game though.
Please Bethesda don't let us down with another bad console port. I have faith this one will be great! -
klavis Wow, so you say it was "leaked", then you admit that it was not leaked at all but given out as a promotion, then you write a whole paragraph about how things that are leaked now aren't really leaked when the whole thing was never leaked to begin with. It was given out as promotional items at an event! Why was items being leaked even brought up in this article, nothing was leaked, not even fake leaked? This article is contradictory.Reply -
bender3000 I refuse to look at the map! I don't want to spoil this game because I look forward to discovering the POI's on my own.Reply