"As you’d expect (especially given that this is just an expansion of the core Oblivion game, The Shivering Isles looks and sounds terrific. The two realms both look great, although I was a bit more partial to the colorful palette on display in Mania. The music is just as solid as ever, and the sound effects are crystal clear. Naturally, the same issues that many people had with the original game pop up here, from the occasionally stuttering visuals to the lip-synching on the NPCs. Despite these problems, this is still a great looking game."

"Upon investigating this mysterious portal, a screaming and clearly demented adventurer exits the portal back into Nibben bay, to be killed by a guard. The guard proceeds to warn you that all who enter will be sentencing themselves to a certain death, but fear not he will be there to “clean up the mess” when you return (ekkk)! Obviously the only thing to do is to totally ignore his advice. Onward we go !"

"You'll also get some fancy new armor sets and weaponry. From new enemy types and dungeons can be procured Amber and Madness Ore, which when brought to the proper smith in the main city of New Sheoth can be forged into some attractive pieces of equipment, with all the intricate detailing we've come to expect from Bethesda. Better still, these armors level with your character, so if you're still somewhat inexperienced, you can go back and forge a new set a few levels later and reap the benefits of augmented protection or increased weapon damage. Special Matrices allow magical versions of Amber and Madness items to be produced, but if you're a high level character you'll likely be applying your own enchants. A few unique weapons pop up as you follow the main story along with some new summons, and, depending on some of the choices you make during the main quest, the armor of the Golden Saints or Dark Seducers, who guard the Bliss and Dementia halves of New Sheoth, respectively."

"The Shivering Isles � the Live Arcade expansion pack for Oblivion � is set in the realm of the God of Madness, Sheogorath. Moments after you’ve stepped through the new gate in the Niben bay and met Haskill, the mad god’s entirely-too-sane manservant, you’re dumped in The Fringe, a walled area that serves to test new entrants to the realm. You’ve got to escape from there and become Sheogorath’s new champion bitch against the rapidly approaching Greymarch, the 1000-yearly assault of the forces of order on the land of madness."

New Features 10 new Xbox 360 Achievements for Shivering Isles

Bug Fixes

Improved LOD visual quality for landscape.

Optimizations to file loading system.

Taking items from dead owned creatures is no longer a crime.

 Fixed issue where lock/unlocked states on doors would occasionally be stored incorrectly in a save game.

NPCs no longer pop into view after player cancels out from the Wait menu.

Fixed memory leak with sitting in a chair multiple times.

 The reflection from the environment map in windows now displays properly.

Fixed an issue where player is still in combat even though the creature is no longer present.

Player can no longer fast travel when paralyzed.

Fixed infinite dialogue loop when arrested by guards who have high disposition to you.

Fixed issue where guards would not properly report crime if they were pickpocketed. Summoned creatures properly fade away when they are created from a leveled list.

 Fixed issue where stolen items would lose their stolen status if the player character was female.

Fixed crash that would occur with NPCs loading in with arrows. Pickup sound effects no longer play during the loading screen.

If you attack a creature owned by you, crime is no longer reported.

Fixed issue with LOD not loading in properly when entering/exiting worldspaces. Fixed infinite soul gems exploit by dropping and picking up stacked soul gems.

Fixed a crash with summoning a creature and immediately exiting the cell. Fixed a crash with stealing an object, exiting and immediately re-entering an interior.

Fixed issue where an NPC would occasionally not perform the proper idle animation.

Fixed an occasional crash when a creature loses detection on the player

Fixed an occasional crash with NPCs who were not loaded going into combat.

Quest Fixes In Light the Dragonfires, fixed issue where improper journal would appear if you closed an Oblivion gate.

In Till Death do They Part, fixed an issue where Melisande would not properly give you Cure Vampirism potion.

"Just like with Oblivion, it's an open world. You can head to the main city of New Sheoth where Sheogorath sits on his throne to follow the main quest or simply wander about, discovering hidden caves, ruins, and towns. The lands look significantly different from Cyrodiil. Dementia, for instance, is populated with mists, oversized spiked mushrooms, and jutting knuckles of rock. We chose to trek to the capital and check out one of the main quests from a little further on in the game, which involved a substance called Felldew."

"ActionTrip: What are the main things you felt were missing in Oblivion? Are we going to see any of that in the expansion pack?

Mark Nelson: Because of the sheer scope of Oblivion, and the number of NPCs involved, I never felt like we had the chance to really develop enough of them, to give them all stories and a real place in the world. With the Shivering Isles, we are working with a much smaller group, and it's really allowed us to develop them more fully. I think it makes the world a more interesting and believable place.

ActionTrip: Oblivion's striking visuals, unfortunately, are sometimes simply too much for modest rigs. Is your team working on certain technical improvements to make sure the original is even more enjoyable?

Mark Nelson: There's always an ongoing process of bug-fixing and optimization to the game, but we're not going to attempt to change the core game to run on slower systems."