Monday, February 6, 2023

Ports of Entry: Bethesda Softworks

Unknown lead platform:

 

Gridiron!

Released for Amiga & Atari ST in 1986

 

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

First released for PC & XBox 360 in March 2006

Ported to Playstation 3 in 2007

 

Wikipedia's development history article does make it sound like Xbox development was prioritized.

 

Fallout 3

Released for PC, PS3, & XBox 360 in October 2008

 

XBox 360 was the first platformed demoed

 

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Released for PC, PS3, & XBox 360 in November 2011

 

Fallout 4

Released for PC, PS4, & XBox One in November 2015

 

 

Select chronology:  

 

Early era: 

Title Lead platform Date Contemporary ports
Gridiron! ??? 1986 Same-year releases on Amiga & Atari ST
Wayne Gretzky Hockey Amiga 1988 1989 port to Atari ST
Where's Waldo? NES 1991-9

 

DOS era: 

Title Date
The Terminator 1991
Hockey League Simulator II 1992
The Terminator 2029 1992
The Terminator: Rampage 1993
The Elder Scrolls: Arena 3/25/1994
The Terminator: Future Shock 1995
The Elder Scrolls: Chapter II - Daggerfall 1996-9
SkyNET 1996

 

Late era: 

Title Lead platform Date Contemporary ports
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Windows 2/4/2002 Same-year port to Xbox
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion ??? 3/20/2006 Simultaneous releases on PC & Xbox 360
2007 port to PS3
Fallout 3 ??? 10/28/2008 Simultaneous releases on PC, PS3, & Xbox 360
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim ??? 11/11/2011 Simultaneous releases on PC, PS3, & Xbox 360
Fallout 4 ??? 11/10/2015 Simultaneous releases on PC, PS4, & Xbox One

4 comments:

  1. Did Daggerfall not reach whale status? I find that surprising! Everyone seems like they were playing it back in '97

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    Replies
    1. It does. Bold font just means "I am not sure what the lead platform is, please tell me if you do," if the nonbold font is why you asked.

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  2. I don't have any verifiable sources for this, but Oblivion was definitely developed Xbox-first and PC-second - there are many small details in how the engine handles rendering and resource allocation that indicate the devs were essentially pegging the maximum performance of the game to the Xbox 360's system specs. When you install Oblivion on a modern PC you have to apply a bunch of patches and mods to make it more generically PC-friendly instead of laser-targeted at the Xbox specs. You can probably find more details about this on Oblivion modding forums, it's been several years since I installed or played the game.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, and the UI is very consolized what with the large fonts and everything.

      Avoid the PS versions of every game here, they run horribly compared to the others versions.

      Delete