Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Zenimax's Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind will be the next installment in the company's critically acclaimed Elder Scrolls series, which includes such classics as Elder Scrolls: Arena and Daggerfall. As with the previous games, Morrowind will be more or less completely open-ended; the game world and the way in which your character can interact with it will depend entirely on the choices you make with your character.

Unlike the previous games, Morrowind won't take place across the entire realm of the Elder Scrolls; rather, it will confine itself to a slightly smaller area. That's because Morrowind will feature even more painstaking detail, both in terms of the game's story and structure, and in terms of the game's technology and graphics. The game's system requirements will likely be extremely high, as Morrowind's graphics engine will provide for polygonal characters with unusually large and detailed textures, detailed skeletal animation, and advanced real-time lighting. Said project lead Todd Howard, "We know it's been a long time coming. It's the most ambitious game we've ever done and not something we go into lightly. The scope of this game is staggering, both in terms of the game world and the technology behind it. Having been down this road before, we know how long it takes to get it right."

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind has already been in development for more than a year, and because both its narrative structure and its powerful graphics engine are tremendously complex, the game still has a long way to go before it's completed. According to Bethesda, the development team is shooting for a late 2001 release.