A new BBFC rating for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition has popped up online, suggesting UK gamers may soon see the launch of the 5th anniversary edition of the sprawling fantasy RPG.

The 5th anniversary edition launched in the US earlier this month.

The new BBFC rating, classified today, details the Game of the Year Edition of Oblivion, which includes the Shivering Isles expansion.

In the US the 5th anniversary edition includes a map, a making of DVD with a Skyrim trailer and a $10 Off Coupon for Skyrim.

This comes in a steelbook with slip cover.

Eurogamer has contacted Bethesda for comment.

id Software wizard John Carmack has recounted the experience of creating Quake, the seminal first-person shooter that turns 15 today.

"My defining memory of the game was fairly early in development, when I no-clipped up into a ceiling corner and looked down as a Shambler walked through the world with its feet firmly planted on the ground," Carmack, who is knee deep in Rage development, said on the Bethblog.

"This looked like nothing I had ever seen before; it really did seem like I had a window into another world. Of course, as soon as he had to turn, the feet started to slide around because we didn’t have pivot points and individual joint modifications back then, but it was still pretty magical.

"It seems silly now, but at the time we were very concerned that people wouldn't be able to deal with free look mouse control, and we had lots of options to restrict pitch changes and auto-centre when you started moving."

Carmack goes on to describe the game's online play as "almost an accident". He has kind words for its 3D graphics and modding, however.

"The most important thing about Quake for me was that I met my wife when she organized the first all-female Quake tournament. She still thinks Quake was the seminal achievement of id, and she glowers at me whenever I bemoan how random the design was."

At E3 Carmack outlined his vision of the next Quake game - what would perhaps be Quake V - in an interview with Eurogamer.

"Nothing is scheduled here, people are not building this," Carmack said. "We went from the Quake 2 and the Quake 4 Strogg universe. We are at least tossing around the possibilities of going back to the bizarre, mixed up Cthulhu-ish Quake 1 world and rebooting that direction.

"We think that would be a more interesting direction than doing more Strogg stuff after Quake 4.

"We certainly have strong factions internally that want to go do this.

"But we could do something pretty grand like that, that still tweaks the memory right in all of those ways, but is actually cohesive and plays with all of the strengths of the level we're at right now."

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id Software's John Carmack has outlined his vision for the next game in the Quake series.

While confirming that the next Quake is not in development, Carmack told Eurogamer there are "strong factions" within the US developer that want to create another game in the seminal first-person shooter series.

And discussions are pointing towards going back to the first game's quirky roots.

"Nothing is scheduled here, people are not building this," Carmack said.

"We went from the Quake 2 and the Quake 4 Strogg universe. We are at least tossing around the possibilities of going back to the bizarre, mixed up Cthulhu-ish Quake 1 world and rebooting that direction.

"We think that would be a more interesting direction than doing more Strogg stuff after Quake 4.

"We certainly have strong factions internally that want to go do this.

"But we could do something pretty grand like that, that still tweaks the memory right in all of those ways, but is actually cohesive and plays with all of the strengths of the level we're at right now."

Quake began life on PC in 1996. It involved a marine travelling through alternate dimensions to prevent an alien invasion. Quake 2 followed a year later, introducing the alien planet Stroggos. 2005's Quake 4 continued the story.

The first Quake is credited with pioneering online FPS gaming, but Carmack believes it benefits from rose-tinted nostalgia goggles.

"The way I think about some of those things, and I actually get into arguments with my wife about this, who loved the original Quake game, I looked at the original Quake as this random thing, because we really didn't have our act together very well.

"But because it was so seminal about the 3D world and the internet gaming, it's imprinted on so many people. It made such an impact in so many ways. Memory cuts us a lot of slack."

Adding his thoughts into the mix, id CEO Todd Hollenshead said: "People shouldn't worry that we're ever going to orphan or abandon Quake. We are huge fans of the game internally."

id Software's next game is Rage, due out on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this October. Doom 4 follows. After that, who knows?

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Sprawling fantasy role-playing epic The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion looks set for a limited re-release in June.

Listings for a 5th anniversary edition have popped up on online shops, spotted by the wonderfully-named Nitro Beard.

It includes:

• Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game Of The Year Edition.
• Collector's Edition Content (map, 'Making Of' DVD with an added Skyrim trailer).
• A $10 Off Coupon (redeemable at any retailer, nationwide) for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

According to the site the innards come in a steelbook with slip cover. A June PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 release is planned.

Oblivion launched in 2006 to critical and commercial acclaim. Eurogamer's Oblivion review rolled a whopping 10/10.

Follow-up Skyrim is due out later this year.

Gamers are still buying the Horse Armour add-on for sprawling fantasy role-playing game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Bethesda has revealed.

The nearly five-year-old DLC, originally priced at 200 Microsoft Points (£1.70), angered gamers for being a bit on the expensive side – all it added was, yes, horse armour.

Eurogamer's report on its release spawned over a hundred comments.

But despite the DLC being ancient, people are still buying it today.

"In one respect everything we've done has done well, including the much maligned horse armour," vice-president Pete Hines told OXM.

"I swear to you I don't have the report in front of me, but multiple people bought horse armour yesterday! For some inexplicable reason. It happened, I promise."

Hines' comments came as part of a discussion on the success of Bethesda's downloadable content for all its games. The upshot: if it's worth the cash, the people will come.

"So that [Horse Armour] sold, and Shivering Isles sold, and everything we did for Fallout 3 sold, so it's clear to us that what matters most is value - and whether it's value at the 10 dollar or 10 pound price point, or five pounds, or whatever it is, so long as it's good value, people will like it and buy it."

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will hark back to Morrowind and the "wonder of discovery" - something Bethesda wittingly "sacrificed" for Oblivion.

"It should feel alien," creative director Todd Howard said of Morrowind to OXM, "kind of 'stranger in a strange' land - with familiar looking elements only rooting you early in the game.

"The whole tone ends up being one of 'I'm an outsider, I'm uncomfortable'.

"With Oblivion, we're dealing with the capital province, and we wanted to get back to the more classic Arena and Daggerfall feel of a fantasy world that felt more refined and welcoming, a place that you instantly understood.

"But in that," he added, "we sacrificed some of what made Morrowind special: the wonder of discovery. With Skyrim, we're trying to bring some of that back and walk the line between Morrowind and Oblivion. Where it's at first familiar looking, but has its own unique culture and spin on it."

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, released 2002, looted 8/10 on Eurogamer. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - a simultaneous March 2006 release on PC, 360 (later PS3) - scored 10/10.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will release in November on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Big things are expected. What we know so far? Skyrim has dual-wielding, perks, finishers, no classes, fancy menus and a brand new (evolved, really) Creation Engine.

Video: Skyrim.

John Romero, legendary designer of seminal first-person shooters Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake, is turning his attention to a new type of gamer – Facebook gamers.

"We have satisfied hardcore gamers for decades," the id Software co-founder told Venture Beat.

"Now it's time for the rest of the world. Our opportunity is to teach the rest of the world how to play games."

Romero hopes to achieve his goal through the California-based developer Loot Drop. Its small team plan to publish games for multiple social game publishers.

Loot Drop has funding from social game publisher RockYou, which will publish Romero's first game soon.

But Romero's already tasted sweet success in the social game space with Facebook game Ravenwood Fair, which a whopping 10 million people play every month.

Romero's new role as the designer of the next big social experience is a far cry from the one that made his name.

Romero co-founded id Software with John Carmack, Adrian Carmack and Tom Hall, and designed some of the most influential games of all time.

Romero left to start Ion Storm and created the controversial Daikatana. In 1997 he appeared on an advert for the game that said: "John Romero's About To Make You His Bitch....Suck it down." That didn't go down well, and some 10 years later Romero apologised to fans for it.

After Ion Storm closed in 2001, Romero formed mobile game developer Monkeystone Games. After leaving that company, he joined Midway Games in 2003. He left two years later, starting MMO developer Slipgate Ironworks, which became the core studio of Gazillion. That didn't work out as planned, either.

Now the 43-year-old has a very different outlook on the creation of videogames, and believes in experiences fuelled by virtual item purchases. "The game industry is dropping down on top of social," Romero said. "We don't have a view of strip mining the players for cash. When a player gives you money, you want them to feel good about giving you that money."

Romero will launch four Loot Drop games this year, to be published and marketed by other companies.

Bethesda Game Studios is hard at work on the fifth game in the Elder Scrolls series, according to a new report.

It's a direct sequel to 2006's stonking great fantasy role-playing game Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Eurogamer Denmark said.

We've asked the author of the story, Eurogamer Denmark Editor-in-chief Kristian West, to translate into English for us (apparently Google doesn't do it justice). Here's what he said:

"This source not only confirmed that the game is in current production, but also spoke briefly about the content - with fantasy-sounding phrases like Dragon Lord, something with The Blades - and that voice acting for the characters in the game is currently happening in the weeks to follow.

"The same source confirmed, with official game documents in hand, that this will be the chronological sequel to what happened in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which is the latest game in the now 16-years-old Elder Scrolls saga and by itself one of the better RPGs for PC and consoles.

"The sequel to Oblivion is coming, we can hereby confirm without hesitation. It's been a while since 2006, hasn't it?"

Rumour of an Elder Scrolls sequel has been rife since Oblivion's launch.

In August Bethesda Game Studios told Eurogamer the majority of its 90 or so staff are beavering away on the new game - thought to be a new Elder Scrolls title - which has been in development for two years.

Executive producer Todd Howard said in an interview with Eurogamer at QuakeCon that the studio's current title will be announced soon, but he couldn't say exactly when. "I have a sense but we're not ready even to talk about [the timing of the announcement], because it might change. I don't want to disappoint people.

"One thing I can say is that from when you first hear about it to when it's out will be the shortest it's been for us. It's pretty far along. When we show it, we want to show a lot, because there's a lot of game there to play right now.

"You know, if [global VP of PR and marketing] Pete Hines came in and said, 'I want you to show it,' I'd be like, 'Okay, I'm ready to show it.' But we've just decided for now not to yet."

Howard wouldn't be drawn on many details about the game, but said the technology was derived from the engine that powered Fallout 3, albeit with significant modifications.

"Fallout 3 technically does a lot more than Oblivion. The new stuff is an even bigger jump from that," he said.

"I can say it is on the existing platforms, which we're really happy with. You almost feel like you have a new console when you see the game."