so while i'm waiting for some of the games i want to hurry up and come out already(!), i've been still playing oblivion. love it, my guy is level 50 and i've done just about everything i can do except complete the main shivering isles quest and the occasional side quest that i find i've missed. my gameplay time reads around 500 hours.

after testing this over and over and over, with many different locations/activities, i have determined that whenever the gameplay timer reaches 501:00, all graphics for magic cease to animate correctly. that is, the graphics for any spell that is cast (even behind one's back) just hangs in the air and slowly goes through it's animation, taking longer and longer to complete, until all spell graphics just freeze on their target or in the air. the end result is that whenever multiple spells are used, be it the player or a creature or an npc that did the casting, the entire screen ends up being lit up with hanging spells. and it stays that way for a LONG time. it was kind of cool at first, but now it's just annoying. anyone else ever experience this kind of thing? incidentally, this will happen whether i have just turnedthe 360on (left it off for this whole week) or if it's been on for a while.

btw i know it's really just time for a new game. trust me, i'm ready for bioshock/mass effect/halo3/etc in a big way