In the videogame world, few things can compare to the creature known as hype. Since the early days of the NES, titles have been picked apart and analyzed months, sometimes years, before they even hit the market. We've seen this is in the recent past with such Xbox hits as Halo 2 and Fable, and even seen early glimpses of it on the Xbox 360 with Dead or Alive 4. However, the hype machine has been working in overdrive since October 22, 2004. This was the day Bethesda Softworks announced the follow-up to its massive Xbox title The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. The answer to that title's success? The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Since then, we've passed along every screen that has come our way, given hands-on impressions from every event at which the game has shown up, and waited patiently for the eventual release. Now it has arrived—we've scurried the depths of Oblivion and have lived to tell the tale.