Oblivion was on a newer platform than Morrowind, and it used the same engine. And so did Fallout 3, NV, and Skyrim.

Bethesda will fall behind again, like they did with Redguard.

I think they learned from their mistakes in regards to redguard. (Those two words kinda sound the same!)

The biggest issue was the fact that they missed a technology window. In all fairness, a lot of people are happy with what the gamebryo creation engine can do, while it seems like only the people who are familiar with the technology (like us) want it out.

I think it'd be possible to take a year or two off to redevelop a next generation engine if Bethesda manages to publish a sustainable third party title. Maybe they'll migrate their fanbase over to the MMO Zenimax online is making and put out a single player experience when they're good and ready?

It's pointlessly expensive. Starting from scratch won't make it any better, or migrating to an engine already out - since most couldn't properly handle a game like Skyrim. If they reworked certain elements of their engine it'd save money, time and tutoring their staff.
I don't really understand what you all expect to be accomplished by changing engines. Graphics don't magically improve because you're on a different engine, the game won't work any differently. Not to mention modding. It'd have to be completely reworked or even thrown out. I hear modders scream for new engines the most, yet they don't realized that many engines they claim are better would strip much - if not all - of the capabilities the modding tools Beth releases give. Modulated game engines are few and far between.

Edit: Typos

I just want the stability and performance of the engine improved... it's having some serious performance and stability issues on the PS3, right now, as with Fallout 3 and it's just irritating. I'm worried the problems may carry over to a similarly-structured PS4.

I don't know if that'd work out as well as some people imagine. id engines may be famous (legendary, even), but they have all been for FPS's. So they're based on the level system rather than having large open spaces. It'd certainly be interesting to see how well they adapt to making something as different as a MSRPG, but I don't think Zenimax would be willing to take the gamble of spending a few years of id's time developing an engine that may or may not work well for the games Beth makes. I expect it'd work out as more profitable to just have them making what they're established as good at and use that money to licence and modify an extant engine.

Yes, it would be nice to see them use a different engine. Something along the lines of *knock knock* "Hello Crytek, could we please lease your very lovely engine so we can have nice lighting and flora and fauna this time?"

That's like saying that the Source engine is as old as the Quake engine since it uses some Quake code (or it did when Source was released, I don't know if they removed it since then)

Gamebryo/Creation isn't an old engine, it just uses an old engine architecture. There is a difference.

EDIT: I was a bit behind the times on Nexuiz development.

http://www.skyrimnexus.com/imageshare/images/460051-1321354545.jpg

Three letters: Yes.

Image that has nothing to do with engines bug problems has nothing to do with engines bug problems.

And on the 360, 90% of those trees in the background wouldn't be visable because of draw distances.

Yes please. It's time to change and move up with the gaming industry. Get some guys form ID and get a new engine together. ID did built one for Rage ground up. Lets see Bethesda do it.

Let's hope the New Fallout is on the next gen. Not before it. I want to see change!

True, but every single game engine ever created has the potential for bugs such as this.

http://www.majhost.com/gallery/RetroCorn/Misc/skyrim.jpg

And I'd argue that the glitches actually make the game better, as long as they don't actually break it.

Ah, I'm afraid not, those screens are from the CryEngine 3 version of the game.

Nexuiz used to run on an engine based on the Quake engine but they licensed CryEngine last year and they've been using it since.

The Nexuiz running on DarkPlaces (a modified Quake engine) http://www.nexuiz.com/classic/5.jpg and it currently referred to as Classic Nexuiz.

Really? I think the games you mentioned try too hard to be real, while Skyrim looks incredible.

Skyrim's engine is held together with masking tape and hot glue. It's old. But does it work, yeah. There's not really another game like it, so there's not another engine that's suitable for the job. I think Bethesda did a terrific job with the graphics in Skyrim.

Gamebryo, in whatever form, is here to stay for a long time.

Yeah, they should totally scrap their engine. Updating an engine is completely pointless and no other company does that, they always start from scratch. True story.

Cool Sarcasm, Bro.

If you're okay with a video game using a 14 year old engine, then that's your perogative I suppose. I think it's time for a new engine, you can't keep using the same old engine on new software and expect it to be useful for long. That's like expecting a game built like the old Fallout game and selling it on PS3 and expecting it to sell well in todays market.

I knew it looked too good. Didn't pay enough attention . The comparison I meant to make was this:

http://cdn.digitaltrends.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/quake.jpg
http://cdn.steampowered.com/v/gfx/apps/2310/0000002448.1920x1080.jpg?t=1315844939
http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/quake_tenebrae_08.jpg
http://nullsoldier.com/Website/images/q1shot024.jpg
http://www.wildbunny.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/quake1.jpg

against this:

http://www.nexuiz.com/classic/1.jpg
http://www.nexuiz.com/classic/5.jpg
http://www.nexuiz.com/classic/6.jpg
http://www.nexuiz.com/classic/7.jpg
http://www.nexuiz.com/classic/8.jpg
http://www.nexuiz.com/classic/4.jpg
http://www.nexuiz.com/classic/3.jpg

which is still not bad.

I don't really care about the graphics of Skyrim, because it doesn't matter when they don't appear.

The engine should be created from scratch again, for their next game. After they've read the PC tech issue (yes PC, not console) forums for a few months, then keep checking back each month on the first page to see what else they could be doing right. Then make their next game, for the PC, based solely on the PC and then port it to consoles afterwards. Make it so the game can use as many cores as their users have, make it so their save files won't create a memory issue and then actually be able to use large amounts of RAM instead of having it cap.

Hopefully they'll finally have learnt how to do sanity- and error-checking and recovery by then, too...

Calling Skyrim's engine 14 years old is like calling Firefox 8 seven years old.

Or calling Windows two decades old.

Firefox 8 actually improves with it's updates. Skyrim's engine is about as new as a rusty '44 repainted new. All Skyrim's engine is maybe VERY few real improvements from what I understand.

ehh... that's debatable

It is two decades old. I'm not really sure why that would be a problem; likewise, Unix is over 40 years old, even though it's quite possible that not a single line of the original code remains. A long pedigree can be and often is seen as a good thing. In the case of Bethesda's engine, unfortunately it's 14 years' worth of accumulated bugs and kludges rather than 14 years of refinements, which I think is the problem, especially with its perception.