I read something online that it would be about 2 years. I might be wrong though.

The extra 3.2 gigs could have been used to have more content, more armor, more quests, more meat to the guild quests, and the main story, there is a HUGE problem with the install size, not just for textures, thegame could have been SO much more if the install size would have reached its limit.

Yes it does, hell, OBLIVION had a larger install size than Skyrim, if Bethesda would have added more to the guild quests and civil war, and random encounters in general, the install size would have reached its limit, and the game would have been EONS better.

I think there's a bit more to it than just 'reaching the install size'. It's not that easy.

This generation holds the record. Why would they release a new generation? People still buy their 7 year old obsolete hardware like hotcakes. Why not hold back the entire industry and milk your cash cow?

Seriously, TEN years for a new console is just outrageous though.....

Consoles can't handle more textures, 512mb is your limiting factor. And Skyrim has lots of stuff, imho it doesn't need more; it needs to have npc interactions, quest lines, and player choices that make you feel like it all matters. Hopefully Beth will realise this for the dlc, not think more weapons, armours and textures, and a huge amount of eventually unrecognised and unsung quests will be what is needed.

Limit? What limit? for the consoles it 's around the 8 gb duel layer right? but for the pc you had to download off a server,so the game could have been 8 gb right from start.steam charging too much? hell i don't know maybe beth was being cheap on us everywhere

Of course its not that easy, but simply by adding more weapons, more quests, more random encounters, more locations, longer Main Quest, more in depth characters, more spells, and all that great stuff, you would have reached the install limit. Even without higher textures.

People still buy the current consoles so I can understand that they want to milk the market some more.

Thats what im saying, the extra room could have been used for ALL that.
Exactly, they cheapened out on all sides! They could have easily fleshed out the game more for consoles, and the PC could EASILY have handled the extra content. Laziness on all sides I say.

They need to script it as well. I would guess that they ran out of time due to their insanely "cool" release date.

Because there is no other option. They could buy a new gaming PC, but some people cannot afford that, so they get the ps3 or 360. That and the PC does not have NEARLY the variety of games that the consoles have. I could use the Trabi car from the old USSR example, the car was severely outdated, but since it was the only option EVERYONE bought one in the 80's.

That is very plausible. There was a rumor that the game would have been delayed back in october, but then all of a sudden, the 11.11.11 date was set back to the release date.......Dont get me wrong, I love the game, but there needs to be some DLC that expands all the guilds and the MQ possibly.

People could just buy a laptop that can run Skyrim. Consoles are just easier, more casual to use.

Chinese New Year, the start of the Year of the Dragon no less, would have been just as cool imo. At least dlc will be released when it's ready, not to some date, and with the insane (for an rpg) sales, hopefully without the huge financial pressure that some of us believe edged out some role playing in favour of action.

I don't see another reason so.

But buying a new laptop JUST for skyrim? Thats a bit extreme IMO, and I agree abut the consoles being more casual to use, plus the larger variety in games.

I really hope the DLC has some new stuff for the guilds as well....my pure mage Main character (need to fix my sig) is kinda out of place in the thieves guild.....

A laptop isn't just for Skyrim though. It could be used for other things as well. But if it could run Skyrim people will be more inclined to purchase one.

that's the problem,people still buying when they can choose not to buy new and go get a modded unit elsewhere,if enough new sales drop fast enough then they might think about releasing the next version,sony and their ten year plan for the p3,what a waste of a sixcore-downgraded to a 3 core.

Exactly, here in Germany you can go to local electronic stores and they have broken xbox's they will fix for you that they only charge a whole 60 bucks for....and Im sure this isnt the only country where they do things like that.

The first three generations of 360's had the proper powerpacks sold with them,the forth gen powerpacks were less wattage?hence the overheating issues.MS being cheap and nasty even til this day.i get the feeling that they either up to the next gen boxes or go the Wii road which isn't that bad.

Game engine development should always be ahead of hardware development,in the pc world it has swapped around,the software should challenge the hardware developers to new and exciting levels of tech.well that's how i've always been taught.

Look what happened when crysis 1 hit the streets,Qaudcores were having trouble playing it.

They could get apple to help design the next gen system, the original xbox was designed and created with apple, and that is why that system never broke...or over heated....hell the only thing that broke mine was lightning striking outside my window!!!!

Wow, major wrong facts flying about here.

Bethesda never announced a DLC a month after release. They've signed an exclusivity agreement with Microsoft so that all thepaid DLC will be released a month before every other platform. That's it. Nothing about when the DLCs will be released. Plus it's been confirmed that these DLC will be bigger Fallout 3 style addons, not the 10 minute Oblivion DLC job.

The Xbox and PS3 are seriously underpowered in the RAM and VRAM departments. The high resolution texture pack makes my high end GPU push 1GB of VRAM. The Xbox has 256MB of VRAM. If you try using the high resolution DLC on the Xbox or PS3 you'll literally be reduced to a slideshow. It's not a case of them preferring the PC, it's a case of the PC having the possibility of having much, much better specs than an average computer/console, so they've released a pack to accommodate that. Nothing wrong with that.

You can't compare the graphics of a first person shooter to an open world RPG either. FPS games are closed environment, you can only go in the pre-determined level zone. This makes it a lot less visually and memory taxing compared to a game that is free roaming and constantly streaming new data.

Also, the next generation of consoles won't be out this year. It'll be a long time yet.