"It's a big fantasy sandbox. It's a big huge open-ended world where we create all of these stories and characters and plotlines going on and then let you create whatever kind of character you want to be in that world, and jump in and really figure out what your role is going to be. We really try and define as much as possible what's going on, but not define who you are in the world."

That's the world of The Elder Scrolls in a nutshell, from the mouth of Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines. "It's up to you to decide how much of the main quest you want to do," he continued. "Do you want to become a thief or an assassin, or both? Do you want to live this dual life of being an up and up mage but at the same time you're a member of the Dark Brotherhood and you're assassinating people for money? It's entirely up to you how you want to play in that world." I recently got a chance to play for several hours in that world, as well as chat it up with Pete to see how the highly anticipated The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (X360, PC) is shaping up.