I don't normally do much news outside of modding because hey, I'm rubbish at it, ok? But after doing some browsing today there's word on the grape vine that Bethesda is gearing up for the announcement of a "secret" at E3 that starts in just over a week.

Now a new Elder Scrolls game wouldn't be a surprise. Since Fallout 3's release over 18 months ago Bethesda haven't announced any new projects in development in their own dev studios (just lots of publishing deals with their various partners). You can hardly have expected them to all be sat in their studios updating blogs all day inbetween Madden sessions with Todd. Maybe you can. But lets not forget that ZeniMax, owners of Bethesda, started an MMO division some two years ago and developed quite a talented pool of staff from some major MMO's.

If this is a Bethesda announcement then I'd assume this wouldn't be MMO related and with New Vegas close to launch I doubt they'd try and dent that game's publicity by annoucing another Fallout game so the logical conclusion would be an Elder Scrolls V announcement.

What I'd really love is a dual launch of both the Elder Scrolls V and an Elder Scrolls MMO. Launch ESV and then release [the] MMO a month later following on from the conclusion of ESV. Hook people in to buying both games as each is linked to the other. I understand the taboo that is MMO gaming, but I haven't played a proper MMO in years (I don't count EVE Online) and I for one would welcome an Elder Scrolls MMO so long as it didn't cut in to a single-player Elder Scrolls game launch.

Bethesda have always shrugged off talk of an Elder Scrolls MMO claiming single player games to be their forte and I doubt they'll have changed their focus now, but keep an eye out for that MMO announcement too.

Interesting times. Hopefully in 45 days time we'll have the announcement of the ESV, an Elder Scrolls MMO and England will be lifting the world cup again. I'm not sure which is least likely.