Bethesda have revealed that Apple's iTunes interface has been a significant influence on the menu systems in Skyrim. Read on for details.
Speaking to GameInformer, game director Todd Howard says ”You know in iTunes when you look at all your music you get to flip through it and look at the covers and it becomes tangible? One of our goals was 'What if Apple made a fantasy game? How would this look?' It's very good at getting through lots of data quickly, which is always a struggle with our stuff.”
Bringing up the menu system in Skyrim will bring up a four point compass. From there you can select a direction to look at objects in your inventory, skills, stats and a map of the world. Objects are organised into type and can be browsed. 3D models of every object picked up can be studied, zoomed in on and rotated. Howard says “It becomes an interesting time sink. You can look at and explore every single thing you pick up.”
Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.
