The Elder Scrolls: Arena spotted in Australian Classification database
So it turns out that it was all smoke and no fire after all.
Speaking to Joystiq, Bethesda's Pete Hines had this to say:
"There is no new version of [TES: Arena] coming out. It apparently was never formally in their system because the release of Arena pre-dated [the Australian Classification Board's] existence."
"This is simply an error on [the classification board's] part. It should just say PC, not multiplatform. We've notified them and they're going to fix. There is no new version of the game coming. Just a clerical mix-up."
Well, that's that then. Sad times.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A brand new entry for the Elder Scrolls: Arena has been discovered on the Australian Classification database, dated April 9th, 2013.
You can see the entry here.
The entry in the database also states that the game is due for 'multiple platforms'; which certainly puts it in the realms of being a possible re-release for the various iThings and 'Droid things which are out there.
Its also probably worth remembering at this point that an Elder Scrolls: Arena port wouldn't be the first time the heralded RPG series has been on mobile formats. Back in 2004 Bethesda released The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey on Nokia's ill-fated N-Gage gaming phone hybrid device, and it was a more than comptent open-world game which despite the limitations of the target platform, nevertheless provided a decent Elder Scrolls experience.
Arena, the very first of the Elder Scrolls games, was released in 1994 for the PC and was a later given away free ten years later to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the open-world RPG series.
To play it again would certainly provide a nice pang of nostalgia, but the game really hasn't aged well in a number of regards.
Some effort will have to be made with the re-release (if indeed that is what it is), if people are to buy into the game some two decades after its original release.
Stay tuned for more as it happens!