IGN has been doing a good job on the news this week. After numerous sources reported on the rumor that epic RPG Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion would be released March 24th, they simply called Bethesda and got confirmed that it is indeed just a rumor.

VP of Public Relations and Marketing Pete Hines firmly denied any sort of release date specification had been made. “Our date is still early 2006,” says Mr. Hines. When we asked when a concrete release date might actually be announced, Mr. Hines responded, “We’ll let folks know when we’re %99.99 sure [Oblivion] would be out on that date. We don’t want to miss it by a day.”

So the situation is still the same as it was the last few months: Oblivion will be released early 2006. Bethesda does have a fixed date planned, but they will not disclose it until absolutely sure they can make it.