The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Cloud gaming.
Select Inventory and the left-most third of the screen is given over to a simple pane with options like weapons and apparel. Pick one and a second nested pane appears, listing the stuff you have. Select an item and a 3D representation appears in the remaining space for you to rotate and examine, along with a few relevant contextual stats.
It's so elegant it's beguiling. You can even flick through books. And every item in the game is catalogued this way.
If you were to select Magic, the same pane-based system would appear on the opposite side of the screen. Both Inventory and Magic allow for bookmarking using the Favourites menu option. (Howard says that comparing items is not yet quite so elegant, but they're working on it.)
Select Map and the camera zooms out to show you a 3D representation of Skyrim from above. You can move around freely, examining fast-travel points and other places you have visited.
That's pretty cool, but the best bit is what happens when you hit the up direction to choose Skills. At this point you look to the stars and your perk trees appear as constellations. The lines in the stars show you routes of progression between specialisms, and the stars themselves represent the variations you unlock.
I strongly believe that if you have ever played a western RPG for longer than 10 hours and do not find that concept sexually exciting, you should close your web browser and rethink your life.
As you wander around Riverwood you may be given a random side mission. All of the objective content in Skyrim is built around hand-written dialogue and events, of course, but a clever bit of programming means the individuals and locations involved are determined by the things you've done.
For example, the mission may involve rescuing a child from some bandits. That's all preset, but the game will try to make sure that the specific child, bandits and dungeon you enter to take on the quest will be acquaintances you haven't made yet and locations you haven't visited, or at least some that you have not encountered for a while.
The mission we get to see starts as you wander past a woman doing some sweeping. She remarks that there was a robbery at the general store recently, but says the proprietor, Lucan, doesn't appear to have lost anything. Your interest piqued (and the quest opened in your log), you enter the store to see what's up.
Inside there's a roaring fire. Ivory horns are scattered around as candle-holders. (I know I've banged on about how pretty Skyrim is already, but it's worth adding that it's also fantastically and consistently well-lit. The interior of the store is appreciably warm - there's an ambient glow and the flames cast flickering shadows. Outdoors the spring air is as crisp and fresh as an iceberg lettuce.)
Lucan is behind the counter arguing with his wife, Camilla, about the robbery. He apologises for their feuding once he spots you, and explains there was a theft - a golden dragon claw ornament of some sentimental value.
There's a new conversation system in Skyrim. You still listen to someone and then choose options from a list, but the selections are nicely arranged and you can look around the shop while you listen, rather than staring intently into each other's eyes in the tunnel-vision fashion of Fallout. (There's no persuasion wheel, although a speech skill remains.)
So you express an interest in retrieving the claw for Lucan. He then reluctantly saddles you with Camilla, who will guide you out of town and point you in the right direction - up a nearby mountain. As you set out there's a bit of West Wing-style walk-and-talk. Camilla explains she doesn't understand why the claw was targeted because it's not really worth much, and Lucan has never explained its significance to her.
As you ascend the mountainside, the dynamic weather system kicks in and snow begins to fall - lightly at first, dusting nearby boulders and shrubs, and then more heavily. On the way a giant appears on the path. He has a club on his shoulder and is about three times the size of you. His footsteps boom and shake the screen slightly as he passes by without incident. (He, along with plenty of Skyrim inhabitants, have no real beef with you unless you start something.)