Hellshade, with all the due respect, but I really doubt that Skyrim will change anything in terms of gaming and will set a new standard.
I've my pre order of the game. However I'm not hyped at all. And to be honest didn't read much about the game just for not end up being hyped.
I just don't believe that a game that is release in a multiplatform (consoles) will set anything new at all. I don't believe that in the current world affairs anything fresh will come from the computer gaming industry, from a AAA title. It can be good to play, but that's it.
After the release of Apocalypse Now Redux (I prefer the original editing, by the way), I read an interview with Copolla. The interviewer asked him if a movie like "Apocalypse Now" could be done nowadays. Copolla answered no, because the time of the epics is over. And while we all know how Copolla thinks about himself, it's no less true. The Copolla of our days is James Cameron, that's what the movie industry promote. That's what the shareholders want. That's what we get.
With the computer/video gaming industry, what we get is just that kind of stuff.
However there are from time to time a few exceptions. Maybe I'm wrong and Skyrim turns out to be a new "Apocalypse Now" instead of a new "Avatar".