It's crunch time at the local offices of video game maker Bethesda Softworks. A team of 70 programmers, designers, artists and bug testers is spending long hours to get its upcoming game ready for the launch this fall of Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console.

Up against huge competitors in the cutthroat gaming industry, Bethesda Softworks, founded in 1986, is a long-shot survivor. The little outfit has quietly built a solid following in the video game industry, and its upcoming "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion" is a sword-and-sorcery epic that could launch it into the big-time.