Skyrim - Previews @ GameInformer, OXM, PC Gamer

CountChocula sends in a video preview of Skyrim at GameInformer with three editors having a fairly frank discussion together and showing some (new?) footage such as an enemy hit with an ice spell and the frozen body floats down the river. It runs to 12 minutes, and is worth a look, I'd say.
Over at OXM is a series titled How to be a complete bastard in Skyrim:

And so, the tale of the Argonian warrior Toxic, foe to all that is friendly, erupted. I left the cave, set off into the forests with an echoing roar, fell down a waterfall and died. The water in this game looks terrific, by the way - multiple layers of froth and foam collapsing together like sheathes of lace-edged paper, spilling between planes of rock. Reborn and undeterred, I followed the path instead.

Not far down it I met a hunter and his dog. The man approached, raising his hand in greeting, so I set him on fire. The dog didn't take this too well, so I set him on fire too. Destruction magic, I had decided, would be my calling card in the realm of the Nords. That and a dirty great battleaxe. On the way to Riverwood I discovered a beehive in a tree, which I ate, and a herd of deer, which I fired arrows at till their mournful cries reverberated from distant peaks. Time for a drawn-out muhahahaha? Soon, my precious. Soon.

…and Thrasher points out this one at PC Gamer, which is a decent account of the author's play experience:

A few minutes up the hill, I find a walled-off Nordic town I’m not allowed into. I hop on a few boulders and climb in anyway. Through a pair of heavy doors, I find subterranean torture chambers, and dead adventurers rotting in tiny cages. Only one seems worth looting – a robed guy with a book in his cell – but it’s locked.
Lockpicking is no longer a tumbler-tickling nightmare: you just swivel one pick to what you hope is a sweet spot, and try turning the lock with the other. It’ll turn a little if you’re close to the sweet spot, but turn too far in the wrong position and the pick snaps. It’s a system that works well in Fallout 3, and it feels slicker here.

More information.

A few minutes up the hill, I find a walled-off Nordic town I’m not allowed into. I hop on a few boulders and climb in anyway. Through a pair of heavy doors, I find subterranean torture chambers, and dead adventurers rotting in tiny cages. Only one seems worth looting – a robed guy with a book in his cell – but it’s locked.

That sounds promising - suggests that there are no longer 'city' cells? ie. no loading screen when you enter a large walled region. If this is generally true then it means that the PC flying/levitating won't break anything …(!) Or maybe this was a really small itty bitty town and larger areas will be as before Anyone know how they are managing scene/model complexity/LOD?

Originally Posted by booboo
That sounds promising - suggests that there are no longer 'city' cells?

Yeah, this has been shown in videos. You'll get loading screens once you enter dungeons and enter houses.

Originally Posted by booboo
That sounds promising - suggests that there are no longer 'city' cells? ie. no loading screen when you enter a large walled region. If this is generally true then it means that the PC flying/levitating won't break anything …(!) Or maybe this was a really small itty bitty town and larger areas will be as before Anyone know how they are managing scene/model complexity/LOD?

Good question. There could be a loading screen, but at least it's allowed, unlike Oblivious.

IIRC some of the larger cities have loading screens.

The smaller towns and settlements are open with no gates or loading times.

hm. So not really clear what the limitations are on city size? If they still have loading screens to manage scene complexity (as Oblivion did) then they probably don't support PC flying/levitation - how would you fly into such a city, seamlessly? I really miss levitation. Morrowind handled it by simply have less complex worlds: small towns/cities, lots of fog, short draw distances etc. Guess we'll have to wait and see…

There are many games that are setup so that once you pass a certain point the new area loads rather then having to click on an activator. They could setup the cities like that in Skyrim which would then allow for levitation.

Originally Posted by guenthar
There are many games that are setup so that once you pass a certain point the new area loads rather then having to click on an activator. They could setup the cities like that in Skyrim which would then allow for levitation.

I believe the reason there is no levitation spell in Skyrim has less to do with cell loading and more to do more with level design. IIRC, one of the devs commented that they found it restricting to have to design areas considering someone with levitation could skip over large parts of the content.