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Skyrim patch 1.3 up for Xbox 360 [update: PS3 patch live in Europe]
In a note that could be called "terse" even for a tweet, Bethesda has informed fans of forward-facing dragons and worldwide stability that Skyrim's update version 1.3 is available on Xbox Live. Originally scheduled to hit consoles last week, 1.3 is designed to address some issues caused by the last patch, including backwards-flying dragons and "magic resistance not calculating properly." You can find the patch notes here. Version 1.3 went out for PC on December 7. There's no word on when it will spread to the beleaguered PS3 version. [Update: here's word! It's up right now in Europe.]
Skyrim flies past Modern Warfare 3 on UK charts
It took some time for the Dovahkiin to level up, but Skyrim has slain a fearsome beast and taken the top spot of Chart-Track's UK sales chart. Five weeks after its debut, Skyrim has grabbed first place from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, thanks to the game's continued buzz and an average price reduction of £13 last week. But an evil still lingers, growing in strength. Just Dance 3, the latest lieutenant in the army of dance darkness, has entered third place. The launch of the PS3 version of Just Dance 3 helped the game on the all formats chart, but the Wii edition still makes up 89 percent of sales. The rest of the UK top ten is playing musical chairs -- check those out after the break.
Skyrim to have multiple DLC releases, powerful buckets
Game Director Todd Howard was at the Spike Video Game Awards yesterday to accept a well-deserved Game of the Year award for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and he said to Joystiq that the game's popularity has surprised even the development team. "We thought it would do well," he said, "but it has gone above and beyond." One of the surprising effects of that popularity is the many YouTube videos (and "arrow in the knee" references) out there, but Howard says one in particular stood out to Bethesda. "I think our favorite really is putting the buckets on the heads," he laughed. "It was like day two, and we went, what? Do we fix that? Our lead programmer is pissed and wants to fix it, and I said I'm not sure we should. That's one of those where maybe we leave it in." Howard couldn't yet share plans for DLC, but he says it will be focused on "ways to make the game better, not just have more, because the game is so big. So we're going through ideas right now, and processing everything people are doing in the game, and trying to think of ways that we can improve it." There will be multiple releases (as with Bethesda's past games), but Howard says they "don't have a timetable. They won't be quick, and they'll have a lot of meat on them." For all of its successes, the one thing Skyrim doesn't have is other players. Is there a chance we'll ever see a multiplayer title, or even an MMO, from Howard and his company? "You can never say never to anything like that," he admitted, "but it's not what our focus is. This type of game is where our hearts are, what we get excited about, and that's what we want to focus on. We don't want to lose that focus and we never want to sacrifice anything in the singleplayer game just to have it be multiplayer."
Here are the winners of the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards
Regardless of what you think about the actual Spike Video Game Awards broadcast, with its frustrating focus on everything but the actual video game awards, we don't think that means the awards themselves are any less valid. That could be because this writer is a judge (disclosure!) but if you have a look at the list of winners past the break, you won't find a single award for Mountain Dew, though you will find plenty for games like Skyrim, Portal 2, Bastion, and Skyward Sword.
Skyrim is 2011's most-played game, according to Raptr
Popular game-tracking service Raptr recently published its list of top-performing games of 2011, a roster entirely decided by the amount of man hours (and woman hours) its gaming community poured into them. The list isn't terribly surprising: Skyrim was the most-played RPG (beating out Dragon Age 2 by a factor of six), Modern Warfare 3 was the most-played shooter and FIFA Soccer 12 was the most-played sports game, because, you know, Europe. Here's a surprise, though: According to Raptr, the most played game of the year was Skyrim. Crazy, right? We thought for sure that Modern Warfare 3 and the siren call of its quintuple prestiges would take the cake. We admit this tendency could have possibly been surpassed by infinite dragons and somehow-even-more-infinite adventure.
Explore Skyrim's other epic settings with PC tweak guide
Nvidia has published an extensive optimization guide -- written by TweakGuides creator Koroush Ghazi -- for Skyrim. It explains and advises on the PC game's standard settings (anisotropic filtering, motion blur, etc.), as well as more granular modifications involving console commands and custom initialization files. It should be immensely helpful in getting Bethesda's sprawling game looking and running as good as your system allows. Be attentive while following the guide, though. Our game used to run so well, but we took an error to the INI.
FUS RO DAH! Skyrim modded for Kinect
Questing through Skyrim with Kinect forms the latest tech demonstration from YouTube user KinectFAAST. The mod features the motion controls he's shown off in previous videos, along with additional voice controls for Skyrim. This means one important thing: Shouts!The voice controls go even further, enabling the player to switch weapons and access favorites. There are also some voice commands not featured in the video, including "Hello" to start a conversation with an NPC and "Journal" to access the quest log. It'd be the type of feature we'd love to see added to the game if we thought it would work "first time, every time."
Report: Skyrim PS3 still problematic post-patch
Stuttering, unwieldy exploration in the PlayStation 3 version of Skyrim may be a symptom of the game's design and its consumption. Players report dramatically impeded performance creeping into the frigid realm, as save files grow and in-game clocks count down to the imminent death of a social life. The problem, while particular to the game's complexity and duration, may be rooted in memory management, according to pixel counting pros Digital Foundry. "The bottom line is that Skyrim is an unbounded game world running on a space-constricted system - and this applies regardless of the platform you play it on, hence reports of the PC version running out of address space and displaying solid colours instead of textures," says Tom Morgan. "The PlayStation 3 is unfortunate in that it's the platform with the most oppressive RAM issues (in addition to the split-pool set-up of the memory, the OS has a larger footprint than its 360 equivalent) so it makes sense that it has the most noticeable issues." Said issues led to some disastrous framerate hiccups in Digital Foundry's 65-hour game ("It's the first time our performance analysis tools have ever recorded a 0FPS reading.") and inspired a warning to consumers from CVG. The latest Skyrim patch reportedly brings improvements, but DF suggests it may still become "unplayable for those with a huge time investment in the game - unless you're only willing to play Skyrim in half-hour bursts, saving and restarting the game." We'd advise you to take regular breaks anyway, though we'd prefer if they were less motivated by the game breaking down. As usual, we'll keep you updated as Bethesda issues further updates to all versions of Skyrim.
Skyrim tips (for waiters)
Every few months a group of ravenous, garrulous gamers descends upon La Pentola restaurant in Pretoria, South Africa. If you're their savvy waiter, you realize just how receptive this audience can be to quests -- or requests -- coming from a stranger. That's why you pass them a note (seen above) alongside the bill. "I heard you're going overseas soon," the attentive host tells me as we shuffle out. "Good luck." "Same to you," I say. "I hear you're going to Skyrim." (The citizens there don't tip as well as we did.)
Soothe your soul with Skyrim's Dragonborn bard song, by Malukah
Have you listened to the sound of the Skyrim breeze rustling the cloak of the Dovahkiin as he stands, proud and silent, atop a rugged mountain range? Have you read his thoughts in the frail grass and felt the strength of his resolve? Have you? Listen to this stunning rendition of the Skyrim bard song "The Dragonborn Comes," and you will feel as if you have. Singer Malukah (Malufenix) performs in both English and the language of the dragons in this hauntingly beautiful song -- it has already been used in a mod, and anyone interested can download the track directly from Soundcloud. Personally, we have it on repeat to soothe our sensitive, creative psyches.
Shinji Mikami's studio gets Skyrim shipment, may never get any work done now
Former Capcom superstar Shinji Mikami formed the development studio Tango last year, and it has yet to produce a tangible product -- and after this generous gift from sibling company Bethesda Game Studios, we shouldn't expect any progress for another year or so. Bethesda, part of the Zenimax Group with Tango, sent one Skyrim collector's edition for every employee at Mikami's studio, which, as we can see in the photo, is more than two. Tango is based in Tokyo, but Bethesda sent over English versions of Skyrim because there is no collector's edition for the Japanese version, and because people in countries that aren't the U.S. generally know more than one language. They call it globalization. Weird.
Bethesda teaching dragons to fly correctly in Skyrim's next patch
So, about Bethesda's latest Skyrim patch. There were, you see, some issues. Issues, like, say, dragons that flew backwards (hilarious!), and the game no longer recognizing some folks' active magic powers (significantly less hilarious!). Thankfully, Bethesda is all over it. The publisher today announced on its blog that a patch ... for the 1.2 patch that caused these issues in the first place, will arrive on PC first at some point next week, with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 flavors to follow "later in the week." Bethesda specifically calls out the aforementioned issues, and ambiguously adds that "other things" will get patched (no word on the VOIP issue for PS3 users, unfortunately). Patch notes will further detail the update when it arrives next week, apparently. The publisher also promises to continue updating the game in the coming months, with PC getting updates first "as that's a process we control." As always, the console patches need to go through certification with Microsoft and Sony before ending up on your box at home. Additionally, PC users will be getting even more love in the coming months, with a promised January release of the game's dev kit (read: mod tools), as well as Steam Workshop integration, which should make finding said mods easier. No word is given yet on upcoming context expansions for the game, but, well, we've still got so much left of Skyrim that we're not really complaining.
Users reporting issues with Skyrim 1.2 patch
Skyrim's 1.2 update rolled out yesterday on PS3 (and should be on Xbox 360 and PC sometime today), and the word from the front is that things aren't going well. The frequently reported PS3 framerate issue is apparently still a problem, but now there's a whole laundry list of new and old bugs at the party. The new issues include amusing things like dragons flying backwards, and decidedly non-funny Bethesda bugs like the game becoming unable to recognize magic resistance. We've contacted Bethesda for official word on the issue. In the meantime, as has become fairly routine with a Bethesda RPG patch, consider avoiding it if you're happy with how things are running at the moment.
Skyrim dialogue gets salty when unnecessarily censored
Apparently we haven't been paying nearly as much attention to the dialogue in Skyrim as we should have. We thought it was all about shouting at dragons, putting baskets on heads, and sneaking around in the dark. Turns out it's much more about ****ing, ****ing, and ****ing ****s with *****es. ****ing dragons, man.
Dragon Shout app brings interactive Skyrim map to iOS soon, for free
You could always download a large PDF of the entire world of Skyrim and either print that out or clumsily navigate it on your phone, or you could wait for Dragon Shout, an upcoming interactive map for iOS. "The first version of the app contains an interactive map where you can drop annotated markers / journal entries down," the developer told Touch Arcade. "For example, yesterday I played Skyrim and left a bunch of dragon scales and bones on the side of a mountain because they were too heavy." Even better, future updates plan to incorporate a social aspect, allowing "marker sharing, party or app-wide chats, pictures, and more." Want to tell your friend to "STAY AWAY" from that one cave you got whomped in? Or maybe, for the devious amongst you, encourage them to "CHECK OUT" said cave? The app has been submitted to Apple and "should be out within the next couple of days" for both iPhone and iPad. With a $0 asking price, you can't really go wrong, can you?
Prepare to be psychologically overburdened by Skyrim's fully detailed locations map
We forgive you if you're already overwhelmed by Skyrim's ongoing notifications of new discoveries -- there's kind of a lot of stuff to do in Bethesda's latest Elder Scrolls realm. But for the rest of you fearless wanderers, the un-overwhelmable, Gamebanshee.com has put together this highly detailed, totally printable map of Skyrim's many, many locations. And if you should be so inclined to, say, print out a giant version of said map and adorn your wall with it, the cartographers responsible also have you covered (.ZIP link). If it weren't already clear that you've still got plenty left to explore in Skyrim, this map should handily clarify that. Just look at all that tiny writing! Those are all places!
Report: Skyrim PS3 patch out in Europe [update: patch notes released]
PS3 users have been reporting severe Skyrim performance issues over the last couple of weeks, and now it appears that Bethesda has released a patch to solve the problems – in Europe at least. According to Bethesda forum members, the 92MB patch has alleviated several issues, improving the frame rate and reducing the number of freezes. Some users, however, are reporting that the patch doesn't fix the problem and a system restart is still required every few hours. We've contacted Bethesda to find out exactly what the PS3 patch contains. For the moment, the Xbox 360 patch, which is supposed to iron out some texture scaling issues and is also slated for release this week, is not yet available. Update: Bethesda has released the official patch notes. No release date is given for the North American release of the PS3 patch, though the Bethesda Blog promises an update "as soon as it's up." The patch does indeed address the PS3 performance issues, among other tweaks. The Xbox 360 patch is expected to arrive this Wednesday. It should resolve the texture scaling problem and will also include the same tweaks as the PS3 patch. Find the full notes after the break.
All of Skyrim's books are now available for your reading pleasure
Do you wish you could dedicate every moment of your life to Skyrim, dreading the seconds you have to leave the game to go to the bathroom, get Taco Bell or -- the absolute worst -- go to work and function in greater society? Fear not, intrepid Skyrimmer (ew), because now there's a way to take the game's lore on your iPad, iPhone, Nook, Kindle and other e-readers and tablets. Capane.us has transferred all of the books from Skyrim into real fake book form, complete with a table of contents, headings and a cover. To download all of the Skyrim books, open this link in your reader of choice, click the download option and travel well forevermore. Or until you finish reading them all.
Skyrim is a dangerous place
Odds are you've fallen off a mountain, been pounded by a giant or gobbled up by a dragon in Skyrim, but have you ever tried shouting at a priest? OD on skooma? Skyrim's a dangerous place, so you best study up on the myriad ways you can die.
Joystiq of cooking: Skyrim's 'Potage le Magnifique'
"But in order to make the Potage le Magnifique truly magnificent, it takes the imagination of a truly inspired chef. Do you have that gift?" - The Gourmet, Uncommon Taste Skyrim's civil strife, political intrigue and high adventure are best experienced on a full stomach. Good thing the lands of the north have The Gourmet's Uncommon Taste cookbook. The Potage le Magnifique is described in the in-game book as The Gourmet's signature dish, a simple alchemical culinary concoction of stock, vegetables and flour. Joystiq editor Dave Hinkle and I went through the process of creating The Gourmet's simple porridge potion that has "caused grown men to weep with with joy." Head on past the break for our text-based culinary adventure, or download our experience in audio form from iTunes, Zune or DnAFoodcast.com.%Gallery-140089%
