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Gaze ye upon the map of Skyrim and tremble
We know how you roll. November 11 and, thus, Skyrim, is coming up fast. You've been planning for weeks with Griswoldian fervor, deciding exactly how you will tour the vast countryside offered up by the latest Elder Scrolls. Something, however, was missing ... ... until now, that is! Bethesda has revealed the game's expansive map by way of the Igromir expo in Russia. Lucky attendees walked away from the event with a copy of said map and, fortunately for the rest of the world, a member of ElderScrolls.net was kind enough to post an image online. Said image was even subsequently translated into English. Now, gaze upon it. Gaze upon it and dream.
Skyrim voice cast announced: Max Von Sydow, Christopher Plummer, Joan Allen, et al
And when the truth finally dawns, it dawns in fire. But there's one they fear. In their tongue, he's Dovahkiin: Dragonborn! If you're anything like us, you can hear Swedish thespian Max Von Sydow reciting those lines in your head. Renowned for his roles in films like The Seventh Seal (just one of eleven films made with director Ingmar Bergman!), The Excorcist, and Strange Brew, Von Sydow famously lent his voice to the trailer for Bethesda's upcoming epic, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. But his role doesn't start and stop at the trailer; Von Sydow plays "Esbern, a chronicler and agent of the Blades who has survived in hiding." Our guess: Von Sydow, like Liam Neeson and Patrick Stewart before him, will duck out quickly. Even if Von Sydow's role is short-lived, Bethesda brings word of several other high-profile actors appearing in Skyrim. Christopher Plummer, best known as Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music, plays "Arngeir, a powerful Greybeard elder" and part of "an order of philosopher monks." Considering it says here that the Greybeards "live in silent isolation atop Skyrim's largest mountain," we're unsure how much actual speaking is involved in Plummer's role. Also, making her video game debut is Joan Allen, perhaps best known as CIA Deputy Director Pamela Landy in the Bourne films. Allen plays "Delphine, one of the last remaining members of the Blades – an ancient warrior society once sworn to protect the Emperor." Other cast members include "Wonder Woman" Lynda Carter (who is married to Zenimax chairman and CEO Robert A. Altman), Michael Hogan, Vladimir Kulich, Claudia Christian, Diane Louise Salinger, Renee Victor, and George Coe. But if you want to know more about them, you'll have to Google 'em yourselves.
Bethesda: Wii U Skyrim 'definitely a possibility'
Now, we don't want you to get your adorable little hopes up, so keep the indefinite nature of the universe in mind when we say that Bethesda's VP of Marketing Pete Hines has told Official Nintendo Magazine UK that a Wii U port of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim is "definitely a possibility." Hines said that Bethesda will "look at any platform" that can support the studio's games as they are designed, meaning that Nintendo's latest would have to be able to support the weight of a full port, rather than a system-exclusive approximation. In related news, the world record for simultaneous Skyrim boners was shattered 24 seconds ago as the entire Wii U community joined the tally.
Fan-made trailer pays tribute to Skyrim using Team Fortress 2
If you thought footage of Skyrim up until now has been epic, then you should check out this fan-made homage made with Team Fortress 2. The only thing it's missing is an infinite number of dragons!
Come, watch 20 minutes of Skyrim gameplay
So much Skyrim-ing! Lap up part one above and circle around past the break for the rest of the 20-minute experience with Game Director/Executive Producer Todd Howard. What's that? Dragons? Hmm, not sure if it has those. Guess you'll have to watch. (P.S.: Don't be stupid. It's got all the dragons.)
Vampirism infects Skyrim
Skyrim will offer the option to play as a vampire via a communicable disease, just as in previous Elder Scrolls titles, Bethesda game director Todd Howard confirmed to G4. These aren't your little sister's vampires -- being a bloodsucker will completely transform how the game is played, and features progressive vampiric levels, damage taken from sunlight and the ability to feed on unsuspecting, sleeping victims. No word yet on if sparkles will be a part of the Skyrim vampires' arsenal, but we'll make sure to tell Tiger Beat as soon as we find out.
Skyrim's promotional army of Dragonborn coming for you
The most important part of any transaction is the close, when the salesperson in question has to be just a little bit aggressive and really "ask" for the sale. But we worry Bethesda might have overdone the aggressive thing just a tad with these bronzed Dragonborn statues headed to a retailer near you. Good luck buying any game not called Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim after November 11, what with Dovahkiin glowering over you, the smell of mutton and mead still thick on his breath. "Uncharted 3, peon? That's what you're buying? Well, I hope you're not split on the decision!" ... Oh, sorry, he cuts you in half with a battle axe when he says the "split" part. Forgot to mention.
Todd Howard on Skyrim's worthwhile glitches, MMOs and when big is big enough
November 11 is fast approaching and that means that Bethesda Game Director/Executive Producer Todd Howard and company are putting the finishing touches on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. But with a game this massive, is there really such a thing as "finished"? How do you know? "I guess we just kind of know," Howard told us at PAX. "Content wise, we want to have a lot, and we want it to work well together. Mainly we're looking for a saturation of activity -- is there always something to do, without being overwhelmed. As the project goes on, we're finding areas where there isn't enough to do, and we keep adding. So the game always ends up a lot bigger than we anticipated.%Gallery-120207%
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim preview: Dovahkiind of wonderful
"Oh that? That's old man McElroy's house. People say he hasn't left since Nov. 11, 2011. I guess a video game came out that day -- it was on a disc, if you remember those -- called The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and he just never, ever left after he started playing it. It's very sad. But they say he warned everyone in a preview he wrote at PAX Prime 2011. They say he played an hour and knew right then that his time as part of human society was limited." %Gallery-131028%
First two Skyrim DLC packs heading to Xbox 360 first
When The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim arrives in stores this November (likely by way of carrier dragon), it'll assuredly feature many, many hours of content. Nevertheless, gamers will want more, and Bethesda has promised post-launch content to be of the "substantial" variety. The first two pieces of that content will arrive exclusively on Xbox Live Marketplace at least "30 days before it's available anywhere else." Bethesda revealed the news this morning via press release, which also indicated we'll see more than two "add-on content drops" for Skyrim after the game launches. Given the kind of expansions we've seen for the Fallout titles and Oblivion, we expect the folks at Bethesda have some serious plans in mind for DLC support.
Skyrim allows same-sex marriages
Rest assured, your planned Khajit/Khajit marriage in Skyrim is a total possibility, even if you're both the same gender. Pete Hines, VP of PR and marketing at Bethesda confirmed as much via his Twitter account while responding to questions from fans. Initially he said, "You can marry anyone," and he clarified later that he meant "Not any NPC, just mean any male or female. Doesn't matter what you're playing." While we'd like to say being free to marry the life form of your choosing is super awesome, we'd rather suggest you exercise caution. You can't just fall for the first Dunmer that comes along. Get out there, steal some peoples' pants, fist-fight a few dragons. Then maybe settle down.%Gallery-131613%
Skyrim mugshots give us a taste of race
Which race will you play in Skyrim? Well, you can get a jump on that by checking out these pre-set renders of different races in the game. If you're anything like us, you're already picking out just the right one to blow up and put on a T-shirt. Or maybe you're a coffee mug person?
Seen@Gamescom: The Skyrim blimp
(Click to embiggen) Having a sit-down meal this evening out in Cologne, during this crazy Gamescom week, enjoying something other than delicious Turkish take-out for a fourth night in a row, we noticed a blimp. No, wait, a Skyrim blimp. If only it breathed fire like a dragon! The blimp was there to grab the attention of the crowd below at the Gamescom street fair, which had adorable Mario star balloons. So adorable. %Gallery-131224%
Skyrim will feature Steamworks support, also an adorable dog
A recently released packshot of the PC version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim carried a Games for Windows masthead, leaving some of the gaming community worried that it would also use the Games for Windows Live DRM system. Apparently, that's not the case: Bethesda's Pete Hines confirmed to PC Gamer that it wouldn't use GFWL, and the company's official Twitter account double confirmed that it would instead implement Steamworks. That is, like, so much confirmation. If you don't really care about things like PC DRM solutions or, um, PCs in general, you might find the screenshots posted below a little more scintillating. There's a picture of a dog in one of them! A wonderful, wonderful dog. %Gallery-131028%
Team Fortress 2 gets to play with classic QuakeCon weapons
Team Fortress 2 just had a futuristic weapons update with Dr. Grordbort's Infallible Aether Oscillators, and now Valve is going old-school. To celebrate QuakeCon 2011, which kicked off yesterday in Dallas, TF2 is getting a bevy of Bethesda and id Software gear as part of the QuakeCon Steam Sale (a different deal each day!). The following items correspond with different daily deals, but are all available through 10 a.m. EDT August 8: "The Original" Quake rocket launcher (Soldier), free with Quake IV purchase The Wingstick, based on a RAGE weapon (Engineer), free with RAGE pre-order The Dragonborn helmet from Skyrim (Heavy), free with Skyrim pre-order The Anger hood from Brink (Sniper), free with Brink purchase/ownership A Fallout Pip-Boy (Engineer), free with Fallout: New Vegas purchase/ownership
Skyrim collector's edition comes with unlimited dragons, plus one
Bethesda producer Todd Howard has already confirmed an "unlimited number of dragons" in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. At QuakeCon, Howard revealed the Collectors Edition for the title, which comes with a 12" statue of the dragon Alduin perched on a dragon wall. That's one more dragon than you get with the game alone -- or infinity plus one dragons -- making the CE a mathematical impossibility. Other, less troubling bonuses include a 200-page "coffee table" artbook, and a making-of DVD. It'll be available on the game's November 11 release date at the only slightly less than infinite price of $149.99 US/ €149.99 EU/ £129.99 UK/ $199.99 Australian. And don't forget to pre-order, because if you're splashing out this much for Skyrim stuff, you're pretty much guaranteed to want that cloth map too.%Gallery-130058%
Get roasted alive by dragons in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's Comic-Con trailer
The latest Skyrim trailer from Comic-Con has dissuaded a lot of our fears about the newest entry in The Elder Scrolls series. It's good to know that shambling aimlessly through an endless wilderness will still be a major part of the game, for instance, and that we'll still feel a smug sense of self-satisfaction as we callously off a complete stranger with a skillfully placed arrow from the shadows. It also looks like we're going to spend a large majority of our time being set ablaze by dragons, which may or may not be karmically related to the amount of time we spend shooting arrows out of shadows.
Skyrim DLC to have more of an 'expansion pack feel'
They say you can't have too much of a good thing, but Bethesda certainly put that to the test with its seemingly unending releases of downloadable content for Fallout 3. Project lead Todd Howard said that the developer has learned its lesson, and those who play the studio's next game, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, should expect heartier, less frequent updates. "Right now I can say that we'd like to do less DLC but bigger ones -- you know, more substantial," he told AusGamers. "The Fallout 3 pace that we did was very chaotic. We did a lot of them -- we had two overlapping groups -- and we don't know what we're going to make yet, but we'd like them to be closer to an expansion pack feel." In short, expect huge horse armor collections this time around, in every size, shape and hue imaginable.
Skyrim pre-orders include a 'premium quality' map [update]
Bethesda is preparing a Skyrim pre-order bonus that will remind fans of the PC role-playing roots of the Elder Scrolls series. If you pre-order the game, you'll get ... a "feelie!" Specifically, a "premium quality world map" will be "automatically" included with your copy. We're just going to assume that "premium quality" means "cloth." It just wouldn't be right to fully nerd out over an old-school RPG without the thrill of unfurling a limited-edition cloth map. It's getting pinned to our wall in either case, we're thoroughly ashamed to admit. Update: Possibly in response to a certain material-obsessed blog post, Bethesda updated its own post to note that the pre-order map is "a high-grade material that has a feel similar to burlap, and will be available in North America and Europe."
New Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim screens prove wishes don't come true
We stared at these new screens for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for like five minutes, and wanted the game to come out today as hard as we could. We called the store, it wasn't there. Wish all you want, children of the world: No one is listening.
