The post Skyrim survived the decade and Bethesda believes “people will still be playing it” in the next one appeared first on Game News.
]]>I’m playing opusGlass and VictorF’s Skinshifters – Forsworn Doppelgangers (opens in new tab) mod, you see, which transforms random unassuming non-playable characters into shape-shifting beasts said to conceal something monstrous. “If left alone, the beasts will eventually leave town,” reads the mod’s description. “If you don’t follow them, you’ll be fine.”
I’ve chosen not to follow this guidance, of course, but am now starting to think the lad I’ve been tracking isn’t a monster at all, but an ordinary, run of the mill NPC with nothing to hide. He’s barely given me a second look this entire time and – Holy shit! What the hell is that thing? In a flash, my in-game avatar has been mauled to death, my real-world control pad has been tossed across the room in a fit of panic, my one-year-old son is now very much awake and screaming the house down, and my unhappy girlfriend is giving me a stern telling off.

“My in-game avatar is dead, my real-world control pad has been tossed across the room, my one-year-old son is screaming the house down, and my unhappy girlfriend is giving me a stern telling off.”
One look at the hideous beast above, and I think the telling off was worth it. Skyrim is somehow 10 years old now, and yet it can still elicit a response from me like few other games can. In this instance, a player-made mod was the source of an, ahem, emotional reaction, but even wandering the plains, valleys, and mountains of vanilla Skyrim is as enjoyable today as it was way back in 2011 – its enduring popularity reflected in the multitude of platforms it’s arrived on since, the latest being Skyrim: Anniversary Edition for PS5, Xbox Series X and PC.
“I heard the TI 81 graphing calculator version will be coming out in a few years,” says Mark Lampert, the audio director on Skyrim. “The reason Skyrim is still so popular today is because of its timeless game design. I don’t mean to build it up too much, but people still play chess because it is a good, solid, timeless game. Skyrim has that thing about it too. There’s something very compelling about it every time you jump in.”
Like a good book, film, or television series, Skyrim offers comfort. The pull it has on players, which Lampert alludes to, means that no matter how many times you’ve scaled the College of Winterhold, travelled to Nap Island, or woken up with a sore head in Markarth, if you fire up a save in any of these area’s vicinities – to test out a mod, or to revisit a favourite sidequest – resisting the urge to explore further isn’t easy.

This could be said of any open-world game with a similar lineage as Skyrim’s, but the fact that its devs fire up the game and get sidetracked too, while also using the fantasy role-player as a yardstick for future projects, speaks volumes for the allure of the game’s world and mechanics.
“We might go back to check something, like: ‘hey, how did we do the stamina mechanic when sprinting, how did that work? You know, let’s say we’re working on a new game, sometimes we go back and we check our work through because you forget things,” Lampert continues. “Was there a curvature to how that stamina reduced? When did we start playing the heavy breathing and heavier footsteps? At which point did we stop you from sprinting? And so forth. So we might fire up the game, in order to check something.”
“To get to that point, you have to roll a new character into the character generation process, and it is very easy to get sidetracked and walk off to Whiterun to hear the arrow to the knee guard, you know? It’s easy to go down to Riverwood and pick up a quest and forget what you were going in to check in the first place. It’s very thorny, it just catches on you and pulls you back in because there are possibilities in every direction. That’s what makes the difference. In Skyrim, you emerge from a cave in the south of the map looking up and around, and you can go in any direction.”

“10 years from now, people will still be playing it. By then, we’ll be playing on screens, your refrigerator, your Tesla on your commute. And it’ll make you late for work.”
Mark Lampert, Skyrim audio diretor
Despite the fact the original Doom can be run on literally anything has become a joke into itself in 2021, it does speak to the longevity certain games can have in popular culture. Skyrim is available to play on just about every piece of hardware going today, it’s spawned one of the biggest video game memes of all time, and has inspired a generation of fantasy action-RPGs in its wake.
Creative player-made mods, like the domestic dispute-inducing one I’m currently enjoying, breathed yet more life into a game already laden with things to occupy your time – at the time of writing, there are well over 100,000 mods available to download for PC on Nexus Mods alone, with scores also available for console players – and those player-created projects are growing by the dozen every day.
For Lampert, the openness of Skyrim is what keeps players coming back for more. And whatever devices support it in another 10 years time, Lampert is confident players will continue to do so too. “In Skyrim, you can go wherever you like, even into an area you’re not ready for – the whole thing is wide open. So it’s a case of: let’s go see that, let’s go see this, those mountain points, let’s go find our way up there,” he adds.
“All of which gives the game a real sense of longevity. And even though when we’re working on a game, and we might have played it, literally, 1,000s of times – I don’t know how many 1,000s of times I’ve heard the main theme – taking a short break and jumping back in, it all becomes so compelling again. I mean, hats off to the game designers in that respect, Skyrim just has that hook.
“10 years from now, if Skyrim is still playable, then people will still be playing it. And of course it will be, it’s on everything. By then, we’ll be playing on screens, your refrigerator, your Tesla on your commute. And it’ll make you late for work.”
Need a leg up in Tamriel? Best check out these Skyrim cheats to rule the realm with.
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]]>The post Meet the Skyrim fan who finally reached High Hrothgar after role-playing a guard for years appeared first on Game News.
]]>Sadly, fate had other plans for Nordique. Not one to wallow in shock or disappointment, our hero quickly descended Hrothgar and wound up in a bar in Whiterun (opens in new tab) with “a nice fellow named Sam.” It was at this point I was lucky enough to flag him down for a brief chat about his latest adventures and his big realization.
GamesRadar: It’s been a few days since we’ve heard from you! What have you been up to?
Nordique Arrow-knee: I’ve been trying to make heads or tails out of what happened. One second I was having a drinking contest with Sam and the next thing I remember is waking up on the other side of Skyrim. Until I figure out what damage I caused I thought it best to remain silent on the matter.
GR: I see. It sounds like that’ll make a memorable story once you can put it all together.
It’s my understanding you reached a big realization shortly before meeting with Sam. How have the events at Hrothgar affected your plans and ambitions for the future?
NA: Ah yes, the 7,000 steps and High Hrothgar… truth be told I had no idea what I’d do if I were the Dragonborn of legend, so in a way I was relieved that I wasn’t, as my adventuring days were long behind me and I’ve since followed in the footsteps of my father and my forefathers by becoming a guard.
GR: The city is lucky to have you. By the by, were you aware that your efforts were acknowledged by a higher power of sorts?
To the Reddit user currently roleplaying in Skyrim as a Whiterun Guard: we see you.Thank you for your hard work, Nordique Arrow-Knee. You may not be Dragonborn, but you do not need to capture Dragon souls to be able to capture our hearts. pic.twitter.com/bwoa4WjIFbAugust 4, 2021
See more
NA: Yes, it was brought to my attention and I’ve been quite ecstatic since I saw. It makes me wonder if I’ve achieved CHIM (opens in new tab) like that Vivec fellow.
GR: I can’t think of anyone more deserving. Tell me Nordique, what wisdom have you gained in your multi-year journey that you’ll carry into your new post as a guard?
NA: I’ve learned many things, but arguably one of the more important is that Skyrim may belong to the Nords, but it’s the people (be it Man, Mer or Beastfolk) that make it what it is.
GR: Wise words, to be sure. To close, can I ask what you would say to guards or even aspiring heroes who are wondering if they might be Dragonborn?
NA: Invest in some good knee protection otherwise you’ll be joining the guard sooner than you’d like.
Skyrim players continue to do cool stuff: meet the VR enthusiast who spent $15,000 to make the game as immersive as possible.
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]]>The post Elder Scrolls Memes – The best Elder Scrolls jokes and images weve seen appeared first on Game News.
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Legends tell of ancient memes that possess the power to tear the interwebs asunder with a single pageview. We’ve journeyed through the highest mountains and dankest dungeons of Tamriel in search of these digital treasures, and now we’re pleased to share our bounty with you.
Behold, our collection of some of the most wacky, weird, and (hopefully) hilarious memes from The Elder Scrolls (as looted from the likes of memegenerator (opens in new tab), memebase (opens in new tab), memecenter (opens in new tab), quickmeme (opens in new tab), …)









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]]>The post The games of December 2012 appeared first on Game News.
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Platform: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
EU: Out
The month’s most notable release is also one of the year’s most anticipated shooters, as Far Cry 3 delivers something quite different from the average military murder-fest. We’ve already put the game through its paces, and we came away in awe of the ample single-player quest, which lets you tear up a pair of open islands as a twentysomething bro in search of his kidnapped pals. As he finds purpose in killing and battling the intense antagonist, Vaas, the campaign hits a fever pitch that’s only amplified by crazed wildlife and enemy gangs. Multiplayer and co-op may not hit nearly the same heights, but unlike many modern FPS favorites, this is a shooter that thrives because of its killer campaign. Get lost in it.
Platform: PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade (12/5)
EU: December 4 (XBLA: 12/5)

Before ducking into a theater later this month for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, revisit the universe via Guardians of Middle-Earth, a downloadable console take on the MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) genre. Monolith’s second XBLA/PSN release this year (following Gotham City Impostors), Guardians takes after genre hits like League of Legends and DotA, letting players team up for five-on-five arena battles using a wide array of fighters from the Middle-Earth universe. We thought it likely to be “an inexpensive game whose complexity far overshadows many full-retail titles on the market,” which bodes well for keeping players entertained throughout the long winter.
Platform: Xbox 360
EU: December 4
By all accounts, the third add-on for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – titled Dragonborn – will be the largest to date, delivering what fans hope will be a vast addition on par with that of Shivering Isles from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Priced at 1600 Microsoft Points ($20) and initially exclusive to Xbox 360, Dragonborn takes players back to Solstheim, the island seen in the Bloodmoon expansion for Morrowind, letting them explore that familiar terrain as they tame dragons, learn dark powers, and wield new armor and weapons against fresh foes. We suspect a PC release will follow early next year, with a PlayStation 3 debut… sometime, maybe.
Platform: PlayStation 3
EU: December 7

Last month, the Xbox 360 and PC versions of Mass Effect Trilogy launched, delivering a fantastic value to anyone who hadn’t kept up with the series over the past few years. But it’s this month’s PlayStation 3 version that’s most notable, as it marks the debut of the 2007 original on the platform, finally allowing Sony die-hards to experience the trilogy from the beginning. And if you don’t want to shell out for the whole set, the original Mass Effect will also be sold separately for just $14.99 on PlayStation Network on the same date.
Platform: Wii U
EU: TBD

Now here’s an interesting transition. Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth launched a few weeks back on Xbox 360, using Kinect to let you unleash super-powered moves in a framework carried over from last year’s PowerUp Heroes. Now, the Wii U release essentially adapts the Kinect commands for the GamePad touchscreen, allowing you to draw gestures with your finger or stylus to execute the same moves. Aside from the input change – which includes the option to use a Wii Remote and Nunchuk – the overall experience looks very similar, serving up a comic-inspired tag-team fighter that emphasizes those flashy maneuvers over simple attacks.
Platform: Wii U
EU: TBD

Hot on the heels of its release on other platforms comes a Wii U version of Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2013, the latest entry in the hunting brand’s amped-up series – but we haven’t seen or heard anything about what this specific release has to offer. What we do know is that Dangerous Hunts 2013 is not sold with the optional Top Shot Fearmaster peripheral on other platforms, which reads your heart rate and feeds that information into the game. We’re curious to see whether the Wii U release puts the GamePad screen to great use, or if it’ll be a pretty straight port from the Wii. Guess we’ll have to wait and see when it drops, though.
Platform: Wii U
EU: Out

Every new platform needs a mini-game collection, right? The Wii U has Nintendo Land–and Rabbids Land. Need another? D3Publisher’s Family Party: 30 Great Games Obstacle Arcade looks to fill that spot, and if the series’ history is any indication, it’ll be another quantity-over-quality proposition that’s hardly in line with the boastful title. Serving up 1-on-3 experiences with one player on the GamePad and all others using Wii Remotes, Obstacle Arcade collects an array of bite-sized play experiences that include skydiving and soccer-themed activities, as well as taunting alligators on dangling ropes. Hey, it’s $30. Set expectations accordingly.
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]]>The post Australias best sellers of 2012 come from 2011 appeared first on Game News.
]]>The full list:
1. Diablo III
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
3. Mass Effect 3
4. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
5. Skylanders
6. Battlefield 3
7. Max Payne 3
8. Assassin’s Creed Revelations
9. Mario & Sonic At The London 2012 Olympic Games
10. Saints Row: The Third
Keep in mind there’s a bunch of things this list doesn’t factor in, such as Collectors Editions, Game of the Year re-releases, and digital downloads. Still, when Australian gamers are reaching backwards for their next gaming fix, it’s either an interesting indictment on their tastes, or on the standard of games released in 2012. What’s your take?
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]]>The post The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim takes GDC Awards top prize appeared first on Game News.
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Portal 2, Bastion, Battlefield 3, and Uncharted 3 were also well represented. See the full list (via Game Informer) below:
Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda)
Best Audio: Portal 2 (Valve)
Best Debut: Supergiant Games (Bastion)
Best Narrative: Portal 2
Best Visual Arts: Uncharted 3 (Naughty Dog)
Best Downloadable Game: Bastion
Best Game Design: Portal 2
Best Technology: Battlefield 3 (EA DICE)
Best Handheld/Mobile Game: Sword & Sworcery (Superbrothers)
Innovation Award: Johann Sebastian Joust
Ambassador Award: Ken Doroshow/Paul M. Smith (the legal council who won the U.S. Supreme Court Case Brown vs. Entertainment Merchants Assn.)
Lifetime Achievement Award: Warren Spector
Pioneer Award: Dave Theurer
The GDC’s main event was preceded by the Independent Game Festival Awards, which honored the movers and shakers of the indie scene. Winners included:
Best Student Game: Way
Technical Excellence: Antichamber (Alexander Bruce)
Excellence In Design: Spelunky (Derek Yu)
Best Mobile Game: Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo)
Excellence in Visual Art: Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Excellence in Audio: Botanicula (Amanita Design)
Audience Award: Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games)
Nuovo Award: Storyteller (Brainbeanz Ltd.)
Seumus McNally Grand Prize: Fez (Polytron)
Skyrim’s GDC award is the latest feather in Bethesda’s cap. The Elder Scrolls sequel also swept the Interactive Achievement Awards, won Spike’s top honor during the VGAs, and is up for multiple categories in the GAME British Academy Video Game Awards. More importantly, it won GR’s Platinum Chalice Reader’s Choice Award, which is worth more than its weight in fake, made up platinum.
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]]>The post Best Games of 2011 appeared first on Game News.
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2011 was indeed a great year to be a gamer. Heres our buyers guide of the top must-own games from the calendar year. Have you played them all?

Portal 2 review (opens in new tab)
Portal 2 screens (opens in new tab)
Portal 2 videos (opens in new tab)

Batman: Arkham City review (opens in new tab)
Batman: Arkham City screens (opens in new tab)
Batman: Arkham City videos (opens in new tab)

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim review (opens in new tab)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim screens (opens in new tab)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim videos (opens in new tab)

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword review (opens in new tab)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword screens (opens in new tab)
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword videos (opens in new tab)

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings review (opens in new tab)
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings screens (opens in new tab)
The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings videos (opens in new tab)

Deus Ex: Human Revolution review (opens in new tab)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution screens (opens in new tab)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution videos (opens in new tab)

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception review (opens in new tab)
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception screens (opens in new tab)
Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception videos (opens in new tab)

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 review (opens in new tab)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 screens (opens in new tab)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 videos (opens in new tab)

Super Mario 3D Land review (opens in new tab)
Super Mario 3D Land screens (opens in new tab)
Super Mario 3D Land videos (opens in new tab)

Dark Souls review (opens in new tab)
Dark Souls screens (opens in new tab)
Dark Souls videos (opens in new tab)
The post Best Games of 2011 appeared first on Game News.
]]>The post E3 2011 Award: Most Likely to Consume Our Lives appeared first on Game News.
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Perhaps it seems a bit silly to be complaining about how a game will soon devour everyone’s free time, especially in this age where games are mostly getting shorter and we’re always crying about how we’re not getting our $60 worth, but dammit, we’re still terrified of certain impending releases because we’re gamers, and by god if we had the willpower to stop ourselves from playing games we wouldn’t be in this whole mess in the first place, would we? We swear we actually get heart palpitations and break out in a clammy sweat when we think about this handful of upcoming games, because any one of these could mean that we’ll miss out on every other good game for a while as we pound away at our obsession. These games aren’t necessarily long in the traditional sense, like old-fashioned RPGs that took a minimum of fifty hours, but rather these titles will likely have endless sidequests and general dicking-around options that we’ll choose to take a hundred hours before we begrudgingly schlep into the final quest.
Dark Souls
Friggen’ Dark Souls is going to be so bad for us because not only will it eat a good sixty hours of our time, but half that time will be spent dying and cursing. We’re going to be miserable for a good portion of those hours, and we’re going to love every minute of that misery. If that doesn’t make sense, then you need to play Demon’s Souls. Now.Preview
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls games are always enormous timesinks (as anyone who’s played Oblivion or Morrowind can attest), filled with epic quests and optional tasks that can easily suck up hundreds of hours, and Skyrim promises to be the biggest one yet. Not only is it more ambitious than Oblivion, with sharper visuals, around 120 distinct dungeons and Bioshock 2-inspired, two-fisted weapon/spell-wielding, but its Radiant Story system will mix up pre-written quests with semi-randomized ones.Preview
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
We had no idea how huge this game would be until we learned some recent details, although do we really need to know more than that it has 120 unique dungeons (how did that end up as the same number as Skyrim)? Fine: there are hundreds of items which can be crafted into hundreds of other items, and the combat is more like God of War than Elder Scrolls, which means the combat alone will likely make us want to play this forever.Preview
Saints Row: The Third
We loved the shit out of Grand Theft Auto IV, but as a “sandbox game,” Saints Row: The Third makes it look as if Rockstar’s lost its way. Where are the needlessly violent Rampage missions, the skydiving gun fights, the civilian loss, and, for the love of god, the dildo-based weapons?! Well, thankfully, they’ve all taken up residence in Steelport, and this time around Volition Inc. decided a total lack of restraint is how to best present a wonderfully gratuitous open-world with an infinite amount of options for you and a co-op buddy. Care to fire a missile into a group of nuns from a supersonic jet you’re piloting in the nude? Saints Row: The Third has a place for you…Preview
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
As promising as the other nominees look, we’re calling this one for Skyrim. Part of it is down to the game’s pedigree – like we said above, the previous Elder Scrolls games were legendary timesinks that ate up more weekends than we can count and took months to finish, and Fallout 3 – created by the same development team – was no less involving. However, Skyrim brings a host of additions that have us extremely intrigued, not the least of which are its dragons, which are huge, appear randomly and can grant you new powers once you’ve brought them crashing down to earth. There are smaller improvements as well, including villages with their own dynamic economies, a more customizable leveling system, an elaborate crafting system and a greater focus on story when exploring dungeons. It all adds up to a game that promises to dominate our lives this November, and we can’t wait to let it.

Above: Plus, furries
Jun 23, 2011

Dark Souls
Friggen’ Dark Souls is going to be so bad for us because not only will it eat a good sixty hours of our time, but half that time will be spent dying and cursing. We’re going to be miserable for a good portion of those hours, and we’re going to love every minute of that misery. If that doesn’t make sense, then you need to play Demon’s Souls. Now.Preview
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
The Elder Scrolls games are always enormous timesinks (as anyone who’s played Oblivion or Morrowind can attest), filled with epic quests and optional tasks that can easily suck up hundreds of hours, and Skyrim promises to be the biggest one yet. Not only is it more ambitious than Oblivion, with sharper visuals, around 120 distinct dungeons and Bioshock 2-inspired, two-fisted weapon/spell-wielding, but its Radiant Story system will mix up pre-written quests with semi-randomized ones.Preview
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
We had no idea how huge this game would be until we learned some recent details, although do we really need to know more than that it has 120 unique dungeons (how did that end up as the same number as Skyrim)? Fine: there are hundreds of items which can be crafted into hundreds of other items, and the combat is more like God of War than Elder Scrolls, which means the combat alone will likely make us want to play this forever.Preview
Saints Row: The Third
We loved the shit out of Grand Theft Auto IV, but as a “sandbox game,” Saints Row: The Third makes it look as if Rockstar’s lost its way. Where are the needlessly violent Rampage missions, the skydiving gun fights, the civilian loss, and, for the love of god, the dildo-based weapons?! Well, thankfully, they’ve all taken up residence in Steelport, and this time around Volition Inc. decided a total lack of restraint is how to best present a wonderfully gratuitous open-world with an infinite amount of options for you and a co-op buddy. Care to fire a missile into a group of nuns from a supersonic jet you’re piloting in the nude? Saints Row: The Third has a place for you…Preview
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
As promising as the other nominees look, we’re calling this one for Skyrim. Part of it is down to the game’s pedigree – like we said above, the previous Elder Scrolls games were legendary timesinks that ate up more weekends than we can count and took months to finish, and Fallout 3 – created by the same development team – was no less involving. However, Skyrim brings a host of additions that have us extremely intrigued, not the least of which are its dragons, which are huge, appear randomly and can grant you new powers once you’ve brought them crashing down to earth. There are smaller improvements as well, including villages with their own dynamic economies, a more customizable leveling system, an elaborate crafting system and a greater focus on story when exploring dungeons. It all adds up to a game that promises to dominate our lives this November, and we can’t wait to let it.

Above: Plus, furries
Jun 23, 2011

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