RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

PC patch notes for Skyrim 1.9b contain the usual laundry list of bugfixes and tweaks, but along with that was the implementation of Legendary skills. That is, skills that reach 100 can be designated as Legendary, which “reset the skill to 15, return its Perks and allow the skill to affect leveling again. This effectively removes the overall level cap.”

Presumably there is some benefit to doing so, though the patch notes do not go into detail. See the full list of changes for yourself here.

Skyrim‘s DLC will at last be hitting all platforms. Dragonborn will launch on the PC starting February 5, while all content (including Dawnguard and Hearthfire) will become available on the PS3 later that same month. While specific dates were not given for the PS3 versions, Bethesda did state that the 1.8 update will precede Dragonborn, which will be the first DLC to hit the platform.

Source: Gematsu

Feel free to double-take: Bethesda announced that the Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim will be out early next year. Yes, that includes the PS3 version, and unfortunately it is unclear if this means earlier DLC for the PS3 is closer to being ready. When asked, Bethesda said only that “We’re not done with content for Skyrim. When we’re ready to share more details, we’ll update everyone.” Continue reading ‘Skyrim: Dragonborn Dated for All Platforms’ »

After little in the way of news regarding Skyrim DLC on PS3, Bethesda offered some hope that the issue is coming to a close. While discussing DLC in general, Bethesda tweeted that “To update: we’re also close on new Skyrim content for PS3 and PC.” A follow-up tweet reads “Thanks to all our fans. We think you’ll love the new stuff. We know it takes us time and thanks for all your support and patience!”

Source: Eurogamer

Skyrim: Dragonborn has been confirmed, with the DLC scheduled for a 360 release on December 4 for 1600 MS funbucks. No PC or PS3 dates were given. As the title suggests, the content centers around another Dragonborn, specifically the very first one. Currently known only as the Dragonbeast, it intends to make a dramatic return to the land of Solstheim, which it once ruled.

Check out the official trailer here. No, seriously, check it out. That looks an awful lot like a dragon mount, my friends.

A retail listing on Amazon Germany preemptively revealed a Premium Edition for Skyrim, planned to launch in December. Bethesda has since confirmed the listing, though regarding the release date, a spokesperson said only that details are coming soon. The package reportedly includes a world map, t-shirt with the Empire insignia, an Elder Scrolls novel titled “Hell City,” and six concept art postcards. Notably absent from the listing was any mention of DLC.

Source: Eurogamer

With last year’s orchestral album based on video game music under their belt, the London Philharmonic Orchestra is putting together a second one. The tellingly-named Greatest Video Game Music 2 launches on November 6, and includes the following tracklist: Continue reading ‘London Philharmonic Composes Second Game Music Album’ »

Skyrim‘s build-a-home DLC, Hearthfire, has been released for the PC. As this re-raised the question of when PS3 owners will have the same access, Bethesda VP of sales/marketing Pete Hines could only comment that no new information is available. “We’re still on it,” he wrote on Twitter. “Will share update when I have one.”

Source: Joystiq

With Bethesda’s stated difficulties in bringing the Skyrim DLC to PS3, Sony announced they have a large support team working to resolve the issue. Sony’s Adam Boyes stated that “I can’t promise any kind of resolution or timeline but can say that everyone involved is trying their best to get this stuff working.”

Source: Joystiq

Hardly a game lacking for things to do, Skyrim will get another add-on focusing on quite literal homemaking. Hearthfire will allow players to build and make additions to their own home, from simple cottages to fully-equipped mansions. The content goes live on September 4 for 360, priced at 400 MS funbucks. PS3 and PC versions, while likely, were not mentioned at this time.

Source: Joystiq

The previously announced 1.7 update for Skyrim has finally hit 360s worldwide and PS3s in North America. The European PS3 update will follow next week.

Source: Joystiq

Skyrim‘s 1.7 patch has left beta phase and is now being applied to all Steam versions, with console version updates to come this week. In addition, the Dawnguard DLC has officially launched for the PC, with only the PS3 version left unreleased. A representative on the Bethesda blog said they were “not satisfied yet with Dawnguard‘s performance on the PS3.”

Source: Joystiq

Of course, if shouting your enemies to death is more your speed, the Dawnguard DLC for Skyrim is now available on the 360 for 1600 MS funbucks ($20).

Source: Joystiq

Bethesda has announced a beta program for its upcoming Dawnguard DLC for the 360 version of Skyrim. Interested Dragonborn should direct themselves to the official site for registration, with applicants to be chosen sometime next week. The content itself is planned to launch this summer for 1600 MS funbucks (about $20).

According to Bethseda’s Tom Howard, Dawnguard, the first DLC package for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is tentatively scheduled for June 26th. Mr. Howard stated that the DLC would be released, “assuming nothing goes wrong.”

Source: Joystiq

Bethesda has revealed the next big addition to Skyrim: mounted combat. One of the much-touted features from the Skyrim Game Jam video, mounted combat will be rolled into the game for free with the next patch. It’s currently part of the latest Steam Beta Update (1.6), with console versions to follow.

For further details and patch notes, check out the official blog, located here.

In a recent Game Informer interview, The Elder Scrolls Online director Matt Firor revealed a few choice details about the upcoming MMO. Most notable was that the game’s main quest can be completed entirely by a single player. Quoting from the interview, “The last thing you want to do is have the final confrontation with Mehrunes Dagon as he’s stomping across the Imperial City, and you see like 15 guys behind you waiting to kill him because they’re on the same quest. We have a whole part of the game that is 100 per cent solo, which is the main story, where the world focuses on you.”

Additional details include PVP matches of up to 200 people, and that the game will be played in the typical (for an MMO) third-person perspectve.

Guess who’s back!  How’s everybody doing?  I spent the weekend watching mutants and mercenaries duke it out in the Capitol building.  And then I came home to play Fallout 3 heyoooooooooo!  Okay, yeah, obvious joke is obvious, but DC is a cool town even if you’re not a political junkie such as myself.  But anyway, it’s good to be back at home base, got my computer a shiny new video card, the Mass Effect 3 review finally done, and ready to get down to business.  So let’s get on it!  In today’s headlines we have:

• Bethesda announces The Elder Scrolls Online.  I explain why this is not going anywhere profitable, and point to a much more interesting property they’re funding for one Shinji Mikami.
• A Forbes article breaks down that Zynga, Groupon, and Facebook work with an accounting firm that makes rules up as they go.  I wish I were kidding.
• Eurogamer runs a lengthy piece on the demise of Free Radical.  Long story short, it took a little more treachery than doped-up marines going “Boosh!”
• NVidia rolls out a top-of-the-line graphics card for $1000.00.  How else can a month’s salary last until next week when they push the envelope even further?
• FilePlanet is no longer being updated, thus preparing itself for the annals of Internet history.  Behold, children, the days when patches didn’t download themselves.
• Electronic Arts rolls out an Indie Bundle, upending basically every sensible definition of the term ‘indie.’  And on Steam, no less, making it all the more confusing.
• A Chinese company develops a console specifically for pirates China, EA asks for feedback on Origin, I speculate based on Sega-centric Steam deals, and more!

Continue reading ‘What Happened This Week – Capitalism Means Never Saying Sorry’ »

Bethesda has just announced that Skyrim will soon receive its first DLC pack. Titled Dawnguard, the content is scheduled to launch this summer, and will be hitting 360 first. Further info will follow when E3 rolls around.

As long as we’re talking Elder Scrolls, an MMO with TES as the setting is apparently in development. Developed by Zenimax Online Studios, The Elder Scrolls Online is set about a thousand years before the events of Skyrim. The plot reportedly concerns the daedric prince Molag Bal as he attempts to dominate all of Tamriel; his specialty being the enslavement of mortals, that’s probably a bad thing.

TES Online is loosely scheduled for a 2013 PC/Mac release.

Source: Joystiq, Game Informer

Internally referred to as “Project Adam,” Bethesda’s Kinect additions to Skyrim are planned to launch “during the week of April 23.”

Source: Joystiq