Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s Dawnguard Expansion *UPDATED*

Well we’re a bit behind on the news here, but hey I was on vacation so give me a break. A trailer for the Dawnguard, the first expansion DLC for Skyrim, debuted online last week and we’re here to bring you anywhere from your first through dozenth look at the latest from Bethesda.

Well, that was the definition of epic was it not?

Mounted Combat Coming to Skyrim!

Well, this was both expected and unexpected all at once. Bethesda just posted that mounted combat will be coming to Skyrim with patch 1.6.

For more info on what’s coming to the patch you can check out the patch info below or head straight over to the Bethesda Blog post.

1.6 Update (all platforms unless specified)

NEW FEATURES

• Mounted Combat – Skyrim now allows you to do melee and ranged combat while riding a horse

</ul
BUG FIXES

• General stability and memory optimizations
• General AI pathfinding optimizations and bug fixes
• Optimizations and crash fixes for data leaks
• Fixed rare crash with lighting
• Fixed crashes related to loading and saving games
• Fixed crash with summoned creatures/NPCs
• Fixed rare issue where saves would be corrupted
• Improved logic for when ranged kill cams are played
• Fixed issue with ranged kill cams while killing a dragon
• Fixed rare issue with certain ranged kill cams not playing properly
• Fixed issue with nirnroot lighting not properly cleaning up
• Fixed issue where bow damage was being calculated incorrectly
• Fixed rare problem with werewolf kill moves would not finish animating properly
• In “The Break of Dawn” fixed rare issue where Meridia’s Beacon would disappear from player’s inventory
• Fixed occasional issue where followers would disappear after player pays off a bounty after committing a crime
• Fixed issue where certain creatures and NPCs would fail to respawn properly
• Fixed rare issue with dialogue subtitles not displaying properly
• Fixed issue with water appearing blurry when loading a saved game after creating a save underwater
• Fixed issue where map cursor would occasionally disappear after closing a message box with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)
• Fixed rare issue with shouts only performing the first level and not other unlocked levels with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)
• Fixed issue where the shout buttons would stop working properly if users mashed LB and RB during cooldown with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)

The Elder Scrolls Online (A Trailer Appears)

Yesterday we told you a little tale about the announcement of The Elder Scrolls Online. Today we bring you the game’s first teaser trailer. For those curious, it’s narrated by Michael Gambon, or Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter fans. Why are you still reading my commentary up here? Go watch it!

The Elder Scrolls Online (It Really Exists!)

Hello to you all! I was in the middle of typing up a “hey, we’re back!” edition of Week(ish) In News, when suddenly I see an announcement pop up. The Elder Scrolls Online, yes the long fabled Elder Scrolls MMO has been announced!

Game Informer broke the news earlier with a reveal of their June magazine cover:

I will also save you from my faboyish rambling for another minute by simply quoting what they had to say on the game’s story:

Developed by the team at Zenimax Online Studios, The Elder Scrolls Online merges the unmatched exploration of rich worlds that the franchise is known for with the scale and social aspects of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Players will discover an entirely new chapter of Elder Scrolls history in this ambitious world, set a millennium before the events of Skyrim as the daedric prince Molag Bal tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm.

The plan is for the game to have three factions competing in open-world warfare over the province of Cyrodiil and the Emperor’s throne. It is also heavily implied by Game Informer that we will be journeying from “Elsweyr to Skyrim and everywhere in between.” Looks like the Khajiit homeland will finally be getting some screen time.

Keep checking back here for more information as it develops. If you would rather, you could also go directly to Game Informer’s Elder Scrolls Online hub for more info. But hey, what would be the fun in that? Plus we think you’re way prettier than they do, so stick around cause…you left already, didn’t you? Fine…

Source: “June Cover Revealed: The Elder Scrolls Online (Game Informer)”

Update: Check out our article here for a sneak peak at The Elder Scrolls Online with its first teaser trailer.

A Week(ish) In News #3

Welcome back to another edition of A Week(ish) In News! If all goes according to plan this should be quite the lengthy edition, so to speak. Why such an extended edition you ask? Well this last week has just been fraught with technical issues for our little site, as well as personal issues that dramatically decreased my ability to get any writing done. But, that is the past now and this is the future…or the past I guess since this article is about the past week. Anyways, on with the words:

Shouting at your screen now serves a purpose in Skyrim

So, by this point the topic of Kinect controls coming to Skyrim has been discussed to death. But we here at Constantly Calibrating are in no way above beating a dead horse; especially when the horse is quite alive and enjoying a healthy, relaxing day.

Now the first thing some people might point out is that Skyrim for the PC already has most, if not all or even more of these features via mods. Well in that you are right, but those of us playing it on the 360 don’t have these features yet and don’t have any alternative, so shut up and go play with some string.

Some of the features coming to Skyrim with this free update include:

• Dragon Shouts: Now you can yell Fus Roh Dah to your heart’s content at your screen and watch as time and again Lydia flies forth from the Throat of the World. What, just I do that? Whatever. Now the one caveat to this is that stating the name of the shout in English will activate it, but to use the dragon language for shouts you will need to hold a button down. This is due to Kinect’s inability to recognize non-English speech. Still a nifty little feature.
• Command your allies: Have you ever thought to yourself “Why do I have to spend minutes on end in a conversation menu to order my companion to attack something, stand still, or even trade with me?” What, again just me? You bastages. Anyways, now with simple commands like “Ally follow”, “Ally wait”, “Ally attack”, and “Ally trade”. Pretty simple, and seemingly easy to use.
• Item Hotkeys: Have you ever felt it was incredibly frustrating to equip and switch out items and weapons on the fly, even with the Favorites pull-down? See that one I know you agree with. Obviously we all know that the inventory system leaves a lot to be desired. Now you can pull up your Favorites window, highlight your favorite bow and state “Assign Bow”. From that point on no matter what you have equipped you can state “Equip Bow” and suddenly whip out your Glass Bow of Infinite Face Rape. This works for all weapons, spells, items, and even armor it seems.
• Better Sorting: With Kinect while in your inventory or a shop’s inventory you can state “Sort by weight” or “Sort by value”. This will help you to find what items to trade to your follower when over-encumbered or what items are best to sell for most profit.
• Efficient Menu Navigation: A simple announcement of “Quick Map” is all it takes to pull up the full world map now. Stating a location such as “Whiterun” or asking “Where am I?” will bring the map to the proper location. Stating “Quick Skills” will also pull up your skill constellations. Saying a name of a skill like “Archery” or “Sneak” will bring you to that skill. Finally, the phrases “Quick Save” and “Quick Load” also work for all of your saving and loading needs.

To see the Kinect in action check out the below video.

As a person who recently started playing Skyrim again, I find all of these features highly interesting. I look forward to trying out our new Kinect when the Kinect update for Skryim shouts its way into the world sometime this during the week of April 23rd.