Dawnguard DLC for Skyrim Announced

Exciting news has arrived today from Bethesda Softworks, producers of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. They've released the trailer for Dawnguard, which will serve as the first DLC for the fifth installment of TES. This DLC will initially be available for XBOX 360 (with full Kinect functionality) but will likely be available for other platforms in due time. No word yet on the price for this DLC for other systems, but according to Bethesda, Dawnguard will be available on the XBOX Live store for 1600 points.

In March, Gamespot reported that Bethesda was seeking a trademark for Dawnguard, so it was just a matter of time that an announcement came from the company. More information should be available at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) which will be held in just one week at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Dawnguard is rated M for Mature by the ESRB with Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, and Use of Alcohol.

What do you think of this trailer? Let me know in the comments!

Is An Elder Scrolls MMO Announcement Coming In May?

You can find this and other articles by me at Word of the Nerd Online!

After the success of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, there has been a tremendous amount of speculation as to the likelihood of Bethesda Game Studios releasing an Elder Scrolls MMO. Take off the tinfoil hats, folks, because there may be an announcement sooner than you think. Kotaku, via Tom's Guide, has late-breaking news that the makers of Oblivion will be unveiling their plans to market a massively-multiplayer game based on their Elder Scrolls franchise. Now, there are few details at this point, but it looks as if Bethesda and ZeniMax Online Studios will be making their announcement in May.

Of the few details that have been leaked, where this game would fit on the Elder Scrolls timeline seems to be the most important. Sources are reporting that it would take place a full millennium before Skyrim, during the "Second Era", which basically places it several hundreds of years before any of the current Elder Scrolls games. As of now, there will be three factions. It's not clear where each of the playable races of the current Elder Scrolls will fit into each of these factions, or if all races will be able to choose their own faction.

One detail that seems not to have surfaced at this point is the subscription model. With so many games going free-to-play, one can't help but wonder if an Elder Scrolls MMO would hang with the likes of World of Warcraft and Star Wars the Old Republic. The trajectory of the industry seems to be placing more and more games into a free-to-play model, but time will tell when details of Elder Scrolls Online are fully revealed!


Check back for any news as it develops!

Epic Skyrim Rap

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim releases this Friday, 11-11-11. To get you through the next few days Youtube user Dan Bull has released an Epic Skyrim Rap. It's got mad flow, dog. For shizzle, my nizzle. In all seriousness, it's a very cleverly constructed rhyme and incorporates a lot of aspects of the game, e.g. the ability to use magic in one hand and wield a weapon in the other. Pretty sweet. Check out the video after the break!

Video game news: New WoW expansion, Skyrim CE and more

Will Mists of Pandaria be the next expansion for World of Warcraft?

Last week, Blizzard Entertainment trademarked the name Mists of Pandaria. Speculation has begun about World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria being the next expansion for the nearly seven year old franchise. Lately, player base has been diminishing. It is plausible that Blizzard developers have decided to bring in the Pandaren, a mythical race of beer drinking Kung Fu Pandas, to lure some of the prodigal players back. Everything is purely rumor and speculation now. Don your tinfoil hat and read this excellent post from Anne Stickney at Wow Insider. In this Know Your Lore column, she breaks down the possibility of the Mists of Pandaria actually being the next ex-pac. My personal opinion is that Pandaren should not be a playable race. They're neutral and could kick anyone's butt, why join a faction?! If anything, open Pandaria up for exploration. The Cataclysm rocked the entirety of Azeroth, not just the side of the globe we see when we hit M.

More after the jump.

First Impressions Friday (1): Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

First Impressions is a meme hosted  at Within Pages where we take a look at all things, mostly booky, and reflect on our initial thoughts. Non-bloggers, non-book bloggers, and everyone alike can participate on any topic you'd like. Feel free to drop your links or thoughts in the comments!

This past week, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly known as E3, was held in Los Angeles. The top executives, developers, and designers from the major electronics and video game companies met to discuss the future of the industry. Many of the concepts that are unveiled at E3 are released within the next year. One of the major portion of the expo is the release of game trailers for upcoming titles. This year, we saw trailers for new Assassins Creed, Modern Warfare and Bioshock games, just to name a very few. Also unveiled at E3 was the next generation in video game consoles. Nintendo unveiled the Wii-U and Playstation showed off their addition to the motion gaming world, the Move.