Games

A failed assassination attempt on the Dragonborn hints that an ancient evil has returned to the island of Solstheim, located off the north-eastern coast of Skyrim and north of Morrowind's foreboding Red Mountain. The Dragonborn sets sail for the island and is confronted by a mystery that will take them across the island and into the Oblivion realm of Apocrypha to confront Miraak, the first Dragonborn. Dragonborn is the third piece of DLC (downloadable content) for Skyrim , the monstrously successful fifth game in The Elder Scrolls . Unlike Hearthfire , which simply added the ability to build houses to the game, and Dawnguard , which was a short, linear quest adding the ability to transform into a vampire lord, Dragonborn is a proper expansion like we used to get in the good old days. The setting is Solstheim, previously the setting for Bloodmoon , an expansion to The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind . The island has changed a lot in the subsequent 200 years, with the eruption of the ...

Bethesda and Blizzard have released trailers for their upcoming games The Elder Scrolls Online and StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm . Both trailers are unfortunately just CGI 'flavour' trailers rather than showing any gameplay. First up is The Elder Scrolls Online , which takes the Elder Scrolls universe into the MMORPG realm. Set a thousand years before the events of Skyrim , the game will feature the entire continent of Tamriel (including locations already familiar to players of Skyrim and Oblivion ) and will focus on a three-way war for control of the continent: Second is StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm . The long-awaited expansion to StarCraft 2 itself, Heart of the Swarm focuses on the Zerg species and adds RPG elements to the strategy game. The trailer features most of the opening cinematic to the game, apparently: No release date has been set for The Elder Scrolls Online , whilst StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will be released on PC on 13 March.

Two major new games have been announced for 2013. First up is Company of Heroes 2 . The original Company of Heroes was released in 2006 and was brilliant, easily the finest RTS released since StarCraft (a position it retained in the face of the latter's good-but-unoriginal sequel). Two so-so expansion packs followed, but it was the game's fiercely engaging multiplayer and its ridiculously inventive mod scene that really made it a success. Eastern Front , in particular, was an amazing mod that allowed players to play as the Russians. Company of Heroes 2 is due for release in 2013 and will in fact be focused on the Eastern Front, allowing players to play as the Russians against the invading Germans (no word on if players will be able to play as the Germans as well; I assume so). The first game was noted for its destructible terrain and the sequel will continue to evolve that, with soldiers now able to leap over obstacles and snow forming a barrier which can slow troops and tan...

Two centuries after the Oblivion Crisis and the death of Emperor Uriel Septim VII, the Empire of Tamriel is a shadow of its former self. A powerful new nation has arisen in the south and pushed the boundaries of the Empire back, forcing the near-bankrupt Empire to accept its religious pogroms or face open war. In the north, the province of Skyrim, home of the Nords, has become divided between those who wish to support the Empire in its moment of weakness and those who are enraged at the oppression of their religion and seek to make Skyrim an independent kingdom once again. Against this backdrop, chaos is unleashed when the elder god Alduin returns, unleashing a storm of dragons to devastate Skyrim. Only a warrior known as the Dragonborn can stop Alduin and save Skyrim and all of Tamriel from his wrath. Skyrim is the fifth game in The Elder Scrolls series, following on from Arena , Daggerfall , Morrowind and Oblivion . As usual with this series, the game contains only minor continuit...

Whilst playing Skyrim , it has often occurred to me that what the game really lacked was that space core from the end of Portal 2 floating around like ten feet behind you occasionally bellowing, "SPAAAACE!" in its unique style. "I'm in space. And by 'space' I mean 'Tamriel'." Of course, Valve and Bethesda have recognised this glaring deficiency in the game, and created a mod that allows the space core from the end of Portal 2 to float around behind you and etc. The same update also adds high-resolution texture packs to make the PC version of the game look totally awesome(r) and activates the Creation Kit, which allows you to adjust and tweak all aspects of the game, but frankly this is just small fry compared to the space core thing. So, does this mean that it is now canon that the Half-Life/Portal and Elder Scrolls franchises take place in the same universe? Will we see headcrabs and Combine invade Tamriel in The Elder Scrolls VI ? Will Drag...