bethesda

Like every year, PC gaming will likely get lost amid the retail and console-focused hullabaloo out of Los Angeles next week. Nintendo will tout its crazy new console/handheld hybrid; Microsoft has the Xbox-as-entertainment center and a new Halo and Gears of War to flog; and Sony will be talking about, you know, Sony stuff (and maybe the acquisition of a cloud gaming service).

Huge, PC-specific game announcements rarely happen at E3, but here are some of the current PC-specific topics bubbling under the surface.

Minecraft on the Xbox 360Mojang Software's Minecraft debuted on Xbox Live on May 9 … Read more

Those of you craving more details about the upcoming Skyrim expansion -- officially titled Dawnguard -- are going to have to sit tight until the E3 gaming convention on June 5-7.

The only information available so far suggests the expansion will arrive this summer and will be first available exclusively on the Xbox 360. Other gaming consoles (PlayStation 3 and PC) will get it a month later, according to Eurogamer. Bethesda did not announce any sort of pricing scheme.

Looking at the teaser image, everything seems standard about the picture of Dragonborn except his eyes. In the original Skyrim images … Read more

id Software's Doom 4 has not been canceled, according to a statement from parent company Bethesda. "Doom 4 is not cancelled. When we are ready to talk about the game, we'll let folks know," reads a statement provided to GameSpot.

Doom 4 is on the way, promises Bethesda.

The update came in response to an AllGamesBeta (via Joystiq) report from earlier this week that suggested the shooter had been shelved.

The report also included supposed leaked Doom 4 screenshots. The Web site got its hands on 21 shots rumored to be taken from id Software's new shooter, and have since received additional images, totaling 170.

Read more of "Doom 4 not cancelled, supposed game art surfaces" at GameSpot. … Read more

Tomorrow, the highly anticipated role-playing game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim debuts for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, marking the fifth chapter in the 17-year-old saga.

Game creator Bethesda Softworks has released a series of videos over the last week detailing more of the sights and sounds of the epic experience, and we've collected some of the clips together for your enjoyment.… Read more

Bethesda Game Studios has a knack for creating enormous playable worlds that give gamers hundreds of hours worth of play time. Just like what we saw in Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls franchise gives players an incredible amount of freedom to do whatever they want, even if that doesn't include following the main story arc.

The follow-up (though notably not a direct sequel) to 2006's Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has easily been one of the most anticipated role-playing games in recent memory. It's the genre standout for this holiday season, and we've already been racking up the hours in the enormous land of Skyrim. … Read more

If there's anyone who should know how to make legendary video games, it's got to be Id Software co-founder John Carmack. Largely responsible for classics such as Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake (basically the games that invented the first-person action shooter), there's no game maker, save for Nintendo's Miyamoto, who comes close in terms of influence or reputation. (See our E3 2011 interview with Carmack here.)

It's no surprise that Rage has received its fair share of hype. Now that we've had our hands on the final product, here's what we think:

Jeff:It's impossible to play Rage and not immediately think of games like Borderlands and Fallout 3. The game draws so many similarities to the former that veteran players may find things a bit redundant in not just atmosphere but gameplay as well. Both games are a looter's dream, but Rage succeeds at delivering a much more polished and complete package.

Rage places the player in the role of Ark member, a project designed to continue the human race in anticipation of a meteorite impact that will destroy most of if not all life on Earth. The game begins with the Ark member awakening some time after the collision. Of course the world is now a shell of its former self and, surprise, surprise, you're not exactly welcome in it.

Narratively speaking, Rage starts off with an impressive sequence, but never really is able to achieve the same sort of cinematic awe. Voice performances are strong and likable, highlighted by the instantly recognizable John Goodman.… Read more

Developer Bethesda Softworks is fueling gamers' anticipation with a new 20-minute video showing footage from the highly anticipated game, Skyrim, which arrives for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 platforms on November 11. Gamers have eagerly awaited the fifth installment of the Elder Scrolls series for nearly half a decade.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim takes place 200 years after Oblivion, and is a new chapter in the series following the murder of a King. Gamers explore the land of Skyrim, which is a massive free-roaming area full of never-ending lore. Multiple cities within the mountainous region offer a variety of jobs for gamers, while the promise of random dragon appearances and a rumored ancient evil should keep things interesting. … Read more

Minecraft maker Markus "Notch" Persson wrote on his personal blog August 5 that Bethesda, makers of the Elder Scrolls game series, is suing his company, Mojang, over the similarities between the name of its role playing games and Mojang's forthcoming Scrolls card game. Today, Persson updated his blog with the novel offer to settle the dispute with Bethesda through combat, specifically via multiplayer deathmatch in id Software's first person shooter, Quake III.

Three of our best warriors against three of your best warriors. We select one level, you select the other, we randomize the order. 20 minute matches, highest total frag count per team across both levels wins. If we win, you drop the lawsuit. If you win, we will change the name of Scrolls to something you're fine with.

We've contacted Bethesda for comment, and will update upon its response.… Read more

LulzSec is at it again. Today, after much taunting on Twitter, the hacking group has posted online the source code and database passwords of Bethesda Softworks, a subsidiary of gaming company ZeniMax Media.

ZeniMax owns several studios besides Bethesda and is the company behind popular games like Fallout 3, Doom, Quake, and Brink.

LulzSec says in its statement that it initially launched a distributed denial-of-service attack on Bethesda and then found a weakness that provided administrator access to the Web server, and eventually other servers in the network.

"After mapping their internal network and thoroughly pillaging all of their servers, we grabbed all their source code and database passwords, which we proceeded to shift silently back to our storage deck," the group wrote in a statement posted to code-sharing site Pastebin.

In an earlier tweet, LulzSec said the actual attack took place months ago.

"Bethesda, we broke into your site over two months ago. We've had all of your Brink users for weeks. Please fix your junk, thanks!"

Members of the group also profess to be fans of the company. LulzSec says it has data pertaining to more than 200,000 registered users of the game Brink, but says it held back that information because "we actually like this company and would like for them to speed up the production of Skyrim, so we'll give them one less thing to worry about. You're welcome!" … Read more