Skyrim: Hearthfire Review

Building your own home out in the boonies has been something that I’ve wanted since TES: Oblivion. That’s why I was pretty stoked to see just that in Bethesda’s Games Jam video. Annoying music notwithstanding, the video showed off some cool additions. Several of them have already been implemented in updates (mounted combat, Kinect support) and DLC (vampire lord, lycanthropy perks). Hearthfire’s home building adds yet another.

Christmas Comes Early for Battlefield 3

It looks like I'm getting a late birthday present, and everyone is getting an early Christmas present. The folks at EA and DICE have finally dated the release of their Back to Karkand DLC for mid-December. Battlefield 3's back to Karkand  add-on, which will be free to those who pre-order BF3 (myself included), is set to be released on December 13th. Otherwise, it's $15 (1200 MSP). Playstation version owners will get it a week earlier on the 6th.

Karkand will feature new maps, guns, vehicles and achievement/trophies. It seems that the weapons will be unlocked by "Assignments" which require you to meet specific requirements within a match. But the cool thing is that they unlock for not only the BtK maps, but also the originals. Let's just hope that they're guns worth running on the treadmill for. I do enough running in the game as it is.

A Very Battlefield Christmas

In retrospect, the hats might make us easy targets...

Perhaps in the holiday spirit, EA and developer DICE have finally rolled out some dates on the promised Map Pack 7 and the Vietnam expansion.  The map pack being first up to be released... tomorrow?  Umm... thanks for the notice, I guess...

Anyway, you won't be able to put your boots on the ground in 'Nam until December 21. PC players on Steam will get it as early as the 18th, because screw you, that's why!

Left 4 Dead DLC on "Course" to XBL, Steam

Valve has released the announced Crash Course campaign for Left 4 Dead today, making it their second DLC. Unlike the Survival Pack, Crash Course adds an entirely new campaign, and this time it will cost Xbox 360 users 560 Microsoft Points ($7.00/free for PC). Crash Course is meant to connect the No Mercy and Death Toll campaigns, giving it a sense of continuity. We'll see how that works (or doesn't work). The content is supposed to deliver "a complete Versus mode experience in just 30 minutes." So, this might be perfect for a quick game.

The Next GTA IV DLC is Here (so get used to it!)

Oooh aaaah, sparkly!

Rockstar announced the next DLC for GTA IV, called The Ballad of Gay Tony. I'm not sure the name is as catchy as The Lost and the Damned. How about The Fast and the Fabulous? Almost sounds like a musical.

Despite the name, it follows Luis Lopez, Tony "Gay Tony" Prince's assistant. The game will contrast the gritty gang world of The Lost and the Damned with the "focus on high-end night life". Content-wise, this sounds like great new side of GTA to explore. It almost seems like it's the Vice City to TLatD's San Andreas in terms of vibe. Will it use sparkles and lens flare in place of the grain filter?

This one is still an Xbox 360 exclusive and will retail for $19.99 or 1600 Microsoft Points.

New Fallout 3 DLC Coming!

Bethesda has announced two new DLC packs for PC and Xbox 360 (both retailing at the usual $9.99 each).

• Point Lookout – Explore a massive new swampland area filled with new quests and content.
• Mothership Zeta – The aliens have returned, and they're pissed. Experience an alien abduction first hand and find out if you're tough enough to survive.

This is your head exploding from the sheer awesomeness of this news.

Oh, and all previous content will be released periodically for the PS3. And best of all, A Fallout 3 Game of the Year edition will be available in October, for those who have yet to pick up this awesome game. It will include the original game plus all five add-ons for $59.99 for Xbox 360 and PS3, and $49.99 for PC. That's right, the complete Fallout 3 package for the game's original retail price!

Official news from Bethesda here.

Left 4 Dead DLC

For those of you who have been anticipating it (not for very long, considering it's Valve), the Left 4 Dead DLC has been dated.
Microsoft has confirmed that the ‘Survival Pack’ for Left 4 Dead will be releasing on April 21st on the Xbox 360, free of charge (w00t). This pack introduces a new 'Survival' multiplayer game mode and support for Dead Air and Death Toll in Versus. While Valve has said that they wished to release the content simultaneously, no word yet on the PC release date.

Get your shotguns ready.

For more info on Survival Mode, see the IGN preview.

[Source]