[i]Skyrim[/i] now fits in your pocket. It runs shockingly well on Switch, and there are even motion controls if you want 'em. What's not to like?

Once upon a time, on a console that might still be plugged into your television or even the very PC you’re reading this on, Bethesda released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. In the six years since that time (a vast expanse in video game land), many other games have come and gone, yet Skyrim holds on, clinging to that part of our brain that only recognises the very best of the best, refusing to let go.

While Bethesda appears to ignore the clamouring of fans for The Elder Scrolls VI, it is at least expanding the reach of Skyrim to include PlayStation VR and, of particular note for this very article, the Nintendo Switch. If you’re interested in playing Skyrim –again or for the first time – and don’t want to wait for a port to be announced for your toaster, Bethesda and Nintendo’s alignment might well to prove to be something very, very exciting indeed.

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The new-gen remaster of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim launched last week, but in typical Bethesda fashion, it didn't do so without a few hitches.

Disgruntled players found the PC and Xbox One versions of the game ship with highly compressed audio, resulting in low-quality sound, while the PS4 version's sound quality is more in keeping with expectations of a high-fidelity remaster.

Bethesda has promised to fix the sound issue on the affected platforms, with community lead Matt Grandstaff promising "to have an update out next week."

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Skyrim total conversion Enderal will release next month, after years of development.

The mod completely replaces Skyrim's standard world and gameplay with its own, offering between 30 and 100 hours of gameplay, according to development team SureAI.

Its world spans a range of landscapes, telling "an unconventional story with psychological and philosophical undercurrents," and featuring "multi-faceted, believable characters" voiced by professional actors.

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A new video by Cyberith shows its omnidirectional treadmill, The Virtualizer, being used to play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

In the video, The Virtualizer is being used in conjunction with an Oculus Rift and Wii remotes.

It is similar to Virtuix's Omni treadmill, except that it doesn’t require special shoes, and it can detect when players crouch, jump, and sit thanks to an in-built sensor system.

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PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim appeared on Bethesda’s site because of an error behind the scenes, says the developer.

New-gen consoles popped up on the game’s listing yesterday, but Bethesda’s Pete Hines quickly took to Twitter to pour water on hopes of a port.

“We have been working on the CMS that runs our sites. A bug caused platforms that don't exist to show up for some games. Sorry for confusion,” he wrote.

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Bethesda has announced The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Legendary Edition.

The Legendary Edition will include the most up-to-date version of the original game, as well as the three downloadable content packs for Skyrim: Dawnguard, Hearthfire, and Dragonborn.

The Legendary Edition will cost USD$60, and will release in European territories on the 7th of June, writes Bethesda. Local pricing has not been announced.

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There will be no further Skyrim downloadable content, Bethesda has confirmed.

In a note on its official blog, the studio announced that it was moving on to its next major project.

“Skyrim has been a labor of love for us since we started designing it in 2006,” read the post.

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Skyrim’s Dragonborn DLC will be available on PlayStation 3 and PC early next year, Bethesda has announced.

There is still no word on whether previous expansions Dawnguard and Hearthfire will ever make it on to those platforms.

Dragonborn is out on Xbox 360 tomorrow.

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Bethesda has released a new batch of Dragonborn screens, showing the inhabitants of the island of Solstheim, off the coast of Morrowind.

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Bethesda is close to releasing new Skyrim content for PlayStation 3 and PC, the company has tweeted.

“To update: we’re also close on new Skyrim content for PS3 and PC,” wrote the company.

Bethesda refused to clarify whether it was referring to the Dawnguard and Hearthfire expansions – neither of which have made it to the PlayStation 3 – or the upcoming Dragonborn, which hits Xbox 360 on December 4, in all likelihood with an exclusivity window of some sort.

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As rumoured, Skyrim’s third DLC pack is “Dragonborn", Bethesda has confirmed.

The expansion will be available for the Xbox 360 on December 4 for 1,600 Microsoft Points, and on Windows PC shortly thereafter.

Given that previous Skyrim expansions Dawnguard and Heathfire have not yet seen a PlayStation 3 release, it seems unlikely Dragonborn will make it to that platform.

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Bethesda has released a trailer for Dragonborn, the next DLC expansion for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The DLC will be available first on Xbox 360 on December 4th for 1600 Microsoft Points.

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Code found within the Skyrim’s 1.8 beta files on PC suggests that flying mounts and Morrowind locations may be included in the game’s next DLC.

Other files suggest that new quests will concern Solstheim, Great House Telvanni, Castle Karstaag, Raven Rock, and Miraak Temple.

Last year Bethesda confirmed that Morrowind locations had already been modelled beyond the Skyrim world map, after similar files were uncovered by players.

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Skryim’s second expansion Hearthfire is out now on Steam, Bethesda has announced.

The expansion is available for US$4.99 and allows Skyrim PC players to buy land, build houses, adopt children, and fight off invaders.

Neither Hearthfire nor first expansion Dawnguard have been released on PlayStation 3 yet.

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Sony has said it is doing everything it can to help Bethesda get Skyrim DLC content working on the PlayStation 3.

At the beginning of this month, Bethesda indicated that Skyrim’s first DLC pack Dawnguard might not see a PlayStation release due to “glitches” in the system.

Sony said that a PS3 version of the expansion was still being worked on.

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Hearthfire, the next official game add-on for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is now available for 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live.

Hearthfire allows players to purchase land and build their own home from the ground up - from a simple one-room cottage to a sprawling compound complete with armory, alchemy laboratory, and more.

After purchasing a deed to a plot of land, players can gather materials and construct a house, which must then be guarded against unwanted visitors.

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Skyrim’s next expansion Hearthfire has been officially announced by Bethesda.

Hearthfire allows players to purchase land and build a home from the ground up—“from a simple one-room cottage to a sprawling compound complete with armory, alchemy laboratory, and more,” according to the Elder Scrolls developer.

“Choose your land, customise your house, guard it from unwanted visitors, and turn your house into a home by adopting children,” it added.

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With Skyrim’s newest downloadable content Hearthfire, gamers can purchase land and build their own home from the ground up – from a simple one-room cottage to a sprawling compound complete with an armory, alchemy laboratory, stable, garden, and more.

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Due June 26, the Dawnguard DLC is expected to provide ten to 20 hours of new content, and will add two new factions, new items, and new weapons – most notably the crossbow – to the popular RPG.

The Xbox 360 has 30 days of platform exclusivity with Dawnguard, before it is released on PC and PlayStation 3.

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Dawnguard’s narrative centres around the return of a Volkihar vampire lord named Harkon, who wishes to use the power within the Elder Scrolls to destroy the sun. The Dawnguard are an order of vampire hunters whose mission is to stop him.

Our hands-on with the much-anticipated Dawnguard began several hours into the story with our Dragonborn already a level 29 vampire, possessing the ability to change between human and vampiric forms at will, with each bestowing unique powers.

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With the Kinect enabled, 200 commands may be issued using voice alone, including hotkey assignments, directions to followers, inventory and map navigation and manipulation, barter, and more - see the images below for a full list.

Shouts may be made in English or Dragon, the latter requiring the player to hold the right bumper while speaking. Receiving mockery from flatmates is context-sensitive.

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Bethesda made the announcement by posting a teaser picture on its official blog, but gave no further details, except to expect more information at E3.

A recent Skyrim patch whose contents were made public by a user of Bethesda's forums included file strings which made reference to Snow Elves, a Snow Elf prince, crossbows, new vampire feeding animations, and something prefixed "RF".

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The publisher has confirmed that over 200 voice commands will be added, including those for Dragon Shouts, Hotkey Equipping, Follower Commands, and all Menus (Items, Magic, Map, Barter, Container, Favorites, and Skills).

By utilising this support, Bethesda hope gamers will be able to quickly create and load saves during gameplay, as well as accessing menus and inventories.

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Bethesda has also announced that more than 10 million units have been shipped since the game’s release on November 11.

Digital distributor Steam has also reported that Skyrim is the fastest-selling game in the service’s history. “Bethesda’s commitment to and understanding of the PC as a gaming platform shows in the great review scores, spectacular launch, and continued high player numbers that Skyrim has received,” said Valve’s Jason Holtman. “We are delighted that Bethesda chose to use Steamworks to support Skyrim both at retail and digitally.”

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Many great games were released in 2011 - but we want you to decide which was the greatest of them all.

The game that gets the most votes from New Zealand's gaming community will be named Gameplanet Players' Choice Game of the Year 2011.

Plus, place a vote and you'll go in the draw to WIN a Year's Supply of Games – that's one game of your choice each month throughout 2012!

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UPDATE: This petition, while real, is the result of an article on the spoof website Christwire.org. You can read that article here.

ORIGINAL: A US citizen has petitioned the Obama administration to have all copies of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim destroyed, and to have anyone found playing the game prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

B Stephenson of Tennessee has outlined the following conditions in a petition on the White House’s “We The People” website, reports Kotaku:

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Dovahkiin means "Dragonborn" in one of the game's fictional languages.

Megan and Eric Kellermeyer have accepted that challenge by naming their son Dovahkiin Tom Kellermeyer. On the couple’s webcomic, “Jade Griffin”, presumably Megan, writes, “We conceived long before hearing of [the Bethesda challenge]. But it's been a tough year and I wanted to do something special for my son. My daughter has a unique name. I wanted him to have a unique name as well. I am so picky about boy names that I was having a lot of trouble finding just the right one.

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It would appear that Bethesda has made a tongue-in-cheek nod to Minecraft in its recently released RPG epic The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Bethesda and Minecraft creator Mojang have undergone a legal tussle over the word ‘Scrolls’. Mojang is in the early stages of developing a game called Scrolls, a title that Bethesda believes consumers might confuse with its recently released The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Bethesda’s request for an interim injunction has been denied.

Widely regarded by gamers and commentators as a David versus Goliath scenario – and PR own-goal for Bethesda – the publisher now appears to have acknowledged the gaff by including a “Notched Pickaxe” in Skyrim, reports Geekology. Mojang co-founder Markus Persson is commonly known by the handle “Notch”, while the pickaxe is the main tool used in Minecraft. The Notched Pickaxe can be found on slopes of Skyrim’s Throat of the World.

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A long pedigree and a dedication to ambitious, expansive gameplay often results in enormously detailed environments. But with this ambition comes complexity, and complexity creates bugs. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was particularly susceptible to broken dialogue, buggy AI and system crashes.

Where other game developers may have been content to work through these issues, gently eradicating faults and churning out a safe successor to please shareholders, Bethesda Game Studios went back to the drawing board. Skyrim is five years in the making, overseen by the series' stalwart director Todd Howard, crafted carefully and with precision. This is no mere paint-by-numbers RPG; there is a ruthless persistence burned into every encounter. Throughout each ordeal the player is reminded that every conceivable outcome has been studied, checked and laboured over by people who actually give a damn.

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It is not clear what the DLC will contain but Bethesda signed on for a similar arrangement last year that saw the substantial Fallout: New Vegas DLC “Dead Money” hit Xbox LIVE before arriving on PlayStation 3 and PC at a later date.

Microsoft recently stated that its policy is to not publish any downloadable content that has a window of exclusivity on another platform. European Xbox boss Chris Lewis said, “We're a little biased, so obviously we're going to look to protect our own space as best we can and get exclusivity.”

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"For those inclined to create a detailed custom character, all the curious knobs and switches are there: players will be able to tweak such particulars as nose length, jaw width and forehead colour. The immense suite of options in the creator is certain to satisfy that subset of users who place great importance on such things," we wrote in our hands-on preview of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

"We sped through the creator and birthed into Skyrim as an orc of advanced years, with golden war paint splayed across his weathered and scarred skin."

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I first met Howard at the E3 presentation of Skyrim. As he guided us through that demo, he let loose, providing us with an exposition of the world. Understanding Howard’s passion for Skyrim is the key to understanding the game itself. He spoke then of the Elder Scrolls’ world as easily as we speak of our own. Two months later Howard is back. Today is the first time Skyrim will be put into the hands of the press.

The premise of the demo was simple. Attendant press were provided with pre-set skills, armour and weapons that could accommodate a variety of play styles within the limited time available. Although the skills and equipment were preordained, the player character was not.

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The focus of this elaborate stage is The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a Nordic-inspired title that has now been in development for five years. It comes packaged with heavy expectations from a legion of existing fans, as well as studied indifference from those burned by its predecessor Oblivion – a title that seemed to delight in frustrating newcomers with overambitious gameplay and an unwholesome inattention to bugs.

The Stein Eriksen Lodge forms the perfect backdrop. It's minus five outside, snowing lightly, and at 2500m altitude anything more than energetic typing results in the overwhelming desire to lie down for a spell.

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