The first The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim DLC is called Dawnguard and will be out this winter.

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".

 

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been confirmed and is scheduled for release on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on November 13.

The announcement was made by publisher Acitivision on the official UK Call of Duty site, which is not accessible from New Zealand. The Call of Duty global site is yet to be updated.

According to UK site Eurogamer, Black Ops 2 will be set in the near-future during a Cold War, "where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare".

 

In a given year, there's rarely any title that can claim to feature completely new intellectual property.

This is largely because most games are engineered to reuse the most successful and beneficial attributes of previous games, and likewise, many developers have their own styles that are inevitably embedded into their works.

Such is the case with Dishonored. Despite being set in the newly-minted city of Dunwall, and despite featuring an entirely fresh cast of characters, environments and – in particular – a vibrant art style, there's something ever so familiar about the game. Comparisons to Deus Ex are inevitable, given that designer Harvey Smith has secured a leading development role. Raphael Colantonio, head cheese at Arkane Studios is also on board, having previously had experience with Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and BioShock 2, the DNA of which is clearly apparent.

 

When asked if developer Crytek should necessarily be synonymous with pushing the limits of technology, senior creative director Rasmus Hojengaard is quick to offer a pragmatic explanation.

"I think we would probably be challenging some of Crytek's pillars if we didn't do that. The value you get from pushing these things is different now from what it was ten years ago.

"But it's part of our DNA. Even if people aren't conscious about doing it, it'll just happen anyway."