Hasta La Gadget!

Yesterday, Bethesda announced Hearthfire, the latest DLC for Skyrim. It looks to be a charming little DLC pack, but there’s just one problem: Xbox 360 owners will be getting Hearthfire next week, but PS3 owners are still without Dawnguard, Skyrim‘s first DLC. This understandably has some PS3 players wondering if Bethesda delayed Dawnguard on PS3 so it could finish up work on Hearthfire and get it out the door quickly.

According to Bethesda’s VP of PR and marketing Pete Hines, that isn’t the case. When asked on Twitter if the delay of Dawnguard had something to do with the production of Hearthfire, Hines replied with “No, they are separate things.” When another fan expressed their disappointment in the fact that Xbox 360 players were getting their second DLC offering while PS3 owners have yet to receive their first, Hines said “We are working on multiple projects, even beyond those two things. The entire team doesn’t work on one thing at a time.”

So there you have it – multiple teams at Bethesda are working on both Dawnguard for PS3 and Hearthfire for Xbox 360. When the PC version of Dawnguard showed up a few weeks back, many were surprised to see that the PS3 version didn’t launch alongside it. At the time, Bethesda said that it wasn’t satisfied with the performance of the PS3 version, and wouldn’t be releasing it as expected. We’re still waiting for that PS3 release date, unfortunately, and Hines even said today that he didn’t have any new information to give.

Let’s take a step away from this Dawnguard debacle for a moment though and examine Hines’ words more closely. While he said that both Hearthfire and Dawnguard PS3 are in development at the moment, he also said that there are other projects in the works at Bethesda. We know that Bethesda isn’t developing the upcoming Elder Scrolls MMO, so Hines’ comments lead us to believe that Bethesda is also working on Fallout 4. DLC woes aside, that’s pretty exciting, wouldn’t you say? Keep it here at SlashGear, as we’ll update you once Bethesda spills more details on the missing PS3 version of Dawnguard.

Dawnguard PS3 wasn’t delayed because of Hearthfire, Bethesda assures is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While Skyrim: Dawngard has yet to make its way onto the PlayStation 3, due to it being not good enough, it seems that those who are enjoying the DLC might have another DLC to look forward to in the future. In a trademark filed by Bethesda’s parent company, Zenimax, the name Hearthfire has been revealed. Given that the name Hearthfire is used to refer to the 9^th month of the in-game calendar, the name should not come as a surprise and to a certain extent it is rather appropriate. Of course details of the Hearthfire DLC is pretty zero at this point, assuming it is even a DLC to begin with. However if and when it does launch, thanks to Bethesda’s deal with Microsoft, Xbox 360 owners can expect to enjoy it as an exclusive before it makes its way onto other platforms. In any case we certainly hope that Bethesda is able to sort out the issue Dawngard is having with the PlayStation 3 platform as we’re sure that players would rather play Dawngard than have to wait for the next DLC, which may or may not have issues with the PlayStation 3 as well. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for more info, but until then what do you guys think Hearthfire could feature?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Skyrim 1.7 available on Steam now, Dress your Xbox Live avatar with Skyrim items,

With the release of Doom 3 BFG Edition coming up in just a couple of months, Bethesda and id Software have taken some time at this year’s QuakeCon (which kicked off yesterday) to hype the game. In a new trailer released today, we get a glimpse at some of Doom 3 BFG‘s new levels. There are eight new levels in all, and collectively they’re called “The Lost Mission,” serving as something of a second expansion for Doom 3.

As with most Doom-related media, this trailer can get pretty terrifying at times. We’re promised that Doom 3 BFG Edition will include more horror effects than the original did, so the hope is that this new edition is a bit more horrifying than the game we got in 2004. In The Lost Mission, players return to Mars as the last surviving member of Union Aerospace Corporation’s Bravo Team. Naturally, that isn’t a setup for a flowery story, and it isn’t long after arriving that we discover the minions of Hell are there in force.

It appears that this battle won’t only be fought on Mars, as the trailer gives glimpses of what looks an awful lot like Hell. With updated graphics for the current generation, Doom 3 BFG Edition is definitely a game to pay attention to. It also comes packed with copies of the original Doom and Doom II, so if you’ve never played a Doom game before (is that even possible?) Doom 3 BFG sounds like it’ll be a good place to start. Check out the new trailer below.

Doom 3 BFG Edition is coming to Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on October 16, and afterward we imagine id Software will ramp up work on Doom 4. At least, that’s the hope. We’ve known about Doom 4 since 2008, so it can’t be much too much longer until it’s finally released. Still, the team at id is taking Valve’s famous “when it’s done” approach to Doom 4‘s development, so we could be waiting for some time yet.

QuakeCon blasts terrifying Doom 3 BFG: The Lost Mission trailer is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Last week, Bethesda VP of marketing Pete Hines sparked outrage among Skyrim fans when he pointed out that the studio hasn’t announced the game’s first DLC, Dawnguard, for any platforms other than Xbox 360. Now, Hines is promising that more information on the PC and PS3 versions of Dawnguard is coming soon, telling one perturbed Twitter follower over the weekend to “Just sit tight. We’ll have info soon.” Just how soon? A few hours ago, Hines tweeted that Bethesda should have that info later this week.

So, it doesn’t look like it’ll be too long before anxious PC and PS3 players finally have a release date for Dawnguard. Of course, there’s also the possibility that Bethesda will announce that the PC and PS3 versions of Dawnguard have been canceled entirely, so watch out for that. Many were expecting news of its multiplatform release date last week, when the 30-day exclusivity deal with Microsoft was lifted, but such news never showed up. When fans found out that Dawnguard had never technically been announced for PC and PS3, they treated Hines to a barrage of angry tweets. Now that we have the promise of additional information coming sometime in the near future, Hines might finally get to take a break from dealing with upset Skyrim players.

All of this fuss over the PC and PS3 versions of Dawnguard makes us wonder if the outrage is worth it. Skyrim was met with critical praise upon release last year, but with Dawnguard it’s a different story. Skyrim‘s first DLC only managed to garner middling reviews, but to be fair, it seems that a lot of critics had a problem with its steep price more than anything else. Still, it would be a bit unfair for Bethesda to deliver DLC to only one platform and leave the other two in the dust, so we suppose that the angry tweets are at least somewhat justifiable in this case.

Bethesda has said in the past that it’s planning to release multiple pieces of expansion pack-like DLC for Skyrim, but just how many the studio is planning remains unclear. We’re now 8 months out from Skyrim‘s release date, so it seems unlikely that we’ll be getting more than one more piece of DLC for ol’ Skyrim. Bethesda may surprise us though, so keep an ear to SlashGear – we’ll be sure to let you know about this additional Dawnguard information once Bethesda shares it!

Dawnguard PC and PS3 information coming soon promises Bethesda is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Bethesda has revealed the details of its next major update to the game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which will be making its way to the PS3 and Xbox 360 but of course is already available on the PC through Valve’s digital distribution Steam platform. The update is mainly a functional one, fixing various bugs and optimizing performance, as opposed to one filled with new features.

Among the updates are what Bethesda calls “general memory and stability optimizations.” More specifically, it fixes the following: crashes related to new water shaders, a rare crash event related to dragon landings, and problems with the loading screens on Xbox 360 that occurred after players purchased an add-on. Other Xbox 360-specific tweaks include Kinect patches for international languages as well as improved English recognition.

In addition, Bethesda said, “Using vampiric grip and swimming no longer prevents swimming animation from playing afterwards.” This update is now in queue for the PS3 and Xbox 360. There is a queue of game patches, and the console manufacturer needs to verify the file before it pushes it to system owners. Now it’s just a matter of playing the waiting game.

[via Examiner]

Bethesda Skyrim 1.7 update detailed is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.