Skyrim: The Next Installment of the Elder Scrolls Series

Elder Scrolls V, Skyrim, is the next installment of a very successful video game franchise, that give the player a wide range of choices that decide how the game is played.


The Elder Scrolls series has been a popular video game series since the mid 1990s. Starting with Arena in 1994 which was followed by Daggerfall in 1996, which was one of the first 3D worlds in gaming. Next Elder Scrolls III Morrowind, released in 2002, which gained a cult following but had a few minor glitches which were then addressed in Elder Scrolls IV, Oblivion, which also gained cult status.

People have high expectations for Skyrim, especially after the article that was written by GameInformer which showed how the game play would be changed from simple one-hand and a shield combat to giving you the option choose shield and spell, or two weapons. This game also has a new skill section which makes it easier to level up in a skill, they also raised the level cap to about 50, while Skyrim is supposed to have a loose level cap of 50 which means you can go above that but it does not good to do so.

The creators of Skyrim put a lot of effort into this game because they created their own language with a 34 character alphabet for the language of the Dragons


The main character of this game is chosen by the player who can choose a number of races to be, but they all end up with the same beginning story.


*spoiler*

You start out in prison and end up finding out that you are meant to become a dragon slayer and as you slay dragons you gain the ability of dragon shouts which are a new type of magic in this game

The game is scheduled for release on November 11, 2011 (11/11/11)

For more information go to: http://www.gameinformer.com:80/games/the_elder_scrolls_v_skyrim/b/xbox360/archive/2011/01/28/skyrim-menu-system-overhaul.aspx

Sony's New PSP

Sony's PSP franchise has not been as successful as the Nintendo DS, but with their new PSP, codenamed NGP (Next Generation Gaming), Sony hopes to climb to the top of the portable gaming world.

NGP was with five key concepts in mind: Revolutionary User Interface, Social Connectivity, Location-based Entertainment, Converging Real and Virtual Reality. Along with a slightly new design including front and back touch screens, two analogue sticks, and front and rear facing cameras Sony's NGP boasts a quad-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor, a 5-inch touch screen OLED, 4 times the pixels as the original PSP, 3G, WiFi, GPS, accelerometer, gyroscopes, and an electronic compass.

With its two touch screens and two new analogue sticks the PSP has gotten a complete makeover which will modify the way portable games because the old PSPs had no touch screen and only one analogue stick. The old PSP also used used tiny discs to play.

Sony, with NGP, is breaking away from their traditional UMD's (Universal Media Disks) and moving towards digital gaming much like the app store for ipods. Sony is also trying to implement mobile gaming which is were they use your current location during gameplay similar to online gaming for the Playstation.

At Sony's live event they announced the NGP and they showed games such as Little Big Planet, Metal Gear Solid 4, Killzone, Uncharted, and Resistance. It is speculated all previous games on the Playstation the Playstation2, the Playstation3, and the PSP, but this has not been confirmed

Sony is planning on releasing the NGP this holiday season but it all depends on how fast they can work out all the minor details of design, and the logistics.

Playstation Phone

Imagine a phone, now add a popular gaming device and you get the basic idea of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. Pictures of this phone, code-named, Zeus have finally been released, after much anticipation once rumors began to spread about its existance. 

The Xperia Play AKA the PlayStation phone will have the Android operating system Gingerbread, and have a music player, gallery browser, media shortcuts, and in general work very similar to the Android x10, in both hardware and software. It has a front touch screen, the four buttons at the bottom, is programmed with Gingerbread, and has all of the things that come standard in an Android phone. The major difference for which it is named is that when it is flipped open instead of a standard keyboard it has a PlayStation controller, minus the analogue sticks which a multi-touch touch screen replaced. As far as gaming goes their were no games up on the prototype but it is assumed that the PlayStation phone will have an app store-esq feel to it. As of now, nobody can speculate as to whether you will need gift cards to buy games or if the cost is just added to your phone bill.

This new and revolutionary device is still in its prototyping phase but it is rumored to be released in March of 2011. No price or an official release date have been set but more details are forthcoming and I know that I am looking forward to learning more about it at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) on February 14-17.


For more information check out: www.engadget.com/2011/01/26/sony-ericsson-xperia-play-playstation-phone-preview/