Wednesday, December 21, 2011

And the game of the year is...SKYRIM. Plus the trailer for the HOBBIT

So I've been playing Skyrim on the weekends. My character is level 12, and I've killed three dragons now. I just wanted to post some screenshots for you because I think the game is so visually stunning. Note: You can click any of these to make them bigger. And yes, this is really what the game looks like through and through. Clouds move, I get stuck in blizzards, I hear footsteps coming up behind me, shadows change, day turns to night, etc. It's completely engrossing and has really consumed my writing/reading time. But truthfully, I'd rather play Skyrim than read 90% of the fantasy that is presently being written. It's like being in your own "visually stunning" book.  I read somewhere that it broke a billion dollars in just a couple of weeks. Pretty amazing if you ask me. Some of you may ask, why are guys not reading? Well the answer is in these screenshots. Boys eat this stuff up.
This is me and Lydia (the girl on the left) climbing the steps of the highest
mountain in the world to consult with the mysterious Greybeards about magic.
Not far from us is a badass ice troll that I finally killed by burning him down
with magic flames from my fingertips. Note the beautiful mountains. And yes
the clouds do move in front of the mountains sometimes obscuring them.

This here is actually Lydia and I after having killed said ice troll in the above
caption. We climbed the rest of the way without my horse that got spooked
and ran off.  The encounter with the Greybeards was fascinating as they taught
me how to use my Dragon Voice.

A dragon that I killed in single-hand combat. It swooped out of the sky at me
but by this time I've got all steel armor that has enchants on it and a pretty
awesome sword. I had to heal some during the fight but I can do that with
my restoration magic. I just took cover behind trees so it couldn't get me
with its breath weapon. Then I kicked its ass.

Me and my house thrall Lydia. She's my complete servant, always addresses me
as "My Lord" and whatnot and fights by my side. She's pretty powerful.

Another screenshot from a different angle. Not how awesome the water looks.
It's incredible to me that it looks so real. I've swum around and caught fish
with my bare hands in it. Pretty cool, huh?
Skyrim is a game where you can do just about anything. You can walk over to mountains, explore buildings and ruins, jump off of cliffs...the world is so real and so incredibly detailed that the grass sways in the wind and the tree leaves flutter. You can customize your character so completely that you determine the shape of their nose, the color of their irises, and the style of their hair. Each item is so intricate that you can rotate it in three-dimensional view and find clues on the actual item on how to solve a puzzle.  I found a gold dragon claw set with rubies that when I turned it over, discovered how to open a magical portal deep in a dungeon. I did so, defeated scores of raving monsters, and got my first powerful magical item. It was pretty awesome.

It's also a game that has inspired countless online memes. Checkout Skyrim Hoarders in a google search. Below, click on the short video and watch. You may ask yourself...why? Why would someone collect all that? The answer: because YOU CAN!!! The video is only 13 seconds long. In this game, you can own a house and store anything you find in your home. You can organize it or just throw it in a room. As you can see, some guys are having too much fun with this by collecting junk, skulls, or even bodies.
If you would like to add me as a friend, my "handle" on STEAM is "kavrik519". We can chat while playing :)

Tomorrow I shall reveal who won the 12 Days of Christmas "Lords A Leaping" give-a-way from Sarah Belliston's blog. Also, I will probably "gush" some about the Prometheus trailer which is due to hit Apple's movie trailer site on Thursday.

In FANTASY NEWS HERE IS THE HOBBIT TRAILER .... ENJOY!!!!!

Thanks everyone for getting me over 50,000 page views in less than a year. I think that's pretty good traffic.

40 comments:

  1. Aaaaall right, I'll admit it - that game IS visually stunning! Even I'd be tempted to give it a shot ;) Pity I don't have any sort of game console or even a TV right now. haha

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  2. I'm sure I'll get it eventually, but dragons should never be so wimpy. No 12th level character should stand a chance against a dragon!

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  3. Watched the Hobbit trailer earlier today...looks pretty good, but so long until it comes out... Hubby plays Skyrim.. he likes it.

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  4. Having a trailer come out a year before the movie is just cruel and unusual punishment. I'm on steam too, hutch1957 the only thing I play on there is Civ 5. My daughter loves Syrim but I havent tried it. Star Wars Old Republic sounds good too.

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  5. I was looking at that trailer recently too and some other mentions of it. It sounds like other members of the Lord of the Rings cast are going to be in it. Such as Frodo and Legolas. Maybe they will make brief appearances.

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  6. Both my sons 19 and 15 love this and it is because you do so so many things. Yes, they've forced me to sit and watch them and I loved the visuals.

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  7. Not a gamer (sorry), so you lost me on the first part. I stayed to see the 'Hobbit' trailer. WOW!

    I have to admit, I never read LORT because I found the Hobbit so tedious. (Maybe I was too young, or not doing the right drugs, but I slogged my way through and never wanted to go back. Looks like Peter Jackson will make me a believer again. The trailer looks incredible.

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  8. It's the best game ever! Until next year when there's a new best game ever.

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  9. Lydia is annoying as shit. I'd rather travel with a companion who willingly carries around all my extra junk.

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  10. Those screenshots show some beautiful graphics. I might have to try it.

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  11. 1. i can't wait until i get to my laptop tonight so i can watch the hobbit trailer. DAMN YOU WORK PC AND YOUR VIDEO BLOCKAGE!

    2. I CANNOT FREAKIN WAIT to play SKyrim! I bought it for my bro for xmas and i'm seriously looking forward to it almost more than any present i may get from the fam.

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  12. I don't have the patience to play those video games, although your screencaps and captions make it sound more like a story than ever. I also don't have the coordination. Until they invent a game where "Mashing all the buttons" is a secret move, I'm sort of out of video games.

    I grew up playing Atari's "Adventure," so you can imagine how wowed I am by this, though.

    And I bet you got even more people into the game when you mentioned that you can have "Lydia" as your "Thrall."

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  13. Impressive!

    Can't wait for The Hobbit.

    Congrats for such great traffic to your site! :)

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  14. My god. I'm terrified of Skyrim. No game in recent memory has so tempted me to lock myself in my apartment for a month with a large supply of sugary snacks and only my cat for company. I know once I start, I'll look up and it'll be June 2012.

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  15. For some reason I can envision an episode of Hoarders taking place in the cluttered home of a virtual resident. Too funny.

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  16. I just had to come back to bitch about something. The leveling system breaks around level 37. I am level 39 (I think) and every single dungeon I go into is filled with Draugr Death Overlords. They can shout and can kill me in 3 hits. I'm hoping they patch this soon.

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  17. That is amazing traffic! And that trailer ... I know what I'm blogging about tomorrow. :)

    I have yet to play any of the Elder Scroll games. I should rectify that.

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  18. Oh, boy. I can tell by your screenshots, I would get sucked into playing that, and never get anything else done. :-)

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  19. Just what I need another distraction! I think Hot Coco above me said it best and if I ever want to finish my novel I think I better avert my eyes from all the fun you're having!

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  20. I really thought I was going to be playing this. Watched loads of playthroughs and got all excited. Then along came SWTOR ...

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  21. That's an awesome amount of traffic. I REALLY want to play Skyrim now.

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  22. I'm getting Skyrim for Christmas. I predict many hours will be lost playing it. At least until Diablo III comes out. Or if.
    Crap, it's going to be a long year waiting for The Hobbit!

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  23. I can't even play Solitaire without getting so hooked I can't/won't do anything else. So I never play computer games at all. I obviously have zero self control in that arena.

    Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I lover your header photo :)

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  24. Don't tempt me. I avoid video games because I know how easily I can get sucked into them. And I'll never get out again.

    Great screen shots, though.

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  25. Interesting screenshots! Those are cool graphics.

    I so want to see The Hobbit.

    Congrats on the page views!

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  26. My bf has been playing Skrim pretty much non-stop. It does look pretty amazing. I may actually try and play it if any free time opens up. And I'm super excited for the Hobbit. It's my favorite Tolkien book so I can't wait to see the movie.

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  27. A lot of that real world stuff comes out of the research from LucasFilm for The Force Unleashed. That was the first work on a fully immersive world where you coulf affect everything around you. I think we're not really that far off from completely submersive environments.

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  28. Last time I played a computer game it was Roller Coaster Tycoon.

    Looking forward to The Hobbit. Read the book when I was a kid. That was about 35 years ago, so probably need to reread it before I see the movie.

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  29. I'm not a gamer but sometimes aspire to become one. If only I had the time and money for a new computer and screen and stuff. But you're right about the visuals on this game - they're gorgoues. And maybe you prefer this to reading because this way you can talk about what YOU did and your quest as this character, not what another writer's character experienced.

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  30. Ooooooh -- loved the Hobbit trailer. Dec 2012 - Ugh! One of my favorite books.

    Not a gamer, but think my daughter's boyfriend would love this. Thanks for the idea.

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  31. I posted this link on my Bug's fb wall. He's visiting his dad this week. He said "awesome" :)

    I am so going to love The Hobbit. A whole year to wait . .

    Have a good Christmas Michael

    ......dhole

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  32. The Hobbit looks great. I'll have to re-read the book before I go. I've forgotten most of it. I enlarged the pictures and that game is beautiful. I can see why you like it.

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  33. I hope by the time it releases I'll have these deadlines under control. I miss gaming. I'm sure many hours will be lost to this one. :)

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  34. I finished the game a little while ago and it was an amazing experience. No other game I've ever played felt so alive including World of Warcraft (with actual people in it). By the time I finished I was wishing there was a MMORPG in this setting as it seems the game is so immersive it wouldn't take much to make it happen. No doubt this is the best game I've played in a long time.

    I bought the xbox version of the game so I can't play with you. Are you getting The Old Republic? I haven't played WoW in 6 months and am thinking it would be a bad idea though I will probably give in at some point.

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  35. My son is playing Skyrim right now. I bought it for him for Hanukkah.

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  36. Finally, a decent take on The Hobbit.

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  37. Oh, Man. You make it so difficult to resist buying Skyrim. *groan* I don't have time to play it. Idon'thavetimetoplayitIdonthavetime to playit...ARGGGHHHHHHHH.

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  38. THE HOBBIT will be the movie event of the year. I can't imagine how Peter Jackson feels now - hundreds of millions of people are expecting of him not to disappoint them :)
    I love that my dear Luke Evans and Lee Pace are also starring in the film.
    And PS, MERLIN wasn't terrible in the fourth season :) just not as good as it could've been, but it had its nice moments.

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  39. Hi Michael
    I wanted to comment about The Hobbit. Now I am a HUGE, huge fan of the Lord of the Ring movies, have watched them over and over again and have tried to get all my girls to watch them. My daughter Jack showed me this trailer and told me that it is the most boring thing she has ever seen, so when I saw it I must say I kind of agreed with her. I was really looking forward to this movie but now not so sure. But I will keep an open mind, maybe some better trailers will be out soon.

    Maria

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  40. Oh man, Skyrim! Can't WAIT to play this game. I have a Mac but my bro got me Windows for X-mas and I just need to install it via Bootcamp, but I'm away from my apartment at the moment and need my Mac install cd...complicated stuff, but once I bootcamp my comp I'll be able to play all the wonderful Windows games I've been missing, like Mass Effect and Skryim! And I'm excited, those pictures only make me more so. :D :D :D

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