Adventures in Skyrim - 'Hardcore Mode' - Week One
By Steve Burke Published November 12, 2011 at 2:13 pmThe following is what will be an ongoing journal from my character's perspective from my journeys in Skyrim; I have elected to play the game in what I've dubbed 'hardcore mode,' with the following restrictions:
- No fast traveling allowed.
- If I die, I make a new character (this forces me to play VERY carefully).
- No leveling up unless within a town.
- I will not use my map.
- I will stay in first-person (unless to admire myself).
In this week's journal, our hero is attacked by a nomadic group of bandits crossing the plains, and nearing death's end, he has an unexpected savior (and a very, very large one at that). This log will be updated every Saturday.
Skyrim minimize black-screen and crash fix
By Steve BurkeUPDATE: We have posted a complete Skyrim glitch-fix guide, found here. If you're experiencing crashes or glitches, check it out for more detailed help.
Skyrim's big release has not been free from its share of video hangs and crashes; we noticed earlier while playing that minimizing and maximizing Skyrim often resulted in a black-screen graphics hang. There's an easy workaround to fix Skyrim's screen going blank on maximizing that we've detailed below -- it's certainly no permanent fix, but for now, it's an easy workaround that anyone can do for Skyrim on the PC.
Follow these steps to successfully restore Skyrim and avoid an alt-F4 of doom:
As powerful as desktop PCs are (our $800 build is a testament to this), they are inherently cumbersome and have limited mobility. If you're often on the go, attend LAN parties with your friends frequently, or just prefer something smaller (relatively), then you may prefer a gaming laptop; we've picked these out for their ability to run the newest games (like Skyrim or BF3). Here is a run-down of the different laptops based on price-point:
Before we go on, keep in mind that most of these laptops have a lot of customization options in terms of the hardware that can be included with the system. This means you can pick and choose from a variety of options (CPU, RAM amount, hard drive space) that you want in order to better fit your budget. For the sake of picking the best bang for the buck we have picked the best hardware possible for you in the laptops featured.
Heart of the Swarm: What We Know So Far
By Francisco FantlOver the past months, Blizzard has done well to tease their fans with StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm mini-announcements; we've compiled those for you below and collected a list of the pending changes. The delicious teasers of things that have changed for Wings of Liberty and are incoming for HotS are below.
Bethesda has confirmed the PC system requirements for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as of today as a follow-up to their recently-revealed map. Yesterday, Bethesda put out a brand new live action Skyrim trailer, so once you're done here, go over and check that video out. If you're unsure whether or not your PC can handle Skyrim on maximum settings, feel free to ask on our forums for tweaking advice or check out our $550 budget gaming PC build and $868 hardcore gaming PC build.
We already know that Skyrim's texturing and modeling has vastle improved on its predecessors, now all that's left to be seen is how scalable it is on modern video processing devices. View the specs below:
Bethblog announced a new Skyrim live action trailer today for those of you who can't get enough of Skyrim. If you haven't already seen it, the Skyrim map is already live and we're currently waiting for system requirements. View the live action trailer below:
Orccupy The Rift Campaign Demands Change
By Steve Burke
BREAKING - In a stunning change of events, Orcs (shown here) have pitched tents on Rift Street and are demanding a change in the precariously balanced system of the monetization of magic. Orccupiers have demanded a separation of magic and castles, claiming that the union between the two has yielded unfair turnout in warmage elections; when asked why this bothered one Orc, he stated:
"We never vote fer warmages, we vote for Orug-Gormak, Spewer of Vomit. Orug-Gormak say he pull us out of war, say he do social reform to make so vomiting in public are encourage! Warmages is dumb, warmages is owned by big magic in government."
Orccupy the Rift is a movement that started out on Twitter, as with many modern rebellions, and is spreading rapidly to other networking websites. While it is uncertain whether or not Orcs know how to use computers, one thing is known: Orcs are dying en masse thanks to the recently-elected warmages; supporters of the Orc party have often referred to a previous warmage, known only as "old man," stating that we should have never impeached him.
The campaign slogan of the Orcuppy Movement has been constant-yet-confusing: "Orcs are the ??%" (it's hard to read Orcish handwriting, we believe they are upside-down '9s').Our recently-posted $550 budget gaming PC and $1795 BF3-themed rig have both prompted support requests on our forums for building an in-between system -- that's what this one accomplishes. If you're in the "heavy wallet, but not quite burning a hole in my pants" stage of the game, this ~$900 build will suit you beautifully for many, many years of gaming on high or ultra graphics settings.

This system addresses all the same concerns as our previous hardcore gaming rig did, with the exception that -- you know -- it's new and shiny. That one is nearly two months old now! Yuck! The system build list below includes all of the greatest parts currently available for the sub-$1000 range (you could probably tack on this Antec 900 v2 case if you have extra money, or even a different video card), but for our price, this machine is nothing short of monstrous. Let's break-down the list below:
47 Billion Shots Fired, 1.5 Billion Kills
By Steve BurkeSeriously, you guys suck. Look at those stats! If anything proves that an entire clip is needed to kill someone in Battlefield 3, it's the fact that the average kill required 31.3 bullets.
The EA Gun Club released some playful stats for Battlefield 3 in wake of the new trailer, including the longest headshot ever recorded, the number of people that tried the beta, and kill stats. Enjoy below!
Battlefield 3's Trailer Touches Close to Home
By Steve BurkeFor those that follow the United States' particular interest in middle-eastern conflicts, the Battlefield 3 trailer is successful in advertising its singleplayer campaign as more than just an after-thought to multiplayer: the trailer is moving, hits close to home, and feels like something you would see on an urgent news report. It feels more personal than any other game trailer ever has, and I can only hope that the game delivers as the trailer promises; it is on more equal ground with movie trailers than other video game teasers, I'd say. The original Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare singleplayer was similar, but I have a feeling this will be even more evocative and timely; DICE is capitalizing on an increasingly angsty population of global citizens.
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