Skyrim Creation Kit trailer shows mod tools in action
Here’s a video Bethesda just sent over showing off the Creation Kit for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The video mentions extensive wiki documentation written by Bethesda staff and shows how Skyrim mods will integrate with the Steam Workshop. It’s exciting to contemplate the astonishing things that modders will make with the kit in the coming months. They’ve already been hard at work making massive changes to the game, as you can see in our round-up of the top 25 Skyrim mods.
But what’s this at 1:12, on the left of the centre row? Mudcrab armour? A familiar sight for readers who reached the back page of PC Gamer UK issue 232, drawn by the lovely Marsh Davies. The mod tools are due to arrive soon, which isn’t soon enough.
Bethesda to release Skyrim modding tools and patch 1.4 fixes as early as next week
The updates and improvements to Bethesda’s already amazing Skyrim just keep coming. The latest additions: The Creation Kit and Steam Workshop (to be bundled in patch 1.4), and they’re almost ready to be unleashed, amidst a plethora of other game-related fixes. More details within!
Skyrim mod lets you summon undead dragons and dual wield greatswords
If there are three words you’d want above any other in your Skyrim spell book, “Conjure Undead Dragon” would be the those words, closely followed by “Conjure Spectral Bear.” The Tytanis mod adds both of these abilities, along with a fat tome of additional updates, including new magical greatswords that can be dual wielded with a beefed up Warmaster perk.
PCG Plays: GoldenEye Source
In this edition of PC Gamer Plays, we’ve harnessed the mystical powers of moving pictures to showcase one of our favorite mods: GoldenEye: Source. Check out the introduction above to set the stage, then find out why the remake comes so highly recommended in the following videos, which include a black tie duel against the mod’s developers (spoiler: they’re really good).
The 25 best Skyrim Mods
Skyrim mods are amazing. In the two months since release, thousands of mods have been released, some of them quite spectacular. It’s not like Skyrim was an ugly game to begin with, but with new high resolution textures and post processing it becomes truly stunning. Not to mention new items, expanded crafting and a full UI overhaul.
With so many mods available, choosing them can be a little daunting, which is why we’ve rounded up the 25 best here for you to enjoy. Check inside for the full list.
Kinect on PC: more expensive, less useful, still exciting
Microsoft unveiled a PC version of their motion-sensing, voice activated, mind-reading Kinect camera at CES recently. It’ll be out on February 1, which is exciting. The price tag is a bit problematic, however. It’ll retail for $250, $100 more than it does on Xbox.
The main differences between PC Kinect and Xbox Kinect is a close-up mode that’ll let it recognise nearby gestures, and an SDK kit to let programmers create applications to actually use the camera. The SDK, however, is already freely available on the Microsoft site. Why, then, is the PC version so expensive? And why should we think about buying one?
How to install custom League of Legends skins
Too fashion-forward to allow your League of Legends champions to get caught wearing the same ‘ol attire day after day? Start the new year with a fresh look! In this Protip, Josh demonstrates how to find and install custom League of Legends skins to make your champions the best-dressed little warriors on the block. Check out the introduction above, and watch Josh’s complete instructions in the consecutive videos, as well as a rundown of the PC Gamer US office favorites…
Skyrim ENBSeries mod boosts visuals, version one out now
Do you remember this impressive Deus Ex: Human Revolution mod? It was built by Boris Vorontsov, author of the ENBSeries graphical mods which also formed the basis of the spectacular ICEnhancer mod for Grand Theft Auto 4. He’s just released the first version of one for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. You can download it now from Skyrim Nexus.
Skyrim Mods: the 20 best so far
Skyrim mods incoming! It’s now been two weeks since the game was released, and there’s been and explosion of modding activity. Skyrim was already an amazing looking game, but with just a handful of these mods it can look even better. Not to mention a whole host of bug fixes, stability improvements, interface tweaks and gameplay enhancements.
Once again we’ve rounded up the best, prettiest, most useful and funniest mods to enhance your Skyrim experience. Check inside for the full list.
Skyrim map mod provides in-game street views
We’ve been keeping a close eye on Skyrim Nexus for our Skyrim Mods post, but this one impressed us so much it deserves its own post. Not so much a mod as a set of tweaks, Map in full 3D shows you how to modify the game’s ini file to make it possible to zoom the in game map right down to the ground. The result is essentially a free camera mode that lets you roam anywhere in the world. It’s like the google street view team was let loose in the frozen north.
We’ll be adding this to our list of Skyrim mods in the next update. In the meantime, if you want some cool locations to explore with it, why not try our Skyrim tourist guide?
The 11 best Skyrim mods so far
Skyrim is a wonderful game. It’s so good that Tom gave it 94% in our Skyrim review, but as good as Bethesda games are, they’re always a little bit better once they’re modded. Amazingly, despite the fact that the game has only been out for a few days, there are already over a hundred mods on Skyrim Nexus. We’ve rounded up the best of the first wave – they’re not game-changers, but some of these are worth taking a look at.
We’re planning to regularly update this page as more mods come out. New mods will be added and old ones will either be updated or fall by the wayside.
The 25 best Minecraft mods
Minecraft has the best modding community in the world. Despite no official mod tools being released, players are constantly expanding and adding an astonishing amount of new content.
We’ve tracked down the very best Minecraft mods to transform your game into something extra-amazing. This list combines the up to date mods from our previous installments and ten new ones into a list of the top 25 Minecraft mods the internet has to offer.
Lord of the Rings Last Days mod released for Mount and Blade, looks amazing
The Lord of the Rings Last Days of Middle Earth mod for the original Mount and Blade has been released after five years of work. The mod lets you fight and command all the factions of Middle Earth, no less, with some top notch custom armour sets, new textures and new locations designed to bring Middle Earth to Tale World’s medieval rags to riches pillaging sim. Find out more and see some fantastic screenshots of the mod below.
The 10 best Dead Island mods
Despite being slightly broken on release, Dead Island has scored legions of fans who enjoy nothing more than slaughtering zombies in its open-world island. We liked it. Thanks to a Halloween tie-in sale it’s currently sitting at number five in the Steam charts, and it’s already got an impressive number of mods for such a recent game.
This is partly due to it being fairly simple to mod, and partly due to bits of it not working on release. Open up its PAK files in WinRAR, then tweak certain settings with notepad to your undead heart’s content. This simplicity has resulted in mods which do everything from make zombies’ heads come off every time you hit them, to changing the game to make it more like Crysis.
Blizzard Arcade to arrive with StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
The Blizzard Arcade will arrive alongside the release of the StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard have just announced at a Blizzcon panel. The Arcade will act as a hub for user-made mods and games created using StarCraft 2′s extensive mod tools. The Arcade will be available to everyone who owns StarCraft 2, not just Heart of the Swarm players.
Games available in the Blizzard Arcade will be free to begin with, but Blizzard plan to let mod makers charge for their games in future. The Arcade will be available from the front page, and take players to a central screen showing the most popular mods of the moment. A five star rating system and user reviews will help the best games rise to the top, and “what’s hot” sections will give players quick access to the most popular games on the service. The mods will use StarCraft 2′s matchmaking system to put players together.
The editor will also be improved, with debugging improvements, a cutscene editor, and custom UI editing tools.
