Hearthfire takes its name from the 9th month in the Elder Scrolls calendar, a month that features Childrens day and, ominously, the Necromancy celebration of Tales and Tallows, a day feared by many.

Whereas the last DLC, Dawnguard, was a full on expansion with a whole new questline, Hearthfire will this time instead allow you to buy a piece of land and build yourself a home.

You’ll be able to fully customise your dwelling with themed rooms to store your cheese wheels or heads of defeated foes. Show off your trophies in a room of your design or even set up a herb garden and fish pond. You will also be able to adopt and raise children.

And if you’re really lazy, you can even hire a steward/housekeeper to look after it all for you.

Hearthfire will be available for 400 MS points on Xbox Live on September 4th.

In this show we re-visit the game that started this series of podcast many months ago, The Elder Scroll V: Skyrim. Specifically we’re checking out the new expansion, Dawnguard.

Greg Giddens and Neale Jarrett talk for just under two hours about Dawnguard, as well as re-visiting the stories they told in the first show. Steve Peacock couldn’t join us this month but phones in a short explanation, meanwhile the introduction features the oratory skills of Peter Willington, who you can find on Twitter here.

We are also pleased to announce that it iss possible to subscribe to us via iTunes. Simple open iTunes, go to the advanced tab and click “Subscribe to Podcast” then pop in the following RSS feed URL: http://midlifegamerextra.libsyn.com/rss now you’ll be subscribed to the feed for Midlife Gamer Extra, featuring all Giddens produced shows.

So enjoy the next two hours of Dawnguard spoilers and tales of adventure in Skyrim.

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Check out the trailer below.

The only details on Dawnguard are simply its release window for Summer on Xbox 360 and that more details will follow at E3. Otherwise all we have is the image below to whet our appetite.

Keep up to date with all the latest The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim news here at Midlife Gamer.

This article was written by freelance games journalist Ian Brown.

Bethesda’s massively popular open-world RPG, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, provides literally hundreds of hours of single player dragon based adventuring. And it just got even bigger.

The release of the Skyrim Creation Kit on February 6th means that the only limit to the amount of crazy-ass mutations you can add is your imagination. And technical know-how.

I’m a big fan of Skyrim and it has the honour of joining my elite group of RPGs that I’ve bothered to complete. That’s another article altogether, though.

The addition of the creation kit enables two ways to mutate the game: the first way is incredibly easy and simply involves subscribing to the desired mod on the Steam page. If the mod is updated, the changes will automatically be applied to yours. Blummin’ lovely.

The second way to warp Skyrim is a bit more difficult. This involves actually using the creation kit to change the guts of the game with your own bare hands. In the interests of science I spent last evening playing around with the creation kit. I managed to create some magic sandals, gloves and a robe in around ten minutes. Creating them was the easy part. To my frustration, though I could get my mind-blowingly cool items to appear in the mod list, I could not make them appear in-game, no matter what.

Admittedly, I stopped trying after three attempts (sadly, the never need sleep pill hasn’t been invented yet), and I suspect the error was down to my own ignorance and divvy-ness. I shall try again later, no doubt.

So, I was forced by my own poor programming knowledge to modify Skyrim utilising only existing mods, how did it go? Well, it went pretty darned well, thank you very much. Who am I talking to? No idea. I began by hatching the wacky notion that it would be dreamy-creamy to transform my trusty level 32 Nord into……a Jedi! Could it be possible? Yes it flippin’ is, well sort of. Via exploring the options available, I happened across a Magicka Light Saber Mod that is not actually on the Steam service. It’s currently hosted on the fan site Skyrim Nexus. Installing it is a piece of cake though. Even I can do it.

The Light Sabers are incredible and need no further improvements, in my most humble of opinions. They even have the correct sound files and come in various styles and colours. Blimey.

To complete my Jedi simply required the appropriate shabby robe and sandals, which are available in Vanilla Skyrim. Of course, this would be improved magnificently if I could work out how to use my special Jedi robe and sandals created earlier. My next steps weren’t strictly necessary for the Jedi character, but what the hell. From the official Steam hosted mods I added a Learning Stone, to magically improve my Jedi Powers. Hahaaa.

Then came my ferocious Sabre-Cat who follows me everywhere and attacks foes with me. I was just about to take some screenies of the non-mounted sabre cat pet I added, but it’s vanished! Beware bugs! Then, finally, what Jedi would be without an Armoured Battle Cat Mount. That’s right; I’m riding a huge feckin battle cat. Boom!

All the mods I tried worked flawlessly, and the community are really getting involved to create some wonderfully twisted ideas. Already there are more than I could possibly write about here. Even Valve has been busy creating a mod for Skyrim, adding the Space Core to the game after it crash-lands out in the wilderness.

It’s probably worth mentioning that previous to bending my game out of all recognition, I’d already played 90 hours and completed the main quest and many others. The power of the creation kit is best used following experiencing Skyrim as released, if you ask me. Go on, ask me.

The Skyrim Creation Kit is a wonderful addition to one of the best RPGs ever made and adds hours upon hours of fun to what was already a truly massive game. It’s a must for all Skyrimmers.

Welcome to Spoiler Alert, a new monthly podcast where Greg Giddens and two guests talk about a recently released game in-between pointing fun at each other.

This month is all about The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

In this special, extra long show the trio, Greg Giddens, Neale Jarrett (Baron Von Pleb) and Steve Peacock share their experience with this epic RPG. Two and a half hours of anecdotes, awesome music, peculiar facts and stories of adventure will entertain you, make you laugh and compel you to dive straight back in to this brilliant game.

Of course it’s called Spoiler Alert for a reason, so expect stories about certain quests, and occurrences which you may not have experienced yourself. But the nature of Skyrim, with its open-world and dynamic content, means spoilers are kept to a minimum and we make a point of not discussing any end game content.

So enjoy the podcast and continue to share your own adventures in the forums and the posts below.

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The Total Perspective Vortex is allegedly the most horrible torture device to which a sentient being can be subjected.

When you are put into the Vortex you are given just one momentary glimpse of the entire unimaginable infinity of creation, and somewhere in it a tiny little mark, a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot, which says, “You are here.”

This is Skyrim, or rather this is what writing a review for Skyrim is like. Where the hell do I start? I’ve played over 40 hours of Skyrim and can confidently say I’ve seen less than 20% of the content. I could tell you how I’ve been to a tea party with the god of madness or maybe how I transformed a dragon into a chicken but you’d get the wrong idea, so let’s start off small. Skyrim is a game about dragons in an open-world RPG adventure. You are the first person in an age that is Dragonborn, with the body of a mortal but the soul of a dragon. You must furfill your destiny as a dragon hunter and do some stuff or something, humans prevail, cats lay with dogs, happily ever after, I guess? I don’t know. Did I mention the tea party?

The fact is Skyrim is a massive game. If one were to concentrate entirely on the main story you may be done around the 25 hour mark, possibly. However, only completing story missions would be an exercise in futility. You would have to make the conscious effort from minute one that you were going for a speedrun. The fabric of Skyrim is densely woven, in an accurate portrayal of reality all people are strung together with some tenuous thread. The auspices of a cognitive society are bonding. Black and white isn’t an option, grey matters…

I am acutely aware I haven’t told you anything about Skyrim. My job as a reviewer is to succinctly inform you of a game’s pros and cons to give you a well-rounded account of a game but this day I am found lacking. Skyrim is filling a glass with a waterfall, the stupefying amount of content is ever-present. Looking in quantifiable terms, Skyrim looks the part, despite not having the high quality up-close textures of Battlefield 3, Skyrim takes the entire scene into account and considers the entire landscape as your backdrop. Often is the time I’m caught agape by the juxtaposition of a towering snow-tipped mountain as the background to my own personal saga. Although acutely aware of the faults of installing on the Xbox 360, the immediate lack of textures pale in comparison to the visual scope of the game. In the “way-back-when machine” Skyrim won’t be lauded by its graphical finesse, but in the overall sentiment it isn’t found wanting.

Being the direct sequel to Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, this game has a lot to compete with and equally a lot to overcome. General reception was mixed, with the restrictive levelling system and audio cast of two actors, Oblivion was perceived as a rough gem overall. Although some of the content was stellar, the average mean came up short. This time around the crucial difference can be calculated in man-hours. Where Oblivion had length, Skyrim has length and depth, with the quest construction varied and sublime. The very laissez-faire or nonchalant way that the innumerable side-quests aren’t forced into the forefront with their fantastic writing is crazy. The cutting-room floor of Skyrim is more significant than the main storyline of any modern game.

A big part of this side quest quality comes from the dynamic quest content generated randomly. Skyrim citizen will always have problems for you to solve. And even out in the field you’ll witness dynamic events. Bandits battling citizens, guards and wildlife fighting among themselves, and then, 0f course, the magnificent dragons causing problems for all that dwell in Skyrim, swooping down at random with intent to maim. Skyrim is a living and breathing world.

There are niggles, one of the more frequent complaints of Oblivion is the combat system. Traditionally the first person melee combat game has always had problems - Zenoclash an exception to the rule. While the true tactical means of the combat dictates that you can’t mow through swathes of foes a la Dead Rising, the general feeling of lack of tactile feedback is ever present here, canned animations eschewed for gritty realism. However, the system is improved. Dual weapons, sword and shield, dual magic, bow and arrow, and any mixture from the aforementioned, allows you to perform violent acts with ease and variety. Additionally magic attacks have been reworked to feel more dynamic and flowing with the majority of chosen spells gushing from your hands like fountains of power than sparks. Add to all this a quick access favourites list for weapons and spells that allows for speedy switching and you’ll certainly find combat significantly improved.

A welcome change is the levelling system. In Oblivion you would level up when one of your pre-chosen character staples would level up. Such a system was crucially flawed however when enemies would also level up with you creating a more unfair combat experience. Players would choose the exact opposite of their main skills so that increasing their chosen skills would constitute a definite advantage. Now your level is dictated by all skills. As you meander through the world you will level up a multitude of attributes. Naturally as you use more skills than another it is those that will level up more. With a perk system similar to Modern Warfare you can invest level points into various perks as they gain in levels with some game-changing effects.

The other consequence of such an open-world game are the glitches. I’ve personally been propelled several miles by a giant’s club and seen NPCs sitting on invisible chairs. Rarely are these foibles game breaking, more of a talking point. I suppose it is testament to Bethesda controlling this complex and crazy world 98% of time time. So whilst the odd deer may come falling out of the sky, the fact is they aren’t always raining. Like The Matrix we are bound in this world, certain un-pleasantries have to be expected because if the system existed where everything happened as scripted, it just wouldn’t be an Elder Scrolls game.

Skyrim is a game years in the making. This game has volume in the truest sense of the word, length, breadth and depth, it has all three in spades. In a sense the acute faults of Oblivion have been wheedled out with the development of Fallout 3, the few detractions that are there are but a drop in the ocean. I hope the fantastic feat of the sheer magnitude of Skyrim is remembered in gaming history like it deserves. If you’ve even a fleeting interest in adventure/RPG games, you’d be a fool to miss out on Skyrim, a true genre-defining game for this generation.

MLG Rating: 10/10
Platform: PC/Xbox 360/PS3 Release date: 11/11/11

Disclaimer: A physical version of Skyrim was supplied by the reivewer and played over the course of one week on a high-end gaming PC. For more information on what our scores mean, plus details of our reviews policy, click here.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim takes us to the homeland of the Nords, the fierce and proud warrior race who brave the cold of their mountainous snow covered lands.

Wracked by civil war, and threatened by the return of the legendary dragons, Skyrim faces its darkest hour. You must make sense of this maelstrom, explore the frozen tundra and bring hope to the people.

The new graphic engine brings this fantasy world to life whilst an improved combat system makes dual wielding weapons and/or magic simple and effective. Which is handy as you’ll be up against a whole host of foes including ancient dragons.

A new live-action trailer has been produced to whet your appetite:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=znj_r4YNbqE

I for one am excited.

The Elder Scrolls v: Skyrim is out November 11th.

And then came adult hood. The only thing stopping you was your job, partner, spouse, kids, health problems, getting up in the night to use the bathroom, hangovers that last all day, mortgages, death, the state of the economy, divorces, separations, your boiler breaking,  commuting, getting that rash checked out, the price of peppers (it’s like £2 for three of the fuckers! And the green ones are shit. Jesus. Whoever has shares in peppers…), moving house, paying bills, etc, etc, etc. You game when you can but that’s fine because you know what, things aren’t as good as they used to be anyway. With their haircuts and music, who’d want to be young anyway. Right guys? Guys?

With limited time though, you pick and choose what to play, you get the well reviewed titles because your time is precious.  And maybe you get a pile of shame going but no worries, you’ll get round to them. But then a veritable flood of games get published all at once and it’s all you can do to keep your head above water.

Well. What we have in the next few months my friends is a veritable tsunami of games heading our way. And you’re going to need a plan…

Here are some of the highlights:

August 26: Deux Ex 3

September 2: Driver: San Francisco

September 9:  Dead Island, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Resistance 3

September 20: Gears of War 3

September 30: FIFA 12, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus

October 7: Dark Souls, The Darkness II, Rage

October 21: Batman: Arkham City

October 25: Battlefield 3

October: Forza 4

November 2: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception

November 8: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

November 11: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

November 15: Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary

November 18: Saints Row: The Third*

Fuck! That is a list of games that is quite staggering. Staggeringly expensive and staggeringly time-consuming.

Skyrim alone clocks in at 300 hours all in all. Even if you just do the main quest it’s 30 hours. For those that aren’t familiar with the Western concepts of time, that’s longer than it takes the moon to go round the Earth. The Earth! Factor in Gears multiplayer or Dark Souls’ considerable difficulty and basically you need to spend the next few months locked away. Desmond’s hatch has never looked more appealing. But not in that way. Grow up.

And if you preorder just a selection of these titles from Amazon (Dead Island, Dark Souls, Skyrim, Batman and Gears) it’s a cool £182.48. And think what I’ve left out.

But the upside of this mammoth release list is that the only way to get through the next few months of gaming is by using the extensive planning and time management skills that I’ve acquired since becoming an adult. So bad luck youth, with your limited understanding of Excel and the calendar in Outlook. There’s no way you’ll be able to maximise your productivity like me. I’ll have colour coded segments of my day with meals planned around games. Need to use the bathroom? It’s not scheduled. Found a side quest to help an elf? Not on the timetable. Maximizing time and gaming.

So best of luck youth, I’m taking back gaming for the next few months and what can you do to stop me? Eh? What’s that you say?

Ah, you have fuck all else to do… Damn!

Still, maybe if my boss could fire me I can block out all of October…

* For a complete list of releases and a handy way to flag up games that I’ve no interest in but you might think will be brilliant, go to http://www.eurogamer.net/releases.php

What are you going to play first?

This Community Content article was created by onionmurders, a member of our community. Community Content is your way of getting long-form writing and opinion out to the Midlife Gamer audience, an open platform to get something off your chest. For full guidelines on our editorial standards and how to create your own post, click here. The views expressed within are those of the author and not necessarily the opinions of the Midlife Gamer Staff.