The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was released on 11-11-11. It's been a big hit with gamers everywhere. It came out on the same week as Activision's trusty sales juggernaut Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Despite the competition Skyrim had very strong sales numbers. But looking through my list of friend's on XBox Live you'd think none of them purchased Modern Warfare 3. They played the first few days but once Skyrim came out it's what I see people playing more of. I got a little envious since I'm so busy with my other games but between seeing this fun quicklook (make sure to catch it at 27:30 for a nice surprise), and watching parts of Greg Kasavin's very entertaining 12 hour run I know this is a game I had to have.

I picked up the PC version since according to the online community the load times are much faster and the graphics will be much better. But don't let that stop you from getting it on the consoles if you don't have a decent PC to play it in. It's still a great game either way. I also decided to play it with an Xbox 360 wired controller which works automatically with no adjustments on my part.

Just like in Oblivion I was really torn as to what to build character wise. I built a Nord first just because Skyrim is the land of the Nordsmen. But I had this nagging feeling in the back of my head telling me try the Orc build. I named him Hoork cause it sounds like Hulk. And yes, I do plan to yell out "HOORK SMASH!" when I wreck house. In my oblivion game I played as a Dark Elf, War Wizard. So this is a nice change for me. Something I found interesting when I played as a Nord and as an Orc was how you were treated by people. There was one point where I was given some supplies to assist me with my quest. As a Nord I was given two silver rings. One cheap and the other is a bit nicer and worth more. As an Orc I was only given the cheap silver one. I thought that was a nice touch by Bethesda to add in there. The kills screens are also cool. The time slows down as you violently finish off your foe is something taken out of the V.A.T. System from the Fallout games except without all the targeting.

The official game trailer:

As of this writing I've only just scratched the surface of the game. I plan on doing the main story early on with a few side missions then tackling the side missions afterwards. Being that it's an elder scrolls game I may end up building something else entirely down the road and just wander the lands doing side quests. It's a big world and with a game this vast it's good to keep your options open. Of course there will be mods for the PC version as well as patch updates to improve the game.

One thing I'm looking forward to is acquiring a ring I heard about that allows you to become a werewolf. I think this game will be on a lot of Christmas Lists this year.

The live action trailer: