GameSpy’s Questions and Concerns About Skyrim

GameSpy has put together an editorial which lists their concerns on the upcoming The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the answers to which we should have pretty soon considering it’s coming out on Friday and that some retailers have broken street dates, meaning that some lucky console players had the chance to start playing it already. Here’s a snip anyway:

Skyrim Question/Concern No. 1: It’s Not PC First

My heart sank when I watched the Todd-Howard-led Skyrim demo at E3 in June. Don’t get me wrong, it looked good visually (if not a little too shiny), the various gameplay enhancements appeared sound, and overall it just felt like an Elder Scrolls game. What was disappointing was the fact that Bethesda chose to do their E3 demo on an Xbox 360.

For a franchise that built a legion of followers on PC before becoming a true multiplatform title in 2006 with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (still one of the most popular games for modders to tinker with), you would think Bethesda would place the PC version of Skyrim on a pedestal. That’s not the case here, as demonstrated by the E3 demo being on a console, and the unimposing list of recommended PC system specs for the game. Sigh. The question is, what does this really mean for PC gamers?

Preliminary Verdict: Bethesda has already confirmed that enhanced textures, better effects, programmable keyboard controls, a PC-friendly user-interface, and mod tools will be available at launch. That’s all good news. What vexes me like Commodus is knowing how good Skyrim could look and play after experiencing the eye-watering graphical goodness of DICE’s Battlefield 3 a PC first title that provides a sneak peek at the next generation in gaming. Yes Skyrim looks good. Todd Howard has even gone so far to say the PC version looks “way” better, so our fingers are crossed on this one. But the bottom line is Skyrim’s potential as a PC first game is off the charts, and it’s potential that will never be fully realized.