14 DAY TRIAL // Bethesda has unveiled some more details about the upcoming update for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the Xbox 360, which will bring support for the Kinect sensor, saying that it will be released next week and will also appear for the game's other language versions.
Skyrim impressed millions upon millions of RPG fans when it was released last year and, since then, developer Bethesda has kept on launching patches and updates to further enhance the experience.
Without a doubt the most surprising addition, however, is the upcoming support for the Xbox 360 Kinect sensor, which will allow gamers to use their voice to perform things like Dragon Shouts or to navigate the menu and map screens.
Bethesda's Vice President of Marketing and PR, Pete Hines, has talked with CNN about the upcoming free update for Skyrim on the Xbox 360, saying that the Kinect functionality will further improve the gameplay experience.
"When you do things, like when you are on the map, you uncover a lot of map markers and quests to go to a particular place. [With Kinect] you can use voice commands to do things very easily, to jump to different cities on the map," Hines said. "Even doing things in inventory like sorting by weight, by value -- that functionality doesn't exist in 'Skyrim' as it is. With Kinect, it unlocks a lot of new options."
Fans shouldn't worry about the next Elder Scrolls game featuring complete support for the Kinect, as Bethesda doesn't want to force players to wave their hands in front of their TV in order to replicate the movements of their character.
"(Totally replacing the handheld controller) would be a whole other can of worms," Hines said. "Doing combat and swinging your sword and all that stuff without a controller would dramatically change the game. We're trying to enhance the experience as we designed it with some additional functionality."
The Kinect update for Skyrim will be out sometime next week for those with the English version of the game, while editions for the French, Italian, German, and Spanish versions are coming at a later time.