Bethesda ‘Game Jam’ results in a better, odder Skyrim

Bethesda Game Studios’ Todd Howard opened the 2012 D.I.C.E. Summit with his talk, titled “Why We Play, Why We Create.” During the keynote, he revealed a startling figure: the average play time for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on Steam is 75 hours.

I didn’t catch the entire talk, but there was one part everyone is rightly excited about. After completing Skyrim, the team was allowed a week to work on whatever they wanted and put it in the game. The results are terrific, ranging from a Skeletal Butler to Kinect-enabled shouts to a giant mud crab.

Even if some of this content doesn’t go public directly from Bethesda, surely the community will be there to take on the job. More colossal enemies, please.

Bethesda reveals Skyrim dragon mounts, house-building, Kinect shouts, and more! [GamesBeat]
DICE 2012: Skyrim PC players average 75 hours in game; Designer Todd Howard explains why [Shacknews]