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Wolfenstein 3D is one of those video games that most folks, even those that don't regularly play games, have some semblance of knowledge about. People tend to think of Doom as an early first-person shooter, but Wolfenstein 3D predates it by a year. They haven't really let the series die out, either. The last real entry, Wolfenstein from Raven Software, came out in 2009, but now Bethesda Softworks has announced Wolfenstein: The New Order. Lovely.

We've seen a lot about Arkane Studio's Dishonored that has us itching to play it this October; but we never could have guessed at the announcement Bethesda Softworks made about the game this morning. Both Oscar-winner Susan Sarandon and two-time Emmy-nominee Carrie Fisher will be lending their vocal talent to their very first characters in a video game. The rest of the voice cast Bethesda announced is nothing to shake a stick at either, with more than a few familiar faces from movies and TV. But is it really best for a game that relies so much on atmosphere and mystery to bring in voice talent we can immediately place? Make the jump for the full list followed by our take on the situation!

The fate of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise has been up in the air since earlier this year. After reports in 2011 that development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was still happening, GSC Game World closed earlier this year with the original team forming Vostok Games and starting over. Even after this, there were reports that the developer was actually still open, but looking for a new development team. Now, according to Ukranian blogger Sergey Galyonkin, GSC Game World's owner -- Sergei Grigorovich -- has sold the rights to Bethesda Softworks.

As if there weren't already enough slavering fans of Skyrim and all things related to it, Bethesda Softworks has now revealed via their company blog that folks can apply to be in the beta for the much-anticipated Dawnguard DLC. There's just one catch: The application is only for the Xbox 360 version of the game. Cue the disappointment for everyone on the PlayStation 3 and the rejoicing for those who have it on Xbox 360.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is releasing on November 11 of this year. November and December (and if we're being honest, the following year) are going to be very isolated, rough months. We'll all lose some weight though, at least, since we'll be forgetting to eat. Head on past the break to see a much prettier, high-def version of the trailer.

Last Friday, The Elder Scrolls creators Bethesda took it upon themselves, in a serious act of public service, to let us all know that if we wanted to birth a child on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's release date--11/11/11--that was the best day to get on that (ha). Bethesda wasn't satisfied with simply putting this information out there, so they turned it into a quest--IRL--with an unknown reward being offered to anyone who could successfully birth a child on the designated date, then name it "Dovahkiin," which translates to "Dragonborn." They also provided this hilarious disclaimer:

According to Eurogamer Denmark, Bethesda is hard at work developing The Elder Scrolls V, which is said to be a direct sequel to the 2006 RPG masterpiece, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Eurogamer asked the author of the Eurogamer Denmark article, Kristian West, to translate the article:

This source not only confirmed that the game is in current production, but also spoke briefly about the content - with fantasy-sounding phrases like Dragon Lord, something with The Blades - and that voice acting for the characters in the game is currently happening in the weeks to follow. The same source confirmed, with official game documents in hand, that this will be the chronological sequel to what happened in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which is the latest game in the now 16-years-old Elder Scrolls saga and by itself one of the better RPGs for PC and consoles. The sequel to Oblivion is coming, we can hereby confirm without hesitation. It's been a while since 2006, hasn't it?