The big news this week from Bethesda Game Studios was the release of the first trailer for Dawnguard, the upcoming expansion for Skyrim. True to Bethesda form, the trailer gives away very little, but it seems to suggest that Dawnguard will bring crossbows, new locations, more powerful magic, and (yes!) a much bigger role for vampires to Skyrim.

Other Skyrim-related news this week includes this amusing Trials Evolution track that someone built, this…I don’t know what, and this really quite excellent cosplay.

On the Dishonored front…well, Arkane Studios’ upcoming game continues to look just bloody awesome, as evidenced by the content they’ve been posting to the game’s official Tumblr page.

And of course, the gaming media continues to buzz and hum with news about The Elder Scrolls Online. PC Gamer sat down with gameplay designer Nick Konkle to talk about the game’s combat system, and with Matt Firor to talk about how previous Elder Scrolls games have influenced The Elder Scrolls Online’s design. Firor also sat down with EDGE magazine to talk about the game’s origins and goals, and Konkle talked about the game’s combat with GameInformer as well.

Oh, and PC Gamer also scored a fairly lengthy, in-depth interview with Konkle, Maria Aliprando, and Brian Wheeler, concerning the gameplay and PvP design of the game.

And guess what? The Elder Scrolls Online won’t be using the Hero Engine as its middleware. Zenimax Online did use that engine (which also powers Star Wars: The Old Republic) for some prototyping, but have since moved to what is evidently a custom-built engine. Hopefully, with the shift to a custom engine, Zenimax Online can deliver on the claim that The Elder Scrolls Online will vastly improve the MMO experience and allow players to focus on the gameworld more than on their stat displays.

EDGE magazine also published a short analysis of how quests for The Elder Scrolls Online are designed, and PC Gamer published a “what we know/don’t know” article concerning the game’s dungeons. Finally, GameInformer published a gallery of the game’s “stylized” art, which…yeah, does look pretty awesome.