In today's 75 percent accurate edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter BattleMoose87 wonders if we aren't giving first-person shooter statistics more weight than they deserve. Are we?

Do statistics matter to you when playing online games? With the recent release of two shooter heavyweights in Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3, alongside their own respective stat tracking services, I feel there is too large an emphasis on stats dictating how we are viewed next to our fellow gamers.

For example, according to Battlelog I have an average accuracy of (gasp!) 5.7%. On its own that statistic is pretty shocking, but does it really reveal much about myself as a player? Am I someone who fires from the hip haphazardly, while my teammates thank the Lord (or admins) that team damage is off. Or am I someone who carefully suppresses the enemy so my team mates can advance and flank the enemy?

Upon playing MW3 this morning I suddenly had stats yet again making an appearance. Apparently, teamwork is less important than getting lucky and finishing off an enemy.

I can disregard stats when they are neatly tucked away somewhere, but when they are dragged kicking and screaming to the forefront of the multiplayer experience they make me sick.

As the phrase goes: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Waze isn't a game, not really, but I can't help using it like one.

My wife gets viciously car sick when I drive, maybe because of how I drive. So she does a lot of the driving in our family, which leaves me with a lot of time to help her navigate and play games on my iPhone. Waze lets me do both.

The basic premise of Waze is crowd-sourced navigation. The guts of the software provides GPS-enabled mapping shown to you in sharp, 3D graphics. The real genius of the system though is that it learns from the way you and others drive. It looks at how you get from point a to point b and how others get there and sees how long it takes and eventually decides which is the best route and tells you.

It also lets you report from your phone on the fly. See a cop, a crash, a traffic jam, you can tap on your phone and turn it into a icon on the map that everyone can see. You can include details and even images. The best part? It rewards you with points that you can use to level up your little car. The car is shown not just on your map, but everyone's if you have the option turned on. That means other Waze users can see you stuck in traffic three cars back, or zipping by them on the highway. And they can see how cool your car is.

The game also adds bonus items that it drops on the real road along or near your real route. Grabbing up these items (think the cherries in Pac-Man) is as simple as driving over them. All of these earned points add to your score, which not only give you more customization options but also powers the metamorphosis of your car. You move from a pacifier-sucking baby car to a shield-wielding car to, eventually, a crowned king car.

The app does warn drivers not to use the reporting service unless they are in the passenger seat and even gets you to tap a button saying that's where you are before you can report issues. I'm sure that will stop people from driving and reporting...

The game-like mechanics of Waze are great, but they don't get in the way of the incredible usefulness of the app. I happened to be using it on our drive home from JFK Airport late last month when a mammoth snow storm hit the area. The free app started pinging away, telling me about standing water, slow-downs, car crashes.

At one point an alert told me that a car a half mile ahead of us had been hit be a tree... on the interstate. I read it out loud to my wife and laughed it off. Half a mile later we had to move over to avoid the tree lying across half of the interstate. Waze is an amazing app, a blend of gaming, crowd-sourcing and navigation that makes it a pleasure to use and play with.

Waze GPS & Traffic - Social, Fun! [iTunes]

Gather round, boys and girls, and I'll tell you the heroic tale of the Dragonborn, the legendary Wood Elf, Redguard, or possibly Khajiit man or maybe woman...I suppose we'd better clear up the particulars before moving into the main story. Let's make us a hero!

A warning for those trying to avoid Skyrim coverage today: Get the hell off the internet; it's not safe!

I've done my best to gloss over the pertinent plot points in this character creation video, but it's still a video, and you will see things that you can't unsee, and likely hear things that you can't unhear. You have been duly warned.

Creating a character in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim for the Xbox 360 proved a challenge. It's not that the process was difficult or overwhelming; it's as shallow or deep as you want it to be. You could spend a good hour tweaking bone structures, or just grab a pre-made and head for the hills.

No, the difficulty rested in the fact that I wanted to play the game and not sit about showing you folks how to space eyeballs or upturn noses. The ability to do so is there, but you can explore that on your own.

I'm just here to make the Dragonborn pretty, and I think I've succeeded, for the glory of Skrim!

Good day Kotaku! Are you managing to hang in there amidst anticipation for Skyrim? I can barely contain my excitement, personally, and the release is less than a day away!

If you're not interested in Skyrim, of course, there are plenty of huge games out there still. Tell us below what you are still planning to purchase and talk amongst yourselves!

I would like to again thank Pan1da7 for today's TAYpic! The release of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker in HD may be getting lost in the shuffle of the big games, but this drags it into the limelight!

Take a crack at being featured atop TAY some time this month simply by making a hilarious Photoshop or some other manipulation of the month's image. Pull a clean version from this thread. Make sure your image is 16x9 and funny. That will improve the odds of your image getting picked. Submit the image to the #TAYpics thread. Good luck!

Yes, yes: you're already pretending you're the Dark Knight in probable Game of the Year candidate Batman: Arkham City. But what if you've been waiting to pretend to pretend you're one of Batman's crew of crimefighters? You'll finally get your chance when Warner Bros. releases Gotham City Impostors—the downloadable first-person shooter Kotaku previewed here—in January of next year. There'll be a beta launching next month that will let you build a member of the Bats or Jokerz factions and test drive a homebrew avenger of the night or crime clown. A sign-up site for the beta is live now.

Beta Sign-Up [Gotham City Impostors]

We're still a few months away from the release of the Moogle-riffic sequel to Final Fantasy XIII, but that ain't stopping Square Enix from tantalizing fans with a beefy Collectors Edition. Plunking down the extra $20 dollars gets you a fancy sleeve illustrated by the legendary Yoshitaka Amano, along with a high-end concept art book and a four-disc official soundtrack set.

Of course, there's pre-order incentives that vary depending on where you reserve the game. Do it at GameStop, you'll get an alternate costume for Serah. An Amazon pre-order gets you an exclusive boss battle against an enemy baddie called "Omega," who can joins your party later. Plunk down your cash at Best Buy and get the hardcover Final Fantasy XIII – Episode I novella, which bridges together the stories of XIII and XIII-2. Anyone interested in picking any of these up should note that they're exclusive to North America. Because Japan's probably getting something cooler.

What happens when bad-asses get old? They look back into history at the fates of other, long-dead badasses. Watch the latest trailer for the finale of Ezio Auditore's saga and see how UbiSoft plans on making the gray-bearded assassin go out with a bang.

On Duty | LAS VEGAS, NV: Two ten year-olds hold their new limited edition Xbox 360 bundles. (Photo: Ethan Miller | Getty)

Should You Buy The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim? Yes.

Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls series has been catering to gamers' open-world fantasy fantasies since 1994, each new title dragging players deeper into the world of Nirn and its thick and hearty fiction. More »

Report: Inevitable Battlefield 4 Mentioned by...EA's President

You didn't think EA would stop at Battlefield 3, did you? Apparently during a keynote at the University of Southern California, Electronic Arts president Frank Gibeau said, "There is going to be a Battlefield 4."
So we can take that as official confirmation? More »

Hollywood's Skyrim Party. This Is It

Last night in Los Angeles, Bethesda threw a superstar shindig for its superstar game-The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
In attendance were an array of celebs: More »

Need New Wallpaper? Check Out These Amazing Video Game Screenshots

Dead End Thrills, a great site for your downtime/wallpaper needs, is a bit of a favourite of mine. And for good reason.
They take screenshots very seriously, turning them from promotional tool or keepsake into art. More »

This Skyrim Concept Art Isn't Afraid to Fight Dragons

I know, we ran one of these only a few weeks ago, but that was but a taste. An appetiser for the main course that is today's bumper serving of Elder Scrolls V: More »

Get a Wii for Under $100 at Walmart on Black Friday

Walmart is sending out mailings to customers, letting them know what Black Friday deals are in their area. While Kotaku hasn't seen the ads for everywhere, it has seen the one Atlanta. More »

Jay Leno Is a Troll. Blows Up Letterman's Studio in Modern Warfare 3

Thought Leno's jokes during the late night wars were bad? With Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, they just got worse.
On tonight's Tonight Show, Leno mentioned how big Modern Warfare 3 was. More »

Skyrim Will Have Infinite Randomly Generated Content. But Will It Ever Feel as Real as Minecraft?

Speaking to Wired in a new interview segment published today, Skyrim director Todd Howard revealed that the game will feature randomly generated quests created by its Artificial Intelligence "director," known as Radiant Story. More »

Arcade Improv: Humans Pretending to Be Videogames

At the PAX East conference last year, a young man approached the microphone during the Q&A with Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins, creators of the popular Penny Arcade webcomic.
Instead of asking a question, he bellowed, "Welcome to ACTION CASTLE! More »

Simpsons! Simpsons Arcade Here! Who's Ready?!

A listing with Australia's Classification Board says The Simpsons, the fondly remembered arcade beat-em-up, is coming soon to modern platforms.
The certificate says that Backbone Entertainment, linked to SEGA ports, is handling the game, to be published by Konami. More »

Last night in Los Angeles, Bethesda threw a superstar shindig for its superstar game—The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

In attendance were an array of celebs: Lynda Carter of Wonder Woman fame, Tiffani Thiessen, David Arquette, and Christina Aguilera as well as famous people I've never heard of.

Xbox 360 demo kiosks were on hand at the Belasco Theatre, where Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction also performed.

The gallery above provides a rundown of the evening, from the red carpet to the Belasco stage, and (almost) everything in between.

Never mind how how many of these folks have actually heard of The Elder Scrolls before last night, that's not the point. This is Hollywood, and that is the point.

Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls series has been catering to gamers' open-world fantasy fantasies since 1994, each new title dragging players deeper into the world of Nirn and its thick and hearty fiction.

Now the fifth age of The Elder Scrolls is dawning, and Tamriel's need for heroes has never been greater. Should you heed the call?

Mike Fahey, who literally peed himself the first time he played The Elder Scrolls: Arena: Sing with me, my friends! Dovahkiin Dovahkiin / Naal ok zin los vahriin / wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal! Memorize this dragon tongue chant; it's the soundtrack for the next few months of your lives. It's what greets you when you first load The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, music building from a low rumble to a powerful shout that shakes the spirit in the moments between spinning up the game and pressing start. No matter how long it's been since you set foot on the continent of Tamriel, that music brings it all rushing back.

The song stays with you, becoming your heartbeat as you wander the mountains and valleys of this latest virtual landscape. Even when you manage to drag yourself away from the screen it persists, popping up at the strangest moments, calling on you, the hero from another world, to don the mantle of hero once more.

So I choose to spend the majority of my time chasing elk across the countryside, searching for interesting bits of scenery to jump off of, and attempting to climb up the sheer sides of Skyrim's tallest mountains simply because they're there. My coming was foretold, surely they mentioned my odd habits somewhere in the prophecy. When the legendary hero is needed I'll be there, with axe and fire and a voice so powerful as to send shudders up and down the spine of the world.

I'll leave the technical points to Mr. Hamilton. He speaks the truth, and I'd rather not leave this cozy cocoon of fantasy the game has woven around me; at least not until next week's review. You'll see what I mean once the music begins to play. Dovahkiin fah hin kogaan mu draal! Yes.