One PC gaming truism is that modders make magic, by altering the rules or looks of a vanilla game release into something shinier or more idiosyncratic. In the case of PC modder Xilver, the magic-making's literal.

A.K.A. Brian Rivers, Xilver made an insanely robust mod called Midas Magic: Spells of Aurum for Oblivion. It delivered more than 100 spells that let you conjure freeze rays, hail storms and creature summons to the game's Mages. Now, with the follow-up to Oblivion being a major PC phenomenon, Xilver's launching the spiritual sequel to Midas Magic for Skyrim, The trailer above shows of the formidable powers players will be able to wield with the mod for The Elder Scrolls V mod. You can grab Xilver's add-on here.

Skyrim Modding: Midas Magic by Xilver [BethBlog]

Some folks loved the latest Legend of Zelda game but weren't fond of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Others turned up their noses at Skyward Sword but embraced Bethesda's latest wholeheartedly. Somehow commenter Sloopydrew found himself disappointed with both games. In today's Speak Up on Kotaku we try to determine what sort of alien he is.

Am I the only one disappointed with both the most recent Elder Scrolls and recent Zelda game? I love both of those franchises and loved the last few games with a fanboy-like passion. But Skyward Sword and Skyrim — along with sharing a similar name — share the feeling of "sameness."

I just feel like I've played these games before and, when I did, they were better.

Every Elder Scrolls got better, for me, through Oblivion. Skyrim feels like a glitchy fetch quest with nothing new. Zelda got better for me through Windwaker. I still liked Twilight Princess, but Skyward Sword leaves me cold. Not to mention, popping in Windwaker after playing Skyward is startling, as Windwaker is clearly graphically superior, on top of being a better game.

Anyway, I didn't want to troll and I know I'm the odd man out on this, but I'm looking for anyone who agrees with me, just to validate that I'm not going crazy. I looked forward to both of these games, bought both on launch and have ended up finishing neither. I played some Skyrim last night and, as I have every time, shut it off about an hour in feeling bored and disappointed. I haven't even put Skyward Sword back on for at least a week. Probably more. I'm seriously doubting I'll even finish either of these games. Certainly startling, as I finished their predecessors more than once each.

You've already seen a man clone himself and play The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim on the violin.

Now, you're going to see a man clone himself and sing the game's iconic theme. The man here is Diwa de Leon.

Don't fret; there are hats and instruments, too, including, yes, violins! Well, a violin that's been cloned.

Skyrim Theme Remix by Diwa de Leon [YouTube]

Ever wonder how such a highly polished game as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim wound up with so many bugs and glitches? Dorkly has uncovered a completely fictional series of letters between Bethesda's Todd Howard and the lead developer that may explain the situation.

All it takes is one fussy lead programmer and a slightly grump project lead to turn an award-winning role-playing game into an award-winning role-playing game filled with humorous bugs and glitches. Just one simple internal memo sent on a bad day and everything goes spiraling out of control.

Luckily for Bethesda, no one cares if their games are full of bugs and glitches. Fake Todd should really just learn how to relax.

See what happens? Look what fake Todd made fake programmer do! Now everyone is bears. Hopefully this doesn't escalate any further.

Oh god.

Hit up the link for the full imaginary exchange. It seems completely crazy, but in an odd way it makes perfect sense.

Where Skyrim Bugs Come From [Dorkly]

While Portal 2 walked away with Kotaku's official game of the year award for 2011, Kotaku commenters held their own damn awards this year and they ended with a resounding chorus of "FUS ROH DAH".

Yes, this year a committee of readers that frequent our Speak Up forum decided to set up their own game of the year awards, naming them the Speakys in honor of their mutual gathering place. They developed a list of categories, nominated games, and determined the winners of each category, which you can see here.

From the winners of the individual categories a list of winners was formed, each eligible for the grand accolade: The 2011 Speaky Game of the Year Award.

Then there was a grand voting, and with more than twice the votes of its closest competitor (Kotaku's game of the year, Portal 2), The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim came out on top.

Congratulations, Skyrim! We hereby crown you the official game of talkative mobs everywhere for 2011.

Ask any fan of virtual idol Miku Hatsune. It should have a leek. The character, who always carries a leek, is huge in Japan, and Toyota is even using Miku to sell cars in the West.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is getting a whole host of character mods for its PC version. Previously, Kotaku showed the Final Fantasy XIII Lightning skin, the Spider-Man mod, and the Link one.

In the above video, watch as Miku unleashes a slow-motion kill. As previously mentioned, too bad she's not wielding a leek!

If you are interested in downloading the mod, go to this site. More details in the link below.

Hatsune miku Mod - Slow Motion Kills (Helgen Keep) [YouTube]

YouTube user Jason Yang cloned himself for one very special reason: to play beautiful Skyrim music to you. That's so nice!

And the Jason Yang clone orchestra doesn't only play the violin. There's some drumming, too. Clone drumming.

Skyrim Violin Cover [YouTube]

In today's memorable edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Eatplaysleepmore thinks he's found a major character flaw in Bethesda's latest masterpiece. Do you agree?

Just how forgettable are these characters?

I just finally finished Skyrim, kinda had to deal with some massive issues to finish it though (one of the unlucky PS3 copies). Story was ok, but here is my biggest realization, the characters in this "real living world" (as some Skyrim fans like to call it because they do jobs and stuff) are so non-existent.

I am trying to remember names of most of the people and I just can't. Ulfric Stormcloak and Alduin are the only ones I can remember, obviously because they play the biggest role in the story but that's really it.

Now I know a lot of people hated most (if not all) the characters from Final Fantasy XIII (hell I do too) but the names and faces stay with you. If someone came up to you and asked you a question about Lighting, her face would show up in your head and the way she dressed(maybe even her voice).

But if I were to ask, hey remember those siblings in the first town you run into? You would be like oh yeah, I forgot what they looked like and their names though.

Even with Dragon Quest 9, where you made your own silent character, I can recall 5+ names in there than I can with Skyrim.

I am just hoping Bethesda adds more "character" to these people, yeah I get that this is "my" story but can't I have some memorable interesting characters to interact with along the way?

Perhaps these Dr. Zoidberg modded Skyrim mudcrabs aren't as freaky as the contorted spider Spider-Men, but their screams of agony when you kill them are pretty spot on.

Also, thanks to XtremeScope we get to see the two doing battle. Someone really needs to do a full-on Futurama mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

There's no credit given forFancyPantz is the creator of this mod—which takes the giant spiders found in Bethesda's mega-hit action role-playing game and turns them in creepy multiples of Marvel Comics' flagship character—but I'm thinking the guy's last name in real life has to be Osborn.

You'd need to share the Green Goblin's insane obsession with Peter Parker's masked identity to cook up a tweak that mutates the already disturbing enemies and changing them to look like Spider-Man. And when the scrabbling abominations start running amok? That's probably just what the web-slinger's archenemy sees when he has nightmares. After watching this, I know that I, for one, will be having those same nightmares.

Look out here comes the Spiderman... in Skyrim [Reddit]