Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim getting Kinect voice controls

Kinect-powered Dragon Shouts are officially coming to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The idea was originally whipped together during Bethesda's game jam week, but has been expanded to give voice control over everything from follower commands to quicksaves, and will be coming to Xbox 360 in a free title update later this month.

Skyrim will support over 200 Kinect voice commands in all. The full list is promised "in the coming weeks," but for now Bethesda's offering the following taster:

The Kinect for Xbox 360 integration offers Voice Commands throughout the game including Dragon Shouts, Hotkey Equipping, Follower Commands, and all Menus (Items, Magic, Map, Barter, Container, Favorites, and Skills). With Voice Commands, quickly create and load saves during gameplay and access menus and inventories. Skyrim's Kinect for Xbox 360 Support also adds new functionality including special map functions, additional hotkey options, and the ability to sort inventory items by name, weight, and value.

There's also a little tease of DLC, which is said "will add new quests, locations, features, and much more." Skyrim game director Todd Howard had hinted that some more of the game jam's ideas, which included goblins, spell combinations, and dragon mounts, could make it into DLC.

Here's a video introduction to the Kinect commands: