It's an absurd problem. Anyone defending Bethesda right now can stop, you don't understand the situation. The game is UNPLAYABLE on a SDTV, as half the screen is chopped off. Nowhere does it say that a HDTV is required to play the game and Bethesda has no plans to fix the problem.

I honestly will never buy another Bethesda game again. Coming from someone who has been playing Bethesda games for nearly a decade, that's saying a lot.

Honestly this is kind of ridiculous. I completely understand your frustrations however-
Bethesda is running a business. The Xbox 360 and ps3 were designed with high def graphics in mind....in fact one might say that is the entire purpose and drive behind creating new consoles. No offense, but your living in the stone age. It's like complaining that blu-rays look like chap on a standard def tv. Of course it does. It wasn't designed for that. Or complaining that the new twilight movie isn't on vhs. Sorry to say friend, this is how technology had worked for a long time. Sdtvs are about as rare as a record player these days.

Like the op says himself. There are probably thousands of people who don't own hdtvs. However what you failed to point out is that there are millions of people who have hdtvs.

Actually Copey, you are incorrect. It is your responsibility when purchasing a game to make sure you meet the system requirements to run it. On both the PS3 and the Xbox 360 games, it clearly states on the back that the game is HDTV, and the lowest compatible resolution is 720p. So right there it tells you that this game was meant for HD television sets and nothing less.......

Well it should be someone's responsibility to make things consistent then. You know how many of my games have that same label stating "HDTV 720p/1080i/1080p"? All of them. Want to know how many of them have unreadable text besides Skyrim? 1 of them. How many have a screen that doesn't fit and isn't adjustable? ZERO. By the way, I don't know about anyone else but my TV is about the same age as the Xbox360. It's not like I'm operating on a TV from 1993 or something. Sorry if it's too much for me to expect the TV I bought at around the same time the console came out, to display the games properly.

I can almost look past the borderline undreadable text, but the fact the the screen is cut off with no way to adjust it ingame is unacceptable. I have seen no other game, even ones with the small text in SD problem, that suffer from that.

I love this game, I'm still playing it despite these issues and have a VGA cable on the way to play it on my monitor to fix the problem. But it disgusts me that all these arrogant and condescending people feel the need to respond to the SDTV complaints telling people to get with the times, or claiming that it's some horrendous insult to not play the game in HD. The game looks amazing and gorgeous to me on my SDTV, other than the text and cut-off issue. I don't need an HDTV to appreciate the game.

Money isn't even my main issue with this situation. It's the principle of the thing, that I shouldn't have to buy a new TV when the one I have works fine. The console works on my TV and has a non-HD setting. I expect the games I buy for it to not have part of the screen cut off on my TV. Your TV should not be part of the requirement to play a console game. The only requirement to play the game should be having the console, that's the whole point. If it works on your TV the games should work properly.

Not to be rude but thats not saying a lot. You are one customer and one less purchase isn't going to make a difference in their profits. Also, the game is not unplayable on an SDTV. I have an SDTV and I have seen other users around the forums state that they have an SDTV and can play fine without anything being cut off. The problem is the minority of gamers whose specific SDTV cuts off parts of the game.


By the way you wrote this you are just trying to blame someone else for your decision to buy the game without making sure you had the correct system requirements. Just because you got lucky with other games (more than likely made by other companies) when playing on your TV doesn't mean that all games are going to be consistent. It is your responsibility to find out if you have the capabilities to play the game and nobody else's.

My TV is not a part of the Xbox 360, and therefore should not be a part of the requirements to play the games on it. And FYI, one of these other games that display perfectly on my TV, with no cut-offs and I can clearly and easily read 100% of the text. Fallout 3, a Bethesda game. Either Microsoft should have made an HDTV a requirement for the Xbox 360, or game developers should have the common courtesy to make their games display properly on the non-HD setting for the Xbox 360 on a non-HD TV. Do they have to do that? No, they don't and I don't expect a lot of them to. Judging by Bethesda's games in recent years and the fact that I thought they cared for their fans. Did I hope Skyrim would display properly on my TV with readable text? Yes, I did, foolishly it seems. I will deal with it and enjoy the game, but I stand by people's right to complain about it. Personally, I won't be buying another Bethesda product new, or at all if I can borrow it from a friend. I don't care if it accomplishes nothing as I am one person, it will make me feel better.

This is what gets to me. Bethesda is in no way obligated to make their games perform well on a non-HD TV. Especially considering the fact, one that was already stated in this thread, is that the Xbox 360 was designed with HD graphics in mind. Bethesda is a company and will make create their games to appease the majority of gamers. While there are many people on these forums complaining about the game, especially the SDTV problem, they are in fact the minority of gamers, not the majority.

I personally received Skyrim as a gift. Unfortunately I only own an SD television and am currently unemployed, so I can't buy an HDTV right now even if I wanted to. Even if I got a job tomorrow I shouldn't be spending that kind of money or even saving up for one, I have bills to pay. It just would have been nice to have something to keep my mind off things while I wait to get calls for interviews ever day. Except I can't even do that, because I can't read the text or see anything on the right or left sides of the screen. So because of this news (that it wont be fixed) I'm tempted to ask to get the receipt from my friend, so I can get the extra cash instead.

This whole situation makes me wonder how many people will be affected by this during the upcoming holiday season? I mean how many people are actually going to take the time to research if this game will work on a loved ones TV? Obviously the friend who bought me the game and I never thought to check for compatibility, since it's never been a problem in the past on the 360. I also wouldn't expect a friend to buy an HDTV just because I bought them a game that only works properly on one. Anyway, I agree that people should get with the times, but we should have also been warned that this kind of thing was even possible.

They can make the game with HD in mind and to appease the majority. While still having the game display properly in SD, as far as everything fitting the screen and being able to read everything. There are loads of games out there that are proof. And companies willing to do it. There were posts on the Gearbox forums before Borderlands was released, voicing concerns about how the game would display on an SD TV. And there was a response from Gearbox stating they were making sure the game would display properly on almost any TV imaginable, and it did. That is the kind of courtesy I'm talking about.

Before this Bethesda and Gearbox were right up there next to each other, as far as the respect I have for them as a company. Now Bethesda has fallen quite a ways down. I'm not trying to take away from the greatness of Skyrim. The game is great. This is just my opinion on the whole HD vs SD arguement.

I see your point with the courtesy argument. Though I still believe they aren't obligated to, a patch to fix the SD issue would be nice. Also, one of my points still stand, that the issue at hand does not affect everyone with an SDTV, only some. Whether its a lucky few or the majority is unknown.

And before anyone walks away in disgust at Bethesda, please remember that this was a forum user who posted the e-mail on the board. For some that might be enough to just accept but I won't believe it until the company makes an official statement regarding the SDTV problem.

Also, Forlani, please make posts relevant to thee topic. Posts like this are unnecessary and uncalled for.

Buying a new TV isn't a simple solution. That involves people having to spend at least three times the amount they spent on the game just to play the game. Before 6 months ago I had a 13 inch SDTV from 1998 that I played all my videogames on, including the Borderlands game and it worked fine. Heck, even the TV I have now is SDTV, its just a bigger screen. Just because you have the money to purchase an HDTV doesn't mean everyone else does. And calling other users names is nowhere near a productive post.

Is it just me or does anyone else think the general grammar and sentence structure of the op's "official response" seem rather suspect for someone who would be replying to tech support questions for a company as large as Bethesda( I also seriously doubt a customer service rep would say "It is a great game") ? And by changing your 360's format to widescreen will make the entire screen fit on essentially any SDTV regardless of TV size. I personally have tried this on 4 TVs(3 of mine, 1 belonging to my mother-in-law). These TVs were sizes ranging from 35" down to 19". Yes that is right, on a 19" SDTV circa 1991 I could see the entire game screen simply be changing my 360's format to widescreen. That was a drastic change from missing almost a full 1/4" on each side of the screen.

I also changed my format to widescreen. It looks way better, but unfortunately everything outside the game does not.

Honestly, if you own an HD TV set & are able to play Skyrim on it whenever you want then this issue has nothing to do with you & your "buy an HDTV, they're cheap" comments are useless, smug, arrogant & unwanted. For many people Skyrim is either a gift or one of the only games they'll buy this year & have been saving for months just to be able to afford it. You have a few hundred dollars to blow on a new HDTV? Well woopdy-fricken-doo for you. There are plenty of us who can't afford one & instead of calling Bethesda out for what they've done, the fact that you muppets instead have the audacity to tell people to svck it up & spend money they don't have on a TV they shouldn't have to buy if Bethesda had of done the most basic compatibility testing shows how sickeningly out of touch you clowns are with how much people are struggling to make ends meet these days let alone afford luxuries like new TV's just to play computer games. Keep your worthless empty opinions to yourselves & go back to your (or most likely your parents) HDTV because anyone with half a brain & a shred of respect who has to earn a living & pay their own bills wouldn't think of coming in here to insult those who are financially struggling & justifiably pissed that Bethesda have refused to support TV's that millions of struggling people & families have no choice but to keep using.

Thank you.

I am lucky enough to own a small 19" HDTV i got mine from tesco's and it only cost a 130 pounds, i feel bad for people with SDTV's and feel that bethesda could have at least made the effort to warn people that this would be an issue, i can imagine a lot of people here in blighty will be very vexxed about this as a hell of a lot of people still game on SDTV's, it saddens me to see all of the comments on here that show a complete lack of empathy with the people suffering this problem, a lot of people like myself have been looking foreward to this game for a very, very long time and it must be really gutting not to be able to enjoy the game or maybe not even play the game at all because of this issueand not everyone can afford a HDTV especially as times are really hard right now, there really is no excuse, practically every other game that runs in 1280x720 looks fine on an SDTV , i am sure it would not be THAT hard for bethesda to include a patch that makes the text bigger, how hard can it be to change the FONT size.

I don't understand why people with HD televisions are posting here, they seem to have even less understanding of the issue than Bethesda.

honestly i think they are going to lose a LOT of sales they could have had due to this. a huge percentage of the population still have SDTVs that they play their games on. for many people, they do own an HDTV, but it is in the family room where it needs to be shared with several other people, you can't just hog it all day to play skyrim. and if you want to play a game for long periods of time you have go into your own private room where you often still play on a SDTV. for me, i have an SDTV i got for xmas like ten years ago. i have turned it on maybe 5 times this whole year. and i am not spending hundreds of dollars to buy something i dont want or need, just so that i can play skyrim. so i am returning my copy of the game tomorrow and getting my money back. i was a huge fan of morrowind and oblivion and i put thousands of hours into those games, i thought incredibly highly of bethesda, but now i think very lowly of them. they are too lazy to even bother tweaking their game a bit so that it is playable on everybody's tv, not just the prettiest tv.

And in the RPG world most notably before Skyrim, it was ME and most predominantly ME2. Fable 3 I think has this as an "issue" but I might be wrong. And there are more.

Can I also say to the OP that on the back of the Skyrim box it clearly says a HDTV is needed to play.

By the way, I think the cutoff issue is not just due to it being an SDTV but that problem is related to it not also being widescreen - might be wrong. Have you checked your xbox settings to make sure it is set to 4:3? I think from memory it is possible to adjust this.

I am sorry, but this is modern console gaming. If you want to be sure a game will run on your SDTV well, it would be wise to check the back of the box or alternatively buy a Wii.

it is a shame that this issue is not going to be addressed or patched..at least if we are to go by what the op has stated..I guess time will tell.
I am also one of those suffering stuck playing on an sdtv..I used to own a very nice pioneer plasma...regarded as one of the best,so I know what it feels like to be on both sides of the spectrum here,times change,our economy is in the gutter.

I had to sell my hdtv because of the lack of funds and it did kill me to do so...my issue is I have never experienced this kind of problem EVER in another supposed "next gen" game...none. yes..small,almost illegible text but never an issue with the aspect ratio as it is in skyrim.

I will say it again like I've previously advised in regards to possibly alleviating some of the screen issues and that is changing your xbox/ps3's screen setting to widescreen.i can only speak for the xbox and my sdtv but it does help but the picture is still distorted...the text becomes a little easier to read but it kinda 'cramps' the view and things appear narrow and still missing about an 1 1/2 " of the top with the compass not only around 80-90% visible.

I am actually sincerely surprised bethesda allowed this to happen or worse yet....not even consider patching it.

Those who do not know what it is like to be struggling in the times we are living in are extremely fortunate...not all but to those in this thread and to those on the other sdtv threads with all of their arrogant & inconsiderate remarks is pathetic and you should be ashamed of yourselves...hope that one day you never find yourself in someone Else's struggling position or financial predicament ,having to make cuts,sacrifices and going without some of life's luxuries

Hear hear.

Thank you for screwing over your customers, Bethesda.

I will be telling EVERYONE I know that Skyrim is a horrible game. I'll tell them it's full of glitches and basically unplayable.
I am never going to buy a bethesda game on release day ever again.

I am so upset.

You made a broken game, and now you're not even going to fix it.

Thanks for taking my money, jerks.

On the back of the box it states the game runs in 720p / 1080i / and 1080p

So when it doesnt work on your old SDTV, you blame them?

Where is responsibility these days

There's way too much swiping-at-each-other in this thread to allow it to continue.

Yes, a lot of games are designed for HD TVs. Yes, times are hard. Yes, some people prioritise differently than others, and have a relatively expensive television set while struggling to pay other bills, or maybe they just got it really cheap in a sale. Yes, they might be bewildered that other people didn't make the same choice, and yes people who chose differently might feel envious and resentful of those who have more modern technology, not to mention feeling like they're being bullied into buying expensive new gadgets just to play some game.

However, we have standards of courtesy on these forums that we expect members to adhere to. Those standards are not being met.

For the umpteenth time this morning, I am disappointed with some of the members here.