You sir are talking out of your hat
As a console player I can achieve any LV I want too, it just takes a little bit more time for me to do it ( ogham glitch ), and I can break the game just as easily as any PC player can.

ITT: Bunch of jealous elitist PC users.

Access to console is great, but chances are all the bugs they're hoping to find are going to be found simply by playing outside of the box, and by having a wide range of users.

Have some patience, you'll get to play the less-buggy version in a month. No need to whine about which has better testers.

It definatly has to do with the 1 month exclusivity. That being said if the people chosen do report bugs as expected I see nothing wrong with this. Tgen again I could be biased sunce I have skyrim on xbox.

You have mods and the 1.6 patch Beta. We get the Dawnguard Beta.

But not all PC players have the type of mod beta testing experience you have or have your expertise.

I'm a 360 user myself but, I have to admit that on the face of things, it would seem more logical for folks with expertise with the PC console and modding to be beta testers.

However, Bethesda must have their reasons for not going in this direction, or perhaps they plan to have PC beta testing on a by invitation only basis.

Guess we'll have to wait and see.

This is what I'm thinking, after a little bit of game play I tend to try and see just how far I can push the game before it has "none" of what I'm trying to do. Thanks to my inherent need to push my luck I now know just how much I can glitch the game to my favor before it starts to show bugs that weren't present before I started my glitch session, and I also know what glitches to avoid so as to not " break " my game.

Of course, there's also plenty of PC gamers who love to sign up for open or closed/lottery betas, just to "get to play the game early".

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Anyway.... no, I don't necessarily think that PC users would be the best beta testers for the XBox version of the DLC.

Or that PC users (in general) are any better / smarter / whatever than console users.

well, mainly because PC is the best way to play skyrim. this is an un-arguable FACT. I am a ps3 and xbox owner, and i can tell you with certainty that the graphics, and general gameplay BLOW compared to PC. Controls can be mapped to 360 controller for PC so thats not even an argument either. Really the ps3 version is the MOST gypped, as it doesnt have modability, and doesnt have any sort of new material until 30 days after 360 and 6 months after PC.

Fact or opinion?

What do you mean the PC version handles better then the Xbox? I've played both Xbox and the PC version and the only differences is the fact that PC has mods and that the textures are just a little bit better then the Xbox version.

I think it's an opinion. The only one that looks any different then the other is the PS3 version.

Personally I think it would be more logical for PC players to take part in the Beta as they have access to the console and other files.

To be honest I am sick of people saying, The PC has this, this, and this, therefore we deserve something. To me that seems incredibly petty. We all love the Elder Scrolls and our main priority should be ensuring the game is to the highest standard. No matter what format the Beta is on, there will be a large number of people that take part just to get the game early. There will be a small number however that will actually Beta test and they will be the people that ensure the game is acceptable at release. No matter what format the Beta is on, there will probably be fewer bugs when released.

What if you own Skyrim for PC AND 360?

see the silly dichotomy?

I don't think they want PC users to test it out of the fear that they'll copy the files and give it away to people. They also asked whether or not you use a USB storage device for the X360. Just my thought.

I'm actually surprised that a beta like this is coming to the xbox before the PC. But my guess is it is thanks to the 30 day exclusive deal with Microsoft.

I think it is just fine, they may want people to find glitches that are already kind of plaguing Skyrim. For example the "Do not Delete" boxes, going through walls, jumping over town walls, getting to shopkeeper's inventory chests, ect. All glitches that have been found by my friends and me (also many others) on consoles.


In that case people on xbox could just license transfer to people. There are also other ways for people to do it (all which would breach Microsoft's ToS.)
I am pretty certain its because the contract they have with Microsoft. If it weren't for that people would be writing threads about "Why does PC get Dawnguard beta and not 360/ps3."

Ha! Carrots my man. I agree that it can be possible, but using a glitch to achieve this has the potential to do more harm than good. I am not trying to downplay the console. I am still a console player too. I am just saying that a PC can obviously achieve more in less time than testing on a console.


I am sorry, but I am in no way, shape, fashion or form...anything close to being an expert.


I'd imagine there are many. Who wouldn't want to experience this early? However, I wouldn't label them all as one way or another, nor would I suggest that PC users are any better, smarter, or are more pleasing to the eye that any one else. That would be a rather asinine statement to make.

Yes... have a PC beta for a 360 version. Sounds.. smart.

Well, I've never played on the PC, so know nothing about using the PC version console, or what its capabilities are, or modding.

So in this respect, you're definitely more expert than me.

I agree with this. When I first saw the DawnGuard beta I thought it was for the pc.

That being said, consoles lessen the chance of wildly divergent files. Two pc players running the same patch can have a variety of hardware specs and mods while two xbox users running the same patch will have very little difference. Makes it easier to catch bugs that would be universial. At the same time it wouldn't get rid of bugs specific to the Ps3 or pc. Simply put I think this beta just gets them a head-start on testing and QA.

I wonder, why would it be better on tested on PC? I assume it is to do with the 30 days. Plus already had patch betas.

Let's put it this way. Testing the game is kind of what the console is for.

That's a very ballsy, contested claim, and even if you knew how to perfectly use the console, it doesn't mean that every single beta tester would, or that they would be able to diagnose wether something was caused by a bug in the DLC or their own improper console usage.
Again, wonderful that you're such a dilligent beta tester, but a pool of PC beta testers is bound to have a few with a modded setup (perhaps with mods that haven't been properly uninstalled).

In any case, every Xbox 360 is the same, so they are a good choice for testing bugs that aren't related to a specific type of machine. With something like Dawnguard, it might pay to leave all the PC-specific issues until later.

I hadn't even thought of that. Any old fool on the PC could copy the Dawnguard BSA and ESM and put it on dropbox.

Also, I'll add that I've signed up for the 1.4 and 1.6 patch betas because I wanted to play on them early, not because I had the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_y2xy7SAFE#t=2m8s.

I would think not because since xbox doesn't have the command console it will be testing on a even field for every game. Not just on something only one has. That and the pc version comes later so they may beta later.

Well first the DLC is coming out on Xbox first, and second not ALL PC players have experience with modifying and technical aspects of the game.

They've always had Beta Testers, They're trying a saturation approach now though. Considering Xbox360 is the primary developmental platform for the vanilla game, it makes sense to try optimization and fixes for what is considered the root, then extrapolating those fixes out to PC, and of course, ignoring PS3 fixes altogether as per their current trend.

Of course, I'm pretty sure even on the best day, 1,000,000 CoD pawns "Beta Testing" (Playing early and breaking NDA by [censored] their own Let's Play crap on Youtube) are no substitute for an actual QA Professional.

To answer the original question though, no, PC users wouldn't be better for Beta Testers. There's way too many variables that need to be isolated, and PC is the secondary platform for the game. Given the similar architecture of PC and Xbox360, the vast majority of bugs that happen exclusively on the PC are because of the uncountable possibilities in Hardware and software configurations.