Skyrim Dawnguard goes live on Xbox 360 with official launch trailer

The English version of Dawnguard, the first expansion for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, is now live on Xbox 360.

The game add-on, which adds the ability to become a vampire or wield a crossbow to name a few enhancements, can be downloaded from Xbox LIVE for 1600 Microsoft Points.

Up until now we only had a small idea of what Skyrim Dawnguard will be about, but thanks to an official trailer released today to coincide with the launch, we now know for sure that players will have the ability to join Harkon's vampire uprising or align themselves with the vampire hunters, Dawnguard. According to leaked story details Harkon, the vampire lord, is trying to use the Elder Scroll to blot out the sun.

Joining the vampires will allegedly reward you with new powers like the Vampiric Grip, which suspends enemies in the air while draining their health (sounds a bit like a Star Wars force ability). You can also turn into a cloud of bats.

Joining Dawnguard has some perks as well, including the use of new weapons like the crossbow. These can stagger targets and are always ready to fire, but they do take much longer than the standard bow to reload. You can also hire armored trolls as followers.

For 1600 Microsoft Points, you can unlock this new story that will take about "10 and 20 hours to beat".

"It's about as long as a faction line" Skyrim lead artist Matt Carofano said. “We wanted to do something more in depth than that. It’s not as big as Shivering Isles, but there’s still a lot of content there.”

Unfortunately, the French, Italian German, and Spanish versions of Dawnguard won't arrive until mid-July, according to Bethesda. We have yet to hear when the expansion will arrive on PS3 and PC.

With Dawnguard now live, the choice is yours. Will you join the vampires or the hunters?