Sledgehammer Games co-founder Michael Condrey says a Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare patch is on the way that will implement changes to weapon balance, fix max exploits, and make a number of other optimizations and updates.

The word comes from Condrey's Twitter feed, where he recently wrote, "#AdvancedWarfare TU @X1/PS4 +PC Stay tuned for notes incl weapon balancing, ranked play updates, map exploits & spawn fixes, optimizations +". It's a bit squished, but such is life when you're working with a 140 character limit. Condrey explained in a later tweet that the update is expected before the weekend—that would be the one beginning on December 6.

This will be the second Advanced Warfare update to come out; the first arrived a few weeks ago and focused on more fundamental technical issues, including problems with connectivity and Prestige. Sledgehammer also recently confirmed that the first DLC bundle for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, entitled Havoc, will include zombies in power armor.

Microsoft will detail the consumer features of Windows 10 at an event in January, according to The Verge. The event isn't official yet, but Verge reporter Tom Warren has a strong track record of reliable Microsoft news.

While we got our first glimpse at Microsoft's followup to Windows 8 earlier this year, the January event—a separate press event from the company's appearance at CES earlier in the month—should shed much more light on the actual features of the new OS.

What we know already is that Windows 10 will feature a user experience with a more traditional desktop/taskbar/Start menu layout similar to Windows 7, but beyond that, it looks a whole lot like Windows 8. But beyond that, not much. It's designed to run across multiple devices, including PCs, tablets, phones, and the Xbox One. Another big feature to discuss is the company's new touch interface, currently dubbed 'Continuum,' which was designed with devices like Surface Pro 3 in mind.

But beyond those few kernels, we don't know much about Windows 10. The January event (which we expect to have more details about in the coming month) should change that.

My favorite Batmobile is the one that appeared in the mid-40s, with the giant Bat-face on the grill and a huge, sweeping Bat-fin poking out the back. From a practical perspective, however, I am forced to admit that the machine he's driving in the new Batman: Arkham Knight trailer has the edge.

Maybe I'm imagining things, but I have this oddly persistent recollection that Batman, in his early days, swore that he would never use a gun. Yes, I know that he's used guns many times over the years, and he's killed several people with his bare hands, too. Even so, a Batmobile armed with a minigun, a 20mm Oerlikon cannon, and a multiple independently-targeted rocket launcher strike me as a bit non-Batman-ish.

Then again, I also think that it's not a proper Batman fight unless it's interspersed with brightly-colored "BAM" and "POW" placards, and I have to admit that this does look like a lot of fun. Time behind the wheel of a vehicle that drives like a Ferrari and hits like an Abrams is time well spent no matter how you look at it.

This is, you will no doubt notice, part two of the Ace Chemicals "Infiltration" set; catch part one here. Sam also played the game way back at E3 this year. Batman: Arkham Knight comes out on June 2, 2015.

ASUS has announced the GeForce GTX 970 DirectCU Mini—a miniature version of the powerful GTX 970 "Maxwell" card perfect for small, mini-ITX gaming systems.

The diminutive card measures only 17cm in length but packs the same amount of VRAM as a full GeForce GTX 970 GPU with 4GB of GDDR5. It comes with a factory overclock running at 1088 MHz and can be boosted up to 1228 MHz. Memory speed remains at the stock 7 GHz.

Despite its small size, the card features a full suite of display outputs: two dual-link DVI connectors, HDMI 2.0, and DisplayPort 1.2. As for power, the card uses a single 8-pin PCIe power connector instead of the standard dual 6-pin config.

Gigabyte recently released a similar miniaturized GTX 970, but it clocked in at a slightly lesser 1076 MHz (1216 MHz boosted). Both the ASUS and Gigabyte mini-ITX cards are clocked slightly higher than Nivida's reference full-size GTX 970, but due to their smaller size, they won't have quite the same overclocking and cooling potential.

Pricing and availability for the new ASUS card isn't out yet, but considering its similarity to Gigabyte's mini-ITX GTX 970, we expect something in the $330 area.

Telltale's take on Game of Thrones arrives tomorrow, but the launch trailer is here today. It's dark, gloomy, violent, and carries a singular message: This is not a good time to be a Forrester.

True fact: When you declare that you are unwaveringly loyal to the crown, and the royal representative asks, "Are you?" it's time to start looking for the door. A "long and sordid history" with the bannermen of House Bolton doesn't help smooth those waters, but such is life when you're a Forrester.

It all adds up to compelling drama on television, though, and hopefully in adventure games as well. We'll find out soon enough: Our review of Iron From Ice, the first episode of Telltale's six-part Game of Thrones adventure, goes up late tonight (Pacific time, so morning in the UK).

It s no longer the Friday after Thanksgiving, but the holiday deals are still going strong. Cyber Monday continues the sales frenzy for one last day, which means there are some great prices on great PC components out there.

It also means there are some sales that look good but are actually terrible deals on terrible products you shouldn t buy. If that laptop looks too cheap, it probably is. If a price doesn't actually look that low, it's probably because the retailer raised it, just to give it a 30% price cut. Thankfully, we've recovered from our turkey comas enough to separate the good from the bad, find some Cyber Monday exclusive deals, and find the deals that are still going strong after Black Friday.

Here are the deals that are worth your time: products we d actually spend our own money on, and recommend for your PC gaming setup.

A version of our favorite gaming laptop, the ASUS ROG G751, is $300 off on Newegg with a beastly configuration. It's not cheap, but it has 24GB of RAM, an Intel i7 CPU, a 1TB HDD and 256GB SSD, and most importantly, the beefy new Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M, the most powerful laptop GPU today. It's $2100 on Newegg.

A much more affordable gaming laptop, the Gigabyte P25Wv2, is $400 off, or nearly 30%. It includes the powerful GTX 870M GPU, the same i7 processor in the ASUS laptop, 8GB of RAM and a 1TB HDD. It's also a more portable 15.6-inch machine. It's $1100 on Newegg.

The 840 EVO is our favorite SSD: it s both fast and really, really reasonably priced at an average of $110 for 250GB. It s currently even cheaper, at $100 on Amazon.

The 3.5GHz Intel i5 4690K, which is more than powerful enough for gaming, is down $40. Grab it from Newegg for $210 for your next build.

Everybody needs RAM. G.Skill's Ripjaws X DDR3 1600 RAM (8GB of it) is about 30% off, or $60 on Newegg.

The Corsair 750D is a great full tower case that's a breeze to build in. Normally $160, it's currently $110 on Newegg.

NZXT makes computer cases, and the NZXT H440 Mid-Tower is one of their best. Compact. Elegant. Discounted. Normally $140, it's currently $100 on Newegg.

Another good NZXT case, the NZXT Phantom, is discounted $60, or $80 on Newegg.

The Fractal Design Define R4 Mid-Tower is a quiet and elegant case, and it's also 42% off, dropping it to $70 at Newegg.

MORE POWER. The Corsair HX 850 watt power supply is almost 50% off, or $100 on Newegg.

Crappy routers are a nightmare, and it's always worth buying a good one instead of cheaping out. Thankfully, we get both with this sale: the great ASUS RT-N66U 50% off, or $100 on TigerDirect.

Our favorite gaming headset, the Kingston HyperX Cloud, is usually $80. It s currently on sale for $60 on Amazon.

If you want to go wire-free, the Logitech Wireless G930 Gaming Headset is 56% off from its list price, or $70 on Amazon.

The Xbox One controller is 33% off for $40 on Amazon.

Western Digital makes reliable hard drives, and while going internal is always cheaper (and usually nets you a better drive), sometimes you need a big hunk of portable storage. The USB 3 Western Digital MyBook 4TB is almost 30% off, or $140 on Amazon.

The Sega 48-game mega arcade pack, usually $70, is only $5 on Amazon and includes classic games like Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, and the first three Sonic the Hedgehog games.

Assassin s Creed IV: Black Flag is 40% off for $24 on Amazon.

Green Man Gaming is having a Blue Monday sale with discounts as high as 90% off. Notable deals include Wolfenstein: The New Order for $30 and Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition for $12.

Borderlands 2 is only $3 on Gamestop.com.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is already down to $45 on Amazon, a 25% discount two weeks after its release.

For additional coverage of the latest Cyber Monday deals on tech products, check out our chums over at TechRadar who have comprehensive pages listing the best US savings.

A note on affiliates: some of our stories, like this one, include affiliate links to stores like Amazon. These online stores share a small amount of revenue with us if you buy something through one of these links, which helps support our work evaluating PC components.

It's been more than a year since images of the upcoming League of Legends champion Ao Shin were leaked and then confirmed as legitimate by Riot Games. Lead Champion Designer Andrei "Meddler" van Roon said at the time that the character, a storm dragon, was still "quite a way off," and that's apparently still the case.

"We spent a bunch of time working on Ao Shin but ultimately concluded he wasn't hitting the mark so put him on hold for a while in order to figure some things out," van Roon said in response to a forum post asking if the champion had been dropped. "We still think his concept's really cool, as is some of the stuff we were trying with him, so do intend to make him someday. Don't expect to see him anytime soon though, we'd rather be slow, but do a better job of delivering on his potential, than quick."

Van Roon noted that other champions, like Lee Sin, Elise, and Azir, have gone through a similar process, which ultimately resulted in "better champs in the long run." He also said that Ao Shin's name may be changed when the champion is released, depending on whether it remains "a good fit for the final version."

Unfortunately for those looking forward to Ao Shin's release, van Roon cautioned that it won't be happening anytime soon. "For purposes of these sort of timelines the start of 2015 counts as 'soon,' or even 'very soon,'" he wrote. "Ao Shin's genuinely a long way off sorry."

If you search Steam for nothing and then sort nothing by user reviews you'll get a neat list of the most popular games on Steam among user reviewers, based on the percentage of positive reviews on the system. Portal 2 wins. Of 35,550 reviewers, 99% like the game. Make more games please, Valve.

If you prefer raw numbers, Dota 2 (94% of 280k users like it) and Team Fortress 2 (97% of 200k like it) come out ahead. Skyrim also does well. 98% of 78,842 users like Skyrim.

One Finger Death Punch, Crypt of the Necrodancer and Nuclear Throne have 99% positive ratings too, which is good, because those games are totally ace. In fact, the whole list is a brilliant resource if you're looking for ways to spend your spare Steam wallet pennies in the Steam sale.

Here's a shot of the top ten. What do you think?

"What if bread was alive and enjoyed climbing things" seems to be the premise of I Am Bread, a game in which you is bread, one slice thereof, climbing things like a yeasty maniac on a quest to get toasted.

The debut trailer is below. "lol what is my life" says one YouTuber in response to the vie."My body is bready" says another. "Too many plot spoilers in the trailer" says tchocky360.

Form an emotional reaction of your own by watching living bread climb doors in strange, convulsing motions that are both horrifying and fascinating at the same time. It's coming to Steam Early Access on December 3, and there's more on the website.

Welcome to this week's Playfire rewards bulletin where we outline all the great offers and rewards appearing on the Playfire service and Green Man Gaming. Don't forget if you sign up to Playfire, you actually earn rewards and incentives for playing games - how good is that?

This week you can earn a wealth of rewards on a bunch of games including Telltale s epic new strategy offering based on the hit books and TV series Game of Thrones.

Not only will you be able to sit comfortably astride the Iron Throne, you ll actually earn rewards for doing so, which can then be spent on buying new games. Just head on over to Playfire s rewards page to see the latest, but here s the rest of this week s likely titles:

Playfire Rewards until December 5th:

Wings of Vi

Foresight

Disorder

Neocolonialism

Cubez

Reverse Side

The Deer God

Game of Thrones (Telltale)

Lumino City

The Old City: Leviathan

1Quest

Potatoman Seeks the Troof

I am Bread

Primal Carnage: Extinction

Demon Hunter: Chronicles from Beyond

Bombing Bastards

Ultraworld

Dungeon Defenders II

iO

You ll need to link your account with STEAM to take part and play your way to cheaper games; just head over to your Playfire settings.

Don t forget to celebrate the gaming frenzy that is Cyber Monday, with Green Man Gaming offering a raft of great daily deals as part of their Green Thursday promotion. Keep an eye out for offers and specials appearing on that there page, daily.

That s it for now see you later in the week and happy gaming!