Black Friday looms on the horizon, but that's not stopping consumers from acting totally ridiculous with their money a little earlier than usual.

News Blips:

Activision's Call of Duty Elite service reaches 1 million paying players. On top of its free stat-tracking and clan management tools, Elite offers extra perks such as exclusive video content and access to all add-on packs for a $50 annual subscription. Savings accounts are for chumps; shelling out over $100 for a single game is the future domain of men.

A exercise equipment company squat-thrusts a lawsuit at Nintendo for patent infringement. Impulse Technologies claims Nintendo's Wii console and motion-sensing hardware such as its Balance Board skirts too closely against a 1996 patent detailing accessories used in exercises "where the motion of the player is tracked to effect movement of a virtual avatar, and the exertion of the user is monitored." I knew I should've gotten my sketch of the air legally notarized. I'd be rich by now. [GameSpot]

An adventurous soul discovers landmasses corresponding to the in-game countries of Cyrodiil and Morrowind beyond the borders of The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. Finnish gamer Jesse's findings of landscapes featured in previous Elder Scrolls games has predictably evoked excited whisperings of possible DLC for the gargantuan role-playing title, but I'm pretty sure the developers simply crafted a more fleshed out world for those mischevious enough to no-clip away any semblance of "closed borders." [PPSh-41]

The December 6 Xbox Live update brings a new interface and an expanded range of features. Notable changes include a new menu layout inspired by Microsoft's Metro design from its upcoming Windows 8 operating system, additional Kinect navigation functionality, and cloud storage for game data. I wonder when we'll see a "fix" for those still goofy-as-hell avatars.

Got any hot news tips? Send 'em over to tips@bitmob.com.