Beginning in January, PC players will be able to download for free the same development tools used at Bethesda Game Studios to create Skyrim. In tandem with the Creation Kit’s release, they will roll out a new Wiki and videos to help you get started.

There are also some other Skyrim Updates as well:

Steam Workshop –Bethesda has been working closely with Valve to integrate Steam Workshop into the Creation Kit. Using the Workshop, you’ll have free user content with the push of a button. The Creation Kit will bundle your mod and upload it to the Workshop, where everyone can browse, rate, and flag mods for download. You’ll be able to do this from any web device, including your smartphone. Like a live Netflix queue, when you fire up Skyrim, mods you flagged will be automatically downloaded and installed.

Prefer to use existing modding sites? Not a problem. You’ll still be able to upload/share/access Skyrim mods on fan-created mod sites.

Continued Game Updates – This week saw the release of update 1.2 across all platforms, and an incremental update is coming next week. Should be up on PC first, and then hit PS3 and Xbox 360 later in the week. Among other things, the update will fix issues like magic resistance not calculating properly and the rare, amazing backwards flying dragon.

Bethesda is dedicated to continued support of the game in the new year through full title updates, as well as incremental “gameplay updates” to fix whatever issues come up along with rebalancing portions of the game for difficulty or exploits. Overall, you should expect updates to be hitting the PC and Steam earlier and more often. Console updates will follow, as they must be certified and processed by those manufacturers.

Sounds like classic Bethesda strategy still applies and that is what we, as gamers, like to see. Dedicated support for a dedicated fan base.