Update #2: The patch is now out on Xbox Live, too, which is nice. Confirmation comes by way of The Elder Scrolls Twitter account.

Subsequent tweets clarified that the patch will be released on PS3 later today.

Update: Skyrim patch 1.9 has been released in its final form on Steam. "For console players out there, we're hoping to release 1.9 later this month," wrote Bethesda on its blog.

Since the patch went into beta testing on Steam, there's been clarification (on Reddit) about how the new Legendary skills effectively do away with Skyrim's level cap (81).

If you have a skill at 100, you can opt to have it become Legendary by using the Book of Waking Dreams. This resets the skill to 15 and reimburses you all invested perk points in that tree. A little Imperial dragon symbol is displayed underneath the name of the skill tree.

You're now free to level that skill again to 100, and in doing so can gain another character level. With each new character level - level 82 and beyond - you gain a new perk point and ability point.

Theoretically you can rinse-repeat this process an indefinite amount of times, gaining as many new perk and ability points as you can bear to grind out.

Each time you opt for that skill to become Legendary, another Imperial dragon symbol is displayed. These symbols, I think, do nothing but serve as a memory marker for how many times you've Legendary-d a skill.

Skyrim patch 1.9 adds a new Legendary difficulty to make this worth your while.

Original story: There's a new Skyrim patch available in beta on PC that effectively does away with the game's level cap.

Until now, the highest level a character could reach was 81. But patch 1.9 adds a Legendary difficulty and the ability to make skills Legendary, and this changes everything.

"Skills of 100 can be made Legendary," the Bethesda blog announced. "This will reset the skill to 15, return its Perks and allow the skill to affect levelling again. This effectively removes the overall level cap."

Now you too can be invincible like the Black Knight!

I don't understand what the benefit of making a skill Legendary - only to lose all your skill and perks in that line - is, but then I am a bit simple.

It doesn't look like enough people have tried the new patch to offer their thoughts on the official forum yet either.

Do remember that this is a beta version of the patch. If you want to test it, open your Steam Library, right-click on Skyrim, select Properties then the Beta tab and then opt in.

Patch 1.9 also has a huge list of bug fixes. I thought I'd list them all below.

Bug fixes