Update: Microsoft has confirmed that "every Xbox One" can be used to make games, meaning that every unit can in fact be turned into a development kit, or debug unit. Kotaku offers this statement from Microsoft on the matter:

According to a Bloomberg report, former Xbox chief and current Zynga CEO Don Mattrick has been an admirer of the social game maker for quite some time. In fact, in 2010 he tried to convince higher-ups at Microsoft that it should buy Zynga. This was prior to the company going public and during the company's popularity with games on Facebook, according to Bloomberg.

Hammerpoint Interactive's zombie survival MMO, The War Z, has been renamed Infestation: Survivor Stories today, the developer announced this morning. The name change won't have any effect on the game itself. Hammerpoint claims that the name change is meant to "help fans differentiate the popular game from similarly titles brands." In January of this year, DayZ creator Dean Hall expressed anger at the similarity of the two game names, feeling that it caused confusion about which of the games was the original concept.

While Microsoft has had its fair share of bad press surrounding the Xbox One console, those still considering a purchase when it is released later this year will at least be happy that the price of new games will remain in line with Xbox 360 retail disc pricing. Games will retail for $59.99, according to an unnamed source speaking to Kotaku.

Sony Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida believes that the PlayStation 4 will have a lifespan of over ten years, just like previous PlayStation family home consoles. Speaking with CVG, Yoshida said with PS4 there is room for growth should games start to exceed the 8GB of RAM, and that Sony plans to support the console for at least 10.

Deadline is reporting that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer - with entertainment studios president Nancy Tellem in tow - is taking meetings with big Hollywood studios and television companies to drum up support for Xbox One as an entertainment hub for the living room.

The Verge is reporting that Microsoft may kill off its point system used on its Xbox Live Marketplace. Citing sources "familiar with Microsoft's Xbox plans," The Verge says that Microsoft will replace the MS Points system with a gift card system for retail and will support straight transactions of money using credit and debit cards. The gift cards will be similar to what Apple offers for iTunes - in other words they will have a real cash value.

An internal Microsoft memo offers some good news for those worried about the next Xbox system (which they call Durango in the memo) requiring a constant connection in order to use. According to that internal Microsoft e-mail (as reported by Ars Technica) the next Xbox has been designed in a way that recognizes the delicate nature of today's Internet connections.

In Episode 49 of the show hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight discuss the ongoing turmoil inside EA, Nintendo's decision to not host an E3 press conference, results of the latest poll and catch up on some mail that went into the silly spam filter. Download Episode 49 now: SuperPAC Episode 49 (1 hour, 3 minutes) 58.5 MB.

Mojang has inked a deal with North American toy maker Jazwares to produce a line of action figures, plush, and papercraft items based on the ultra-popular Minecraft game franchise. The new deal covers the entire globe, with toys shipping by year's end if all goes well.

"We are excited by our new partnership with Jazwares," said Mojang CEO Carl Manneh. "This partnership will help give our community a new way to interact with the game they love."

Just how influential and popular is Minecraft creator and Mojang co-founder Markus "Notch" Persson? Well he is apparently the second most influential person in the world right behind Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in Time Magazine's 2013 Time 100 Poll. Voting for the poll ends today, with the final list to be chosen by Time editors and revealed on April 18.

Sony Online Entertainment will merge the two remaining servers for its MMO Vanguard into one big server on April 4 at 10 p.m. PDT, the company announced this week. On April 9, the European Halgar server will permanently be taken offline, following its merge with the Telon server. SOE warned players that when this happens the game will be down for a 24 hour period - but that's not the worst of it; when the two servers are merged into one server some characters may be affected.

Just how much money has been pledged to game projects so far on Kickstarter? According to data released by the popular crowd funding platform, right around $107.6 million. Since the site's launch four years ago, more than 633,242 backers have pledged to over 4,500 Games projects, nearly 1,000 of these were pledged to in the last year.

Richard Garriott posted a lengthy explanation of a PC Gamer interview that was published yesterday in which he said that "most game designers really just suck," and that he had not met anyone who he thought came close to being as good a game designer as he was.

Earlier in the week Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA.) penned an editorial over at Politico that takes aim at parenting and deflects the idea that video games are to blame for violent crimes in America. The editorial title sums up Hunter's thoughts on the top pretty succinctly: "Target parenting, not games for violence."

Rovio's Angry Birds Trilogy has sold over one million copies worldwide, according to developer Rovio and publisher Activision. The duo also announced that the game would be coming to the Wii U and Wii later this year.

Angry Birds Trilogy was released in September 2012 for Xbox 360 with Kinect support, PlayStation 3 with Move support and Nintendo 3DS. The compilation offers three games - Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio, along with extra content such as additional levels, added features and brand new interactive backgrounds and spiffy new animations.

Indie games portal Kongregate says that "core gamers" tend to spend way more money than casual gamers on its popular gaming destination (which is owned by retailer GameStop). Speaking to Develop, Kongregate CEO Jim Greer said that while the free-to-play titles it offers had a similar conversion rate to other platforms (two-to-three percent) paying core gamers were spending an average of approximately $60 a month.

Ubisoft announced that it has shipped well over 12 million units of Assassin's Creed 3 and well over 4.5 million units of Far Cry 3. That number includes all platforms the games are available on - as well as digital sales of both games. Ubisoft's total sales for Assassin's Creed 3 have now passed the 12 million mark worldwide, while Far Cry 3 sales are up over 4.5 million units, the French publisher announced today in its third-quarter financial report.

It's Luigi's 30th anniversary this year but it seems like Mario's taller brother - like Rodney Dangerfield - can't get any respect. Luigi was introduced as an optional second player in the arcade version of Mario Bros. thirty years ago.

Two more League of Legends professional eSports players have been permanently banned from competition, according to word from Riot Games (by way of Polygon and PC Gamer).

Former Boston Red Sox pitcher and 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling will sell the famous bloody sock that he wore during the 2004 World Series. The sock is expected to net at least $100,000. The Associated Press is reporting that an online auction for the piece of rare sports memorabilia will open on February 4, with an in-person auction to be held on February 23.

ArenaNet's Colin Johanson says that the popular online-focused RPG Guild Wars 2 has managed to sell over three million copies since it was released and launched in August of 2012. He made the announcement as part of an update on the game's official site detailing what new content the company plans to bring to Guild Wars 2 players in the next few months.

Humble Indie Bundle 7 has broken another milestone this week - surpassing the $2 million sales mark. As of this writing, the pay-what-you-want DRM-free bundle has made $2,174,171.12 from the sale of 332,411 bundles. Yesterday organizers of the bundle added three new games: The Basement Collection, Cave Story+, and Offspring Fling - for those willing to pay more than the average price.

According to a Famitsue report (by way of The Verge) Sony has halted shipments of its ultra popular PlayStation 2 game console in Japan. The last generation console has sold over 150 million units worldwide since its launch in Japan on March 4th, 2000 and is the most popular home console of all time.

Hispanic television network Univision and Swiss online games site Miniclip.com have entered into a partnership to launch a co-branded online gaming property designed specifically for the U.S. Hispanic audience. Launching in December, Univision Juegos will make Miniclip's library of "more than 800 games" available to Univision.com's online user base.

Funcom has decided to ditch the $15 a month subscription fee for its MMO The Secret World. The company announced today that players can now enjoy the game for free, though they'll still have to drop $30 to buy the game. After that players can opt for a special monthly membership or play for free and buy items from an in-game store as they see fit.

Another day, another milestone met for Mojang's ultra popular sandbox building game, Minecraft. It has managed to surpass the 8 million sales mark on the PC platform, according to a tweet from Mojang co-founder and Minecraft creator Markus 'Notch' Persson.

"The PC version of Minecraft just passed 8 million sales," said series Persson via Twitter.

"My face is making grinning sounds, so I assume it's grinning," he added.

Microsoft is building its own 7-inch gaming tablet, according to "multiple sources familiar with plans within Redmond" who have confirmed the details to The Verge. According to that report, the initial hardware planning for the Xbox Surface device is underway. The Verge describes it as a mini Xbox platform.

Microsoft has changed its position on selling games rated "18" in the UK (under the PEGI system) via the Windows 8 marketplace. Previously the platform owner had made the decision by comparing the "adult" category used by the ESRB in North America - a category reserved for games with very strong sexual content or extreme violence.

The popular DRM-free digital distribution platform Good Old Games, finally supports the Mac OS operating system - though not every game in its catalog is available at this time. GOG is currently offering 50 games on OS X including Syndicate and Wing Commander 1 & 2. More Mac-compatible titles will be released in the future on an on-going basis.