According to research by analyst firm FADE, Xbox Live Arcade set a record for annual revenues in 2012. In 2012 Xbox Live Arcade made $290 million according to the firm. The driving force behind these revenues were three games: Minecraft, Trials Evolution, and The Walking Dead.

The biggest title of all was Minecraft, bringing in an estimated $97.38 million, followed by Trials Evolution at $14.29 million, and The Walking Dead at $10.27 million. Even the lowest game on the top ten list of best selling games managed to rake in nearly $2.8 million.

Earlier this week we reported that the Chinese government was considering lifting a 13-year ban on game consoles in the country. While there's plenty of black market devices and software for Chinese consumers, there's no way to legally buy a PS3, Xbox 360, or Nintendo device in the country. The story from a few days ago was based on a China Daily report that quoted an anonymous source inside the Ministry of Culture.

Citing a government source, the 13-year-old ban of consoles in China may be coming to an end. According to sources cites by China Daily the seven Chinese government ministries that banned the sale of consoles in the country in 2000 are opening up discussions on allowing them to be sold to Chinese citizens.

Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices division raked in $3.8 billion in revenue during the last three months of 2012, the company announced today. That number represented an 11 percent decline compared to the same period a year ago. The division is responsible for Windows Phone, Xbox and other devices. While revenues were down, so were marketing cost which made it easy for the Entertainment and Devices division to record a pre-tax profit of $596 million - a 15 percent increase over the same period a year ago.

Too Human and content associated with the action RPG from Silicon Knights has apparently been pulled from Xbox Live Marketplace. While Microsoft has not officially confirmed why the game and related content was pulled, some are speculating that it could be related to the lawsuit that Silicon Knights lost against Unreal Engine maker Epic Games. While the product page for the game remains, the game is no longer available for purchase from Games on Demand, nor is the demo, gamer pics, and themes.

While many think that the Nintendo Wii has won the overall race in this current console cycle against Xbox 360 and PS3 in the United States, one research firm says that it will ultimately be Microsoft's console that sits at the top of the mountain. DFC Intelligence's new report predicts that more Xbox 360s will be sold in the US than Wiis by 2017. The research firm is forecasting that Xbox 360 will have sold over 46 million units in the US by 2017, while the Wii is estimated at just over 42 million. Sony's PS3 comes in at 33.5 million.

As expected, Google has backed off of its International Trade Commission complaint against Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, which uses one of its video compression patents. The company had sought to stop the sale of the system in the United States while Microsoft and its subsidiary Motorola duked it out in court over royalty payments related to FRAND patents. But earlier in the week the Federal Trade Commission stepped into the fight, ordering Google to take a more reasonable approach to "essential patents."

On Friday after the Federal Trade Commission issued an order on Google's Motorola patents and how the subsidiary needed to stop charging high royalties on FRAND patents it holds, Microsoft went into action.

The Federal Trade Commission issued a Consent Order (PDF) this week forbidding Google from charging a lot of money for certain critical patents it gained when it bought Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in May 2012. This is good news for both Apple and Microsoft, but particularly for Microsoft because (according to Microsoft) Motorola Mobility wanted to charge $4 billion a year in royalties for patents Motorola holds on Wi-Fi and video technology.

The results are in, the votes have been tallied and the sole light in my mom's windowless, basement bathroom burnt out while I was taking a shower this morning.  It's time to reveal which of the current consoles GamePolitics poll participants think has the dumbest name!

A particularly light and fluffy question for this week's poll, GP faithful:

Which of the current crop of video game consoles do you think has the dumbest name?

Is it the Wii?  It's the Wii, isn't it?

Yeah, it's probably the Wii.

Xbox Live Gold members will get a wonderfully free treat this weekend: the world premiere of 2 Player Productions' documentary about Minecraft developer Mojang. In February of last year, 2 Player Productions launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $150,000 for shooting an all-encompassing documentary about the indie studio and its founder Markus "Notch" Persson. By the end of the campaign they managed to raise $210,000 for Minecraft: The Story of Mojang. Not too shabby.

Gearbox Software has finally issued an update that deals with the bug that stripped some players of their "Badass tokens" in Borderlands 2. The update for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game enables the game to analyze save games and detect Badass Rank that might have been lost due to the glitch. Players first reported issues with their Badass Tokens inexplicably disappearing.

Beginning today Microsoft will start rolling out over 40 apps around the world, with the process taking place between now and Spring 2013. Not all of the apps for Xbox Live will be available immediately and some are specific regions. For the United States those apps being released today include SkyDrive (a media sharing, cloud-based service), Deezer, Karaoke, Cnet, and Maxim.

Other apps coming to the United States include All3m, Ameba TV, CrunchyRoll, Flixster, GameTrailers, IndieFlix, Livesport.tv, MTV, Machinima, PBS, PopcornFlix, The CW Network, and Vimeo.

Microsoft has indicated to the Xbox 360 community that it is aware of problems with Halo 4 season pass holders not being able to download the Crimson Map Pack that was released today. The company says that it is investigating the cause of this and working on a solution. Instead of being able to simply download the Crimson Map Pack, season pass holders are being asked to pay 800 MS Points prior to download. The season pass costs a flat fee enabling purchasers to grab all the downloadable content upon release for free.

According to analysis by Gamasutra columnist and blogger Ryan Langley, the Xbox Live Arcade version is almost as popular as its PC and Mac counterpart in terms of sales. According to the analysis Mojang's popular world-building game for Xbox Live Arcade is currently selling between 40 - 60,000 copies every week.

Google-owned Motorola has failed to ban sales of the Xbox 360 in both Germany and the United States related to patents the system uses. Motorola and Microsoft have been in a very public court battle over royalty payments related to patents owned by Motorola that Microsoft is using for the Xbox 360 system. Motorola claims that the patents being used by Microsoft are worth $4 billion a year in royalty payments, while Microsoft says that those patents are worth only $1 million a year. U.S.

If you are looking to buy Fable II on Xbox Live, then you might be out of luck - at least for a little while. Apparently Microsoft has pulled the game from its Xbox Live marketplace. The game is no longer available through the Games on Demand service on Xbox Live or via Xbox.com.

This weekend Xbox 360 owners will be able to use Xbox Live Gold free of charge - unless you live in Europe. Microsoft decided to have a free Xbox Live Gold weekend for everyone but Europe including the United States, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan. From Major Nelson's (Xbox's Larry Hryb) blog:

Today Microsoft announced an upcoming app from Microsoft and The Karaoke Channel that lets you try your best to be a Karaoke King or Queen using an estimated 8,000 tracks using your avatar and the Kinect. Sound good, right? Well it turns out that Microsoft has decided that it will charge users who want to play this game by the hour - funds to be paid in Microsoft Points. While Microsoft has yet to reveal just how much it will cost you per-hour to play this game, this marks the first time that the company has monetized any game in this way.

In Episode 28 of the Super Podcast Action Committee hosts Andrew Eisen and E. Zachary Knight discuss the importance of voting, Microsoft's bad Xbox 360 press event in Israel, and a dumb patent designed to count how many people are watching licensed content from a console (so they can charge more money, we assume). Download it now: SuperPAC Episode 28 (1 hour, 18 minutes) 72 MB.

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.

The Xbox 360 will finally launch in Israel on Nov. 21, according to an announcement made by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Tel Aviv. Ballmer was there to promote the new Windows 8 operating system. Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 almost seven years ago in North America, Japan and Europe in 2005 before releasing to the rest of the world between 2006 - 2008. Microsoft made the decision to not release the console in parts of the Middle East.

American Express and Xbox have teamed up to offer "automatic real-time rewards" for playing Halo 4, according to this GamesBeat report. Players will be able to play Halo 4, complete levels and win rewards like cash back, coupons, and - if they are extra lucky - a trip to the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles.

New sales figures from Microsoft reveal that its ultra popular Halo franchise has generated nearly $3 billion in revenue since launch, with more than 46 million Halo games sold. Halo: Reach was responsible for around $200 million of that revenue in just 24 hours across Europe and the US, with Halo 3 managing to bring $170 million in the US on day one. Halo 2 was no slouch either; it raked in $125 million.

Introversion Software co-founder Mark Morris has spoken out against the Microsoft's expensive Xbox Live Arcade certification process. Morris, who helped Introversion make such hit games as Uplink, Darwinia, DEFCON, and Multiwinia, says that Microsoft has to make changes to the process and lower or eliminate its fees if it wants to continue to compete with services such as Steam.

An exploit related to code in the hardcore mode of Borderlands 2 for Xbox 360 is making the rounds and developer Gearbox Software is warning players about it and how to avoid it altogether. The problem apparently is not related to other versions of the game on PC and PS3. The exploit is supposedly tied to the hardcore game mode known as "Graveyard mode that was left in the game code by Gearbox Software. It apparently wipes the progress of players who come in contact with other players, much like a virus.

Google's Motorola Mobility has withdrawn an earlier claim that Microsoft violated Wi-Fi patents it holds with its Xbox 360 console, according to this lengthy analysis from Foss Patents. The company filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) earlier this year.

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has managed to do something that no other Xbox Live Arcade has been able to do in the history of Xbox Live: beat a serious AAA retail first-person shooter. Xbox Live activity for the week of October 15 shows that the Xbox Live Arcade dentition of the game managed to beat some pretty powerful competition including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, FIFA Soccer 13, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Borderlands 2, Halo: Reach, Battlefield 3, and many other popular games.

Microsoft has expanded its subsidized Xbox 360 offer to include bigger and better models, according to this updated Xbox.com product page. Microsoft will soon offer the 250GB Xbox 360 for $99 or $149 with Kinect. The two new options join the original 4GB with Kinect option, which remains $99. The catch (as has already widely been detailed) is that those who buy these cheaper models will be obligated to pay $14.99 a month for an Xbox Live Gold account for two years.