Last week we asked our readers, "Will the Xbox One Suffer Hardware Failures?" Around 436 votes were cast, with the majority of respondents voting giving Microsoft the benefit of the doubt.

Over the weekend Kotaku continued to report on disc drive failures in Microsoft's new Xbox One console, according to the publication, it has received over 150 readers saying that they have bought an Xbox One with a faulty disc drive. In addition editors from websites Polygon, IGN, and GamesRadar have reported receiving one of these faulty units directly from Microsoft.

Microsoft has been pretty lukewarm in its response to the news:

According to several YouTube videos being made public today, frustrated Xbox One owners who have just purchased the shiny new console are having disc read errors. Several Xbox One buyers have reported disc drive issues, though just how widespread this issue is is unknown at this time.

In most of the videos, Xbox One owners pop in game discs only to find that the systems' drives don't work. Then, as documented by at least four different YouTube videos, there's a loud grinding noise that will make you wince.

Electronic Arts has acknowledged several bugs that are plaguing the Xbox One version of FIFA 14, which it vows to adress with an update later today. The first is a bug where using a second controller to navigate the bootflow when FIFA 14 is loading will result in a game crash. Until the bug is fixed, EA recommends that players use the first controller to navigate the bootflow and then activate the second controller when at the main menu of the game.

Just as Microsoft did last week when Sony launched the PS4, Sony has congratulated Microsoft on its launch of the Xbox One today. Sony's official PlayStation Twitter account offered the following congratulatory message to Microsoft and its Xbox team:

"Congrats, @Xbox @Microsoft! #NextGeneration #GreatnessAwaits"

Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida also sent a congratulatory tweet to Microsoft's Phil Spencer, Phil Harrison, Major Nelson and Albert Penello:

Earlier today Microsoft offered instructions similar to Sony's (for the PS4) on how to download the Day One update for its Xbox One, put it on a USB drive and apply it offline. Then they removed it. The 20-step guide for downloading the latest Xbox One firmware to a USB stick was pulled after news about it got out, and Microsoft responded by saying that it was important that consumers log onto Xbox Live at least once when they get their shiny new console beginning tomorrow.

The Xbox One will ship without some audio features, and some still in "beta," according to multiple sources (as reported by Polygon). The Xbox One will ship without support for Dolby encoding, according to what Microsoft director of product planning Albert Penello posted on a NeoGAF thread today.

Part two of South Park's "A Song of Ass and Fire" aired last night, continuing the storyline about Black Friday and Xbox One v. PS4 fanboy wars. Cartman's Xbox One crew goes head-to-head with Kenny's small group of PS4 fanboys in an epic Black Friday battle at the South Park Mall. All of the boys in this week's episode are dressed as they will be in Obsidian Entertainment's RPG, South Park: The Stick of Truth - due out in March 2014.

When the Xbox 360 launched in 2005, the hardware was plagued with a bunch of console crippling issues, one of which being the famous Red Ring of Death, an LED indication that your game machine is now a giant brick.  Some estimates put the failure rate of the 360 as high as 54%.  Whatever the actual number was, it was so bad that Microsoft ex

According to this GamesBeat report, the new controller for Microsoft's soon-to-be-released Xbox One console cost the company $100 million to research and develop. While consumers may not see much of a difference between the gamepad that comes with the Xbox One and the one they are currently using with the Xbox 360, the company spent a lot of money looking at new features - many of which did not make it into the final gamepad design.

The eBay charity auction of a limited edition white Xbox One has generated $11,300 for the Wounded Warrior Project charity, according to CVG. The special edition console is being given out to Microsoft employees when the Xbox One launches later this week in 21 markets including the United States. The auction on eBay began at $1, but by Nov.

According to two separate reports, Apple is in discussions with the makers of the Kinect motion sensing technology to buy the company out. According to reports on AllThingsD and Calcalist, Apple is in serious talks to buy out Israel-based PrimeSense for $345 million.

Whoever wins the first round of this new console cycle war, individuals at Microsoft are showing that they can be cordial and decent. Today via its official Xbox Twitter account Microsoft offered Sony congratulations on lunching its PlayStation 4 console. Several Microsoft executives involved with the Xbox One also extended their own personal messages congratulating Sony.

While we don't have any specifics on what went on at this swank press event for the Xbox One, it sounds exciting. Apparently - according to 69 party photos posted on Revamp, the Entertainment Software Association and Microsoft put on a swank reveal party for the Xbox One in Washington D.C. The catered event at the W Washington, D.C. hotel was attended by members of Congress and Obama administration officials, according to the site.

This week's episode of South Park pokes a lot of fun at Black Friday holiday sales, Game of Thrones, the frenzied behavior of deal-seeking mobs, and the foolishness of console wars. In the episode Cartman, Stan, and the gang set out to create a plan to get the Xbox One on Black Friday for cheap, but in the midst of preparing for the battle at the South Park Mall, a contingent of the kids balk at getting an Xbox One, instead opting to split off and fight against Cartman's faction because they think PS4 is better.

Data released today from a September consumer survey reveals Sony's PlayStation 4 (releasing today in North America) comfortably leading Xbox One (releasing next Friday) when it came to purchase intent. Interpret found that PS4 purchase interest beat out the Xbox One across the board.

In a recent interview on TechRadar, Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey says that console systems - both current and next-generation are too limited to work with the company's Oculus Rift virtual reality headset technology. Luckey goes on to say that the biggest problem with consoles is that their level of hardware power remains unchanged for many years, whereas PC systems are constantly upgraded and evolving.

According to research firm IHS, Sony's PlayStation 4 will "comfortably" outsell the Xbox One over the next four years. IHS head of games research Piers Harding-Rolls forecasts that, while both systems will be "neck and neck in terms of sales during the launch period, Sony's system will pull ahead significantly by the end of 2017. Harding-Rolls predicts 2.4 million PS4 unit sales by the end of 2013, and 2.2 million Xbox One sales.

Research firm IHS forecasts is suggesting that 34 percent of the money consumers spend on software for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will be done in the digital space by 2017.

"A key driver for this digital transition will be publisher ambition to release most games digitally at the same time as boxed versions at retail outlets," said the report prepared by Piers Harding-Rolls, head of games.

A day late and a dollar short would be the best way to describe Episode 76. It was recorded a few days after Extra Life (which admittedly messed with our scheduling and mental stability in the early part of the week). Add to that some technical difficulties with editing the show and you have an episode that is a week late. Nevertheless the topics we talk about on the show are timeless enough that you'll still enjoy it.

A new report from Bloomberg reveals that one of the candidates to replace former CEO Steve Ballmer wouldn't think twice about making major changes to the company if necessary - including shutting down major divisions to refocus the company like Bing and Xbox.

Nomura analyst Rick Sherlund says that Microsoft's losses on its Xbox business total $2 billion per year, but are masked or hidden by substantial cash generated from royalties on patents from Android-based devices.

Microsoft has revealed the line-up of entertainment apps that will be available at launch for the Xbox One in Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Microsoft's first-party services available at launch include  Xbox Fitness, Xbox Video, Xbox Music, Internet Explorer, Skype, SkyDrive and its Upload service. Third-party services like Netflix, Crackle, Twitch, Amazon Prime and more will also be available at launch.

A big list - divided by region - can be found below:

UK games charity GamesAid is auctioning off a special version of the Xbox One to raise much needed funds for future charitable work. The special console is very rare; it is white and was only given out to employees who worked on the console.

Microsoft announced today that developers signed up for the ID@Xbox program will get free access to the Unity game engine. The Xbox One add-on for Unity is planned for 2014.

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata says that new consoles coming to market near the end of this month could signal greater consumer interest in games overall, which in turn will help Nintendo.

Capcom predicts that its next game in its third-person zombie apocalypse series, Dead Rising 3, will sell over 1.2 million copies on Xbox One. This prediction on sales of the Xbox One exclusive was part of a financial document for the first half of the financial year ending March 31, 2014. While Capcom might be excited about that number, it's a lot lower than the original game for Xbox 360, which sold 1.8 million copies. The multi-platform sequel did much better with 2.8 million units sold.

Microsoft, trying to get a grip on the controversy surrounding just what its Kinect peripheral will capture, collect, and save, has released a page dedicated to explaining just what it will do when it is connected to the Xbox One launching later this month. Microsoft hopes that these disclosures related to the Kinect and its privacy policies will ease consumers who are concerned about the security of their information and activities recorded by Kinect.

While Red Bull is the number one brand on YouTube (mostly because it sponsors so many interesting sporting and gaming events worldwide), "PlayStation" is also pretty popular, according to data collected by Statista and Mashable.

Are you looking to secure a PS4 or Xbox One in time for Christmas?

Well, according to a PR email we just received, Walmart is currently "the only retailer taking online pre-orders for PS4 and XBOX One Standard with a guaranteed ship to customers on December 16."