While Microsoft (through a marketing partnership with Machinima) and Electronic Arts (through its "Ronku" marketing program) paying content creators to promote its games to followers on YouTube without disclosing the relationship may be unethical, neither company is breaking the law and it is unlikely that anyone involved could be fined for not disclosing a relationship according to what a Federal Trade Commission spokesperson tells Polygon.

According to a report on Ars Technica, Microsoft and Machinima colluded to get Machinima YouTube content creators to say nice things about the Xbox One for money and required that they not disclose the financial relationship to viewers.

In a self-congratulatory post on Xbox Wire, Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Strategy and Business, Xbox announced that the next-generation console system has sold three million units to-date since its launch on November 22.

Rockstar Consortium (partly owned by Apple and Microsoft), a patent-holding company formed from the bankrupt Canadian telecom company Nortel, sued Google and manufacturers of Android phones over patents almost two months ago. Earlier this week Google punched back at the company, filing a counter-suit seeking to invalidate Rockstar's patents. That's a normal step for a defendant in a patent lawsuit, but Google didn't file its counter-claim in the East Texas court where Rockstar sued them. Instead it filed in Northern California.

Vlambeer developer Rami Ismail has shared his concerns over the parity clause in Microsoft's new ID@Xbox scheme for indie developers in an interview with VG247. Speaking to the publication, Ismail described the parity clause, which requires participants to launch any title releasing on other platforms to launch on Xbox One simultaneously, as "problematic for the indie scene at large."

Microsoft said today that it has sold more than two million Xbox One consoles worldwide in a little over two weeks since the system launched on Nov. 22.

Sony said earlier in the month that it had managed to move 2.1 million hardware units in roughly the same timeframe after it launched a week before the Xbox One. The Xbox One launched in 13 regions, while the PS4 only launched in the U.S. and Canada to begin with, and was subsequently released in multiple other regions two weeks later.

Eight software technology companies have called on the United States government to limit its spying activities to specific targets, to overhaul the country's secret spy courts, and let service providers publish more detailed information about surveillance requests from the government. Companies signing the letter include Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, AOL, and LinkedIn. The open letter was sent to President Obama and members of Congress as well as being reprinted in a full-page ad in The New York Times and other newspapers.

Microsoft announced today that 32 indie developers have signed up with Microsoft's ID@Xbox development program to develop games for the Xbox One. Eurogamer has confirmed some of the titles that these developers will bring to Microsoft's system and speculated on a few others.

Day-one Xbox One buyers have had their fair share of problems with Microsoft's system that launched on Nov. 22. From failing hard drives that made some systems very expensive paperweights to technical problems with voice chat and missing features, fans have had to deal with a number of challenges. This is of course the price of early adoption of new technology, but today Microsoft has promised that they'll do better in the future and fix the various shortcomings of the new platform in an expedient manner.

According to this Reddit thread unearthed by Eurogamer, Microsoft has been banning Xbox One users who have been deemed to have used foul language in their chats via Skype and uploaded videos through Upload Studios. Dozens of users have also complained about the bans on the Xbox forums, according to Eurogamer.

Recognizing that some Xbox One owners might be a tad bit upset that they can't play their shiny new console while Microsoft makes right on failing disc drives in some systems, the company announced that it would provide digital downloads of at least one launch title per customer so they have something to play while they wait for a replacement console.

The games offered as part of this include like Dead Rising 3, Forza Motorsport 5, Ryse: Son of Rome and Zoo Tycoon.

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:

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.

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.

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, 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.

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."

Microsoft will launch an updated "Terms Of Use" for Xbox Live this week requiring users to commit to keeping personal information up to date. According to an announcement on the Xbox Wire, the new Terms Of Use are currently rolling out and will appear when gamers log onto Xbox Live.

The main change to the Terms Of Use is that Microsoft will now request that players ensure their personal information is current. This new requirement, claims Microsoft, is for security purposes, and that this information will be used as a check for other apps that connect to Xbox Live.

Microsoft posted its first quarter financial results for its current fiscal year, revealing that it raked in $18.5 billion in revenue for the three-month period ending on September 30th. The numbers represent a 16 percent increase in revenue compared to the same period a year ago. Microsoft also reported overall net income of $5.24 billion, a year-over-year increase of 17 percent.

Microsoft Studios corporate vice-president Phil Spencer says that "it makes a lot of sense" that a symbiotic ecosystem exist between Xbox One and the Windows-based PCs. In an interview with AusGamer, Spencer was asked if Windows 8 and Xbox One could host cross-platform play between their respective platforms.

"I'm not allowed to leak things," Spencer replied, "but I think what you're talking about makes a lot of sense."

An Advertising Age report highlighted by NeoGAF unearthed over the weekend has thrown some gasoline on a story that surfaced earlier this year about how Kinect could be used to improve the monetization of Xbox One customers.

According to Reuters, three of the top 20 of Microsoft's investors - who collectively hold about five percent of the company's stock, are looking to force company co-founder Bill Gates out of the company and into retirement. Last week Microsoft co-founder Steve Ballmer left the company, stepping down as its CEO.

Speaking to IGN Microsoft corporate vice president Marc Whitten said that the Day One update to the Xbox One console (the mandatory update you'll have to install before you can start using the shiny new next-generation console system) will take 15 - 20 minutes to download and install. The patch makes it so that the system can function both online and offline, but first you'll have to connect the system to a Microsoft server online so it can be patched.

If you want an Xbox One this holiday season, you're getting a Kinect along with it whether you want one or not.

Some people don't like the Kinect.  They think it's imprecise and the games are mostly crap.

Others, really don't like the idea of an always-on system pointing a camera and mic at their living area.  I don't know about you, but my TV and console are in my bedroom.  Yeah...

Microsoft corporate vice president Phil Harrison says that the upcoming next-generation Xbox One console is expected to have decade-long lifecycle. The Xbox One's launch on November 22 will commence the platform's "more than 10-year journey," Harrison said today during his Eurogamer Expo keynote address. Through features and services - including the cloud, Microsoft plans to support the Xbox One for more than a decade, Harrison said.

Sony is not the only company looking to launch a streaming media device in Asia. Microsoft and Shanghai media giant BesTV have apparently formed a joint venture to build and deploy a game device that will offer streaming entertainment services in China.