When Microsoft announced the Xbox One, the primary focus was on its capabilities as an entertainment system and not so much on the unit’s ability to play video games.  There was a reason for that.  As it turns out, fans weren’t terribly pleased with the decisions Microsoft made concerning the Xbox One’s ability to play games.  The system needed a constant Internet connection and, most damaging, it would not play used games.  Cue the outrage.

Fortunately, even Microsoft knows that bad publicity isn’t good for their brand, so they’ve decided to make a few changes.  The best news is that the Xbox One no longer needs an always-on connection; instead, it has to go online once every 24 hours and that’s it.  Good news for those without a good internet connection.  All the other uses, like TV and Blu-ray, won’t need an online connection at all.

Secondly, Microsoft has decided to allow used games.  No extra fees, no surcharges, nothing but business as usual for the secondary game market.  I imagine a lot of folks are breathing a sigh of relief right now, none more than Gamestop and other used game merchants.

Whenever a company announces a mysterious press conference, you know it’s going to be a big deal.  When it comes to Sony announcing a big new product, there’s one name that pops up at the top of the list.  For years, Sony has been preparing itself for the PlayStation 4, and on February 20, there’ll be a press conference in New York City.  Is Sony launching the PlayStation 4?  The rumor is that Sony’s latest game console will make its first public appearance then.

Like all consoles, Sony’s PlayStation 3 has been suffering from lower sales.  The writing for the next generation has been on the wall for some time, and with Nintendo launching the WiiU, Sony and Microsoft would have to respond in kind sooner, rather than later.  Hence, the strong rumors about a fourth version of a PlayStation.  The PS3 has sold 77 million copies since it debuted in 2007, which means that the PlayStation 4 has big shoes to fill and it won’t have a Blu-ray drive to make it into a necessary home video player and home gaming systems face increasing competition.

Will the next generation of video games be the one where the bubble pops?

Cinematics can be a wonderful thing to create attention for a video game, but when it’s a video game as long awaited as The Elder Scrolls Online – The Alliance, you don’t really need a hype video.  Still Bethesda Softworks has put together a pretty awesome teaser for their upcoming MMORPG.  The game’s still a long way away from being released, but Bethesda and Zenimax have announced the sign-ups for Beta are open as of today, so feel free to check out this video and then decide if you have what it takes to jump headfirst into Bethesda’s MMO offering.

If you’re still interested, and I’m sure you are, you can sign up for the beta at ElderScrollsOnline.com and good luck to you.  Getting into a limited public beta is one of the hardest things to do if you’re not an experienced beta tester or super lucky, so good luck and may the odds be ever in your favor (as they say in The Hunger Games).

the launch of the Wii U, the official start of the eighth generation of video games is coming.  In fact, if you believe Nintendo, it’s already here (and they’re the ones leading the way).  However, their competition isn’t going to sit around and let Nintendo storm out to a big console lead.  Microsoft and Sony are already readying their eighth-gen consoles, with a tentative release date being leaked for Microsoft’s next Xbox console.  The Xbox 720 is rumored to be getting a holiday release for 2013.

The rumor, according to sources familiar with Microsoft’s roadmap, is a launch before Thanksgiving.  If they can pull that off, that’ll give them some great traction for the holiday season.  If you can fill the stores with consoles on Black Friday and give a discount–it doesn’t even have to be a steep discount–then that will definitely encourage the fans to pick up your console and slide them under the tree.   I doubt the Xbox will need any help in America, but every little bit of buzz helps tremendously.

Nintendo changed the game during the last console generation.  The company proved that all the graphics power and hardware strength in the world didn’t matter when you were able to reach out to a broad audience and turn gaming from something needing fast-twitch thumbs and into something more natural.  The Wii was almost impossible to get for months and months after release.  It looks like the Wii U is getting a similar amount of attention.  Retailers are reporting that the Wii U is selling out as soon as it comes in.

A lot of it seems to depend on the version you want, as the basic is a little easier to get than the deluxe edition, and lots of places (like Best Buy) have substantial waiting lists.  That’s not terribly surprising, considering how close we are to the holiday shopping season and how much fanfare comes with any video game launch these days.  Still, you’d like to see Nintendo open the purse strings and crank out Wii U consoles so the holidays can be happy for the gaming public.

To me, there’s nothing better than a credit card give-away.  If you’re going to spend money and/or use your card anyway, why not go ahead and get rewarded for it?  Most credit cards give you points in exchange for what you’ve spent.  But what about getting rewards for not spending money, but playing video games?  American Express is partnering with Microsoft to give away rewards for playing Halo 4.  All you do is sync your credit card with your Xbox Live account with American Express Card Sync at Amexbox.com

“Card Sync ties your credit card account to your third-party digital identity,” said American Express head of product Dave Wolf.  ”No data is shared, but the identities are matched.”

You register your account, share your Xbox Live account information, then do what you do.  Share on Facebook, tweet, check into places on Foursquare, shop, and unlock achievements on Xbox games, and you’ll find yourself  raking in rewards ranging from $50 off at Best Buy to $25 from American Express to a free trip to E3!  Just play the game and meet the requirements, which range from beating any mission to beating a specific mission to beating the game on the hardest setting.  You were going to play the games anyway, so why not get something for it?

It’s been awhile since Rockstar Games and Take-Two Interactive have returned to the world of Grand Theft Auto, but the long delay may prove to be worth it in the end.  Rockstar Games has announced Grand Theft Auto V will be coming out next year.  Apparently, the game will return to the fan favorite location of San Andreas, the Rockstar version of Los Angeles.  San Andreas was the setting for Grand Theft Auto:  San Andreas and promises to bring out more open world action.

“Grand Theft Auto V builds on everything we’ve learned about open world game design,” said Rockstar Games founder Sam Houser.  ”We can’t wait to share it with fans.”

Given Rockstar’s tradition, expect the game in May.  Rockstar’s most recent games, from Max Payne 3 to LA Noire and Red Dead Redemption, have all come out in May, so unless they want to break with their recent tradition, the game may be a good summer diversion for those days when it’s too hot to go outside.

For years, dentists have complained about the damage that Halloween does for the teeth of children.  All that sugar and whatnot wreaks havoc on the tender dentifrice of the youngsters, causing cavities, tooth decay, and even the terror known as Zombie Mouth!  However, there’s a new warrior in the fight against bad teeth, and it’s more powerful than all the dental floss and toothpaste samples that have been dropped into trick or treat bags over the years.

PopCap Games wants to stop Zombie Mouth, and they want your health.  Rather than give out delicious candy on Halloween, there’s an alternate option:  free games!  This Halloween, print out and hand out codes for free Plants Versus Zombies.  Just amble on over to StopZombieMouth.com and get the free copies!  The codes can be redeemed between October 30 and November 10, so there’s no hurry to get it cashed in just yet (though I’m going to turn mine in as soon as possible).

Once upon a time, a programming glitch in the original edition of World of Warcraft allowed the Corrupted Blood plague–a ticking damage-over-time spell that sapped player lives but wasn’t supposed to exist outside of the boss encounter–to escape into the major cities.  One infected player glitches back to Stormwind, and from there on out, the plague spread around the world of Azeroth.  Millions of players were affected, the major cities were clogged with skeletons, and the Corrupted Blood scenario is being studied by disease control specialists in the real world.

Well, a serial killer or killers has struck in the world of Azeroth.  Hackers laid waste to WoW’s major cities, killing hundreds of players thanks to some sort of security flaw.  Nobody knows how or why, but apparently Blizzard has put a stop to the security flaw that enabled it with a hot fix.  Still, for a brief period of time, anarchy reigned.

“It was a significant hack,” says Olivia Grace of WoW Insider.  ”They discovered a method to roll a level-one [beginner] character, which ran to the major cities.  We don’t know exactly what they did, but somehow they were able to kill every single player’s character in that city and every single computer controlled character – and they were doing this repeatedly.”

If you’re a user of Blizzard’s Battle.Net service, change your password.  Hackers got their hands on a whole mess of sensitive information, including  e-mail addresses, answers to security questions, scrambled passwords, and even data related to the smartphone app used by Blizzard as two-factor authentication.  When your authenticator gets hacked, you know you’re in trouble.  Whoever hit Blizzard hit them good.  While Blizzard says the passwords are encrypted, that’s still bad news.

Battle.Net is the service Blizzard uses to manage all its online games and accounts, from Diablo to Starcraft III and everything in between.  If you have Blizzard games, as I do, you have a Battle.Net account that you’ll need to change.  I’m not sure if I still have an active Battle.Net account, but I guess I better check just in case it’s still there.  Not that I play a lot of multiplayer games these days, but the last thing I want is all my information getting stolen.