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.

Select Twitch.tv content is now available via Xbox 360 thanks to the release of a new app. While Xbox Live Gold members won't be able to use the service to broadcast their gameplay exploits with the new app, they will be able to watch content from the top 300 live Twitch channels. For now the app is only available to Xbox Live Gold members in the United States.

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.

During its Q3 earnings report, Microsoft announced that Xbox live subscriptions have reached 46 million worldwide - an 18 percent increase from last year - and that it has sold 1.3 million consoles over the past three months - down nine percent from the same period a year ago. Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division revenues rose 56 percent to $253 million despite the drop in console sales.

Microsoft has announced a new incentive for Japan that will kick into high gear on April 20th. Xbox 360 owners in the region will get free Microsoft Points based on the collective amount of time that participants in the campaign use the console in Japan. To get those free points Japanese Xbox 360 players will hit the milestone of playing for 300,000 hours using the Xbox 360 to get 100 ($1.25) Microsoft Points for Xbox Live Gold subscribers and 10 Points for free members.

It's that silly season (the time between major events like the Game Developers Conference and the Electronic Entertainment Expo) where rumors fly fast and furious about what the biggest companies in the industry have planned. So with that in mind, there's a new rumor that says that the "always online" requirement we have been hearing about for the new Xbox console is actually for the Xbox Mini device. Rumors about the device first surfaced in March of last year.

The Microsoft employee whose glib response (in a series of tweets to a developer friend) to the rumor that the company's next-generation console might require users to be connected to the Internet all the time has lost his job, according to Game Informer.

Microsoft announced that it plans to sell its ITPV business called Mediaroom to Ericsson. Microsoft said that the divesture of this company will put "100 percent of the company's focus on its TV consumer strategy for Xbox. The sale is still subject to regulatory approval, but it is likely to be finalized during the second half of 2013.

An interesting story via the Huffington Post (based on this CBC report) details sexual predators in the United States using online games and consoles to talk to children in Canada. This particular report focuses on Winnipeg, but it's not far-fetched to imagine that if it's happening in one province, it's happening to some degree in other provinces as well.

While Microsoft's heart is probably in the right place (as much as any corporation's 'heart' can be) its new Xbox Live Reward scheme asks you to spend big on Xbox Live for some small rewards. Microsoft has been fiddling around with its rewards program for quite some time but the biggest complaint is that the rewards are nickel and dime.

At least its latest rewards scheme for Xbox Live users ups the reward amounts - even if ever so slightly.

A mother in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) blames lax security at Microsoft after her 11-year-old son's Xbox Live account was hacked for $300 in fraudulent charges for in-game content. Jennifer Stubbs of Toronto said an unknown hacker charged the FIFA 13 Ultimate in-game buys to her credit card.

"I wasn't aware that these purchases were happening," she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. "Someone had gone into our device remotely."

Microsoft's Major Nelson points out that a number of entertainment apps and options will be deployed on Xbox Live this week.

Whatever your thoughts are on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, many young immigrants are taking advantage of the opportunity to go from illegal to legal residency status. However, some are finding the requirement to show proof of residency since 2007 a little tough. Take for example the story of Jose Muñoz.

Hackers have targeted an undisclosed number of "high-profile" Xbox LIVE accounts owned by current and former Microsoft employees, according to GII. The hacks are somehow tied to individuals gathering social security numbers.

Microsoft, who is not all that good at adding free-to-play games to its Xbox Live service for Xbox 360 (there are only a couple at this point), is probably happy that it allowed the free-to-play and kid-friendly MOBA game Happy Wars to launch on the platform in October of last year. As of today the game has been downloaded over 2 million times, according to maker Toylogic. While the game is completely free to download and play, players can purchase "Happy tickets" with real money to upgrade equipment and buy vanity items.

Update: We didn't have to wait long to hear Vblank Entertainment's thoughts on WiiWare. Speaking to Nintendo Life exclusively in an interview to be published in full over the weekend, Brian Provinciano called the WiiWare release a $20,000 gift to Wii fans. He asks everyone to go buy it so he can recoup some of those costs.

Microsoft announced that worldwide sales of its Kinect motion sensing peripheral have hit 24 million, matching sales of the original Xbox system and outpacing the 21.7 million GameCube's sold by Nintendo. The company also said that it has sold 76 million Xbox 360 systems worldwide to-date.

Microsoft's next Xbox system will use Blu-Ray and will require users to be always connected to Xbox Live, according to an Edge report citing sources with "first-hand experience."

The new raft of rumors are an echo of an older rumor post by VG247 back in April 2012 - also citing anonymous sources close to the company.

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.

It looks like those indie and professional game developers that like Microsoft's cross-platform XNA development platform will no longer be supported. An internal Microsoft email reveals that XNA Game Studio is basically dead. The email reveals that Microsoft plans to "retire" XNA and DirectX from its 'MVP Award Program' - a reward initiative for developers who wish to become evangelists for various technologies.

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.

If you don't care too much for those ads on Xbox Live.. well too bad, because more are coming, according to Microsoft. Apparently taking a page from Hulu Plus where subscribers who pay a monthly subscription are still forced to watch ads, Microsoft says that the first wave of NUads (or "natural user-interface ads"), which were deployed in the fourth quarter of 2012, were "highly successful" and that it plans to put additional investment in the space.

According to this Reddit thread the top Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Xbox Live player in the country has reset his stats after a continual barrage of DDoS and personal attacks from people being categorized as "jealous players." The player, who plays online under the name "Retrominano," decided that it was easier to just reset his rankings in the game than to deal with the onslaught of personal attacks and attacks on his connection.

A number of Activision's James Bond games have disappeared from Valve software's Steam digital distribution platform, Xbox 360's Games on Demand service and Activision's own store, according to GameSpot.

Alex Garden, General Manager of Xbox Live at Microsoft, announced that people who were adversely affected by recent problems with saving their games via the Xbox Live cloud will get some hefty compensation. In a message delivered through Major Nelson's Blog, Garden thanked everyone who were impacted by problems with the Cloud Saved Games service for their patience. Anyone who lost access to game saves for a "couple of hours" or a "couple of days" will be compensated in the following way:

Just a friendly public service announcement: you can get the first episode of The Walking Dead game on Xbox Live and for iOS devices right now for free. While many claim the free episode of the game will be available until the beginning of the new year, it is probably best to download the game while it's available for sure. Why take chances, right?

The Walking Dead has already won numerous awards for creating a classic adventure game with an intense narrative from the popular comic book series and television series.

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.

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.