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.

Hey kids!  Do you have absolutely nothing better to do this month than play Halo 4 every day for hours on end?

If so, Xbox Live's "Halo 4 Combat Tour Offer" might be right up your alley!

This month, you can earn Microsoft points by playing Halo 4 in multiplayer mode.

Last week, GameSpot reported that Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill and 343 Industries head Bonnie Ross had said "there is zero tolerance for Xbox Live players who are found to be making sexist or discriminatory comments against others, with a lifetime ban from the network as penalty."

According to Destructoid, that's not exactly the case.

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.

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.

While Xbox Live users have once again said that President Barack Obama won the third and final debate on foreign policy, most Americans are just glad that they are finally over. While noting that point, let's look at the numbers from the latest series of Xbox Live flash polls and surveys taken by Microsoft during their live stream of the debate last night.

Microsoft announced that it has sold 70 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide since it launched in November of 2005. The news was part of the company's first quarter 2013 financial results (July 2012 - Sept. 2012), which saw the Xbox division post total revenue of $1.95 billion, down 1 percent from the same period a year ago. During the quarter, Microsoft sold 1.7 million Xbox 360 consoles worldwide, down 600,000 units (29 percent) from the same period a year ago. Microsoft also said that Xbox Live gold memberships were up now at 40 million.

Microsoft's latest Xbox Live update may add Internet Explorer browser support, but it also gets rid of both the Facebook and Twitter apps that subscribers have been using since they were introduced almost three years ago. Apparently Microsoft ditched these apps to encourage users to make their way to these popular social networking services through IE.

Xbox Live's Larry Hryb released data from last night's polling on Xbox Live from those who watched the Presidential Debate through the service. Hyrb said that more than 100,000 Xbox LIVE members watched the second presidential debate online, and responded to approximately 70 polling questions in "real time." Viewers offered over 2,000,000 individual responses to poll questions, with most poll questions averaging 35,000 to 40,000 respondents per question.

Microsoft has begun rolling out a new update to Xbox Live today that will add a plethora of new features and a better user interface, according to a post from Xbox Live's Larry Hyrb.

Larry Hryb, also known Xbox LIVE's Major Nelson, released the results of last night's flash polling during the Vice Presidential debate between Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) and Vice President Joe Biden (D). Hyrb claims that during the live stream of the debate on Xbox Live there were 800,000 responses to poll questions and that the level of engagement among users was "extremely high" with 30,000 responses to each question posed.

While Microsoft's presidential debate live stream had a lot of problems, apparently they were able to glean some data from the event. An Xbox Spokesperson tells IGN that Mitt Romney was declared the winner of the debate by the Xbox Live audience.

While some might still be arguing over who won or lost last night's first presidential debate showdown in Denver Colorado last night (Fox, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS pundits all agree President Obama had a bad night), Kotaku points out the biggest loser at last night's debate was Xbox Live. You may recall that Microsoft had been pushing live streaming coverage of the debate last night, along with interactive real-time reactions from fans.

Free-to-play online games are non-existent on Xbox Live Arcade, but one of the very first is about to make its debut on Microsoft's platform next week. This is an important milestone because Sony - mostly through its subsidiary Sony Online Entertainment - has been offering several free-to-play games via the PlayStation Network.

That first Xbox Live Arcade free-to-play title is called Happy Wars and is being developed by Tokyo, Japan-based game developer Toylogic. The game will be available to all Xbox Live Gold member account holders for free beginning October 12.

Popular porn destination YouPorn (NSFW) declared today that it will soon be on the Xbox 360 thanks to the introduction of Internet Explorer on Xbox Live later this year. Of course every other website will be accessible via Internet Explorer too - most notably GamePolitics - but you probably already knew that.

EA Sports officially announced this week that its next NBA game, NBA Live 13, would not be released this fall. Commenting about it on the game's official website, EA Sports executive vice president Andrew Wilson said that the studio made the decision to cancel this fall's NBA game after several recent builds proved to be "less-than-acceptable."

Microsoft has hired former CBS Network Television Entertainment Group president Nancy Tellen to manage its digital entertainment properties. In her new role of president of Entertainment & Digital Media, Tellen will be in charge of launching "a newly created production studio in Los Angeles that will developer interactive and linear content for Xbox and other devices."

Robert Boyd of Zeboyd Games says that Microsoft should simply merge Xbox Live Arcade titles with Xbox Live Indie Games. Boyd is helping Penny Arcade develop their latest RPG, On The Rain-Slick Precipice Of Darkness 3.

Another day, another milestone for a Minecraft game. According to a tweet from Mojang's business developer Daniel Kaplan the Xbox Live Edition of the popular world-building game has set a new sales record.

"I really love that Im back at work! And I was really surprised to see that 3.6 million people have now purchased Minecraft for Xbox. WOW! <3"

While Sony has had no problems bringing free-to-play games like Free Realms and DC Universe Online to the PlayStation Network, Microsoft has been very cautious in allowing online games (let alone free ones) onto Xbox Live. That is about to change when it launches ToyLogic's Happy Wars in the fall.

Happy Wars is described as a multiplayer combat game that will be free for Gold members to download and play. Being a free-to-play title, Happy Wars will also include in-game transactions so you can by various extras to enhance the gameplay.