According to Amazon’s director of U.S. video games and software John Love:

“We were thrilled by the unprecedented demand we saw for Xbox One today. In the first four hours of preorder availability, we sold through most of our Xbox One Day One Edition inventory. Customers eager to get an Xbox One should visit our store at Amazon.com/xboxone to ensure they keep up-to-date on the latest information. We are excited to be working with Microsoft to deliver the next generation of games and entertainment.”

Amazon has also warned PlayStation 4 users that preorders have been high enough that not all users will get their PS4′s on launch day.

Wargaming has announced World of Tanks for the Xbox 360 at E3 2013. It’s free-to-play (well, you need an Xbox Live Gold account.)

Players can sign up for the beta here.

LeBron James is the new cover athlete for NBA 2K14, and he interviews his digital self in this trailer.

NBA 2K14 is coming out on PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Wii U.

Rayman Legends gets Epic in this new E3 trailer, as Barbara, Rayman and their friends fight against bad guys and huge bosses such as the Giant Boss Toad and The Ocean Red Dragon.

The game will be released later this year for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii U.

The first multiplatform game by Insomniac Games, Fuse, is now available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. But is it any good?

While Jonah Falcon is at E3 2013, this week is an Outtakes podcast, started with a Dr. Who discussion, ended by a Game of Thrones “Red Wedding” discussion, and outtakes in between.

Listen in on the player below, download it directly here, or subscribe to iTunes!

Max Rockatansky returns in Mad Max, a game for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in 2014.

Namco Bandai has announced that Tekken Revolution will be released this Tuesday, June 11.

Choose from an initial cast of eight iconic TEKKEN characters to train and battle against AI opponents in Arcade Mode or take on fearsome human rivals spanning the globe through online Ranked and Player Matches. The game also features new bone-crunching Special Arts and Critical Arts moves designed to help newcomers deliver hard-hitting attacks and advanced players to employ new strategies with their favorite fighters. For the first time in TEKKEN history players will be able to level-up their characters, increasing three key attributes; Strength, Endurance and Vigor, to create a combatant tuned to individual play styles. Develop a defensive tank character with high HP to withstand knockout blows while offense focused players can create a damage-inflicting character with low health but high critical hit rates to devastate opponents with a flurry of attacks.

Tekken Revolution will be released only on the PlayStation 3.

In order to answer those burning questions, Microsoft decided not to wait for E3, but instead put up some official websites:

The online requirements are detailed here, licensing is explained here.

Gamers looked at the news, on an official Microsoft site, and did not take kindly to it:

“While a persistent connection is not required, Xbox One is designed to verify if system, application or game updates are needed and to see if you have acquired new games, or resold, traded in, or given your game to a friend. Games that are designed to take advantage of the cloud may require a connection.

With Xbox One you can game offline for up to 24 hours on your primary console, or one hour if you are logged on to a separate console accessing your library.”

So the Xbox One doesn’t need to be connected to the Internet ALL THE TIME, it does however need to phone home once every 24 hours. Unless you’re playing via your profile on a friend’s computer, at which point it phones home every hour.

What happens if the box can’t connect back to Microsoft, or your cell phone can’t dial?

“Offline gaming is not possible after these prescribed times until you re-establish a connection, but you can still watch live TV and enjoy Blu-ray and DVD movies.”

Well that’s good! How generous of Microsoft to allow me to watch television on my, you know, television.

We saw the reaction gamers had to the persistent connections for Sim City and while this is not a continual connection, that’s going to be cold comfort to people who get locked out of their games. Plus, as we have seen with other various online DRM connections, the signal can fail through no fault of the user. If Microsoft’s servers become unavailable or unreachable for more than 24 hours, gamers will be locked out of all games on the the console they paid for.

Looking at the licensing page, there’s a mix of good and bad news:

First, the good news, Your games are now installed from disc and stored on the Xbox One hard drive and in the Cloud. This allows you to log on to a friends Xbox One and access your own games. You can also share your games on your Xbox One with anyone in your household and up to 9 family members.

So that sounds encouraging! But…

“Give your games to friends: Xbox One is designed so game publishers can enable you to give your disc-based games to your friends. There are no fees charged as part of these transfers. There are two requirements: you can only give them to people who have been on your friends list for at least 30 days and each game can only be given once.”

So, if I have a game that I enjoyed, I can give it to a friend (assuming they’ve been my friend for 30 days or more) and they can install it and play it. At that point it’s removed from my library and I can’t play it anymore (that’s what the once per day or once per hour connection is required for.) But I can’t convince a friend to buy a game by loaning it to them. If I give them a game and they install it then it’s done. They can’t give it back to me and they can’t give it to anyone else. It’s a one time transfer.

Now, when it comes to reselling games, Microsoft is allowing people to re-sell games at authorized retailers. Your license will be revoked and it will be re-issued to the new buyer at no additional charge.

At launch Microsoft has stated that both lending and renting games will be impossible. That’s a feature they may add later, or they may leave up to individual publishers.

“In our role as a game publisher, Microsoft Studios will enable you to give your games to friends or trade in your Xbox One games at participating retailers. Third party publishers may opt in or out of supporting game resale and may set up business terms or transfer fees with retailers. Microsoft does not receive any compensation as part of this. In addition, third party publishers can enable you to give games to friends. Loaning or renting games won’t be available at launch, but we are exploring the possibilities with our partners.

As we move into this new generation of games and entertainment, from time to time, Microsoft may change its policies, terms, products and services to reflect modifications and improvements to our services, feedback from customers and our business partners or changes in our business priorities and business models or for other reasons. We may also cease to offer certain services or products for similar reasons.”

And there’s the rub… with one hand they give and with the other hand they take away. At any time in the future Microsoft can pull the plug and your brand new gaming console will be just another hunk of plastic and metal.

Reaction from gaming fans on the Internet was predictable and swift. Social sites like Reddit and Facebook were filled with critical remarks.

If the rumors are true, Microsoft’s counter reaction is less than ethical:

Reddit user “mistysilver” posted that they are a marketer working for Microsoft and saw, during a recent meeting, Microsoft employees being paid to write positive Xbox One comments on Reddit along with upvoting other positive comments and down-voting negative ones.

The original thread can be found here, though it now seems to have been laid waste as users have deleted their comments.

Before everything was deleted, mistysilver stated:

“I noticed he was mass-downvoting a ton of posts and comments, and he kept switching to other tabs to make posts and comments of his own. I couldn’t make out exactly what he was posting, but I presumed he was doing RM (reputation management) and asked my boss about it later. According to my boss, MS have[sic] just brought in a huge sweep of SMM managers to handle reputation management for the Xbox One.”

So, this may seem to be a giant PR disaster, just before E3. Instead of stepping back, taking a deep breath and making things better, Microsoft seems bent at this point at doubling down.

A user on the site NeoGaf is reporting that Microsoft is paying off publishers to hide PlayStation 4 copies of their games at the industries largest annual trade show. Apparently the only way for the Xbox One to look good by comparison is if there is no comparison. The original NeoGAF thread can be found here.

So what does all this mean?

The long and short of it is that Microsoft is moving into the next generation by making moves that are increasingly unpopular with a large segment of the gaming public and instead of admitting their errors, reversing them and saying “We are listening to you”, Microsoft instead is compounding error upon error in a way not seen since Ocean Marketing.

Next week, Microsoft still has the opportunity to reverse themselves in a humorous way and tell everyone “Yeah, none of that is true, we just thought Sony needed a little help with their advertising campaign, here’s what we’re actually going to do…”

Anything less than that will be conceding the next generation to the PlayStation 4. (Unless, of course, Sony has the same policies and have let Microsoft be the stalking horse. After all, there’s no way third party publishers would allow two different game policies on the consoles.)

Ben Yahtzee Croshaw checks out the next gen consoles, and hates all of them.

Remember when the Nazis exploded the first atomic bomb and landed on the moon? No? Well, Wolfenstein: The New Order shows off what could have happened – and actually does in the game – in this E3 2013 trailer.

No Gaming Flashback, but news includes:

• Pachter predicts $349 for PS4, $399 for Xbox One
• World of Warcraft movie ‘begins shooting‘ in Q1 2014
• Robert Bowling’s Robotoki raided by LAPD, mistake COD figure as armed intruder
• Documentary seeks to unearth 3.5M E.T. cartridges from landfill
• Oculus Rift developer Andrew Scott Reisse, 33, killed as bystander in police chase
• Shadow of the Eternals Kickstarter fundraising struggling

All that and Listener Feedback.

Listen in on the player below, download it directly here, or subscribe to iTunes!

According to Blizzard:

“The console versions of Diablo III have been custom-tailored for gamepad-driven action, with a dynamic camera perspective that puts your hero front and center, as well as an all-new user interface and an intuitive control system that make vanquishing evil feel like second nature. Players can take on the vile denizens of the Burning Hells alone or in a party of up to four via same-screen local cooperative play or online over PlayStation® Network or the Xbox Live online entertainment network from Microsoft. In addition, the game supports parties composed of both local and online players. Once gamers experience the rush of Diablo III’s unique brand of hack-and-slash gameplay from the comfort of their couch, Sanctuary will never be the same.”

Gamers who preorder either the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version will be granted a special bonus item, the Infernal Helm, which will grant an XP boost to its wearer.

Click “Read more…” for the full press release.

DIABLO^® III UNLEASHES HELL IN YOUR LIVING ROOM ON SEPTEMBER 3

Legendary action-RPG series coming to PlayStation^® 3 and Xbox 360

Reserve your copy now to receive exclusive in-game Infernal Helm; select retailers offering additional preorder bonuses

IRVINE, Calif.—June 6, 2013—A new legion of heroes will soon rise up and take a stand against the Lord of Terror. On September 3, Diablo^® III will make its console debut on the Sony PlayStation® 3 computer entertainment system and the Xbox 360® games and entertainment system from Microsoft in the U.S., Canada, Spanish-speaking Latin America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

In preparation for the upcoming launch, select retailers in these regions are now taking preorders for the PS3^™ and Xbox 360 versions of the game, which will be available at a suggested retail price of $59.99. Both console versions of Diablo III will be fully localized in English, German, French, Latin American Spanish, European Spanish, Russian, Italian, Polish, and Brazilian Portuguese. Further release details, including retail availability in Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia, will be announced at a later date.

The console versions of Diablo III have been custom-tailored for gamepad-driven action, with a dynamic camera perspective that puts your hero front and center, as well as an all-new user interface and an intuitive control system that make vanquishing evil feel like second nature. Players can take on the vile denizens of the Burning Hells alone or in a party of up to four via same-screen local cooperative play or online over PlayStation^® Network^™ or the Xbox Live^® online entertainment network from Microsoft. In addition, the game supports parties composed of both local and online players. Once gamers experience the rush of Diablo III’s unique brand of hack-and-slash gameplay from the comfort of their couch, Sanctuary will never be the same.

Players who preorder either console version of Diablo III will receive an exclusive in-game item: the Infernal Helm, which grants an experience point boost to any character who wears it, accelerating their progression as they rise in power. Certain retailers will also offer limited-edition preorder bonuses—check with your local retailer for further information.

“Playing Diablo III on a big screen with your friends brings a whole new level of intensity to the game, and with all of the control and interface adaptations we’ve made, it’s extremely fun to play on PS3^™ and Xbox 360,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “In addition to the fine-tuning we’ve done for the console versions, we’re also including major content and design updates we’ve made to the PC version over the past year, so players can expect an epic Diablo gaming experience when the PS3^™ and Xbox 360 versions launch in September.”

In Diablo III, players take on the role of one of five heroic characters—barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk, or demon hunter—and embark on a perilous quest to save the world of Sanctuary from the corrupting forces of the Burning Hells. As players make their way from the demon-besieged town of New Tristram to the Diamond Gates of the High Heavens, they’ll engage in pulse-pounding combat with hordes of monsters and challenging bosses, grow in experience and ability, acquire artifacts of incredible power, and meet key characters who’ll join them in battle or aid them along the way.

Diablo III was originally released for Windows^® and Macintosh^® PC on May 15, 2012 and within 24 hours became the fastest-selling PC game of all time. As of December 31, 2012, Diablo III had sold through more than 12 million copies worldwide.^* To learn more about Diablo III, including a list of participating retailers, please visit the official website at http://www.diablo3.com.

The boys are back in town, and will be at E3 2013. Check out the latest trailer for South Park: The Stick of Truth.

Microsoft has announced that 343 Industries and Vanguard have collaborated to make a Windows 8 OS and device twin-stick shooter starring Master Chief, Halo: Spartan Assault. The game will be a keyboard-mouse title for Windows 8 PC’s, and a touch screen controlled game on Windows 8 Phone.

The game will feature online leaderboards, weekly challenges, and connectivity rewards with Halo 4. For example, Halo 4 gamers will be given new Spartan emblems for owning Halo: Spartan Assault. Also, the game comes with a three-part prequel comic series called Halo: Initiation.

Halo: Spartan Assault comes out in July.