Yesterday was Microsoft's big reveal of their next home cable box, er, console. Introducing: Xbox One.

Each unit will ship with a new version of Kinect -- this one can even track your pulse by monitoring the change of pigmentation in your face. It's like the biorhythm ear-clip for the Japanese-only release of Tetris 64, only all the time for everything!

Stephen Spielberg is involved in a live-action Halo TV series. The big question: Will Master Chief be more Captain Quint, or Peter Panning?

Microsoft also announced a partnership with the National Football League, prompting this slightly awkward conversation between President Don Mattrick and NFL Commish Roger Goodell. If your idea of fantasy isn't Skyrim but picking Drew Brees over Peyon Manning, this is good news.

Xbox One will also play games.

And Sony counterpunches with this teaser video of their next console, the PS4. The good news: We finally see the system itself! The bad news: We need to make an optometrist appointment for our collective near-sightedness.

Lest they be forgotten, Nintendo's deploying some serious counter-programming: Behold, the world's first crowd-sourced flatulence.

And for all you PC enthusiasts uninterested in locked-down living room boxes: Less than 48 hours remain for Jagged Alliance fans to help fund Full Control's Flashback reboot. Javiar O'Neill tempts and teases below; if you like what you see, show your support.

Feel free to remain optimistic and kind.

We are just a few weeks from E3, the biggest video game conference in the western hemisphere. Now indie developers will have more opportunities to show their wares at the Tokyo Game Show, the biggest in the east.

One of the most acclaimed and feature-packed games of 2013 so far, Fire Emblem: Awakening, has one conspicuous absence: feet. Every character model's legs ends at the ankles. Turns out they didn't need much else, as Popular Science reconsiders the usefulness of toes.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem featured a mechanic called Sanity Effects: the more scared your character became, the less things made sense both to your avatar and to the player herself. Life imitates art with Denis Dyack's video response to Kotaku's report of his time at Silicon Knights. They called his work there irresponsible and immoral; he defends himself and his team with verve. I don't know what's real anymore. Watch and make up your own mind.

By the time you read this, Yahoo will have most likely bought Tumblr for over $1 billion. The fate of a thousand videogame-related blogs like this one are now in the hands of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer. Be gentle.

Last weekend's Nintendo Direct announced an exclusivity deal with Sega on the next slate of Sonic games. (Which is a big deal to our 12-year-old selves, circa 1992.)

But the real treat came when the release of the latest Iwata Asks interview on Game & Wario, the next first-party Nintendo game coming to Wii U. Ever wanted to tickle a baby's feet without the messy complications of child labor? On June 23rd (in North America) or June 28th (in Europe), you can. 

Alas, today is your last day of not knowing any confirmed official details about the next Xbox. Revel in this ignorance. Half-truths and suspect promises are so less fulfilling than provocative rumor. Major Nelson (Microsoft's Larry Hryb) has been tweeting pictures all week leading up to the big event. Here's a look at the tent where things will happen tomorrow. The Hype Train has officially run out of coal.

And finally, if you love beautiful hand-drawn 2D fighters, Arc System Works revealed their latest most beautiful hand-drawn 2D fighter, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-. We don't know how to say it, either. But it sure looks, um, beautiful!

It's been an amazing year, Momo.

“Basically, I am convinced that not only are there no “major” or “minor” writers, but writers themselves do not exist—or at least they do not count for much.” –Italo Calvino. Can we say the same about game makers? 

Just in time for (and as a protest against?) Homeland Security’s actions against Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, we have the Bitcoin Bundle. Including Spirits!

Maybe the answer to annoying online gadflies is experimental behavioral therapy. At least, it’s working for League of Legends.

NYU game designer Eric Zimmerman takes us all to game dev school. And there won’t even be a overhanging student loan to pay. 

I say fanfic has been the domain of Cloud and Sephiroth too long. It’s about damn time we got Stephen Curry fanfic. 

Not that excited for Sony’s sloth-speed presentation nor Microsoft’s reinvigorated focus on unnecessary Xbox apps? Horizon may be the alternative E3 conference for you. 

From earlier this week, but this weekend is as good a time as any to catch up on Deadspin’s long-form feature on the National School Scrabble Championship.

Grand Turismo 6 is coming this fall for, huh, the PlayStation 3? But a PlayStation 4 version might not be too far behind. 

Telltale Games tells all about The Wolf Among Us, their next project after the ultra-successful The Walking Dead games. Who needs ethics and zombies when you can have noir pigs smoking cigarettes?

True story. There is a Raiden machine at a gas station not-so-nearby, where they also sell belt buckles. The screen is blurry. Only the player 2 joystick works. Now that it’s on PC and MAC, it’s going to be a lot harder to make the drive.

See ya next week!

Tim Schafer was good enough to speak at our first-ever conference last weekend. If you haven't played the fruits of his teams' labor at Double Fine yet, this week's Humble Bundle is for you. Just added: eight crazy prototypes for upcoming games. Play the future today!

Metro: Last Light's development had as treacherous a back-story as the game's protagonist. Read ex-THQ president Jason Rubin's take on the startling conditions weathered by developers 4A.

We are less than a week away from Microsoft's big Xbox reveal event. Lather up your eyeballs in preparation with the new Twitch.tv app on Xbox 360. Don't forget to rinse.

Speaking of announcements: To celebrate Jimmy Fallon's eventual move to The Tonight Show, Nintendo sent the late-night games evangelist his very own cake. Can't wait to hear the corresponding Thank You note.

Time was, only in games would we see our world through a stream of real-time data. Prepare for the HUD of the future as Bill Wasik at WIRED describes all those tiny computers that will shape the way we interact with our surroundings.

Spry Fox, makers of Triple Town and Leap Day, have announced a new project with a decidedly Frostian bent: Road Not Taken. The roguelike puzzle game looks to have more divergent paths than a yellow wood.

At Google's annual I/O developer conference yesterday, they announced Google Play will finally have a cohesive gaming environment similar to Apple's Gamecenter. Just in time for the Android Platform Deluge of 2013.

Indie Game: The Movie was an intriguing portrayal of indie game creation, but it shed light on only one microcosm of the whole. Video Game: The Movie aims for the whole enchilada. If you think they've got the right stuff, throw 'em some bones.

Don't forget the sour cream.