Microsoft announced today that it has acquired the Gears of War brand from Epic Games, who have been responsible for the development of the games.

Recently, Microsoft Japan’s Takeshi Sensui spoke to Famitsu magazine about the future of Xbox One in Japan.

Jason Holtman, a Valve veteran that helped shape the company’s Steam service for a number of years, has joined Microsoft.

Microsoft have reported reversed their decision regarding publishing restrictions on the Xbox One.

Xbox head Don Mattrick has parted ways with Microsoft to join game publisher Zynga.

One company missing from the list is Level-5. They had their own event in 2011, but attended Tokyo Game Show with a big Fantasy Life display in 2012.

Xbox One will also be region free. This is a step forward since the Xbox 360 is region locked, but publishers can choose to make a game region free or not.

Xbox One takes a cue from Windows 8′s “snap” feature too. You can snap windows to watch a movie and run Internet Explorer at the same time. Xbox One supports Skype and group video chatting too.

A next generation Xbox will be revealed on May 21st, Microsoft have hinted via an invite sent to press.

One million hours is a lot of video game time. Microsoft is putting out an incentive to get Japanese gamers to spend it with Xbox 360 instead of other hardware.

Microsoft might be adding more services to Xbox 360 like Xbox Sports, Xbox Fitness, and Xbox Now in the future.

Phil Harrison, formerly of Sony Computer Entertainment and Atari, has reportedly joined Microsoft Game Studios Europe.

Dubbed XGirl, the project had a virtual girl who would react to different controller inputs.

Kinect games from Japanese studios like Project Draco and Haunt are notably missing.

Also see pitches for a Sega game and a Microsoft, perhaps Fable, title.

Ceramic artist and part time social critic Grayson Perry created an elaborate tapestry with personified corporations. Surprisingly, Perry’s work also covered the main three console manufacturers, so I snapped a few photos of the piece from a recent art show.