Apparently, Microsoft has serious reason for concern when it comes to Xbox Live. Microsoft has just rolled out its first most likely of many conditions required to update your Xbox 360 Live edition. Yes, it has new voice and gesture controls, but you may have to sign a new contract with an updated terms of service.

This contract now has a few clause that requires you to sign away your right to sue the company for any reason related to Xbox live. Should something unexpected to happen to your Xbox or the Xbox Live service, you are on your own.

The gist is to protect Microsoft from frivolous suits. However, we have our doubts, the contract would also protect Microsoft from legitimate suits with real potential issues. You cannot enter into any class action suit. So why all the red tape?

Because Microsoft has been sued before. The company is no stranger to consumer lawsuits in relation to the Xbox 360, and the “red ring of death” was one of the most famous problems. The “red ring of death” killed thousands of Xboxes, and Microsoft had to extend the warranty and replace a lot of consoles. Our question would be, why not take the extra time to just make the program right the first time around?

Sony actually preempted them, writing a similar clause in the Playstation Network terms of service to prevent class action lawsuits. However, even though consumers are technically signing, Sony has still faced legal challenges to that program.

Electronic Arts has also already taken steps to prevent lawsuits with the “no sue” clause in their terms of service.

We find this kind of policy to be absolutely reasonable. It’s not hard to see why companies are doing what they are doing. A lot of us would do the same thing were we in their position. However, we do think that this kind of method discourages better technology, better innovations, and company responsibility.

As the market progresses, rumor has it that the newest Xbox 360 to be introduced will come with a lip reading Kinect for an even greater user experience. Whether it will be coming in the next few months, the next year, or a few years from now, we can’t be sure. However, the rumors keep rolling in for a radically different model.

Via a development source, Eurogamer reports that a new and improved Kinect is being designed and developed specifically to red lips, which would be an impressive feature, if of course it could read regular lip movements. Of course, we did hear about the Kinect also reading lips in the future, which didn’t end up panning out, but we still hope for the best.

According to the latest reports, this new Kinect will be able to recognize individual voices, which would also be a substantial improvement. According to the secret developer, it will even be able to detect which direction the player is facing and the player’s emotions based on facial expressions and movements as well as the volume and pitch of the player’s voice.

Of course, other reports have stated that the game console’s accuracy is limited and it may not be nearly as comprehensive as we might hope for. However, even small improvements may blow away eager consumers who are looking for the biggest and latest innovations in the Xbox.

Hopeful critics state that this new Xbox 360 may be released as early as 2012 while others suggest that it may not be until 2014 that we see this particular model. According to Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, the rumors about 2012 are “silly”, stating “I think the rumors are based upon leaks about modifying the current Xbox 360 to allow it to operate Windows 8.”

He further adds, “I fully expect a new model of Xbox 360 by holiday 2012, but don’t think we’ll see a new console altogether from Microsoft until 2014.”

It’s every nerd’s dream: to become a video game tester, and there are multiple companies online that say that if you pay this nominal fee, they will hook you up with companies who will pay you or at least not charge you to test out their video games. The closest I’ve ever gotten was at Universal Studios when they let park visitors try out a new video game to see how it went over.

You still paid to get in, and they didn’t pay you anything, it was just thought of as a good experience for being there that day.

However, if you want to do it regularly, that’s a different story. Usually, game testers have been real gamers for most of their lives or at least quite a few years, and they spend a lot of hours, as you might, playing a variety of different video games, especially on consoles like the Xbox 360.

The truth is that game designers rarely publish or advertise online using special agencies that recruit for them. So technically, while most of these companies that claim to be the go between are scams, there are legitimate ones.

When you find a legitimate company, they will send you vacancies, and there is a good chance that none of those vacancies will be in your area, meaning you would have to travel (if you have the money to get started). You would have to weigh the costs against what you are actually going to make and if it’s worth it.

However, if you are patient, there are vacancies that will appear in your area, if you live in a fairly populated area that is. After that, you send a resume, and interviewers will decide if you fit their criteria and will call you in for an interview if they think that you do.

At first, most will use you on a trial basis or sometimes just for on call or part time work. However, if you are good enough, most will take you on as a full time gamer. The income is not necessarily huge, but most would consider it decent.

Is this for everybody? Absolutely not, just like any other job, it requires a certain amount of experience and dedication to what you do if you want it to last. However, if it is really your dream, you do have to take action to get what you want.

Xbox is doing really well in its online-capable games. Compared to competitors PS3 and Wii, from the start, Xbox 360 has always sold more. NPD Group started the study comparing the sales of the three before mentioned consoles, Xbox 360 was already ahead. As time passed by, the sales of each console grew. The difference between the Xbox 360 sales, and the sales of online capable games on the PS3 and the Wii, is that the Xbox 360 game sales are still steadily increasing.

The Wii’s online game sales peaked in 2008, and have since been on the decline. Playstation 3 online games are selling still, but have grown more and more stagnant, barely selling any more games each year. Xbox is still in the game and is taking out the competition with an iron fist.

Why is Xbox seeing so much success in the online sector, you might ask. As you very possibly already know, the online capacities and ability to play online-capable games on the Xbox costs a monthly fee. Gamers must find this cost completely worth it, because game sales continue to skyrocket. People just need their Halo, Call of Duty, and Grand Theft Auto.

Online video games give gamers the addicting and completely entrapping ability to play with and against other players, and even the chance to talk to them with the use of a microphone. This technology has been around for years, and wasn’t invented by the people at Xbox. So why is it the leading console? It must be the games. The better the games, the more people are going to be willing to buy the games and pay a monthly fee.

Xbox also does a good job of releasing a variety of different genres games, so that people of different interests can still find the Xbox fulfilling and worth buying.

When Microsoft unveiled Xbox Live in 2002, gamers got a taste of online multiplayer like they never had before. When the service was updated in 2005, the gaming world had their collective mind blown yet again. By far, one of the must lucrative gaming franchises on Xbox 360 is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

Now, Call of Duty could probably make a pretty big splash without the Live service, but honestly, it’s the part where you can play with millions of other people online that keeps the popularity going. The first Modern Warfare, Call of Duty 4, was pretty sweet and was well received, but it was nothing in comparision to Call of Duty(6): Modern Warfare 2. This game set the standard for excellence in video gaming: not only were the graphics beyond anything anyone had seen before; the gameplay was terrific, the guns cool and realistic, and the game sold 550 million copies in the first five days. That’s like every single person in the United States buying a copy and every single person in Mexico buying two. Needless to say, the game was a huge hit. Currently, there are about 11,000,000 Xbox Live accounts linked to Modern Warfare 2. That’s like every single person…you get the picture.

When Call of Duty(7): Modern Warfare 2: Black Ops (the naming thing is getting out of hand, admittedly) came out, the world went wild again. Black Ops is the only game that has beaten MW2′s sale record: $1 billion in six weeks. In 2011, the first glimpse (all audio, no video) of Call of Duty (8) Modern Warfare 3 was seen, er heard, and fans began saving their pennies yet again.

It’s curious: would the COD:MW series be as big a hit without multiplayer? Would hundreds of millions of people have bought into the game if they couldn’t fire RPGs at adolescents in Indonesia? Probably not. It’s a great game, no doubt about it, but you can only play the campaign so many dozens of times. Thanks to Microsoft’s genius, Xbox Live, games live Modern Warfare are going to stay popular for a long time.

Ubisoft is revamping one of its cult classics Beyond Good & Evil. It will be released through Xbox Live Arcade and will be revamped with full 1080p support, leaderboards and Achievements. If you did not play this when it was released in 2003, you are missing out, so here is your chance to play this gem before the 2nd installment comes out.