Xbox One executive leaving Microsoft for Farmville creator.

Update: Don Mattrick has left Microsoft and joined social gaming giant Zynga as its new CEO, the company has confirmed. The former president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business division and overseer of the upcoming Xbox One will join the Farmville developer on June 8, and will take a seat on the company's board, Zynga confirmed in a press release.

Mark Pincus and Don Mattrick.

Zynga founder and former CEO Mark Pincus will remain chairman of the board and chief product officer at the company. "Don is unique in the game business," said Pincus. "He can execute in multiple domains--hardware, software and network, and he's been the person responsible for game franchises like 'Need for Speed,' 'FIFA' and 'The Sims.' He's one of the top executives in the overall entertainment business and he's a great coach who has inspired people to do their best work and build strong, productive teams. He deeply understands the value of a network and the importance of creating lifelong consumer relationships. He turned Xbox into the world's largest console-gaming network, growing its installed base from 10 to 80 million and transformed that business from deep losses to substantial profits. And he has grown the Xbox Live player network from 6 to 50 million active members in 41 countries."

"I joined Zynga because I believe that [Pincus'] pioneering vision and mission to connect the world through games is just getting started," added Mattrick. "Zynga is a great business that has yet to realize its full potential."

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer responded to news of Mattrick's exit via an e-mail to all employees. "This is a great opportunity for Don, and I wish him success. Don’s directs will report to me and will continue to drive the day-to-day business as a team, particularly focused on shipping Xbox One this holiday."

"Thank you, Don, for setting us on a path to completely redefine the entertainment industry," continued Ballmer. "The strong leadership team at IEB and their teams are well positioned to deliver the next-generation entertainment console, as well as transformative entertainment experiences, long into the future."

Original Story: Xbox president Don Mattrick is leaving Microsoft and is close to taking the role of CEO at social gaming giant Zynga, All Things Digital reports.

Sources close to All Things Digital said the official announcement of Mattrick's appointment could be made as early as today, and that the executive has been in discussions with Zynga about the role for some time. The site adds that Mattrick has also been one of the front-runners to step into the currently vacant CEO position at EA.

As president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business department, Mattrick recently unveiled the Xbox One to the world at the company's May reveal of its next-generation console, but had to publicly change the console's heavily criticized policies after consumer backlash.

He joined Microsoft from EA in 2007.

Zynga, which is responsible for the social gaming title Farmville, has had a shaky time since it made the company public.

Microsoft was not immediately available for comment.

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Xbox One executive reported to be leaving Microsoft, with official announcement said to be arriving as early as today.

Xbox president Don Mattrick is leaving Microsoft and is close to taking the role of CEO at social gaming giant Zynga, All Things Digital reports.

Sources close to All Things Digital said the official announcement of Mattrick's appointment could be made as early as today, and that the executive has been in discussions with Zynga about the role for some time. The site adds that Mattrick has also been one of the front-runners to step into the currently vacant CEO position at EA.

As president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business department, Mattrick recently unveiled the Xbox One to the world at the company's May reveal of its next-generation console, but had to publicly change the console's heavily criticized policies after consumer backlash.

He joined Microsoft from EA in 2007.

Zynga, which is responsible for the social gaming title Farmville, has had a shaky time since it made the company public.

Microsoft was not immediately available for comment.

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BioShock Infinite fans still waiting on news about the game's single-player DLC.

BioShock Infinite developer Irrational Games will reveal new information on downloadable content for the game in late July, a representative for the developer has told Joystiq.

It is unclear whether the DLC will be the first in the three chapters of single-player content which has been promised as part of the game's season pass, or something more akin to the Columbia's Finest weapon pack that was recently released on Steam.

"Three all-new add-on packs are in development that will provide hours of additional gameplay and continue the player's journey in the sky-city of Columbia with new stories, characters, abilities and weapons," said 2K when it announced the BioShock Infinite season pass in February.

Speaking about the BioShock Infinite DLC, Irrational Games boss Ken Levine recently said, "Things are going well, but plz understand: game development takes time."

The DLC for BioShock Infinite is rumoured to introduce a new AI companion.

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Will be available once the 2.3 patch is released on the main servers.

Star Wars: The Old Republic will be adding an Ewok companion in the 2.3 patch, MMO site Dulfy (via Rock Paper Shotgun) reports.

The Ewok companion--called Treek--can be unlocked for the price of 1 million credits once a character is at Legacy level 40, reports Dulfy.

Treek uses heavy armour, and aim is her primary stat. She features both heal and tank stances.

Once the 2.3 patch is released on the main Star Wars: The Old Republic servers, players will be able to purchase Treek from a droid merchant in the Cartel Bazaar.

Dulfy also released a video of Treek explaining her backstory, which contains spoilers:

[ Watch Video ]

In May, EA said that its revenue from the Star Wars MMO had doubled since it went free-to-play.

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Halo 3 and Assassin's Creed II will be offered for free in the coming months.

Microsoft has announced that Defense Grid: The Awakening will be the next free title released as part of its freshly unveiled Games With Gold promotion.

Defense Grid: The Awakening will be available to Xbox Live Gold members for free from July 1 through July 15. Hidden Path Entertainment's tower Defense game was originally released on Xbox Live Arcade in September 2009, and is normally sold for 800 Microsoft points.

GameSpot awarded Defense Grid a rating of 8.0 in its review, saying that "this exceptionally balanced tower defense game will keep you coming back to fight off the alien invasion for just one more wave."

A new title will replace Defense Grid on July 16 for two weeks, with the Games With Gold campaign offering up a new game every two weeks.

Microsoft announced the Games With Gold promotion during its E3 2013 press conference, with the Xbox owner looking to set up a rival to Sony's similar PlayStation Plus service. Assassin's Creed II and Halo 3 will be coming to the service over the next few months.

Sony's PlayStation Plus service is currently offering the following games in Europe: Uncharted 3, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Little Big Planet Karting, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Classics HD, Demon's Souls, Catherine, Malicious, Lord of the Rings: War in the North, and The Cave.

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Naughty Dog's PS3 exclusive holds onto first, while Animal Crossing: New Leaf falls to third.

Naughty Dog's PS3-exclusive The Last of Us has scored its third week at the top of the UK chart.

The retail release of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition debuted this week at number two, the best-selling title having previously been available only digitally. Minecraft pushed Animal Crossing: New Leaf down to third.

FIFA 14 drops one place to fourth, followed by the debut of The Sims 3: Island Paradise on the PC. The expansion pack finished one place ahead of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 superhero adventure Deadpool, which landed sixth.

Tomb Raider is seventh, Black Ops II eighth, and Assassin's Creed III ninth.

The World War II-themed PC RTS Company of Heroes 2 launched in 10th, although that figure excludes digital sales.

The Top 20 UK chart for the week ending June 29:

1. The Last of Us
2. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
3. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
4. FIFA 13
5. The Sims 3: Island Paradise
6. Deadpool
7. Tomb Raider
8. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
9. Assassin's Creed III
10. Company of Heroes 2
11. Injustice: Gods Among Us
12. Far Cry 3
13. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
14. Need for Speed: Most Wanted
15. Luigi's Mansion 2
16. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
17. GRID 2
18. Dead Island: Riptide
19. Aliens: Colonial Marines
20. Grand Theft Auto IV

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The World Intellectual Property Organisation has ruled in favour of current domain holder; website first registered in 2004.

Nintendo has lost a claim with the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), following an attempt to take ownership of the WiiU.com domain name, according to a report by Fusible.

The current WiiU.com website. (Credit: CBS Interactive)

The case, which was filed by Nintendo of America in February this year, sought to turn over the privately held WiiU.com domain, which was originally registered in 2004; seven years before the announcement of the company's current game system in April 2011.

The verdict, which was handed down over the weekend, found in favour of the original website holder. While no information was provided on Nintendo“s options or intentions to appeal the decision, the company may yet elect to attempt to purchase the domain from its current owner in a private sale.

In May this year, Microsoft began proceedings with the National Arbitration Forum to claim ownership of the XboxOne.com and XboxOne.net domains, following the announcement of its upcoming next-generation home console. The two domains were originally registered in December 2011 and are currently held by a London resident.

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[UPDATE] Kenneth McCulloch charged with possession of child pornography after police seized "significant" number of computers during search; Precursor Games issues statement.

[UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, a Precursor Games representative issued a statement to GameSpot on the matter.

’We are deeply upset by this," reads a line from the statement. "Having just learned of these disturbing charges today and based on the serious nature of them, Kenneth McCulloch is no longer affiliated in any way with Precursor Games.’

The original story follows below.

Precursor Games developer Kenneth McCulloch, 42, has been arrested on child pornography charges, according to an official release from the Niagara Regional Police Service.

Company CEO Paul Caporicci confirmed on the Precursor Games forums that McCulloch is no longer associated--in any way--with the studio.

"Having just learned of these disturbing charges today and based on the serious nature of them, Ken McCulloch is no longer affiliated in any way with Precursor Games," he said.

Police executed a search warrant at McCulloch's St. Catharines, Ontario residence yesterday, seizing a "significant" number of computer systems and peripheral devices. The police began investigating McCulloch in April.

McCulloch is charged with one count each of possession of child pornography, making child pornography available, and accessing child pornography.

The investigation is ongoing, police said.

McCulloch was a founding member of Precursor Games and, prior to his arrest, was listed on the company's website as "Lore-keeper. World-Builder. Dream-merchant." His employee profile has since been removed from the site.

Precursor Games, staffed by many former Silicon Knights developers, is currently working on Shadow of the Eternals, a spiritual successor to Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem.

The company temporarily canceled the game's crowdfunding campaign earlier this month and has yet to disclose how or if the game will move forward.

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Microsoft product planning boss Albert Penello says consumers truly care about games and experiences above all else.

Xbox executive Albert Penello believes comparing systems specifications between Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is "in some ways meaningless."

"The problem is that Sony decided to go out and publish a bunch of numbers, which are in some ways meaningless," Penello told OXM. "Because this isn't like 1990, when it was 16-bit versus 32-bit."

He continued, "They actually go out and they talk about how proud they are about their off-the-shelf parts. Our guys'll say, we touched every single component in the box and everything there is tweaked for optimum performance."

Ultimately, Penello said he believes consumers will choose a console for the games it has, not for how it is described--technically--on paper.

"Here's what you care about," he said. "You bought a system to play great games and have great experiences," Penello said. "I feel like our games and experiences are going to be every bit as good, if not better, technically--on top of all the magic we're going to add with the instant switching, and the power of the cloud."

Penello said he would rather not even have the conversation about Xbox One vs. PS4 specifications because "it's not going to matter."

"I heard this exact same argument last generation and it's a pointless argument, because people are debating things which they don't know about. They're not [head silicon engineer] Nick Baker or [corporate vice president of IEB hardware Todd Holmdahl], and I'm not [lead PS4 architect] Mark Cerny, so why are we having this discussion?"

The Xbox One ($500) and the PS4 ($400) launch later this year.

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In-game dispute led to Facebook comments from 18-year-old referencing school shooting.

A Texas teenager has been jailed since March 27 over comments he made on Facebook after playing a League of Legends match. In February, an argument 18-year-old Justin Carter had with another League of Legends player spilled onto Facebook, where Carter made a comment referencing a school shooting.

’Someone had said something to the effect of 'Oh you're insane, you're crazy, you're messed up in the head,’" his father Jack Carter told Texas news station KVUE. "To which he replied 'Oh yeah, I'm real messed up in the head, I'm going to go shoot up a school full of kids and eat their still, beating hearts,’ and the next two lines were lol and JK."

Jack Carter said a woman from Canada saw the posting, did a Google search for his addresses and when she noticed he lived near a school, called the police. Justin Carter was later arrested and charged with making a terrorist threat.

Justin Carter faces eight years in prison, his father said, arguing that his son's comments were sarcastic. ’These people are serious. They really want my son to go away to jail for a sarcastic comment that he made," Jack Carter said.

Justin Carter's comments came just months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where 20 children and six adults were killed. Jack Carter said his son did not pay much attention to current events.

’Justin was the kind of kid who didn't read the newspaper. He didn't watch television. He wasn't aware of current events. These kids, they don't realize what they're doing. They don't understand the implications," Jack Carter said. "They don't understand public space."

Family and friends have launched an online petition asking for Justin Carter's release and a rollback of certain anti-terrorism laws and investigatory practices.

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