EA Sports' official NBA Live social media accounts sprang to life as recently as May 17 after being on hiatus since late September 2012. A recent tweet from the NBA Live team's Twitter account indicates that the game may be part of today's Xbox presentation, teasing fans with the words "Countdown to tip-off."

It wouldn't be far-fetched to believe NBA Live will have a presence at today's event, given the expectation that both FIFA and EA Sports UFC will be shown, or at least teased in some capacity. NBA Live was also listed among the publisher's 11 games planned for fiscal 2014, and will be a next-gen title. This comes after NBA Live 13 was canceled in September 2012, two years after NBA Elite 11 was also canceled and the same point at which the NBA Live team's social media accounts stopped updating. That brings us full-circle, like a basketball.

The Xbox 360 accrued an arguably bad reputation in terms of indie games publishing over the past few years. Many vocal observers – players, mostly – saw Xbox Live Arcade as a closed, unsupportive platform that asked developers for thousands of dollars to update their own games, and Xbox Live Indie Games was a stagnant hole filled with Minecraft clones and zombie games.

Microsoft may have to overcome this public perception with its next-gen Xbox conference today at 10 a.m. PT. But from an indie developer's standpoint, the issues in publishing with Microsoft are different – or nonexistent.

"Working with Microsoft is great," writes James Silva, one half of Ska Studios and creator of The Dishwasher series of XBLA games. "I have heard a few stories that contradict my experience, and I know quite a few people who are happier on platforms other than XBLA, and that's fine for them. XBLA is a closed, carefully curated platform with its own set of fairly rigid standards and protocols."

Ska Studios works with only Microsoft, publishing The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai after winning the Dream Build Play competition in 2007, and from there developing The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile for XBLA, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMB1ES 1N IT!!!1 on XBLIG and a version on Windows Phone, and now polishing another XBLA game, Charlie Murder.

Silva makes enough money developing games for Microsoft platforms to support a life of developing games for Microsoft platforms. He says that with Microsoft as a publisher, he retains full creative control, and Microsoft supports him in terms of bug-squashing, meeting goals, play-testing, and even taking him to dinner when he's in town.

"Shortly after The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai launched, I absolutely spent a night at my producer's cabin in Snoqualmie, drinking IPA and playing around with GarageBand," Silva says. "Yes, it was fine, it was fun, and it's unfortunate that 'everything's fine' doesn't really register as newsworthy, because there is currently a 'Microsoft is bad for indies' narrative trending in gaming news."

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We've pulled together the very best minds at Joystiq Tech to analyse the all-important changes between the old Xbox logo (left), originally on the Xbox.com site, and a new logo (right) that's appeared today. After hours of heated discussion, they came to a consensus.

1. The font's a different color.
2. The sphere doesn't have the same sheen.
3. The X on the sphere is darker, and a bit wider, maybe

When asked what this all means, if anything, our hive-mind melted into a puddle before quickly evaporating into a steam cloud that drifted out of the window. Maybe we'll find out more in a few hours time.

Unity Technologies, creators of the multi-platform Unity engine and its tools, is making its mobile tools free to indies and small studios starting today, taking tools that cost around $800 and making them free. Unity currently supports Apple's iOS and Google's Android, with support for BlackBerry and Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 to be added at no additional cost in the future.

"Mobile games development is possibly the most dynamic and exciting industry in the world, and it's an honor to be able to help so many developers be so successful in fulfilling their visions and in building their businesses," said Unity CEO David Helgason. "We were able to make Unity free for the web and for desktop computers a while ago, but have been dreaming of doing the same for mobile for what seems like forever."

To contextualize this, Unity is already a beast in the mobile field in terms of market share and developer relations. The company just opened the flood gates further.

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The next Xbox is about to be unveiled in Microsoft's Redmond campus, and Joystiq will be there to scrutinize and document the whole presentation. It starts at 1PM EDT (10AM PDT, 6PM GMT), so get your glib reactionary .gifs ready before then.

Once the event starts, we'll switch this post over to liveblog mode and unleash the flood of quotes, observations and ill-advised jokes about computer chips. (Note: The presence of chips in the new Xbox is a rumor until Microsoft says otherwise.)

"Xbox, reveal!"

The Music Room is a new auditory-arts focused "interactive show" exclusive to Xbox. Beginning May 29, the The Music Room will showcase "the most exciting live bands around," with each episode featuring three acts. The first episode will be live on Live at 8.30PM UK time next Wednesday.

The first episode will feature Carl Barat, Everything Everything, Don Broco and Swim Deep. The interactive portion of the show will display three options asking what the audience wants to see next. Sadly, playing 1 vs. 100 doesn't appear to be an option.

In four hours time, Microsoft gives birth to a new generation of Xbox. We'll be there inside the tent, ready to cover the screams, the pain, the joy, the relief - the whole messy ordeal.

We'll have our liveblog and a live stream straight from the show, and they'll get going on the front page at around 12PM ET (9AM PT, 5PM Brit-time). The show, the main event, the big Kahuna itself starts at 1PM ET - you can check your local converted time here. And don't forget to bring a towel.

Target is currently offering the 8GB Wii U Basic at $239.99, one of the lowest prices if not the lowest price we've seen from a major North American retailer. Put your calculators away: that's 20 percent off the normal price of $300. Back in March, Best Buy put the Wii U Basic on sale at $250 for a couple of days.

The Wii U fell below targets In Nintendo's year-end financials, coming in at 3.45 million shipped worldwide as of March 31. According to the estimates of Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, aka the Pachter-tron, the Wii U sold 55,000 units in the US last month.

Sony's Japan Studio followed up last week's mysterious 'Panopticon' trailer with a second offering today, unveiling the project a a Vita multiplayer action game called Freedom Wars. The trailer also revealed it's coming to Japan sometime next year.

The new trailer is an embellishment of the first one, providing more context. Panopticon seems to be the region Freedom Wars takes place in, a totalitarian dystopia in the future. The world is devastated by dwindling resources and zero population growth - maybe because hundreds of millions are dying in war.

The YouTube blurb denotes Freedom Wars as a "multiplayer action" game. A collection of screens on the game's website show what looks like skirmishes taking place across regions in Japan. One screen is a Yahoo Maps snapshot of the Shibuya region in Tokyo, but with icons superimposed on it indicating particular in-game locations.

Freedom Wars remains shrouded in mystery - although at least we now know it's a Vita game. The website indicates more info will be spilled later this month.

Update: Here's a bit more info, courtesy of a press release translated by NeoGAF. According to it, Freedom Wars supports 8-player co-op and competitive modes, supports both Adhoc and Wi-Fi, and use the Vita's GPS and Near tech - which may explain the Yahoo Maps screen (see above).

Freedom Wars is a brand new game which aims to offer a new gaming experience in the popular multiplayer action genre by taking advantage of the PS Vita's unique functions. The player is a criminal in a post-apocalyptic near future, sentenced to a million years of hard labor, fighting for his freedom. By completing missions where you rescue civilians and allies who have been captured by huge enemies known as Abductors, you can reduce your sentence. The game supports a maximum of 8 players at a time in both co-op and competitive modes, and supports Adhoc and Wi-Fi Online functions so players all over the country can play together. The game will also support the GPS and Near capabilities of the PS Vita to enhance the gameplay experience.

Finally, the complex and compelling story of BlazBlue is getting the anime treatment with BlazBlue Alter Memory. According to Anime News Network, the story centers on Ragna the Bloodedge – you might know him as "humongous sword guy" – and the ragtag gang of pugilists determined to collect the bounty on his head. Somehow, a fox lady, a little vampire girl and a weird, anthropomorphic cat person figure in there as well.

BlazBlue Alter Memory is set to launch this fall.

Two more factions, Indonesia and Morocco, have been revealed for upcoming Civilization 5 expansion, Brave New World. Leading Indonesia is Gaja Mada, famous for his military insight as prime minister of the Majapahit Empire; Ahmad al-Mansur leads the Moroccans, sultan of the Saadi dynasty in the 1500s.

Brave New World, the second expansion to Civilization 5, is due in July and will add nine new civilizations, several new wonders and modified mechanics from the base game. The first expansion, Gods and Kings, arrived last summer, adding new espionage and religious mechanics.

Godus, the Kickstarted god game from Peter Molyneux's 22Cans, will be published on mobile devices by DeNA in western territories, Japan and Korea. Godus raised £526,563 ($852,000) with Kickstarter in December, exceeding its goal of $£450,000 ($730,000). It will launch on PC and Mac, alongside mobile devices Android, iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Godus will use DeNA's Mobage platform for mobile and social games, joining previous handheld iterations within the No More Heroes, Final Fantasy and Professor Layton franchises, to name a few.

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DJ Hero developer FreeStyle Games is hiring a producer for IPTV gaming, according to a job listing on LinkedIn. The position will lead "the development of new multi-platform games with specific emphasis on online infrastructure-heavy video applications."

"IPTV" could mean any number of platforms, including set-top boxes such as Apple TV and Roku. The job listing noted that the developer is working on a "new ground-breaking multi-platform and mobile project."

FreeStyle Games posted a number of jobs to LinkedIn in the last week, including one for a mobile gaming producer role that will "develop strategies to leverage mobile enabled business models including free-to-play and freemium." That person would also be in charge of creating "features to bridge online, console and mobile games to create a connected product."

FreeStyle Games' most recent efforts were seen in Sing Party for Wii U, so the Activision-owned developer hasn't strayed too far from music-based games. Whether its next multi-platform and potentially free-to-play project falls in line with that genre remains to be seen.

Activision is crowdsourcing its next personalization pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Starting on Thursday, May 23, fans will be asked to vote for one of four new packs, each with their own custom weapon camo skin, three reticles and a calling card icon.

One of Swords has preview images of all four personalization options. Voting ends May 28; the winning pack will go on sale the following day, May 29.

Personalizations are optional "micro items" you can purchase in Black Ops 2 on Xbox 360. While Activision has said the functionality will come to other platforms, it has yet to announce any additional details.

The crowd funding movement has reached an inevitable point in its trendiness arc: Parody. To promote the micro-game infused Game & Wario on the Wii U, Nintendo has launched (sigh...) Crowdfarter. The site pokes fun at services like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, asking fans to donate "coins" to help fund the project.

What that really entails is liking the site on Facebook or sharing it on Twitter. Doing so will unlock "stretch goals" that grant access to things like wallpapers, a new trailer and a ringtone spoken by Wario himself. If you don't feel like "donating," you can at least look around the site, which has a few little Easter eggs to discover.

Whether it gets "funded" or not, Game & Wario hits Wii U in America on June 23 and Europe on June 28.

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This week's round of Steam weekly deals includes Sleeping Dogs for $12.50, Rochard for $2.50, Strike Suit Zero for $10, and the Unreal Deal Pack for $10. The Unreal Deal Pack includes Unreal Gold, Unreal 2: The Awakening, Unreal Tournament 2004: Editor's Choice Edition, Unreal Tournament 3 Black and Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition.

Other games on sale for up to 75 percent off this week are Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, Wasteland Angel, Lords of Football, Spectraball: Extended Edition and Steel Storm: Burning Retribution. In software (and Greenlight) titles, game design tool articy: draft SE is $67 during this week's sale.

The weekly Steam sale ends on May 27 at 10 a.m. PT.

An enhanced Wii U version of Rebellion's sniping sim, Sniper Elite V2, is headed to retailers tomorrow, offering up a collection of platform-exclusive tactical options.

Announced back in February, the Wii U edition of Sniper Elite V2 uses the console's GamePad by giving players an in-game map and quicker access to weapons and equipment. Players can additionally use the GamePad to tag and track enemies, mark traps, and predict the blast radius of planted explosives.

The Wii U port also features off-TV GamePad mirroring, in case the rest of your family doesn't want to watch you shatter skulls.

Starting tomorrow, PlayStation Plus members in North America can download FarSight's Cross-Buy pinball sim Pinball Arcade and Creat Studios' PS Vita puzzler Germinator free of charge.

Pinball Arcade, regularly priced at $10, features the classic tables Tales of the Arabian Nights, Ripley's Believe It or Not, Theatre of Magic, and Black Hole. PlayStation Plus members will have access to both the PlayStation 3 and Vita versions of the core four-table download, and 24 additional machines are available as paid DLC.

Vita owners also receive free access to Germinator, which originally premiered in March at $10. Similar in premise to Taito's bubble-bursting puzzler Puzzle Bobble, Germinator challenges players to match like-colored germs, causing them to grow and eventually explode in a gooey mess.

Member-exclusive discounted items for this week include Metro: Last Light's season pass, the newly released Vita janitor sim Men's Room Mayhem, and Capcom's Darkstalkers Resurrection and Super Puzzle Fighter 2, along with a collection of DLC-bundled Ultimate Editions.

Five Lives Studios is teasing a Kickstarter project for something called Satellite Reign – and all signs point to a game inspired by Syndicate Wars. The Kickstarter is scheduled for June, with a countdown on the Satellite Reign site.

The teaser video reads, "In 1996, this man –" referring to Syndicate Wars lead Mike Diskett, it would seem "– created a Bullfrog masterpiece. In 2013, with your help, we will redefine the genre."

The original Syndicate Wars launched for the PlayStation and DOS in October 1996 as a real-time tactics game. Syndicate got an FPS reboot from Starbreeze Studios and EA in February 2012.

The state of Rhode Island's last keepsake of 38 Studios – beyond a $100-million-plus loan debt – is the company's Amalur intellectual property, which it's planning to sell off shortly. The Providence Journal reports there is interest in the asset, but the lawyer in charge of the sale hasn't revealed a value.

Meanwhile, a hearing in the state's lawsuit against the architects of the 38 Studios loan is scheduled for this Wednesday, after studio founder and former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was unable to get the suit dismissed in March.

The sale of the studio's physical assets net the state approximately $830,000. Following the sale of the IP, Rhode Island tax payers will have to pay off the rest of the debt.