The 
next-generation console wars are stalemated so far.
Microsoft said Wednesday that it has sold more than 2 million Xbox One units in the system’s first 18 days of availability. That comes roughly a week after Sony said it had sold 2.1 million PlayStation 4 units in the first 14 days.
That represents a total of $1.8 billion-plus in sales of console hardware in three and a half weeks.
Crowded 
malls. The eternal search for a halfway decent parking spot. Waiting for hours—only to see the gift your son or daughter desperately wants sell out right before you get to the front of the line. Who needs this version of the holiday spirit?
Imagine if you could buy yourself a gift that makes whatever you want for others—it’s not the ingredients for a home-baked fruitcake to send to friends and relatives, either. 3-D printing companies like MakerBot are making a bet that you won’t need Amazon.com, a bricks-and-mortar retail giant or a bunch of Santa’s elves in the North Pole workshop to cover everyone naughty and nice. A holiday trend of the future will be stockings stuffed and trees underlined with your own 3-D printed designs.
Today’s 
big game launches are massive media events. Die-hard fans brave all sorts of weather to line up, stores open at midnight, and CEOs hand out the first few copies.
But even the carnival atmosphere of today’s biggest titles pales compared to the launch of the seminal, controversial first-person Doom, which made its debut 20 years ago today.
Spies 
aren’t just listening in on your phone calls and reading your e-mails. They’re also monitoring your gaming.
Based on new information disclosed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, a joint report by The New York Times, ProPublica and The Guardian alleges that U.S. and British spies have conducted surveillance and gathered data in online games such as World of Warcraft and Second Life.
Finding 
a gift for the woman in your life—whether that’s a spouse, sister, mother or co-worker—isn’t easy. There are plenty of products to choose from, of course, but too many are items that might seem like a good idea initially, only to be met with a semitepid response when the gift is opened.
While the perfect gift really all depends on the person you’re buying for, we spoke with gift experts about what items women really want this year. Here’s what they suggested.
Sony 
is asking an unspecified number of PlayStation Network customers to change their passwords after finding “irregular activity” in a routine scan of the system.
The company did not disclose how many users were affected, nor what the exact nature of the activity was.
Sometimes, 
it really pays to read the fine print.
United Kingdom resident Peter Clatworthy learned that the hard way recently when he paid £450 (roughly $750) on eBay for what he thought was an Xbox One. What he received for his money, though, was just a picture of the console.
This 
year is shaping up to be one of the worst customer retention years in the history of pay TV. Cable, satellite and phone companies that offer video services lost 113,000 customers in the third quarter, according to a report by MoffettNathanson.
So what are cable and satellite companies’ frenemies—the broadcast partners and content kings—doing to ensure that the television status quo continues into the next generation of viewers? They’re cutting the cord themselves, to a degree. Networks with a strong mobile presence are using the basics of cord-cutting against the next generation’s would-be cord cutters, roping children into the existing ecosystem in a roundabout way.
EA’s 
biggest game of the year is broken, and the publisher is taking extraordinary steps to get it fixed.
Players of military shooter Battlefield 4 have reported several big issues with the game, including a bug that applies damage from a single bullet multiple times, killing the player instantly (quickly dubbed the “one-hit kill” by players). As a result, EA has said it will not work on any planned expansions to the game until the core product is running smoothly.
Christopher 
Evan Welch and Danny Wells, two television actors who made significant marks on the video game world, have both passed away.
The losses are a blow to fans of kitschy gaming tie-ins. Welch was the original voice actor for Miles “Tails” Prower in the “Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog” animated TV series. Wells portrayed Luigi on “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show,” another Saturday morning staple.
Chris Morris: Journalist 