Microsoft has confirmed that its latest global outage was caused by a malicious cyberattack. The outage saw Outlook email services, Xbox Live, and even Minecraft go down for almost 10 hours yesterday afternoon - just two weeks after millions were affected by global outages. Microsoft now admits that its services were taken out by a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack which was'amplified' by an error in the company's cyber defences. Experts say the true culprits may never be identified but that they were likely encouraged to strike by Microsoft's recent service troubles. Sylvain Cortes, vice president of strategy at cybersecurity firm Hackuity, told MailOnline: 'Rogue actors, cybergangs, and nation-states alike leverage these tactics, so further investigation is required to determine the origin of the threat.'

Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text. Welcome back to Talking Tech. Well, Christmas is almost here and obviously you've heard us talk about this before, but one of the hottest tech gifts out there is a video game console, specifically the PlayStation 5 from Sony, and the Microsoft Xbox Series X. Anytime you go to any retailer, whether it's Target, Best Buy, whatever, if you're one of those folks that has been looking for one of these consoles for weeks and months now, you have probably seen the same familiar message over and over again, sold out.

Xbox Live players found themselves unable to get their game on Thursday. Microsoft's online gaming service, which lets players engage in multiplayer games and access cloud-based games, was down for more than an hour Thursday afternoon. In addition to the more than 100 million monthly users who subscribe to Xbox Live for multiplayer gaming, 18 million pay for Xbox Game Pass and must connect to Xbox Live for access to that cloud gaming service. "We are aware that users may not be able to sign-in to Xbox Live at this time," read a tweet on the Xbox Support account. "Our teams are currently investigating to fix this issue."

With new video game consoles out this week, Microsoft and Sony are decades-long incumbents in the industry. More than 25 years ago, Sony unleashed its first PlayStation onto the scene, barging into a marketplace dominated by Nintendo and, to a lesser extent, Sega. And seven years later, Microsoft brought forth its Xbox. Whether you are voting with your wallet this holiday season for a new Xbox Series X or S, or PlayStation 5, you can't argue these two tech giants have made countless contributions to advance video gaming over the years. Sony and Microsoft also expanded the audience.

Microsoft said it is investigating issues with the online service on the same day it launched its latest video game consoles: the Xbox Series X and the Series S. According to an Xbox Live status page, Core Services first reported issues around 1 p.m. ET. "We're aware that users are currently unable to sign into Xbox Live on various platforms," reads a tweet from Xbox Support. "The right teams are looking into the issue and working on a fix." Several users on Twitter reported running into issues trying to sign in to Xbox Live. The outage impacts new owners of the Xbox Series X and Series S, preventing them from logging into accounts to complete setup of their device and download and play games. The launch of the new Xbox consoles comes two days before the arrival of Sony's PlayStation 5 on Thursday, in what is a big week for video game fans.

Microsoft is turning to AI and machine learning to let Xbox gamers filter the language they see in text messages. It is introducing customisable filters that let gamers choose the vocabulary they see in messages from friends and rival players. Initially the filters cover just text but will eventually apply to voice chat as well. In a blog, Microsoft said the filters would be trialled with Xbox testers in October and then rolled out to all users of its console later in the year. Players will be able to decide what level of filtering they want to apply to their interactions with friends or people they take on in games, it said.

Tuesday is a big day for owners of the Nintendo Switch. On Sept. 18, Nintendo flips the switch on a new online service for the video game console, following in the footsteps of services such as Sony's PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live. Similar to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, Nintendo Switch Online will allow owners of the console to play games online as part of a monthly or annual subscription. Membership includes other privileges, too, including access to some of Nintendo's classic video games such as "Super Mario Bros.," "Donkey Kong" and "Tecmo Bowl." Here's everything you need to know about Nintendo Switch Online: Users must have a Nintendo account to access Switch Online.

Take the short view and Microsoft's annual E3 showcase was a classic power play. The company unveiled its long-anticipated Xbox One X, a kind of console supercomputer capable of rendering native 4K visuals at higher, stabler frame rates than Sony's own boutique PS4 Pro. But consider the longer view, as Xbox honcho Phil Spencer must, and what it means to play games becomes a much stranger jumble of iterative concepts, a spiraling helix of creative and commerce driven forces rapidly converging on the dissolution of the borderlands between what we define as real and imagined. TIME spoke with Spencer about the company's current and future plans, including backward compatibility (the company announced Xbox original games coming soon to all Xbox One devices), the criticality of Xbox Live (its online games service) and finally the timescale for general consumer adoption of mixed reality products. Here's what he told us.

Microsoft Monday is a weekly column that focuses on updates in regards to the Redmond giant. This week, Microsoft Monday includes details about gamerpic support coming to Xbox Live, a custom Windows 10 version for China, an update about the Xbox 360 class action lawsuit, a data sharing agreement with Adobe, a Recon Tech Special Edition gamepad, a new LinkedIn enterprise CRM tool, a new partnership with Publicis and much more! Microsoft has completed the development of a custom Windows 10 version for the Chinese government, according to The Verge. To build the custom Windows 10 version, Microsoft collaborated with the China Electronics Technology Group (CTEC). Microsoft did not specify the changes that were made for the custom version of Windows 10 for China.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer. "Microsoft Monday" takes a look back at the past week of news related to Microsoft. This week, "Microsoft Monday" includes details about a red Xbox One controller being released tomorrow, the accidental release of a Forza Horizon 3 developer version, Minecraft surpassing 25 million copies sold for PCs and Macs, a few Windows 10 user interface tweaks, a connected vehicle deal signed with Renault-Nissan and more!