Microsoft is rewarding the members who have been on Xbox Live the longest with special consoles. As revealed by Xbox Live’s Major Nelson on Twitter, Microsoft is “surprising some of the Xbox Live members that have been with us the longest” by sending them a special limited edition console featuring 10 year anniversary imagery.

A Microsoft spokesperson explained to IGN that “we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of Xbox Live by conducting special promotions for our members worldwide and today we began to surprise a select number of our loyal 10 year Xbox Live members in the U.S. with special edition anniversary consoles. These consoles were created for a special promotion and will not be available at retail locations.”

The console features a special “Xbox Live: A Decade of Entertainment” logo that includes imagery from the original Xbox, Kinect, the Vision camera and much more from Xbox’s history. In addition, the disc drive says “XBL 10” instead of the usual Xbox 360.

It’s unclear how many of the systems will be manufactured and what the specific qualifications are to earn one, but we’ve reached out to Microsoft and will update with any additional info we receive. Until then, watch out interview with Bungie’s Harold Ryan about Xbox Live’s 10th anniversary on Up At Noon:

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

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Minecraft is being played by more people on Xbox Live Arcade than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 or FIFA 13.

As posted by Major Nelson, the Microsoft Live activity chart for the week ending October 15 shows Minecraft (Xbox 360 Edition) has topped the charts for the very first time, beating out retail heavy-hitters Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and FIFA 13. They had to settle for second and third places, respectively.

A quick scan through previous chart updates shows that Call of Duty games have pretty much nabbed the top spot for the past four years. It's another colossal milestone for the game, which was recently revealed to have sold four million copies on Microsoft's console, making it the best-selling XBLA game ever.

The Microsoft Live activity chart counts how many unique users are playing a game whilst connected to Xbox Live. In addition to Minecraft, Modern Warfare 3 and FIFA 13, the rest of the top five is rounded out by Call of Duty: Black Ops and Borderlands 2.

Minecraft was the recipient of a massive patch last week, which brought with it a host of changes to the game. A full list of the latest additions and changes can be found in the Minecraft Wiki.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant and has a vested interest in mines, being Welsh and all. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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