Dr. Tanya Byron has raided airwaves again with her latest endeavor with video games. After her six-month review of game violence, she was able to write and front a BBC TV show wherein she linked playing video games to heroin addiction. More details can be found in the full article.

Sony and Microsoft have always trumpeted the next-gen multimedia capabilities of the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. But why is the iPlayer, the popular online video service from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) with the Nintendo Wii instead? BBC's Darren Waters sheds some light over at the full article.

After the whole Manhunt 2 (PSP and Wii) fiasco and the controversy it spawned, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is now facing heavy scrutiny to see if it still remains a viable option for the classification of video games. More in the full article.

The results are in: chosen as this year's Ultimate Game of the Year in the Annual Golden Joystick Awards is (dun dun dun) Gears of War! Gears of War also won the All-Nighter Award, Editor's Choice Award and is the Xbox Game of the Year.

Other winners of the 25th Annual Golden Joystick Awards are the Nintendo Wii, which won Innovation of the Year, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade as the Online Game of the Year, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as the Nintendo Game of the Year, and God of War II as the PlayStation Game of the Year.

Here are the other winners of the Golden Joystick Awards:

• Girls' Choice Game of the Year 2007: Guitar Hero II
• Family Game of the Year 2007: Wii Sports
• Handheld Game of the Year 2007: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
• Mobile Game of the Year 2007: Final Fantasy
• Soundtrack of the Year 2007: Guitar Hero II
• Developer of the Year 2007: Codemasters
• The Total Film One to Watch 2007: Assassin's Creed
• Retailer of the Year 2007: Game
• Publisher of the Year 2007: Nintendo
• PC Game of the Year 2007: The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

Here's to another year of great games!

Looks like Electronic Arts isn't just about going global. EA Executive VP Gerhard Florin commented to BBC that within 15 years, the game industry will see only one platform in the market. It's an interesting notion and not exactly an uncommon one.

The idea isn't a "one console to rule them all" bit but more of a convergence of technologies, a single platform that can sustain the demands of the consumer as well as bring the best out from all the worlds. Coming from a developer's point of view, the idea is that programming would be easier:

We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible. [...] You don't need an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii - the consumer won't even realize the platform it is being played on.

Screen Digest analyst Nick Parker believes that it's not about one console rising above all the others: rather a console that can provide channels for the publishers - Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo - to deliver their games. This prevents a monopoly of distribution of games, if not hardware.

However, Florin believes that hardware will basically boil down to game-centric PCs. The current participants of the console wars - the PlayStation 3, the Xbox 360 and the Wii - are just a step away from it themselves. If that's the case for future consoles, then even hardware isn't a monopoly, much like how all the parts of a PC isn't dependent on one company.

With all the consoles striving for technology convergence - developing the boxes to become a media hub and not just a gaming console - it's not really a strange idea to imagine that a convergence of console tech is the next step. Perhaps the logical, inevitable step.

Assassin's Creed took a long time coming but, looking at the game's development, the game seems to be worth the wait. Ubisoft Montreal producer Jade Raymond had a sit down with BBC to talk about why the game took four years in the making.

As if in reply to David Braben's claims that Halo 3 and BioShock weren't next-gen games, Raymond explains that, as a next gen game, Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) should live up to the increased standards of gameplay and not just graphics. Assassin's Creed isn't just about looking pretty, it's about taking the gameplay to the next level by taking advantage of the power of the next gen consoles.

First of all, the game has a larger playing environment, set in three huge cities that are populated with thousands of characters and every single thing within the city can either be "grabbed, climbed on [or] jumped from." The challenge is having to create each object to become interactive.

Another big challenge for the developers was to make the characters in the game act more lifelike, even the faceless populace. And as for looking pretty; the faceless populace will all have randomly created factors so each of them will be, in a way, an individual and not just a clone.

So will Assassin's Creed herald the way for taking games to the next level? Says Raymond:

As an entertainment medium, games are really just scratching the surface. I think we are at where we were with film when we made the transition from silent films to films that were telling a story with sound and dialogue. We are just at the point of discovering what we can do with interactivity and what's an interactive story where you are creating a story for players, but it really has to become the player's story.

Buy: [Assassin's Creed (Xbox 360)]
Buy: [Assassin's Creed (PS3)]

Every kid in the neighborhood knows about Bungie Studios' Halo 3, or at least in the UK. It's almost not surprising that even the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC, felt the need to tell millions of people about Master Chief's final battle. What took our attention the most is when things went wrong, and the PlayStation 3's Killzone 2 mistakenly appeared on a report for the premiere Xbox 360 title.

Apparently, them lads call Halo 3 both a first-person shooter and shoot 'em up. We don't know if it's human error or some sort of miscommunication, but footage of what was supposed to be the "Halo killer" back in the day played while BBC's anchor talked about Halo 3's much anticipated release.

Nintendo's Wii Sports was also mentioned as something very simplistic yet still manage to outsell shoot 'em up games (Galaga, is that you?). Believe in pressing the play button and finish the fight entire video, then you'll see what we're talking about.

Buy: [Halo 3]
Buy: [Killzone 2]

Microsoft's looking to expand its the Video Marketplace in Europe, hot on the heels of Sony's new PlayTV function which will be released in the UK early next year. Microsoft's currently in talks with several European media companies, one of the largest being BBC.

Currently, the Xbox Video Marketplace is only available in the U.S. and offers downloads of television shows and movies. Microsoft is in partnership with Paramount Pictures, Fox MTV, NBC, Warner Bros., and other big names. They have already signed an agreement with BBC to explore new digital services.

Ross Honey, senior director for media at Microsoft explains that they approached BBC because of their vast library of content and HD programs, particularly the Planet Earth documentary series. We'll let you know when the service will be available as soon as we get the updates.

Here's your chance to vote for your favorite games for the past year! Now on it's 25th year, the Golden Joystick Awards is going stronger than ever, again, being broadcast live on the internet this year. With over half a million votes last year, the producers are aiming for a million votes to celebrate a quarter of a century's voting. There are 17 categories you can vote in this year:

Ultimate Game of the Year
The Sun Family Game of the Year
Bliss Girl's Choice Award
Nuts All Nighter Award
BBC 1Xtra & Rampage Soundtrack of the Year
Handheld Game of the Year
Innovation of the Year
The One To Watch Award
Mobile Game of the Year
Nintendo Game of the Year
Online Game of the Year
PC Game of the Year
Playstation Game of the Year
Xbox Game of the Year
Publisher of the Year
Retailer of the Year
UK Developer of the Year

We'd love to give you a complete list of all the games you can vote for, but that'd just be crazy. But to give a sampling, there's MotorStorm, Crackdown, Rayman Raving Rabbids, and even the Halo 3 beta. Go on over the list and look at the nominated titles for yourself. And while you're at it, vote for the games that made you spend so much time on your couch - which probably already has your butt-print on it.

To vote, you can visit Golden Joystick's official site behind the Read link below! You can also watch videos from last year's Awards and if you have the cash, buy your own tickets to the show. (Take us with you.)

A joint celebration of everything entertainment and artistic, the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival (EIEF) coming on August 13-14 will highlight the games industry through the eyes of the entertainment industry as a whole. To be held at the Royal College of Physicians at Edinburgh, the fifth EIEF will reflect upon what has been the game industry's significant rise of popularity today.

Pooling personalities in the world of entertainment, what the industry gamers call "home" will be examined by parallel creative industries which include music, art, and movies. Keynoted by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, the conference will also feature reflections from Simon Nelson of the BBC, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), Linden Labs' Jim Pubrick, and actor Steven Berkhoff on games as culture.

Together with Dare to be Digital game creativity competitions and Future Publishing's EDGE Awards, the event will also conclude with a Digital Interactive Symposium on August 15 at Edinburgh University. Chris Deering, chairman of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, concluded the announcement, saying, "This year we have much to be excited about. The festival is now firmly established as one of the most important events in the interactive entertainment industry's calendar."