There are video game awards, and then there are video game awards. This particular video game awards feature is probably of the latter, but with a lot of good-natured irreverence thrown into the mix. While it would have been easier for us to just make an article about our favorite games (and we did), we felt that the gaming year of 2007 had a lot to offer, and thus we're giving credit (and blame) where it's due.

Check out the winners in the full article.

Originally posted on January 21, 2008 at 1:14 PM.

The infamous Surfer Girl just unleashed more rumors to keep you on your toes as we enter 2008. According to the latest post on Surfer Girl Reviews Star Wars, big titles will grace the Xbox Originals service and giant publishers such as EA and Eidos are cooking something up for next year. Details at the full article.

Media Create's latest figures for the week ending October 14 sees the Nintendo DS handheld holding the top post, despite sales dropping down to 78,746 as compared to 87,535 last week. The PSP retains second place at 59,584.

The Wii follows in at third with 20,575 sales - very similar to its sales from last week. Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 experienced noticeably higher numbers, with the PS3 picking up 12,365 sales and the 360 6,161 sales.

This week's software sales figures has DS Nishimura Kyotarou Suspense Detective Series: Deadly Intent by Tecmo as the top seller. Gundam Battle Chronicles by Namco-Bandai for the PSP still holds as the second-highest selling handheld game for this group, although now only at 27,721 sales (it was 86,208 the week before).

On a more surprising note, Lair by Factor 5 for the PS3 ousted Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 by Namco Bandai for the Wii as the charts' only game entry for next-gen consoles.

Leipzig's heralded opening keynote has come to a conclusion, and Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht had much to say regarding authoritative hindrances to the development of games as an art form. In his delivery, Eggebrecht said that the ratings board of the game industry wasn't taking games seriously, especially in the art form viewpoint.

 

In the past, games have often been crusaded as a new form of art, complete with expression of creative content and the ability to interact with that expression. But more often than not, the game industry is besieged by elements from the outside. And even for a simple, sincere campaign to have one game viewed as an art form, there are plenty of other entities who wouldn't share the same views.

Even references to certain topics, rendered in satires, were restricted to some extent. Factor 5's Lair included hidden content of a real-life coffee maker - obviously in reference to GTA's "Hot Coffee" hidden content - but Factor 5 didn't have the liberty to call the cheat as "Hot Coffee" even if they willed.

"Everyone thought it was hilarious...but we couldn't call the cheat 'Hot Coffee', because that would imply we were mocking the authorities investigating Hot Coffee," Eggebrecht added. Later, he pinpointed how easily a game can be plucked from shelves simply because of an Easter Egg that suggested a sexual act, in contrast to movies. He also said:

I would be happy if in games we could talk about homosexuality, but we're not even at the point where we can admit that humans have heterosexual relationships, and that is a real problem - and it tends to show that games are not being seen, even by our own ratings boards, as an art form.

Though much of his speech would be considered flak against the U.S.' Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), he did offer some constructive criticism. He suggested that a new ratings scheme be drawn up to differentiate levels between Mature and Teen, where some games could be viewed as both due to differences in viewpoints. But overall, he said it would allow games to be rendered as art forms, and push the envelope a little further. He concluded:

I hope that we actually can prove that this is an art form. Show me something that proves on all levels that games are indeed an art form - push the violence, but also push the sex, and push it in an artistic way where it's not really gratuitous, but where it gets my thinking brain going.

 

Julian Eggebrecht, Factor 5 president and lead director, has been announced as the opening keynote speaker for the GC Developers Conference (GCDC) 2007 in Leipzig (also known as the Leipzig Games Convention). Details of his speech have yet to be revealed, but we can expect it to be interesting at the very least. Factor 5 is currently working on the PS3-exclusive game Lair.

Peter Molyneux, Lionhead Studios' president, will also be giving a keynote focusing on the company's classic games. The GCDC 2007 will be held from August 20 to 22 in Leipzig, Germany. Other GCDC 2007 international speakers will include:

• Jason Manley (Massive Black)
• Christopher Schmitz, (10Tacle Studios)
• Jennifer MacLean (Comcast Interactive Media)
• Dr. Michael Wimmer (The University of Vienna)
• Alexander Fernández (Streamline Studios)
• Cindy Armstrong (Webzen)
• Amir Taaki (Crystalspace)
• Jeff Strain (ArenaNet)
• Vlad Ihora (Telia Sonora)
• Barbara Lippe (Avaloop IT Solutions)
• Pamela Kato (The GamerX)
• Uwe Nikl (Level 3)
• Matt Firor (Ultra Mega Games)
• Konstantin Ewald (Osborne Clarke)

The year's coming to a close, and as all three consoles are now in the market, we're going to be hearing more from Factor 5's Julian Eggebrecht.

Gamasutra's just had an interview with the dude, and aside from  making inquiries into Julian's next-year aspirations, they've also posed another question many a dev has probably heard: What's his take on the three consoles?

Julian started out by talking about the PS3 - the console on which his Lair title was banking on. Julian was quick to point out how much he liked the PS3's Blu-Ray and the video quality it was churning out for his Plasma TV. As for his thoughts on the PS3's online pack:

I was very skeptical about that and how Sony would pull it off, and it's pretty damn close to Live, and actually some of the usability I prefer to Live, quite frankly. So I think that all went extremely well, and the potential is just huge.

He went on to mention that at this point, the PS3's biggest flaw was its shortage of good games on launch day - we're sure you guys felt the same way, even if we've got Resistance to tide things over... Next, he commented on the Xbox 360, which started with his impressions on its current best-selling title:

For Xbox 360, I have to say Gears of War is massively impressive. Really really cool game, kudos to Cliffy. It just keeps going – it's a little awkward that the 1080p is kind of ratcheted in there, so I'm not too excited about that, it seems kind of tacked on so I don't know how much potential is out there, but the 360 is a solid system by now.

And for the last console he's seen, the Wii was a loved product, though he admitted to loving it for different reasons. If the PS3 was loved for the hardcore gaming it offered, the Wii was there for the casual gaming it was churning out. Julian mentions Wii Sports as one of his current faves, and adds that the Wii would have been a good "secondary" console to guys already carrying a PS3 or Xbox 360.

That aside, Julian did foresee the problem third-party developer might have with the Wii. Having a very specialized set of controls, the Wii might make for long-term complications for developers. And as for his tie-up to the topic:

But I think nobody should be without the Wii. And quite frankly if you want to be really secure in the future, and if you're a real techno geek, I think the PS3 has a lot more to offer than the Xbox 360 at the end of the day. But when the PS3 comes to games, right now, it's a little bit weak.

The rest of interview will be covering details on Factor 5's projects for Sony's EDI program. Read up on the link for the full details.