Bungie's Halo 3 took top Game of the Year honors during the G-Phoria awards last night, broadcast by game-oriented cable television network G4.

Xbox 360 was named the station's favorite system -- which falls in line with the award distribution. Of the show's 18 game awards, only four went to titles not available on Microsoft's system: Best Graphics and Best Voice Acting for Kojima Productions' Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Best Racing Game for Nintendo EAD's Mario Kart Wii, and, by default, Best Handheld Game for Ready at Dawn's God of War: Chains of Olympus.
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Electronic Arts has confirmed that the second iteration of popular skateboarding title Skate is in development for PS3 and Xbox 360.
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IGN reported earlier today that Skate It, a spin-off planned for the Nintendo DS and Wii, was in the works. Curiously, IGN has since pulled that report, hinting that either that information was wrong or not yet deemed fit to print by the powers that be.
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At EA's "Meet the Makers" event held in Singapore yesterday, Tech2 had a chance to talk to John Doyle from EA's Black Box studios, Vancouver, Canada. In case you didn't know, Doyle and his team are the people behind both the Need for Speed series as well as last year's Skate.
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EA Games president reveals "extension" of driving and skateboarding series in next fiscal year, commits long-term to Mass Effect, and says next Need for Speed will return to series' roots.

Another new franchise EA is prepping a sequel for is Mass Effect, which was announced for the PC today. From the very first time now EA-owned developer BioWare showed it off in 2005, the role-playing game franchise was touted as trilogy. EA Games president Frank Gibeau's presentation today suggested it may not end there, as he told analysts that it "will be a franchise for [EA] for a very long time." He also said that going forward, EA will take over publishing duties on the Mass Effect franchise from Microsoft Game Studios, which handled the game's initial release on the Xbox 360.
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TeamXbox Readers' Choice polls closed down on January 2, and all of the results have been tallied. Here are the results:

¿ Developer of the Year: BioWare
¿ Sports Game of the Year: skate
¿ Action Game of the Year: Assassin's Creed
¿ Best Sound of the Year: BioShock

¿ Role-Playing Game of the Year: Mass Effect
¿ Fighting Game of the Year: Virtual Fighter 5
¿ Hardware/Peripheral of the Year: Xbox 360 Elite
¿ Sleeper Hit of the Year: Crackdown

¿ Best Graphics of the Year: Call of Duty 4
¿ Xbox Live Arcade Game of the Year: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
¿ Best Visual Style of the Year: BioShock
¿ First-Person Shooter of the Year: Call of Duty 4

¿ Best Story of the Year: Mass Effect
¿ Music/Rhythm/Party Game of the Year: Rock Band
¿ Racing Game of the Year: Forza Motorsport 2
¿ Multiplayer Game of the Year: Halo 3

¿ Game of the Year: Call of Duty 4

View the full report for other nominees in each category.
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Yahoo has announced their Games of the Year awards, which culminated in their 2007 Overall Game of the Year. Here are the categories, winners and runners-up:

¿ Best Action Adventure Game: Super Mario Galaxy
¿ Runners-Up: Assassin's Creed, The Orange Box

¿ Best Online Multiplayer Game: Halo 3
¿ Runners-Up: Call of Duty 4, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

¿ Best Racing Game: Forza Motorsport 2
¿ Runners-Up: DiRT, Project Gotham Racing 4

¿ Best Sports Game: skate
¿ Runners-Up: FIFA 08, Madden NFL 08

¿ Best Shooter: BioShock
¿ Runners-Up: Call of Duty 4, Halo 3

¿ Best Party Game: Rock Band
¿ Runners-Up: Guitar Hero III, Warioware: Smooth Moves

¿ Best Role-Playing Game: Mass Effect
¿ Runners-Up: The Witcher, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

¿ Best Strategy Game: Supreme Commander
¿ Runners-Up: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, World in Conflict

¿ Best Overall Game: Super Mario Galaxy
¿ Runners-Up: BioShock, Rock Band
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IGN GamerMetrics analyst Nick Williams recently took a look back at the predictions GamerMetrics made for Xbox 360 titles based on analysis of four primary factors -- awareness, engagement, purchase intent and game quality -- ahead of each title's launch with the aim of predicting the success of upcoming games.
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Xbox360Fanboy took the time to go through all the Black Friday ads and list all the Xbox 360 deals.
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Nov 14, 2007 With its revolutionary Flick-it controls, huge open world, endless trick permutations and realistic over-the-shoulder visuals, Skate shatters Tony Hawk's vice-like grip on the genre. Skate's fictional city of San Vanelona is ripe for grinds, gaps and complex combos, but the locations (or "spots") listed here offer the maximum potential for points. We've rounded up the best of the in-game "spot bible," plus our favourites from around the city. Own... The Right Grind This ... » Read More

The mysterious industry "insider" Surfer Girl reveals why EA Black Box is not working on Skate DLC, the timing behind the LucasArts-BioWare partnership, and a major studio is interested in making the Halo movie.
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Yes, The Game Of The Year (GOTY) discussion is already beginning! Spike is hosting its 5th annual Video Game Awards this December in Las Vegas, and this morning the nominees were released on Spike.com. What's in contention for Game of the Year? Orange Box, Halo 3, BioShock, and Mass Effect.
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The official NPD numbers are in for September, and the Xbox 360 swept, even beating out the Nintendo Wii for that month.

We think it has something to do with Halo 3.

Here are the hard Numbers, from industry analysts at the NPD Group:

Hardware

Xbox 360: 527,800
Wii: 501,000
Nintendo DS: 495,800
PlayStation Portable: 284,500
PlayStation 2: 215,000
Playstation 3: 119,400
Game Boy Advance: 75,000
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Electronic Arts has become known for the amount of downloadable content they've tossed on Xbox Live, most infamously charging for what were essentially cheat codes in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007. Thankfully, however, that won't be the approach for their Tony Hawk rival, Skate.

"We're not planning any new content for Skate 1 ... We didn't want to go back and ask people for more money to get more shoes and shirts," said EA Black Box Executive Producer Scott Blackwood in an Afterthoughts interview featured in latest issue of EGM. "That's not how we wanted to enter this market."
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Issue 11 of free Xbox 360 magazine, 360Zine, has a preview and interview on Call of Duty 4 and they're blown away with the graphics and gameplay.
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Here is the list of Top Xbox 360 games (based on unique users) for September 15th through the 21st. Remember this is before Halo 3 launched!

1. Gears of War
2. Call of Duty 4 (Beta)
3. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
4. Madden NFL 08
5. BioShock
6. Guitar Hero II
7. Call Of Duty 3
8. Forza Motorsport 2
9. skate.
10. GRAW 2
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The newest edition of the British games magazine EDGE has just hit stores and first readers already posted all the review scores on the internet. This months edition contains reviews of some big titles like Halo 3, PGR4, Metroid Prime 3, Lair, SKATE, Stranglehold, SEGA Rally and Eternal Sonata.

Like many other reviews, Lair did not score so well with a 3/10. Two Worlds didn't do much better either with just a 4/10. Phoenix Wright and Jam Sessions on the Nintendo DS did not impress either with both just a 6/10. Metroid Prime 3 also quite disappointed according to EDGE with just a 7/10. Stranglehold, SKATE, Sega Rally, and Eternal Sonata all were rewarded with 7/10 scores.

Halo 3 and Project Gotham Racing 4 were this months' best titles with Halo 3 getting the top score of 10/10. PGR4 did very well to with 9/10. Check out all this months' scores below.

Halo 3 (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 10
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption (Wii, Nintendo): 7
Project Gotham Racing 4 (Xbox 360, Microsoft): 9
Sega Rally (PS3/Xbox 360, Sega): 7
Lair (PS3, Sony): 3
Stranglehold (Xbox 360, Midway): 7
Skate (Xbox 360, EA): 8
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (PS2, Atlus): 7
Singstar (PS3, Sony): 8
Two Worlds (Xbox 360, SouthPeak Interactive): 4
Grimgrimoire (PS2, Koei): 7
Jam Sessions (NDS, Ubisoft): 6
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions (PSP, Square Enix): 9
Eternal Sonata (Xbox 360, Bandai Namco): 7
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trials and Tribulations (NDS, Capcom): 6
Sonic Rush Adventure (NDS, Sega): 5
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The October issue of the American gaming magazine Game Informer has just landed in stores and all the review scores are already found on the internet. In this months' issue titles like Guitar Hero III, Metroid Prime 3, Warhawk, Heavenly Sword, SKATE, Medal of Honor and tons of other games have all been reviewed.

Check out all this months' review scores below

Guitar Hero III (Wii/Xbox 360/PS3/PS2, RedOctane): 8.75 / 9
Stuntman Ignition (PS3/Xbox 360, THQ): 8.5 / 9
FIFA 08 (PS3/Xbox 360, EA): 7.75 / 7.75
Skate (PS3/Xbox 360, EA): 8.75 / 8.5
NHL 2K8 (PS3/Xbox 360, EA): 7.75 / 8.25
NHL 08 (PS3/Xbox 360, EA): 8.5 / 8.5
Medal of Honor Airborne (Xbox 360, EA): 7.25 / 7.25
Warriors Orochi (Xbox 360/PS2, Koei): 5.75
Dynasty Warriors Gundam (PS3/Xbox 360, Koei): 5
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core (PS2, Koei): 7.75
Heavenly Sword (PS3, Sony): 8.75 / 9
Warhawk (PS3, Sony): 8.25 / 8
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (PS3): 8.5 / 8.5
Fatal Inertia (Xbox 360, Koei): 7.5 / 7
Stranglehold (PS3/Xbox 360, Midway): 7.25 / 7.25
Wild Arms 5 (PS2, Xseed): 6.5 / 6.5
Soul Nomad (PS2, NIA America): 7.75 / 7.25
Metroid Prime 3 (Wii, Nintendo): 9.5 / 8.75 **Game of the month**
My Sims (Wii, EA): 8 / 8
Dewy's Adventure (Wii, Konami): 7 / 6.25
Tiger Woods 08 (Wii, EA): 7 / 8.25
Madden 08 (Wii, EA): 7.5 / 7.75
Boogie (Wii, EA): 7.75 / 6
Alien Syndrome (Wii, Sega): 6.25 / 5
Rune Factory: Fantasy Harvest Moon (NDS, Natsume): 5.75 / 6
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NDS, Nintendo): 9.5 / 9.5 **Handheld game of the month**
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles (PSP, Konami): 7 / 7.25
Dragoneer's Aria (PSP, Koei): 5.75
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes (PSP, Namco Bandai): 6.75
Hot PXL (PSP, Atari): 6
Worms Open Warfare 2 (PSP/NDS, THQ): 7.5
Drawn to Life (NDS, THQ): 7
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Skate, the skateboarding sim from Electronic Arts, is the most realistic skateboarding game developed to date. But could it also be the most important? EA is hoping so, as it looks to redefine a genre that is synonymous with Tony Hawk, a franchise still going strong eight years after the release of the most revolutionary skate title, well, ever, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Hyperbole aside, we look back at the skate games that made the genre what it is today. And like most good things in life, our story starts in the '80s.
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Following in the footsteps of its demo, the launch of the full version of EA's SKATE for the 360 has been delayed by two days making the official date Friday, Sept. 14 instead of the former Wed. Sept 12. This news was posted yesterday to EA's Skate forums and over all, people don't seem to be terribly upset by the news. EA even posted a small apology to those who were anxiously awaiting the big day:

If you were planning on staying home sick on the 12th to name your first gap or if (like us) you bought a bunch of guacamole that expires on the 12th for your Skate party we send our sincerest apologies!
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