The Writers Guild of America is speaking out about criticism that video game writers have to pay money and sign up for a membership to win the Writers Guild Award for games. In an editorial on GameIndustry.biz, the chair of the Writers Guild of America's Videogame Writers Caucus, Micah Wright claims, "you do not have to be a member of our guild to win our award."

"We ask that all entrants join the Videogame Writers Caucus (VWC), but that is not the same thing as being a member of the WGA," says Wright.

The problem is, the VWC does require a $60 annual fee, which buys a membership. The money does give the submitter access to free film screenings and a subscription to the WGA's Written By Magazine, but it's still a fee.

Turn 10 and Microsoft's Forza Motorsports 3 is the winner of this year's Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year award from the AbleGamers Foundation. Every year the AbleGamers Foundation selects one mainstream video game title that offers the best accessibility to players. According to AbleGamers, "recipients must demonstrate excellence in accessibility by including options that allow for gamers with a wide range of disabilities to fully enjoy the game."

"Microsoft is honored and delighted to accept the Accessible Game of the Year Award from AbleGamers for Forza Motorsport 3," said Aaron Kornblum, Director Security Policy, Interactive Entertainment Business, which includes Xbox and Xbox Live. "We believe that making technology as accessible as possible will enable people throughout the world to realize their full potential, regardless of their abilities."

The 2011 Game Developers Choice Awards will honor Peter Molyneux, co-founder of Bullfrog Productions and founder of Lionhead Studios, with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the "art and science of games."

Though Molyneux has taken his fair share of lumps in recent years for over-promising on his Fable series, he has nonetheless had an influence on the industry for decades by creating innovative and fun games such as Theme Park, Syndicate, Populous, Magic Carpet, Black & White, and Dungeon Keeper.

Molyneux was chosen as this year’s Lifetime Achievement recipient by the Game Developers Choice Awards Advisory Committee, which includes game industry notables such as Doug Lombardi (Valve), Mark Cerny (Cerny Games), Harvey Smith (Arkane), Raph Koster (Metaplace), Julien Merceron (Square Enix), John Vechey (PopCap), and Clint Hocking (LucasArts).

Finalists for the 11th annual Game Developers Choice Awards have been named today, with indie developed Xbox Live Arcade game Limbo leading the pack. Other nominations include Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Costume Quest, God of War III¸ Heavy Rain, Monday Night Combat, Minecraft, and Super Meat Boy.

The complete list of nominees for the 11th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards are as follows:

Organizers of the Independent Games Festival announced the eight Student Showcase winners for the thirteenth annual presentation of its awards. This year's showcase honors students from DePaul University, Digipen University of Technology, School of Arts and Design Kassel, and Future Games Academy, among others.

This year's Student Competition saw more than 280 game entries across multiple platforms including PC, console, and mobile. IGF organizers said that the number of entries for this year increased by 47 percent over last year.

University of Toronto computer science researcher Aaron Hertzmann (also a professor) has an obsession that has managed to land him the 2010 Steacie Prize for Natural Sciences. He earned the honor last month, along with a check for $10,000, because of his work related to computer algorithms and natural human movement.

"We can all walk around in the world and we don’t think about it … but to make a robot or (animated) character walk and really obey the laws of physics is really hard," said Hertzmann.

Hertzmann has been conducting research in computer animation for 15 years. He has spent the last seven of those years at the University of Toronto, working on creating controllable lifelike movements, and on rendering techniques used in painting and drawing.

The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences announced today that it would induct BioWare co-founders Dr. Ray Muzyka and Dr. Greg Zeschuk into its hall of fame. The duo responsible for some of the greatest role-playing game series ever made (Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age - to name a few) will also speak at AIAS' 2011 D.I.C.E. event.

Epic Games president Mike Capps will present the award to the duo on February 10 at the Interactive Achievement Awards at the D.I.C.E. summit in Las Vegas.

UK-based Family Gamers has selected the winners of its Winter Family Gamers Awards. The awards are divided up based on PEGI rated, age-appropriate games for various age groups such as Infants, Juniors, Students, Workers, Parents and Seniors.

All of this season's nominees are eligible for the Family Gamer Game of the Year Award, which are chosen by the public. Voting on that award begins December 12 and ends on January 31.

Here are this season's top games:

Infants (3 to 6 yrs) - Diego's Build and Rescue - DS

Juniors (7 to 11 yrs) - Kinect Sports 360 - Kinect

Students (12 to 17 yrs) - Gran Turismo 5 - PS3

Workers (18 and over) - Fable III - Xbox 360

Two games funded by London-based Channel 4 have been honored with British Interactive Media Association Awards. Zombie Cow's sex education game, Privates won in the games category, and Littlecloud's political awareness title The Curfew won in the Educational & Outreach and Motion Graphics category. Littlecloud had six nominations in various categories, and Zombie Cow garnered three.

"It was nice just to be nominated for three BIMA awards (Games, Originality and Effectiveness)," Zombie Cow's Dan Marshall on the company web site. "but to walk away with the one we honestly thought we had no chance of winning was a shock second only to the completely-true story of being charged five pounds for a can of 'Red Stripe Lager' at the bar. Honestly! Five pounds!"

Recently the Entertainment Merchants Association (who you may know best for their upcoming Supreme Court battle against the state of California) handed out honors to publishers and retailers for their contributions to the game industry as part of its GamePlan Summit (thanks to Gamasutra). Honorees include Best, GameStop, and Gamefly, among others.

Activision and GameStop took away the most honors: Activision was honored for Best Use of Social Networks (for Modern Warfare 2), Best Packaging (Modern Warfare 2), and Best Publisher’s Marketing Campaign (Modern Warfare 2). GameStop was honored for Best Game Department, and Best Retail Promotion and Marketing.

Videogame industry group TIGA was the recipient of a pair of awards at the UK’s annual Trade Association Forum Best Practice Awards.

TIGA grabbed the prestigious Trade Association of the Year 2010 in addition to the Member Recruitment Award. The group was also a finalist in three additional categories—Sector Representation Award, Website of the Year Award and Annual Report of the Year.

TIGA head Richard Wilson stated, “We are absolutely delighted by these awards and commendation. It is a huge honour to be awarded Trade Association of the Year and something we have worked very hard to achieve.”

Wilson also thanked the TIGA team, specifically Lorna Evans, Nisha Valand, Eva Field, Vanessa Joyce and Suzi Stephenson, for “all their hard work and dedication.”

Anyone looking forward to the 2010 ELAN Awards will have to look a little bit farther forward. A short press release from the organizers of the event announced that the show had been delayed because of an ongoing negotiation with an undisclosed broadcast partner.

The fourth annual ELAN Awards were tentatively scheduled for "July 2010" and set to take place in San Francisco. We assume that this delay won't push the awards out of San Francisco, nor will it negatively impact the July 2010, but we'll see. More from the press release issued today:

The British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors announced the winners of 55th annual Ivor Novello Awards. In amongst various awards you'll find "Best Original Video Game Score," which was awarded to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Guerrilla Games for Killzone 2.

Killzone 2 was nominated for best video game score alongside Savage Moon: Waldgeist and Total Empire: Total War. Killzone 2's soundtrack was composed by Joris de Man and recorded at the Abbey Road studios in London.

The Ivors celebrate the work of songwriters, composers and music publishers. Having a video game category is a step in the right direction for all involved and a testament to gaming's influence in mainstream culture. The Ivor Novello awards were held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London yesterday. I leave you with some kind words about video games from Ivors committee director Mark Fishlock:

As part of its annual awards, the National Academy of Video Game Testers and Reviewers Corp. will honor the founder of GamePolitics with a special award.

Dennis McCauley, who also wrote for the Philadelphia Inquirer in addition to manning the helm here, will be receiving a special Honorary Award for his “contributions to the gaming community and gaming journalism.”

Additionally, 209 nominees were announced across 47 categories for awards designed to pay respect to the interactive entertainment industry’s best in the fields of art technology and production. Sony led the way with 47 total nominations, followed by Electronic Arts with 28, Activision with 20 and Eidos with 18.

Game of the Year nominees include Batman: Arkham Asylum, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Batman: Arkham Asylum also led the way among games in total nominations, with 17, followed closely by Uncharted 2’s 16 nominations.

A voting body of 640 journalists and writers picked the nominees. Winners will be announced on February 27.

Congratulations Dennis!

At the White House yesterday, President Barack Obama lauded a California non-profit which publishes a PC game designed to help children and teens cope with cancer.

As reported by the San Mateo Daily Journal, Obama recognized HopeLab and its game Re-Mission as an example of the kind of social innovation that is worthy of support from both the public and private sectors. Praising the work of HopeLab and three other non-profits during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House, the President said:

If we work together — if we all go all-in here — think about the difference we can make. Think about the impact we could have with just the organizations represented in this room.

A White House press release praised HopeLab and its game:

HopeLab is dedicated to finding solutions that have broad impact, and works closely with tweens, teens and young adults to create fun, innovative products that meet their needs. Among them is Re-Mission, HopeLab's groundbreaking video game for young people with cancer. Data show that that Re-Mission improves treatment adherence and other key health outcomes... HopeLab is also developing products to combat sedentary behavior in children as a way to fight the effects of childhood obesity.

C-SPAN video of the ceremony is available here. More details of the event are available via HopeLab's Twitter account.

As noted on the House of Commons website, Conservative MP Edward Vaizey (left) introduced an early day motion last week to recognize BAFTA nominees and winners, including Little Big Planet, Fable II and Race Driver: GRID.

A vocal backer of the UK video game industry, Vaizey also took the opportunity to criticize the Labour Government for not providing what he views as a sufficient level of support to the British game biz:

[Moved:] That this House notes the importance of the video games sector to the UK economy; congratulates the winners and nominees at this year's Bafta Video Games Awards; notes in particular the success of UK developed games, including Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet, Codemasters'  and Lionhead Studios' Fable II, all of which won awards...

 

applauds this recognition of the continued success and significance of video games despite the complete lack of support from Government; regrets the fact that this lack of support from Government has seen the UK fall from being the third largest producer of video games in the world to the fifth largest; and urges the Government to devise a clear and supportive strategy for the UK video games sector as part of the Digital Britain review.

GP: Vaizey's name is popping up on GamePolitics with enough regularity that we've added a tag for him in our category list.

As GamePolitics has reported, the City of San Diego is honoring the 10th anniversary of the publication of Everquest by declaring Monday, March 16th as Sony Online Entertainment Day.

Today's edition of GU Comics has some fun with the news.

To see the punchline, click here...

The Washington State Senate has passed a resolution commending Penny Arcade founders Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik as creative types, businessmen and philanthropists. The legislative body also noted the 10th anniversary of the popular site.

Both Holkins and Krahulik hail from Spokane.

From the resolution:

WHEREAS, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik recently celebrated the comic's 10th anniversary;
and WHEREAS, In 2004, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik launched the first annual Penny
Arcade Expo, a gaming festival... and WHEREAS, The Penny Arcade Expo attracts thousands of tourists from around the globe to visit the city of Seattle...

 

WHEREAS, In 2003, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik created the Child's Play Charity, an organization which raises contributions of money and toys to donate to Children's Hospitals worldwide; and WHEREAS, Child's Play Charity has raised over 4.5 million dollars for sixty different Children's Hospitals since it was established...

GP: Well-deserved!

Via: Kotaku

We understand that the Evercrack addicts will be too busy questing to attend the festivities, but...

The City of San Diego is marking the 10th anniversary of the Everquest launch by naming March 10th as Sony Online Entertainment Day, reports Massively:

[SOE CEO] John Smedley will be on hand to accept this very nifty award from San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio. 10 years of being online is a hell of an achievement for any MMO.

 

Now, the burning question we want to know is if Councilman DeMaio ever had to corpse-run, too?

Gov. Rick Perry (R, at left) has proclaimed today "Entertainment Software Day" in Texas.

The declaration is apparently the first of its kind in the United States.

In addition, both chambers of the Texas legislature have passed resolutions recognizing the video game industry's contributions to the Lone Star State. Those resolutions were sponsored by State Sen. Bob Duell (R) and Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D), both of whom have worked on financial incentives for Texas game developers in the past.

The news comes by way of a press release from the Entertainment Software Association. The trade group which represents U.S. video game publishers enjoys a strong connection to Gov. Perry. GamePolitics readers will recall that the Guv delivered the keynote speech at E3 2008.

ESA CEO Mike Gallagher commented on the Texas-sized salute to the game biz:

The support of Governor Perry, Senator Duell and Representative Dukes for the entertainment software industry in Texas is an endorsement of the artistic and economic contributions our industry has made to the state.

These lawmakers are helping grow our industry as we work to create new jobs for Texans; boost the state’s economy; and help discover new ways computer and video games can improve the ways Americans live, work and play.

According to the ESA, Texas's game industry adds $395 million to the state's economy.

Number 66 with a bullet!

News search engine Wikio will release its updated listing of the Top 100 Political Blogs on Thursday.

We've been given an advance look (at left) and we're happy to report that GamePolitics has moved up to #66 on the list.

Animal rights organization PETA has named Xbox 360 role-playing adventure Fable 2 its Most Animal-Friendly Video Game of 2008.

In announcing its 6th annual Proggy Awards, PETA recognized "companies, people, and products for innovative and animal-friendly achievements." Of Fable 2, the activist group gushed:

Fable 2 is a vegetarian's dream come true. Why? In this virtual fight between good and evil, characters powered by tofu are just as powerful as their meat-eating counterparts—and are more fit and attractive to boot.

 

Featuring a strong pro-vegetarian theme, eating a plant-based diet helps you rack up "purity" points, whereas eating meat makes your character fat and evil. A fun and innovative game, it's also an effective tool that teaches gamers the real-life benefits of a vegetarian diet.

UPDATE: Edge points out that players can kick chickens and shoot bunnies in the game, which is just the kind of behavior that one might think would anger a group like PETA.

Dan Shannon, a representative for the animal rights group, told Edge:

I'll be honest, it's not our favorite part of the game. But what we like about Fable II and why we gave it the award is because the game presents you with choices, and then you see the repercussions of what those choices are. This is what the awards are based on, and that’s what PETA’s philosophy is—for people to understand how their choices affect the real world.

It’s not like people eat meat to score evil points, but you are supporting an industry that is cruel to animals. People need to be aware that their choices affect the world. We like that message in Fable II.

[The Chicken-Kicking] is done in a light-hearted manner. I don’t think anyone’s going to go out and start kicking chickens in their yard because of this game. Just like real life, you can go kick chickens if you want to, but we don’t think most people get off on that.

GP: Could just be that PETA, which has clearly recognized that talking about games is a good way to create buzz, didn't do its homework on Fable 2?

TIME has cranked out a feature which serves up Top 10 lists for just about everything you can think of (breakups, foot trends, open mic moments), including video games.

Lev Grossman penned TIME's list, which starts with GTA IV and ends with Spore. Here's what Grossman had to say about R*'s controversial, runaway hit:

It's ironic that GTA became a football in the debate over sex and violence in video games, because where it belongs is in the debate over whether video games count as art... It's a grade-A shoot-'em-up that doubles as an interactive novel and triples as a sly critique of American consumer culture.

Grossman's entire Top 10 list follows:

• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Braid (video at left)
• Little Big Planet
• Rock Band 2
• Gears of War 2
• Dead Space
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Hunted Forever (Flash)
• Fieldrunners (iPhone app)
• Spore

Marketwatch has named Activision's Bobby Kotick as one of four runners-up for its 2008 CEO of the Year award.

The respected financial website offers effusive praise for Kotick, along with an amusing tale of how the Activision-Blizzard merger got done:

When [Blizzard CEO] Mike Morhaime first met Kotick, he was looking for a low-key setting to avoid sparking the sort of chatter that often emerges when high-profile business leaders meet in public. Morhaime... chose a steakhouse near his company's Irvine, Calif., headquarters. But he ended up booking a large banquet room by mistake, leaving the two alone and rather conspicuous for the nearly four hours during which they contemplated the potential of a merger creating a new leader in the video-game business...

 

"We wanted to keep it low-key, which was pretty hard to do in this huge room with just the two of us there," Morhaime recalled with a laugh.

Marketwatch notes that Kotick has gamer roots, spending his college days playing text adventure Mystery House as well as arcade classic Defender. Kotick told Marketwatch that he gave up gaming due to an "addictive personality."

The most interesting part of the story, however, is how Kotick came to acquire Activision - and how cheaply:

Kotick and partner Brian Kelly bought a small company that handled licensing for Nintendo's game characters... But Kotick had his eye on making games, so Nintendo  pointed him to Activision, which had made the popular game "Pitfall" for Atari but had since changed its name to Mediagenic in an effort to expand into other areas of software development.

 

Its move ultimately failed, landing Mediagenic in bankruptcy. Kotick and Kelly bought the company in 1990 for less than $500,000...

The ESA Foundation, the charitable arm of video game publishers trade group the Entertainment Software Association, announced this week that it raised $750,000 for various children's charities at the organization's annual Nite to Unite.

The sold-out event was held on October 22nd in San Francisco. Legendary Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto (left) was honored with the 2009 ESA Champion Award.

ESA CEO Michael Gallagher commented on the spirit behind Nite to Unite:

The video game industry’s commitment to giving back is stronger than ever. For ten years now, Nite to Unite has been the premiere industry event dedicated to children’s causes and honoring its creative visionaries. I’m honored that so many distinguished individuals and organizations attended.

Are you Folding @ Home?

If you're a PlayStation 3 owner, why not contribute your unused processing cycles to Stanford University's ongoing research project into protein folding? 

You'll be helping to wipe out diseases like cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's and cancer, of course, and who can say no to that? But you'll also be showing off your good taste. Folding @ Home, you see, has been honored with the Good Design Gold Award for 2008 by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

From the judges:

Analysis of proteins for the purpose of shedding light on diseases is just one example of solution design for social issues, a stance that indicates the direction that design should take in the future. Motivating the people who will be involved in these studies will be the key to success, but the program functions well as an idea for making participation in this project visible on a global scale.

Via: Kotaku