The 15th annual Interactive Achievement Awards at the 2012 DICE Summit in Las Vegas have been announced, with Bethesda Softworks' popular action role-playing game The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim taking home a total of five awards including Game of the Year. Skyrim won the Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Story, Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Online Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, and Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering awards.

The Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) has revealed all the finalists for the 10th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards -as chosen by its 70-person Advisory Committee. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception received nine nominations in various categories - the most of any game this year.

The First Person Cultural Trainer (FPCT) has been awarded the Best Game award in the Government Category of the 2011 Serious Games Showcase and Challenge. FPCT is sponsored by U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command G-2 Intelligence Support (TRADOC). The Serious Games Showcase was part of the Interservice/Interindustry Training and Simulation Education Conference (I/ITSEC), and was held in Orlando, Fla., from November 28 through December 1.

The organizers of the 12th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards (GDCA) have revealed the recipients of two of its Special Awards: the Pioneer Award and the Ambassador Award. The Pioneer Award is given to a developer for creating breakthrough video game genres or concepts that have a lasting impact on the industry. The Ambassador Award is given to individuals who do something that elevates the video game development community and industry as a whole.

The AbleGamers Foundation has given the 2011 Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year Award to Star Wars: the Old Republic. The charity dedicated to encouraging accessibility of games for players with disabilities says that Star Wars: The Old Republic deserved this year's award because it provided a lot of options for players.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) announced the finalists for the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (IAAs). For 2012, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (Sony Computer Entertainment Company) leads the field with a total of twelve nominations. Several titles earned multiple nominations including ten nominations for Portal 2 (Valve Corporation), nine nominations for L.A. Noire (Rockstar Games), and six nominations each for Batman: Arkham City (Warner Bros.

Organizers for the 12th annual Game Developers Choice Awards today revealed this year's finalists, which included Bethesda’s popular action-RPG Skyrim, Portal 2, and Bastion. The three titles had five nominations each in various categories.

Winners in all major categories will be honored at the Game Developers Choice Awards show, on March 7, 2012 at 6:30 PM at the Moscone Convention Center.

The nominees for the 12th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards are:

The Associated Press has named its top ten games of 2011, with Portal 2 taking the top honors, followed by Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human, Revolution, the indie darling Bastion, and Batman Arkham City.

"It's essentially a series of abstract puzzles, and yet, Portal 2 delivers one of the year's most satisfying — and malevolently funny — stories," wrote AP's Lou Kesten.

Munich, Germany-based browser games publisher Travian Games was honored with the "Best German Publisher Award" at the eighth annual German Developer Awards yesterday in Dusseldorf, Germany. The annual awards event saw nearly 600 attendees comprised of professionals from the German publishing and game development community, along with politicians, media representatives and celebrities. A total of 14 awards were given out in various categories.

Indie game studio Size Five Games has won a BAFTA for controversial sex education game, Privates. The game won the Learning Secondary BAFTA.

"It’s a complete honor and a total shock,” Size Five’s Dan Marshall said about receiving the coveted award that honors the best and brightest entertainment that the United Kingdom has to offer. "I was excited enough about being able to start all my Press Releases from now on with the words ‘BAFTA-nominated’, but winning one is a whole other level."

Spike TV has announced the nominees for this year's Video Game Awards. Nominations at a glance include Batman: Arkham City, Modern Warfare 3, Uncharted 3, Forza 4, Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Portal 2. The full list of categories and nominees can be found below:

Last night at a gala event (as part of GDC Online 2011 in Austin, Texas) the GDC Choice Online Award winners were announced, with Trion Worlds and Mojang honored with several awards, along with Sony Online Entertainment, Sega, and Playdom. Trion's RIFT won Best Online Game and Best Technology, while Mojang's Minecraft walked away with the award for Best Live Game and Best Community Relations. Sony Online entertainment walked away with two awards; one for Clone Wars Adventures (BEST AUDIO for an ONLINE GAME) and DC Universe Online (BEST ONLINE VISUAL ARTS).

Sony Online Entertainment's long-running MMORPG EverQuest, has been inducted into the Game Developers Choice Online Awards Hall of Fame. EQ joins Ultima Online, which in the early days of MMO's was its closest and toughest competition at the time. Surprisingly both games are still running. EQ was recognized for its contribution to the long-term advancements of online gaming, pioneering major shifts in the medium's development and video games as a whole. EverQuest introduced the concept of raiding within an online world and improved the concept of a guild.

At the fifth annual T3 Gadget Awards last night Microsoft won two of the night's biggest awards, along with the Razer gaming laptop.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has added four new categories to the upcoming GAME British Academy Video Games Awards presented in 2012. The four new categories are Debut Game, Online - Browser, Online - Multiplayer, and Performer. So what are these categories and why did they add them?

According to Andriasang only one Western game managed to break into the Future Awards ranks at the Tokyo Game Show - and it wasn't Call of Duty. EA's Battlefield 3 stood out like a sore thumb in the awards list, honored alongside such Japanese darlings as Final Fantasy XIII-2, Final Fantasy Type-0, Monster Hunter G, and Phantasy Star Online 2. The award winners are chosen based on attendee feedback - who are asked to choose their favorites among any game on display on the show floor or announced at the event.

Women in Games Jobs announced that its inaugural European Women in Games Hall of Fame awards will be launched at the European Women in Games Conference taking place on September 22 at the NH Harrington Hall Hotel in London, England. The awards are sponsored by Electronic Arts and honor the contributions of women to the European game industry. Women in Games Jobs (WIGJ) is a not-for-profit company that works to recruit more women into the games industry by promoting role models and giving encouragement and information.

Nominees for the inaugural Hall of Fame award in 2011 are:

This year's finalists for the Game Developers Choice Online Awards have been announced, with winners to be announced during GDC Online 11 in Austin, Texas from October 10 - 13. The awards ceremony takes place on the evening of October 12. The finalists were chosen from a large selection of nominees by a committee of 400 industry professionals. Only online games that launched in North America during the last 12 months were eligible.

Electronic Arts managed to score four out of eight of the nods given out at the Gamescom 2011 awards. Chosen by a jury of national and international media, press, and trade representatives, the panel set out to pick the best games shown at the annual event held in Cologne, Germany.

The big winner was Battlefield 3, which was honored with the Best Of Gamescom 2011 award. EA Sports' FIFA 12 was named Best Console Game,  Star Wars: The Old Republic won the Best Online Game award, and EA's The Sims Social took home the Best Browser Game award.

Later this week in Las Vegas the hacking experts and security researchers will converge on Las Vegas for the annual Black Hat conference, and when they are done discussing hacking techniques and security breaches, they'll hand out awards for the best and worst security called the "Pwnie Awards." Sony is a leading contender for one particular award this year - for obvious reasons.

According to new research from games comparison and marketplace website Playr2, Duke Nukem Forever has been voted the "most disappointing video game release" of the past 12 months, beating Dragon Age II and Crysis II for the top spot.

It appears that Duke Nukem Forever owners agree with what most critics had to say about the game. Members of Playr2 felt that it was the biggest disappointment of the past 12 months.

Wargaming.net, makers of the popular online game World of Tanks, has signed on as the main sponsor of the European Games Awards 2011. The awards ceremony for one of Europe's largest public awards takes place on August 13 on the event ship Pure Liner 1 on the Rhine in Cologne, Germany.

Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.net, says that he considers supporting the European Games Award 2011 an important step for the European games industry:

NCsoft Europe will serve as the host of the inaugural Golden Chippies Awards on Wednesday July 20 at Brighton’s Regency fish restaurant. The "tongue-in-cheek" awards honor massively multiplayer gaming journalists in the UK. The event will also raise money for GamesAid. The awards are a precursor to the Develop Awards.

"MMO journalism is a labour of love for those involved. A niche but growing subset of traditional gaming media, these guys really are doing it through devotion to the genre. The Golden Chippies allow us to sing their praises over some classic seaside fare and raise some cash for a good cause in the process." said NCsoft EU PR Director, Cat Channon.

Deep Silver's Dead Island trailer has been awarded a Golden Lion in the Internet Film Lion Category at the 58th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The video, which some considered a bit controversial, showed a family holiday interrupted by a sudden and mysterious zombie outbreak, with several family members attacking each other after being infected. The trailer was created by Deep Silver together in cooperation with animation studio Axis Productions.

The results are in for the 2011 Game Critics Awards: Best of E3, and the big winners this year (according to games journalists for various publications) are BioShock Infinite, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Battlefield 3, and Sound Shapes.

Irrational Games' next BioShock game won four awards including Best of Show, Best Original Game, Best PC Game, and Best Action/Adventure Game.

Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim picked up two awards - Best Console Game and Best role Playing Game, while Battlefield 3 picked up awards for Best Action Game, and Best Online Multiplayer. Finally, Queasy Games' Sound Shapes won Best Handheld Game and Best Social/Casual Game. The full list of winners can be found below:

The official call for nominations for the second annual Game Developers Choice Online Awards at GDC Online in Austin are now open. Developer types can nominate their favorite online, social, and massively multiplayer online games for various awards.

The awards include such categories as Online Game Design, Social Network Games, Live Games, Visual Arts, Technology, and Community Relations. To be eligible, nominees had to have been launched during the May 2010 – May 2011 time period in North America. All game development professionals holding an active Gamasutra.com user account can nominate a game at www.GDCOnlineAwards.com.

The full list, along with a description of each, follows:

Mass Effect 2, BioWare's popular sci-fi themed RPG sequel, was named Game of the Year at this year's Canadian Videogame Awards, beating out the likes of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, Dead Rising 2, FIFA 11, and Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction. Mass Effect 2 also won Console Game of the Year, Best Game Design, and Best Writing. Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood from Ubisoft Montreal received two awards - Best Audio and Best Visual Arts. Other winners included Deathspank, Osmos, Pocket God, WOMP!, ModNation Racers, and Kinect.

The full list of winners (and nominees can be found below:

Apple knows how to set records when it comes to sales, and now it has another honorary distinction: claiming a Guinness World Record alongside the game Angry Birds. Guinness named the iPhone 4 the fastest selling portable game system after selling 1.5 million units on launch day. iPhone 4 was released on June 24, 2010.

"The release of the iPhone has not just changed the mobile industry, but the video game world too,"Gaz Deaves, Guinness World Records' gaming editor, said in a statement to the LA times. "With the never-ending App Store selection and an intuitive device, Apple has created a gigantic new space for itself in the casual games genre that literally brings entertainment to users wherever they may be."

Voting for the Game of the Year category of the 2011 Canadian Videogame Awards is still open to the public for one more day. Voting is open to the public until midnight, Friday, May 13th. The five Game of the Year finalists are Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Dead Rising 2, FIFA 11, Mass Effect 2, and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction. You can make your selection here. The site apparently allows visitors from outside the country vote.

Awards organizers also announced that tickets are still available for the event that takes place next Wednesday (May 18). The show will be hosted by Victor Lucas and his team from the TV show The Electric Playground. Video Games Live will also be back this year to provide the musical entertainment AND Nintendo will be offering attendees a special opportunity to play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D for Nintendo 3DS.

Congratulations to The Escapist, who managed to snag three Webby Awards including Best Games-Related Website, People's Voice Best Games-Related Website, and People's Voice Best Lifestyle Website. Why would we mention The Escapist here? After all this is a site about games and politics. Because it is one of the best games-related web site on the Internet and regularly featured in our daily newsletter for its irreverent commentary, sharp wit and the occasional story relevant to what we do here. We'll close out this congratulatory post with some commentary from co-founder Russ Pitts: