Taking the stage at this year's DICE get-together in Vegas, Shelley's address was devoted to pondering aloud how a studio that had only ever made highly-acclaimed games would be shut down. And while he doesn't settle on a single, over-arching thing that can be blamed, he does a good job of being honest and highlighting the flaws - both internally at at former owners Microsoft - that, combined, led to the studio's demise.

These include:

- Failure to diversify. Ensemble were responsible for many of the finest strategy titles ever developed. And...that's all they were responsible for. Strategy games don't make money like they used to.

- The studio grew too big. It had always employed around 40 people, and those 40 were a close-knit team. But as the years progressed, staff numbers swelled to around 75, meaning that much of that strong feeling was diluted.

- Two major projects the company were working on - one the Halo MMO - were canned by Microsoft. Yet after they were canned, Ensemble didn't downsize, which would have increased overhead and may have contributed to Microsoft's decision to let the studio go.

You know what it sounds like to us? This is like when you see a couple who have been married for 20-30 years get divorced, and there wasn't any one thing you could blame. Nobody slept around, nobody hit anybody, they just...grew apart. Weren't as right for each other as they once were.

There doesn't always have to be a reason.

Live Blog: DICE 2009 - Bruce Shelley, Ensemble Studios Post-Mortem [G4]

- He says some great sutff about combating piracy. Really seems to hit the nail on the head when it comes to the PC market. He says that people aren't pirating because they're cheapskates, they're pirating because it's a better service. No regional delays, no DRM, instant downloading, that kind of thing.

Which Steam is aiming to match. They're not trying to stamp out piracy, they're trying to catch up.

- The team currently working on Team Fortress 2's excellent character videos are now working on comics. He didn't specify whether they'd be Team Fortress 2 comics, though, but you'd wager it'd be something Valve-related, or he wouldn't be mentioning it now, would he? MTV"s Stephen Totilo has let us know that, yes, they're working on Team Fortress 2 comics

- Steam sales don't increase sales. "Increase" is doing the benefit a disservice. Team Fortress 2 sales go up by over 100% when there's a free update on the PC. And the recent Left 4 Dead sale? That saw sales of the game increase by 3000%. And no, that's not a typo.

- The benefits of Steam as a retail platform don't stop there. Newell also mentioned that for a particular third-party game (which goes unnamed), sales went up 36,000% following a weekend sale. Sure, that's a hand-picked statistic (it's just one game, and we don't know how low sales were beforehand), but it's also an enormous figure.

- Responding to audience questions, Newell believes that it's inevitable that a service like Steam - which started on the PC - will eventually migrate to consoles.

Live Blog: DICE 2009 Keynote - Gabe Newell, Valve Software [G4]

The studio says that the Infernal Engine offers excellent cross platform support and is compatible with all of the "leading gaming systems" including the PC.

The developer plans to show off the engine at the DICE conference over the next few days. They also plan to release a tech demo featuring a revamped look at The Stranger from their 1999 game Nocturne. I wonder if that means we can expect a true sequel to their survival horror game.

"Our take on ‘Creative Gaming' is that it's an incredibly broad church, and Little Big Planet represents our particular first take on User Generated Content," said Alex Evans, co-founder of Media Molecule. "The D.I.C.E. Summit gives us the opportunity to present our design philosophy to the industry in the most prestigious forum today."

Evans joins a laundry-list of developers set to talk it up at the Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain event.

Other announced speakers include:

• Dan Bilson, THQ
• Chris Cao, Sony Online Entertainment
• N'Gai Croal, Newsweek
• Michael Denny, Sony Corp. EU
• Anita Frazier, NPD Research
• Julianne Greer, The Escapist
• Lars Gustavsson, D.I.C.E. Studios/EA
• Michael Haigh, SCE Worldwide Studios
• Mona Hamilton, Capcom
• Rich Hilleman, Electronic Arts
• Todd Howard, Bethesda Studios
• Geoff Keighley, Spike TV
• Alex Laurent, LucasArts/ILM
• Gabe Newell, Valve
• Ralph Osterhout, Serial Inventor
• David Perry, Acclaim Entertainment
• Ted Price, Insomniac Games
• J. Paul Raines, Gamestop
• John Riccitiello, Electronic Arts
• Seth Schiesel, New York Times
• Bruce Shelley, Ensemble Studios
• Mike Snider, USA Today
• Jun Takeuchi, Capcom
• Chris Taylor, Gas Powered Games

"The incredible achievement that Alex Evans and his colleagues at Media Molecule accomplished with Little Big Planet is the perfect topic for this year's conference," said Joseph Olin, president of The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. "The D.I.C.E Summit line-up is the strongest yet featuring many of the speakers that are defining our industry and laying the groundwork for future generations of game creators."

The DICE Summit is also home to the annual achievement awards by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.

Newell will be on hand at the 2009 D.I.C.E. Summit to deliver a keynote address, which I presume will have something to do with Valve, Steam, or some combination thereof. The key thing to remember here is that Gabe isn't one to mince words, and his mouth is big enough for both of his feet, as well as the feet of several innocent passersby. Should be a hoot!

“Gabe Newell and Valve have become a force for innovation in gaming over the past a decade, creating some of the best-selling games of all time and a ground-breaking platform for PC entertainment,” said Joseph Olin, president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. “His perspective and vision of the games industry are a welcome addition to this year’s D.I.C.E. Summit, and will greatly contribute to the high-profile line-up.”

Check out the entire updated roster of D.I.C.E. speakers below, all of whom shall say some things while they are there. Possibly things regarding stuff.

• Dan Bilson, THQ.
• Chris Cao, Sony Online Entertainment
• N'Gai Croal, Newsweek
• Michael Denny, Sony Corp. EU
• Anita Frazier, NPD Research
• Julianne Greer, The Escapist
• Lars Gustavsson, D.I.C.E. Studios/EA
• Michael Haigh, SCE Worldwide Studios
• Mona Hamilton, Capcom
• Rich Hilleman, Electronic Arts
• Todd Howard, Bethesda Studios
• Geoff Keighley, Spike TV
• Alex Laurent, LucasArts/ILM
• Ralph Osterhout, Serial Inventor
• David Perry, Acclaim Entertainment
• Ted Price, Insomniac Games
• J. Paul Raines, Gamestop
• John Riccitiello, Electronic Arts
• Seth Schiesel, New York Times
• Bruce Shelley, Ensemble Studios
• Mike Snider, USA Today
• Jun Takeuchi, Capcom
• Chris Taylor, Gas Powered Games

The 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards will be presented by The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) at next month's D.I.C.E. Summit, and sackboy might want to pull out his tuxedo for this one. Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet might not have sold as well as some of the holiday season's bigger hits, but industry leaders recognize the game's innovation to the tune of 10 nominations. LPB is duking it out against Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Left 4 Dead, and Metal Gear Solid 4 for Overall Game of the Year for 2008, which closely follows most gaming website's picks, including ours.

Check out the press release below to check out the nominees for Console Game of the Year, Computer Game of the Year, and Handheld Game of the Year, or visit www.interactive.org for the full list. Who are you guys rooting for?

Littlebigplanet leads with an impressive 10 Interactive Achievement Award NOMINATIONS

Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Left 4 Dead, LittleBigPlanet and Metal Gear Solid 4 Fight It Out for ‘Overall Game of the Year’ Honors

CALABASAS, CA – January 23, 2009 – The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences® (AIAS) today announced the nominees for the 12th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards®. The nominations for the peer-based awards have been dominated by blockbuster game, LittleBigPlanet (Sony Computer Entertainment America) with an astounding 10 nominations from industry leaders and members of the interactive entertainment software business. In addition, finalists with multiple nominations include: Gears of War 2 (Microsoft Game Studios), Left 4 Dead (Valve Software), Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.), Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks), and Fable II (Microsoft Game Studios).

The awards ceremony will take place during the D.I.C.E. (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain) Summit® 2009, on February 19th at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, with comedian, actor and proud game enthusiast, Jay Mohr, returning for his fourth year to host the award ceremony.

These peer-based awards recognize the outstanding products, talented individuals and development teams that have contributed to the advancement of the multi-billion dollar worldwide entertainment software industry.

“This was an exciting year for games,” said Joseph Olin, president, AIAS. “The depth of talent and creativity in this industry continues to amaze me and we are honored to highlight some of the most impressive games of the year at the Interactive Achievement Awards. The 2009 nominees indeed reflect a stronghold of talent embodying the best and brightest in this field.”

Following is a partial list of finalists; the complete list of finalists is available at www.interactive.org:

Overall Game of the Year:

Fallout 3

* Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
* Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Grand Theft Auto IV

* Publisher: Rockstar Games
* Developer: Rockstar North

Left 4 Dead

* Publisher: Valve Software
* Developer: Valve Software

LittleBigPlanet

* Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
* Developer: Media Molecule

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

* Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
* Developer: Kojima Productions

Console Game of the Year:

Fallout 3

* Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
* Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Gears of War 2

* Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
* Developer: Epic Games, Inc.

Grand Theft Auto IV

* Publisher: Rockstar Games
* Developer: Rockstar North

LittleBigPlanet

* Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
* Developer: Media Molecule

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

* Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
* Developer: Kojima Productions

Computer Game of the Year:

Fallout 3

* Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
* Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Left 4 Dead

* Publisher: Valve Software
* Developer: Valve Software

Mass Effect

* Publisher: Electronic Arts
* Developer: Bioware

Spore

* Publisher: Electronic Arts
* Developer: Maxis

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

* Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
* Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Outstanding Innovation in Gaming:

Braid

* Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
* Developer: Number None

Left 4 Dead

* Publisher: Valve Software
* Developer: Valve Software

LittleBigPlanet

* Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
* Developer: Media Molecule

Spore

* Publisher: Electronic Arts
* Developer: Maxis

Wii Fit

* Publisher: Nintendo
* Developer: Nintendo

Handheld Game of the Year

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

* Publisher: Nintendo
* Developer: Intelligent Systems

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia

* Publisher: Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
* Developer: Konami

God of War: Chains of Olympus

* Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
* Developer: Ready at Daw

Patapon

* Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
* Developer: Sony Computer Entertainment International

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

* Publisher: Nintendo
* Developer: Level 5, Inc.