...just like in the game, challenges, tough decisions and sacrifices stand in the path of victory. In a fast paced reality show that feels like an alternate reality game brought to life, your team must work together to reach the ultimate goal: Becoming the first gamers in the world to play through the entire saga of Gears of War 2 in early October.

Interested? Head over to the official Gears 2 site to download the questionnaire and return it and a head shot and a 150 word pitch by Friday the 19th to be considered. With October right around the corner, your rejection should be pretty quick and painless. Good luck!

The Battle Starts November 7. Want To Lead the Charge? [Gears of War Official Site]

This week's episode of GameTrailers TV will give us a first look at those playable zombies in Left 4 Dead and yes, you can vomit on someone. THe show will also have the release date for Duke Nukem 3D on XBLA, the premiere of Need for Speed Undercover's trailer, and a sexy, sexy, but still disturbing Jenny McCarthy scene from Red Alert 3.

The show also includes an interview with Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade. If you listen carefully you can probably hear me knocking during the interview, but they wouldn't let me in. S'Ok, we got to talk to them next anyway.

"Considering the incredible reception our hardcore gamer audience has given the GT Diamond Award-winning Call of Duty franchise, we are confident that they'll go crazy for this never-before-seen footage from Call of Duty: World at War," said Geoff Keighley, host of GTTV. "We are thrilled that Activision turned to GTTV to unveil this exclusive, reinforcing GameTrailers' tradition of bringing fans the best quality and most sought-after content."

This week's episode also features footage from The Lord of the Rings: Conquest and some sort of exclusive Star Wars dealie from LucasArts. As always, GameTrailers TV airs Friday night at 1am Eastern time.

The game will have you playing as Darth Vader's secret apprentice and takes place in the era between Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The game will have players assisting Vader in his quest to rid the universe of Jedi.

"Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is one of the most ambitious projects LucasArts has ever launched. The combination of a great new Star Wars story with revolutionary new technology and game play means more fun than you've ever had in the Star Wars universe," said Peter Hirschmann, Vice-President of Product Development, LucasArts. "We can't wait until gamers get their hands on it this September."

LucasArts teamed up with Spike TV to air segments about the upcoming game during the channel's upcoming showing of all six Star Wars movies this weekend. The channel will be airing six different segments about the game "each with an exclusive announcement or new game play footage."

Hit the jump for the segment times, more box art shots and some details on the game.

• April 6 at 7:58 p.m. ET/PT - between the premiere of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
• April 11 at 10:52 p.m. ET/PT - At the end of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
• April 12 at 12:00 a.m. ET/PT - throughout an episode of GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley filmed at LucasArts' headquarters in San Francisco
• April 12 at 5:06 p.m. ET/PT - before Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
• April 13 at 5:06 p.m. ET/PT - before Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back

More About Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is the first next-generation game developed internally at LucasArts, and will be available on the Xbox®360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system.

As its name implies, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed completely re-imagines the scope and scale of the Force by taking full advantage of newly developed technologies that will be seen and experienced for the first time together: Digital Molecular Matter, by Pixelux Entertainment, and euphoria by NaturalMotion Ltd.

LucasArts and developer Krome Studios are creating an equally enthralling version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed on the Wii™ home videogame system from Nintendo, PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, and n-Space, Inc., is developing a version for Nintendo DS™. All will feature the same storyline, with opportunities to unleash the Force in devastating new ways.

Working with Lucas Licensing, LucasArts is preparing an unprecedented promotional effort around the launch of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, encompassing a full line of toys and game-based action figures from Hasbro, as well as a full publishing program from Dark Horse, Del Rey, Prima Games, and Palace Press.

More information about the game can be found at the official website, www.theforceunleashed.com, which will continue to release details throughout the year.

That same something is also telling me that the regret the comedian seems to be feeling about his "money grubbing" appearance means that he won't shed many tears when producers don't ask for a return in 2008.

Godawful/Thank God [MySpace via GameSetWatch and Looky Touchy]

"I think of it as Game Head on steroids because we'll have more resources and coverage," Keighley says. "It broadens the events we can cover around the country and the world."

Get your game on at 'GameTrailers' [Yahoo! News]

One of the things I found amazingly odd was that the awards themselves really seemed to take a back seat to the musical performances, commercials, myriad non video game related guest stars, and occasional World Premier Trailers for games like Little Big Planet, Rainbow 6 Vegas 2, Borderlands, TNA Wrestling, Prototype and Gran Turismo 5. It was almost like the awards were an afterthought, tacked on to an evening of oohing and ahhing over the next big name to take the stage. But, they did eventually get around to the awards and while there were no huge surprises, in general the winners seemed pretty in line with most people's guesses.

*Caution: Spoilers ahead. If you don't want to know any of the winners until the show airs tonight, read no further!*

BioShock took home three awards including Best Original Score, Best Xbox 360 Game and the big daddy of them all, Game of the Year. Fan favorite Halo 3 had two wins with Best Multiplayer Game and the highly dubious Most Addictive game fueled by Dew. Seeing as Mountain Dew launched a full fledged advertising campaign that revolved around a new soft drink devoted to Halo 3 this was hardly a surprise even though this category was allegedly voted on by the fans.

Call of Duty 4 and The Orange Box were the other big winners with two awards each and Harmonix rocked the house by taking Studio of the Year as well as Best Rhythm Game and Best Soundtrack for Rock Band. Nintendo games in general were highly underrepresented although they did manage to net three awards: Best Handheld Game for The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Best Action Game and Best Wii Game for Super Mario Galaxy. The Best PS3 Game was given to Insomniac's Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction and a special award was given to Kristen Bell for Best Newcomer for her work on Assassin's Creed although there didn't really seem to be any other nominees in the category and if there were, they weren't mentioned.

The evening was also marked by celebrity appearances by the likes of show host and badass Samuel L. Jackson, freaky magician Criss Angel, "TNA" wrestling stars Kurt and Karen Angle, the still smokin' Tia Carrere, legendary Marvel comics god Stan Lee, the godfather of skateboarding Tony Hawk, Simpsons creator Matt Groening, flag toting boxing promoter Don King, much too pretty reality stars Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, NFL quarterback Matt Leinart, complete douchebag Dave Navarro, diminutive bisexual Tila Tequila and comedians Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn and Raphie May. Musical guest performers included multiple performances by the Foo Fighters, a song from southern fried rocker Kid Rock and a far too short old school game medley by Tommy Tallarico's Video Games Live Orchestra.

Some of the other hilights of the evening were great quotes by Samuel L. Jackson ("Mr. Miyamoto, lay off the weed!") and Matt Groening ("Thanks to the game industry for proving that game executives aren't nearly as big assholes as TV executives.") and a particularly funny video clip parodying anti-video game violence commercials. It showed Kim Jong Il, Stalin, Saddam Hussein and other dictators playing violent video games with the punchline "Paid for by the friends of Jack Thompson." Ah Jack, such an easy target...

All in all it was a pretty entertaining event (if not somewhat predictable) with the only real ants-at-the-picnic moment coming at the very end. I had seen the guys from Gamecock roaming about in the audience in costume all night and wondered if they were going to do some sort of performance of speech and as it turns out, they did although it wasn't really part of the scheduled show. Just as Ken Levine was taking the stage to accept the Game of the year award for BioShock, the feisty Gamecockers leapt on the stage, hijacked the mic with some of self promotional banter effectively taking up the time that had been alloted for Ken's acceptance speech. I have been a big proponent of Gamecock and what they are doing for independent titles, but this was seriously bad form on their part. Briefly hijacking the show to make a point is one thing, but stealing another man's hard earned thunder is quite another.

After it was all over, quite a few of us were milling about in the lobby area and I got a chance to see Ken and congratulate him. As usual he was gracious and didn't seem to be ruffled at all by what had happened to him on stage. His lovely wife whom I had met at the BioShock launch party was also present with her parents and they all seemed very proud and happy with the big win. The Insomniac boys rolled by, slightly tipsy and happy as two kids on Christmas morning with their award although they did express some disappointment in not being able to take the award with them (they mail it to you later) on their tour of the strip. Super foxy Helen McWilliams and her dapper cohort Daniel Sussman arrived and the cheerful mood of booze and camaraderie was high. Helen was quite the bombshell in her tight black dress and heels although once the crowds had passed, the shoes came off. When some fans asked to take a picture with her I graciously accepted the duty of holding the goddess of video game rock's shoes and having hit the bar a few times myself throughout the night, I just couldn't help taking a token lick. Tiff may lay claim to her famous PSP licking picture, but who else can say they licked Helen McWilliams' shoes?

Stay tuned later today when I bring you all the action from the red carpet where I spoke with some of the nominees and celebrities and took a ton of pictures. For the full list of all the nominees and winners, merely scroll down the page. The winners of each category are in bold.

Game of the Year
BioShock
Halo 3
Mass Effect
The Orange Box

Best Shooter
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
BioShock
Halo 3
The Orange Box

Best Action Game
Super Mario Galaxy
Assassin's Creed
God of War 2
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Best Rhythm Game
Rock Band
Guitar Hero Encore: Rock the 80s
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Jam Sessions

Best RPG
Mass Effect
Eternal Sonata
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3

Best Driving Game
Colin McRae: DiRT
Forza Motorsport 2
Need for Speed ProStreet
Project Gotham Racing 4

Best Military Game
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas
World in Conflict

Studio of the Year
Harmonix
Bungie Studios
Irrational Games
Valve

Best Graphics
Crysis
BioShock
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Mass Effect

Breakthrough Technology
Portal
Crysis
Halo 3
Rock Band

Best PS3 Game
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Heavenly Sword
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Warhawk

Best Wii Game
Super Mario Galaxy
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Super Paper Mario

Best Xbox 360 Game
BioShock
Halo 3
Mass Effect
The Orange Box

Best PC Game
The Orange Box
BioShock
Crysis
World in Conflict

Best Individual Sports Game
Skate
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground
Virtua Tennis 3

Best Team Sports Game
Madden NFL 08
NBA 2K8
NHL 08
Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007

Best Handheld Game
The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords

Best Game Based on a Movie or TV Show
The Simpsons Game
Naruto: Rise of a Ninja
Stranglehold

Best Soundtrack
Rock Band
BioShock
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground

Best Original Score
BioShock
God of War 2
Halo 3
Mass Effect

Best Multiplayer Game
Halo 3
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Rock Band
The Orange Box

Most Addictive Game Fueled by Dew
Halo 3
Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
Team Fortress 2
Wii Sports

The show will run on Spike TV tonight, at midnight in most markets, giving viewers a primer on Sunday's airing of the 2007 Video Game Awards. Check your local listings and all that.

FOUR-TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNING ROCK BAND, FOO FIGHTERS, TO PERFORM AT SPIKE TV'S 2007 "VIDEO GAME AWARDS"

IN SPECIAL PERFORMANCE FOR ALL-NEW "ROCK BAND" VIDEO GAME

Hosted by Samuel L. Jackson; Premieres Sunday, December 9 At 9:00 PM

New York, NY, December 5, 2007 - Spike TV announced today that multi-platinum recording artists, Foo Fighters, will take the stage at Spike TV's 2007 "Video Game Awards." Fresh off the release of their highly anticipated new album, "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace," the Foo Fighters are set to rock out in front of some of Hollywood's hottest talent and the video game world's top creators and designers. Hailed by The Independent (UK) as "the last great American rock band," Foo Fighters are featured in Rock Band; which will be one of the biggest games of the year. This performance will be a monster. Hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, the "Video Game Awards" tapes at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas Friday, December 7 and premieres on Spike TV Sunday, December 9 (9:00-11:00PM, ET/PT).

To kick off the party, celebrities will have their music abilities tested, as Spike TV will feature the all-new platform designed for music fans and gamers, MTV Games' Rock Band on the red carpet. The red carpet will never be the same as celebrities will show off their video game prowess in front of their loyal fans. While, inside the walls of the Mandalay Bay Events Center, a who's who of the video game industry will gather to witness mind-blowing, never-before-seen world premieres of some of the most anticipated releases to date. Borderlands (2K), Gran Turismo™ 5 Prologue (Sony Computer Entertainment America), Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Ubisoft) and TNA iMPACT! (Midway) will all be unveiled. Also, viewers will have a first look at the new DLC Halo 3 Maps from Microsoft Game Studios.

Talent includes some of the industry's hottest celebrities, sports stars, comedians and the hottest women in gaming. The night will feature award presentations and appearances by actress Rachel Bilson, actor Hayden Christensen, "Heroes" Kristen Bell, legendary boxing promoter Don King, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk, rock star Kid Rock, "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening, magician Criss Angel, "TNA" wrestling stars Kurt and Karen Angle, actress Tia Carrere, artist Chingy, "Rob & Big's" Rob Dyrdek and Big Boykin, "Chuck" stars Joshua Gomez and Zachary Levi, former NFL star Rocket Ismail, UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and "Ultimate Fighter 1" champ Forrest Griffin, "Mad TV" star Bobby Lee, MTV reality couple Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, NFL quarterback and Heisman trophy winner Matt Leinart, rock star Dave Navarro, "Jackass" Steve-O, comedian Patton Oswalt, comedian and Comedy Central star Brian Posehn, MTV's Tila Tequila and professional skateboarder Danny Way and many more to be announced shortly. In addition, the world's leading video game concert series, Video Games Live, will make their national television debut. Comedian Ralphie May was just added to perform.

The official sponsors of Spike TV's 2007 "Video Game Awards" are Burger King®, GameStop™, Mountain Dew, Stride® Gum, Tag™, U.S. Air Force and Verizon Wireless.

Spike TV will launch a "Video Game Awards" mobile channel cross carrier on December 3rd. The mobile "VGA" winners will be announced on the red carpet at the event and will air on Spike mobile beginning December 10th and run all week.

Nominees for Spike TV's 2007 "Video Game Awards" were determined by the VGA Advisory Council, made up of a group of the most well-respected experts in the industry who, for the first time in history, will also determine the show's winners. Games released between November 16, 2006 and December 1, 2007 were eligible for nomination. Fan voting, however, will not be left out as the winner in the Most Addictive Game category will be solely determined by the fans. To vote for this award, go to www.vga.spiketv.com- through Saturday, December 8.

Spike TV's 2007 "Video Game Awards" pays tribute to the outstanding achievements of games, designers, animation, breakthrough technology, music and performances of the past year in the industry. The awards also provide a glimpse at the future of gaming, including exclusive sneak peeks and world premiere footage of some of the most anticipated games of 2007 and beyond.

Albie Hecht, Oscar®-nominated producer and co-creator of the "Kids' Choice" and "Video Game Awards," and Casey Patterson, senior vice president, event production & talent development for Spike TV will serve as executive producers of Spike TV's 2007 "Video Game Awards." Greg Sills is supervising producer, Alicia Portugal is producer and Scott Fishman is executive in charge of production.

Spike TV is available in 96.1 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.

# # #

In addition, the trailer debut will close with a surprise announcement by Game Head's Geoff Keighley. You won't want to miss this!

There are four shots of Prince of Persia Classic in the gallery below which... wait... Gameloft?! The mobile phone guys? Wow. Anyway, the game looks pretty solid and, I'll assume, plays nearly identical to the original. Michael McWhertor

Simply film your two-minute long, slow motion, dual-wielding-Berettas while diving through a cloud of doves in a hospital masterpiece and send it in to be judged by June 25th for a chance to win $25,000, a trip to Chicago to meet the developers of the game, a copy of said game, a movie poster (woo) signed by John Woo (<—), an Amp'd mobile phone, and a chance to appear on Spike TV and Gamehead.

That leaves just weeks for you perfect your shooting while leaping technique, not to mention determining how to keep a gun sideways whie spinning through the air. They'll take off points if you screw that up. Michael Fahey

Midway Announces Stranglehold 's True to John Woo Short Film Contest on MySpace

$25,000 Grand Prize Winner to be Selected by Acclaimed Director John Woo and Planned to Premiere on Spike TV This Summer

CHICAGO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY), a leading interactive entertainment publisher and developer today announced a groundbreaking video submission contest in association with John Woo and his video game production company, Tiger Hill Entertainment, Spike TV and Fox Interactive Media: Stranglehold's True to John Woo Short Film Contest. Hosted exclusively on MySpace (http://www.myspace.com/strangleholdgame), and promoted across other Fox Interactive Media properties including IGN Entertainment (http://ign.com/stranglehold), this unique contest is scheduled to launch April 30th and encourages contestants to create the most authentic John Woo-style short film. Contest ends June 25, 2007. No purchase necessary.

The grand prize winner will receive $25,000, a trip for two to Midway's Chicago studios to meet developers and tape an interview for Spike TV, the chance to personally premiere the short film on Spike TV, an authentic "Hard Boiled" movie poster autographed by John Woo, an Amp'd mobile phone with six months' service, and a copy of Stranglehold.(a)

"Stranglehold's cinematic action is directly inspired by John Woo's acclaimed action films and their unique style," said Mona Hamilton, vice president of marketing, Midway Amusement Games, LLC. "We've created a premier collaboration with Spike TV and Fox Interactive Media's MySpace and IGN Entertainment sites that gives fans the opportunity to put their creativity to the test with a short film judged by John Woo himself."

"Young filmmakers need encouragement to grow; it is an aspect of my profession which I cherish deeply," said action director John Woo. "I know the Stranglehold Short Film Contest will find new talent and with it, new possibilities."

In addition to the premiere on Spike TV expected this summer, both the game release and short film winner will be a featured segment on "Game Head," Spike TV's weekly series dedicated to everything that is happening in the world of video games, giving viewers an uncompromised look at the culture of video games.

Additionally, the films of ten finalists are expected to be posted on MySpace, with user voting determining a second "audience choice" winner, who will receive prizes including $1000, an Amp'd mobile phone with six months' service, an authentic "Hard Boiled" movie poster autographed by John Woo and a copy of Stranglehold.(a) Fans will also be able to learn more about the game, the contest and the art of John Woo's filmmaking by visiting both the Stranglehold contest profile on MySpace, and an exclusive IGN micro site dedicated to the game (http://www.ign.com/stranglehold).

Entries to Stranglehold's short film contest must be no longer than two minutes and thirty seconds in length and will be judged using three specific criteria:

* Overall Quality - 40% - includes cinematography, editing, sound, image quality and technical production
* Strength of John Woo Homage - 40% - includes extent of homage, quality of homage and use of Woo signature techniques
* Creativity - 20% - includes screenplay, acting and overall impression

For more about Stranglehold's short film contest, including official rules and regulations visit: http://www.myspace.com/strangleholdgame

(a) Stranglehold's True to John Woo Video Contest prizes are subject to change.

Back when Team Kotaku invaded New York earlier this year, Game Head came out and took some time to talk to the entire crew about a myriad of things gaming related. I'm told they plan to use that for reoccurring segments called Kotaku On...

But this first appearance of Kotaku on Game Head was essentially a quick primer on what the site is, featuring me in my big bird shirt. I totally need to buy more shirts. :)

If you're impatient to get to the Kotaku, it starts off a bit about 10 seconds before three minutes. And never forget, Kotaku is the product of a team of amazing writers, both Ninja and Pirate. Brian Crecente

Game Head

ASAP Staff writer Ryan Pearson just shot me a link to his excellent write-up of last night's Video Game Awards show on Spike TV.

I think he hit the nail right on the head. The reason these shows don't work, he concludes, is because in video games the gamers are the center of attention, but in the shows, the celebrities are.

And more to the point, many of the ones who show up at award shows don't give a damn about the games, even if they're in them.

Case in point:

So it's odd that famous people are front-and-center at the Video Game Awards, where innovative game producers went slinking down the red carpet unnoticed as everyone from Xzibit to MySpace vixen Tila Tequila — neither of whom seemed much interested in their own games — hogged camera time.

Ms. Tequila appears in "Street Racing Syndicate." You can win her as a prize, at which point she rides with you and tells you that "You suck." Asked if she gives any productive tips to the player, she responded, "Not really. I just distract."

Xzibit, so charismatic as host of the "Pimp My Ride" TV show, appears in its just-released game iteration. He explains it thusly: "Basically it's a racing game, driving game, whatever. You get to do something to the cars. I had to be involved because I didn't want them to portray me in a light I don't want to be portrayed in." He appeared not to have played the game.

Sure, Pearson points out, some of the stars who made the show were into gaming.

For instance Daniel Dae Kim is a big Guitar Hero fan, but then again who isn't. And Both Masi Oka and Brandon Routh are huge World of Warcraft fans. They were even talking about starting up a celebrity guild on a server. That would be fantastic, getting pwned by a crew of multi-millionaire movie stars. Dammit, they're rich and famous in the real world, leave the virtual one to us noobs. Brian Crecente

In gaming, YOU are the star. Aren't you? AP]

Friday night. I was just wrapping up a handful of posts, ready to head to the Spike TV Video Game Awards. Despite my personal feelings for the VGAs, I was excited to attend. I'd get to talk to some famous and semi-famous folks on the red carpet, slip Rachel Leigh Cook my card, then watch Tenacious D rock out and bask in the insanity of the show. As I put away the laptop, my stomach warned me something was wrong.

I hadn't eaten but a handful of random snacks all day, so I assumed it was just hunger. Better eat a proper meal, I though. After heading down to the Galen Center at USC, I decided "I should get a Fatburger and put something in my stomach." One third of a Fatburger later, I threw in the napkin. Or towel. Back to the VGAs!

That's when, to my surprise, I saw Tetsuya Mizuguchi (of Rez and Lumines fame) walking out of the VIP area with two lovely ladies, one decked out in an Every Extend Extra t-shirt by Beams. I yell "Mizuguchi! Can I get a pic?" He complied, giving me his best goblin face. I thanked him, we shook hands and Miz sped off to catch up with CliffyB. They hugged! So sweet.

As I approached the two, ready to grab a shot, my stomach gave me the signal: this Fatburger is scheduled to launch within the hour. Shit. I grew more delirious as fever took over, but had the common sense to stay away. If I approached the two, I was sure someone would wind up with vomit splash on their red carpet walking shoes. And I wanted to prevent being blacklisted from press access at all future events.

That was it. I knew my night at the VGAs was over. I handed my tickets to Freeloadin' Scott Andrews, sped home, car window down just in case, waiting for my digestive system to go in reverse.

Didn't take long, but I took comfort in the fact that I'd met one of the few game designers I've always admired. It's a shame I didn't have the strength to stay, as I'd have like to chat him and Cliff up a bit. Plus, if I got Mizuguchi sick, I'm going to feel awful. I was also bummed that I didn't get to retell a full night of adventure to the Kotaku readership.

Hopefully, I'll be back next year in full health to absorb the full impact of the VGAs and give Miz a big old mancrush-style hug. Michael McWhertor

Spike TV hired gamespace talk show This Spartan Life to put together some online only episodes for them. The two I've seen so far only mention the show in the intro and extro. The first stars the Frag Dolls and the second is an in-game interview with band Augustana. Future segments will feature GameHead's Geoff Keighley, Splinter Cell: Double Agent producer Julian Gerighty and Blizzard Entertainment's Tristan Pope and Terran Gregory, who worked on the machinima for the WoW-themed South Park episode.

You'd think Spike TV would get the crew to do at least one of their shows about the VGA's since that's what it's meant to be promoting. Odd. All of the episodes can be found over on the VGA site. Brian Crecente

Spike TV This Spartan Life

Spike TV held their Video Game Awards show Friday night and I'm sure you've all been hanging on the edge of your seats for us to print the winners list. Actually, I forgot it was happening and somehow I really couldn't get up the energy to care. Thankfully, the robots at Destructoid never sleep and already went to the trouble of putting this list together so I didn't have to. For those of you who can't wait for the December 13 show date to see the outcome, make the jump for the list of winners. Some highlights appear below...

• GAME OF THE YEAR: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
• STUDIO OF THE YEAR: Epic Games
• BEST ACTION GAME: Dead Rising
• BEST SHOOTER: Gears of War

Spike TV VGA Winners List

GAME OF THE YEAR
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks)

STUDIO OF THE YEAR
Epic Games (Gears of War)

BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME
Tony Hawk Project 8 (Activision/Neversoft)

BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME
NBA2K7 (2K Sports/Visual Concepts)

BEST SONG
"Lights and Sounds" by YellowCard in Burnout Revenge-XBOX 360 (Electronic
Arts/Criterion Games)

BEST SOUNDTRACK
Guitar Hero II (Red Octane/Harmonix)

BEST WIRELESS GAME
SWAT Force (Vivendi/KAOLink)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN - MALE
Patrick Stewart in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN - FEMALE
Vida Guerra in Scarface: The World is Yours (Vivendi/Radical
Entertainment)

BEST CAST
Family Guy (2K Games/High Voltage Software)

MOST ADDICTIVE
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks)

CRITIC'S CHOICE
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)

BEST DRIVING GAME AWARD
Burnout Revenge-XBOX 360 (Electronic Arts/Criterion Games)

BEST ACTION GAME
Dead Rising (Capcom)

CYBER VIXEN OF THE YEAR
Alyx Vance - Half-Life 2: Episode 1 (Valve)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks)

BEST FIGHTING GAME
Mortal Kombat Armageddon (Midway Games)

BEST PC GAME
Company of Heroes (THQ/Relic)

BEST RPG
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Bethesda Softworks)

BEST SHOOTER
Gears of War (Microsoft/Epic Games)

BEST MILITARY GAME
Company of Heroes (THQ/Relic)

BEST GRAPHICS
Gears of War (Microsoft/Epic Games)

BEST HANDHELD GAME
New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)

BEST MULTI-PLAYER GAME
Gears of War (Microsoft/Epic Games)

BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY
WII (Nintendo)

BEST GAME BASED ON A MOVIE OR TV SHOW
Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (LucasArts/Traveller's Tales)

BEST SUPPORTING MALE PERFORMANCE
James Gandolfini in The Sopranos: Road to Respect (THQ/7 Studios)

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Rachel Leigh Cook in Kingdom Hearts II (Square Enix)

GAMERS CHOICE: BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Rosario Dawson in Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure
(Atari/The Collective)

GAMERS CHOICE: CHARACTER OF THE YEAR
"Jack Sparrow" portrayed by Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The
Legend of Jack Sparrow (Bethesda Softworks/7Studios/Buena Vista Games)
Faith's Avatar

Will there ever be a time when Leroooooy Jenkins is played out?

Yes, yes there is. It's the time between the first laugh-out-loud funny commercial for the Video Game Awards show, seen above, and the derivative crap seen in commercial number two and three on the jump. Repeating, of course, is what kills Leeeeeeeeroy Jenkins. Brian Crecente

Featuring appearances by 50 Cent, Tony Hawk, Method Man, Seth Green, Tenacious D, AFI, plus more B and C level celebs and musical acts pretending to care about video games, the night will probably be a blast and/or unintentionally funny. I'll be there, so if you're attending, keep an eye peeled. Michael McWhertor

Spike TV Video Game Awards Tickets

The show will also feature name taker/ass kicker Reggie Fils-Aime, rapping about the Wii, so get out your VCR Plus and figure out the code for Spike TV at 12:35 AM late Friday/early Saturday.

Check the full press release, with info on other stuff you might want to see, after the jump. Michael McWhertor

Spike TV - Game Head

Watch Game Head this Friday Night at 12:35a — Only on Spike!

Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime joins our very own Geoff Keighley once again to finish the fight.

In early February of 2006, (when the Wii was still The Revolution and Reggie was still a VP) at a go-kart track outside of Las Vegas, Reggie Fils-Aime and Geoff Keighley started a rivalry that has taken the gaming world by storm. By using a banana peel, Reggie managed to beat Geoff in a 200k go-kart race. However, Game Head won some previously undisclosed information on The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess.

Left embarrassed and hungry for revenge, Geoff got his rematch at Nintendo's extremely crowded E3 booth in May of 2006 in Los Angeles. In a best of three match, Keighley managed to literally beat the then Nintendo VP at his own game: Wii Sports - Tennis.

Now the score stands at 1:1. And in THE year for competitive gaming, we're taking a quick break from the Console Wars, and finishing our fight (sorry again Peter): Game Head's Geoff Keighley vs Reggie Fils-Aime, now Nintendo of America President.

The tie will be broken as Geoff and Reggie go Wii Bowling, and Real Bowling, in a best of four frames challenge. Reggie admits that he hasn't gone bowling since college (with a beer in his hand) and Keighley only knows how to bowl with ten pins. Canadians...

Bonus! We world premiere the trailer for SSX for the Wii (even Reggie hasn't seen this). Reggie candidly talks about the Wii60 and Peter Moore even weighs in on the console love affair rumors that he started. Can there be a Reggie/Peter "Gears of War" showdown in the mix??!?!

Find out by watching Game Head's Wii-Off special this Friday Night at 12:35a only on Spike! Frankly, it's Wii-Tastic.

Also featured in this episode:
SSX (EA, Wii)
RESISTANCE FALL OF MAN (INSOMNIAC GAMES, PS3)
EXCITE TRUCK (NINTENDO, Wii)
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS (NINTENDO, Wii)

Spike TV has announced that people might actually be watching the 2006 Video Game Awards on December 13th, if only for two minutes. During those two minutes, the cinematic trailer for The Burning Crusade, Blizzard's upcoming expansion to the World of Warcraft, will be shown for the first time anywhere. Afterwards thousands of WoW players are scheduled to go right back to raiding Naxxramas, never tuning into Spike TV again except for the odd Star Trek Marathon now and then.

I have questioned the validity of the Spike VGA show since they gave best shooter in 2003 to the PC port of Halo and spelled SOCOM as SOCMO. Man, I love playing me some SOCMO. As much as I enjoy World of Warcraft, I'll catch the trailer later on YouTube, thanks. Michael Fahey

VGA Awards To Debut Burning Crusade Cinema [Gamasutra]

I'm actually a little sorry I missed this. The thought of "unsuspecting" gamers being brought to a TV studio under false pretenses and shoved into a war simulation sounds like it could be good for a few laughs. Especially the physical challenge part. Flynn De Marco

CALL OF DUTY 3 . . . THE REALITY SHOW? [The Last Boss - Thanks, Fronz]

My name aside, you can tell that the show is trying to take things seriously just by who's in the board. Some of the top people at EGM, GameInformer, GameSpot, 1Up, Official Xbox Magazine, GameTrailers and GamePro make up the board.

I've attached a list of the nominees for this year's awards. The process of creating this list was interesting, though I wasn't able to hit the meeting where the final list was hammered out. The initial step, though, involved each panelist selecting their choices for each of the categories. Imagine that? Someone gives you an empty sheet with these categories and tells you to pick the best. Sure, best game and the like was easy. But best Score, best human actor?

You don't really examaine a game in that detail, at least I don't, until someone asks you to make a list like this. So what do you think should and shouldn't have made the list? Brian Crecente

VGA 2006 [Spike TV]

The Nominees:

GAME OF THE YEAR

title

1 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

2 Okami

3 Gears of War

4 Guitar Hero 2

5 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

CRITIC'S CHOICE

(game to be released after 11/15 & before 12/31/2006)

title

1 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

2 Resistance: Fall of Man

3 Medieval II: Total War

8 Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas

5 Wii Sports

BEST DRIVING GAME AWARD

title

1 Burnout Revenge

2 Need For Speed Carbon

3 TOCA Race Driver 3

4 GTR 2

BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME

1 Rockstar Presents Table Tennis

2 EA Sports Fight Night Round 3

3 Tony Hawk Project 8

4 Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07

5 Top Spin 2

BEST ACTION GAME

1 Dead Rising

2 New Super Mario Bros

3 Okami

4 Saints Row

6 Bully

BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME

1 NBA2K7

2 Madden NFL 07

3 NCAA Football 07

4 FIFA 07

5 NHL 07

CYBER VIXEN OF THE YEAR

1 Lara Croft - Tomb Raider: Legend

2 Alyx Vance - Half Life Episode 1

3 Princess Peach - Super Mario Bros.

4 Enrica - Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent

5 Jen - Prey

BEST SONG

1 Loco Roco No Uta - Loco Roco

2 Heavenly Star - Lumines 2

3 Bloc Party - Helicopter - Mark ecko's getting Up & Burnout 2

4 Afi - Summer Shudder - Maddden

5 YellowCard - Lights and Sounds - Burnout Revenge

BEST SOUNDTRACK

1 Gutar Hero 2

2 Madden 07

3 Scarface: The World is Yours

4 GTA Vice City Stories

STUDIO OF THE YEAR

1 Clover / Hideki Kamiya (Okami)

2 Relic (Company of Heroes)

3 Cliffy B / Epic (Gears of War)

4 Todd Howard / Bethesda (Elder Scrolls Oblivion)

5 Alex Rigopoulos / Harmonix (Guitar Hero) / Red Octane

BEST WIRELESS GAME

1 Diner Dash

2 SWAT Force

3 Tower Bloxx

4 Super KO Boxing

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

1 Elder Scrolls Oblivion

2 Bully

3 Elektroplankton

4 OKAMI

5 FINAL FANTASY XII

BEST FIGHTING GAME

1 Tekken: Dark Resurrection

2 Dead or Alive 4

3 Mortal Kombat Armageddon

4 Street Fighter Alpha Anthology

5 God Hand

BEST SHOOTER

1 Black

2 Prey

3 Half Life 2 Episode 1

4 Gears of War

5 Call of Duty 3

BEST MILITARY GAME

1 Company of Heroes

2 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

3 Call of Duty 3

4 The Outfit

5 Battlefield 2142

BEST GRAPHICS

1 Gears of War

2 Okami

3 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

4 Elder Scrolls Oblivion

5 Company of Heroes

BEST HANDHELD GAME

1 New Super Mario

2 Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day

3 GTA Vice City Stories

4 Tetris DS

5 Loco Roco

BEST MULTI-PLAYER GAME

1 Gears of War

2 Company of Heroes

3 Metal Gear Solid Substinence

4 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

5 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent

BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY

1 WII

2 PS3

3 DS Lite

4 Elektroplankton

BEST PC GAME

1 Company of Heroes

2 Half Life 2 Episode 1

3 Battlefield 2142

4 Star Wars: Empire at War

5 Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion

BEST RPG

1 Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion

2 Final Fantasy XII

3 Kingdom hearts 2

4 Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria

BEST GAME BASED ON A MOVIE OR TV SHOW

1 Lego Star Wars 2: The Original Trilogy

2 Godfather the Game

3 Scarface: The World is Yours

4 Sopranos

5 Family Guy

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN - MALE

1 Seth McFarlane - Family Guy

2 Gerry Rosenthal - Bully

3 Patrick Stewart - Elder Scrolls Oblivion

4 Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow

5 Keifer Sutherland - 24

BEST MALE - supporting

1 Seth Green - Family Guy

2 James Woods - Scarface: The World is Yours

3 James Cann - Godfather

4 philip Micahel Thomas - Lance Vance GTA VCS

5 James Gandolfini - Sopranos

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN - FEMALE

1 Vida Guerra - Scarface

2 Tia Carrere - Saints Row

4 Emmanuelle Vaugier - NFS Carbon

5 Keely Haws - Lara Croft

5 Rosario Dawson - Marc Ecko's Getting Up Contents Under Pressure

BEST FEMALE - Supporting

1 Rachel Leigh Cook - Kingdom Hearts 2

2 Elisha Cuthbert - 24

3 Brittney Murphey - Marc Ecko's Getting Up Contents Under Pressure

4 Mila Kunis-Family Guy

5 Lynda Carter - Elder Scrolls Oblivion

BEST CAST

1 Godfather

3 Family Guy

4 Scarface: The World is Yours

5 Saint's Row

6 Elder Scrolls Oblivion

MOST ADDICTIVE (MT DEW VIEWER'S CHOICE)

1 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

2 Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day

3 Gears of War

4 Guitar Hero 2

5 Company of Heroes

I'm still no fan of SpikeTV's video game award show, but at least their game coverage has been improving. Game Head, the SpikeTV game-centric show, has managed to break some major news in the past season and land interviews with the likes of Reggie Fils-Aime, Uwe Boll and Kingdom of Hearts' Sonoko Ishioka.

Perhaps that's a sign that SpikeTV's annual video game award show is going to improve as well. Yesterday, SpikeTV sent out a request to a bevy of game journalists asking if they'd like to be on their Video Game Awards Advisory Panel for the show.

The panel will be in charge of nominating and eventually determining which games will be honored.

The award show is set to be held at the Galen Center at USC in Los Angeles on Dec. 8 and will air on Spike on Dec. 13. Only games released between Dec. 1, 2005 and Nov. 17, 2006 will be eligible to win.

I won't name names, but the list of potential panelists include writers and editors from an eclectic mix of publications like Gamespot, 1Up, MTV and Game Informer. There are even some blogs thrown into the mix. Brian Crecente

Comcast's G4, a cable network aimed at young men, has hired Howard SternHoward Stern's longtime girlfriend, actress Beth Ostrosky, to host irreverent countdown series "Filter" and recruited Fox Sports correspondent Olivia Munn to co-host pop culture news show "Attack of the Show."

Hires are part of the channel's evolution away from videogames into broader-based fare for guys.

...

In addition, both "Filter" and "Attack of the Show" will be relaunched in June with a scaled-back focus on technology. Heavier emphasis will be on attitude, humor and a broader range of male-oriented topics.

Now they just need to add some wrestling and host their own crappy video game awards show.

Cabler G4 invites new hosts [Variety]

I continue to have mixed feelings about the whole Spike TV awards dealio. Apparently it aired over the weekend and we tied Slash for second place for best gaming blog. Well really we tied for first, but that's just too painful to admit.

First, having not seen the show I hate to just pan it, but I think judging from past experience that it must have sucked ass. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

On the other hand, this was an award that was voted on by people who don't work at Spike TV, which takes a bit of the suck edge off of it.

Now, it could be that a bunch of people trying to find when WWE is airing accidently voted for Kotaku or Slashdot or Joystiq (there were only three nominees). But I'd like to think that if votes were based on how cool or meaningful a website's name was, we would have come in a very distant last.

It is worth noting that all three of the nominated sites have deried the awards in the past and present and will likely do so in the future. So Spike's plan to buy off the haters hasn't worked. Now where's my pair of gold underwear or what ever the hell it is that Spike is handing out as an award. I promise to share it with Zonk, he can have it for the first dozen months of the year and I'll take it for the remainder.

Oh, the official tally:

Slashdot Games: 35 percent
Kotaku: 35 percent
Joystiq: 30 percent

Spike TV Awards Show 2005 [Hats off to 32 over at NetJak for taking the bullet and watching the show for all of us. ]

Heh. I mentioned in my previous post that I attended the Spike TV Video Game Awards and I forgot to mention who won. Doh!

Resident Evil 4 won the Game of the Year. Now, it's a fine game and I'm sure it has a ton of fans among our readers, but it was up against World of Warcraft (not to mention God of War, Call of Duty 2 and F.E.A.R.). Am I the only one who thinks it should have been WoW? I mean, that title is so HUGE and I've lost so many of my friends to their WoW addiction in the past year that I'm left scratching my head. Anyone else out there who thinks the VGA picked the wrong game?

Full list of winners in the extended entry.

Here are the nominees in each category. The winners are in bold.

Game of the Year:
God of War
Resident Evil 4
F.E.A.R.
World of Warcraft

Best Action Game:
Peter Jackson's King Kong
The Warriors
God of War
Resident Evil 4
50 Cent: Bulletproof

Best Individual Sports Game:
SSX on Tour
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
EA Sports Fight Night Round 2
Tiger Wood PGA Tour 06
Top Spin

Best Team Sports Game:
Madden NFL 6
NBA 2K6
NBA Street V3
Blitz: The League
World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International

Cybervixen of the Year:
Jessica Alba in Fantastic 4
Traci Lords in True Crime: New York City
Maria Menounos in James Bond 007: From Russia With Love
Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux
Joanna Dark in Perfect Dark Zero

Best Game Based on a Movie:
Peter Jackson's King Kong
The Warriors
The Matrix: Path of Neo
Star Wars: Battlefront II
James Bond 007: From Russia with Love

Best Performance by a Human Male:
Jack Black in Peter Jackson's King Kong
Michael Chiklis in Fantastic 4
Terrence "T.C." Carson in God of War
50 Cent in 50 Cent: Bulletproof
Sean Connery in James Bond 007: From Russia with Love

Best Supporting Male Performance:
Dr. Dre in 50 Cent: Bulletproof
Christopher Walken in True Crime: New York City
Eminem in 50 Cent: Bulletproof
Michael Clarke Duncan in The Suffering: Ties that Bind

Best Performance by a Human Female:
Naomi Watts in Peter Jackson's King Kong
Josie Maran in Need for Speed Most Wanted
Cornelia Hayes O'Herlihy in Haunting Ground
Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux
Jessica Alba in Fantastic 4

Best Supporting Female Performance:
Natasha Bedingfield in James Bond 007: From Russia with Love
Marisa Hargitay in True Crime: New York City
Maria Menounos in James Bond 007: From Russia with Love
Traci Lords in True Crime: New York City

Best Cast:
Peter Jackson's King Kong
50 Cent: Bulletproof
James Bond 007: From Russia with Love
Fantastic 4
True Crime: New York City

Best Original Song:
"Lights and Sounds" by Yellowcard in Burnout Revenge
"When I Get Angry" by Spider Loc in Madden NFL 06
"Maybe We Crazy" by 50 Cent in 50 Cent: Bulletproof
"Error Operator" by Taking Back Sunday in Fantastic 4

Best Soundtrack:
50 Cent: Bulletproof
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
SSX on Tour
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
Guitar Hero

Best Original Score:
We Love Katamari
God of War
Perfect Dark Zero
Call of Duty 2
Indigo Prophecy

Designer of the Year:
Rob Pardo for World of Warcraft
Michel Ancel for Peter Jackson's King Kong
Craig Hubbard for F.E.A.R.
David Jaffi for God of War
Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendogs

Pontiac Best Driving Game Award:
L.A. Rush
Forza Motorsport
Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition
Gran Turismo 4
Burnout Revenge

Most Addictive Game Fueled by Dew:
World of Warcraft
Lumines
Meteos
We Love Katamari
Nintendogs

Best Wireless Game:
Need for Speed Underground 2
Massive Snowboarding
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Marc Ecko's Getting Up
The Incredibles 3D

Best Fighting Game:
Soul Calibur III
Tekken 5
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
EA Sports Fight Night Round 2
Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower

Best First Person Action:
Far Cry Instincts
F.E.A.R.
Perfect Dark Zero
Call of Duty 2
Battlefield 2

Best Military Game:
Brothers in Arms: Earned in Blood
Battlefield 2
SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy Seals
Call of Duty 2
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

Best Graphics:
Call of Duty 2
F.E.A.R.
Resident Evil 4
Peter Jackson's King Kong
Project Gotham Racing 3

Went to Spike TV 2005 Video Game Awards last night in Los Angeles, since Kotaku has been nominated as "Best Gaming Blog" (of course). Had a good time to my surprise. I had watched the VGA the previous two years and didn't think much of the award show. This year, maybe it was because I was sitting a couple rows away from Samuel L. Jackson and 50 Cent, but I had rocking good time in the audience.

The only thing that struck me as odd, however, was that Peter Jackson's King Kong won a bunch of times, and the title isn't even out yet. Who are the people judging this thing? It ain't people like us.

Spike TV [Official site]

Oh Ozzy, what are you doing man? You gotta get your priorities straight. The rocker is skipping his performance during the Spike TV Video Game Awards show to play a gig for Queen Eliezabeth II. Osbourne will now be perfoming at the annual Royal Variety Performance in Cardiff, Wales on Nov. 21. Wait, that s like three days after the VGA awards show, I m starting to think Ozzy is using the queen as an excuse.

Ozzy Osbourne Will Perform For Queen Elizabeth II [USA Today]

Apparently I m now part of the Spike TV VG Awards Council. That means that I am one of "over 200 video game industry writers/reporters from media companies" I get to vote on the winners for the award show and wear a spiffy robe. Actually, I m not quite clear on the robe thing, they never mentioned one, but I plan on wearing one anyway.

Before you start pointing fingers at me, the council doesn t get to vote in the Power Rank category, which includes Best Game Blog. (Kotaku, Slashdot Games and Joystiq are the nominees.) Instead those categories will be decided by an open poll being conducted on the site starting today.

Yes, that s right, the winner will be the site with the most fans willing to spend time repeatedly clicking on a button. Spike TV continues to live up to their name.

VGMWatch has more to add on this delightful turn of events, so go check it out.

Spike TV VGA Site Pre-Launches [Video Game Media Watch]

Spike TV s annual video game awards show is just around the corner. I have mixed feelings about the fact that we are one of three websites nominated in the category of Best Gaming Blog. (Cross-net rivals Joystiq and the always illustrious Slashdot Games are the other two.) I wonder if the fact that I referred to last year s show as "the worst video game award show in the history of everything" will have any effect on my chances of winning?

The nominees for best gaming website are 1Up, Gamespot and IGN, while the nominees for best gaming pub are Game Informer, Official Xbox Magazine and EGM.

The show will be aired on Nov. 18 at the Gibson Amphitheater in L.A. with the show premiering on Spike TV on Dec. 10. Samuel L. Jackson, winner of last year s show for his work on GTA: San Andreas, will host the show. Sweet. The sponsors include AOL, Burger King Corporation and Circuit City.

Here s the exceeding long list of the other nominees:

GAME OF THE YEAR
God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
Call of Duty 2 (Activision, Inc.)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
F.E.A.R. (Vivendi Universal Games)

BEST ACTION GAME
Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
Peter Jackson s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Ubisoft)
The Warriors (Rockstar Games)
50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)

BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 (Electronic Arts)
SSX On Tour (Electronic Arts)
Tony Hawk s American Wasteland (Activision, Inc.)
Top Spin (2K Sports)
EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 (Electronic Arts)

BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME
Blitz: The League (Midway)
Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts)
NBA 2K6 (2K Sports)
World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International (Konami)
NBA Street V3 (Electronic Arts)

CYBER VIXEN OF THE YEAR
Charlize Theron as Aeon Flux in Aeon Flux (Majesco Entertainment)
Jessica Alba as Invisible Woman in Fantastic 4 (Activision, Inc.)
Traci Lords as Cassandra Hartz in True Crime(TM): New York City
(Activision, Inc.)
Joanna Dark in Perfect Dark Zero(TM) (Microsoft Game Studios)
Maria Menounos as Eva in James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic
Arts)

BEST GAME BASED ON A MOVIE
Star Wars Battlefront(TM) II (LucasArts)
Peter Jackson s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Ubisoft)
The Warriors (Rockstar Games)
James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic Arts)
The Matrix: Path of Neo (Atari, Inc.)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN MALE
50 Cent in 50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
Jack Black in Peter Jackson s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
(Ubisoft)
Michael Chiklis in Fantastic 4 (Activision, Inc.)
Sean Connery in James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic Arts)
Terrence "T.C." Carson in God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)

BEST SUPPORTING MALE PERFORMANCE
Eminem in 50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
Dr. Dre in 50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
Christopher Walken in True Crime(TM): New York City (Activision, Inc.)
Michael Clarke Duncan in The Suffering: Ties That Bind (Midway)
Diddy in Marc Ecko s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari, Inc.)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN FEMALE
Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux (Majesco Entertainment)
Naomi Watts in Peter Jackson s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
(Electronic Arts)
Josie Maran in Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)
Jessica Alba in Fantastic 4 (Activision, Inc.)
Cornelia Hayes O Herlihy as Fiona Belli in Haunting Ground (Capcom)

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Maria Menounos as Eva in James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic
Arts)
Rosario Dawson in Marc Ecko s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari,
Inc.)
Natasha Bedingfield in James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic
Arts)
Mariska Hargitay in True Crime(TM): New York City (Activision, Inc. )
Traci Lords in True Crime(TM): New York City (Activision, Inc.)

BEST CAST
Fantastic 4 (Activision, Inc.)
Peter Jackson s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Electronic
Arts)
50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
True Crime(TM): New York City (Activision, Inc.)
James Bond 007: From Russia With Love (Electronic Arts)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Maybe We Crazy" by 50 Cent in 50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal
Games)
"Lights and Sounds" by Yellowcard in Burnout Revenge (Electronic Arts)
"When I Get Angry" by Spider Loc in Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts)
"Getting Up Anthem: Part I" by Talib Kweli and Rakim in Mark Ecko s
Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari, Inc.)
"Error Operator" by Taking Back Sunday in Fantastic 4 (Activision, Inc.)

BEST SOUNDTRACK
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar Games)
50 Cent: Bulletproof (Vivendi Universal Games)
Tony Hawk s American Wasteland (Activision, Inc.)
Guitar Hero (RedOctane)
SSX On Tour (Electronic Arts)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Call of Duty 2 (Activision, Inc.)
We Love Katamari(TM) (Namco Hometek Inc.)
God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Indigo Prophecy (Atari, Inc.)
Perfect Dark Zero(TM) (Microsoft Game Studios)

DESIGNER OF THE YEAR
David Jaffe for God of War (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Rob Pardo for World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Michel Ancel for Peter Jackson s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
(Ubisoft)
Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendogs (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)
Craig Hubbard for F.E.A.R. (Vivendi Universal Games)

PONTIAC BEST DRIVING GAME AWARD (Viewer s Choice)
Gran Turismo 4 (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
L.A. Rush (Midway)
Forza Motorsport(TM) (Microsoft Game Studios)
Burnout Revenge (Electronic Arts)
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition (Rockstar Games)

MOST ADDICTIVE GAME FUELED BY MOUNTAIN DEW (Viewer s Choice)
We Love Katamari(TM) (Namco Hometek Inc)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Lumines (Ubisoft)
Nintendogs (Nintendo Co. Ltd)
Meteos (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)

BEST FIGHTING GAME
EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 (Electronic Arts)
SOULCALIBUR(R)III (Namco Hometek Inc.)
TEKKEN(R)5 (Namco Hometek Inc.)
Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (Capcom)
Mortal Combat: Shaolin Monks (Midway)

BEST FIRST PERSON ACTION
Call of Duty 2 (Activision, Inc.)
Far Cry Instincts (Ubisoft)
F.E.A.R. (Vivendi Universal Games)
Battlefield 2 (Electronic Arts)
Perfect Dark Zero(TM) (Microsoft Games Studio)

BEST MILITARY GAME
Call of Duty 2 (Activision, Inc.)
Brothers in Arms Earned in Blood (Ubisoft)
Battlefield 2 (Electronic Arts)
Tom Clancy s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (Ubisoft)
SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs (Sony Computer Entertainment America)

BEST GRAPHICS
Peter Jackson s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (Ubisoft)
Call of Duty 2 (Activision, Inc.)
F.E.A.R. (Vivendi Universal Games)
PGR(TM)3 (Microsoft Game Studios)
Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)

BEST HANDHELD GAME
Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Rockstar Games)
Lumines (Ubisoft)
Nintendogs (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)
Meteos (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)
Burnout Legends (Electronic Arts)

BEST MULTI-PLAYER GAME
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
SOCOM 3: U.S. Navy SEALs (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Battlefield 2 (Electronic Arts)
City of Villains (NCSoft)
Guild Wars (NCSoft)

BEST BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Sony PSP (Sony Computer Entertainment America)
Xbox 360 (Microsoft Game Studios)
Nintendogs Voice Recognition (Nintendo Co. Ltd.)
Unreal Engine 3 (Epic Games Inc.)
Facial Mo-cap NBA Live 06 (Electronic Arts)

BEST PC GAME
Call of Duty 2 (Activision, Inc.)
F.E.A.R. (Vivendi Universal Games)
Sid Meier s Civilization IV (2K Games)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)
Battlefield 2 (Electronic Arts)

BEST RPG
Jade Empire(TM) (Microsoft Game Studios)
X-Men Legends II: Rise of the Apocalypse (Activision, Inc.)
Dungeon Siege(R) II (Microsoft Game Studios)
Star Wars(R) Knights of the Old Republic(R) II: The Sith Lords (LucasArts)
World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment)

BEST WIRELESS GAME
Marc Ecko s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure (Atari, Inc. & Glu)
Need for Speed Underground 2 (EA Mobile)
Massive Snowboarding (Gameloft)
The Incredibles 3D (Disney Mobile)
Tom Clancy s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory (Gameloft)

Official press release

Know anyone who fits the bill? Here's the nitty gritty. You can mail a headshot and bio which explains why you fit the aforementioned criteria to the following address:
ATTN: Kara Sullivan
10200 Riverside Drive
Toluca Lake, CA 91062

Or if you don't want to get all of the mailings together give the office a call at (818) 308-5252. This is an LA-based casting call so if you aren't from SoCal, you'll be footing the bill on this voyage to fame.