The Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), the non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of game audio, held its 10th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards during the Game Developers Conference (GDC 2012) in San Francisco. Gamers can watch the entire awards show on TwitchTV starting March 18th.

One of the big games of 2012 hits PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this summer. Rockstar Studios in Vancouver has been revitalizing the Max Payne franchise with this latest sequel. Taking a Hollywood approach with the new game, the game maker has released a new video that focuses on the visual effects and cinematics of Max Payne 3. The video highlights the real time motion-comic panel generator that updates the graphic novel style cutscenes made famous by the original games,  as well as a series of innovations that move the game seamlessly from cutscene to gunplay and from one chapter to the next, putting greater emphasis on the moment-to-moment shooting action, and keeping the player locked into Max’s dark and troubled narrative.

I was a real happy soccer fan last year when EA Sports released FIFA Soccer 12, as it had finally gotten the foothold (no pun intended) on the sport it loved so much.  Everything about that game clicked, and reminded us what makes the sport so great to begin with.  And yet, EA wasn’t satisfied, and opted to release a secondary game to attract even more fans to the franchise – a revival of the long-running arcade soccer series FIFA Street.  Here, you won’t have to worry so much about someone pulling a red card as you will losing sight of the ball and having an opponent sail it into the net.  While arcade rules may seem like a huge draw to some, be warned – this isn’t nearly the equivalent of FIFA 12.  Far from it.

Following on the heels of Sony's announcement that a PS4 won't be seen at this year's E3 Expo in June, Microsoft is now saying that we shouldn't expect to see the next generation Xbox at the E3 Expo either. There had been much speculation that Microsoft might show a next generation console at the E3 confab and that it might be a rumored disc-less console code-named Durango. Bloomberg News reporter Dina Bass tweeted otherwise and Microsoft then issued a full statement about its E3 plans to Kotaku.

“All good things must come to an end.”  It’s a quote that resonates in pretty much anything, including sports streaks, careers and life itself.  And it also resonates with story arcs in video games.  We’ve seen several conclusive chapters over the years that have wrapped up sagas either in style (Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3) or disappointment (Resistance 3…seriously), but it just goes to show that developers are ready to move on to the next thing.  But there’s something bittersweet about seeing the end come in Mass Effect 3.  The first two games have been so great – especially part two, which some of us are still playing – that it’s just hard to imagine life without dealing with some new adventures of Commander Shepard.  Still, outside of DLC, Bioware is pretty much done with this story.  And what a way to go.

En Masse Entertainment, the company behind the upcoming action MMO, TERA, showcased new end-level content—the Temple of Temerity—to select media at the Game Developers Conference (GDC 2012). With TERA’s North American release of May 1 just around the corner, the production team had plenty of updates to share, including a new level 60 cap and the game’s nexus system, a persistent-world random event that throws players into challenging high-level, action-heavy battles. Checkout the video below.

Worldwide media tablet shipments into sales channels rose by 56.1% on a sequential basis in the fourth calendar quarter of 2011 (4Q11) to 28.2 million units worldwide, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Media Tablet and eReader Tracker. That represents an increase of 155% from the fourth quarter of 2010. The market experienced stronger-than-expected growth across many regions and at many price points, leading to a full-year 2011 total of 68.7 million units. Based upon the markets' strong 2011 finish, and the clear demand expected in 2012, IDC has increased its 2012 forecast to 106.1 million units, up from its previous forecast of 87.7 million units.