Prepare yourself for 2009 as Ubisoft promises something big to come your way, particularly in the online department. Yves Guillemot shares their company's outlook to the new year, and yeah, it's gonna involve MMOs.

Ubisoft struck gold with their acquisition of the Tom Clancy name for life. How much did it cost them, and how big a gold mine will it bring them? Talks are also in the air about their venture into the world of MMOs with the said name. To find out more, read up over at the full article.

You can decry the Spike TV Video Game Awards show as much as you want, but you can't deny the fact that the Awards is very much supported and some people do think that the award Spike TV gives out has some weight to it.

So who are the big winners this year? Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion managed to nab five awards, so they're pretty much this year's "top dog", much to the dismay of a lot in the crowd.

You see, throughout the night Gears of War and Oblivion was neck and neck until the last award. With each game having four awards each, the only remaining award for the night was the Game of the Year.

The games that got the biggest applause when nominees for the award were announced were Guitar Hero 2 and Gears of War. But as we've said, Oblivion won, and they went home happy. The audience were stunned to say the least. Oh well.

What else happened? Comedienne Sarah Silverman said that gamers "should get an award for their work in AIDS prevention," Tenacious D rocked the house, and the Wii got an award for best breakthrough tech. Oh, and the Critics Choice Award, the only award open for games released after November 7, went to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Get list of the nominees and winners after the Jump!

As expected, this year's Golden Joysticks Awards held at the Park Lane Hilton hotel in London, was a real blast. There are a total of 16 awards given, 15 of which were decided by the gaming public. Winner of the Editors' Choice Award, on the other hand, was selected by a panel of the industry's journalists. Titles that came out on or after August 1, 2005 until July 31, 2006 were all contenders.

Rockstar Games continued on its winning ways as Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories took home the Handheld Game of the Year award. It would be remembered that just last year, San Andreas also emerged victorious in the said award giving body. Accolades were then given to The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion by 2K Games as it grabbed three trophies: PC Game of the Year, Xbox Game of the Year and PLAY.com Ultimate Game of the Year.

Nintendo also shared the limelight as it won in three categories as well: Nintendogs for The Sun Family Game of the Year and Bliss Girls' Choice for 2006. New Super Mario Bros., on the other hand, won the Nintendo Game of the Year trophy.

Other winners are as follows:

• T3 Innovation Award - Xbox Live Marketplace (Microsoft)
• 1Xtra Soundtrack of the Year - Need for Speed Most Wanted (Electronic Arts)
• Nuts All-Nighter Awards - Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (Konami)
• PlayStation Game of the Year - Resident Evil 4 (Capcom)
• Intel Online Game of the Year - Age of Empires III (Microsoft Game Studios)
• Retailer of the Year - GAME
• CVG's The One to Watch for 2007 - PlayStation 3 (Sony)
• Publisher of the Year - Electronic Arts
• Editors' Choice Award - Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (Ubisoft)

Ah, if the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) is willing to create a separate awards events for video games, can the Oscar's Academy and the Golden Globe's foreign press pool do the same? And while the debate on whether video games can be considered art still rages on, no one will deny the impact it has had on culture and society. While BAFTA been giving these awards since 2003, this will be the first year the vid-games awards shall be handed out separately, demonstrating their commitment to video games as a contemporary art form.

The categories reflect this cultural recognition and commitment. BAFTA shall be praising games for their innovation, character development, and storyline as well as their technical and gameplay merits. The 2006 British Academy Video Game Awards shall be held at the historic Roundhouse on October 5.

And the distinguished list of video games that shall compete for the... okay, "British Gaming Oscar" (for the lack of the award's actual name) include some gaming heavyweights like Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Guild Wars, and We Love Katamari, hot up-and-commers like Just Cause, and long-standing series like Tomb Raider.

Check out the full list of nominees at the full article (click on the Full Article link below)!