Dr. Tanya Byron has raided airwaves again with her latest endeavor with video games. After her six-month review of game violence, she was able to write and front a BBC TV show wherein she linked playing video games to heroin addiction. More details can be found in the full article.

Here's your chance to vote for your favorite games for the past year! Now on it's 25th year, the Golden Joystick Awards is going stronger than ever, again, being broadcast live on the internet this year. With over half a million votes last year, the producers are aiming for a million votes to celebrate a quarter of a century's voting. There are 17 categories you can vote in this year:

Ultimate Game of the Year
The Sun Family Game of the Year
Bliss Girl's Choice Award
Nuts All Nighter Award
BBC 1Xtra & Rampage Soundtrack of the Year
Handheld Game of the Year
Innovation of the Year
The One To Watch Award
Mobile Game of the Year
Nintendo Game of the Year
Online Game of the Year
PC Game of the Year
Playstation Game of the Year
Xbox Game of the Year
Publisher of the Year
Retailer of the Year
UK Developer of the Year

We'd love to give you a complete list of all the games you can vote for, but that'd just be crazy. But to give a sampling, there's MotorStorm, Crackdown, Rayman Raving Rabbids, and even the Halo 3 beta. Go on over the list and look at the nominated titles for yourself. And while you're at it, vote for the games that made you spend so much time on your couch - which probably already has your butt-print on it.

To vote, you can visit Golden Joystick's official site behind the Read link below! You can also watch videos from last year's Awards and if you have the cash, buy your own tickets to the show. (Take us with you.)

 

Recently, Blizzard Entertainment sponsored a World of Warcraft Robin Hood screenshot contest to coincide with the BBC series' DVD release in the U.S. The screenshots were sent in and now the fifteen winners were announced.

The winners range from the humorous to the generous. Asden for example, gave two gold instead of just one while trading. Hunter Wakkenhood named his pet boar "FryerTusk" while Robin Troll goes around stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Nikkien gives alms to a beggar, saying, "Dude, open trade."

Anyway, the rest of the fifteen winners are posted on the official World of Warcraft website. They won a Robin Hood Genuine Pewter Tankard (we're sure Vaneras from the WoW Europe Forums is jealous) and the Robin Hood: Season One DVD. Congratulations to the winners!

   

 

Steal from the rich, give to the poor.

You probably know whose motto that is. It belongs to Robin Hood, the outlaw with a heart of gold. Blizzard Entertainment is sponsoring a contest in connection to the BBC series "Robin Hood". Interested players will have to commit acts of kindness. No, they aren't just going to take your word for it. The unwritten World of Warcraft rule applies: screenshot or it didn't happen. What's in it for you? Well, winners get a copy of the "Robin Hood: Season One" DVD and a Robin Hood Genuine Pewter Tankard (worth about US$ 120).

The contest ends on June 8, upon which time, 15 winners will be chosen. The contest is open to U.S. residents (except for those in Florida and Rhode Island), ages 13 and up.

Better bust out your kind giving hearts the next time you play WoW (does beggars in Ironforge ring a bell?). For the rest of the rules and where to submit them screenshots, you can click the Read link below. Good luck!

GamesIndustry.biz reports that Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot will be keynoting this year's Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival (EIEF) to be held in August. Guillemot will be delivering one of the event's two keynote addresses. The BBC's Simon Nelson will be delivering the other.

Fred Hasson, the CEO of festival organiser TIGA, said that this year's event will look at how video games interface with other media. This will most likely be the focus of Guillemot and Nelson's keynote addresses. Also taking to the stage will be Jim Purbrick from Second Life creator Linden Lab and a spokesperson from EVE Online publisher CCP.

The EIEF is the longest running event of its kind in the UK. This year's event will be the fifth time that the videogame conference will take place. Exact dates for the conference have yet to be announced.

World of Warcraft (WoW) is definitely the strongest and most successful MMO video game out there today. This is not say though that there is no competition. Truth be told, there was a general feeling around the industry during the start of WoW's dominance that developers should stay away from the genre in the mean time.

But it looks like things are changing now. As BBC reported, there are other games out there other than WoW that belong to the same genre. And we can't help but agree. Even Funcom game director Gaute Godoger agrees. Currently, Funcom is in the last stages of development for Age of Conan and it's planning to give Blizzard a run for its money. Godoger commented,

We need other strong games that can make people understand that there's more to it than WoW. It's for adults. We did not want to be a teen-rated game, we wanted to have the possibility of making a game that takes the licence seriously. Players want to be more active in combat and know that their skill as a player matters.

Aside from Funcom, Codemasters is in a very good position now to take some slice off WoW's user base with the release of The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar a couple of weeks ago. Just like Conan, Codemasters is hoping that the lore's installed fan base will be drawn to the game. According to VP and GM David Solari,

Having that brand or licence is very valuable for getting a ready-made audience. The very least you have to do is make a great game. For the first time we have allowed players to shape Tolkien's Middle-Earth. Players want something they can feel they can own themselves.

Lastly, LucasArts is looking to make a comeback in the MMO genre as several changes and revamps are being planned to Star Wars Galaxies. It was released back in 2003 and is also relying heavily on the license's strength. Galaxies Producer Jake Neri commented that while they are happy with WoW's success, they are pretty sure that their game will remain a strong competitor,

The player base for MMO games has exploded. We see new people trying the game all the time. Galaxies was one of the first MMOs.There was no handbook on how to do these things. They make the place come alive, just by their playing style.

It's not the first, and it certainly won't be the last word on gold buying in Blizzard's World of Warcraft, but you do have to admire the source of this news report we found: the BBC.

The BBC took some time to do a rather newb-friendly approach to the issues of buying gold in WoW. From tackling the problems with wanting to play a game you love and consolidating it with the life you lead, to explaining the basics of how the business of gold selling gets lucrative, it certainly is an eye opener for those folks who've probably never stepped into the Azeroth and points beyond.

For gamers who already play the game, it also begs the question of whether or not you'd pay even more to have easy access to money in-game. Sure, doing so is easy, but it's also a question of ethics that's rarely brought up by many people. What would drive you to go buy gold, and would you ever consider doing it?

Uhhh...we don't know whether to laugh or cry. Or cry from laughing. The same folks who brought you "Teletubbies" and "Rosie and Jim" (yes, the "Hello big banana!" duo) joined forces with Nice Tech, the Online Games specialist, to create a Massively Multiplayer Online Game for their upcoming children's program "Tronji". Yes, this isn't the first time.

The television series to launch this 2007 is commissioned by BBC Broadcast and aimed at children aged six to nine years old. Probably gathering from the concept of "Tron" and "Jumanji," the characters in the show will be able to exist in the real world while also being able to enter a surreal computer world.

Nice Tech will be developing the AliceServer technology-based MMO game to launch in parallel with the show to broaden the training and interaction of children. The kids will be able to enter a more immersive Tronji world where they can engage in similar comical situations as viewed on the show, only this time they do all the detective and solving work.

Paul Baker, CEO of Nice Tech, announced:

We are delighted that Ragdoll Worldwide have decided to commission an MMOG to support the launch of Tronji. We are confident that our expertise and enthusiasm will enable us to deliver a truly innovative online experience. To partner two leading players ... in the Children’s sector such as Ragdoll and BBC Worldwide, and be offered the opportunity to exploit our development skills and technology to contribute to the Tronji vision, is an exciting and terrific opportunity.

The game will be available in the early part of 2008 and will be accessible in the UK through the Children's BBC website.

The problem with virtual worlds is that they are teeming with online attackers. Nope, were not talking about in-game horrific monsters here or sneaky intelligent hackers. We mean real-life half-crazed individuals who are lurking to prey on innocent young kids. After all, this will be easy especially when they're hidden behind a "SweetChick18" avatar.

News conglomerate BBC tries to somehow solve this problem as it recently announced the creation of a virtual world that would cater to kids alone. In case you aren't aware, the company has a division that caters specifically to children between 7 to 12 years old - BBC Children. According to one BBC spokesman:

This kind of cross-platform broadcasting is becoming the norm for people who have been born into the digital world. It will give children a chance to move around a safe, secure world where they can not only interact with familiar characters but have an opportunity to make that world a more fascinating place with their own imaginations.

The virtual world will be known as CBBC World. The spokesman added that in this environment, kids would be able to build an online presence and then create and share content. However, the users will be concentrated on the world alone and no other parts of it (like chatrooms) will be allowed to be added.

We wonder how BBC would deal with online attackers. Another MMO, Second Life from Linden Lab, has tried solving this by implementing a Teen Grid that separates young users from adult ones. We hope the company knows that if the security of this place doesn't hold, the virtual world for children will transform all of a sudden into a smorgasbord for attackers.

At any rate, we hope this turns out to be good. We'll all have to see when CBBC World goes live this summer and fully launches this autumn.

Just a very quick heads up to let you blokes know that the highly popular gaming television show, videoGaiden, is now available for online viewing at the UK BBC website .

Their first show aired at 11:10 p.m. GMT, and will be available for viewing throughout the next week. This will be the first of six, thirty-minute episodes that the program will be featuring. The first incarnation of videoGaiden featured shorter 10-minute shows, and thanks to popular demand, BBC has decided to broadcast this second season in BBC Scotland.

While you're there, you might want to check up on videoGaiden's current campaign for Shenmue - Will Sega continue it or officially axe it? Also be reminded that you'll need a UK IP address to view the video-stream.