With World of Warcraft as a trophy, it wouldn't have been long before recognitions soon followed Vivendi's online multiplayer division, Blizzard Entertainment. And now that the MMORPG is the hottest game over PC, kudos goes to the man who pioneered it: Blizzard's head honcho, Mike Morhaime. In that respect, the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) hopes to honor this achievement with a special treat.

It's an endless debate when talking about girls playing the same video games guys play. They say girls only like MMORPGs, then follow up with "there are no girls on internet." Others believe female gamers stick to casual games, but Mario and Pokemon titles have more fanboys than fangirls.

No matter what your stand is, here's a list of non-girly games that aren't Barbie, Bratz, or any of those glamorous stuff.

Whether it's Turkey Day or Christmas, we feel the need to thank the greatest figures in video game history for their contributions that made gaming as fun as it is today. For decades, we've seen creative minds emerge and bring forward games that amaze the world, but they don't get much recognition. But now, we have enough time to list down some of the greatest geniuses behind phenomenal landmarks like Mario, Wolfenstein 3D, and even The Sims.

Yes, the Game Developer's Choice Awards, one of many the peer-based awards in the gaming industry, will be hosted in March 7, 2007 at the Esplanade Ballroom of the Moscone Center's South Hall. The GDCA Advisory Board now has announced the names of fellow legendary developers to be awarded special honors during the award ceremony hosted by Tim Schafer.

Jamil Moledina, Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference, said:

This year’s recipients of the Game Developers Choice Award special honors reflect the dramatic impact of their visionary creations and industry work. Our four honorees are each responsible for inspiring the industry to creative heights through personal example and challenging conventional wisdom.

The legends and their awards are as follows:

• First Penguin Award - Alexey Pajitnov (Tetris)
  
• Maverick Award - Greg Costikyan (pioneer of indie games)
  
• Community Contribution Award - George "The Fatman" Sanger (game audio developer)
  
• Lifetime Achievement Award - Shigeru Miyamoto (Donkey Kong, Mario Bros.)
  

The First Penguin Award acknowledges developers who venture into unknown territory and pave the way for the rest of the development community. The Maverick Award recognizes those who take risks by experimenting with unconventional methods. The Community Contribution Award is presented to a developer who embodies the spirit of community and encourages improvement among peers.

Recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award are selected by the Choice Awards Advisory Board, who are a collection of developers from around the globe. Past recipients of this award include Richard Garriott, Eugene Jarvis, Mark Cerny, Gunpei Yokoi (posthumously), Yuji Naka and Will Wright.

The highly successful action shooter grabbed the most awards at the 10th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards held in Hard Rock Cafe, Las Vegas last February 8. The ceremony is hosted by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS).

It is a peer-driven and peer-based awards honoring outstanding products, talented individuals and development teams that have made a contribution to the advancement of the game industry.

Trailing just behind the Epic Game's Gears of War is Nintendo's Wii Sports, which managed to grab three awards. Minoru Arakawa, former president of Nintendo of America, was also honored for the first time with a Lifetime Achievement Award.

Honored with him were Howard Lincoln, chairman emeritus of Nintendo of America, and Danielle Bunten Berry, game pioneer. The former received a Lifetime Achievement Award and the latter was inducted to the AIAS Hall of Fame.

Joseph Olin, president of AIAS, said, "Last night, we recognized the brightest and most innovative in video games in what can be considered as one of the best years the video game industry has seen."

Click on Full Article to view the list of winners and their respective categories.

Numbers are a very reliable source of data because they have a fixed value. Like how the number one can never be the number two and vice versa. Using numbers, we can immediately tell how the Games Convention at Leipzig is going.

This year there are 32% more exhibitors; 13% more exhibition space; 200 World, European and German premieres; 150, 000 expected visitors and over 2,500 journalists from 30 countries. Needless to say,  Europe’s leading exhibition devoted to interactive entertainment, infotainment and edutainment is opening with some record-breaking figures. "Over the next four days we expect to welcome far more than 150,000 visitors from all over Europe." says Josef Rahmen, CEO of the Leipzig Fair.

In August 2005, 136,000 visitors came to Leipzig to size up 189 European and German premi?s presented by 280 exhibitors from 15 countries. GC 2005 certainly hit the headlines with some 2,000 journalists from 28 countries (up from 1,700 journalists from 21 countries in 2004) reporting from Europe’s leading public exhibition and trade show focusing on interactive entertainment.

The full article awaits after the jump!