How Justified are Annualised Sports Games?

Millions of people buy sports games every year, but which ones really need annual updates?


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/19/h...orts-games

The Last Guardian: Ueda 'Terribly Sorry' For Delay

The Last Guardian's director has apologised to fans still waiting for the title, saying his creative work was mostly complete years ago.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/19/t...-for-delay

Amazon AppStream Offers Cloud-Based Game Streaming

A new service from Amazon lets developers stream high-powered applications to low-powered devices.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/19/a...-streaming

The Last of Us: New Multiplayer DLC Detailed

The upcoming multiplayer content for The Last of Us offers players a ton of new character heads.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/19/t...c-detailed

Spike VGX 2013 Nominations Announced

This nominations for this year's Spike VGX (formerly Spike TV) Awards are in, lead by big hits like BioShock Infinite, Grand Theft Auto 5, The Last of Us and Tomb Raider.

Indeed, the shortlist for Game of the Year, which includes critical and commercial darlings The Last of Us, BioShock Infinite, GTA 5, Tomb Raider and Super Mario 3D World is somewhat predictable, but for good reason. Grand Theft Auto 5 leads in the overall nomination numbers with nine, followed by BioShock Infinite with eight, The Last of Us with seven and Tomb Raider with five. The Fullbright Company's Gone Home has the biggest indie presence, nominated for Best Independent Game and Best PC game, while Fullbright itself nabbed a nomination for Studio of the Year.

This year's Spike VGX will be live-streamed online for three hours on December 7, kicking off at 6pm ET/3pm PT. The show will have a slightly different format than usual, with a stronger focus on interviews and next-gen demos, but of course all the usual world-premiere game trailers will be present and accounted for.

Check out the full list of nominations below, and head to Spike's website for any additional streaming details.

Game of the Year

BioShock Infinite
Grand Theft Auto 5
Super Mario 3D World
The Last of Us
Tomb Raider

Studio of the Year

Irrational Games
Naughty Dog
Rockstar North
The Fullbright Company

Best Shooter

Battlefield 4
BioShock Infinite
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Metro: Last Light

Best Action Adventure Game

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag
Grand Theft Auto 5
The Last of Us
Tomb Raider

Best Sports Game

FIFA 14
MLB 13: The Show
NBA 2K14
NHL 14

Best Independent Game

Gone Home
Kentucky Route Zero
Papers, Please
The Stanley Parable

Best RPG

Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn
Fire Emblem: Awakening
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
Pokemon X/Y

Best Fighting Game

Divekick
Injustice: Gods Among Us
Killer Instinct
Tekken Revolution

Best Driving Game

F1 2013
Grid 2
Forza Motorsport 5
Need for Speed Rivals

Best DLC

Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep
Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Mass Effect 3: Citadel

Best Xbox Game

BioShock Infinite
Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons
Grand Theft Auto 5
Tomb Raider

Best PlayStation Game

Grand Theft Auto 5
Rayman Legends
The Last of Us
Tomb Raider

Best Nintendo Game

Pikmin 3
Rayman Legends
Super Mario 3D World
The Wonderful 101

Best PC Game

Battlefield 4
Gone Home
Papers, Please
The Stanley Parable

Best Handheld Game

Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Pokemon X/Y
Tearaway
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Best Casual Game

Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Disney Infinity
Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time
Skylanders Swap Force

Best Voice Actor

Troy Baker as Joel in The Last of Us
Troy Baker as Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite
Steven Ogg as Trevor Philips in Grand Theft Auto 5
Willem Dafoe as Nathan Dawkins in Beyond: Two Souls

Best Voice Actress

Ashely Johnson as Ellie in The Last of Us
Courtnee Draper as Elizabeth in BioShock Infinite
Camilla Luddington as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider
Ellen Page as Jodie Holmes in Beyond: Two Souls

Best Soundtrack

BioShock Infinite
Grand Theft Auto 5
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
The Last of Us

Best Song in a Game

"ADHD" by Kendrick Lamar (Grand Theft Auto 5)
"Sleepwalking" by The Chain Gang of 1974 (Grand Theft Auto 5)
"Survival" by Eminem (Call of Duty: Ghosts)
"Will the Circle be Unbroken" by Courtnee Draper & Troy Baker (BioShock Infinite)

Most Anticipated Game

South Park: The Stick of Truth
Destiny
Watch Dogs
Titanfall
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Up At Noon Ep102 Geoff Keighley

The VGA's Geoff Keighley is here to hint at announcements, and Brian Altano is camping out for the next generation of consoles. It's IGN's weekly talk show!


http://feeds.ign.com/~r/ign/ps3-videos/~...up-at-noon

Out This Week: November 18, 2013

The Xbox One launches alongside a new Zelda, a new Mario and Media Molecule's follow-up to LittleBigPlanet in this jam-packed week of new releases.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/18/o...er-18-2013

What Was Your Most Memorable Moment in Gaming This Year?

Help the IGN AU team out by telling us about your most memorable gaming moments in 2013.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/18/w...-this-year

Ultra Street Fighter 4 Release Date Teased

Capcom has confirmed it'll be releasing Ultra Street Fighter 4 before next year's EVO Championship.


http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/11/18/u...ate-teased

Games Definitely Don't Harm Kids, Says Huge Study

A decade-long study of over 11,000 children in the UK has found no association between playing video games from as young as five, and mood or behavioural problems in later life.

Originally published in the British Medical Journal (via Games and Learning), the findings were part of the UK Millennium Cohort Study and sought to explore how exposure to screen entertainment affected children's psychosocial development.

The key findings that came out of the study included that exposure to video games from the age of five was shown to have no effect on behaviour, attention or emotional issues. Neither television nor video games caused attentional or emotional problems and there was no difference between boys and girls in the survey results.

The study did show, however, that watching more than three hours of TV a day at the age of five did lead to a small increase in behavioural problems in youngsters between the ages of five and seven. It's worth noting too, that a much lower number of children spent as long playing video games as they did watching TV.

So what does this mean? Well, most studies that span such long time-frames tend to focus on the effects of watching TV rather than the more active act of playing video games, and almost all have focused on American children. It's also one of the first studies to separate TV and video games.

The results of the survey seem to validate what others have been saying for some time now: video games are actually a positive force in the world or, at the very least, don't do any real harm.

We've reported before how video games have been found to help dyslexic children read better, and how they can also increase spacial orientation and memory formation.

While this study is unlikely to be considered the last word on the subject, it's certainly a compelling addition to the growing mountain of evidence that video games aren't a source of pernicious evil designed to rot young minds.