ijji.com hits the 9 million registered user mark

ijji.com announced that its portal has surpassed the 9 million registered member mark. ijji.com is an online portal offering a variety of free to play MMOs and online games. The company’s future line-up of games includes Alliance of Valiant Arms, an Unreal Engine 3-based multi-player online first-person shooter (MOFPS) that transports players to the deserted urban streets of a modern day world war; Soul of the Ultimate Nation, an epic fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG); KARMA: Operation Barbarossa, an MOFPS that takes place in a Europe that hasn’t seen the end of World War II, where the entire continent is under German control and Huxley: The Dystopia, the massively multi-player online first-person shooting (MMOFPS) game that mixes twitch-based FPS game play with the character development of robust MMO games

You can learn more about the company by checking out ijji.com.

Big Fish Games now on People.com

Big Fish Games announced a strategic partnership with People.com, the leading celebrity news site that manages to attract 10 million monthly users. Starting today, People.com’s main games page will feature select online and downloadable games in various categories. In addition, visitors will have access to Big Fish Games’ entire catalog of over 2,000 games through its own Web site. People.com will receive a share of the revenues on all game purchases its visitors make from Big Fish Games.

This partnership further illustrates the transition that is occurring with many print publications as they look to strategically partner with media companies to increase traffic to online content and engage their readers in new ways.

Gabe Newell to Keynote D.I.C.E.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has tapped Gabe Newell, co-founder and president of Valve to deliver a keynote address at the 2009 D.I.C.E. Summit. The event will be held at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, February 17-20.

D.I.C.E. Summit 2009 will also play host to the 12th annual Interactive Achievement Awards ceremony on February 19, with Jay Mohr returning for his fourth year to host the award festivities. Announced speakers revealed after the jump.

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Left 4 Dead DLC Announcement Soon

Downloadable content will be announced very soon for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Left 4 Dead, according to Valve’s Chet Faliszek, who spoke at length with the Kotaku crew during its recent holiday podcast. That new DLc will include the addition of the single player campaigns “Dead Air” and “Death Toll” to the Versus mode, the PC SDK for developing content for the PC version of the game and some additional undisclosed content.

Chet Faliszek, who started out running the wonderfully funny web site Old Man Murray, is responsible for retooling the stories for both Portal and Left 4 Dead, among other things. The way the story is told through audio cues, light dialogue and character interaction in Left 4 Dead is one of the primary reasons I chose it for our Game of the Year Awards. Sadly, it could not beat out the glory of Fallout 3, but the game is a monumental achievement in storytelling and multiplayer in my book.

Portal: Still Alive Oct. 22

Our favorite computer program, GLaDOS is still alive, and is coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at around 9 a.m. GMT (2:00 a.m. PDT). Cake is waiting, the companion cube misses you and GlaDOS is most definitely “still alive.” You’ll be able to pick Portal: Still Alive up for a mere 1200 MS Points.

Check out a special message from GlaDOS, lifted from the GamerScore Blog, after the jump.

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Meet The Portal Prelude Mod

If you’re growing tired of waiting for some official Portal, you may be interested in this mod, Portal Prelude, which gives players a story set prior to the events of the popular action adventure puzzle game from Valve. According to its developer, Portal Prelude is an unofficial prequel to the game Portal. that revolves around the pre-GlaDOS epoch before the entertaining AI was plugged in. During this timeframe, tests were monitored by real Aperture Science employees, who are apparently so lazy that they need to create A.I. so that don’t have to handle a number of mind-numbing work-related activities. What a bunch of slackers..

So can players expect to from Portal Prelude? Portal Prelude offers 8 new chapters, 19 test chambers, 48 challenges, 6 advanced maps, a brand new storyline and more than 400 lines of speech with English and French subtitles.

We are not sure whether Valve Software is flattered by this project or upset because someone outside the company is trying to write the back-story in the Portal universe, but Portal Prelude sure does sound like something worth downloading. Look for it to be released at the end of the month or early October..

Source: Official Site

AIAS Award Winners Announced

The recipients of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences” 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards were announced this week, with BioShock, Call of Duty 4 and The Orange Box picking up four awards each. The annual awards for developers by developers also inducted Blizzard’’s Mike Morhaime into the Hall of Fame and gave a Lifetime Achievement Award to former Sony Computer Entertainment boss Ken Kutaragi.

Mike Morhaime, president, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, was inducted as the 11th member of the prestigious AIAS Hall of Fame for helping to create some of the world’s most popular franchises, including Diablo, Warcraft, StarCraft and World of Warcraft. Ken Kutaragi, former president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., received the Lifetime Achievement Award for this year.

As for the games, Call of Duty 4 won Overall Game of the Year, Console Game of the Year, Action Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play; BioShock won Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design, Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition and Outstanding Achievement in Story Development; and The Orange Box won Outstanding Achievement in Game Design, Computer Game of the Year, Outstanding Character Performance, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering. The big list of all of this year’’s winners can be found below:

Overall Game of the Year: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Console Game of the Year: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Computer Game of the Year: The Orange Box
Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: Rock Band
Handheld Game of the Year: The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
Multiplayer Game of the Year: World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Cellular Game of the Year: skate
Role-Playing Game of the Year: Mass Effect
Racing Game of the Year: MotorStorm
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design: The Orange Box: Portal
Adventure Game of the Year: Super Mario Galaxy
Sports Game of the Year: skate
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year:Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars
Action Game of the Year: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Family Game of the Year: Rock Band
Outstanding Achievement in Animation: Assassin’’s Creed
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction: BioShock
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering: Crysis
Outstanding Character Performance: The Orange Box: Portal (Ellen McLaw’’s voice work as GLADos)
Outstanding Achievement in Story Development: BioShock
Outstanding Achievement in Game Play Engineering: The Orange Box: Portal
Outstanding Achievement in Online Game Play:Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Downloadable Game of the Year: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition: BioShock
Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack: Rock Band
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design: BioShock

Congratulations to all of this year’s big winners.