San Francisco - Video game publisher and developer Valve's "Portal" took home the title of Game of the Year last night at the Game Developers Choice Awards, held during the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Las Vegas - The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) last night announced winners of the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, with "Call of Duty 4," "BioShock" and "The Orange Box" each picking up four awards. Activision's (NASD: ATVI) "Call of Duty 4" won for Overall Game of the Year and Console Game of the Year, while "The Orange Box" from Valve/Electronic Arts (NASD: ERTS) took home the award for Computer Game of the Year. Take-Two Interactive's (NASD: TTWO) "BioShock" won various awards for art direction, music, sound design and story development. A full list of winners is available from a link below.

Los Angeles - Take-Two Interactive's (NASD: TTWO) "BioShock" for Xbox 360 has been named the 2007 Game of the Year by a group of several dozen video game journalists who put out the annual Game Critics Awards. "BioShock truly shocked, amazed, and pushed all sorts of boundaries for gaming. And while we felt it was 2007's best title, we're betting its influence will extend well beyond 2007," said Electronic Gaming Monthly editor in chief Dan Hsu. In second place, was Valve and Electronic Arts' "The Orange Box," a compilation that includes "Half-Life 2" and several expansions, while third place went to Activision's "Call of Duty 4," which was also the top-selling game of 2007. A full list of Game Critics Awards winners is available at a link below.

Leipzig, Germany - Organizers of the Leipzig Games Convention have announced winners of the Best of the Games Convention Awards for this year's event, which was held over the weekend in Germany. Winners included "Crysis" (Best PC Game); "BioShock" (Best Xbox 360 Game); "Pro Evolution Soccer 2008" (Best PS3 Game); "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games" (Best Wii Game); and "Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures" (Best Online Game). Lists of both all winners and nominees in all categories are available at links below.

New York - 2K Games, a unit of Take-Two Interactive, on Tuesday announced the release of "BioShock" for Xbox 360 and the PC. Separately, 2K said on Tuesday that it plans to publish a sequel to its two million unit-selling "Mafia" game. Illusion Softworks is currently at work on "Mafia 2," which does not yet have a release date.

New York - Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive said on Friday that it has changed the name of its Irrational Games studio to 2K Boston and 2K Australia. The studio has developed titles including "System Shock 2," "Freedom Force," "Tribes: Vengeance" and "SWAT 4," and will soon release "BioShock." Take-Two said Irrational Games' staff has almost doubled since its acquisition in 2005.