So when's the next major gaming event? Here's one: Capcom's CAPTIVATE08, that will be held in Las Vegas at the end of May in lieu of Capcom Gamer's Day event. What's so special about this exclusive event aside from hot gaming news, you ask? A chance to attend it, of course! More details in the full article.

Telltale Games' Mark Darin and Greg Land recently talked about the pros of porting games to the Wii and DS platform in an interview by Cubed3. With games like CSI: Hard Evidence (PC, Xbox 360, Wii, DS) and the Sam & Max series under their belt, they also talked about how the Wii and DS can rekindle interest in the old-school point-and-click adventure genre. You can read the interview with the Telltale Games designers in the full article.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced that the nominations for the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards has finally been closed. The final list of candidates has been compiled and is currently entering the general voting stage. Want to find out if your bet got into the final list? Read the full article!

After grabbing an Emmy award for its iconic D-pad last year,  Nintendo managed to bag another Emmy Award for excellence in engineering creativity, this time recognizing the Wii's motion-sensing controls and the DS's unique interface. More details in the full article!

More speakers have been added to the 2008 D.I.C.E. Summit's speaker roster. Joining the roster for next year's event are PaRappa the Rapper creator Masaya Matsuura, who is currently working on a new music title for the Nintendo Wii, and newly-appointed Entertainment Software Association president Michael D. Gallagher. More new speakers at the full article.

Ubisoft announces today that Xbox 360 and Wii owners, as well as those with a Nintendo DS and PlayStation 2, will be able to enjoy a new CSI video game this coming Fall 2007. The new game will be known as CSI: Hard Evidence and is being developed by Telltale Games. The PC version ships with the console versions.

Staying true to the CSI franchise, Hard Evidence continues on the crime-solving brand of experience the public has first come to love on TV. The game itself follows the story of Gil Grissom, Catherine Willows, and the rest of the Las Vegas crew in solving crimes with the help of sophisticated lab equipments and realistic techniques. Other features are:

• More Crime-Solving Action: Break down the evidence and bring suspects to justice in five all-new, bizarre crimes. Unravel longer cases, search bigger crime scenes, and uncover hidden evidence in unique locations like never before.
• Go Deeper into the Evidence: Master new forensic tools and find more evidence than ever. Use the new Garage Lab to examine large pieces of evidence like cars and trucks. Recreate gunfights with ballistic lasers, uncover shocking secrets with video analysis, and much more.
• The Ultimate CSI Experience: Experience your very own CSI episodes as you piece together clues with the real CSI actors. Take part in dramatic interrogations, create grisly crime reenactments, and explore atmospheric crime scenes inspired by the show.

There is still no mention how Wii players will be able to use the motion-sensing controllers but Ubisoft has mentioned that CSI: Hard Evidence has been made compatible to the Wiimote and Nunchuk. What we have below are screenshots from the Xbox 360 build and the trailer video for all versions.

See the game's video after the jump!

No less than Microsoft founder and Chairman Bill Gates, Panasonic President Toshihiro Sakamoto and Intel CEO Paul Otellini will keynote the 2008 International CES organized by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) in Las Vegas Nevada on January 7-10 of next year.

This was announced by the CEA as it ushers in the latest that the industry has to offer for people who like to live off the high-end. The show is known as a stage for previews of upcoming products and campaigns of each firm.

Gates is scheduled to kick things off with a pre-show talk discussing the state of the computer world and how his company is pushing it forward. Sakamoto and Otellini are set to do similar speeches as the first day progresses.

Some 2,700 exhibitors will show off their latest gear encompassing some 30 areas which include entertainment, wireless connectivity, audio and gaming. Products such as gaming consoles, TVs, notebook computers and portable audio are just some of the many devices which have been shown off in the past CES gatherings.

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.

Midway, publisher of this year's most anticipated next-gen games, celebrated Midway Gamers Day 2007 last Thursday in Hard Rock Casino's main auditorium in Las Vegas. Among the highlights of their party were the trailers to the their upcoming games BlackSite: Area 51, LOTRO: Shadows of Angmar, Unreal Tournament 3 and Hour of Victory.

Midway announced to their guests the sheer amount of time and resources they have invested into next generation console game development, with nothing shy of US$100 million and up to 700 employees all put into the production for games for the XBox 360, PS3, Wii and PC. It was here that Epic Games' VP Mark Rein announced the name-change for Unreal Tournament 2007 to Unreal Tournament 3.

It was changed not to highlight that it was an exclusive for the PS3, but to underline the fact that it is running "the next generation of the Unreal franchise, based on the Unreal 3 engine." On the contrary, Epic announced here that the newly renamed UT3 is going to be released also for the XBox 360, erasing yet another title from the PS3 exclusive list.

The last of many highlights to be shown was Stranglehold, Midway's adaptation of the John Woo's 1992 Hong Kong movie Hard Boiled. Other shows included the Wii edition of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Touchmaster DS for the Nintendo DS, Hot Brain for the PSP, TNA iMPACT! for the XBox 360 and The Wheelman - a film-game crossover project starring (and executive-produced by) none other than Vin Diesel.

Quite the year Midway had last year. It looks to be even better this year.