The 27th annual Golden Joysticks Awards were announced in London earlier today, giving props to the games that shaped the industry in the past year. Sitting on top of them is Fallout 3 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC) receiving top honors as the Ultimate Game of the Year. Read up and find out who else made it big in the awards.

This sounds grim. Speakers at the upcoming London Games Conference are forecasting that in three years' time, retail would have been outstripped by digital distribution. Not only that, but 40% of the companies in the games industry will be caught unprepared for this shift in consumer choice.

Game Informer has officially confirmed Disney's Epic Mickey in their upcoming November issue. And because it is epic, it deserves no less than being on the cover.

Codemasters has confirmed that Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will feature eight-player online races. The number's a step down from their last racing game, but according to game design manager Ralph Fulton, it's not because of some technical limitation. Eight's just the right number. There's also a special Colin McRae memorial event that will be unlocked at the end of the game. Details after the jump.

Electronic Arts' UK boss Keith Ramsdale believes that instead of being damaging to the video game industry, motion-based controls will instead allow gamers and developers alike to "go into an area of entertainment that isn’t thought of." More from Ramsdale after the jump.

The London MCM Expo accomplished what it set out to do this year, which was to set a new world record for most video game cosplayers under one roof. The recently-concluded Movie Comic Expo at the ExCel Center made its gaming side headline-worthy once again, and this one is literally heading for the books.

The London Movie Comic Media Expo isn't known for its gaming section, with much of its attendees preferring other forms of entertainment. But all that's gonna change this year, or improve at the very least, because apart from the support of some of today's A-list publishers, the London MCM Expo is attempting to set the World Record for "largest number of people in costume for a video game."

It's final - nearly a month after Eidos shareholders approved the Square Enix takeover, court has finally approved the publisher's acquisition, making Lara Croft and Tomb Raider part of the Square Enix family, although it doesn't appear that Eidos' operations will be affected too much by the new arrangement.

Voting for the 2008 BAFTA awards is underway! And which of the games released last year made it to their shortlist of candidates for the awards? LittleBigPlanet? Professor Layton? WoW Wrath? GoW2? GoW Chains? GoWdanggit! There's a lot! Check out the full article for a list of the nominees!

While it won't be another year before we see the judges of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) weigh in their votes for the best video games of 2009, the group has already confirmed a place and date for the upcoming event - the London Park Lane Hilton on March 10, 2009. More in the full article.