Kojima's so good at what he does that he only needs one lifetime to get his second lifetime achievement award. Word has just gone out that living legend Hideo Kojima will be given this high distinction at the 2009 Game Developers Choice Awards.

 

Tandem Events recently announced that NCSoft's Richard Garriott and Microsoft XNA Group's Chris Satchell will be keynoting the event at the second Develop Conference & Expo to be held in Brighton, UK this July 24-26. With speakers such as game legends Peter Molyneux to also appear as speakers at the event, the two will tackle issues with creativity and community and the future of the MMO game.

Satchell's main speech will dive into Web 2.0 keeping two of the four key themes of the conference in mind: creativity and community. Using online social phenomena such as YouTube and MySpace as examples, Satchell will expound on how the gaming community drives Web 2.0 direction and development and how it will effect the online gaming scene.

"Lord British" Garriott will share his vision of the future massively multiplayer online game and the possibilities that can be achieved by developing for the medium. Garriott will also share his experiences in developing games and share it with the budding developers of the European community.

The organizers of the event, Tandem Events, have also announced that the conference already has an amazing line up of speakers slated, stating in the official press release that "the speaker line up is already reading like a ‘Who’s Who’ of the video game industry." Event director Andy Lane concluded the announcement, saying:

Develop is still three months away, but already we have a fantastic line up in place – of both speakers and sessions – for conference delegates, who will be travelling to Brighton this summer from all over the world. It goes without saying that we’re delighted to confirm Chris Satchell and Richard Garriott as two of our keynote speakers.

Yes, the Game Developer's Choice Awards, one of many the peer-based awards in the gaming industry, will be hosted in March 7, 2007 at the Esplanade Ballroom of the Moscone Center's South Hall. The GDCA Advisory Board now has announced the names of fellow legendary developers to be awarded special honors during the award ceremony hosted by Tim Schafer.

Jamil Moledina, Executive Director of the Game Developers Conference, said:

This year’s recipients of the Game Developers Choice Award special honors reflect the dramatic impact of their visionary creations and industry work. Our four honorees are each responsible for inspiring the industry to creative heights through personal example and challenging conventional wisdom.

The legends and their awards are as follows:

• First Penguin Award - Alexey Pajitnov (Tetris)
  
• Maverick Award - Greg Costikyan (pioneer of indie games)
  
• Community Contribution Award - George "The Fatman" Sanger (game audio developer)
  
• Lifetime Achievement Award - Shigeru Miyamoto (Donkey Kong, Mario Bros.)
  

The First Penguin Award acknowledges developers who venture into unknown territory and pave the way for the rest of the development community. The Maverick Award recognizes those who take risks by experimenting with unconventional methods. The Community Contribution Award is presented to a developer who embodies the spirit of community and encourages improvement among peers.

Recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award are selected by the Choice Awards Advisory Board, who are a collection of developers from around the globe. Past recipients of this award include Richard Garriott, Eugene Jarvis, Mark Cerny, Gunpei Yokoi (posthumously), Yuji Naka and Will Wright.

Yes, I know that you hardcore console folks (I'm looking at you, PSPeeps!) hate seeing this sort of stuff on your blogs, but I'm giving you warning - there's a shameless plug ahead! But we gotta get the word out on two of our newest blogs - and not just any blogs, our first game specific blogs! We all know that MMORPG's are big, and it's the nature of an online beast to have lots of news, updates, patches, mods and upgrades to talk about. These new blogs have been lurking around the QJ network all this week, but it's time to give them the proper introduction they deserve.

Okay, so that one doesn't need much of an introduction. Everyone's heard of a little game called World of Warcraft, right? Yeah, I thought so. It is the MMORPG of our times with millions upon millions of players wandering through the world of Azeroth every single minute of every single day. And that's just the beginning. With the upcoming release of the Burning Crusade expansion, things are about to get even bigger. So it's a perfect time to launch our own WoW blog to keep everyone on top of every single bit of info out there! There's no stopping World of Warcraft from dominating the globe...

...or is there? You see, there's this little gem of a game that's been in the works for over 4 years from the fine folks at NCSoft and Destination Games. At the helm is Ultima Online">Richard Garriott aka Lord British, the mastermind behind the grand-daddy of modern MMORPG's - Ultima Online. With experience and an award winning art team on their side, Tabula Rasa hopes to wipe the slate clean and knock WoW off its high horse. With a unique crossbreeding of 3rd person RPG action with alien-blasting FPS controls and tactics, it might do just that.

TR will soon be hitting the beta stage, and we here at QJ want to be in on the ground floor of what will most likely be the next big thing in the MMORPG universe. This is the place to be if you want to keep up on all the latest news, art renders, screenshots, and developments.

So there you have it - two new blogs to check out, with some pretty snazzy sneak peaks and exclusive content on the way. And a third new blog isn't far behind, and hopefully it will fill the obvious hole in the QJ Network when it comes to gaming news!