Major League Baseball 2K8 producer interview links

I was planning on participating in a conference call with 2K Sports’ Ben Brinkman, producer of this year’s Major League Baseball 2K8, but unforseen circumstances prevented me from dialing in and subsequently writing up the interview.

However, fellow MVP WitchKing9 over at 2OpGaming.com has posted the entire audio from the conference call along with his own written coverage so I encourage you to head over to his site and check it out!

*UPDATE: 2K Sports announced today (2/28) that the game has officially gone gold and will hit retail shelves as scheduled on March 4th.*

Xbox LIVE Arcade Awards presented

After tallying the more than 26,000 votes cast, the winners of the inaugural Xbox LIVE Arcade Awards were announced today by Microsoft during a private developer reception at GDC.

And the winners are:

* Best Overall Arcade Game: Bomberman Live (Hudson Entertainment)
* Best Classic Game: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Konami Digital Entertainment)
* Best Original Game: Pac-Man: Championship Edition (NAMCO BANDAI Games)
* Best Family-Friendly Game: Pac-Man: Championship Edition (NAMCO BANDAI Games)
* Best Competitive Multiplayer Game: Bomberman Live (Hudson Entertainment)
* Best Cooperative Multiplayer Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Ubisoft Entertainment)
* Best-Selling Game: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Ubisoft Entertainment)
* Most-Played Game: Worms (Team17 Software Limited)
* Highest-Rated Game: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (Konami Digital Entertainment)
* Xbox LIVE Arcade Staff Choice: Pac-Man: Championship Edition (NAMCO BANDAI Games)

NOTE: The finalists in each award category were chosen by a panel of select industry journalists, and the winners for the first six categories were determined by popular vote, with the final four categories decided by sales and gameplay data, Metacritic score or staff vote.