Have each of you taken part in the Shacknews Game of the Year voting? If not, you better get over there and cast your vote. Unlike Ohio, we don't use any tainted voting machines. Since this is LNC and we only care about console games, if you take out the PC titles, what would be your Game of the Year? Hell, doesn't even have to be on the list. Sadly, I can't cast my vote as I have yet to get to Metal Gear Solid 3 and Metroid Prime 2. In any case, after we close the voting, I'll let you know which console game garnered the most #1 votes.

	Microsoft Sells Sports Studio to Take-Two The Microsoft development team based in Salt Lake City, responsible for the Links and Amped series, has been sold to Take-Two Interactive. The deal was actually made months ago but was just made public today during a Take-Two earnings call. The studio is now named Indie Built and has a staff of about 70 people. The future direction of the studio has not been explicitly specified, but Take-Two president Paul Eibeler did reaffirm that the sports genre is important to Take-Two.
	Konami Merging Development Studios Three of Konami's subsidiaries will be absorbed into its main office in a maneuver to improve efficiency. Konami Computer Entertainment Studio (beatmania), Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (Metal Gear Solid), and Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (Silent Hill, Winning Eleven) will all be grouped together, hopefully to improve its ability to make quick and positive decisions. In their press release, Konami stated, "After collating our developers and knowledge base that were decentralized into three subsidiaries, we will shift our business concentration towards the online market, which has a large growth potential."
	Games Dated & Delayed Electronic Arts confirmed that NBA Street Vol.3 will be released on February 8th, 2005 for all three consoles. However, Take-Two commented in their earnings call that Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition will slide to the second quarter of 2005 while The Warriors is off somewhere in the third. Also, in case you missed it earlier, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas will be released on the Xbox on June 7.
	Mad Catz Making NFL Controllers Stylized controllers are all the rage these days and Mad Catz secured a license with the NFL to create a line of controllers to feature each NFL team; 32 in all. "Football is the most watched sport in America and we've given fans one more way to show their team pride," said Mad Catz CEO Darren Richardson. I dunno, I don't think that SpongeBob controller can be beaten.
	Misc. Q&As/Features 1up gathers a few quotes from Sega bigwig Hisao Oguchi about the next generation of consoles. HomeLAN Fed is the latest with a Q&A regarding Oddworld Stranger's Wrath.
	Misc. Media/Previews
	The Magic Box slaps up a few shots of Tales of Rebirth. IGN strokes their palms against the sultry curves of Cold Winter. They also have exclusive cheats for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.
	TeamXbox posts impressions of the Forza Motorsport demo. GameDaily has a preview of Unreal Championship 2. EuroGamer goes hands-on with Oddworld Stranger's Wrath.
	GameSpot rolls in some import impressions of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.
	Footage of Metal Gear Acid (PSP) is at GameSpot. GameSpy shares a few images from Retro Atari Classics (NDS).
	IGN has the dirt on ESPN MLB 2K5 (PS2, Xbox) and Virtua Quest (PS2, GCN). Six new shots of NFL Street 2 (PS2, Xbox, GCN) are at GameSpot. GameSpy rebounds with images of NBA Street V3 (PS2, Xbox, GCN).