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This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from the voice of Chloe from Uncharted 2, and star of Farscape, Stargate, and more, Claudia Black..

So you've jumped genres from science fiction television shows to swashbuckling video games. How has that been?

Oh, I think it is all one in the same, isn't it? It is all part of the same genre. So I mean for me, it has been a very easy segue into this, and I think it has sort of corresponded at the same time with the industries starting to coalesce, too. You know, the film industry, which is sometimes considered, I think, to be a snobbish cousin of the gaming industry, is now really starting to take notice.

I'm sure the smell of money is helping a bit.

Yeah. I mean I think it really came to the floor when Van Helsing the film was kind of like the launch pad for the game, and the game was sort of more relevant and important, in a way, than the movie.

You've done a lot of video game voices, but was this the first time you did motion capture?

Yes, this was my first motion capture experience. I am a huge proponent of it because I think what impressed me about Naughty Dog's is that they respect and appreciate the magic that occurs over time between the performers. That you can have a great script, and you can have great voice actors in the booth, but you are never going to recreate that incredible alchemy that occurs with people in a room together. And they hired such amazing actors, you know, theater trained, very experienced actors to work together. And also, they were very specific and particular about whom they hired based on personalities because they wanted us to be a really tight knit family. And every single day it was fun. Every single day. And I know that games have become a very serious business, but they wanted the levity and the bonding to be the overriding essence on the set.

What is next for you?

Well I just wrapped up a little independent film called Rain from Stars which is written and directed by Steven Wallace and French Stewart, a wonderful comedic actor, and Jeremy London, Brian Krause ... a really lovely cast. It's called Rain from Stars, and is like 12 Angry Men meets Saw.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Epic's Cliff Bleszinski.

So you segued from Gears into Shadow Complex ... what are you working on now?

I can't tell you that! It's actually quite agonizing for me right now, because there's a bunch of awesome shit we're working on, but I can't say a damn thing about it no matter how many alcoholic beverages you might try and feed me! Well, maybe if you bribe me with hookers and blow, that might work.

Shadow Complex will be on sale during the holidays. Was that Microsoft's idea or Epic's?

Microsoft is doing that promo. They're doing some other stuff as well to help drive the holiday sales. I mean, in this day and age look how crammed Christmas is, and it's like March is the new holiday. Everybody's moved out to March. I think it's good because the good games will rise, and the bad games will sink, right? I was getting tired of the fact that everyone had to cram everything into the holiday season. Hopefully we'll get some quality releases in March that will do well, and the gaming industry can sell more than 80% of its games outside of a three month period.

What are you playing right now?

I'm playing the hell out of Modern Warfare 2 and I hate those guys, because those guys are so awesome. Uncharted 2 I beat, which was absolutely stellar. Borderlands co-op is amazing ... that's the only way to play, really. I gush about it not just because it's our engine but because Randy and those guys are good friends, and it's the kind of game I really want to play. It's the perfect blending of the shooter and the RPG.

So when will we hear about this "awesome shit"?

Maybe sometime when the weather's warm, you'll be hearing something.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. HHere's what we learned from Bungie's Halo-matic composer, Marty O'Donnell.

Why was the music such a departure for Halo 3: ODST?

It was just a completely different story with different characters, it was a small scale, it took place in a lonely city where it was raining. It was a detective sort of story where one lone ODST was looking for his buddies. From the very beginning Joe Staten, the writer, wanted to create an atmosphere that felt very film noir, very detective story. I'm the main composer, but my partner Mike Salvatore in Chicago and a couple of other guys in Seattle, Stan Laparte and C. Paul Johnson contributed stuff. I tried to keep all of the themes in that noir, jazz, dark area. There's a few times where we're in the rooftops or doing some high-action regular old Halo stuff in vehicles and we went back to that big, bombastic, epic stuff, but I always wanted to bring it back to that noir feel.

Were there any musical references to classic Halo during those moments?

I didn't do any actual thematic callbacks. I still wanted to do .... well, number one was no monks. But I still thought the big orchestral epic sound had a place. With some other stuff, you know. Piano, guitar, etc. It's like three hours of music, and you can't narrow yourself down to a small palette, you have to really be as expansive as possible.

So now you're working on Reach?

Yes, we're premiering the first look at the opening section of Reach. It's right out of the game. I'm really excited about it. It has a really different feel.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Nolan North.

You're quickly becoming one of the recognizable stars of video game voiceover acting. How did that happen?

You know ... I don't really know how that happened. I was lucky to land a lot of good roles in good games that became really popular ... Assassin's Creed, Uncharted, Prince of Persia, and they became really popular so fast and my name just happened to be attached to them. And you know, with the success of Uncharted -- the first one and then the second ... I don't know. It's just a phenomenon that I'm just lucky to be a part of.

Claudia Black told us that the motion capture sessions were the real key to making the relationship between Nathan and Chloe seem real. What do you think?

Absolutely. A lot of times we're just in a booth behind a microphone, unshaven and just ready to go ... and alone, more than anything. I mean, working with all of these actors, it's like doing theater somewhere. As a matter of fact, it's like what we used to call Black Box Theater back in college. There really wasn't much of a set ... we were just out there doing our thing, but the interaction was there and I think that's what translated so well to a video game.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. HHere's what we learned from Bungie's Curtis Creamer about Halo 3: ODST.

Was there a decision made to have no DLC for Halo 3: ODST?

Well, that was something that we didn't really think we could do for ODST because traditionally all of our DLC has been about competitive multiplayer. That's something that we had the systems in place for. But, since Firefight is more based on the co-operative campaign mode, that was a technology that we hadn't built up to a point where we could add DLC to the game. It would have been too much of an investment to make that happen.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Jean-François Boivin, Production Manager on Assassin's Creed 2.

So you have already announced two DLC packs. Will there be packs after that? How are you filling in Chapters 12 and 13? Is there a Chapter 15?

You guys will find out soon enough ... there's nothing really announced yet as to anything that would support the next two DLCs. It will all make sense. [Ed. note: here's that announcement, and we're springing out of our seats]

What has surprised you since launch?

One of the things that is really cool is that right now, the numbers show us that 40% of the people are actually finishing the game. What that tells us is that people are really submerging themselves into the world of Assassin's Creed.

Where would you want to set Assassin's Creed 3?

That's something we don't even know yet ourselves. Right now we're just taking a break after shipping this game. But we're thinking about where this license can go, and we're working on concepts in the next few months.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Paul Crocker at Rocksteady about Batman: Arkham Asylum.

So when are we getting real DLC?

We can't talk about DLC, I'm afraid. [Note: with the announcement of Batman: Arkham Asylum 2, if that indeed ends up being the name for the sequel, it seems highly unlikely that we'll get any more DLC for the first game. Rats.]

Well, that's not a no! What has surprised you all the most about the game since launch?

Well, for us we're just really happy that people liked it. We worked really hard to do the brand justice and to try and make a good Batman game. Obviously when you're working on something like that you're really inside a bubble, and you don't know what people really think. And the reaction has been quite cool, so everyone at Rocksteady is really excited.

Speaking about that reaction, how does it work for a developer on launch day? Is it like in the film industry where people get the box office numbers coming in right away? Are you getting sales figures? How do you know it's doing well?

In all honesty ... we look at websites. [laughs] I mean if some website says it sold X number of copies, we don't even know if that's true. I guess we're the last to find out. But we look at the reviews and read what people are actually saying about the game. The afternoon when all the reviews went live, we were all sitting in the office and it was just really exciting. If you get an 8 out of 10, you're like "Awww, that's bad" because the other ones were 9, you know? But we were seeing scores at 9 or more and it was an interesting afternoon, and quite a nice evening at the pub.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Jesper Kyd, music composer for Assassin's Creed 2.

How do you begin composing music for a 15th century assassin?

That was very hard to figure out. First, you have to stop thinking and start researching, because it can be overwhelming. The finished game had over three hours of music in it, so it's really about slowing down, experimenting, researching and seeing what sticks.

Did you compose the music for the minstrels and everything?

Every single note in there is my music! That was a lot of fun, some of those small bits.

So what do you all think about Medal of Honor going Modern Warfare?

Vince Zampella: Eh, good for them!

You're not saying, "Hey, this is our territory."

Vince: Nah.

Since the game shipped a month ago, Infinity Ward has been squashing bugs and reading feedback.

Vince: Absolutely. The benefit of making a game that all of our guys love to play is that all of our guys are playing it, and they're running into the same problems that any other player is, so we want to get that stuff fixed as soon as possible.

Jason West: Yeah, the studio has been shut down for all of December, but these guys are playing the game and they want to come in on their own time to fix it and patch it. Considering that they're all on vacation, the responsiveness of the team has been pretty awesome. [Note: based on the new unlimited ammo glitch, they still have some work to do. Unless there's a Christmas miracle]

Has anything really surprised you with multiplayer?

Vince: Well, yeah .. the Javelin thing, obviously [laughs]. Just the fact that somebody picked that out.

Jason: And the infinite Care Package one is pretty impressive, I mean you have to do this, do that and ...

Vince: I could see you accidentally doing it, but then how do you figure out how to go back and replicate it? That's crazy.

So if there's a Modern Warfare 3, what can you possibly pack in to top the Night Vision Goggles?

Vince: This time we'll have a version that comes with a complete tank.

Jason: Yeah, or a full-sized Ghillie suit would be awesome, too.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Felicia Day about, well ... Felicia Day.

How's the show going?

We just, a couple of weeks ago, the last episode of Season Three came out so we're between seasons right now. We're waiting for an update from Microsoft ... or Xbox. And I'm writing a comic book for Dark Horse before we start Season Four. Jim Rugg is the artist, but we have some amazing cover artists ... I can't say who yet, but when I get the art back I'm just blown away.

We talked with Blizzard about the 5 & 15 year anniversaries for Warcraft, and we asked them why there are no girls in the "What's Your Game" commercials and they asked us for suggestions. Why haven't you done one?

I know! You know, that would be a good call for me ... I'm one of those people who are recognized in certain circles, and not in others, and I like to keep it that way. But it would be great, I mean ... I'm a WoW girl, I love it!

So you think you could see yourself in one of those wacky commercials?

I would hope that they wouldn't be able to put my head on their character, like with the Mr. T one. Because that would just be too creepy. It already was creepy! I was trying to do like my "Thanksgiving" quest and I'm all "Stop with the Mr. T!" They were all over the place!

Are you working on anything now?

I'm filming the last episode of Dollhouse. The way that they wrap everything up is amazing, they really did it. I think I still have some apocalyptic dirt on my neck still. Also, I'm on an episode of Lie to Me ... I've been working for Fox a lot and I don't know why!

Are you playing anything else besides WoW right now?

Well, I play everything ... except I haven't played Uncharted 2 yet. I don't have a PS3. You know ... those are tax-deductible. Maybe I need to pick one up.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Kellee Santiago and Jenova Chen from thatgamecompany about Flower.

Spike TV and the VGAs are all about naked women, shooters, and explosions. What's it like for Flower to be here?

Kellee Santiago: It's a very surreal experience. I think it shows that what are sort of seen as "artsy" games aren't niche, they appeal at the most commercial mass level, and that's very exciting for us.

Jenova Chen: We had Flower exhibit at the MOCA in Shanghai as an interactive art piece. It's quite interesting to see a video game stand next to these art installations. Being at these awards will hpefully give us even more exposure. The PlayStation Network had a sale during Thanksgiving, and a lot of people picked up Flower who had never heard of it before. Then we started to get a lot of emails thanking us for making the game. We know there are more people who haven't seen the game, and it would be great if they know what video games could be.

What's next? Could there be a sequel to Flower?

We're working on a third title for PlayStation Network right now, you'll see more soon. Hopefully you'll see something next year, but we don't know yet when it will come out.

This past Saturday brought us the Spike TV Video Game Awards and – before experiencing the litany of world exclusives that awaited us inside – we spent some time outside cruising the red carpet and talking (briefly!) to many of the game developers and talent. We squeezed them for information as fast as we could while simultaneously wishing them holiday cheer and good tidings. Yes, it was as awkward as it sounds. Here's what we learned from Naughty Dog's Evan Wells about Uncharted 2.

Are we going to see any campaign DLC?

Well, that certainly is a possibility but right now we're focusing on multiplayer. We're working on some new maps, we have a couple of new game modes in the works, and a lot of skins. So we're going to focus on that right now.

Has anything surprised you since launch?

Oh, completely. We've been updating our online functionality constantly. We have a new patch coming out later this month, we're improving the load times, we've added leaderboards, we've added clan tags. So really, we're continuing to expand on the online functionality.

Last month we spoke with Heavy Rain executive producer Guillaume de Fondaumiere about Quantic Dream's upcoming PS3 adventure game. As a game far from the everyday, de Fondaumiere agreed that Heavy Rain has been a challenge to market. "It's a difficult game to market, because it's difficult for people to understand what it is unless they experience it," he admitted in our video interview above. "So we have to show it to them. We probably have to give them a playable demo for them to see and experience for themselves how different and unique this experience is."

We argued that a playable demo would simply reveal how unconventional the controls could be, to which de Fondaumiere responded: "You simply cannot use conventional game mechanisms when you want to create a unique experience. But I think that -- and user tests we've conducted show that -- you get used to it very quickly. It's quite intuitive. I'm not too concerned about this. At all, actually."

Finally, when asked if he had any final words to tell the Joystiq audience, de Fondaumiere advised fans not to sell the game back to GameStop after completing the story. "Buy the game, don't sell it. Keep it to yourself. You'll need it to continue and experience more episodes in the months following the launch of the game." So, DLC confirmed, right?

During a recent Ubisoft preview event, Michael McIntyre, director of level design for Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, talked to Joystiq about the new sequel to the old trilogy, establishing its connection to the Sands of Time game series and the Bruckheimer film. The Forgotten Sands is a side story, based in the Sands of Time universe, bridging the seven-year gap between the original Sands of Time game and its sequel, Warrior Within.

Clearly, Ubisoft has positioned the next game to piggyback on the Bruckheimer blockbuster and ideally generate renewed sales for the brand (which underperformed in its 2008 iteration). Forgotten Sands is also an opportunity for Ubisoft to finally justify the Prince's remarkable transformation from carefree hero to brooding, emo warrior.

Continue reading for our full interview with Michael McIntyre -- after the break -- in which he reveals new (and rewinding revisited) elements in the game and the return of a familiar voice.

As you might imagine, it's kind of hard to believe the words coming out of someone's mouth when a gold wrestling championship belt is gleaming in our eyes, which is why we're not sure what to believe coming from the mysterious "Adam" regarding a possible Splinter Cell Conviction demo coming this January. Seen with the Hip-Hop Gamer in a video after the break, Adam -- a gentleman who Ubisoft wouldn't confirm to us is an actual employee -- seemingly announces the existence of an upcoming Conviction demo.

When asked by the eccentric interviewer about the possibility, Adam responds, "It's coming out in January, and then the actual game: February 23rd." We asked Ubisoft for verification of Adam's words, and were told by a rep, "I cannot confirm a demo at this time." So, anyone know Adam?