Music4Games.net reports:

“The Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), the non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement and recognition of game audio, has announced the finalists for the 6th Annual G.A.N.G. Awards to honor outstanding creative, technical and artistic audio achievement in the world of interactive entertainment.”
Finalists for the 6th annual G.A.N.G. Awards are listed below by category.

MUSIC OF THE YEAR

Assassin’s Creed

BioShock

God of War II

Halo 3

The Golden Compass

AUDIO OF THE YEAR

BioShock

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

God of War II

Halo 3

Mass Effect

SOUND DESIGN OF THE YEAR

BioShock

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Crysis

The Orange Box

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

BEST INTERACTIVE SCORE

BioShock

Flow

God of War II

LOTR Online: Shadows of Angmar

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

BEST HANDHELD AUDIO

Dead Head Fred

MLB 07: The Show

Shrek The Third: Shrek’s Way

Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow

Transformers

BEST AUDIO OTHER

Grim’s Downfall (online game)

Jewel Quest II

Nine Billion Miles From Earth (online game)

Treasure Tunes (online game)

Website for Halo 3 Soundtrack

BEST CINEMATIC/CUT-SCENE AUDIO

BioShock

Halo 3

Heavenly Sword

Hellgate: London

Mass Effect

BEST DIALOGUE

BioShock

God of War II

Halo 3

The Orange Box

The Simpsons Game

BEST ORIGINAL INSTRUMENTAL

“Welcome To Rapture”, BioShock

“Infiltrating The Eagle’s Nest”, Blazing Angels 2

“Main Menu” The Golden Compass

“Epilogue”, Lair

“The Citadel”, Mass Effect

BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL ‚ CHORAL

“City of Jeruslaem” ‚ Assassin’s Creed

“Joan of Arc”, Bladestorm

“Luck”, Halo 3

“Main Titles”, God of War II

“Divine Intervention”, Universe At War: Earth Assault

BEST ORIGINAL VOCAL ‚ POP

“Jerusalem Horse Ride” ‚ Assassin’s Creed

“Beowulf’s Army”, Beowulf

“M4 Part II”, Mass Effect

“Still Alive”, Portal

“Lament of the Highborne”, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade

BEST ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK ALBUM

Dead Head Fred

God of War II

Halo 3

Mass Effect

Red Steel

BEST USE OF LICENSED MUSIC

BioShock

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80’s

Rock Band

Skate

BEST ARRANGEMENT OF A NON-ORIGINAL SCORE

Pirates of the Caribbean Online

Purr Pals

The Simpsons Game

BEST GAME AUDIO ARTICLE, PUBLICATION OR BROADCAST

- The Golden Compass Composer Diary, GameSpy

- “The World of Game Composing”, Film Music Magazine

- “What’s The Score?”, British Academy Magazine

- “Video Games Live” ‚ Eurogamer TV Show

- “Does it Sound Next-Gen?”, Game Developer Magazine

If you have played Portal, included with The Orange Box, you most certainly remember the sound of the voice of the computer that taunts you throughout the game. The computer, named GLaDOS, is voiced by Ellen McLain a classically trained opera singer. Her lines were orignally sent through a text-to-speech program, she then mimiced the tone of the computer voice while recording her part. The recording was then run through a series of pitch and modulation effects to enhance the robotic sound. The video that follows describes the entire process.

One of the best features of the The Orange Box, and most Valve games since Half Life 2, is the developer commentary feature that can be turned on from inside the audio options menu. It is like the extras features on most DVD’s, with the developers of the game describing the process of creating the final product. The game has icons that look like thought bubbles placed throughout the story that can be triggered. If you haven’t tried it you should definately check it out. This video describes how the voice of GLaDOS was created by compiling togeather all of the commetary into one video. Enjoy!

Here is some good background on how it all began. These articles have a wealth of info on how things got started in the game audio industry. These pioneers had little resources to work with and were forging a new path as they went. Many concepts ant techniques we take for granted today were hammered out in the beginning, Learn from those that came before.

A timeline of video game music
http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/vg_music/

The Rise and Fall of Game Audio
http://www.armchairarcade.com/aamain/content.php?article.48

Want to know who worked on your favorite game soundtrack?
Check out this wikipedia list of video game composers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_musicians

This has got to be one of the coolest things I’ve seen in a while. The guys of the Music Technology Group at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain developed an interface that is controlled by a tabletop touch responsive interactive display. Dubbed the reacTable its half synthesizer, half visual display, half midi controller, half game and a totally different concept. I have to get my hands on one of these to orchestrate my next project. I’m sure the programming on some thing like this is overwhelming but the interface looks so intuitive. Read a bit about the software and technologies they’ve developed for the project. Watch videos of this thing in action. Unbelievable!