Now, if you’re giving the game a try on Xbox 360, there’s one tiny, little niggling detail that might keep you from ultimate enjoyment — you’ve got to have a Gold account to truly enjoy the multiplayer part of that demo.

Fortunately, Microsoft’s helping you out a little bit on that front! As posted in their forums yesterday, Microsoft has decided, “[i]n celebration of Mass Effect 3,” to allow everyone to have access to the multiplayer part of the game for the duration of the demo.

According to the post, it does look as though this includes full access to Gold — but only for a very limited time. Just enough to get you hooked, perhaps. Just remember, the first hit is free, and then it takes over your life.

Imagine A World of Keflings filled with gingerbread and candy. How about living the pirate life, or in a gruesome graveyard world overflowing with skeletons and zombies.

NinjaBee, an independent game developer, is letting gamers decide which theme will be the next downloadable content. Players can vote for either the graveyard, candy or pirate theme between today and midnight PST, Friday, Jan. 20.

The official Microsoft Studios’ Xbox Live Arcade blog, PlayXBLA.com, is working with NinjaBee and hosting the vote. The new theme will give players new characters, buildings and storylines to experience, expanding the play value of the game.

Brent Fox, the art director and co-owner of NinjaBee said, each time a player votes NinjaBee enters them into a drawing to be made into a Kefling character that will turn up in the game.

“I mean, who doesn’t want to be turned into a tiny, chipper peon forced to eternally work for free,” said Fox.

Other gamers will win Keflings t-shirts, plushies and NinjaBee game codes. NinjaBee will announce the winning theme on Monday, Jan. 23.

So, let’s hope candy wins, because evil wizards and unicorn kings are awesome. Oh, did I mention candy?

Juries for the Independent Games Festival have announced award finalists for their 14th awards presentation. These awards honor the best in independent games during the previous year. Almost 200 independent game experts made their recommendations, and the finalisst were chosen from those titles. Several games even managed to get multiple nominations, including Dear Esther, Spelunky, Fez, Frozen Synapse and Johann Sebastian Joust.

All finalists will be playable at the Game Developers Conference 2012′s IGF Pavilion from March 7-9 at San Francisco’s Moscone Center. The Independent Games Summit itself is held March 5-6.

In addition, juries are in the process of identifying finalists for the first-ever XBLA Prize, which includes a guaranteed publishing deal on Xbox LIVE and its related platforms — including Windows Phone and…well, just plain Windows.

Here’s what’s up for $60,000 in prize money, including honorable mentions:

Excellence In Visual Art

Botanicula (Amanita Design)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Lume (State Of Play Games)
Mirage (Mario von Rickenbach)
Wonderputt (Damp Gnat)

Honorable mentions: Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo), Dustforce (Hitbox Team), Fader (Chris Makris),
Honorable mentions: Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo), Dustforce (Hitbox Team), Fader (Chris Makris), Proun (Joost van Dongen), Toren (Swordtales)

Technical Excellence

Antichamber (Demruth)
Fez (Polytron)
Prom Week (Expressive Intelligence Studio, UC Santa Cruz)
Realm of the Mad God (Wild Shadow Studios & Spry Fox)
Spelunky (Mossmouth)

Honorable mentions: Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games), Nitronic Rush (DigiPen Institute of Technology), Reflow (Xymatic), Super T.I.M.E. Force (Capy), Tiny & Big – Grandpa’s Leftovers (Black Pants)

Excellence In Design

Atom Zombie Smasher (Blendo Games)
English Country Tune (Stephen Lavelle)
Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games)
Gunpoint (Tom Francis, John Roberts and Fabian van Dommelen)
Spelunky (Mossmouth)

Honorable mentions: Faraway (Steph Thirion), FTL (Justin Ma & Matthew Davis), Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik), SpaceChem (Zachtronics Industries), Where Is My Heart? (Die Gute Fabrik)

Excellence In Audio

Botanicula (Amanita Design)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Pugs Luv Beats (Lucky Frame)
To The Moon (Freebird Games)
Waking Mars (Tiger Style)

Honorable mentions: Beatbuddy (Threaks), Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo), Fez (Polytron), Proteus (Ed Key and David Kanaga), Where Is My Heart? (Die Gute Fabrik)

Best Mobile Game

ASYNC Corp (Powerhead Games)
Beat Sneak Bandit (Simogo)
Faraway (Steph Thirion)
Ridiculous Fishing (Vlambeer)
Waking Mars (Tiger Style)

Honorable mentions: Fingle (Game Oven Studios), Hundreds (SemiSecret & aeiowu), iBlast Moki 2 (Godzilab), Temple Run (Imangi Studios), Tentacles (Press Play)

Nuovo Award
[Designed to honor abstract, shortform and unconventional game development.]
At a Distance (Terry Cavanagh)
Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Fingle (Game Oven Studios)
GIRP (Bennett Foddy)
Proteus (Ed Key and David Kanaga)
Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik)
Storyteller (Daniel Benmergui)
Way (CoCo & Co.)

Honorable mentions: Deep Sea (Wraughk), Four Letter Word (Terry Cavanagh), Glitchhiker (Aardbever), Hundreds (SemiSecret & aeiowu), POP (Rob Lach)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize

Dear Esther (thechineseroom)
Fez (Polytron)
Frozen Synapse (Mode 7 Games)
Johann Sebastian Joust (Die Gute Fabrik)
Spelunky (Mossmouth)

Honorable mentions: Antichamber (Demruth), FTL (Justin Ma & Matthew Davis), Proteus (Ed Key and David Kanaga), SpaceChem (Zachtronics Industries ), Where Is My Heart? (Die Gute Fabrik)

“While the sheer number of fantastic entries in this year’s festival made whittling down this selection of finalists a difficult task for our judges and juries, that overwhelming show of quality is proof that independents truly are driving the future of games,” said IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer. “I’m tremendously excited to see a wider audience discovering and getting to experience all of the beauty and brilliance showcased this year.”

Microsoft held their last CES Press Conference tonight. I’ve attended three past Microsoft press events at CES and know that usually they are a star attended affair. Generally not that focused on gaming, but talking about phones, software and any new hardware.

Tonight’s event opened with a musical intro remix that showcased the last 15 years of Microsoft CES pressers. It was created by Pogo and amazing! I hope they do it again at an E3.

Bill Gates is no longer doing the CES pressers so Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer took the helm. He stated tonight that the Xbox 360 video game console has sold more than 66 million units since it was launched in 2005. He also stated that Microsoft has sold more than 18 million Kinect motion-sensing systems.

Joining him on stage was Ryan Seacrest. Why? No idea, but the comments on Twitter was that because Steve could banter with Ryan it made him more personable.

Other than games they spoke about Windows 8 and Mobile operating system.

The eight-week contest ran this summer and allowed participants to recreate and reinterpret scenes from summer movies like the aforementioned Super 8 as well as Kung Fy Panda 2 and Bridesmaids, among others. Each week, a new scene became available to perform, and the best clips made it to a judging phase where the top performer won $1,000.

Bell’s clip made it on to the finals, where it was judged the best and won the contest’s grand prize.

“My whole family loves to perform and be creative and Yoostar gives us the opportunity to do both in a very cool and fun way,” said Bell. “Many thanks to Yoostar for a great game and wonderful prize!”

Nicholas Reichenbach, Chief Content Officer, Yoostar Entertainment Group added, “Cynthia did an amazing job reimagining the scene and delivering a fun performance. It’s contributions like this that make Yoostar Social an incredibly fun place to view, share, rate and award user-generated content created in the Yoostar universe.”

To watch Cynthia’s performance, go here. It is actually pretty hilarious, so you definitely want to check it out.

That changes today for anyone with iOS, as Microsoft’s made the “My Xbox LIVE” app available on Apple’s app store. (Here, you can even have a link.)

The app allows you to manage your friends list, message your friends, invite new ones, edit your entire Xbox LIVE profile, change your avatar’s clothing and features and even view your achievement progress in the games you’ve played.

You can even create beacons on the go that will allow you to tell your friends what you feel like playing.

It all looks very slick, from what I’ve gotten to play with so far. It definitely dwarfs the other apps I’ve used to access my friends list in the past.

And Windows Phone is probably still the best way to access Xbox LIVE on the go — a new Xbox Companion app hit Windows Phone 7 yesterday, and it’s got even more features than this.

Do you like to keep up with your gaming friends on the go with an app like this? (I do.)

If that worries you, both Microsoft and Twisted Pixel are doing their best to maintain the Austin studio’s unique qualities while also extending some benefits to them, like a little more room to breathe during the development process.

“Microsoft’s a very big company, and you’ve got Twisted Pixel, a relatively smaller developer,” said Matt Booty, general manager of Microsoft Studios. “We’re very invested that they get to stay who they are, and they get to retain the magic they’ve got as a smaller indie developer. We’d like to leave the golden goose alone, so to speak.”

Twisted Pixel CEO Mike Wilford is excited for the studio’s future.

“Ever since the very beginning we’ve done things our way, with our own sense of humor,” he said in the article. “I think you’re going to see more of the same type of approach to our games, but with greater resources and time. You’re going to see us be able to make bigger games and richer games going forward.”

Those “bigger” and “richer” games will likely still be XBLA-sized.

Well, that’s not actually a “yay.” It’s more like a “Wow, that’s very expensive.”

The hard drives will come with a download code for LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars to help you fill up some of that space. That doesn’t make up for the price, but it helps? Maybe?

The new hard drives will go on sale later this month. (This is the same size included in the Gears of War 3 and Modern Warfare 3 bundles, just in case that influences your decision a bit.)

Yeah, you play your Xbox 360 on your television, but that’s about to be switched around — this holiday season, television is coming to your Xbox 360. Somehow.

40 television providers (in this case, it seems more like channels than actual cable providers, though Verizon and Xfinity are involved) from around the world are offering their entertainment services on the c0nsole to over 20 countries.

Here’s a full list of entertainment partners, per Major Nelson:

•    ABC iView – Australia
•    AlloCiné – France, Germany, Spain, U.K.
•    Antena 3 – Spain
•    Astral Media’s Disney XD – Canada
•    AT&T** – U.S.
•    BBC – U.K.
•    blinkbox – U.K.
•    Bravo – U.S.
•    BSkyB** – U.K.
•    Canal+* – France, Spain
•    Channel 4 – U.K.
•    Channel 5 – U.K.
•    CinemaNow (Best Buy) – U.S.
•    Comcast – U.S.
•    Crackle – Australia, Canada, U.K., U.S.
•    Dailymotion – Available in 32 markets
•    EPIX – U.S.
•    ESPN** – U.S.
•    Facebook** – Available in all 35 Xbox LIVE markets
•    FOXTEL** – Australia
•    GolTV – Spain
•    HBO GO – U.S.
•    Hulu – Japan
•    Hulu +**– U.S.
•    iHeartRadio (Clear Channel) – U.S.
•    Last.fm** – U.K., U.S.
•    LOVEFiLM – Germany, U.K.
•    Manga Entertainment – U.S.
•    Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment/Real Sports – Canada
•    Mediaset – Italy
•    MSN with MSNBC.com – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, U.K.
•    MUZU.TV – France, Germany, Italy, Spain, U.K.
•    Netflix**– Canada, U.S.
•    Rogers On Demand Online (RODO) – Canada
•    RTVE – Spain
•    SBS On Demand – Australia
•    Syfy – U.S.
•    Telefonica – Spain
•    Televisa – Mexico
•    “The Today Show” – U.S.
•    TELUS** – Canada
•    TMZ – U.S.
•    Twitter** – Available in all 35 Xbox LIVE markets
•    UFC – Canada, U.S.
•    Verizon – U.S.
•    VEVO – Canada, U.K., U.S.
•    VimpelCom** – Russia
•    Vodafone Portugal** – Portugal
•    YouTube – Available in 22 markets
•    ZDF – Germany
•    Zune** – Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain

Looks like a Gold Subscription is required to use…well, any of this. And a subscription to the cable provider in question.

Speaking of questions, there are a lot of them. Hopefully they’re all sorted before the holiday season officially rolls around.

GamingAngels and GameStop asked you to go Commando on September 19th and you all responded! We loved the comments and had so many great entries. Now that September 19th has passed, it’s time to announce the winner of a brand new Xbox 360 and a copy of Gears of War 3!!

Drum roll please…..

The winner of the Go Commando GameStop and GamingAngels sweepstakes is
Dustin Rankhorn

Huge Congrats to him! Thank you everyone that entered. The contest did so well, I’m sure we’ll have another one at GamingAngels soon! So come by often and watch out….the next console giveaway could be yours!!

<3
The Staff @GamingAngels!