This week DICE 2012, the Design, Innovate, Communicate and Entertain Summit rocked Las Vegas and brought some of the brightest individuals in the gaming industry together to celebrate, learn, and discuss upcoming and past video games. We got to hear from Todd Howard, Sefton Hill, David Jaffe, and more. Plus, we even got to check out the Annual Interactive Achievement Awards. For all of our DICE 2012 coverage you can check out our DICE blog tag. But first, you can watch all of our excellent web shows for the week.

• Feedback: This week on Feedback, Blair was joined by Ken Rolston And Joe Quadara to talk RPGs.
• The MMO Report: Casey covers the latest MMO news.
• Sessler's Soapbox: Adam Sessler talks about why he didn't like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
• Fresh Ink: Blair Butler talks the latest and greatest comics.

And now for the news...

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Here's a rundown of all the amazing things that happened today in video games and on G4TV.com!

• The great Star Wars debate continues on Links of TheFeed
• A new report indicates that Microsoft's next Xbox console will use a tablet-like control interface.
• EA releases five new videos on the Mass Effect 3 website, all showing off different facets of the game.
• Blizzard is attempting to block Valve's trademark request for the DOTA title due to the WarCraft connection.
• Sony officially confirms the existence of LittleBigPlanet Karting, promises more info "soon."
• Sony reveals a list of 275 PSP digital titles that are ready for purchase or download on your PS Vita.
• Skyrim has taken home many of the top prizes at the Interactive Achievement Awards.
• There are more than 40 Million users of COD, across all platforms.

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Monsters in Final Fantasy 13-2 are a lot more important this time around than they have been in just about any other Final Fantasy game out there. In FF13-2, you basically catch monsters that you fight and can then add them as members of your party to fight with you. Every monster is different and there are hundreds to collect, each with their own unique abilities to bring to your party.

• GUIDE: Final Fantasy 13-2 Chocobo Racing Guide

With this Final Fantasy 13-2 Beginner Monster Guide I'm going to show you how to catch monsters, how to train them,  how to infuse your monsters with others in order to make them stronger, and more. There's a lot to get through, but honestly the monster taming feature in FF13-2 is one of the most diverse and interesting things that the entire game has to offer. It's basically Final Fantasy mixed with Pokemon...maybe that's why I like it so much.

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Last week, we brought SoulCalibur 5 users a SoulCalibur 5 creation guide, and provided directions on how to create some very un-SoulCalibur fighters like The Green Lantern and Dovakhiin from Skyrim. Our creative minds didn't stop there, though. The great Donell Tucker and Leah Jackson spent this week making SC5 version of characters like Tinkerbell, Freddy Krueger, Ghost Rider, and many more! Click on the video to check out  their work.

G4's Donell Tucker and fighting expert Ernie Moreno share their thoughts on the new fighting mechanics and gem system behind Capcom's Street Fighter X Tekken. This fighting franchise comes out in the beginning of March for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation Vita.

If you think Alan Wake's story will end after Alan Wake's American Nightmare, you're just flat out wrong. According to Remedy, there is more Wake on the way.

"Hopefully, we'll have one or two surprises,"Matias Myllyrinne, CEO of Remedy, told Joystiq. "I'm loving the digital [distribution] side and we'll see how that evolves, but just being able to give people quick access to bite-size chunks of gaming is maybe more fun than working for years and years -- taking the phone offline and closing the shutters-- at least, this way, you're able to react much more quickly to people's desires and wishes."

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Welcome to your G4 Valentine’s Day gift guide for all the nerdy girls or boys in your life. As a public service announcement, we here at G4TV.com would like to remind you that Valentine’s Day is Tuesday. Yes, this coming Tuesday - as in a couple of days from now. If you haven’t found that special something for your special someone, don't panic! We've got your back, and have compiled a list of interesting Valentine's Day gift choices for the gamer in your life.

Something for Ladies

"Rusted Friends" Portal 2 Laptop Decal from GlueJunkie

It's a scientific fact that bitches love Portal, so you can't go wrong with this laptop decal featuring Atlus and Peabody. Not only are they adorable, playing Portal 2 co-op is an excellent way to spend quality time with your significant other. Trust me: the first time you send her flying from a launcher, this game will become a portal to sexy times!

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Electronic Arts has announced that two celebrated actors, Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Men in Black II) and Brian Cox (The Bourne Identity) will star in the sci-fi first person shooter, Syndicate. "The stars take on the role of cutthroat executives working for the biggest and most aggressive syndicate, EuroCorp, in a near-future world ruled by three mega-corporations," said EA.

Rosario Dawson will be play Lily Drawl, the rising star of EuroCorp with a shattered and conflicted psyche. "Lily is torn between the demands of her corporate masters and the underground resistance to syndicate rule. She knows that this balancing act can only last for so long before she falls, most likely, to her death," EA said.

• DETAILS: Syndicate Hands-On Impressions: Stealthy Yet Satisfying

“I’m amazed how videogames have become so deep in story, delivering fantastic worlds and memorable characters rivaling big Hollywood films,” said Dawson. “I was excited when EA approached me to play Lily Drawl in Syndicate. She’s an interesting and strong female character. How cool is it to play the mastermind who designed the military chip inside the player’s head!” 

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Like Tiger Woods himself, Adam "The Riveter" Rosenberg is the product of a lifetime spent in pursuit of a single goal. Woods' dark mistress is golfing perfection, while Rosenberg's is writing game previews. The two met when Rosenberg played Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 recently. Here's a taste of his preview.

"Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 Hands-on Preview -- You are the Golfer Adam Rosenberg You can, in fact, play through an entire tournament without ever picking up your controller using a series of mostly intuitive hand gestures and body movements. While your golfer is standing at the tee you can raise your left hand up over your eyes, like you're shielding them from sunlight, to go into aiming mode. The camera zooms in on a high-angle view from further down the course, highlighting where the ball is expected to land after you hit it with whichever club you've readied."

Check out the rest of our Tiger Woods 13 preview for more on the game's Kinect integration... but before you do, check out the playable Tiger Woods baby above. Is that the creepiest video game character since Pyramid-head, or is it just me?

Every time I post a story about some new DLC coming to the Rock Band Network, I think "This is the last time I do this,"  but then Harmonix announces another awesome song for download. Next week's tune: Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."  It's time to Rick Roll folks like it's 2007.

Astley joins Heary, Mr. Big and Poison in the Rock Band store. Here's what's coming to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii on February 14:

• Heart - "Alone" O
• Mr. Big - "To Be With You" X
• Poison - "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" O X
• Rick Astley - "Never Gonna Give You Up" O

What do you think? Is Astley enough to blow the dust off your fake plastic instruments and give it a go?

Next week on X-Play, the new release season is upon us, and we'll have verdicts on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, Twisted Metal, UFC Undisputed 3, The Darkness II, and Amy.

Plus, the PS Vita is almost here, and we'll get one in our hands and deliver our first game reviews for this next generation of portable gaming hardware from Sony.

We'll also get Battlefield 3 pro tips from pro gamer Tsquared, and have our top 7 games for Valentine's Day. All this and so much more when a brand new week of X-Play kicks off this Monday at 6:30PM ET.

Game company Valve has just sent more information about the hacking attacks against its Steam service.

According to Valve's president Gabe Newell: "It is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008.  This backup file contained user names, email addresses, encrypted billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. It did not include Steam passwords."

Valve says it has no evidence that the information has been "compromised," so, presumably, the encryption is still in place. The company advises Steam users to "watch your credit card activity and statements.  And of course keeping Steam Guard on is a good idea as well."

The full text of Valve's email is under the "Read More" tag.

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The Nikon 1 J1 camera gives you the ability to take great pictures without dragging around an DSLR. With features like a high resolution 3" screen, 12 megapixel image sensor and the world's fastest auto-focus, this camera may be worth the $600 price tag. Kevin Pereira and Matt Mira take a closer look on Gadget Pr0n.

Find the full review from Gadget Pron on Attack of the Show after the cut.

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If you follow Awards Season, then you know the Grammys are this weekend. Just about a year ago, The Feed featured my thoughts on why video game music deserves a dedicated Grammy Award. In the intervening year, the Grammys have gone through a major overhaul, reducing the total number of categories from 109 down to 78. While this may sound like a bad thing for video game music, it really isn’t. In truth, both original and compilation game soundtrack albums (and individual songs) have been eligible to win a Grammy award, just not in a dedicated category. Be that as it may, if we as game music fans had any say in the nominations or categories, things might be different.

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My most awaited PlayStation 3 game, The Last Guardian, is still in development but making slow progress, according to Sony Worldwide Studio Boss Shuhei Yoshida. "The project has been making progress, but slow progress," he admitted. According to Yoshida, the project, which has been in the works for over five years, is still one of Sony's top priorities.

• DETAILS: The Last Guardian: 11 Things You Should Know

"We haven't changed any focus. It's still a really important project and a vision we want to see realized, and Fumito's vision is really causing a very difficult challenge for the developers," he said.  "So there's some scrapping and rebuilding - iteration in the process. That's why [it's taking so long]."

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