Welcome back to your favorite Steam Summer Sale updates and recommendations. In personal news, I just got an email from my aunt saying she sent me a Gamestop gift certificate for my birthday, which is on Monday. I mean literally, she couldn’t have picked a worse time, right as the Steam Summer Sale has gotten started. Oh well, maybe I’ll get a bit of cash to help out the cause. Anyway, today is Saturday, so let’s look at some of today’s deals and bundles that you should take advantage of…

LOS ANGELES – One of the big games of 2013 made its debut at E3 2012. Bethesda Softworks is developing the first massively multiplayer online (MMO) game set within The Elder Scrolls universe. Gamers continue to log an incredible amount of hours playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim role-playing game (RPG). Come next year, they’ll be able to completely lose themselves in this online universe. Game director Matt Firor explains what’s in store for fantasy fans in this exclusive video interview below.

When The Witcher 2 came out for PC last year, gamers everywhere were entranced with its open-ended world, hours full of quests and decisions that would eventually shape the fate of Geralt of Rivia, the main hero (or anti-hero) of the game.  So when we heard that WB Games was interested in porting the game to Xbox 360, we were intrigued, while at the same time concerned, considering that most PC-to-console ports didn’t meet with that much success.  However, leave it to CD Projekt RED, the original game’s developer, to not only step up to the task, but exceed it, giving the Xbox 360 one of its better adventure games since Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur.  And that’s saying something.

LAS VEGAS – Last year, NVIDIA made a big splash at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) with its Tegra 2 technology. This year, the chip maker has Tegra 3 chips in hot new tablet devices, including the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime – one of a growing number of convertible devices that were shown through CES 2012. NVIDIA and Asus show off a new $250 Tegra 3 tablet during the NVIDIA press conference in the video below.

The holiday season is officially upon us at sundown tonight. Children will be gathered around their Channukah menorahs, spinning their dreidels, eating potato latkes--and inviting their gentile friends to partake in the traditions that were so foreign and interesting in elementary school--at least that's what the kids told me back then.Then, a few days later that naughty or nice list will be coming into play as kids all over the world run down the stairs to see if the red-sutied cookie monster aka Santa Claus has brought them some amazing gifts. Gamers though--what do we want for all the holidays? Isn't it obvious--GAMES. We're going to give you oblivious gift-seekers five games to run to the stores to sweep up for the gamer in your life featuring NBA 2K12, among others.

Every year I set out to attend the Gamers United holiday event in Los Angeles, for two reasons.  One, I like helping out for a good cause, in this case providing games to sick kids to help them get through their tough times.  Second, it's a good opportunity to see friends and simply have fun, something I definitely could use during any given holiday season.  So, without further ado, here's the report from the event...

The Spike Video Game Awards have officially wrapped, and while it's still a ways off from being considered a legitimate awards program like, say, the Oscars, there were plenty of entertaining moments that helped it beat out last year's ceremony.  And no sign of Olivia Munn...whew.  So what went down during the event?  We've got the full recap!

When it comes to the big games of 2011, Bethesda Softworks’ epic role-playing game (RPG) Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, beat out all competition to become the most played game of 2011. Even with the late start – the game launched in November – the shear size of the game propelled the RPG to the top of Raptr’s charts. In fact, Skyrim was so big it took two awards based on actual gameplay data – Overall Most Played Game and Most Played RPG. It also didn't hurt that the game has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.

The PC gaming scene is ramping up pretty quick this holiday season, with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Modern Warfare 3 invading Steam this week and plenty of other upcoming releases, like Diablo III, holding a lot of promise.  But this is no time to forget about the “little guys”, as they have their own standout productions that are worth noticing.  Case in point, Afterfall: InSanity.

One of the big games of 2011 that doesn’t involve Batman or any battlefield is Bethesda Studios’ Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The new role playing game (RPG) is set 200 years after Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, the game takes place in the land of Skyrim in the midst of a civil war that has erupted after the assassination of the king. The player must defeat a dragon god who is prophesized to destroy the world. The open world gameplay of the Elder Scrolls series has been pushed to new levels of interactivity thanks to a brand new game engine. Bethesda is getting gamers excited about the new adventure with this live action trailer below.

The 15th Annual Game Critics Awards gathers the top gaming journalists in the U.S. together to judge the best games the world has to offer. The non-profit organization, which is not affiliated with E3 or the Entertainment Software Association, has released its independent list of the Best Games of E3 2011 based on the opinions of judges from both mainstream and core gaming outlets. This year’s show was dominated by 2K Games’ and Irrational Games’ BioShock Infinite, which will ship for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2012. Irrational Games head Ken Levine talks about the new game in this exclusive video interview below. The full list of award winners follows after the break.