Round Up: RedOctane Honored, Forza SPEED, Sony & GWG

Today's round-up includes news of RedOctane co-founders Kai and Charles Huang honored with a Digital 50 award, a new live action Forza Motorsport show for the SPEED network, and a notable donation from Sony to the Get-Well Gamers Foundation, as well as the latest Game Career Guide updates, Serious Games Source posts, GameSetWatch posts and Gamasutra job postings. - Representatives from Guitar Hero publisher, and recent Activision acquisition, RedOctane announced that brothers and company co-founders Kai and Charles Huang have been jointly honored by the membership of the Producers Guild of America New Media Council as one of the top 50 producers in New Media for 2006. The Hollywood Reporter/Producers Guild of America Digital 50 award was created to acknowledge the contribution of individuals that are creating opportunities for content to be produced and distributed in a digital format. "To be included in such a prestigious group of celebrated industry leaders is an amazing honor and accomplishment,” said Kai Huang, president and co-founder of RedOctane. “I admire many of these individuals for their accomplishments, and to be mentioned in the same breath as them is absolutely tremendous.” - Officials from the automotive lifestyle and motor sports network, SPEED, announced a partnership with Microsoft Game Studios to create a live-action mini series based on the popular racing game franchise Forza Motorsport. Titled Forza Motorsport Showdown, the show is scheduled to begin airing in February 2007, and will be produced by Bud Brutsman, who is also associated with the channel's existing reality show, Payback. The four-episode series will be hosted by Lee Reherman, best known as ‘Hawk’ from the television show, American Gladiator. Each episode will follow a group of racers through a series of competitive motor sports disciplines – drifting, road racing, autocross and drag racing – in a $100,000 winner-take-all format. - California-based public game-related charity The Get-Well Gamers Foundation today announced that it has received a donation of approximately 200 games from the Sony Corporation, with a retail value of over $5,000. The donation follows recent news that the charity had recently expanded its network to 41 care facilities in 26 states; a 25 percent increase in capacity since last year. The Get-Well Gamers Foundation brings electronic entertainment to children in healthcare facilities, and currently accepts age-appropriate console and hand-held systems as well as the games supported by these platforms. Visit the official charity website for more information. - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include retro video game motivational posters, a dramatic unwrapping of the LimeLife press kit, and music created using the GBA Pocket. - The latest updates on Gamasutra's sister site Game Career Guide include news of the Digital Game Lecture Series hosted by Wake Technical Community College. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Blue Fang Games, Cranky Pants Games, JAKKS Pacific, Relic Entertainment, Rockstar Leeds, and Rockstar North.