Ex-members of Rockstar Games in Vienna have announced the formation and launch of their new social games development studio based in Vienna, Austria, dubbed Socialspiel.

Founding CEO Helmut Hutterer also announced their first title, a competitive puzzler named Push, which is launching later this Summer on Facebook, Netlog and several other social networks as partnerships get closed and announced. Hutterer also went on to say

“After almost 10 years of developing big budget, AAA titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Max Payne for Rockstar Games it is a breath of fresh air to focus on developing independent games with a direct connection to our fans and players on social networks around the World,” says CEO Hutterer. “Our goal at Socialspiel ( http://socialspiel.com) is to develop richly crafted online games, with high quality production values and appealing experiences for players and their friends to enjoy throughout their daily life online”.

Read more at the Socialspiel Blog

Our pals over at AIGameDev.com have announced the winners in their much-anticipated game AI awards for 2009. Covering mainstream and indie games, the editors of AIGameDev.com have put together a great list winners (voted on by their community) and editor’s choice awards, determined by the developer community and editor’s of the online games artificial intelligence resource. 2009′s AAA game AI of the year, Killzone 2!

Read more editor’s picks and winners at the 2009 AiGameDev.com Awards for Game AI!