After sweeping the GDC Awards with Journey, all eyes are on Jenova Chen and thatgamecompany. What will their next game be? We know it will be online-enabled somehow, and not exclusive to PlayStation. But beyond that, little is known.

Asher Vollmer, a former employee of TGC, announced yesterday that he's planning on leaving "one of the indie-est companies on the planet" to go indie himself. Why? Because the "New Game" is still years away, and he didn't want to give up all that time for "a game that isn't truly mine."

Read more: It's going to be an 'important' game »

thatgamecompany was celebrated for its unique take on online gaming with Journey. You could encounter strangers on your quest to the top of the mountain, and you could choose to help each other... or simply ignore one another.

But what if you want more interactivity on your journey? Listening to fan requests, TGC has announced a new Journey DLC that should make playing the game online far more thrilling.

Watch: 'A fresh new take on anonymous online adventure' »

The Game Developers Choice Awards are probably the most important in games, as the people that make games vote on their favorites of the year. Unsurprisingly, thatgamecompany's Journey takes home the big award--and most every other award this year. In fact, it took home six awards, in every category it was nominated in. Impressively, it even won "Best Visual Arts," beating technical powerhouses Halo 4 and Far Cry 3.

Read more: All the night's winners »

Matt Nava, art director of the critically acclaimed Journey, has founded his own game studio. The new company, Giant Squid, operates out of Santa Monica, California, and will be focused on "games that deliver beautiful, meaningful, and timeless experiences to a wide range of people."

Read more: Partners with film/TV producer The Ink Factory »

In case you missed it, the PSN Gamers Choice Awards winners were revealed last night, kicking off a sale on the games that were picked as favorites. Journey was the only game to win two awards, Best PSN Exclusive and Best Indie. The Walking Dead beat it out for Best PSN Game.

Read more: Other winners include Assassin's Creed 3, Gravity Rush »

They say that adversity breeds greatness, and the struggles faced by the critical hit Journey seem to prove the rule. The game received a spot on many 2012 lists, including our own and, just recently, the top honor at DICE 2013. But to get there, thatgamecompany faced a perilous financial situation.

Read more: 'We basically laid off all the employees' »

Video game awards season isn't truly over until the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) has had its say. This year, the PlayStation 3 title Journey stole the show. The title won eight of its 11 nominations, including Game of the Year, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, and Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction.

Read more: Other big winners include Walking Dead, XCOM »

It's still awards season, and that means more nominees are incoming. The Game Developers Choice Award nominees have been announced, and a few familiar titles are out in front. Journey has the most at six nominations, including Game of the Year. Other leaders with multiple nods include Dishonored with four and The Walking Dead with three.

Read more: Mass Effect 3, XCOM round out GOTY nods »

Like Flower before it, Journey is a deceptively simple game that belies its aspirational experience. The game begins inexplicably with a vast desert stretching out ahead, and no direction of what to do. It needs none; instincts kick in and the game immediately lives up to its title.

From beginning to end, Journey elicits a profound emotional response. Controls consist of nothing more than movement and jumping, but it does these with such grace, that never once does it feel like something is missing. Setting emotions aside for a moment, simply playing Journey provides many memories that capably stand on their mechanics alone. From effortlessly gliding over and above the shifting sands to platforming through visually spectacular environments Journey delivers a fantastic controller-in-my-hands game. This is not an art game for which one must make special accommodations to see its beauty.

Read more: Why Journey made our Top 10 »

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) has announced its plans for the 16th Annual DICE Awards, including the full list of nominees. Chris Hardwick, comedian and founder of the Nerdist, will host this year's festivities. The awards ceremony will take place February 7 in Las Vegas.

Read more: Journey leads nods, Walking Dead just behind »

The Walking Dead was the big winner at the 2012 VGAs tonight, taking home five awards for Game of the Year, Best Downloadable Game, Best Performance by a Human Female for Clementine, Best Adapted Video Game, and Best Studio for developer Telltale Games. Gearbox Software's Borderlands 2 took home Best Shooter, Best Multiplayer, Best Performance by a Human Male for Handsome Jack, and the fan-voted Character of the Year for Claptrap. Journey took home three awards for developer thatgamecompany, including Best PS3 Game, Best Original Score and Best Independent Game.

Not all of the winners were announced on the show, but you can check out the complete list of winners below.

Read more: The complete winners list »

Thatgamecompany's Journey has hit the critical sweet spot this year, already circulating in year-end discussions. But its artistry is getting some notice outside the gaming bubble too, as the game has earned a Grammy nomination for its score.

Read more: Journey against John Williams, Hans Zimmer »

While thatgamecompany's three game deal with Sony produced three financial and critical successes, studio co-founder Jenova Chen admits that platform exclusivity was something that held them back from their true aspirations. "A lot of people tell us that flOw or Flower is the first game that their girlfriend, or mom, has played," proof that TGC's emotional experiences can attract new audiences. Still, with "over 90% male distribution" on PlayStation hardware, TGC wants to broaden its horizons.

"We just want to bring these games to the people. For us, we can make a good game on any platform, but we'd like to choose platforms on which we can deliver an experience that we can give to everyone, rather than just people that have a PlayStation 3. I think Sony understands that desire."

Read more: How free-to-play can become a 'business opportunity' for the dev »

As the Journey Collector's Edition hits retail stores today, it marks a series of milestones for thatgamecompany. With three critical darlings under its belt and its first retail title now available, the company is preparing to strike out on its own again and develop for a wider range of platforms. Company co-founder Jenova Chen recently took a look back at Journey with Shacknews, sharing thoughts on artistic games, griefers, and touching feedback from fans.

Read more: 'We made one game trying to move people, but many of them wrote back to move us' »

Indie dev thatgamecompany is beloved for its unique game designs. From flOw to Journey, the studio has surprised gamers by offering something truly unique.

So... why did they make a multiplayer zombie shooter? "Gravediggers" is the result of one of the studio's 24 hour game jams. The goal, according to studio co-founder Kellee Santiago was "to see how much fun we could generate in 24 hours."

Watch: Five player zombie-shooting action »