VGAs

[Iron Past]

Come on, you know you're watching. ;)

Actually, they're not that bad this year, but still loads of superfluous bullshit surrounding the awards. The awards being given out are actually going to games that deserve them, so far at least. I assume they want people to take these semi-seriously, so I don't know why the award looks like something Peanut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Dunham#Cast)barfed up, but whatever.

Also, Neil Patrick Harris is awesome. I thought he was doing a bit for a while, then realized they actually forgot to give him the card. :D

[Variable Gear]

That metallic body-painted chick freaks me the fuck out.

Also, go Alex Rigopulos!

[Iron Past]

Okay, seriously, WTF? They just blew through, like, a dozen awards without actually showing the people being awarded. I guess seeing how many times you can say "Mountain Dew" gets priority, huh? Fucking idiots.

[Orca]

Gotta have that celebrity face time at the awards...so no time for the awards!

[divinechaos]

I found them to be really sloppy. And why do they keep on trying to be funny? No one laughs or gets the reaction they expect from anyone at these kind of award shows.

[Dark Prince]

Meh....I watched out of interest of mostly what was being nominated. Some of the winners weren't really a big surprise.

Also, that Gears of War 2 "Big announcement" pretty much was what I was guessing it to be.

They really need to stop blowing these award shows up like this, if they had something like the Oscars then I'd be ok with it.

[Aggort]

They need to treat the awards like actual mature awards. Sure have the humor of the Grammy's and so on, but at least do it with dignity and throw in the occasional video game reference. Furthermore, instead of this dumbass hardcore image they try to put on why not have an Orchestra actually perform gaming pieces and at least have enough sense to give the award to some one. This year I was giving it a little faith until I saw the opening sequence, Gamers and Gaming in general is trying to put it's foot forward as a legit medium and as an art and then we get this slop to make us work for it all over again.

[BLeeP]

I just want to find the list of winners, and I can't even find that.

[Rogue_hunter]

For those of us who haven't been able to watch/refuse to tune into Spike, can someone enlighten us as to what has happened?

And were are the HD links to the Uncharted 2 and God of War 3 trailers?

[pseudopseudo]

Furthermore, instead of this dumbass hardcore image they try to put on why not have an Orchestra actually perform gaming pieces and at least have enough sense to give the award to some one.

If they incorporated Video Games Live, that'd be a win-win. Also, take out half to three-quarters of the product placement. You don't see that kind of shit at the Grammys.

[Virtual Machine]

All i can think is "They still don't get it..."

And the exclusive trailers were way too short.

But God of War 3 and Uncharted 2 look amazing based on what was shown.

[DoctorFinger]

Yeah, I can't find any of the trailers online yet. They'll be up by morning, but I wanted to get a head start. Oh, well.

[Wellscha]

I just want to find the list of winners, and I can't even find that.

My wish too..

[rinichanraar]

I just want to find the list of winners, and I can't even find that.
My wish too..

I saw quite a few places with a list of winners a couple of hours ago. Here's one (http://www.unigamesity.com/spike-tv-2008-vga-winners-announced/).

[BLeeP]

I saw quite a few places with a list of winners a couple of hours ago. Here's one (http://www.unigamesity.com/spike-tv-2008-vga-winners-announced/).

Thankee, sai.

Who decides these, anyhow? They aren't voted on by the people that matter are they?

[Iron Past]

Here's (http://www.kombo.com/article.php?artid=12181)a good list:
Game of the Year

Gears of War 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Fallout 3
LittleBigPlanet

Best Independent Game

World of Goo
PixelJunk Eden
Braid
Audiosurf

Studio of the Year

Media Molecule
Rockstar North
Harmonix
Bethesda Game Studios

Big Name in the Game Female

Dame Judi Dench as "M"
Eliza Dushku As "Shaundi"
Liv Tyler As "Betty Ross"
Jenny McCarthy As "Tanya"

Big Name in the Game Male

Liam Neeson As "Father"
Kiefer Sutherland As "Sgt. Roebuck"
Ricky Gervais As "Himself"
Daniel Craig As "James Bond"

Best Performance by a Human Female

Debi Mae West As "Meryl Silverburgh"
Keeley Hawes As "Lara Croft"
Paula Tiso As "Silvia Christel"
Nathalie Cox As "Juno Eclipse"

Best Performance by a Human Male

Stephen Fry As "The Narrator"
David Hayter As "Old Snake"
Jason Zumwalt As "Roman Bellic"
Michael Hollick As "Niko Bellic"

Best Multi-Player Game

Call of Duty: World at War
Resistance 2
Left 4 Dead
Gears of War 2

Best PC Game

Left 4 Dead
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Crysis Warhead
Spore

Best PS3 Game

Grand Theft Auto IV
LittleBigPlanet
Resistance 2
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Best Wii Game

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
No More Heroes
Wii Fit
Boom Blox

Best Xbox 360 Game

Fallout 3
Grand Theft Auto IV
Gears of War 2
Fable II

Best Soundtrack

Guitar Hero World Tour
Rock Band 2
Grand Theft Auto IV
LittleBigPlanet

Best Action Adventure Game

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
Mirror's Edge
Grand Theft Auto IV
Dead Space

Best Driving Game

Mario Kart Wii
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
PURE
Burnout Paradise

Best Music Game

SingStar
Wii Music
Guitar Hero World Tour
Rock Band 2

Best Game Based on a Movie or TV Show

Naruto: The Broken Bond
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Quantum of Solace
LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures

Best Graphics

LittleBigPlanet
Gears of War 2
Fallout 3
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Best Original Score

Fallout 3
Spore
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
LittleBigPlanet

Best Handheld Game

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
Patapon
Professor Layton and the Curious Village
God of War: Chains of Olympus

Best Individual Sport Game

Skate It
Wii Fit
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09
Shaun White Snowboarding

Best Fighting Game

Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Soul Calibur IV

Best RPG

Fallout 3
The World Ends With You
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Fable II

Best Shooter

Gears of War 2
Left 4 Dead
Resistance 2
Far Cry 2

Gamer God award given to Will Wright

There's other reasons to call the award show crap, but I wish people would stop acting like their opinion matters any more than anyone elses. While I don't agree with all the winners, I don't think anyone was shafted; everyone who won deserved it to someone, judging by posts on this forum. Maybe the award looking like a fruit salad shoved through a blender makes them less legitimate, but not a dissenting opinion.

[bapenguin]

Mafia 2 and Uncharted 2 trailers made it worth watching.

Also Kristin Kreuk looked surprisingly hot, usually there's something about her that rubs me the wrong way.

[Telefrog]

What the hell does "The Best Name In The Game" mean? They already have a Best Performance category, so are they just giving the award to biggest "star" attached to a game? WTF!?

[Iron Past]

What the hell does "The Best Name In The Game" mean? They already have a Best Performance category, so are they just giving the award to biggest "star" attached to a game? WTF!?

I saw that, but then realized that at least they separated the two, which hasn't always been the case.

[National Kato]

I do wish they'd stop trying to legitimize videogames by having celebrities present awards, especially when you can tell the celeb doesn't have a fucking clue what they're reading off the teleprompter.

As Aggort said, until the industry is presented with maturity, it will always be seen as a novelty.

[Psykoboy2]

From my Twitter last night:

I hate the VGAs. Yay for world premieres. Boo for XTREME or anything fucking fueled by goddamn dew. Go to hell Spike.

[Virtual Machine]

Why couldn't we have had game designers and celebrities from within the industry presenting awards. Tony Hawk is one thing, but half of these bimbos could barely pronounce Video game, let alone play them on a regular basis.

And judging by the amount of designers/producers/studio guys in the crowd, this could have easily been doable.

ASIDE: Hideo Kojima certainly looked happy with his VGA.

[Dark Prince]

Why couldn't we have had game designers and celebrities from within the industry presenting awards. Tony Hawk is one thing, but half of these bimbos could barely pronounce Video game, let alone play them on a regular basis.

And judging by the amount of designers/producers/studio guys in the crowd, this could have easily been doable.

ASIDE: Hideo Kojima certainly looked happy with his VGA.

I couldn't help but give a good chuckle about that, he seemed too happy with it.

Then again, he probably should be, he pretty much created a long ass animated movie.

I wish they could've gone with something like the oscars and have industry celebrities in the crowd, like you mentioned. It would've made things alot more entertaining and enlightening.

It just seems like not even a quarter of the industry had much of a presence there in the first place.

[Iron Past]

I do wish they'd stop trying to legitimize videogames by having celebrities present awards, especially when you can tell the celeb doesn't have a fucking clue what they're reading off the teleprompter.

As Aggort said, until the industry is presented with maturity, it will always be seen as a novelty.

It's only seen as novelty because so many trailers aren't in-engine. ;)

In case anyone's curious, I was listening to Major Nelson's podcast and they detailed how the voting takes place. Best Independant Game was an open ballot that anyone could vote on, and the rest are nominated and voted on by 27 video game journalists (such as N'Gai Croal, apparently). Just throwing it out there.

[Variable Gear]

Stephen Totilo is also among the game journo horde who was given a vote.

[National Kato]

It's only seen as novelty because so many trailers aren't in-engine. ;)

I heard the 'in-engine' comment while cleaning some dishes away from the TV. I yelled, "Goddamnit!" out loud and my girlfriend came running in all concerned. I explained to her why I was angry.

She gave me a million dollar disappointment look and stalked back out of the room. :D

[Rogue_hunter]

Wow, that list of winners was mostly lame. GTA4 for GotY, really? And winning the action/adventure, where there are two serious GotY candidates there too? Overhyped game wins again.

[Mdot]

Marisa Miller, ftw. Easily the best part of the show.

[DarkDay]

Jack Black was funny, opening was a gooder, Harris was funny, the rest was the biggest pile of shit I have seen on TV, one giant internet add on tv for companies. The Awards were a joke, but we knew that, its spike.

My bro liked it though, just an average joe, he laughed at all the adds but also said since he would never check online for this shit its good he can see it all wrapped up in a one hour show and go back to his life.

[Psykoboy2]

NPH not knowing who the winner was is the VERY best example of what kind of fucking care is taken for the actual award itself.

And by "not knowing", I don't mean he didn't recognize the game or name or anything, he actually didn't know who to announce as the winner. No one told him.

[Spectre-7]

Mafia 2 and Uncharted 2 trailers made it worth watching.

Also Kristin Kreuk looked surprisingly hot, usually there's something about her that rubs me the wrong way.

I agree on Kreuk looking hot, but then again, I'm of the camp that believes any way she rubs me is the right way. ;)

[National Kato]

I like Joystiq's take on improvements (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/12/15/how-to-fix-the-video-game-awards/):


Stop objectifying women: They may not be half of the Spike audience (or even half of video game fans) but they are half of the planet, and it would probably be smart to stop alienating them. Not having topless girls present awards was a great first step, but next time, let's try it without the models coated in enough silver paint to give Buddy Ebsen a seizure.

We don't, fundamentally, have a problem with attractive female presenters (though finding ones with a connection to the industry isn't as hard as you'd think), but would it be too much to ask to give them pants? We don't think so. Speaking of people in the industry:

Include more people from the industry: Did it matter that only a tiny sliver of the people in the TV audience knew who Tim Schafer was? Nope. All they knew is that he was a video game developer who was, for some reason, being treated as a god among men. To those of us watching at home though, it was a great moment of recognition for one of our beloved figures.

There are lots of people we'd like to see cast in the same light -- why not dig a few of them up to let them hand out an award or two? Oh, and now that we mention those awards ...

Treat your awards like they matter: There's no inherent value to an Oscar right? The reason it's such a big deal is that we've all, as a society, agreed that it is. If that same sort of thing is to happen to the VGAs, that culture of acting like they matter HAS to start with your show.

There are several ways to do this, but the first, and most important, is to stop stuffing half of the awards into a 30 second run down. Best Driving Game and Best Multiplayer Game may not be important to your producers, but we video game nerds love to argue about that stuff. Throwing 10 awards in a quick clip makes that impossible. If you're really honoring the people that make games, let them up there to have their say.

Also, standardize the look of the award itself. Honestly, we'd rather win a Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Award than that monstrosity you were giving away.

Keep Jack Black: Not only was he genuinely funny and a good sport, but he seemed to really have a love for video games. That's a big leap forward from Samuel L. Jackson, who constantly looked as though he was praying for the next commercial break or the sweet release of death.

Cut the musical acts: Musical tastes are so subjective, it's hard to pick one that will appeal to the whole audience. But you know what the whole audience does like? Video games. Let's focus on that.

Also, you know who likes L.L. Cool J performing "Mama Said Knock You Out" while UFC fighters dance on stage with him? No one.

Never use the phrase "Fueled by Dew" ever, ever again: It's stupid enough for Neil Patrick Harris to openly mock it on stage. Please don't ever, ever do it again. Whatever Mountain Dew is paying, we'll double it.



Can't argue with any of it.

[Variable Gear]

I agree, Kato. Justin's got a good head on his shoulders, especially with the issue of objectification.

I just hate that kind of stuff.

[rinichanraar]

Why couldn't we have had game designers and celebrities from within the industry presenting awards. Tony Hawk is one thing, but half of these bimbos could barely pronounce Video game, let alone play them on a regular basis.

And judging by the amount of designers/producers/studio guys in the crowd, this could have easily been doable.

ASIDE: Hideo Kojima certainly looked happy with his VGA.

Agreed, and agreed. I imagine Kojima would've been really butthurt if he didn't win though. I (for one) am happy he was happy.

I agree, Kato. Justin's got a good head on his shoulders, especially with the issue of objectification.

I just hate that kind of stuff.

I'll third this. I pretty much agreed with all the suggestions. Those silver girls were just plain tacky.

Overall, I really just dislike Spike. I went to their website just now, and the top story thing is "The Girls of the VGAs." I guess it's pretty obvious where Spike's priorities are.

EDIT: I think they also spelled "Vida Guerra" wrong? And "Kristin Kreuk." What the fuck?

[Hyperglide]

I just want to find the list of winners, and I can't even find that.

Ask and ye shall recieve:

http://www.gametrailers.com/vga2k8.php

I didn't watch the awards and i'm glad I didn't. I knew it'd be a waste of time. I never watch these awards and I know it's just another MTV movie awards wannabe rip-off not really taking itself ever seriously and not recognizing some great games. Obviously you can't make everyone happy but seriously some of these nominations were shameful. As an example, Midnight Club: LA (Not knocking it) or even Burnout Paradise over Grid?? Ohmm.. kay.. Ya obviously they are targetting these awards toward the casual gamers not the hardcore. Basically the whole "Best Driving game" award was just arcade racers. At least they didn't put that NFS: Underground game in there that is getting universally panned.

[Telefrog]

As an example, Midnight Club: LA (Not knocking it) or even Burnout Paradise over Grid?? Ohmm.. kay.. Ya obviously they are targetting these awards toward the casual gamers not the hardcore. Basically the whole "Best Driving game" award was just arcade racers. At least they didn't put that NFS: Underground game in there that is getting universally panned.

I don't want to spend too many calories defending the VGAs, but what 2008 "hardcore" driving games would you put against Grid? In fact, I think you'll find right here on CoG that many people would pick Burnout Paradise over Grid as their favorite racer of the year.

[Hyperglide]

I don't want to spend too many calories defending the VGAs, but what 2008 "hardcore" driving games would you put against Grid? In fact, I think you'll find right here on CoG that many people would pick Burnout Paradise over Grid as their favorite racer of the year.

I meant hardcore gamers in general, not hardcore racers. I was just using that category as an example. I personally could never understand the love Burnout gets I can't stand those games, Paradise is no exception. I can respect other peoples opinions of it and if they like it that's their prerogative.

Grid is a Sim Racer and their wasn't one Sim Racer in that whole category.

My point was with that I was using that category as a microcosm for the entire event. It's just a show for casual gamers, and a bunch of eye candy with no substance. It's a to bad, that their's not an award show that takes gaming as a serious medium.

[Telefrog]

I meant hardcore gamers in general, not hardcore racers. I was just using that category as an example. I personally could never understand the love Burnout gets I can't stand those games, Paradise is no exception. I can respect other peoples opinions of it and if they like it that's their prerogative.

Grid is a Sim Racer and their wasn't one Sim Racer in that whole category.

My point was with that I was using that category as a microcosm for the entire event. It's just a show for casual gamers, and a bunch of eye candy with no substance. It's a to bad, that their's not an award show that takes gaming as a serious medium.

Well, to be fair, the awards most coveted by industry insiders (besides plain old money) would be the GDC (http://www.gamechoiceawards.com/), and it would frankly make for some bad television. They're highly technical, filled with insider cross-promotion, and (no offense intended) the recipients aren't very telegenic. Even the games awarded tend towards the more technical and "boring" looking when shown in 10 second spots.

As much as the Oscars get criticized for being too high & mighty, even they make concessions towards the audience. There's a reason why the more technical Acadmey Awards don't get airtime. They're boring to most folks.

Now, we've already established that Spike caters to a certain audience. The demographic of the channel isn't going to be folks that get satisfaction out of handling a clean line in a hairpin at Mugello. These are folks that want to slam a Dew, hit their Nox, wink at their supermodel passenger, and scream "Whooooooo!" as they turbo-jump over The Man.

This is the video game equivalent of the MTV Movie Awards.

[Kelegacy]

Hey! I won Braid courtesy of Spike TV and Mountain Dew! That is fuckin' sweet. Just opened the email this morning.

I didn't even watch the VGAs, but I entered that contest. Very excited to d/l it when I get home from work. I had bought points cards to buy it when it came out, but I never got around to it.