So About the VGAs Last Night

The Spike VGAs were last night which if you are not in the loop of things is an attempt to mainstream video games by making an award show. While this sounds like a great idea to help bring more people aware of the culture behind the largest entertainment market around, its execution is so horrible and makes me cringe every year. The only good thing to come out of these events are the exclusive reveals that are held for this evening.

First off, all award shows like what was displayed last night are always poorly ran and full of awkward silences and missteps. Neal Patrick Harris as the host did about as good a job as he could do with the lines written for him. Other comedians came out with poor jokes as well including Dane Cook and Nick Swardson which can be funny at times but were doomed the moment they agreed to be a part of this. The celebrity appearances are nothing more but a way to get more people to watch this abomination. Yes, I think these events are awful. Gamers only want respect from the general audience and these are always looked upon as disasters that have no bearing on the industry as a whole. Some have fun with them, while others look at them with a certain disbelief of “I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this.”

I feel like the VGA show should focus more on the developers that make these amazing games, I mean it is what it all comes down to right? The awards are even handled wrong. They have comedians come out with terrible bits that take up valuable time then group together around five to six different categories of winners, in which the developers do not receive any stage time or anything. Also, how in the fuck did Neal Patrick Harris’s Spiderman performance beat out every other video game VO? Who in their right mind would vote him over Shepard, John Marston, or even ol’ pissed off Kratos. I’m not sure if they categories are rigged or whatever, but I would throw money down on that one.

easily the best part of the show

So their were some great things about the show. First off, I’m sure many have heard that a new Elder Scrolls is in the works, which puts a hush on the rumor that they were working on yet another Fallout game. I really hope they do some major changes to the engine with Elder Scrolls V Skyrim. Some other big announcements were Prototype 2, a new SSX (which looks dumb frankly) Uncharted 3, and Resistance 3. The trailers that were exclusive to the show really didn’t show off much of anything besides some cut scenes; no real gameplay footage was shown.

Yes, I’m harping on the show as a whole, yet I still continue to watch them only for the fact that I want to be wowed with new game announcements. I was impressed once I seen Skyrim announced with a release date (fingers crossed they hit it.) Joystiq has a great breakdown of what all won awards so make sure you check that out along with all the new trailers. 2011 is appearing to be quite a year; I’ve seen it already quoted as what could be the best year in gaming, but that gets thrown around every year. Just next year VGAs please give me more game stuff and not so much filler bullshit.