Spike TV's VGA 2010

MTV’s Spike are the people behind the website known as Gametrailers.com, a site dedicated to showing people everything about games from reviews to interviews. Not only that, but Gametrailers also has a TV show on Spike’s TV channel called GTTV. They have a pretty big foot in the industry, but that doesn’t mean that they know what they are doing.


The Spike Video Game Awards started in the year 2003. Up to that point, there have been no shows like it that hand out awards in various categories, much like the Oscars do. The VGA award the best of the year in the world of computer and videogames, whilst at the same time handing out world premieres of new and exiting games. And like the Oscars, the VGA have celebrity appearances from all multimedia field and live music performances. The face of the VGA is also the face of Gametrailers.com, namely Geoff Keighly. Although he doesn’t host every VGA. Samuel L. Jackson was also handed the microphone on several occasions. Whilst the man is one of the most awesome men in the history of humanity, he clearly knows little of videogames as he kept referring to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as Grand Theft Auto 2.

As fine and dandy as all of this might sound, the VGA’s have been considered to be nothing more than a joke. A gimmick to promote games and products. A popular example are the videos that bumper a set of nominees saying: “Game of the year as fueled by Mountain Dew“.
The “farce” doesn’t end there as there are several nominees that don’t make any sense at all. Most of the times even winning the award in which they are categorized. In the 2003 VGA show, Halo won “best shooter on PC” whilst that was nothing more than a port of a two year old game. The same year, Madden 2004 won Game of the Year, something that absolutely infuriated many people. 2005 was the year that 50 cent: bulletproof and King Kong: The official game of the movie, were nominated. Whilst they had only JUST been released.

There we have it folks, an award show that holds great potential. Nevertheless, a show that ultimately fails at its efforts. A new VGA is upon us and the nominees have been made public. Let’s take a closer look, and give some opinionated opinions whilst we‘re at it.

Studio of the Year
BioWare
Blizzard Entertainment
Bungie Studios
Rockstar San Diego

Very admirable choices where not one can be considered a clear winner. I myself have a sneaky suspicion that it’s going to be BioWare, at least that is what I hope.

Best Wii Game
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Metroid: Other M
Super Mario Galaxy 2

Even though that it has just been released at the time this list was made public, I still say that there is a severe lack of GoldenEye. Still, it’s a fairly reasonable list. Even with SMG2 being almost a complete copy/paste of the first SMG. And not to mention the pisspoor reviews of Metroid: Other M. Of the list, I hope that it’s Metroid that wins though, as I think that a lot of hate for the game is aimed more towards the fans’ view of Samus being shattered.

Best Xbox 360 Game
Alan Wake
Fable III
Halo: Reach
Mass Effect 2

Nothing to say here, really. It’s a good list of nominees. My personal preference goes out to Alan Wake as it is a fantastic game. Well, except for Mass Effect which is multiplatform. Because it’s on the PC as well.

Best PS3 Game
God of War III
Heavy Rain
ModNation Racers
Red Dead Redemption

Euh, guys, RDR is multiplatform. Why is there a multiplatform game nominated? It has no business being nominated here. Seriously. As far as the other nominees go, yeah, I can dig em. I’m hoping that Heavy Rain wins this one as I feel that God of War III is far inferior to the first God of War. Instead of evolving positively, it evolved diagonally.

Best PC Game
Fallout: New Vegas
Mass Effect 2
Sid Meier's Civilization V
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Again? Fallout and Mass Effect need to be scrapped off that list. That is the lazy man’s way of selecting nominees. Put some flippin effort in to these choices, if you’d please. This is why I’m hoping that either Civ V or SC II wins.

Best Handheld Game
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Super Scribblenauts

I’m not all that familiar with the Handheld side of things although I can say that these are solid picks from what I’ve seen of the games. Although again, Super Scribblenauts seems to be Scribblenauts 1.5 and shouldn’t really be on there. But I’ll let it slide. My hope goes out to Peace Walker. Gotta love Big Boss, ya know.

Best Shooter
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
BioShock 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Halo: Reach

Thank god, they went with picks that don’t all look alike. It’s a nice variety of picks, all of which have been highly regarded so far. Minus the haters that don’t know any better. Out of all these choices I want Halo: Reach to win. Bungie did great with making this a final swan song to their franchise. They made it epic in story and multiplayer.

Best Action-Adventure Game
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
God of War III
Red Dead Redemption
Super Mario Galaxy 2

When I think Action-Adventure, SMG doesn’t exactly spring to mind. I think of it more as a Fantasy-Adventure game. Again, I don’t think GoW III should be on this list. The other two are more than deserving to win the big prize here.

Best RPG
Fable III
Fallout: New Vegas
Final Fantasy XIII
Mass Effect 2

Excuse me for a moment; I need to start laughing aloud because of the nomination above Mass Effect 2. Seriously, Final Fantasy XIII? Final.Fantasy.XIII? THAT IS NOT AN RPG. It’s you being a complete tard by mashing one button over and over again whilst walking in straight lines between mashing that one pathetic little button. WHAT IS RPG ABOUT THAT?
Out of all these nominations, I’m hoping for Fable III to win. It seems like a good and honest RPG that makes me think of it as such when I see it. Fallout New Vegas screams Shooter to me whilst Mass Effect 2 does the same.

Best Multiplayer Game
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Halo: Reach
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Whilst this is a very admirable group of nominees, I am seeing a good lack of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood for trying something new with multiplayer. Black Ops is very similar to Modern Warfare and Bad Company in regards to multiplayer. BC2 and BO are in fact way to similar if you ask me. Therefore, I’m hoping that StarCraft is going to win just because it’s so different from the others.

Best Individual Sports Game
EA Sports MMA
Shaun White Skateboarding
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11
UFC Undisputed 2010

It’s Sports games. What am I supposed to say about these? I don’t play them, I have no interest in them and I’m fairly sure that they are exactly the same as the games before them. Although if I had to name one, I want MMA to win because at least you can kick the shit out of people.

Best Team Sports Game
FIFA Soccer 11
Madden NFL 11
NBA 2K11
MLB '10: The Show

Here more than in the previous category you will see that these are nothing more than slight updates of the games of the previous years. And again, I have no opinion on this as I don’t play em. Well, no opinion other than slight update over the year. At least in Shooters like Black Ops you can go through a completely new campaign.

Best Driving Game
Blur
ModNation Racers
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
Split/Second

Like with the sports games, I don’t really dig to deep in to racers. Although I know things about these games. Judging from what I know, I can tell these are good nominees. From which I hope that ModNation Racers is victorious. It’s fun alone, with family, friends and online. That’s what matters to me with these kinds of games.

Best Music Game
Dance Central
DJ Hero 2
Def Jam Rapstar
Rock Band 3

Dance Central is a dancing game. Not a music game. Also, RAPPING IS NOT MUSIC TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.
I’m rooting for DJ Hero 2 as it does seem like it’s a fantastic upgrade from the first game with some cool gaming mechanics.

Best Soundtrack
Def Jam Rapstar
DJ Hero 2
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Rock Band 3

That’s just sad. They should have named this category: Best Sountrack in a Music Game. No opinion on who should win because I’m not that much of an audiophile. Like, at all.

Best Song in a Game
Basket Case by Green Day
Black Rain by Soundgarden
Far Away by José González
GoldenEye by Nicole Scherzinger
Replay/Rude Boy Mashup by Iyaz & Rihanna
Won't Back Down by Eminem

Oh dear sweet Jesus. PLEASE, PLEASE let GoldenEye win. Please. I’m begging you.

Best Original Score
God of War III
Halo: Reach
Mass Effect 2
Red Dead Redemption

Ah, here we go. Something I’m more familiar with. I’ve heard the music of all these games from various sources. Whether it’s from the games or from videos, I’ve had a pretty good sampling. And I have to say that these are very good nominees. Here’s to hoping that Red Dead Redemption wins this. The soundtrack here is at times very reminiscent of Canis Canem Edit, or Bully depending on where you live.

Best Graphics
God of War III
Heavy Rain
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Red Dead Redemption

I absolutely loathe how Epic Yarn looks. It’s an abomination to the Kirby series if you ask me. But, I appreciate it being on the list because I have to agree that it does look pretty good and different. Whilst I am surprised to not see Mass Effect 2 on there, I have to say that I agree with these nominations. From these I again want Red Dead Redemption to win for being so absolutely beautiful for being such a massive sandbox game.

Best Adapted Video Game
LEGO: Harry Potter: Years 1-4
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Transformers: War for Cybertron

Shattered Dimensions is an original game based on the Spider-man franchise. Force Unleashed is an original game based on the franchise. War for Cybertron is an original game based on the franchise. Well, rather set in all those franchise. They haven’t been adapted from anything. Still, if you look at it from a certain way you could call them adaptations. With that in mind … seriously? Dimensions and Unleashed were two games with reviews giving it a mediocre or below average score. War For Cybertron wasn’t made all that great either. From the two remaining nominees, I’m hoping that Scott Pilgrim is going to win for at least being great and awesome.

Best Performance by a Human Male
Daniel Craig as James Bond
Gary Oldman as Sgt. Reznov
John Cleese as Jasper
Martin Sheen as Illusive Man
Nathan Fillion as Sergeant Edward Buck
Neil Patrick Harris as Peter Parker/Amazing Spider-Man
Rob Wiethoff as John Marston
Sam Worthington as Alex Mason

As opposed to what, best performance by male elf? And what’s this? Nathan Fillion? Yes, the man is incredibly awesome. But to be nominated for two stinking lines as a cameo appearance? I mean come on!
Cool nominees for the rest, of which I hope that Martin Sheen wins. The man is a great actor and did a good job with the Illusive Man.

Best Performance by a Human Female
Dame Judi Dench as M
Danica Patrick as Herself
Emmanuelle Chriqui as The Numbers Lady
Felicia Day as Veronica
Jennifer Hale as Commander Sheppard
Kristen Bell as Lucy Stillman
Tricia Helfer as Sarah Kerrigan
Yvonne Strahovski as Miranda Lawson

As I’ve seen in a video circling the web, there aren’t many women who are being appreciated for their voice. Men have a lot of great examples like Sean Connery, James Earl Jones and Christopher Walken. Women on the other hand, not so much. Therefore, I can only say that Dame Judi Dench stands out the most with Jennifer Hale and Kristen Bell sticking out as well for being familiar voices. So there you have my picks. One of these three. Although Yvonne Strahovski also did a superb job. AH, I’m torn …

Best Downloadable Game
Costume Quest
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Monday Night Combat
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game

Now these are good choices. I hope that the Lara Croft game is going to win this one as her franchise is in dire need of the spotlight. Maybe winning this award will push the developers in to making a new 3D game that doesn’t suck ass. Then again, maybe a nomination is all they really needed and Scott Pilgrim deserves the win.

Best DLC
BioShock 2: Minerva's Den
Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker
Red Dead Redemption - Undead Nightmare

I’m going to have to pick Undead Nightmare for this one. The other nominees are also very good additions to their respective games, Undead Nightmare brought something new and interesting to the table.

Best Independent Game
Joe Danger
Limbo
Super Meat Boy
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

I’m not too familiar with these games though I can say that Limbo is the one that interests me the most. I have seen videos of it and read from people who have played it. It sounds incredibly interesting to just play it once or twice and see how it is. So I am wishing that it’s going to win.

Most Anticipated Game
Batman: Arkham City
BioShock: Infinite
Gears of War 3
Portal 2

Hey look, a pointless category.

Game of the Year
Call of Duty: Black Ops
God of War III
Halo: Reach
Mass Effect 2
Red Dead Redemption

And here we have it folks, the crème de la crop and the best of the best. The last batch of nominees and they are for the big one. The Game of the Year 2010.
Call of Duty: Black Ops appears to be a good enough game. Although I think that for this list it’s standing on multiplayer legs alone as the single player seems to be subpar.
God of War III is, as I said, a very overrated game in my opinion. It has already started with God of War II where Kratos turned in to nothing more than a Hulk, which he fully is in the third installment.
Halo: Reach is a fantastic ending to a fantastic, adrenaline rush of a franchise. The single player campaign and the multiplayer are both remarkable in what they are and what they do. I’ve seen plenty of people who said that Halo: Reach called them even in their dreams, it’s that good.
Mass Effect 2 shifted things to a more action oriented experiences if you compare it to the first game. Many people hated that it did this and I have to agree that the designers needed to find a balance between action and RPG. Doesn’t take away that Mass Effect 2 on its own is a tremendous game that deserves a lot of praise.
Red Dead Redemption, the last of the nominees, is perhaps the best sandbox game that Rockstar has ever produced. It’s GTA set in the west. Better yet, it’s the perfected GTA set in the west, as it took what Grand Theft Auto IV had accomplished and it built on it and turned in to a perfect diamond.
It’s a difficult choice to make but if I had to root for one game, then it has to be Red Dead Redemption for being the best Wild West game since GUN, the best Sandbox Game of Rockstar and a fantastic game all-around.

There we have it folks, the nominees for this year’s VGA awards. Now, whilst these are perfectly acceptable choices for Spike most of the time, doesn’t mean that they are acceptable choices overall. As said by an internet reviewer, the VGA need a Video Game Academy that selects these nominees. This Academy needs to comprise of developers, producers, directors, bloggers, reviewers, journalists and more. And that the VGA needs to stop being a popularity contest.

Source:
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Video_Game_Awards
The Escapist: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105378-Spike-Releases-Moderately-Perplexing-2010-VGAs-Nominee-List
Blistered Thumbs: http://www.blisteredthumbs.net/2010/11/angry-joe-vga-2010/