Spike Video Game Awards

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The Spike Video Game Awards (VGA) is an award show hosted by Spike TV that recognizes the best computer and video games of the year. Beginning in 2003, the Spike TV Video Game Awards garnered much attention, since video game awards were not common prior to its introduction. The VGAs feature live music performances and appearances by popular performers in music, movies, and television. Additionally, preview trailers for upcoming games are highlighted. Frequently hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, the show is produced by Geoff Keighley. The event has been held at various locations in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California as well as Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Awards show has encountered natalias seizures of its selection of both nominees and winners by the gaming community. Bias for specific platforms and products has been claimed by critics. Additionally, winners are selected via online polling leading to critics calling the results merely a "popularity contest".[1]

Contents

[edit] 2009 Awards

The 2009 VGAs were held on December 12, 2009 in Los Angeles, California[2] and were the first VGAs to not have an overall host.[3] There were exclusive looks at Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, UFC 2010 Undisputed, Halo: Reach, and a few other exclusive looks. Samuel L. Jackson previewed LucasArts newest upcoming Star Wars game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. In addition, Green Day: Rock Band was announced and accompanied with a trailer.

With appearances from Stevie Wonder, MTV Jersey Shore cast, Green Day and Jack Black, live music performances at the 2009 awards included Snoop Dogg and The Bravery.[2]

[edit] Previous winners

[edit] 2008 Awards

The 2008 VGAs were held on December 14, 2008.[4] The show, hosted by Jack Black, featured ten previews of upcoming games. Musical performances included 50 Cent, The All-American Rejects, Weezer, and LL Cool J.[5]

[edit] 2007 Awards

The 2007 VGAs aired December 9, 2007. Hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, the winners were announced ahead of the event which was held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The show featured performances by Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and exclusive world videogame premieres of Borderlands, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and TNA iMPACT![6]

[edit] 2006 Awards

The 2006 Video Game Awards featured musical performances by Tenacious D and AFI and show appearances by 50 Cent, Eva Mendes, Sarah Silverman, Seth Green, Masi Oka, Hayden Panettiere, Brandon Routh, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tony Hawk, Michael Irvin, Method Man, Maria Menounos, Tyrese, Xzibit, James Gandolfini, Kurt Angle, among others. In character as Stewie Griffin and Tom Tucker from Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane served as the voice of the VGAs.[7] The awards aired December 13, 2006 and were hosted by Samuel L. Jackson.[8]

[edit] 2005 Awards

The 2005 VGAs were held December 10, 2005 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.[9][10] This was the first year that Samuel L. Jackson hosted the VGAs.

[edit] 2004 Awards

The 2004 VGAs were held in Santa Monica, California at the Barker Hanger. They were hosted by Snoop Dogg.[11] The event featured musical performances including Sum 41, Ludacris and a special live performance by Snoop Dogg and the remaining members of The Doors performing "Riders on the Storm".[12][13]

[edit] 2003 Awards

The 2003 VGAs were the first VGAs to be hosted by Spike TV. They were held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 2, 2003 and aired on December 4, 2003. The event was hosted by David Spade and featured appearances by Lil' Kim, Jaime Pressly, DMX, P.O.D., Orlando Jones, and Cedric the Entertainer.[1][14] The event also featured a WWE tag team wrestling match featuring the superstars Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Trish Stratus, and Victoria.

[edit] Criticism

 This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

The Video Game Awards (as well as G-Phoria, another game award show presented by video game channel G4) have been heavily criticized since its inception (the first one in particular was universally panned for numerous reasons). One common criticism is that the VGAs are merely a popularity contest. This means that console games are more likely to win or be nominated over PC games.

In the very first VGAs, Halo on the PC won the best shooter category when it was technically a two year old game ported to another system by this point and should have been an invalid choice. A similar situation arose the next year when Samuel L. Jackson repeatedly referred to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as "Grand Theft Auto 2", though San Andreas is the fifth game in the series. The game was also shown as "Grand Theft Auto 3: San Andreas" when displayed.[15]

Another common criticism is too much focus on the celebrities than the games, as well as the general tackiness of the show. According to some, the organizers also over emphasize on things that visually attract audiences, rather than anything actually relevant to video games.

The 2005 awards had also received criticism for having nominations for Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie and 50 Cent: Bulletproof (the latter of which was nominated for game of the year, despite being panned by critics and gamers alike). Both games had just been released when the special had aired, but after the filming, citing the possibility that the show was merely used as an advertising campaign for both games. The same could likely go for letting the TNA iMPACT! video game having a sneak peak at the awards, and possibly not letting WWE video games get nominated, since TNA iMPACT! is a Spike show, in hopes of avoiding more competition.

[edit] Parodies

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Madden tackles top prize at VGAs". GameSpot. 2003-12-03. http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/sports/madden2004/news.html?sid=6084970. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  2. ^ a b "'Uncharted 2' nabs top prize at VGAs". Yahoo!. 2009-12-13. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091213/ap_on_en_ot/us_spike_game_awards. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  3. ^ "Spike Video Game Awards 2009". SpikeTV. 2009-12-11. http://www.spike.com/event/vga2009. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  4. ^ "Spike 2008 VGA REsults". Blend Games. 2008-12-15. http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Spike-2008-VGA-Results-14035.html. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  5. ^ Eric Bush. "Spike TV Announces 2008 Video Game Awards Winners". http://www.planetxbox360.com/article_5364/Spike_TV_Announces_2008_Video_Game_Awards_Winners. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  6. ^ "Spike TV VGA 2007 Winners Announced". Digital Tech News. 2007-12-08. http://www.digitaltechnews.com/news/2007/12/spike-tv-vga-20.html. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  7. ^ "Spike TV 2006 VGA Winners Announced". UGO Games. 2006-12-09. http://www.gamebanshee.com/forums/gamebanshee-news-73/spike-tv-2006-vga-winners-announced-82923.html. Retrieved 2009-12-12. 
  8. ^ "Spike TV 2006 Video Game Awards Breaks the Mold". LAs The Place.com. 2009-12-15. http://lastheplace.com/2006/12/15/spike-tv-2006-video-game-awards-the-revolution-will-be-televised/. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  9. ^ "Spike TV VGA 2005 Honors Activision Games". Team XBox. 2005-11-23. http://news.teamxbox.com/xbox/9815/Spike-TV-VGA-2005-Honors-Activision-Games/. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  10. ^ "2005 VGA". Video Game Awards 2005 Award Winners by Spike TV. IGN.com. http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/7498/Spike-TV-Video-Game-Award-Winners-Announced. Retrieved 2008-12-18. 
  11. ^ "American hip-hop star Snoop Dogg to host annual Video Game Awards". Ecyclopedia.com. 2004-09-15. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P1-99191738.html. Retrieved 2010-3-14. 
  12. ^ "Spike TV announces Video Game Awards 2004 nominees". Gaming Age. 2004-11-16. http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2004/11/16-44. Retrieved 2009-12-13. 
  13. ^ "2004 VGA". Video Game Awards 2004 Award Winners by Spike TV. Gamespy.com. http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/half-life-2/573823p1.html. Retrieved 2008-12-18. 
  14. ^ Lewinson, Tim (12-3-2002). "Unintentional Hilarity at Spike TV". Gaming Age. http://www.gaming-age.com/cgi-bin/specials/special.pl?spec=spiketv&pagenum=1. Retrieved 2009-11-15. 
  15. ^ "'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' hijacks gaming awards show". LubbockOnline. 2004-12-15. http://lubbockonline.com/stories/121504/upd_075-4052.shtml. Retrieved 2010-7-25. 
  16. ^ MADtv Episode #1121, Air Date: May 13, 2006.

[edit] External links

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