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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. The show is produced by GameTrailers TV's Geoff Keighley. The event has been held at various locations in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California as well as Las Vegas, Nevada.

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

2010 Awards

The 2010 VGAs were held Saturday, December 11, 2010 in Los Angeles, CA at the L.A. Convention Center and returned to using a host which was Neil Patrick Harris.[2] Unlike previous years, all the awards were not awarded during the show. The 2010 VGAs were the world's biggest global gaming event broadcasted in over 175 territories worldwide.

Nominees for Spike TV’s 2010 “Video Game Awards” were determined by the VGA Advisory Council, made up of a group of some of the most well-respected video game journalists from media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Kotaku, GameSpot, IGN, Game Informer Magazine, Penny Arcade, Joystiq and WIRED. Games released between November 25, 2009 and November 23, 2010 were eligible for nomination.[3]

BioWare announced Mass Effect 3 at the 2010 Awards. Batman: Arkham City had its gameplay debut at the 2010 awards along with the sequel to Prototype. Acclaimed movie director Guillermo Del Toro announced his video game, Insane, which is being developed by Saints Row's Volition team. Bethesda Softworks also announced their next entry into The Elder Scrolls series, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The first trailer of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception aired during the 2010 awards. Other new games previewed included Mortal Kombat featuring Kratos, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Resistance 3, Portal 2, SSX: Deadly Descents, and Forza Motorsport 4.

With appearances by the cast members of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Danny Devito, Kaitlin Olson, Rob McElhenney, Academy Award Nominated Director Guillermo Del Toro, Halo: Reach star and VGA Nominee Nathan Fillion,  Thor: God of Thunder star Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Munn, Annalynne McCord, and Tony Hawk, among others. Musical performances were by My Chemical Romance and José González.[4]


Award Winner Nominees
Game of the Year Red Dead Redemption
Studio of the Year Bioware, Mass Effect 2
Best Multi-player Halo: Reach
Character of the Year Sgt. Frank Woods, Call of Duty: Black Ops
  • Ezio, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood (Best Dressed winner)
  • Kratos, God of War III (Biggest Badass winner)
  • John Marston, Red Dead Redemption
Best Xbox 360 Game Mass Effect 2
Best PS3 Game God of War III
Best Wii Game Super Mario Galaxy 2
Best PC Game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
Best Handheld Game God of War: Ghost of Sparta
Best Shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops
Best Action Adventure Game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Best RPG Mass Effect 2
Best Individual Sports Game Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11
Best Team Sports Game NBA 2K11
Best Driving Game Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
Best Music Game Rock Band 3
Best Soundtrack DJ Hero 2
Best Song in a Game "Far Away" by José González, Red Dead Redemption
Best Original Score Red Dead Redemption
Best Graphics God of War III
Best Adapted Video Game Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game
Best Performance by a Human Male Neil Patrick Harris as Peter Parker/Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Best Performance by a Human Female Tricia Helfer as Sarah Kerrigan, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty
Best Downloadable Game Costume Quest
Best DLC Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare
Best Independent Game Limbo
Most Anticipated Game Portal 2

Previous winners

2009 Awards

The 2009 VGAs were held on December 12, 2009 at the Nokia Event Deck in Los Angeles, California[5] and were the first and only VGAs to not have an overall host.[6] It opened with a trailer announcing the sequel to Batman Arkham Asylum. There were other exclusive looks at Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, UFC 2010 Undisputed, Halo: Reach, and others. 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.[5]

2008 Awards

The 2008 VGAs were held on December 14, 2008.[7] 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.[8]

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![9]

2006 Awards

The 2006 VGAs 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.[10] The awards aired December 13, 2006 and were hosted by Samuel L. Jackson.[11]

2005 Awards

The 2005 VGAs were held December 10, 2005 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.[12][13] This was the first year that Samuel L. Jackson hosted the VGAs.

2004 Awards

The 2004 VGAs were held in Santa Monica, California at the Barker Hangar. They were hosted by Snoop Dogg.[14] 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".[15][16]

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][17] The event also featured a WWE tag team wrestling match featuring the superstars Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Trish Stratus, and Victoria.

Criticism

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. A shining example of Spike hiring celebrities who have little to no knowledge about the games they are talking about. The game was also shown as "Grand Theft Auto 3: San Andreas" when displayed.[18]

Another common criticism is too much focus on the celebrities than the games, as well as the general "tackiness" of the show. A great example of this is when celebrities come on stage dressed as video game characters and act as if they have no idea who they are supposed to be. 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.

For the 2010 awards, Super Mario Galaxy 2 failed to earn a nomination for Game of the Year despite being the highest rated game of the year and one of the highest rated games of all time (ranked 3rd according to gamerankings).[19] StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, among others, even though rated higher than several of the other titles put up for selection for the Game of the Year nominations, were also absent.

Parodies

  • The Video Game Awards were parodied on an episode of MADtv, highlighting the fictional 1st Annual Video Game Awards on June 21, 1977, hosted by Joe Namath (played by Michael McDonald) and Farrah Fawcett (played by Arden Myrin), musical guest The Jackson 5, and award presenter Mark Spitz (played by Ike Barinholtz). Pong and Asteroids were the only video games nominated for all of the awards presented, even though Asteroids wasn't released in the arcade until 1979. The categories shown in the sketch were "Best Graphics in a Video Game" (Asteroids wins), and "Most Realistic Sound in a Video Game" (Pong and Asteroids win in a tie). Bobby Lee accepts an award as a designer of Asteroids. Space Invaders is shown to display the future of video games, although it was released before Asteroids in 1978.[20]

References

  1. ^ a b "Madden tackles top prize at VGAs". GameSpot. 2003-12-03. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  2. ^ "2010 Spike TV Video Game Awards, ominees, Winners, TV Schedule". Chiff.com. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  3. ^ http://www.spike.com/blog/spike-tv-announces/101998
  4. ^ "Spike Video Game Awards 2010".
  5. ^ a b "'Uncharted 2' nabs top prize at VGAs". Yahoo!. 2009-12-13. Retrieved 2009-12-13. [dead link]
  6. ^ "Spike Video Game Awards 2009". SpikeTV. 2009-12-11. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  7. ^ "Spike 2008 VGA REsults". Blend Games. 2008-12-15. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  8. ^ Eric Bush. "Spike TV Announces 2008 Video Game Awards Winners". Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  9. ^ "Spike TV VGA 2007 Winners Announced". Digital Tech News. 2007-12-08. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  10. ^ "Spike TV 2006 VGA Winners Announced". UGO Games. 2006-12-09. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
  11. ^ "Spike TV 2006 Video Game Awards Breaks the Mold". LAs The Place.com. 2009-12-15. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  12. ^ "Spike TV VGA 2005 Honors Activision Games". Team XBox. 2005-11-23. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  13. ^ "2005 VGA". Video Game Awards 2005 Award Winners by Spike TV. IGN.com. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  14. ^ "American hip-hop star Snoop Dogg to host annual Video Game Awards". Ecyclopedia.com. 2004-09-15. Retrieved 2010-3-14. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  15. ^ "Spike TV announces Video Game Awards 2004 nominees". Gaming Age. 2004-11-16. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
  16. ^ "2004 VGA". Video Game Awards 2004 Award Winners by Spike TV. Gamespy.com. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
  17. ^ Lewinson, Tim (12-3-2002). "Unintentional Hilarity at Spike TV". Gaming Age. Retrieved 2009-11-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  18. ^ "'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' hijacks gaming awards show". LubbockOnline. 2004-12-15. Retrieved 2010-7-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  19. ^ http://www.gamerankings.com/browse.html
  20. ^ MADtv Episode #1121, Air Date: May 13, 2006.
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