So the VGA was last night… which I didn’t watch btw. Mostly cuz I don’t have cable! And even if I did… it used to be universally understood that the VGAs were crap and no one really bothered with such nonsense. Main problem was, it wasn’t so much about the games themselves but a means for advertisers to target gamers in the most pandering, intelligence insulting, delusional, and flat out embarrassing manners possible. Then a funny thing happened: everyone started watching it anyway. Why? I have zero idea. Actually, I do: it’s become a time and place in which various developers to unleash new trailers and the like, those who couldn’t wait for E3.
Anyhow, from what I’ve gathered from reading reports elsewhere, are also via pals that actually sat through the whole thing, here are the highlights…
– Red Dead Redemption nabbed most of the prizes. Not much of a shocker, and on a number of levels. Among other prizes, it got Game of the Year, which is somewhat reasonable all things considered. Was not the hugest fan of Grand Theft Horsey personally, but I know plenty that loved it to death, both personal or otherwise. Many cite the ending as a high water mark in interactive storytelling. Too bad I couldn’t be bothered to play that much; I simply didn’t find the wild west as fun as an approximation of New York City when it came to screwing around, but that’s just me.
– Call of Duty: Black Ops only got best shooter, which was a shocker, considering how it’s made more money than the entire print run of the Bible, and counting. Best Action Adventure Game went to Assassin’t Creed: Brotherhood, Best Multiplayer went to Halo: Reach, and the Studio of the Year nod went to BioWar, mostly for Mass Effect 2. Point being, the awards this year was mostly spread across the board.
– Though once again, hardly any Japanese developers got any gold, let alone were nominated. That’s always been the case for the VGAs, which has always been a throughly American-centric affair. Though it’s hard to make a big stink these days considering how many of the releases from the land of the rising sun have been somewhat stinkers (and the game economy overall is slowly crumbling in general).
– The one award I was most annoyed by, choice of winner-wise? Easily Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit as Best Driving Game. It’s okay and all, but seriously cannot hold a candle the brilliance that is Split/Second.
– Though what got everyone actually all hot and bothered was all the news and announcements. At the top of this particular list was the debut trailer for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, which can be viewed here. Comes out 11/1/11 and takes place in the desert. And yes, it’s looking rather Raiders of the Lost Ark to a certain extent already, which is a very good thing!
– A new SSX was unveiled, and looks nothing like the previous installments in the franchise. Apparently it’s being done by the folks behind Skate? That’s pretty swell… at least knowing that they’re working on a new game, since, unfortunately, no matter how awesome their skateboarding sims have been, everyone’s just all Tony Hawk-ed out.
– The first look at gameplay in Resistance 3 made its long awaited debut.
– A teaser trailer for Forza 4 made it’s debut, but it was almost solely of live action footage, so really not much to show here. And there was another for a new game being helmed by director Guillermo del Toro called InSane, whose trailer had even less, just a bunch of words scrolling around. Hopefully it’ll be half as good as movies (and hopefully he’ll actually be heavily involved, instead of just having his name on the finished product, which is par for the course for such things).
– Kratos is gonna appear in the new Mortal Kombat. A FAR better fit than the Superfriends.
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Spike TV’s Video Game Awards: The Winners & Losers (Actually, Mostly The Winners)