The Spike Video Games Awards

[Dave]

How the fuck did I miss this!? Seriously, I am such an idiot. Anyway, the Spike VGA's are tonight and the categories have been announced well in advance. Now, I have had a search around and have found no nominations for the awards but there is one designated winner for each award. Not announcing nominations is a bit of a fucker but I am hoping that this thread will help us to decide some of the nominations. With in mind, I have gone to the liberty of finding all of the possible awards and I would love for you guys to fill in the fields and tell us who your awards would go to. Here are the categories and my awards:

* Game of the Year - Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
* Studio of the Year - Infinity Ward
* Best Independent Game Fueled By Dew - N/A
* Best Xbox 360 Game - Assassin's Creed 2
* Best PS3 Game - Assassin's Creed 2
* Best Wii Game - Wii Fit: Plus
* Best PC Game - Dragon Age
* Best Handheld Game - N/A
* Best Shooter - Call Of Duty:Modern Warfare 2
* Best Fighting Game - Street Fighter IV
* Best Action Adventure Game - Assassin's Creed 2
* Best RPG - Dragon Age
* Best Multi-player Game - Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
* Best Individual Sports Game - N/A
* Best Team Sports Game - FIFA 10
* Best Driving Game - Forza 3
* Best Music Game - DJ Hero
* Best Soundtrack - The Beatles Rockband
* Best Original Score - N/A
* Best Graphics - Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
* Best Game Based On A Movie/TV Show - N/A
* Best Performance By A Human Female - N/A
* Best Performance By A Human Male - Will Arnett (Eat Lead: The Return Of Matt Hazard)
* Best Cast - Eat Lead: The Return Of Matt Hazard
* Best Voice -Will Arnett (Eat Lead: The Return Of Matt Hazard)
* Best Downloadable Game - Trials HD
* Best DLC - Gears Of War Maps and Modes
* Most Anticipated Game of 2010 - Crackdown 2 ))

Now, naturally a lot of the games are going to win themselves a lot of awards. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Wii Fit and Assassin's Creed are going to take home a lot of awards tonight and it comes as no real surprise to be honest. However, when I look at some of the fields, only a few things come to mind and that is a very sad reminder of how bad a year it has been in a lot of respects. A lot of developers have been scared off by Call Of Duty and have decided to wait until next year to release their games. It's sad but true. However, I do think that Eat Lead was a brilliant game in terms of cast and voicing and I would be shocked if it didn't get the recognition it deserves.

It is also important to note that the first ever screening of the new game in the Hal series, Halo: Reach, will be shown at the Spike VGA's so it is definitely worth a view if you are a Halo fan or a gaming fan in general.

 

[Dave]

Oh! I forgot to add some pretty exciting stuff to that post too. I have recently found out, through more research that a number of announcements are going to made at these awards tonight. The first of which is obviously the Halo: Reach screening. However, a lot of other, more exciting announcements will be made too. For example, an exclusive look at UFC: Undisputed 2010 will be shown and that prmises to be a cracking game. Also on the bill is an announcement from 2K games regarding a mystery FPS. The mystery continues with secret announcements from LucasArts and a mystery undercover game named "Tron". However, the most exciting news is that the world premiers of the new Medal of Honour and CRACKDOWN are being shown at the VGA's tonight. If you were in any doubt as to whether this will be an interesting watch, you can now relax, safe in the knowledge that it most certainly will be.

 

[Dave]

Ok, guys and dolls we have witnessed the biggest show in the video games calendar. We have seen disappointment and we have seen euphoria as games were rated and awards were won in the Spike VGA’s. Last night’s event was probably the greatest award show I have seen in the last few years and I thought that Spike put on a fantastic show. The stars were out and some of the best trailers for games have whet my appetite for the gaming year that lies ahead. So, without further ado, let me get started on my review of the show and let me give you my thoughts on the awards and some of the notable events of the show.

Now, here is the full list of winners:

* Game of the Year: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
* Studio of the Year: Rocksteady Studios
* Best Independent Game Fueld by Dew: Flower
* Best Xbox 360 Game: Left 4 Dead 2
* Best PS3 Game: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
* Best Wii Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii
* Best PC Game: Dragon Age: Origins
* Best Handheld Game: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
* Best Shooter: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
* Best Fighting Game: Street Fighter IV
* Best Action Adventure Game: Assassin's Creed II
* Best RPG: Dragon Age: Origins
* Best Multiplayer Game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
* Best Individual Sports Game: UFC 2009 Undisputed
* Best Team Sports Game: NHL 10
* Best Driving Game: Forza Motorsport 3
* Best Music Game: The Beatles: Rock Band
* Best Soundtrack: DJ Hero
* Best Original Score: Halo 3: ODST
* Best Graphics: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
* Best Game Based On A Movie/TV Show: South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!
* Best Performance By A Human Female: Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
* Best Performance By A Human Male: Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine
* Best Cast: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
* Best Voice: Jack Black for the voice of Eddie Riggs in Brütal Legend
* Best Downloadable Game: Shadow Complex
* Best DLC: Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony
* Most Anticipated Game of 2010: God of War III

I think I will now pick away at some of the awards and describe my feelings towards the chosen award winner. Also, I think that it is extremely relevant to note that most of the games were voted for online. Hence, critics of the award show have stated that the awards were simply reduced to a popularity contest. I think there may be some truth in that as I would have certainly gone in a slightly different way with the awards that were given. However, I think on the whole, those who won the awards generally did deserve them and I am quite comfortable in most of the award recipients. Not completely but generally. Lets start at the beginning, shall we? The Game of the Year is a shock to me. Personally, I thought that Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was an absolute certainty to win the award and I am slightly taken aback that Uncharted 2 actually took it. With that being said though, I can see why it was awarded to Uncharted. I do think, however, that if MW2 was released a month earlier, it would have walked the award. It was not to be though and I am OK with Uncharted taking it, even though I thought that their was definitely one or two games this year that were better. The nest awards I want to talk about are the awards that are exclusive to one console. Left 4 Dead 2, Uncharted 2 and *insert Mario title here* are probably deserving of the award too. The games that eventually took the titles are pretty deserving I would say. Obviously Uncharted 2 is a very good game and this is reflected in the ultimate award that it won. Left 4 Dead is a pretty game, in all honesty. It is certainly better than the original game and I kind of enjoyed it more. I was not a huge fan of the first game but this one does add a little more to the original. Of course Mario was going to win the Wii one. I persoanlly thought that Wii Fit Plus would have won it but I don't even think it was nominated. If it was, it wasn't stated and so Mario gets by on legacy once more. So yeah, the main awards for consoles were pretty deserving and even although I could have thought of more deserving winners, I am happy with the results.

The PC exclusive went to Dragon Age: Origins, a game that I didn't really click with on any great level. Blade has told me how wrong I am with this view and how the story is brilliant. I just don't have the urge to go and find out though and I guess that there really only going to be one winner here. Dragon Age is one of the best PC games out right now and I think that this is a reason that I don't play PC games to any real extent. The next award that I feel is pretty noteworthy is the fighting game award. I had expected Street Fighter IV to win it but I was actually very surprised when it did. Personally, I have never been a fan of the game and I like games that are slightly more realistic and are not based on combos. That is the reason that I like UFC Undisputed 2009. I really wanted UFC to win it and I was slightly disappointed that they didn't manage to pull it off. The can take solace that they won the award for best individual sports game but I really did expect them to beat Street Fighter IV, which I thought was vastly overrated. However, it was not to be and I think that is the first of my grievances from the night. The other genres exclusive awards were pretty mundane, to be honest. Everyone expected Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 to walk the shooter award and the award for best multiplayer. The did indeed do well in these awards and took them at a canter. Best RPG went to Dragon Age and the best Action and Adventure game went to Assassin's Creed 2. I am so upset that Assassin's Creed 2 did not do any better than this. It was a better game than Uncharted and Left 4 Dead in my opinion and should have taken far more awards than it did. I even thought that Assassin's Creed 2 was a better gaming experience than Call of Duty but they were overlooked constantly.

There is a couple more awards that I want to cover. Those awards are for the musical concepts of the gaming world. I had foreseen that DJ Hero and Beatles Rockband would do weel and I think I had claimed that both would win an award in the music genres. Those are not a great surprise to me and the fact that Jack Black won an award is not a great surprise either. It was just a popularity contest and Black is popular. As is Megan Fox. However, I am very angry that Eat Lead was not even nominated for the cast and voice awards. What the fuck is that all about!? Will Arnett and Neil Patrick Harris are exceptional voices in that game and it is truly shit that it has been overlooked. With that out of the way, the last award I want to talk about is the most anticipated award. God Of War III won it and I think that is justified. It looks set to be a great game but with all of the premiers that were announced and viewed last night, it may have a bit of competition.

Let's talk about them for a while. The first one that come on was the preview of the new game in the Arkham Asylum series. I personally thought that it looked very good and I thought that starting the show with it set the bar for all of the other previews of the night. Most of the previews were pretty good to be honest. Tron was pretty boring and UFC did not excite me as much as I thought it would. In fact, it looks as though nothing has been changed. You may be of the impression that if it isn't broke, don't fix it. However, I would have liked to see the graphics improved and some aspects of the game changed. To me, it looks like the last game in every single way with one exception.. It had a more flashy preview. However, I did get excited for a few of the previews that were shown last night. As I expected, Halo: Reach looks pretty good and although the preview was made up of CGI, I still think that the point has been proven. It sounds like a pretty good concept for a game and I fully expect it to do well next year. The new Prince of Persia game looks pretty decent too and I am glad to see that a lot of the new features, like self shading, has been dropped and it certainly looks to me as though they have gone back to the original prince. Thank fuck! It looks like a true return to form and I am certainly looking forward to it. The same can also be said of the new Force Unleashed game. It looks true to the first game but looks as though a lot of the features have been upgraded and the trailer has whet my appetite sufficiently. Green Day ahve also added their image and songs to the Rock Band series. That game was announced last night and it should be like every other game released in the last two years from that genre. Very boring stuff.

The least thing I want to talk about is Crackdown 2. I love it and although I was completely underwhelmed by the preview, it is still going to have a place in my heart.

 

[INDYjon22]

Well, I did not exactly watch the Video game awards to see who won, instead I watched it for the new game trailers. I was watching the awards and UFC 107 at the same time so the only time I really payed attention was when they were showing first looks.

That being said there were some awesome first looks throughout the show. Did my eyes deceive me or did I see and Arkham Asylum 2 trailer (legit question)? Also the trailers for UFC Undisputed 2010 and the new Halo looked great, I cannot wait to play them. The UFC trailer did not show much but it was put together well plus it revealed that both Junior Dos Santos and more importantly Kimbo Slice are going to be in the game and I am always a fan of Halo games.

 

[Uncle Sam]

I've always thought the Spike Awards were pretty shitty. Oh well, I'll humour them.

Game of the Year: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Not even my PS3 game of the year. It's very good, yes. At its heart it's just a very pretty Tomb Raider clone with a bigger emphasis on gunplay though. A lot the time you're just holding a direction and pressing X every now and then. My game of the year would probably be Arkham Asylum or Killzone 2. That was released this year, right?

Studio of the Year: Rocksteady Studios

Surely the studio of the year should be the one that produced the game of the year? Instead, they're basically saying "Sorry you can't have GOTY, Rocksteady - here's your consolation prize".

Best Individual Sports Game: UFC 2009 Undisputed

Finally, one we agree on.

Best Original Score: Halo 3: ODST

The music was one of the only good bits about the game. I'll agree.

Best Graphics: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Shame about the shitty collision detection.

Best Game Based On A Movie/TV Show: South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!

That game was shit. This is just Spike trying to look cool.

Best Performance By A Human Female: Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Best Performance By A Human Male: Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Fucking pointless awards.

Most Anticipated Game of 2010: God of War III

Yet another pointless award. "Look guys - our game won an award for being anticipated!"

 

[Blade]

Ok, Dave's guesses

How the fuck did I miss this!?

Cause they don't matter? It's the Golden Joysticks you want.

* Game of the Year - Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

That shows how bad this year actually was.

* Studio of the Year - Infinity Ward[/QUOTE]

Basically the same as above.

* Best Xbox 360 Game - Assassin's Creed 2[/QUOTE]

How can Modern Warfare 2 be game of the year, yet not game of the year on the 360? I don't get it. Either way, if Assassin's Creed 2 is anything like the first one then it doesn't belong.

* Best PS3 Game - Assassin's Creed 2[/QUOTE]

Yeah.

* Best Wii Game - Wii Fit: Plus[/QUOTE]



* Best PC Game - Dragon Age[/QUOTE]

Hey, one I marginally agree with. Spiffing.

* Best Handheld Game - N/A[/QUOTE]

Never played N/A. Scribblenauts was pretty awesome, though.

* Best Shooter - Call Of Duty:Modern Warfare 2[/QUOTE]

There we go, now that actually makes sense.

* Best Fighting Game - Street Fighter IV[/QUOTE]

Wahey, 2 decent choices so far. We're moving up in the world.


Now, I really couldn't be arsed going through the rest of these awards. There's some real crap in there, but that's only cause it was a bad year for games. It's just irritating. Next year will be better. But a year where Wii Fit won an award and Modern Warfare 2 was game of the year has problems.

 

[Blade]

* Game of the Year: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Wow. Ouch. It's a good game, sure. But the game of the year shouldn't be simply a good game. Come on.

* Studio of the Year: Rocksteady Studios

Yeah, I can get or board with this since they really stood out with Arkham Asylum

* Best Independent Game Fueld by Dew: Flower

I don't play many independant games, but my brother was able to let me play this one and... Wow, typical Japanese. Entertaining, though.

* Best Xbox 360 Game: Left 4 Dead 2

Are you really kidding me? Come on, that game is so incredibly over-rated. It's just killing zombies with lots of weapons. So much Meh. There were much better games this year on the 360.

* Best PS3 Game: Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Meh.

* Best Wii Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Yeah, that's an agreeable choice. Wii had a fairly bad year, but damn, this is such a great game. Better than uncharted 2, if I'm honest. Just simple, awesome gameplay.

* Best PC Game: Dragon Age: Origins

Cool. PC games are always hardest to figure out, more games come out for PC than any console. But yeah, there can't be that many better than Dragon Age, it was quite a feat of game development.

* Best Handheld Game: Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

That was this year? Interesting. But yeah, a good choice. It was between this and Scribblenauts.

* Best Shooter: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Blah.

* Best Fighting Game: Street Fighter IV

Yeah, good choice. Since Soul Calibur has gotten a bit shit, Street Fighter is the only real candidate for this award.

* Most Anticipated Game of 2010: God of War III

Ok, this is always a pointless award. I think the idea of anticipating a game is far too diverse and unique to each person to be considered as an actual award. I, for instance, couldn't care less about God of War cause the series is over-rated. Especially when there's gonna be Mario, Mass Effect, and maybe Zelda around.

The rest of the awards were totally pointless, pretty much. But yeah, I'll say it again, bad year for games.