So here's the thing, I don't watch TV more then a couple hours a week, mostly because I can't stand Reality TV, or the plethora of Andy Warhol like generic crap that floods every network. The Spike VGA's were something I heard about in 2007 only because the news that Gamecock crashed the Ken Levine speech.
This year the only thing that held much interest for me was watching the Arkham Asylum 2 teaser, though once I read the list of awards I noticed something that really bothered me. The only games put up in the Game of the Year category were games that release in the last quarter of the year, and only games that appeared on PS3, 360, and PC. No Wii, DS, or PSP games were even considered for game of the year. My personal feelings on the winner aside (I think Arkham Asylum was a much better game then Uncharted 2) this list leads me to two main issues I had with the whole program.
Firstly in only takes into consideration the games from the holiday season, this is a problem I've come to accept from gamers at large as we have a bad habit of having very short attention spans. Games that come out early in the year, no matter how good they are, tend to be overlooked in lieu of more recent and therefor 'shinier' games. Excellent games from earlier in the year like Inamous, Red Faction Guerilla, Chinatown Wars, Far Cry 2, Punch-Out, Henry Hatsworth, and many others didn't even get mentioned in the Game of the Year discussion. Like I mentioned earlier Wii, DS, and PSP games were not even nominated for the Game of the Year category, which to me seems a big petty and unfair of something that's trying to pass itself as 'The Awards Show For Gamers'. I think everyone can agree that games such as NSMB Wii and Wii Sports resort deserved at least a nomination for GOTY.
The absence of these games doesn't particularly surprise me though, a fair portion of the self-proclaimed 'hardcore' gamers tend to overlook Wii and DS as being somehow less important or less interesting then the HD popcorn roller coasters that PS3 and 360. What's more surprising to me is that the only games considered for "Best Graphics" were the realistic games. I'm not saying that Arkham Asylum isn't beautiful, but it's art style is fundamentially the same as Killzone, Modern Warfare, and Uncharted. Games like Punch-Out, NSMB Wii, Borderlands, and MadWorld all offer different styles of art, Madworld being the most extreme difference possible. Even small downloadable games like Lucidity offered another style of graphics which was absolutely gorgeous (even if that game kinda sucked). So why didn't the VGA's take into account the different styles of art? Why were all the nominee's HD realistic titles? A Cel shaded game like Punch-out will never look dated, whereas realistic games like the original Assassins Creed are already starting to look older then they are.
I don't understand how anyone could expect to take these awards seriously when the nominee's and results are so narrowly focused and predictable. It's frankly an insult to this industry and anyone who considers games to be a form of art rather then mindless entertainment. Whoever comes up with these nominees really needs to take a few steps back and seriously consider revising their sloppy and trite methods.
By the way: the fact New Super Mario Bros. Wii didn't get nominated for Multiplayer game of the year is the ultimate proof these awards are a pile of bullshit.
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Most everyone from the show girls to the presenters just seemed uncomfortable and like they didn't want to be there. There was very little enthusiasm and the whole thing just left me with a bad taste.
New Super Mario Bros Wii wan't nominated for GOTY for the same reason Up! or Ponyo will not likely be nominated for best picture at the Oscars.
I'm OK with that. I don't expect any awards show to reflect my tastes in anything. That said, they could at least try to keep the show, y'know, videogame related.
I fully agree with that, but it's the hypocrisy of the whole event that bothers me. Well that and every single blog and website I read had VGA coverage so it was damn near impossible to ignore.
It's kind of sad too, since it looked like some people in the gaming industry, like the winners of awards to the game journalists who help dictate who gets nominated to Geoff Keighley (who I need to stop talking about), who wouldn't stop talking the show, really really want this to be the gaming world's next big break into the mainstream.
Another point that's interesting is that we have award shows for gaming that are serious. That's just one example. People just don't think they'd be appealing enough to be televised.
Like I said: I didn't watch the show, I just saw the winners announced over sites like Destructoid. And personally I'd rather see the trailers posted on youtube where I don't have to put up with crappy web ads as much.
Next year, please, get a host(Geoff Keighley or Chad Concelmo), have more gamers in the audience and create a better award statue.
Everyone knows the VGA's are more style than substance.....right?
VGAS also didn't include Nintendo game nominations such as Rhythm Heaven for best music category and they didn't include any Wiiware games like Lost Winds: The Winter of the Melodias for best downloadable game category.
VGAs are about 5 things:
- HD photo realistic graphics
- Western game companies
- Corporate sponsorship treatment
- Lame celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson and Jack Black
- Ugly award trophies
- FPS games
In a world where from year to year games are getting more refined in graphics and in gameplay, NSMB is pretty much a rehash. It looks/plays like the DS version(with the exception of a few power-ups and multiplayer), and one could argue that the experience runs on nostalgia fumes for most people. Not to say the game isn't a lot of fun, but in this economy and in the minds of most of the common gaming demographic, fun just isn't enough anymore.
One could argue that Uncharted 2 is just a mash-up of common game mechanics just refined and slapped onto their game. And while that holds a degree of truth, I challenge you to find me a game with more truthful voice acting, better character animation, and an over-the-top action game with characters as real as that game.
Arkham Asylum is a wonderfully made game with an atmosphere that can't be beat. Modern Warfare 2's controls and gameplay are so fluid and clean that you could eat off of it. I mean there's a reason that these games are on these lists. Not just a biased bullshit race for ratings.