Major Shakeup at the VGA awards.

[Hyperion5182]

I didnt watch all of it. But holy crap waht i caught were MASSIVE surprises.

valve takes home Game of the Decade honors with HL 2 (beating out Arkham WoW AND ME

And despite ME 3 and AC 3 being in the mix. Telltale Games and The Walking Dead win GAME OF THE YEAR!! Gotta say didnt see those coming. Anyone watch it from start to finish? I wonder what else got dropped at this thing.

[The Damned]

Anyone watch it from start to finish?

No. And I shall tell you why.

Several years ago, I was visiting my family for dinner. Free dinner is nice, so why not? On TV, they had the previews for the VGAs on Spike (someone at the old house liked the thirteen hours of CSI they air each day, I guess).

Before the commercial is even over, my mother, a woman that has played more than a minute of Tetris on my old GameBoy, who has never taken an interest in anything more than solitaire on Windows, who has never been able to tell the difference between a "Nintendo" and a "Nintendo Sega"... coldly says that she thinks that award show is a joke.

When your mom thinks it's bullshit...

[Garpocalypse]

When your mom thinks it's bullshit...

... June is boss month?

I don't get it.

Besides, mothers think alot of things.

Any big reveals? I don't really watch the VG awards because i think they are a joke...

[Bleck]

No. And I shall tell you why.

Several years ago, I was visiting my family for dinner. Free dinner is nice, so why not? On TV, they had the previews for the VGAs on Spike (someone at the old house liked the thirteen hours of CSI they air each day, I guess).

Before the commercial is even over, my mother, a woman that has played more than a minute of Tetris on my old GameBoy, who has never taken an interest in anything more than solitaire on Windows, who has never been able to tell the difference between a "Nintendo" and a "Nintendo Sega"... coldly says that she thinks that award show is a joke.

When your mom thinks it's bullshit...

I fucking love this post.

[The Damned]

Any big reveals? I don't really watch the VG awards because i think they are a joke...

Dark Souls 2. And Mountain Dew and Doritos took "Best Snacks For Playing Yo' Games, Yo" by a landslide.

[EC2151]

VGAs in a nutshell:

Huh huh huh us gamers huh huh we are such big nerds xD huh huh huh dew the dew huh huh OMG Waking Deads HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH

[Global-Trance]

Yeah I did not watch the awards but OMFG DARK SOULS II REVEALED

Also did anyone else hear of and later dug up The Phantom Pain, a disguised teaser for MGS 5?

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Haha! Get it, guys!? It's the VGAs!

No but seriously, who actually watches that thing?

[firedude750]

I tuned in and out, but only because every time Borderlands 2 got an award, Gearbox gave out shift codes. Only reason.

[Nase]

When your mom thinks it's bullshit...

She probably has a decent grasp of what games are or are meant to be, and can see that these award shows are another poor way of copying the movie making industry to get some of its glitter.

People who understand games know games are too punk for art awards.

In other news, Jean-Paul Sartre was too punk for the Nobel prize.

[ectogemia]

She probably has a decent grasp of what games are or are meant to be, and can see that these award shows are another poor way of copying the movie making industry to get some of its glitter.

People who understand games know games are too punk for art awards.

The VGAs aren't art awards. They're paid advertisements.

[Nase]

The VGAs aren't art awards. They're paid advertisements.

Ok, good to know.

How about the Oscars?

[Avatar of Justice]

Ok, good to know.

How about the Oscars?

They're the opposite. A bunch of people jerking off to movies most people haven't even seen.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

In this thread award shows are stupid.

Spoiler: They really are.

[Nase]

I'd like to see award shows awarding award shows though.

[Chernabogue]

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 trailer. 'Nuff said, I was only waiting for this.

[RoeTaKa]

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 trailer. 'Nuff said, I was only waiting for this.

This, can't wait for that game. Dark Souls 2 was also an awesome surprise, that was something I hoped for but didn't expect so soon.

I guess The Walking Dead deserves the recognition. Even though I watched a Let's Play of it I was hooked. But to be honest there hasn't really been much out this year I've found that memorable at all.

[Mirby]

Here's the problem with the VGAs.

Or rather, one of the many problems.

So I took a look at the nominees a week or so ago for the VGAs. Get to Best Handheld Game.

4 nominees, 3 of which are Vita games. The sole 3DS game is New Super Mario Bros. 2.

Where's Kid Icarus: Uprising? Kingdom Hearts 3D? Theatrhythm? As much fun as I've had with NSMB2, there are other 3DS games more deserving of an award than NSMB2, which to me shows they only put it there out of courtesy. And the fact that the other 3 games were Vita games? Out of how many games for the Vita? I mean, the system is slowly building up a library, but it's still quite small.

If this was truly an awards show, the nominations should be unbiased, not just tossing in a Mario game to make it look as if they're giving everything a fair chance.

Here's the other thing that bugged me: For Best Original Song, the only one that was made FOR the game itself was the Journey nomination. I'll admit that I like Linkin Park, but Castle of Glass should NOT have been a nominee since it was NOT created for the game in question specifically, but instead came out on Living Things which released earlier this year.

Best Original Song should only be for songs that were created SPECIFICALLY for the games and not just licensed out from some album.

We should just make our own VGAs, one that is more fair to everything, that is actually about the games and not just celebrities. One where the people in the industry get the recognition they deserve, regardless if they're Western developers or not (whereas the VGAs seem to focus on the Western side of things whilst ignoring everything else).

[theshaggyfreak]

Most of these type of 'award' shows are industry people patting each other on the back. It's that plus giving certain people face time with the media. There really isn't a single thing unbiased about them.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Here's the problem with the VGAs.

Or rather, one of the many problems.

So I took a look at the nominees a week or so ago for the VGAs. Get to Best Handheld Game.

4 nominees, 3 of which are Vita games. The sole 3DS game is New Super Mario Bros. 2.

Where's Kid Icarus: Uprising? Kingdom Hearts 3D? Theatrhythm? As much fun as I've had with NSMB2, there are other 3DS games more deserving of an award than NSMB2, which to me shows they only put it there out of courtesy. And the fact that the other 3 games were Vita games? Out of how many games for the Vita? I mean, the system is slowly building up a library, but it's still quite small.

If this was truly an awards show, the nominations should be unbiased, not just tossing in a Mario game to make it look as if they're giving everything a fair chance.

Like someone else pointed out, the whole thing is just a bunch of paid advertisements, glitz, and groan worthy moments that you'd only get out of a Kid's Choice, an MTV music awards or whatever the fuck the vulgar masses are into right now.

The 3DS is still building its own library, but I'm sure a game like Black Ops Declassified(don't know if that one actually made it in) is easier to sell than a Kingdom Hearts or Kid Icarus, even if it tanked all across the review board and hasn't managed to help sell a single Vita.

We should just make our own VGAs, one that is more fair to everything, that is actually about the games and not just celebrities. One where the people in the industry get the recognition they deserve, regardless if they're Western developers or not (whereas the VGAs seem to focus on the Western side of things whilst ignoring everything else).

Fortunately there are the GDC awards, which is really all the actual devs and certain publishers like Nintendo care about.

[Mirby]

Like someone else pointed out, the whole thing is just a bunch of paid advertisements, glitz, and groan worthy moments that you'd only get out of a Kid's Choice, an MTV music awards or whatever the fuck the vulgar masses are into right now.

The 3DS is still building its own library, but I'm sure a game like Black Ops Declassified(don't know if that one actually made it in) is easier to sell than a Kingdom Hearts or Kid Icarus, even if it tanked all across the review board and hasn't managed to help sell a single Vita.

Fortunately there are the GDC awards, which is really all the actual devs and certain publishers like Nintendo care about.

Yeah, it's all about things that can be easily sold to the viewers instead of what's actually deserving of an award.

Which is why I'm glad the GDC awards exist.

[EC2151]

It's not even about what's "sold."

Wii Sports, the best-selling game of all time, would have been "Game of the Decade" if sales had been a real factor. It certainly deserved the distinction. Because again, best-selling game of all time.

But again, it's advertisements for Sony and Microsoft to the broski crowd. How else can you explain the heavy Vita presence when the thing is flopping and flailing all over the world? It's to continue the narrative of "Kiddy Nintendo" which galvanizes and reinforces the markets that Sony and Microsoft go after. Which is why these awards aren't worth watching.

Not to mention the shitty jokes and celebrities. Game journalists are never really good at looking at games in general, nor are they really worthy critics of the medium. Lol a trip to IGN should tell you that.

Games don't really need award shows - sales are the only things that matter as far as recognition goes.

Now, I love God Hand and Muramasa, games that sold like shit, but I know they'll never have sequels because they sold like shit.

[Mirby]

"Game journalists" are never really good at looking at games in general, nor are they really worthy critics of the medium. Lol a trip to IGN should tell you that.

fixed that for ya

i mean really, implying that IGN actually has gaming journalists? nah, just a bunch of idiots there.

[ectogemia]

Ok, good to know.

How about the Oscars?

If you really buy that the best picture of the year is whatever they say it is, then perhaps you're also on board with others saying the Lady Gaga or whoever is the best artist of the year. It's just fodder for the sheep of pop culture. If your interests are elsewhere, there's no point in watching or taking stock in it.

I'm also usually like 100% unsure whether you're being sarcastic or not with just about any of your posts

[EC2151]

IGN, Gamespot, 1UP/Gamespy, GameTrailers...they're all pretty bad. I suppose you can snidely say it's because the games they review are all bad (and most are!), but these folks aren't good critics of the medium by any stretch.

It's interesting to read reviews from these sites back in the 90s (where applicable), when gaming wasn't nearly as market-focused, nor journalist sites nearly as dependent on ad revenue. The reviews are still not the greatest, but many are honest, and more comprehensive. There has been a serious dearth of commentary and criticism, while all the time such sites waste their time with "Best of" lists and pointless editorials about "Sexism in videogames" or "violence in videogames." What will be the hot-topic 10 years from now (if such sites are still around?)? "Transgenderism in videogames"? "Radical Sikh sects in videogames"? Oh what future awaits us!

These sites, and especially the VGAs, are paid advertisements, so you will never ever get any serious criticism. Which negates their purpose - since these sites only exist off the ad revenue of these companies, they can't in any way seriously critique them. Game companies don't need to release previews or sneak peaks to these sites, and if they were to start doing so, every one of them would collapse in an instant. It would be good though because it would force game journalists like that Keighley tool to get a real job!

[[since I am pretty set in my "Hate" mode all the time when it comes to video-games, I usually only buy old games for defunct systems, and as such I really only seriously consult sites like HG101, DefunctGames, obscure blogs, and maybe RetroGamer.]]