Spike TV 2009 Video Game Awards a bust

December 13, 2009

Spike TV 2009 Video Game Awards a
bust

By Dakota Grabowski

Gaming needs a real awards show

Focusing on scripted moments that
had Jack Black being removed from the stage by security and moments of silence
from the crowd such as Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto hyping up Star Trek Online,
the Spike TV 2009 Video Game Awards turned out to be uneventful and overly
disappointing.

Featuring musical acts of Snoop Dogg
and The Bravery, Spike TV once again proves that they don’t any clue on what
gamers want.

This year was supposed to be all
about world premieres and exclusive trailers. The end result was actually more
along the lines of teasers with little gameplay footage to accompany said games.

Let’s not get started on the awards
that were handed out – some were obvious choices, while the majority of others
reek with “corporate sellouts” – so that’s a topic for whole another time.

 
Star Trek Online received no love from the
crowd

In case you missed what was
revealed, here’s a quick rundown:

  • The show began with the sequel to
    Batman: Arkham Asylum being announced. This was huge surprise, especially
    since Batman: AA released four short months ago. The trailer was all CG – the
    start of when things turned sour (yes, it was the opening minutes of the
    show).

  • Next, Activision’s True Crime
    series premiered a sequel and it’ll be set in Hong Kong. Underwhelming from
    start to finish, the footage was nowhere near gorgeous.

  • Tron Evolution was shown next and
    it was among the most confusing trailers at the show. The genre isn’t clear
    and the gameplay footage didn’t exactly connect with the direction the
    development might be going with the title.

  • Spike TV’s Deadliest Warrior video
    game was detailed; the footage shown was all CG with a ninja taking on an
    armored knight. Unsurprisingly, no information was provided on what the
    gameplay will revolve around.

  • UFC 2010: Undisputed started out
    with several fighters asking the viewer, “Do you want to be a fighter?” At the
    tail end of the video, the trailer finally shows in-game footage that shows
    off Kimbo as one of the new fighters on the roster. Not much to see here
    either.

  • LucasArts and Samuel L. Jackson
    presented an all-CG Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. Not much to see here;
    there wasn’t any gameplay footage provided in the trailer.

  • Prince of Persia: The Forgotten
    Sands debuted Ubisoft’s new character model for the Prince and the canning of
    the cel-shaded graphics from 2008’s Prince of Persia. The trailer that debuted
    at the VGAs was no different than the normal VGA world premiere– in other
    words, all CG.

  • 2K Games Spec Ops franchise is
    returning and it did so with an impressive trailer that is the fourth title of
    the night to feature in-game footage. The atmospheric and sweeping sand
    landscapes stood out among as the better reveals at the 2009 VGAs.

  • Crackdown 2 delivered in-game
    footage, but it was often confusing to see what was going on and what exactly
    has been added in the sequel upon first viewing. At least the footage wasn’t
    CG.

 
As expected, Crackdown 2 is overloaded
with explosions

  • Green Day: Rock Band was announced
    by the band themselves – too bad nobody cares. Footage looked rather
    uninspired and contrived; no wonder the genre is in a funk with sales.

  • Electronic Arts showed that it has
    been watching Call of Duty: Modern Warfare for the past two years rock the
    sales charts and, thus, has decided to take Medal of Honor into the
    not-so-distant future as our heroes will be taking down terrorists. Oh, and
    the trailer confirmed that kicking a chair across a room is laughable.

  • Lastly, Microsoft finally brought
    forth Halo Reach. No gameplay footage was revealed, but at least the footage
    was using the newly created in-game engine.

It’s easy to see the biggest problem
with the world premieres at the 2009 VGAs – they don’t feature enough gameplay
footage.

But without the world premieres,
there was not a single reason to tune in and waste two hours watching the
pitifully scripted award show. The jokes fell flat such as Zach Braff coming out
and calling the audience nerds. The awards that were given out were disastrous
including Uncharted 2 not winning Best Action Game while winning Best PS3 Game
and Game of the Year later on in the show. How is the Game of the Year not the
best game in its genre? Ludicrous, I tell you. Ludicrous!

The list of atrocious decisions that
were made at the Spike TV 2009 VGAs is an extensive one. The show has never been
above mediocre since its inception and its future doesn’t look all that better
either. Let’s hope the light dies out on this terrible award show and one that
doesn’t compromise integrity fills its place.