Mark Hamill (The Joker) & Tara Strong (Harley Quinn) VGA 2011 Seats

The Spike TV Video Game Awards are held annually and are considered a great event for the industry to come together to celebrate the end of another outstanding year for gaming. Every year after the show, there always seems to be a common outcry at how terrible the award show actually was and this year was no different.

The primary reason which sits at the core of the complaints is that Spike TV and parent company MTV do not take the show seriously. This isn’t a problem in say the movie industry where the MTV hosted award show is taken light heartedly whilst shows like the Oscars take the industry more seriously. The problem is that video games do not have a high profile serious event like the Oscars and the Spike VGA is their time to shine on the red carpet. I also feel that another contributing factor to the outcry is that many feel the gaming industry shouldn’t be taken as a joke. For many years industry professionals have had to convince their families, the media and many others that it is a serious business and not one where “you just sit and play games all day”. This is also why I feel Spike failed to impress everyone again, because it places the industry into the typical geek stereotype.

Don’t get me wrong, not everything was a disaster. The show definitely improved from last year regardless of whether they were small improvements. Augmented reality was set up in the arena and provided a nice touch to introduce upcoming segments. I also enjoyed the acceptance speech rendered cut scenes from the game protagonists themselves. Items which were a waste of time included Felicia Day performing in silly games which you would see on a Saturday morning kids TV show and unfunny dialogue between a YouTube blogger and a show producer.

The worst part of the event was the organisation. There was a pre-show which aired prior to the event and it started displaying trailers and announcing awards before the main show had even started. During the show, more time was spent on irrelevant items such as musical performances and dialogue over the presentation of awards of which 10 were announced in less than 20 seconds. It was rushed and a complete shambles. We wanted to see more presentation of awards and a focus on the people who make the games not the camera panning to random celebrities of whom some have probably never picked up a video game for a very long time.

I understand the show has to target a mainstream audience as well but this can be done through other means. Bringing game characters to life and having them present awards would be a cool idea. Maybe a screenplay featuring them on stage intereacting with each other like the “To Michael” PS3 advert but with more comedy. It would also be nice if trailers for already announced titles showed off new content rather than a teaser which should have been released before the game was announced. I’m looking at you Hitman, Transformers and Darksiders. Something more along the lines of the Mass Effect 3 trailer would have been gripping. The Last Of Us was a major reveal purely because it was Naughty Dog behind the wheel but Metal Gear Rising was a hit announcement after already being revealed because of the awesome new footage it showed off. Developers take note for next year.

It wasn’t just fans who were complaining either. Mark Hamill and Tara Strong who both voice characters in the Batman games were placed in the rafters high above the arena and had to watch down below as celebrities and YouTube bloggers obtained better seats than them. All developers but especially award nominees! should have had priority seating.

The show is still young and more of a marketing than honorary event. I would like to see Spike arrange a more respectful show for next year although I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Time to make an entrance for a new company?