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Editorial: On the SpikeTV Video Game Awards
That said, I think that an awards show is a good idea for the industry. At the very least, having an awards show with some gravitas would be a great way to put a public stamp of approval on the hard work that development houses put into their games. Games and movies can both take years to make, with certain games having development cycles longer than the lifespan of the average household pet. That kind of commitment by the artists, developers, designers, and producers should be rewarded in some way. If a game is good, I'm sure the big fat checks they get are plenty of reward. There's still something at work in an awards show, though. I bet if you asked a big name actor who's has been in a financially successful film and also won an award which he remembered more you're going to get "the awards ceremony" as an answer every time.
If an awards show in general is a good idea, I believe the debacle that SpikeTV broadcast last night was actually counter-productive for the gaming industry. As far as I could tell, the show had little to do with games, and everything to do with advertising. "Most Addictive Game Fueled by Mountain Dew"? Come on! If the Oscars had categories like "Best Comedy driven by Ford" or "Best Female in a Leading Role with makeup by Revlon" would you take them seriously? The night was a never-ending cascade of scantily clad women, rap, "extreme" stuff, rap, people who had nothing to do with games, and rap.
It's very interesting to me that, at least in my time zone, just after the awards show ended an episode of X-Play that I really wanted to see came on. Aside from the fact that the X-Play folks are (refreshingly) actual gamers, this particular episode had a piece with Morgan Webb covering the Child's Play charity auction from last week. Seeing Gabe and Tycho in tuxedos was excellent in and of itself. Above and beyond that, the disparity between the crass tenor of the awards show and the tone of the charity auction was striking. From what little I saw of the auction, it didn't seem somber at all. Jokes were cracked and everyone seemed to be having a good time. The difference is that the audience and organizers were there to celebrate games and children in a respectful manner.
And that, for me, is the biggest complaint I have about the awards last night. The show showed absolutely no respect to the games themselves. From the Video Game Ombudsman's commentary: "A selection of graphics adjectives used on the show - "slammin'," "great," "amazing," "hot visually," "so sick." That kind of shallow analysis is why games aren't art in the minds of a lot of people. Katamari Damacy is a very worthwhile game, but graphics and the "slammin-ness" of the game have nothing to do with that. Katamari is a good game because of a great (and simple) design, a development team that purposely looked for a unique style of gameplay, and a quirky and original soundtrack. I want an awards show that actually says things like that.
It could be great, too! The Oscars have a board that votes on the movies, and the Academy members are made of folks from the movie industry. I say the same style would be a useful format for games with some slight changes. The Oscars send around DVDs of all the nominee films to the Academy. Forcing a large group of people to play the number of games that would be required would be just cruel. That would mean hundreds of hours of gameplay just to be qualified to vote. It would be a much better idea to split up the field into bodies of relevant people. Have thirty or so folks involved in the RTS genre, say, from developers to producers to fan site owners review a set of five or six games and then vote accordingly. Have a Media Choice Award where game review organs like Gamespot, Game Informer, and X-Play, who have presumably played most of the field, can have their say. Have voting for the Game of the Year award be an industry-wide event, with everyone from an EA developer to a Sony Online Customer Service Rep to an IGDA member having a chance to say their piece. Voting via website is fine if you're taking a Slashdot poll -- making a representative, evaluative statement about a field of entertainment for an entire year should be slightly more involved.
I have enough problems in my day without having to explain to my family why a show honoring the entertainment I love is populated mostly by underdressed women in angel costumes. Once a year, wouldn't it be nice to put the scruffy, anti-social gamer stereotype behind us? To sit down and watch some very intelligent people in tuxedos and gowns get their due for providing us so much entertainment? Seriously, wouldn't it be great to see John Carmack present an award? Or get to listen to a Wil Wright acceptance speech? A gaming awards show taken seriously would be a sight to see. Even if that never happens, please -- enough with the Spike-style awards shows.
Who is this guy, Jon Katz under a false name?
Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
Boring things that 99.9% of people don't want to read?
Yeah, you've got an opinion. Guess what, you're not special.
Mixing Snoopdog with videogames is simply sad and a disgrace to videogames.
... hollywood thinks gamers are the frat-boy, rap loving, dew drinking jocks that play the following games: Tony Hawk, Madden, and GTA.
Of course, this is completely wrong in most ways and its not a surprise that any 'real' gamer thinks the award cermony was trash.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
This attitude will change when the media stops portraying gamers the same way they portray internet child predators -- weird, pasty white guys with no lives who cause trouble, e.g. Columbine. Games are a scapegoat for the media, why give them any credit?
24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
While I didn't bother wasting my time on this show, I can only wonder why the producers (and everyone else involved) did. However I have to disagree with one part of this editorial.
"And that, for me, is the biggest complaint I have about the awards last night. The show showed absolutely no respect to the games themselves."
These are video games that people play for fun. It's not a symphany orchestra, it's not a blockbuster movie. While I can see how this show may have demeaned, in many ways, the hard work of the developers, but these aren't productions worthy of prestigous critical acclaim.
Just my $0.02.
There's a Mercedes gap too. I want one and can't afford one, but it's not government's job to do anything about it.
Seriously, 'slammin article with some wicked good points.
DAMN YOU OCTODOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
the analogy to the Oscars, look how many absolute crap movies get nominated and win Oscars every year. The real problem is that we have turned gaming in to such a big business, which explains why so many crap games get released every Tuesday. Maybe there is a paralell between Hollywood and the games industry, but not the one you want to draw...
These are video games.... you really think that this should be as serious as the Oscars. And by the way, exactly what is wrong with scantily clad females?
...or did it seem like every other nominee was an EA game? I swear, EA had at least two games in almost every category, and the ones it was in, it tended to win.
I found it annoying, like an even worse interpretation of an awards show than MTV's typical fare.
Oh that reminds me.. Today comcast is moving g4techtv from the pay-extra digital package to the basic package according to a letter they mailed out last month... So now everyone can see how comcast screwed over techtv and how gaming isn't really that interesting to devote a whole chan to it. I miss the old zdtv/techtv.
Belive in Technology and AMAZE yourself. -- RIP ZDTV/TechTV
I wouldn't give SpikeTV Video Game Awards much creedance. It's like taking Blockbuster Awards too seriously. The audience for SpikeTV is hardly academically minded, so the show caters to its audience. No surprise there. TV is a vast wasteland anyway.
Name two developers that wrote/designed/coded the game you really like... can't think of any, but most people can rattle off B-actor/actress names. Our society is very much about visual appeal and instant gratification, the people behind the schenes are often forgotten and ignored.
Remember, Spike is the first network for men, NOT the first network for nerds. I feel that Spike is trying to make the awards for those average Joes who like to play GTA and such, and don't have the time for in depth analysis of certain points of games. We're only part of the market guys, we shouldn't be selfish and count out the rest of the world. What may be a train wreck for us, may be a good time for others.
Those poor bastards, they have us surrounded. Now we can fire at them in all directions!
I think the problem here was that you were hoping for an Oscars-type awards show, when the previews clearly indicated it would be more on the level of Grammies/People's Choice. I like the idea of a games award show, too, but realistically, anything the televise (especially on the so-called "television for men" channel) is going to go after the teeny-boppers and dolts. They have money, and it's easy to entertain and please them.
Live free or die
Probably the worst awards show ever. What was up with all the celebrities accepting the awards for the developers? Can't there be a decent award show without hollywood getting their dirty hands in it?
2. What's the problem with rap? Video games feature prominently in the mainstream african american community, while in the white community they are still by and large considered "childish" or "geeky". Know your audience my friend, that's what it is all about. You do know that Snoop is putting out a GTA type game right?
Sheesh, geeks are so out of touch sometimes.
games will never be seen as equals to movies or television if they and the culture that surrounds them are represented the way they were last night.
I agree completely, I saw it on the channel bar and eagerly switched over expecting some real information, reviews, demos etc. I watched for about 5 seconds before I went back to what I was watching before. What I saw was so rediculous that I specifically avoided that channel for the rest of the night so as not to incur any more brain damage.
I am one 29 year old gamer of many in their 20s 30s and 40s who would request a bit more maturity and relevance.
Targetting specific demographics just alienates everyone else. Note to the producers: Next time try focusing on the games.
The government has a defect: it's potentially democratic. Corporations have no defect: they're pure tyrannies. -Chomsky
Noone in the world takes the "spike video game awards" seriously.
I saw no boxes on the shelves at Best Buy proudly proclaiming "Winner of 18 spike video game awards".
They have nothing to do with the industry. They're like the Blockbuster awards or the results of the Nickelodeon Kids election.
You're frankly a moron for wasting the time watching, let alone writing about it.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
Given that this was on SpikeTV, this editorial isn't really necessary, is it? [Does anyone actually watch that channel on a regular basis?]
It's not just that one show. Spike TV changed format about a year ago to male-oriented programming from its roots as The Nashville Network (TNN). TNN originally showed some country music-oriented programming, but became more mainstream in its latter years as it began to compete with TBS and other national entertainment channels.
Apparently someone at Viacom (owners) got a bee in their ass that the Lifetime Oh-My-God-Judith-Light-Is-On-AGAIN Network and the Oxygen (deprivation) women's oriented networks needed some competition. I think, however, that like some women claim about us men, that the Viacom men were caught programming with the wrong head.
Spike TV is a travesty of programming for men with moronic tastes, and I mean STOOOPID. They could not take the tack that the Fine Living Channel took, or even pair up with known good magazine formats and features such as that found in "Mens Health", "Esquire", "GQ" or even "Playboy" magazines, opting instead to rot our brains with tripe that makes "Maxim" and "Stuff" magazines seem like professional and academic thesis journals.
WTF were they thinking? The only thing good on Spike are spoadic episodes of "Star Trek-TNG", but you have to dodge commercials of the recanned and redubbed Japanese game shows to watch it.
Not even Comcast fucked up this big when they acquired TechTV, ripped a few vital organs from it for G4, then killed TTV. At least you can see a little TTV in the Frankensteinian G4.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
...without any hope ODB might bum rush the podium and take the Gamey from the Half-life 2 team while drunkenly proclaiming Wu-tang had the engine with the best dynamic lighting and physics.
The 'editorial' assumes 2 things which are largely incorrect.
Firstly, that we actually respect the Oscars, and that they themselves aren't completely shallow renderings of that industry. Awards shows aren't respected anymore. They've become popularity contests at best, and an annual soap opera at worst.
Secondly, that Spike was actually targetting the gamer culture, which they weren't. Remember that the most played game of all time is Windows solitare. Deer hunter, myst, and roller coaster tycoon are among the top selling pc games of all time.
I accidently got into last years awards as a seat filler and was not all that impressed. The whole show was just a marketing circle jerk for some game companies and SpikeTV. Every table had a rep from the game company, a big name celeb, and a spiketv celeb. At my table Ray Liotta was extremely adgitated to be there, John Henson was nervously studdying his lines, the rep for GTA was on the phone with his family the whole time, and sadly Jenna Jameson never sat in here assigned seat next to me.
Some will always be above others. Destroy the equality today, and it will appear again tomorrow. --Ralph Waldo Emerson
With all of the money floating around to promote videogames, I can't help but figure the fix was in. There's no acadamey, we don't know who voted for these games specifically. I say it was fixed.
There's not a single Internet reviewer or published magazine who doesn't get their palms greased to give a good review now and then. EA has proven that they're willing to sell out in their games, and now they're buying awards as well.
Spike's award show was nothing more than a paid advertisement complete with titties to lure the average jock into wanting to buy stuff.. uh.. yeah.. huh...
0110100100100000011000010110110100100000011000100
I love the Katz haters, the young ones, the immature out there ready to beat down this editorial with the typical "They're just games! Stop taking them so seriously!"
Well, that's what people have said about many professions and artistic ventures. The fact is, many years of work and people's lives are wrapped into these games.
When you do a $40 million (yes, forty million) dollar game project, you run your dev team in the ground to ship it (see: EA Wife), you struggle with design and features and usability and publishing it on 3 different platforms...well, to sit back and trash it out with Tara Clueless Reid and basically say that all games are just rap videos with an interface...it's disheartening.
It doesn't encourage growth in the industry toward more unusual and original IP/ideas because one of the best things about the Grammys and Oscars is that it recognizes Dark Horses that usually get a huge boost in record sales or box office because they were recognized.
I see a classy, well done and thoughtful award show on video games as a good thing. Let's just face the facts: Spike TV isn't going to provide it.
What's best about this situation is that both of these shows could coexist. You can have your cake (Spike TV) and eat it too (nice, classy show attended by actual important game designers and developers).
I think it would be amazing to have a true video game award show with a host to provide funny banter but at the same time shuttup and let John Carmack accept his Landmark Award (or whatever it would be called) for his achievement in the art of programming and making game technology.
We need this type of recognition so that big games can get the recognition they deserve and little games can get their due limelight.
There is nothing wrong with doing a classless show. But there is also something to be said for having a show full of it, complete with respect, something that the Spike TV show simply refused to provide.
Probably the worst awards show ever. What was up with all the celebrities accepting the awards for the developers?
I only caught a few minutes, but it was terrible. The "highlight" for me was when Samuel L. Jackson accepted the Game of the Year award for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas but kept referring to it as "Grand Theft Auto 2."
How many other award shows have people accepting honors for things they know nothing about? It was a joke.
Awards shows are worthless.
...what?
All of them.
Always have been, always will be.
Expecting more from a Televised awards ceremony is fairly foolish. You would be better off spending your time actually playing the games.. or, heck, even spouting worthless drivel in a thread _ABOUT_ awards shows on tv.. on slashdot.
no
I think Halo 2 had a bigger opening weekend then any album or movie ever.
Onward to the Aether Sphere!
There actually is a more 'Oscar-like' videogame awards show: The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences has an awards show every year, although to my knowledge, it's never been televised. This is the type of awards show that actually does the 'art form' of gaming justice. Also, each year they induct people into the "Hall of Fame". Previous inductees include Miyamoto, Will Wright, John Carmack, etc. (and if you want to see acceptance speeches, they have some of them online)
...is to:
1: Not watch.
2: Ensure that pissed-off gamers put in their say with SpikeTV.
3: Point out how the negative aspects are doing more damage than good for the industry on the whole.
4: Offer a feasible solution that might get gamers promoting it themselves.
Hopefully something respectable that really represents the industry will take hold. One can wish.
SNACKS ARE AWESOME
What sells a video games award show?
Answer: Absolutely nothing. The Oscars are carried by the star power of the people receiving those awards. It's not about the Movies themseleves, but the people in them.
Games, on the other hand, are faceless beasts. Giving an award to an animator is nice, but no one really CARES about that particular animator. Outside of the very highest reaches of video game fandom.. it simply means nothing.
This is why they have to trick up the show so much.. They where banking that people would be drawn to the video game piece, but realized no one would stick around to see some bearded programmer get an award for best physics..
Video games need an awards show.. just not on TV.
Turn s60 photos into awesome videos with mScrapbook for all S60 3rd edition phones!
And Adam Sessler may get goofy, but it's a self-referential type of goofiness that's funny. The best part of X-Play is that they spend the whole review showing extensive and varied game footage. No one else does that.
--- Ban humanity.
Songs are a little tricky, because they aren't very long. It is tougher to pack a message in there. But as far as movies go...
Fahrenheit 9/11. Regardless of what your opinion of it is, it got people across the nation talking and thinking about the issues at hand. To paraphrase a comedian "You didn't hear people arguing about whether the guys in the movie 'White Chicks' really could have been mistaken for women."
Bowling for Columbine. This movie hit me. I haven't looked at the popular media the same way since. On the way home from the theater, as my wife and I were talking about how the media uses scare tactics, we heard a radio commercial for the local news: "Could the milk you buy and give to your kids cause serious health problems? Tune it to Fox News at 9:00 to find out."
Schlinder's List. It may not have changed the world, but it was quite a powerful film.
There are other movies out there that have very interesting perspectives and kind of slip beyond pure entertainment. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is a good one. Anything that is visually interesting can be more than just mindless entertainment. Spirited Away, The Cell (save the bad acting), The City of Lost Children. Some re-tell classic tales, like O Brother Where Art Thou? I am sure I am forgetting some big ones, but you get the idea. Movies CAN be more than just mindless entertainment, and honestly who cares if they get an award for it? Do you think it will matter if Quake or Half-Life get a lifetime achievement award?
I didn't see the awards show, but I would guess that it was pretty representative of the game industry. That is, after all, what award shows represent - the industry. Even the MTV Movie Awards, which was interesting the first few times it aired (with their innovative categories like Best Kiss and Best Fight Scene) has become tired and stale. It is quite representative of the MTV industry (if you will).
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
The idea that the Oscars aren't a marketting orgy and somehow represents an introspective look at an industry at itself is silly. The Oscars have always been a self-congratulatory social event. Given that the only "independent" films you see are distributed by Miramax (Disney) and Fox Searchlight illustrate that this is a glorified advertisement for studios.
The fact that you don't see the Mountain Dew Action Movie award is simply because the studios have the money to fund their own marketting fest, whereas the gaming publishers don't. As the software publishing continues to consolidate you this might change (EA, Sony and Nintendo may hook up to do something that seems more legitimate). Even so, don't hold your breath waiting for your favorite non-console game by a small distributor to get any recognition.
Both Webb and Sessler are very knowledgeable in games. Since when have there been different levels of gamers. Can you really claim yourself to know everything there is to know about video games? Either you play video games or you don't. It's an absolute to be a gamer. I'm not sure where you think you get your information on Morgan. But I can guarentee that you don't have a clue what you are talking about. The only thing you've said that I can agree with is that she is attractive and she does have a fanbase. If she didn't have a fanbase then I'm sure we'd hear many more complaints about getting her replaced but for the time being with the show being moved to G4 she is actually keeping the show together by helping keep Adam on. Give her some credit, you don't like it then don't watch..
Must we kill EVERY Rapper in this world in order to have a sane awards show of any kind AGAIN??
I caught exactly 30 seconds of this "Awards Show" before changing the channel. The only thing I saw was the game "Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater" being nominated for "Game of the Year". Is it just me, or has that game only been released for about two weeks. Also, the year's not yet over.
So, if they'll nominate brand new titles (i.e., one's that haven't been evaluated over time to see if they hold that special something) for "Game of the Year" and they'll do this before the end of the year, it leaves one conclusion.
The "Awards Show" was nothing more than a hackneyed marketing shceme to showcase this season's holiday lineup. Nothing more, nothing less.
I always get the shakes before a drop.
CD: 74 minutes (tops) entertainment for $15: $12/hour
Movie (theater): 2 hours (tops) for $12: $6/hour
Videogame (i.e. KOTOR): 30 hours (minimum) for $50: $1.60/ hour
This is definitly simplistic, but in terms of hours of entertainment/ dollar, videogames are a decent bargain.
1984 was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual.
It doesn't surprise me that the gaming awards are immediately as tired and ridculous as MTV's music video awards have become. There was a time when music videos were awarded for the art form that they can be. Gone are the days when a Neil Young music video can win video of the year, without ever once being broadcast on MTV! MTV banned the video yet it remarkable won best video that year. That was back when the award for the best video went to the "best video" instead of the "most requested on TRL" video. These types of awards shows are not to be taken seriously.
As the owner of one of those gamer sites, and a company that manages LAN party events, I agree completely.
I realize that there are those out there who are just wanting to have a good time. I can be one of them. But I also am a businessman who is working in a business that is growing and will eventually be considered "respectable". But the likes of the Spike awards show will not hasten that respectability.
Additionally, since we run LAN parties we see a LOT of those gamers that this show is supposed to represent. they are not rappers, they are ordinary people who really look up to the programmers and other visionaries who create the entertainment they are partaking in. Why cheapen that with people who have nothing to do with the industry, and women who wouldn't dare come into a major event dressed like that without a security force of some size around them.
I think it's about time that the people who write teh games, and the people who play the games should have a say in what is award worthy, and what is not. Let the industry itself decide what's worth the awards. Use the industry movers and shakers as the people who are presenting. Use the groups that had music IN the games as the musical interludes. Heck, do like the Oscars, and have the songs that are up for awards be the ones that are played.
Don't insult the average gamer with drivel that they can't relate to.
That's just the rantings of an experienced gamer, but still...
Here I come to save the da... *thud*
I gotta get me a shorter cape.
Allow me to respond with Vampire Raiders: Ninja Queen!!! OK, your point is taken, some video games are just as bad as some movies. I highly recommend watching the referenced movie, however. It is sort of like a painting done by a mentally retarded elephant. You should see it just to see what a mentally retarded elephant can paint.
I did the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences awards show a few years ago -- I was inducted into the hall of fame one year, then the next year I inducted Will Wright.
I hated it, but it is a big industry, and there is a broad range of people involved. Honestly, I'm almost certainly in the minority. One developer that I was talking to backstage was very bullish about how important it was to legitimize the industry with events like this, but I just don't have any empathy for what I perceive as "Hollywood envy".
Some award show issues are just a result of stupidity -- I felt so bad watching Hironobu Sakaguchi of Squaresoft, a non-native english speaker, being forced to read a long speech written by some PR type about me. I threw out what they gave me to say about Will, and wrote something more to the point myself.
I do feel that there is a rather fundamental mismatch with big awards shows for game development, because game development isn't a performing art. You expect actors and musicians to show well, because that is what they do. Why aren't awards for authors the same glamorous events that the movie / TV / music ones are? Game developers are much closer to authors than actors.
John Carmack