VIDEO GAMES' BIGGEST NIGHT

It was a beautiful night at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, this year's site for the 2008 Spike TV Video Game Awards. The 6th annual awards show proved to be the biggest and best one yet with such stars as Neil Patrick Harris, Eliza Dushku, and Kiefer Sutherland on hand, Weezer, 50 Cent, LL Cool J, and the All-American Rejects performing, and hosted by the larger-than-life Jack Black (some of whom you can see in the video of my exploits on the red carpet before the actual show).

The show kicked off with a bang with Jack Black coming out and doing what seemed like an endless tribute skit to all of us video game geeks, while at the same time poking fun at us as he sang about reading and healthy relationships being our mortal enemies as we progress onto video game heaven. Healthy relationships maybe, but reading the subtitles in cut-scenes is integral to the plot of any video game.

Aside from all the celebrities, and awesome musical performances, the thing a lot of us geeks were most anticipating were the reveals of new game trailers, giving many of us hope that 2009 would be even bigger and better than 2008. Trailers for God of War III, Mafia 2, Watchmen: The End is Nigh, Dante's Inferno, Fight Night Round 4, Uncharted 2, and the highly anticipated Brutal Legend were just a few of the many reveals that had fans salivating over the new year. Only time will tell whether these games end up walking away with some awards next year since trailers are always supposed to look good. It doesn't mean the game actually will be good (except God of War III; I have total faith in that dominating).

We are still in 2008, though, even if for only a short while longer, and the night revolved around the best of what this year had to offer. Some games were clearly head and shoulders above their competition, while others were tougher to call, and then there were some that I flat-out disagreed with. Just like other awards shows, whether it is music, movies, or whatever, some of the nominees get a huge gust of positive hype in their sails and it propels them to the trophy when they are not worthy of the title. In my opinion, this was the case on several occasions for this awards show, as well.

"So just who walked away with what?" you may ask. Well, the video game community gathered, as many developers waited nervously to see how their years of hard work would be received by the expert panel, and here are how some of the biggest awards panned out:

Best Team Sports Game is pretty dull when it comes to nominees. You're always going to have nominees from the five biggest sports (yes, soccer is included due to its worldwide appeal). This year was no different. Madden 09, NBA 2K9, NHL 09, and FIFA 09 were the nominees. Madden is always a favorite due to its mass appeal, but there were rumors that it would fall short this year because most hardcore Madden gamers had a lot of complaints about it compared to previous years. NBA 2K9 was almost a pity nominee just so that EA Sports did not sweep the nominees. This left FIFA and the NHL, two of the least popular sports in the U.S.A. and more popular sports worldwide with a chance at the trophy. To my pleasant surprise, NHL 09 arose victorious and I agreed on every level. It was easily the most accurate sports simulation of the year, with new features like "Be a Pro" mode to compliment the thorough "Dynasty" mode, this was the right choice for Best Sports Game.

Best Shooter was another category that I thought the panel nailed right on the head. The nominees were Gears of War 2, Left 4 Dead, Resistance 2, and Far Cry 2. I knew this was going to Gears of War 2 the instance I beat that game because I've said it before, and I'll say it again, there is no more satisfying feeling than sneaking up behind someone and slicing them to ribbons with the Lancer Chainsaw Rifle. Plain and simple. The others games did not even come close in my mind. Resistance 2 seemed like they had tried to copy as many things from Gears as possible and had taken away the heart that Resistance 1 had. Left 4 Dead was nice, but it was just another carbon copy of all zombie shooters that have come out since Resident Evil 4. Far Cry 2 did not even register on my radar it paled so much in comparison to Gears of War 2. In what seemed like the year of sequel, Gears of War 2 was a sequel that went above and beyond the first in ways you could only hope for and was very deserving of the Best Shooter trophy. Gears of War 2 also walked away with Best XBOX360 Game, giving it two awards in the five categories it was nominated in.

One of the categories that made me grind my teeth in frustration was Best Wii Game. I thought the system was very well represented with the nominees. Boom Blox, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, No More Heroes, and Wii Fit were great selections because it showed the range of the Nintendo Wii. The fact that the award went to Boom Blox though shows that most people do not give the Wii the respect it deserves. Yes, you do not think of the Wii for hardcore gamers, but when you have Super Smash Bros. Brawl, which was also robbed of Best Fighter by another overrated game in Soul Caliber 4, that is another in the long list of dominate franchises Nintendo has and had an amazing story mode to go with the combat, you just have to shake your head when the trophy falls to something like Boom Blox. Even if No More Heroes had won, you could agree with it. No More Heroes comes from the insane mind of Suda 51 and the anime graphics style that it was created with, the over the top combat, and the fact that the hero had the greatest weapon ever created as his main tool, a lightsaber, made this guilty pleasure more than worthy. Instead, the award went to Jenga on steroids. Have we not learned that everything Steven Spielberg has made in the past 10 years or so is absolute garbage? Yes, Boom Blox is a fun multi-player game, especially for kids 10 and under, but in terms of showing what the system could do, or being revolutionary, this game was ridiculously overrated. The people who voted for this probably also loved Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Curse you Steven Spielberg, why do people still love you for things you did 20 years ago and fail to look at the crap you have been force-feeding us for the past 10? I also just realized that Steven Speilberg and Brett Favre must be related somehow.

Another category that made me just shake my head with frustration was Best Studio. This award goes to the game studio that went above and beyond its competition for 2008. The nominees were Media Molecule for Little Big Planet (on the PS3), Rockstar North for Grand Theft Auto 4 (on the PS3 and XBOX360), Harmonix for Rock Band 2 (on the Wii, XBOX360, and PS3), and Bethesda Game Studios for Fallout 3 (on the PS3 and XBOX360). Media Molecule walked away with this, and no offense to Media Molecule, but Little Big Planet is another game that Sony sank so much money into its advertising that, I guess, people were hypnotized by the simplest game I've ever played. Little Big Planet is a cute game, but again, this is a game better suited for gamers under the age of 10 that just had a revved up Create a Level mode. For the work and time that went into GTA 4 and considering the high level of product that was produced, there was no way Rockstar should not have come away with this. Especially since GTA 4 was named OVERALL GAME OF THE YEAR. GTA 4 is one of those rare occurrences when a game with so much hype and press actually lives up to it when it comes out. It is a travesty that Little Big Planet and Media Molecule got as much as it did for such an overhyped game. Little Big Planet also won Best PS3 Game over Metal Gear Solid 4 and GTA 4. I just have trouble understanding how a game that wins Overall Game of the Year, like GTA 4, does not come away with more awards. Were they trying to just "share the love"? At least GTA 4's getting Overall Game of the Year I agreed with.

So that was a taste of the 2008 Spike TV Video Game Awards. Check out the VGA page here http://www.spike.com/event/vga to see some of those amazing trailers I mentioned and to get the list of winners from all 25 categories. I want to give a special thanks to Geoff Keighley, Aileen Budow, David Schwarz, and the rest of the great people at Spike TV for extending me the invite and for accommodating me on the red carpet. It was easily the highlight of my year as a gamer and a journalist and it meant a lot to me to be there. Also, special congratulations to Will Wright for winning the Video Game Lifetime Achievement Award for creating Spore and The Sims series.

This was a great way to honor everything that happened this year in gaming and here is to a great 2009. See you in the New Year, folks.

-Ray Carsillo