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SpikeTV VGA 10 to be hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, Sneak Peak at Next-Gen.

Sentenza

Member
Try hard at what?

That was kind of an easy way to show I believe they are rather equal, simply different in tone.
Except they aren't.
One is a fratboy party crossed with a commercial marathon and disguised as an award.
The other, like it or not, is an actual ceremony, where developers are recognized as the creative talent behind games and awarded for their accomplishments.

More to the point: you can dislike both, but don't even try to pretend they are in the same league, because they aren't.
 

Riposte

Member
Except they aren't.
One is a fratboy party crossed with a commercial marathon and disguised as an award.
The other, like it or not, is an actual ceremony, where developers are recognized as the creative talent behind games and awarded for their accomplishments.

If I'm correct they both function on the same criteria. Voted in by judges selected from media (media whom give out their own awards without the circus and cameras). You are simply warping reality to your dudebro-hunting mentality if you want to say SpikeTV's award show isn't a ceremony. If you take the ceremony out and simply focus on the lists and winners, I don't see how they are very far apart.

They are both rather pompous events (ceremonies) where criticism takes a backseat (this is why award ceremonies are a joke, all the way up to the oscars). Simply different flavors. One sort of pretension (where lil videogaems tries to put on daddy's suit (which looks totally dumb on him) and act like what he thinks an adult is) appeals to you, while MTV music awards crossed with macho man randy savage scares you away. The latter is the way it is because whoever is behind it realizes how terribly boring it would be to watch a serious videogame award ceremony without teasers or at the very least beautiful, charismatic people winning (let alone high-quality skits those beautiful people are acting in). While some mediums can get away with it within their "core" audiences, videogames simply doesn't have the history of pseudo-intellecual circle-jerking to counteract the "dumb", "mainstream" pleasure seekers. Hollywood has turned ass-licking on the red carpet into an industry. Turned pictures of B-list actors while they eat at McDonalds into a religious props.

At the end of the day if SpikeTV says Call of Duty is the best game ever and BAFTA says Heavy Rain is not a profoundly shitty game or that Red Dead Redemption is the best, what does it matter when Vanquish is better than all that, but completely absent? You can turn IGN's Top 100 games of alllll timeeee into the Oscars or the MTV movie awards, but what does that matter... really? At the very least SpikeTV has a "so bad its good" factor (and "so bad, it trolls me and gives me something to release stress at" factor) and the neat trailers. I have to assume that's why anyone on GAF watches it.
 

Hanmik

Member
you to should get a room...

And maybe Samuel has a new "snake" game to unveil...

next year they probably will have Wesley Snipes ..
 

Sentenza

Member
If I'm correct they both function on the same criteria. Voted in by judges selected from media (media whom give out their own awards without the circus and cameras). You are simply warping reality to your dudebro-hunting mentality if you want to say SpikeTV's award show isn't a ceremony. If you take the ceremony out and simply focus on the lists and winners, I don't see how they are very far apart.

They are both rather pompous events (ceremonies) where criticism takes a backseat (this is why award ceremonies are a joke, all the way up to the oscars). Simply different flavors. One sort of pretension (where lil videogaems tries to put on daddy's suit (which looks totally dumb on him) and act like what he thinks an adult is) appeals to you, while MTV music awards crossed with macho man randy savage scares you away. The latter is the way it is because whoever is behind it realizes how terribly boring it would be to watch a serious videogame award ceremony without teasers or at the very least beautiful, charismatic people winning (let alone high-quality skits those beautiful people are acting in). While some mediums can get away with it within their "core" audiences, videogames simply doesn't have the history of pseudo-intellecual circle-jerking to counteract the "dumb", "mainstream" pleasure seekers. Hollywood has turned ass-licking on the red carpet into an industry. Turned pictures of B-list actors while they eat at McDonalds into a religious props.

At the end of the day if SpikeTV says Call of Duty is the best game ever and BAFTA says Heavy Rain is not a profoundly shitty game or that Red Dead Redemption is the best, what does it matter when Vanquish is better than all that, but completely absent? You can turn IGN's Top 100 games of alllll timeeee into the Oscars or the MTV movie awards, but what does that matter... really? At the very least SpikeTV has a "so bad its good" factor (and "so bad, it trolls me and gives me something to release stress at" factor) and the neat trailers. I have to assume that's why anyone on GAF watches it.
I can't really agree with virtually anything you said, but let me address just a few points.

1) I really don't care about what games they choose to award and why, it's the "how" that matters for the sake of this argument. So no, I'm not joining you in your outrage and freaking over BAFTA giving a prize to a game I don't like, because that's entirely beyond the point.

2) If you're so insecure about your hobby to think it should "know its place" and don't mess with adult stuff, that's really your problem.
I'm completely unapologetic about my interest for games and I don't feel the urge to distance myself from everyone taking them seriously or even intellectualizing them to some extent.

3) I'm not really in a "dudebro-hunting mentality". Just because I don't deny that the "fratboy" (or dudebro) approach to a matter exists, it doesn't mean it's my main concern. Or that I think it's particularly worse than other kind of annoying attitudes.

4) Whatever you think it's "pretentious" is not really relevant to me. My point about developers stands. If you watch the VGA they make almost sound like games materialize themselves out of thin air just for the sake of giving cool stuff to their audience. While during BAFTA you get some introductory speech for every single award assigned, pointing the professional or artistic merits of developers and even giving them a chance to make their "thanks" speech, which may be boring for you but probably matters for them.
 

-PXG-

Member
I will only watch this train wreck if I'm terribly drunk. No way in hell I could stomach this abortion of a glorified commercial sober
 

Haunted

Member
World premieres of next generation hardware/games might even get me to watch Youtube videos of those a couple days later.



For all the complaining we watch it live every year on here.

It's fun with a live gaf commentary.
Well, I don't.
 
I seriously doubt "next-gen" would be just the UE4 stuff. It may or may not be hardware but I definitely expect some form of game. There has gotta be some other developers with something to show.
 

Riposte

Member
2) If you're so insecure about your hobby to think it should "know its place" and don't mess with adult stuff, that's really your problem.

You misunderstand where I am coming from. I feel the opposite way. The whole movement towards the videogame award show is basically born out of trying to emulate other mediums which are looked at favorably (i.e. "mature"). While for SpikeTV this takes a backseat for making a show of teasers and "hilarious" celebrities being gamer gaiz and gamer gurlz, BAFTA goes full force. This showy stuff is something we don't need in terms of criticism and something we generally don't want (or haven't been told we want) in terms of people just watching shit. The best case scenario for this videogames Oscars is that you create a machine that feeds and pamper egos (egos which will then return the favor by putting this machine on a pedestal of importance, especially the insecure ones) and can easily get out of control where that machine becomes more important than anything else (this happens in other mediums). The oscar-bait and "City (comma) State" indie festivals to follow. (EDIT: To be more clear, videogames are coming out of an environment where these tradition-centered ceremonies no longer form naturally. Internet age, buzzword, buzzword, etc.)

Also I can live without the bad criticism from IGN, Edge, etc etc becoming more prolific even if that means we don't get to hand out little golden men like daddy.
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Ill do the same thing i do every year.
Sleep the night of the VGAs wake up the next morning watch the trailers.

NeoGIF will probably have gifs of the best and worst eventually so i have no reason to suffer through however many hours this show runs for.
 

ArjanN

Member
Let's hope they actually present the awards and not scroll through 2/3rds of them in a one minute montage.

They can just quickly scroll through them again. No-one is watching for the awards anyway.

I'll watch it for the trailers, and just tune out/laugh at the dumb stuff in between.
 

mclem

Member
Haven't gotten through 5 mins of the previous shows without getting douche chills. Needless to say as a gamer I'm embarrassed this supposedly represents the best the industry has to offer.

I've never even *seen* the VGAs, but from what I've heard of it... I'm so proud we have the BAFTAs.
 

GungHo

Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
you to should get a room...

And maybe Samuel has a new "snake" game to unveil...

next year they probably will have Wesley Snipes ..
That would be an interesting first gig after getting out of prison.
 

NeoUltima

Member
As usual, will watch for the 'exclusive reveals'. Will also smh (and sometimes laugh) at how they portray the gaming community.
 
It does on the website yes. There was absolutely nothing next gen last night.
I'm betting that's a cross gen game. Same as Watch_Dogs, IMHO. You won't see "NextBox/PS4" logo on any games yet so it's a valid reasoning to think some of those titles are cross-gen.
 
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