So, I watched the VGA 2008, and in general I have to say I’m rather disappointed. I’ll admit, I don’t watch a lot of award shows outside of the Academy Awards, but this was just disgraceful in my opinion. The first word that comes to mind is “embarrassing”, following closely by “misogynistic” and “sell-out”.
The opening act, featuring Jack Black, was pretty funny. Exceedingly sketchy and about as graphic as the puppet sex in Team America, but quite funny. From there, it went downhill. The entire show was aimed squarely at guys, with half-naked girls prancing around and delivering stupid lines about how hot they are and why they’re not wearing pants. It was pathetic.
Add to that the ridiculous, and I mean truly absurd, number of product placements, and it felt more like a 2-hour advertisement than any sort of awards show. Most of the show was spent on poorly-written and acted skits, various musical acts (which, while fun, are largely irrelevant), and lots of “world exclusive trailers” that anyone could pick up the next day on Youtube.
The award segments themselves were largely skimmed over, including a special “and the winners are” segment that listed most of award winners in rapid succession without any sort of revelry or honor for the winners.
Frankly, if the games industry ever wants to be taken seriously and match music and movies (something that they mentioned often enough in the show that it was obvious they have a tremendous chip on their shoulder), they need to start taking themselves at least a little seriously. This was a sad circus show, and the only thing I really enjoyed were the sincere acceptance speeches. It’s good to have fun, but there’s a line that can be crossed, and I think when Jack Black started shooting sparks from his crotch during a pelvic thrust at Satan, the VGA lept full-speed across that line.
Touche’ on that – I was just hoping this was just being broadcast on Spike, not written and directed by Spike personnel. It’s my understanding that this is essentially the Academy Awards of main stream videogames. If that’s not true, please correct me, but until The ESA or some other group decides to step up, this is all we’ve got (excepting of course the IGF, but that’s not main stream).
You pretty much summed up why I don’t watch much video game coverage anymore, but instead, read about it; the way they present some of the stuff is just absurd. I’m glad I didn’t watch this year’s awards, because judging by the description you gave, I probably would have thought the same.
I remember awhile back, E3 downsized itself, getting rid of the “booth babes” and the huge amount of electronics it used to try to focus more on the games. I remember it because my friends at school, and a few on various forums, complained about how it ruined E3. I thought it was a great idea; better to be taken seriously and learn about / congratulate a team for what they’ve done, rather than make a joke out of the whole thing.
I doubt it’ll change any time soon, though; there are people out there that don’t mind it. I wish they could take a step outside and realize that if they acted more mature at their awards and game shows, they might draw a larger interest, crowd, and possible revenue. But they’ll probably continue doing this kind of stuff for years to come until they realize “maybe we should try something different.”
Another problem is the video game industry isn’t really producing anything relevant. All of the games that get recognized by these things are the movie equivalent to Live Free or Die Hard. Pretty good, but nothing spectacular. There isn’t any Annie Halls or Crashes or even Chicagoes in the game industry, they’re all the same, summer action flick. All the game industry is pumping out these things. The only way to get some emotional content is to play the Japanese RPGs, and even those are all the same. The Icos and the indie games aren’t represented at all at these things.
The closest thing a video game industry got to what a game could be story wise was Dues Ex, and even that got a shitty sequal. And it hasn’t been done since, with the possible exception of Pathologic.
While there are some indie designers that are doing well (I’m looking at you, Nifflas and cactus) but even then that is more of the same.[/rant]
There is some truth in what you say, though I think we are heading in the right direction to some extent.
Gears of War II was definitely summer action flick. But look at some of the other big nominees this year. Braid offered some real artistic qualities, if perhaps a bit of an insane and impossibly dense story. Grand Theft Auto IV broke well outside of simple action and instead addressed a lot of relevant topics in this world. I haven’t played Bioshock and Fallout 3 yet, but they’re both supposed to have incredible stories that are far deeper than a summer blockbuster. So yeah, we’re going beyond where we were, though there’s a long way to go.
There isn’t any Annie Halls or Crashes or even Chicagoes in the game industry, they’re all the same, summer action flick. All the game industry is pumping out these things. The only way to get some emotional content is to play the Japanese RPGs, and even those are all the same. The Icos and the indie games aren’t represented at all at these things.
You could probably blame either the developers OR the publishers for that, though.
Good example would be Hellgate: London. Flagship had a great idea on their hands. . . But they fell into the rut of “Oh, this other idea, WoW, worked.” And then the publisher pushed it out early to rake in the money (Or so I hear. Not 100% on that, though the game definitely felt unfinished!)
If the industry started treating itself seriously, and developers started taking chances on things that may or may not work, we’d probably have a lot more variety out there than the summer action flick games, as you put it (which I do like as a comparison).
(Of course, another thing that would help a ton is to stop trying to make their games as “good looking” as they can and start focusing on the gameplay and the story again. I, myself, don’t care if that guy just exploded into 3 pieces in slow motion and you can see every detail. . . If your story sucks, no amount of detail in your graphics is going to make up for it.)
Braid offered some real artistic qualities, if perhaps a bit of an insane and impossibly dense story. Grand Theft Auto IV broke well outside of simple action and instead addressed a lot of relevant topics in this world. I haven’t played Bioshock and Fallout 3 yet, but they’re both supposed to have incredible stories that are far deeper than a summer blockbuster. So yeah, we’re going beyond where we were, though there’s a long way to go.
Braid was definitely good; I need to buy that when I get some more money. Grand Theft Auto IV, nor Fallout 3, I can’t comment on.
BioShock wasn’t too great, though. The storyline, once you hunted around and found all the audio tapes, was actually rather overdone. I won’t comment on it, since you haven’t played it, but it was nothing spectacular. Coupled with how straight-forward the gameplay was, I’d call it another example of developers needing to stop focusing on visuals and start focusing on story and gameplay.
Keep in mind, some of these complaints are the same as those heard for the movie industry. People blame the big producers for dumbing down of movies and only playing to the big audiences and the big money. They see indy movies as the true art. Sound familiar? There’s always going to be some element of playing the masses. And, while I hate how sequel happy everyone is, I’m not expecting to get out of the fact that it’s still a business. But even the movie industry knows how to take itself seriously.
Keep in mind, some of these complaints are the same as those heard for the movie industry. People blame the big producers for dumbing down of movies and only playing to the big audiences and the big money. They see indy movies as the true art. Sound familiar? There’s always going to be some element of playing the masses. And, while I hate how sequel happy everyone is, I’m not expecting to get out of the fact that it’s still a business. But even the movie industry knows how to take itself seriously.
Sounds very familiar, yes.
It may just be me, though, but the playing to the masses seems more pronounced in video games than movies. That may be because it’s a relatively new industry, though. It feels that everytime some huge first person shooter comes out, 6 more follow that play the same, but just look different. Again, might just be me, though.
it was a big commercial and blatantly obvious subliminal messaging too.
I want to be in the video game business, and this, makes it look like a joke.
And you are right about Spike TV, other than the usual shows on there, one I do not like is Worlds Wildest Police Videos, even though it is quite amusing, it is totally biased in favor of the police officers
(i.e. a guy is running from the cops going 10 miles over the speed limit on the right side of the road, commentary “this crazed maniac is putting civilians at great risk while he…” , now if a cop drives on the wrong side of the road, going 30 miles over the limit “the brave officer makes an daring attempt to stop this madman’s rampage before he can harm any more helpless civilians”)
The very first film screening ever was in 1894. The earliest known video game was made in 1947.
I’m sure that in 2061, an actual mature VGA ceremony will be warranted. As it is now, the VGA ceremony is so utterly lacking in redeeming value simply because the medium hasn’t matured much.
What’s even worse is that films had theater to draw on, as something of a base art from which to branch out. Video games have no analogue with transferable ideas, unless you’re talking about video games based on board games or something like D&D.
pmr0078: I just can’t help imagining 3 people in smokings and plug hats, drinking sherry in leather armchairs in front of a brass-and-walnut PS3. “I say, old bean, if you possessed the friendliness to pass me that there controlling device, i shall soundly whip thine posterior at Alley Fisticuffs 4.” “Splendid, chap, we shall commence a tournament then.”
I think part of the problem is that gaming still has kind of a “basement dweller’s pastime” air to it, even though everyone does it, and for some reason the gaming industry does only strange things to change that. Instead of making an effort to get some seriously interesting games out there that might have a movie-like appeal to make people want to know about its contents, there’s “look we do non-shooting stuff too” games like The Sims for those outside the “initiated”, and nothing but the same games with better graphics for the already won demographic. seriously, i’d have a hard time to explain to anyone what’s it about video games, because the games suitable to make someone who doesn’t care too much for them want to play one are very, very few.
I understand the stigma associated it, but why make excuses? Video games want to be treated as art and as equals to the movie industry. Yet they make themselves look like idiots on their grand stage. I really don’t care that video games are 50 years younger than movies. That’s a sad excuse and is highly irrelevant. Sure, the medium is still evolving, but that doesn’t mean that we have to rely on sexism and pelvic thrusts to entertain and honor our most talented members of our community. We probably had more in common with the porn industry’s awards show than with the Academy Awards. It’s bad marketing, it’s stupid, and it’s a tremendous disservice to the incredible talent in the industry.
Oh, they still pander to the horny guys, too. Have you seen AotS? Much of it seems focused on trying to get the female co-host in as compromising a position as possible. It’s just…well…pathetic, as this topic has identified.
G4’s glory days are long over. After that merger with Tech TV, things went downhill for them. They cancelled Portal for God’s sake. I loved that show. T_T
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