Normally, reviews in the world of gaming are usually reserved for the games themselves (and occasionally, gaming hardware and peripherals), but why should gaming events escape the radar gun (good or bad)? I don't think they should, and because of that, here it is, without further ado, my review of Spike's much-hyped Video Game Awards.First off, let's get the bad stuff out of the way. Now it goes without saying that the show this year is, overall, a much-deserved improvement over last years, but some really good stuff from last year's show has been left out. For example, I really appreciated the little "video-game side shows" (where characters from the games would be in a little mini-show often related to the next catagory or just the show in general) from last year, but for some reason, not a single one was present this year. Also not too good was the lack of rock acts. Sure there were some here and there, but overall they were light in presence when compared to the vast number of hip-hop acts (though I certainly had no problem with the number of rap acts at the show). And speaking of the music, that's another problem I had with this year's awards show. It was MUCH more music-orienated this year than last year. That's not saying I hated the music parts. In fact, I liked a good majority of them (Motley Crue's reunion, Snoop Dogg 'n' Pharrel, etc.). The problem is, the music stuff just straight up overpowered the video game-related stuff (very light this year). Overall, I just feel that this year's awards didn't do enough for the games, and felt more like trying to emulate other non-gaming events (particularly MTV's awards shows) because of that. And while on the music, let's not forget some harsh love for Snoop D-O-double g, as it seemed as though there was always a collection of boos' coming his way when he performed (shamelessly climaxing when the audience was asked to say his name at the end of the "Drop it like it's hot" performance). Truely unfair. Also (and finally moving away from the music stuff), some of game award winners, when prompted to go up on stage and speak, seemed nervous and didn't really give too much "thanks" if you know what I mean. Also, some big game nominees got some surprisenly little attention at the show, which really upsetted me (again, the show's move to "less-video-games,-more-music 'n' film" probably had something to do with it). And yes, in case you were wondering, there are some other negative things that I could touch on, but I simply don't want to.
I simply don't want to touch on those things because I feel as though I've dwelled on negative quite enough. Yes, every award show has its bad moments (particularly those hyped like crazy, as is the case with the Video Game Awards for '04), but if they're worth any ****, they'll also have their good moments (as is also the case with the Video Game Awards for '04). One big bonus was seeing the man himself, Samuel L. Jackson, up in the house. It seemed as though he actaully enjoyed his time there, as was seen. Also, as I said earlier, a couple of the performances were really good, with the best hip-hop performance being Snoop Dogg and Pharrel, not with "Drop It Like It's Hot", but actually another song they performed just earlier (a premier in fact, though it's slipped my mind at the time). And as for the best rock performance, it'd have to be Motley Crue with any of their two performances. As for which one of the two (Snoop and Pharrel, Motley Crue) had the best performance, it, well,....I'll let you decide. But let's get to the highlights for the games. A few of them included introspectives for each of the nominees for "Game of the Year/Most Addictive Game of the Year" (seemed as though the people on those introspectives actually seemed as though they played the game, at least, not ready from a PR que-card). Another was, or should I say were, the special "previews" for future game releases, including the Godfather (ah yes, I have a offer you can't refuse) and a few others. Sure the previews were nothing more than short edited trailers, but it nice to see atleast some game footage on them nonetheless (hell, it's not I get to go to E3, atleast for the time being anyway). And lastly, but certainly not least, there were those hot looking chicks in lingerie (supermodels?) that read those "cheats" in that special segment, saying the button presses all sexy 'n' all. Yeah, so what if it was dumb and not TOO related to games. Them girls were damn hot, and that's all to need be said.
Overall, I feel as though this year's awards have taken a few step forward to being "normal", but have also taken a few steps back in the eyes of "cool" for most gamers. Next year's awards will definitely improve, but to what degree is indeterminable at the time, and for their sake, they'd better be more about the games than the other stuff, or else they could easily lose out, and for those without digital cable (or G4 Tech TV), that's the most possible worst-case scenario of it all.
