Hello all. Your Friendly Neighborhood Satanist is back with some news, nothing too special. If you watch Extra Credits, you've probably seen their "Our Oscars" episode, if not then go watch.
It's basically a run-down on how the Spike TV Video Game Awards show is far from what the Game Industry needs in terms of an Oscar, Grammy, Tony, or Emmy-type of event. The reason behind that is because when Oscar season comes around, a bunch of films that decide to step out of the circle of the norm come out. These ideas normally wouldn't fly but if the pitcher of the idea throws in "It's Oscar material" combined with a good enough pitch, the movie will get greenlighted, with the Film Industry and the viewing community benefiting all the more.
The Games Industry would absolutely thrive from this, and while the VGA's are a somewhat sideways step forward, they have too much of the other mediums involved. Why not get Tim Schaefer, Peter Molyneaux, Ken Levine, or hell, even celebrities who adore games like Jack Black and Felicia Day host or present awards? Now, this is a lot of information taken from the episode, which also mentions the closest thing we have to an Oscar is the Interactive Achievement Awards, hosted by DICE. Take a look at the awards given out by the IAA, and then go google the VGA's for this year. Notice a difference in game acknowledgement, the VGA's tend to stay away from stuff that sold under 1 million units. Ah well.
And here are the awards:
Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Outstanding Innovation in Gaming: Skylanders Spyro's Adventure
Action Game of the Year: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Adventure Game of the Year: Batman: Arkham City
Role-Playing/Massively Multiplayer Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Sports Game of the Year: FIFA 12
Racing Game of the Year: Forza Motorsport 4
Fighting Game of the Year: Mortal Kombat
Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year: Orcs Must Die!
Family Game of the Year: LittleBigPlanet 2
Outstanding Achievement in Online Gameplay: Star Wars: The Old Republic
Outstanding Achievement in Connectivity: Portal 2
Outstanding Achievement in Animation: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineering: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Mobile Game of the Year: Infinity Blade II
Handheld Game of the Year: Super Mario 3D Land
Downloadable Game of the Year: Bastion
Casual Game of the Year: Fruit Ninja Kinect
Social Networking Game of the Year: The Sims Social
Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition: Portal 2
Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design: Battlefield 3
Outstanding Achievement in Story: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Outstanding Character Performance: Portal 2 (Wheatley)
Funny how Skyrim won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Story. Its a good game but it certainly does not have a memorable story. It's quite generic to be honest.
