Spike VGAs 2012 - Prepare for Despair... And to be embarrassed.

Unco-ordinated

We're just one week away from yet another year's clusterfuck of stupidity and people will obviously want somewhere where we can all complain and suffer through it together. This is the place. This thread is your support group.

When? December 7th, 9PM ET/6PM PT.

Host? Samuel L. Jackson.

Why do we care? Video game announcements. The show itself is a joke but they've had some pretty big reveals over the last few years, so that alone is usually worth suffering through it.

What announcements do we know of? So far, just these games but there are bound to be surprises:

• The Last of Us
• Gears of War: Judgement
• South Park: The Stick of Truth
• Castlevania: Lord of Shadow 2
• BioShock Infinite
• Tomb Raider
• Halo 4: Spartan Ops
• Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington

I'm expecting Dragon Age 3 and Rainbow Six Patriots to be two of the surprises.

Nominations? Why do you care? Oh well, here's the full list:

Game of the Year

• Assassin's Creed III
• Dishonored
• Journey
• Mass Effect 3
• The Walking Dead

Best Action Game

• Assassin's Creed III
• Darksiders II
• Dishonored
• Sleeping Dogs

Best Shooter

• Borderlands 2
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• Halo 4
• Max Payne 3

Best RPG

• Diablo III
• Mass Effect 3
• Torchlight II
• Xenoblade Chronicles

Best Multi-Player Game

• Borderlands 2
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• Guild Wars 2
• Halo 4

Best Fighting Game

• Dead or Alive 5
• Persona 4 Arena
• Street Fighter X Tekken
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2

Best Driving Game

• DiRT: Showdown
• F1 2012
• Forza Horizon
• Need for Speed Most Wanted

Best Team Sports Game

• FIFA Soccer 13
• Madden NFL 13
• NBA 2K13
• NHL 13

Best Individual Sports Game

• Hot Shots Golf World Invitational
• SSX
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13
• WWE '13

Best Xbox 360 Game

• Assassin's Creed III
• Borderlands 2
• Dishonored
• Halo 4

Best PS3 Game

• Assassin's Creed III
• Borderlands 2
• Dishonored
• Journey

Best Wii/Wii U Game

• New Super Mario Bros. U
• The Last Story
• Xenoblade Chronicles
• ZombiU

Best PC Game

• Diablo III
• Guild Wars 2
• Torchlight II
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Best Handheld/Mobile Game

• Gravity Rush
• LittleBigPlanet PS Vita
• New Super Mario Bros. 2
• Sound Shapes

Best Social Game

• Draw Something
• Marvel: Avengers Alliance
• SimCity Social
• You Don't Know Jack

Best Downloadable Game

• Fez
• Journey
• Sound Shapes
• The Walking Dead

Best DLC

• Dawnguard - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
• Leviathan - Mass Effect 3
• Mechromancer Pack - Borderlands 2
• Perpetual Testing Initiative - Portal 2

Best Independent Game

• Dust: An Elysian Tail
• Fez
• Journey
• Mark of the Ninja

Best Adapted Video Game

• Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
• Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
• The Walking Dead
• Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

Studio of the Year

• 343 Industries
• Arkane Studios
• Gearbox Software
• Telltale Games

Most Anticipated Game

• BioShock Infinite
• Grand Theft Auto V
• South Park: The Stick of Truth
• The Last of Us
• Tomb Raider

Best Graphics

• Assassin's Creed III
• Dishonored
• Halo 4
• Journey

Best Song in a Game

• "Castle of Glass" by Linkin Park - Medal of Honor Warfighter
• "Cities" by Beck - Sound Shapes
• "I Was Born For This" by Austin Wintory - Journey
• "Tears" by Health - Max Payne 3

Best Original Score

• Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• Halo 4
• Journey
• Max Payne 3

Best Performance by a Human Male

• Dameon Clarke as Handsome Jack - Borderlands 2
• Dave Fennoy as Lee Everret - The Walking Dead
• James Mccaffrey as Max Payne - Max Payne 3
• Nolan North as Captain Martin Walker - Spec Ops: The Line

Best Performance by a Human Female

• Emma Stone as Amanda Cartwright - Sleeping Dogs
• Jen Taylor as Cortana - Halo 4
• Jennifer Hale as Commander Shepard - Mass Effect 3
• Melissa Hutchison as Clementine - The Walking Dead

Character of the Year

• Connor - Assassin's Creed III
• Commander Shepard - Mass Effect 3
• Claptrap - Borderlands 2
• Master Chief - Halo 4
• Raul Menendez - Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

They're all user voted, so feel free to go here and vote.

Brought to you by C-list celebrities, Doritos and Mountain Dew.

Henroid

Why are the Wii and Wii U mashed up into one category?

Unco-ordinated

They had to make room for "Human Males" and "Human Females"? I dunno. Combining the handhelds all together is similarly dumb.

C2B

I can't wait to watch full-on teabagging performed by Samuel L. Jackson while the actual award winners either flash around at the bottom or get done in 1 minute clips.

Big Classy

Please show PREY2, its my most anticipated title of next year. Oh and no SPec Ops? Fuck that noise.

mere_immortal

Nice to see Dust nominated for something, even if it is in this shitstain of a show.

Unco-ordinated

A few more reveals have been announced:
Assassin's Creed III: The Tyranny of King Washington
BioShock Infinite
Halo 4: Spartan Ops
Tomb Raider

Snake Gandhi

I hear tell there's a chance we might get our first look at Destiny, so here's to hoping.

Also it seems MS will be showing it on Live.

Dark Raven X

Big Isy wrote: »

Please show PREY2, its my most anticipated title of next year. Oh and no SPec Ops? Fuck that noise.

It's in the best male VA section! In the best female VA section is Emma Stone for Amanda in Sleeping Dogs.

Amanda is in the game for all of 10 minutes, and sounds like Emma Stone on vacation. It is barely more than a cameo.

Melissa Hutchinson better win that for Clem in The Walking Dead; she plays a hella convincing (and realistic) kid through a huge range of possible scenarios. I had assumed Clem was voiced by a kid. :O

Fig-D

After getting burned by Dragon Age 2 (and for many the last part of Mass Effect 3) I don't think many people are expecting much out of DA3. For some reason, I'm actually really interested to see that series continue. I felt like DA2 did some really cool things, but while taking a step in the right direction they kinda missed a few of the stairs and ended up tumbling down 7 flights before finally landing on their neck at the bottom.

So yeah, DA3 is the reveal I'd be most interested in.

milski

I really wish Spec Ops was even nominated for best shooter, just because it is both an amazing game (that happens to be a shooter) and would be so obviously out of place in this sort of competition.

PurpleMonkey

I will in defense of this this thing at least their GOTY category has some not obvious choices ahead of some more popular dudebroey games like COD and Halo. Admittedly they have absolutely no chance of actually winning though

joshgotro

If Journey can get a GOTY nod, why isn't Spec Ops in there?

Dark Raven X

Because The Walking Dead and Dishonored are both contenders, and AC3 and ME3 are both moneyhatted. ;D

joshgotro

ROAR

Spoit

Fig-D wrote: »

After getting burned by Dragon Age 2 (and for many the last part of Mass Effect 3) I don't think many people are expecting much out of DA3. For some reason, I'm actually really interested to see that series continue. I felt like DA2 did some really cool things, but while taking a step in the right direction they kinda missed a few of the stairs and ended up tumbling down 7 flights before finally landing on their neck at the bottom.

So yeah, DA3 is the reveal I'd be most interested in.

Even though I no longer have confidence in bioware to actually write it, the lore of Orlais and the whole political maneuvering thing sounds interesting. Of course, it's kinda hard to have any nuance with having your conversation choices color coded into 3 options (AP excluded)

Of course any trailer would focus on the shiny-ness of frostbite rather than any actual substance.


Anyway, I get why something like this which is supposed to advertise games for the holliday season is pushed out so early, but (in general) why are goty lists always posted/voted on right on the end of the year, rather than giving a month or two for the "just played" effect to diminish a bit, and allow for a bit of perspective on the games that came out. Also, if even game journalists can't reasonably play all the major games up for awards before their voting period...

(I may be a little bitter about missing @mcc goty threads this year)

Fig-D

Dark Raven X wrote: »

Because The Walking Dead and Dishonored are both contenders, and AC3 and ME3 are both moneyhatted. ;D

That and games journalists have a massive hard on for Journey.

Unco-ordinated

Fig-D wrote: »

After getting burned by Dragon Age 2 (and for many the last part of Mass Effect 3) I don't think many people are expecting much out of DA3. For some reason, I'm actually really interested to see that series continue. I felt like DA2 did some really cool things, but while taking a step in the right direction they kinda missed a few of the stairs and ended up tumbling down 7 flights before finally landing on their neck at the bottom.

So yeah, DA3 is the reveal I'd be most interested in.

Yeah, I feel the same way. DA2 had plenty of flaws, especially with the story and design but you could always see that there was a good game behind all the bullshit. The gameplay was fun but the enemies and their placement, were not. The dungeons were fine, just not the 5th-20th time you had to run through them. And so on. Still, I think there was some promise and I'm really interested to see where DA3 goes, unlike ME3, which fucked up to the point where I just don't give a shit about that world/universe anymore.

Though it's not guaranteed that DA3 will be there anyway. It's just something I expect will happen, as they've announced it but haven't revealed any details. Plus, EA are the kind of company that would've seen that the VGA reveal worked for Skyrim and want to copy it.

Spoit wrote: »

Anyway, I get why something like this which is supposed to advertise games for the holliday season is pushed out so early, but (in general) why are goty lists always posted/voted on right on the end of the year, rather than giving a month or two for the "just played" effect to diminish a bit, and allow for a bit of perspective on the games that came out. Also, if even game journalists can't reasonably play all the major games up for awards before their voting period...

(I may be a little bitter about missing @mcc goty threads this year)

Agreed. This is one of the many reason why the Game Developers Choice Awards and BAFTA Game Awards are credible awards and next to none others are.

joshgotro wrote: »

If Journey can get a GOTY nod, why isn't Spec Ops in there?

Because Journey was amazing. It's certainly my GOTY.

Unknown

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Dark Raven X

Oh yeah, if Spike VGAs are community determined, ME3 is getting nothing.

Unknown

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Shadowfire

People still froth with some insanely unwarranted rage at ME3, that really hasn't changed.

I'm pleasantly surprised at some of the nominations here. Clementine? Xenoblade Chronicles? Soundshapes? Dust? There's some good mentions there that I wouldn't normally expect out of Spike.

Can we stop putting cross-platform releases up for "*console* game of the year" though? GameTrailers does this too, and it drives me nuts... you fall into a situation where Assassin's Creed becomes the GOTY for all consoles, while some platform specific titles lose out. Make a separate cross-platform nomination.


Then again, it's an awards show.. who really cares?

TehSpectre

While the VGAs are still terrible, I remember the first one and it was a special brand of horribleness.

We take baby steps every year towards a decent awards show.

I think about 10 more years and itll be worth watching!

Sweeney Tom

As bad as this is probably going to be, I am impressed with their GOTY category. Even though you know some of them have no chance of winning this award, pretty much all 5 of those games deserve to be in a GOTY category, so good on the VGAs for getting it right at least once.

TehSpectre

I am pleased with TWD nom.

Jars

the acceptance parts must be pretty awkward

Maz-

TehSpectre wrote: »

I am pleased with TWD nom.

No Clem or Lee in Character of the Year, though? That's fucked up.

PurpleMonkey

Maz- wrote: »

TehSpectre wrote: »

I am pleased with TWD nom.

No Clem or Lee in Character of the Year, though? That's fucked up.

Probably the worst thing about Character of the Year is that Connor ACIII is in there despite the fact he's probably the least interesting character in that game

Lanrutcon

ME3? Connor? Darksiders 2? Diablo 3?

Oh, the moneyhatting/stupid is strong with this one.

Maz-

Lanrutcon wrote: »

ME3? Connor? Darksiders 2? Diablo 3?

Oh, the moneyhatting/stupid is strong with this one.

Mass Effect 3 was an outstanding game and would be my GotY if not for The Walking Dead.

SoundsPlush

I expect ME3's ending fiasco throws its chances, even with EC. Personally I voted for Dishonored, because it was an excellent game and a new IP, whereas the ME series already hoovered up all the awards last round. I did nod ME3 for best RPG because the rest of the game was very good.

But I also voted Dishonored all over the place because c'mon.

Spoit

I mean, ME3 probably wins the RPG catagory by default. It's not like any other major RPGs came out this year. Unless you're really console centric and count the witcher 2's console release as separate from last year's PC release

milski

Didn't Xenoblade come out this year? That game was as good as ME3, if not better.

Spoit

I thought xenoblade was last year

EDIT: oh right, US release this year. Everyone was just importing the EU release last year....or the japanese release 2 years ago

Shadowfire

........ it's one of the nominees. :rotate:

Corpekata

If Emma Stone wins for Sleeping Dogs and gives a speech she'll probably have more lines than she did in the game.

Lawndart

Having to choose between FemShep and Clementine is a choice that's honestly more difficult than most of the choices in either Mass Effect 3 or The Walking Dead.

Maz-

Xenoblade was outstanding, possibly the best JPRG of all time.

Lawndart wrote: »

Having to choose between FemShep and Clementine is a choice that's honestly more difficult than most of the choices in either Mass Effect 3 or The Walking Dead.

Shepard is a weird vote because everyone's Shepard is so vastly different. Mine was cool and all but there were more interesting characters in the ME universe than him I believe.

Johnny Chopsocky

I hope James McCaffrey wins for best VA. I see nobody else on that list who so throughly embodies their character and actually feels inseparable from them.

SoundsPlush

Maz- wrote: »

Shepard is a weird vote because everyone's Shepard is so vastly different. Mine was cool and all but there were more interesting characters in the ME universe than him I believe.

He's talking about best voice actress.

Maz-

SoundsPlush wrote: »

Maz- wrote: »

Shepard is a weird vote because everyone's Shepard is so vastly different. Mine was cool and all but there were more interesting characters in the ME universe than him I believe.

He's talking about best voice actress.

Oh. Still, Shepard is also nominated for best character so I guess my point still stands.