The Game Awards aired this past weekend on multiple sites across the web. Xbox LIVE, PSN, YouTube, Steam, and a many others aired the show live for millions to watch if they wanted to. The show aimed to raise the bar for video game award programs, and though it had some high points, it had some not-so-great moments as well.
In the past, whenever someone talked about an award show for video games, the first (and only) thing that came to mind was Spike TV’s VGA’s, a show that was almost as bad as the network that aired it. The program tried its best to be “The Oscars of Video Games” but instead, was rather poorly done, and only served to solidify the immature stereotype the entertainment industry already might have held for the gaming community. Geoff Keighley, the brainchild behind this year’s program, hoped to provide a much classier program, and for the most part, succeeded.
For starters, Keighley got some big names involved in the event. Marty O’Donnell wrote the opening fanfare, Koji Kondo played the grand piano, Nintendo CEO Reggie Fils-Aimé popped up a few times during the program, Kiefer Sutherland presented an award, and Imagine Dragons performed live. Never did these appearances seem superficial, and everyone showed genuine excitement for being there.
As for Keighley, who hosted the event, I felt that he is a better interviewer than host. A host of an award show needs a certain charm and confidence about them. Keighley, however, was lacking in these areas, and never actually took the stage. He stayed at his designated spot on the auditorium floor, next to his flat screen display, much like a news anchor would.
One of the choices that I thought was questionable was the decision to have a “standing room only” section, full of fans, directly in front of the stage. My guess is they were going for a club vibe, considering that whenever they had a bumper for commercial, they showed a DJ on stage playing remixed versions of chip tunes while a few the audience members danced. Because of this space for the fans, the people accepting the rewards had to sit further back, and therefore had an exceptionally long walk to get up on stage. This led to awkward pauses in the flow, and demonstrated a small hiccup in planning.
There were a few other hiccups here and there. During the opening piano piece, Koji Kondo seemed confused as to when he was supposed to begin his number. Not the best start there. The show also had a few microphones that refused to work properly, stage hands and technicians that were viewable from time to time, fans screaming praises at the folks on stage, interrupting them, etc. All of this led to a show that felt clunky, and thrown together.
As time went on, however, the problems became much less noticeable, and the show really started to feel like the classy award ceremony it was meant to be.
The Game Awards show had a second main focus this year, besides the awards themselves: “World Premiers”. Many times throughout the show, the viewers were given glimpses into what the developers have in store for us over the next year. These included new Zelda Wii U gameplay footage, a new trailer for No Man’s Sky, and a new King’s Quest title, as well as other announcements for upcoming projects. Unfortunately, they used the term “World Premier” a little loosely. Apparently, their definition of a “World Premier” is “a trailer that no one has seen before” and not “a game that no one has seen before”. Most of the trailers we saw were for games that we have seen before in some manner, however, there were a few games that made their debut at the awards. King’s Quest, Before, and Tacoma were a few of the new titles no one had heard about before. One critique that I would have would be a more even award/trailer ratio. Over the course of the three-hour run-time (no real commercial breaks, by the way) only three or four actual awards were presented on stage, while there were over fifteen trailers for new titles. If you’re going to title your program, “The Game Awards” you better be giving out a lot of awards. Otherwise, it’s an E3 presentation with trophies thrown in.
All in all, even though the program had a few disagreeable moments here and there, I felt it was a successful, and well done first attempt. Keighley definitely got his wish for a show that celebrated both the gamer and the developer, and I feel he did a good job on it. Hopefully, all the small bugs will be worked out in time for next year’s show, and we will have a much smoother experience overall.
I’ll definitely be watching.
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If you missed The Game Awards this past weekend, you can watch the full program here.
In the past, whenever someone talked about an award show for video games, the first (and only) thing that came to mind was Spike TV’s VGA’s, a show that was almost as bad as the network that aired it. The program tried its best to be “The Oscars of Video Games” but instead, was rather poorly done, and only served to solidify the immature stereotype the entertainment industry already might have held for the gaming community. Geoff Keighley, the brainchild behind this year’s program, hoped to provide a much classier program, and for the most part, succeeded.
For starters, Keighley got some big names involved in the event. Marty O’Donnell wrote the opening fanfare, Koji Kondo played the grand piano, Nintendo CEO Reggie Fils-Aimé popped up a few times during the program, Kiefer Sutherland presented an award, and Imagine Dragons performed live. Never did these appearances seem superficial, and everyone showed genuine excitement for being there.
As for Keighley, who hosted the event, I felt that he is a better interviewer than host. A host of an award show needs a certain charm and confidence about them. Keighley, however, was lacking in these areas, and never actually took the stage. He stayed at his designated spot on the auditorium floor, next to his flat screen display, much like a news anchor would.
One of the choices that I thought was questionable was the decision to have a “standing room only” section, full of fans, directly in front of the stage. My guess is they were going for a club vibe, considering that whenever they had a bumper for commercial, they showed a DJ on stage playing remixed versions of chip tunes while a few the audience members danced. Because of this space for the fans, the people accepting the rewards had to sit further back, and therefore had an exceptionally long walk to get up on stage. This led to awkward pauses in the flow, and demonstrated a small hiccup in planning.
There were a few other hiccups here and there. During the opening piano piece, Koji Kondo seemed confused as to when he was supposed to begin his number. Not the best start there. The show also had a few microphones that refused to work properly, stage hands and technicians that were viewable from time to time, fans screaming praises at the folks on stage, interrupting them, etc. All of this led to a show that felt clunky, and thrown together.
As time went on, however, the problems became much less noticeable, and the show really started to feel like the classy award ceremony it was meant to be.
The Game Awards show had a second main focus this year, besides the awards themselves: “World Premiers”. Many times throughout the show, the viewers were given glimpses into what the developers have in store for us over the next year. These included new Zelda Wii U gameplay footage, a new trailer for No Man’s Sky, and a new King’s Quest title, as well as other announcements for upcoming projects. Unfortunately, they used the term “World Premier” a little loosely. Apparently, their definition of a “World Premier” is “a trailer that no one has seen before” and not “a game that no one has seen before”. Most of the trailers we saw were for games that we have seen before in some manner, however, there were a few games that made their debut at the awards. King’s Quest, Before, and Tacoma were a few of the new titles no one had heard about before. One critique that I would have would be a more even award/trailer ratio. Over the course of the three-hour run-time (no real commercial breaks, by the way) only three or four actual awards were presented on stage, while there were over fifteen trailers for new titles. If you’re going to title your program, “The Game Awards” you better be giving out a lot of awards. Otherwise, it’s an E3 presentation with trophies thrown in.
All in all, even though the program had a few disagreeable moments here and there, I felt it was a successful, and well done first attempt. Keighley definitely got his wish for a show that celebrated both the gamer and the developer, and I feel he did a good job on it. Hopefully, all the small bugs will be worked out in time for next year’s show, and we will have a much smoother experience overall.
I’ll definitely be watching.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you missed The Game Awards this past weekend, you can watch the full program here.