What are the VGX’s? Nothing special. Do they matter? Not much. However, in terms of mainstream media, the VGX awards (formerly the VGA’s) offer the biggest spotlight for games in terms of awards and recognition. Traditional red-carpet affair award shows are suffering in terms of rating, failing to captivate audiences with their 3 hour run times and long acceptance speeches. So in many ways, the new format of the VGA–excuse me, VGX’s–dropping its live industry-only audience and embracing a live-stream with tons of video content makes sense.
The VGX’s seemed to be a hit in their own right. Host, Geoff Keighly stated that they had set streaming records and were trending on twitter. It might not be Oscar numbers and it won’t lure any networks to bid on the show, but in it’s own way the show had a big night. This makes it all the more unfortunate that the show was so disappointing from a production standpoint.
The VGA’s weren’t the first event to enlist celebrity hosts, E3 has been doing it for years. However, the VGA host has been the most prominent use of a celebrity not named Aisha Tyler in the last five years. Each host has been able to slide under the radar with a lack of video game knowledge, mostly reveling in easy jokes and gamer colloquialisms. These hosts never seemed like they would be at home asking Bethesda the specifics about their next sprawling RPG, but they always to revel in the niche audience they held captive.
Such was not the case for host Joel McHale who, alongside Keighly provided one of the most disinterested and lackluster hosting performances ever seen in the show’s ten year history. McHale read off of his teleprompter with all of the zeal of a high school student in speech class, occasionally wandering off-script to make poor jokes that left Keighly reeling. While the hosting duties were bad, what was worse was watching McHale interact with the developers that were forced to sit and try to explain their work while the Community star cracked jokes that only he seemed to find funny. To some degree, it wasn’t all McHale’s fault. The comedian should have never been forced into situations clearly beyond his maturity level, but when McHale should have shut up and yielded the stage was when he was at his loudest.
There are things to like about the VGX awards. While many shows that promise announcements and trailers often are lacking, the VGX often gives the fans what they want. This year they showed new trailers for Quantum Break, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Titanfall, Destiny, and Thief. They also showed off three new titles, two from Telltale and one from Hello Games–which proved to be the most impressive trailer of the night. These kinds of announcements are exciting and are the true cornerstone to a show that always seems to forget it exists to award excellence in video games.
While the live stream format is understandable, what really killed the VGX last night was a stark lack of humanity. Introductions felt lame and underwhelming as McHale would announce an award and then be the only person clapping. After debuting an exciting new trailer, the only cheering was a sound effect pumped behind neon-colored nonsensical images. The VGX’s have been drifting away from an event that is looking to honor the best in video games and creeping closer to a publicity stunt since its inception. This year it feels like the VGX has finally lost any good will it may have had in this regards, handing awards exclusively to the biggest titles with little rhyme or reason. Aside from one moment in which Gone Home won best Indie Game of the Year, there was little to really enjoy about the awards.
Who won these awards anyways? It’s almost impossible to tell. The only awards given out on screen where Best Character, Best Action/Adventure Game, Best Shooter, Best Indie Game, Best Soundtrack, and Game of the Year. For three hours video games had a chance to reach their largest viewing audience since E3 and tell them what games they should be buying. Instead they spent twenty minutes playing the GTA V soundtrack and another twenty letting internet comedians fail to be funny. Ni No Kuni, a game that many people likely didn’t play this year, won RPG of the Year, but you would never know because its name was never mentioned on air. Other interesting awards like Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson sweeping the voice acting awards for The Last of Us is interesting. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons won the awards for best Xbox game. But at best these games were only mentioned once. Even the biggest games of the year were talked about in passing, dismissed like an outdated newspaper. Meanwhile, if you did a shot every time Titanfall or Destiny were mentioned, you would have been passed out by the second hour.
There’s a nasty habit in video game coverage to always be looking and talking about what’s coming out next. In many ways, the industry does itself a disservice by behaving this way. Instead of trying to push games that have come and gone, they are already being ignored. In between interviews that discuss why Titanfall is going to be next year’s big title, wouldn’t it be nice to sit down with the creative team behind Gone Home and ask them about their indie darling? Or even steal a second with the brothers, Hauser to talk about what they think connected with so many people in the Grand Theft Auto series? For an event designed to look back on a great year for games, all the VGX could seem to do was look forward. I don’t need each winner to get an acceptance speech–god knows tacking on any time to those three hours would be ridiculous–but all the same, could we at least see the winners get enough screen time for a quick blurb about their game’s premise?
In many ways it is a good thing that VGX lacks the prestige to be considered the pinnacle award in video games. The variety of lists from different publications allow for more debate and speculation than a definitive award like the Oscar, Emmy, and Grammy. However, if there is going to be a moment when video games grab the attention of mainstream media, maybe it shouldn’t be used to remind everyone about how many copies Grand Theft Auto sold. We all know about Grand Theft Auto, NBA2k14, and Assassin’s Creed. Maybe, since the show is big enough to get all of this attention anyways, it would be nice to see the show reflect upon the games that aren’t getting all of the twitter hits. The best part of the night was when Hello Games’ Sean Murray, discussed the developer’s upcoming open-world adventure, a rare moment when McHale seemed genuinely impressed by what he was seeing and stopped making transgender jokes. The VGX are not a lost cause, by trimming down the video specials and weird web-series skits, then adding time to reflect on the best games you may not have played, the show could become a true celebration of games. Much like E3 and other events, the VGX are great at giving gamers a look of what’s to come, but it could take a moment to remind us of what came the year before. And maybe, if a studio audience is lacking anyways, we skip the celebrity paycheck guest.
What did you think of the VGX Awards? Did you bother to watch? Did you enjoy the show? Sound off in the comments below.
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