Juvenile, stereotypical, and unimaginative are all adjectives that could accurately describe Saturday night’s VGX award show. Formerly known as the VGA awards – ’cause you know, adding an X next to anything makes it “gamer” talk – this three hour, unapologetic horror-show set out to cram a seemingly never-ending stream of product placement and cringe worthy moments down the throats of viewers.
Immediately after, and even during the show, many manned their social-media battle stations and fired away with comments of utter disgust for Spike TV’s live-streaming award ceremony. The image of gamers in the eyes of Spike, their producers, and their advertisers paint a portrait that I feel ashamed of being grouped into – but I’ll get into that later.
The hosts, the set, and the ugly
VGX opened with a 15-minute preview of Eidos‘ highly anticipated game Thief, and after that, the show began its tailspin into obscurity. Bored and uninterested, Joel McHale kicked off the show with a series of vulgar anecdotes while his compact co-host, Geoff Keighley, tried to keep up with half-hearted laughs for each terrible pun. It was as if I was watching the king bully of the schoolyard rattle off nerd jokes while his little crony stood alongside, pointing and laughing. Oh, Geoff Keighley.
Don’t get me wrong, I used to admire Geoff’s presence in the gaming world, but never as a television host. When the Dorito Pope isn’t providing McHale’s laugh track, he’s playing the straight man to McHale’s apathetic persona, doing his best to keep the show moving. I get it though, I really do. Joel McHale’s laid back, don’t-give-a-shit attitude, along with his scruffy beard and his strategically disheveled hair are his shtick; his bread and butter. However, combined with his lack of video game knowledge, it didn’t really flow with the show, and made for some awkward moments. Nevertheless, a gig is a gig, and I’m sure he got paid handsomely.
Instead of using a live audience, VGX was shot and streamed in what appeared to be some rich game developer’s studio loft. Throw in some spinning wheel set-pieces and a variety of weird tech gizmos, and you have what Spike thinks is a gamer’s wet dream of an apartment. Sarcasm aside, the lack of features you would normally find in a dignified awards show – such as the Grammy’s or even past video game awards – was disappointing to say the least.
I mean, come on now. Gaming is about to overtake (if it hasn’t already) movies and television as the number source of entertainment. Couldn’t you have upped the production value? Oh, but no, we gamers are nothing more than Dorito-munching, Dew-guzzling anti-socials who would never be caught dead in a crowd.
Good going VGAs, or I’m sorry, VGX #doritos #FUCKYOUDRINKDEW.
Oh great, a musical performance.
Shortly after McHale and Keighley’s awkward interview with one of the gaming industry’s brightest minds, Tim Schafer, the motley lads of Odd Future were cut-to-live to introduce the musical segment of the night, Music from GTA V. After a terrible attempt at improv, the crew finally relented and the musical number began.
The next 20 minutes felt like an eternity as Jay Rock, The Game, some other dudes, and Odd Future performed the songs you’ve heard countless times while cruising down the streets of Los Santos. The best part was when no one was on stage and the live band was left to perform the game’s original scores. I personally would have rather seen FIDLAR belt out their vice fueled hit “Cocaine” than see Tyler Creator and his rag-tag crew of adolescents rap moronically to an audience of white kids, or hear Jay Rock belt out his signature track off beat and out of key. “You ain’t gotta like it but the hood ‘gon love it.” Very well, then.
Bearable moments
These came in the only redeeming factors of the entire show – the world premieres. Telltale Games unveiled their upcoming episodic masterpieces set in both the Borderlands and Game of Thrones universes; you couldn’t ask for a better story telling experience. Tim Schaffer’s new project Broken Age is a title that certainly got me excited.
Also, the prospect of a Titanfall beta, and a peek at the ambitious space adventure, No Man’s Sky, were all reasons to at least keep watching. However, while desperately trying to get an exclusive reveal from Nintendo of America’s Reggie Fils-Aime, the two hosts floundered, which led to even more cringe worthy live interview banter.
A change is coming
After watching a majority of the VGX awards – well, I kept it on in the background, but paid full attention to the world premieres – it seems a paradigm shift is coming to gaming. Yes folks, the times, they are a-changing. When I stated earlier that video games are becoming the most widely used source of entertainment, I wasn’t exaggerating.
In the next few years, a line in the sand will be drawn in the gaming community. On one side, the VGX awards and their demographic of players – after all, the award show surely had appeal to a certain niche of gamers, television companies aren’t that clueless. On the other side, you’ll find the rest of us. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, hear me out.
Think about it in terms of the music industry. Certainly there is a mainstream category associated in the world of music – and VGX could very well be considered the Billboard Top 100 Awards off the gaming industry. That being said, think of all the great indie-rock bands in the world, or the lesser known music artists that dominate our playlists. Genres like that never existed until the music industry had become as big as it did.
So, with gaming, I feel in a few years we will see the emergence of more indie-based titles, carving new niches for every type of gamer. With upcoming features like Microsoft’s Dev Kit on the Xbox One, and new ways to fund your projects with platforms like Kickstarter, this reality is just in reach.
I’m not saying that VGX and its demographic are to be chastised by core gamers because they are appealing to a more mainstream audience. I mean, I don’t despise playing a Call of Duty or a Madden game – just as much as I don’t mind hearing Lady Gaga or an Eminem song. The point is, pretty soon there will be a gaming niche for everyone, regardless of how they perceive themselves as a gamer–and maybe, just maybe, we will see a classy, more dignified award ceremony in the not so distant future.
If you would like to see a super cut of all the cringe worthy moments of the night, watch the video below.
