Aside from the boring guests, Neil Patrick Harris did a great job as the host of the show. He was funny when he needed to be, and on point when it was required. The one guest that did do ok was Olivia Munn. She is the long time host of Attack of the Show and did a great job interacting with Doogie. But forget about the hosts, who won what?
Lets get to the two systems. The Best XBox 360 Game was voted to be Mass Effect 2. Out of the other games that were nominated, there was only one game worthy of even being in that category and that was Halo: Reach. There were probably just a few other games that I would have liked to see in that bunch. And for the Best PS3 Game the vote went to God Of War 3. The difference in this one was that the games that were nominated along with the winner actually deserved to be there. Along with God Of War 3 was Heavy Rain, Red Dead Redemption and Modnation Racers. All great games and each one worthy of being game of the year. And with alot less fan fair, the Best PC Game turned out to be Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, and nobody would have doubted that that one would win. No matter what game it went up against.
Now when you get down to the nitty gritty and what is considered the most popular category, you are talking about the "Shooter" category. First person shooters have quickly taken over with sales over 3 times as much as another other game genre over the last few years. And most of that is due to the popularity of one or two games. One of those games is the Call of Duty series. Although I have a differing opinion on the quality of any of the Call Of Duty games. They still have done wonders for the popularity of the genre. So is it any wonder that when we are talking about the Best Shooter of the Year we are talking about Call of Duty: Black Ops. And the other games nominated in the category were no slouches either. The others were: Battlefield Bad Company 2, Halo Reach and Bioshock 2. All great games. And in my opinion Bad Company is a better game when you talk about the graphics and the game mechanics. But Black Ops is a much deeper game. So I have to say if that is why they won, I would have to agree.
On to the game of the year... and before I get into the winner, I have to say there should have been a couple more games included in the nominees. But what can you do. These games are all voted in by general popularity, and sometimes what society grabs on to just does not make sense. So without further adieu Game of the Year Red Dead Redemption. Now this is a game that never got much publicity but did receive many accolades within the industry. The graphics are just slightly above average but what gets you into the game is the story and mechanics. When you have a game that does a good job of mixing the game mechanics and the story is engrossing you have a game that will keep you playing for many hours. Today it is hard to find a game that does this well, and Red Dead Redemption is one of them.
So if you take the Video Game Awards for what it is, a show that is aimed at the youth of today, but is programmed and advertised for the young adult you have a show with an odd mix of feelings. Maybe that is why the jokes don't go over well or why the guest appearances leave the audience wondering why the hell that guy is on stage with a microphone. But regardless, if you can find a way to take all that out of the picture and just watch it for what it is, an award show - then it is enjoyable. But because of the way they put it together, the awkward breaks, and the inappropriate monologues you should do what most apparently do and just catch the results online. Keep the awards where they start... on your computer.
