Gaming Awards Shows
polycounter lvl 18
As I'm sure everyone is aware, Spike TV recently hosted its annual video game awards show. (probably three weeks ago now) Although this event seems to gather more popular support every year, the general opinion I see online is very negative. Most hardcore gamers seem to consider the Spike TV video game awards to be a complete joke. I can't say I disagree with that. Although they do help to popularize gaming in general, the show itself is a travesty of tasteless commercialism. There is barely even the suggestion of critical review of the material in question. And yet, the majority of casual gamers seem to like this format. As long as the situation remains the same (and I don't see it changing anytime soon) there will continue to be a noticeable lack of "real" video game awards.
The best way to solve this problem would be for the gaming community to band together and produce its own video game awards. All of the necessary pieces are already there, we all just need to take advantage of them. Could this awards show be broadcast on cable tv? No, we could probably never raise enough money to afford it. So how could we broadcast it? Why, the internet of course! Where could we get guest stars, announcers, award presenters? We could never afford them either! But we have hundreds of talented 3d artists. And we have cutting edge game engines just begging to be modded. Make a huge auditorium level in UT2004 and have a 3D model of Solid Snake present the award for best technical innovation. With enough support, it would be possible to release an awards show once a year that the gaming community could be proud to call its own.
The best way to solve this problem would be for the gaming community to band together and produce its own video game awards. All of the necessary pieces are already there, we all just need to take advantage of them. Could this awards show be broadcast on cable tv? No, we could probably never raise enough money to afford it. So how could we broadcast it? Why, the internet of course! Where could we get guest stars, announcers, award presenters? We could never afford them either! But we have hundreds of talented 3d artists. And we have cutting edge game engines just begging to be modded. Make a huge auditorium level in UT2004 and have a 3D model of Solid Snake present the award for best technical innovation. With enough support, it would be possible to release an awards show once a year that the gaming community could be proud to call its own.
Replies
"the show itself is a travesty of tasteless commercialism"
(and so do I btw
The best way to solve this problem would be for the gaming community to band together and produce its own video game awards. All of the necessary pieces are already there, we all just need to take advantage of them.
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There is The Game Developer's Choice awards at GDC every year.
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Could this awards show be broadcast on cable tv?
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It probably makes it on G4. I am sure not in its entirety, possibly with voice overs.
Academy's of sorts often judge a creative product from a developer stand-point. I'm sure the elite car designer's don't consider the Honda Civic to be the height of automotive performance, but Honda shareholder's want to see more assets poured into a cash cow....so I'm sure it see's a few billion in development funds. Schwartzenegger movies and the like see the big budgets....how many times does the Academy recognize him?
The MTV's and the spike TV's push what the public consumes. The Academy Awards and the Game Developer's Choice Awards recognize the Craft Master's.
If the public consumes it more money gets poured in to make it more attractive. So we get our Honda Civics and highest paid actors in mass appeal roles.
Games expeirence similar effects. Madden's isn't one of the tech splashes like doom3 is, but I bet it sells more units and groses' more for a fraction of the accual game development expense.
I've highjacked this thread more than enough and I'm opening this up real wide. Sorry. Just tryna explore the MTV/SpikeTV/Game distributor/publisher focus.
-R
Schwartzenegger movies and the like see the big budgets....how many times does the Academy recognize him?
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That's all relative. The Academy doesn't recognize him because his films, by and large, aren't that great. On the other hand, the most expensive film ever made is also the highest grossing film ever made along with being a multiple Academy Award winner - Titanic. I expect someone will chime in here about how Titanic sucks, etc, but the situation was just as true last year. Despite being filmed all at once, The Lord of the Rings films cost a couple hundred million to produce and market, making them the greatest big-budget gamble in film history. Not only was The Return of the King the highest grossing film of the year (and second highest all-time), it was also the most highly awarded film the Academy has ever honored. Big budgets aren't always Schwarzenegger explosion films, nor are Academy favorites always inexpensive dramas like The English Patient.
Anyway, I might have misunderstood your point, as I don't see how this really relates to gaming. GTA:SA was probably the year's most expensive production and it received a ton of hype, but it was also a fantastic game, right?
How many Epic films have been made ever since lotr's proved to draw crouds?
And the Governator is one of the highest paid actors. As was sly and some others that 'really' don't act very well. The academy recognises the poeple who make the films great, not those who's skill is to draw crouds.
My point was that the MTV/SpikeTV style award shows are going after the same audience these cookie-cutter assembly line films are targeting.
There always has to be the games and films that either prove that the concept can make money, or those that take those proven concepts and do them well.
WE see this in the games industry too. GTA is another great example. I know 2 GTA clones that are being developed, and quiet a few have come out already.
As soon as a concept has proven itself in come the vultures.
My point still stands about where this industry(any industry) money goes. It goes into milking a sure thing. This is why EA locked down madden's so that there was no significant competition for one of their most successful titles, fattening up their biggest cash cow.
I suspect the SpikeTV award show was probably designed with the exact same principals in mind:
How can we capture the attention of the people most likely to watch this event?
I saw alot've hot girls, hip-hop and famous faces talking about mass appeal/cash-cow games...that's a sure-fire way to persuade the audience to buy more copies if they haven't already.
-R