Spike Announces VGX Nominees

[McMarbles]

-No Shin Megami Tensei IV
-No Fire Emblem Awakening
-No Pokemon X&Y
-No Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies

1/10 would not watch.

Besides Pokemon (which I edit to add in IS up for best handheld game) most of those are niche handhelds. Did you really expect those games to take center stage in an internationally broadcast-ed awards show?

That is what bothers me, its only games that have/will sell a guaranteed few million units that get onto the show, regardless of the quality of "niche" games.

For example, Super Mario 3D World isn't even out yet, how does it have GotY status even though it we don't know if its good or not (odds are its gonna be great but still)

Who decided the nominees? If it was a jury it's likely they had a Super Mario 3D World sooner. Some reviewers had them already, but they can only public the reviews on a stipulated date.

Its inclusion strikes me as "Oh crap oh crap we don't have any Nintendo nominees. Um... throw Mario on there."

 

[Evil Smurf]

Where the bus is Saints Row 4? Come on guys, what a stupid contest.

 

[Kingjackl]

Not bad choices, though the lack of Saints Row IV was a bit disappointing. Probably not GOTY material like GTAV, but at the very least it had a better soundtrack.

Also, Troy Baker, Troy Baker and Steven Ogg? I totes called the best male performance nominees. I only missed Willem DaFoe and that's because I didn't care about Beyond.

 

[Strelok]

Not bad choices there, Spike TV finally get it's head out of it's ass? Would watch it, but I got rid of cable a year and half ago.

Here's what I would choose.

Game of the Year:

BioShock Infinite

Studio of the Year:

Irrational Games

Best Indie Game:

Gone Home
Kentucky Route Zero
Papers, Please
The Stanley Parable

I can't choose, they all win.

Best Soundtrack:

BioShock Infinite - For God Only Knows, and the most chilling version of Good Night Irene I have ever heard.

Best DLC:

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - Easy win in this category

Only disappointment, no Metro: Last Light, which would have made my Game of The Year choice much harder.

Edit: Metro: Last Light is under best shooter, so I voted for it there.

 

[weirdee]

oh god, i wasn't being serious

i didn't think they'd actually make the best dlc category

ugggggh

 

[The Great JT]

Best DLC has to be either Citadel or Assault On Dragon Keep.

 

[Flutterguy]

-No Shin Megami Tensei IV
-No Fire Emblem Awakening
-No Pokemon X&Y
-No Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies

1/10 would not watch.

All sequels in a series beaten to death already. Then again I haven't played any handheld games in years. N64 emulator on my phone is best game.

 

[mrhappy1489]

Interesting that outside Super Mario and maybe GTA V the other games are focused on story and character and not gameplay.

Weird no Mario Kart nor the new SSB for most antecipated game.

Also, if Bioshock wins for best shooter I'm going to get mad, because any other of the same category as better shooting mechanics.

I have to disagree on that last one, I thought the shooting mechanics were really good in Bioshock Infinite. Besides, from the list of competitors, the only one that I could see maybe being a better overall package would be metro last light, so it doesn't really bother me which of the two wins out. Also I haven't ever been a big fan of the mechanics in either COD or Battlefield before.

 

[Ticklefist]

Runner 2 was snubbed in the indie category.

 

[Xathos]

Holy crap at those Voice Actress nominations. To me that seems to be the hardest one to pick a winner for. Part of me says Ashley Johnson, but Ellen Page was really good in Beyond, and Courtnee Draper was so good as Elizabeth. Camilla Luddington as Lara was fine and made me care about the character, but sad to say I think she isn't going to win. Also, Troy Baker getting TWO nomination spots for Voice Actor? He deserves it yeah, but just a tad strange. Best DLC has to go to ME3 Citadel, but then again its the only one I've played. Very awesome though.

I foresee a lot of The Last of Us wins though, probably interchangeable with Bioshock Infinite of course. Then again you got GTA V there and that might steal a lot of wins from under both of them. Best song for me should be "will the circle is unbroken". Soundtrack...maybe Ni No Kuni from what I've heard of it? Don't really know since music isn't something I actively look for in games unless it blows my socks off right off the gate (Nier, Xenoblade Chronicles). Shame about Brothers: a tale of two sons only getting one nomination that WASN'T music, since I thought it did that very well.

Seeing a lot of Tomb Raider nominations is weird though. I mean, it was a fine fun game and I liked Lara's actress, but I never thought of it as GOTY material. Even though it wasn't my favorite cup of tea, I think it would have been more believable to have Beyond getting the nominations in its place. Speaking of Beyond, I feel like it should have had more...spotlight I guess? Again it wasn't my favorite game (I preferred Heavy Rain for several aspects), but not seeing much of anything makes me disappointed for some reason.

Well anyway, here's hoping the show has some good reveals! Also, only 4 nominations per category? I think 5 would have been better, but what can you do?

 

[RaikuFA]

-No Shin Megami Tensei IV
-No Fire Emblem Awakening
-No Pokemon X&Y
-No Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies

1/10 would not watch.

Pretty much this. Though we're not the audience for this show. It's basically the Teen Choice Awards with a videogame coat of paint.

 

[mrhappy1489]

-No Shin Megami Tensei IV
-No Fire Emblem Awakening
-No Pokemon X&Y
-No Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies

1/10 would not watch.

All sequels in a series beaten to death already. Then again I haven't played any handheld games in years. N64 emulator on my phone is best game.

Fire Emblem Awakening is really, really, really, good. I've never played any before so I had no prior exposure and my overall opinion is that it is easily one of the best games of the year. I haven't played Phoenix Wright or Shin Megami Tensei so I can't speak on those and Pokemon X/Y is the best outing pokemon has had in years.

 

[FPLOON]

-No Shin Megami Tensei IV
-No Fire Emblem Awakening
-No Pokemon X&Y
-No Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies

1/10 would not watch.

Does this mean we need a "true international" video game award show, then? ...And then, if I tell execs to be more "international", they'll still limited to America (mostly), Europe, and that "sprinkle" of Asia Japan-based games that got a US and/or UK release... *foreshadowed facepalm* (...should of wished for a more open-ended video game award show, which includes each console/handheld getting their own "best of" category...)

-snip-

Pretty much this. Though we're not the audience for this show. It's basically the Teen Choice Awards with a videogame coat of paint.

I was gonna go as far as say that this is basically the Kids Choice Awards where the "slime" is replaced by non-video game sparkles and the video games, themselves, are that "small" cherry on top... But, I feel that's being a bit harsh on something that not even "geared" towards me, personally... unless I count Mario... (*narrows eyes* I see what you did there, Spike...)

OT: Now, I'm curious as to why the Escaptist wasn't chosen to be part of this "VGX Advisory Council" in choosing the gaming nominations... I'm sure they would have made perfect cases that in no way would fully "contradict" with the majority of what the other sites had in mind in any way, shape, or form... *only half being sarcastic throughout[footnote]since I'm assuming the Escapist didn't sign up for their "Publisher's Club" in order to be chosen anyway... LOL[/footnote]*

On a more serious note, who's going to watch this award show just out of curiosity... because I tend to only watch these out of that "curiosity" that hopes that something different will happen... and I have yet to fully see it outside of SLJ... (And the changing the "A" to an "X" doe not count as an "unexpected turn of events"...)

 

[Arslan Aladeen]

I have this trick that helped me enjoy the last few VGA's on Spike. I don't watch it and just wait for the reveal trailers to show up about an hour later online. While I didn't hate any of the nominees that I played, I can't say I care enough for any of them either.

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

-No Shin Megami Tensei IV
-No Fire Emblem Awakening
-No Pokemon X&Y
-No Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies

1/10 would not watch.

Fire Emblem and Pokemon X/Y are contenders for the Best RPG award, does that count?

I can't comment on the quality of SMT IV, being Australian (Why can't it be out yet!? *Shakes fist*), however I do know that the audience for SMT in general is pretty niche at the best of times, so expecting it to be nominated from a fairly board field of contenders is asking a little too much, surely?

 

[EvilMaggot]

BLOOOD DRAAAGOON! it was so fun! xD

 

[The Eupho Guy_v1legacy]

-No Shin Megami Tensei IV
-No Fire Emblem Awakening
-No Pokemon X&Y
-No Phoenix Wright: Dual Destinies

1/10 would not watch.

Fire Emblem and Pokemon X/Y are contenders for the Best RPG award, does that count?

I can't comment on the quality of SMT IV, being Australian (Why can't it be out yet!? *Shakes fist*), however I do know that the audience for SMT in general is pretty niche at the best of times, so expecting it to be nominated from a fairly board field of contenders is asking a little too much, surely?

Was mostly joking, SMT IV is easily the best game I have played all year, so I thought it would rate a mention, but it would seem not.

As for Australia not having the game yet, yeah, get used to non-Asia/North America territories getting the finger when it comes to Atlus games. Nintendo is supposed to be publishing SMT IV in Europe and Australia, but who knows when.

As a long suffering Atlus fan, I am used to it, however its only really the handheld games that are an issue. Everything else I can import. At least I have Devil Survivor Overclocked (Now that it is fixed) and Soul Hackers to keep me amused until IV comes out.