Print
Every year, Spike TV hosts the Video Game Awards (VGA) show, an all-out affair with much ballyhooing. With so many awesome titles to choose from, surely this type of event would draw fan interest, right?
Wrong, and we're sorry for calling you Shirley (we had to squeeze a Leslie Nielsen reference in eventually - RIP). According to Variety's figures, Spike TV's audience diminished for the fourth straight year, this time notching a 3 percent drop in viewership from last year and only pulling in 627,000 viewers. In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, what's the deal with that?
Take your pick. Maybe the numbers are down because the show is hosted on a Saturday when even die-hard gamers have other things to do. Perhaps Neil Patrick Harris can't draw in the kind of crowd Spike TV thought he would (have we broken the record for most celebrity references in a single tech blog, yet?). Or could it be that Spike TV's the one hosing the event?
No matter what the reason, there were a few consolation prizes. Adult viewers 18-49 were up 12 percent this year, while those ages 18-34 were up 5 percent overall, and 15 percent among men.
Did you tune in to watch?
Comments are closed on this article
carnivorousslushee23
December 16, 2010 at 9:26pm
Here's how I see the VGAs...they gave CoDBlOps the "Best Shooter" award, and that pretty much sums it up. They pandered to the crap big-name console shooter franchise, passed up the game that should have won that prize (Bad Company 2 - or any of the others, really), and lost most of their credibility in my eyes in the process. Now, whenever I have a discussion with a CoD fanboy who thinks they're the greatest shooters on the planet, they just dismiss my arguments about better tactical gameplay and realism, etc. by citing the fact that "The VGAs gave it 'Best Shooter' Zomg OMFG lol so BC2 suxx!!" Hard to argue with reasoning like that. I suppose they're entitled to their opinion, of course, but...all the same. Christ, CoD fanboys piss me off almost as badly as Apple fanboys.
And as others have mentioned, the VGAs misrepresent gamers in a most unfortunate and unappealing fashion. Screw 'em - I don't need their awards. I'll stick with reviews from Metacritic and the like.
Badg3r1977
December 20, 2010 at 7:20am
CoD = No destructible environments; small maps, no vehicles, not squad based, run-and-gun shooter (for children)
BF:BC2 = 90% Destructible environments, big maps, land - sea and air vehicles, team / squad based, tactical squad based shooter (for adults)
Now I have played BF since BF:VN and Im very happy about how BF has evolved; there is nothing more gratifying than joining a good squad (friends or complete strangers) and winning the match being the best squad and the best player (sometimes lol). OR you could just run around a shoebox with everyone trying to F**k over everyone else to be the best player!
So basically, they took a bribe to place CoD at the top; should have been BF!
Havok
December 16, 2010 at 5:56pm
There's a show about ancient video display hardware standards?!
How did I miss that!
kiaghi7
December 16, 2010 at 3:29pm
When exactly did the Video Game Awards have luster? (Asked rhetorically)
They are a vapid and neigh useless alotment of what could otherwise be entertainment, if anything I'd prefer Spike run the Star Wars movies for the thousandth time (this week) than see the C-listers shamble their way on stage, pretend like they are actually thinking what they are struggling to read from a teleprompter, and already growing thirsty for whatever "refreshment" is helping them remain concious through the interminable award show.
praetor_alpha
December 16, 2010 at 10:33am
I only stuck around for the Mass Effect 3 trailer. Most everything reeked of cheesyness and people obviously not into gaming.
"Maybe the numbers are down because the show is hosted on a Saturday when even die-hard gamers have other things to do."
When do gamers not have other things to do? WE'RE GAMERS for goodness sakes, of course we always have better things to do than consume a non-interactive medium.
Caboose
December 16, 2010 at 3:50pm
"I only stuck around for the Mass Effect 3 trailer. Most everything reeked of cheesyness and people obviously not into gaming."
I watched it, and the new Arkham (anyone else think that the new Arkham trailer looked real until the very end?)
D00dlavy
December 16, 2010 at 9:37am
The SpikeTV VGAs are not tastefully done. As a gamer, I identify with gaming, and the show makes both my hobby and myself look bad in the eyes of the unwashed masses.
It needs to go or be reformatted.
Aeshir
December 16, 2010 at 9:25am
When you announce the winners via words painted on half-naked womens' skin (true story, happened one year), you don't get to say you ever even had any luster to begin with. The Spike VGAs are a disgrace to games, TV, and humanity as a whole. The show's real purpose has nothing to do with commending developers for their work, it's all about trotting out unrelated celebrities (yes, Olivia Munn is unrelated to video games, and sorry, Neil) in order to show trailers and whore out the show for other advertisers.
Man, what a downer comment.
AndyYankee17
December 16, 2010 at 8:04am
I saw neil patrick harris' bit. It was painful to watch, I've seen better acting in middle school plays.
chipmunkofdoom2
December 16, 2010 at 7:33am
"In the words of Jerry Seinfeld, what's the deal with that?"
The deal is there have been no new, exciting or innovative games in a long time. Sure, there's the Kinect, but that doesnt' have any games for it. Not to mention, with PC gaming going down the toilet, the only alternative is underpowered "current gen" consoles. Not saying there haven't been a few enjoyable game, but the days of having an awesome game come out every few months are over.
Once game developers stop trying to package excrement and sell it for a king's ransom ($60 a piece? Most of these games aren't worth the $20 it will take them years to drop to), then there will be more interest.
mrbdawg
December 16, 2010 at 8:17am
I won't buy games for 60 bucks no matter how good they are. And they wonder why people pirate everything.
*Hey Maximumpc - hows that captcha workin out lol. It took me 4 tries now to make a post for getting the captcha wrong. If you give me 5 cents for every spam post i remove, i'll do it :)
