Why The VGA's Matter

It's that time of the year again folks. The last month of the year means we have to spend one of our weekend nights watching Spike TV for the Video Game Awards. The VGA's is like a dentist appointment. I don't look forward to going, but I have to go. The VGA's might not be fun to watch, but they do matter. Here's why.

It's on TV
The VGA's matter because they're the only Live Televised videogame awards show around. All the other videogame award shows (the IGA's, GDC's, etc) are invite only. I usually find out who won those awards after they happen via Twitter or a gaming website. With the VGA's everyone's invited. All you gotta do is tune in to Spike TV tonight at 8p ET / 5p PT and you're there. The best part is seeing the games win in real time and and having a collective conversation about it on Twitter with other gamers.


New Game Announcements/Trailers
It wouldn't be the VGA's if we didn't get trailers and announcements for upcoming games. I would say after E3 the VGA's is the place to find the most announcements for new games. There's a rumor going around that Tony Hawk is announcing a new videogame tonight. I'm curious to see what that games gonna be like. I also heard that a new trailer to Mass Effect 3 will be shown tonight. That should be interesting.

Can You Say Game of the Year? 
The VGA's kicks off the award giving season we get in videogames this time of the year. I figure since we're all able to watch the show, we should allow the VGA's to be the first to give it out the Game of the Year award. I'm probably going to disagree with their choice since the game that's on my list wasn't nominated, but that's besides the point. At least we all find out who won their Game of the Year award at the same time. It's not like I'll wake up in the morning to people spilling the beans that (insert gaming website here) gave out the Game of the Year Award.

E3 2011 Awards: Biggest Letdown

Project Cafe. The Nintendo console that was expected to steal the show at E3 by making gamers hungry in anticipation. What we got was a tablet with buttons named Wii U. Is it a controller or a console? The world may never know.

Wii U is not on my list of things to purchase. Unless this HD tablet is less than $100 dollars you can count me out on buying one. What's the point of having a tablet that's not portable. Sure you can play it all day in your house, but that's what I use my 3DS for. On top of that Nintendo didn't present any original IP's for Wii U. They just had a bunch of 3rd party developers announce games for Wii U. A majority of which will be available on Playstation and Xbox months before they ever hit Wii U. Maybe I'll change my mind as time comes closer to it's release but as of today Wii U is my biggest Letdown from E3.

E3 2011 Awards: Biggest Surprise

Was anybody else totally surprised when Sony introduced Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time? I was trying to figure out the franchise Jack Tretton was talking about as the trailer opened. "A series that both kids and hardcore gamers enjoy that began in 2002." I was stumped. The joke at the end about the cast making it to E3 on time made me laugh. I thought it was cute. I've actually never played a Sly game before. I will definitely be checking out the new Sly when it hits stores next year.