Spike 2008 Video Game Award show winners, surprise announcements

Spike TV had it’s annual video game award show last night (December 14, 2008) and I forgot about it. Instead I watched the New York Giants physically pummel but still mathematically lose to the Dallas Cowboys. No worries though, the folks over at Primotech caught all of last night’s award-winning action hosted by comedian/rocker/award-show-host-extraordinaire, Jack Black.

The coveted Game of the Year award went to, you guessed it, Grand Theft Auto IV. Agree with it? Disagree with it? Take your frustration out in the comments section below.

As for the other categories, not that you really care about those other games, here’s the complete list o’ winners:

• Best Shooter: Gears of War 2 (Epic Games)
• Best Xbox 360 Game: Gears of War 2 (Epic Games)
• Best Indie Game Voted by the Fans: World of Goo (2D Boy)
• Big Name in a Game: Kiefer Sutherland (Call of Duty: World at War)
• Gamer God Inductee: Will Wright (Sim City, Spore)
• Best RPG: Fallout 3 (Bethesda)
• Best Music Game: Rock Band 2 (Harmonix)
• Best Soundtrack in a Game: Rock Band 2 (Harmonix)
• Studio of the Year: Media Molecule (Little Big Planet)
• Best PS3 Game: Little Big Planet (Media Molecule)
• Best Driving: Burnout Paradise (Criterion)
• Best Game Based on a Movie or TV Show: Lego Indy (Traveller’s Tales)
• Best Fighting: Soul Calibur 4 (Project Soul)
• Best Multiplayer: Left 4 Dead (Valve)
• Best PC: Left 4 Dead (Valve)
• Best Portable: Professor Layton (Level 5)
• Best Wii: Boom Blox (EA Casual)
• Best Individual Sports: Shaun White Snowboarding (Ubi Montreal)
• Best Female in a Game: Jenny McCarthy as Tanya in Red Alert 3 (EA Westwood)
• Best Performance by a Human Male: Michael Hollick as Niko Bellic (Grand Theft Auto IV)
• Best Performance by a Human Female: Debbie Mae West as Meryl Silverburgh (Metal Gear Solid 4)
• Best Graphics: Metal Gear Solid 4 (Kojima Productions)
• Best Original Score: Metal Gear Solid 4 (Kojima Productions)
• Best Action-Adventure Game: Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar Games)
• Best Game of the Year: Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstar Games)

Overall, this list is actually pretty fair to me, though a few things are suspect as always. Besides the judging of games as the vain vanities they are, there was a fair bit of news announced as well at the show:

• A Gears of War 2 “Combustable” map pack was released early this morning (December 15, 2008) at 3 a.m. EST. According to Joystiq, the pack will cost 800 Microsoft points.
• Fight Night Round 4 will hit stores in Summer 2009.
• Pearl Jam’s album Ten will be released as a downloadable album for Rock Band in March 2009.
• Electronics Arts shows off Dante’s Inferno, will release in 2009, and was presented at the show by Kim Kardashian? Go figure.

A Terminator Salvation game was announced, of course to companion with the upcoming movie starring throaty-Batman actor, Christian Bale.

• And oh yeah, the premier of the long awaited, Brutal Legend.

There you have it kids, this year’s Spike VGA show has come and gone. If only there weren’t 365 days (from time of writing) till the next one for me to miss.

Post Script: Judging from what I’ve been reading around the web, it looks like this show was a bit of a stinker. Out of the listed awards above, about four of them were actually announced with the others silently being shoved together in some lightning-round fashion. There also seems to be a large disagreement with the fluff of the show being a platform for celebrities to promote themselves. The example I read over at 1UP’s Philip Kollar’s blog mentioned Neil Patrick Harris not knowing what game he was presenting the award for, but mentioned enough about his upcoming role in the Matt Hazard game? Jesus, was it seriously that bad?

Read [Primotech] Also Read [Joystiq]