vga-2009 posts

Just between you and us, we actually enjoyed the 2009 edition of the Video Game Awards broadcast from Spike TV last December. There were tons of new game reveals and trailers, the awards actually went to people and games we supported and there were only one or two parts of the show that were arkward to watch (Jersey Shore cast and Mike Tyson, we are lookin at you).

However it looks like the improvements this year didn't translate to ratings. Variety's Cut Scene blog reports that the show had just 647,000 viewers tuned into the show last December. Including DVR ratings (people who watch the show up to seven days after the event) raised the ratings to just 691,00 viewers. That's compared to 680,000 live viewers for the 2008 awards and a whopping 921,000 live viewers in 2007.

While last night's Video Game Awards on Spike TV showed off trailers for a lot of upcoming games, a large amount of them were CGI teasers that didn't show actual in-engine gameplay (Batman: Arkham Asylum sequel, we are looking at you). That was not the case for the trailer for Medal of Honor which showed off a little of the gameplay we can expect from the revival of the EA shooter brand.

As promised the new game takes place in modern day Afghanistan. Along with first person shooting the game will have your driving ATVs and even flying and firing from an Apache helicopter. You can check out the trailer after the jump. The game itself is due in the fall of 2010.

As previously reported, 2K Games officially announced a new entry in the Spec Ops shooter series after an absence of several years. Titled Spec Ops: The Line, the game was officially announced at this evening's Spike TV Video Game Awards. A new trailer was also shown which depicts the title as a third person action shooter around the lines of Gears of War.

There's still no word as to who is developing the title which is set in the Middle Eastern city-state of Dubai. The area has been hit with an unexplained and massive sand storm that has devastated the massive skyscrapers. Your character has to deal with some hostiles who are also in the city. Hopefully we will get more info on Spec Ops: The Line soon.

Yep, it's yet another reveal from this evening's Spike TV Video Game Awards. This time it's actually linked to a Spike TV show, Deadliest Warrior, which attempts to put historical soldiers from all cultures against each other. The second season is set to begin in spring 2010.

A brief trailer for the Deadliest Warrior game was shown during the Video Game Awards showing a ninja going up against a middle ages armored knight. Pipeworks Software was named as the game's developer and it will apparently be a downloadable title. No platforms were announced.

The Spike TV Video Game Awards has revealed that LucasArts is working on Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II, the sequel to their best selling 2008 console action game that finally made its way to the PC last October (that's the game pictured above). A URL (www.unleashed2010.com) hints strongly that the game is due for released sometime next year.

The CGI trailer showed the lead character of the first game, Starkiller, fighting a massive creature in an arena-like setting. It also looks like Starkiller is going to have to deal with the voices of Darth Vader and Yoda in his head. Hopefully PC gamers won't have to wait a year to get the sequel.

Update: The Unleashed2010.com teaser site has launched with the above image

During an awards presentation at the Spike TV Video Game Awards, actor Zachary Quinto revealed that he would be the "voice" for Star Trek Online, the upcoming MMO title from developer Cryptic Studios and publisher Atari. Quinto did not make clear if he would just be an unnamed voice in the game or if he would be reprising his role of Spock in the recent movie revival.

Besides playing Spock, Quinto is best known for his role as the complex super villain Sylar in NBC's Heroes TV series. Hopefully we will learn more about his role in Star Trek Online in the near future.

The Spike TV Video Game Awards has revealed that Eidos and Rocksteady are working on a sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum. Yep, the super hero action game that is perhaps the best Batman game ever made is getting a follow up.

The CGI teaser shown on the award broadcast showed what looked like a Gotham City that was ravaged by crime and a version of the Joker that is not quite healthy. Batman himself doesn't appear in the video and in fact the title of the sequel is never mentioned. The trailer ends with a URL (www.arkhamhasmoved.com) but as of the writing of this post the address isn't working.

Update: The teaser site has now gone live.

Update 2: Warner Bros. Interactive has posted up a press release announcing that it will be the publisher of the game. Eidos is not mentioned. An actual title for the game as well as a release date is not mentioned.

Tonight at 8 pm Eastern Time Spike TV broadcasts their annual Video Game Awards. It's by far the highest profile awards ceremony for the PC and video games industry and while in the past the show has sometimes been more about the celebs promoting their upcoming projects this year looks like it will have a lot more "games" in the show.

The VGAs are not only honor games released in the past 12 months but also show off glimpses of upcoming titles. At 3 pm today (about an hour after this post goes live) you can go to the VGA web site and stream a live feed showing off the rehersals for tonight's show where we are promised that we will see a glimpse of one of the world premiere games that will be shown on the telly tonight

At the moment we have been given the heads-up on trailers showing off the next (modern day) Medal of Honor game, the new Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands title, a new unnamed Star Wars game, the first look at the new Tron game, an officially unnamed 2K Games shooter (which most people believe is a revival of the Spec Ops franchise) and two completely unknown game titles. And we are promised that the show itself will still have some surprises.

With Spike TV's annual Video Game Awards just two days away, there's perhaps more excitement for all the upcoming game reveals than what will happen in the actual awards ceremonies. Today GameTrailers.com posted up the latest tease; a few seconds of a CGI trailer promoting an unnamed game from an unknown publisher.

You can check out the video, which seems to center around Asian crime triads, after the jump. Oh, and that's not all. Spike TV's Geoff Keighley states on his Twitter page, "To answer a popular VGA question, yes, we definitely have surprises set for the show. We haven't announced all the premieres."

With five days remaining for Spike TV to broadcast their latest entry in their Video Game Awards ceremony, we have been wondering if the show will have an overall celeb host for the event on December 12. Today the cable TV channel has released a preliminary list of celeb presenters and Big Download has confirmed with a Spike TV rep that there won't be an actual overall host for the show.

The presenters this year include folks like Jake Gyllenhaal (who will also promote his starring role in the upcoming game-to-movie adaptation of Prince of Persia), Kristen Bell, Felicia Day, Tony Hawk, Tricia Helfer, Alyssa Milano, Zachary Quinto, Mike Tyson, and Olivia Wilde. Snoop Dog will also be performing. However, Spike TV's PR rep has now told Big Download, "As of right now, we are going without a host, similarly to what we did for this year's Scream Awards." Past celeb hosts for the VGAs have included David Spade, Samuel L. Jackson and last year's host Jack Black.