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I Want My Two Hours Back

Wow…or should I say…ugh. The 2010 Spike Video Game Awards has got to be the worst awards show I have ever watched on TV. Neil Patrick Harris was lack-lustre and very unfunny – as was the poorly written dialogue and tasteless jokes sprinkled throughout the entire show. If they had cut out some of the idiotic backstage comments perhaps there would have been more time to actually present awards instead of mentioning a few in pass and some not at all.

There were far too many commercials, and overall the show’s production was lacking and juvenile. I was definitely not impressed…or amused. For supposedly being the premier awards show for the biggest segment of the global entertainment industry, Spike produced an epic fail. About the only thing that was done right were the cinematics for the Character of the Year nominees – and they were only good because Spike had nothing to do with the actual development behind them. I would, however, like to know who Sgt. Frank Woods paid off/tortured to be named as Character of the Year – what a farce.

The best thing that Spike could do for next year? Fire the whole production crew including the writers and start again. Next time around, pay the homage due to the creative force behind the interactive entertainment industry and put together a show that better reflects the purchasing demographic of the gaming public, not some half-cut college dorm production.

And now, I would like to extend my congratulations to our Canadian award winners:

Studio of the Year: Bioware
Best Xbox 360 Game: Mass Effect 2
Best RPG: Mass Effect 2
Best Action Adventure Game: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
Best Adapted Video Game: Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Best Performance by a Human Male: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions – Neil Patrick Harris as Peter Parker/Spider Man (he’s not Canadian, but the title was developed by Quebec’s Beenox)
Best Performance by a Human Female: Tricia Helfer as Sarah Kerrigan, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (The game’s not Canadian, but she is)

The trailer for Batman: Arkham City looks awesome, but as far as I’m concerned, the best game announcements of the entire evening were for SSX Deadly Descent from EA Sports – EA Canada, Mass Effect 3 from Bioware, and Prototype 2 from Radical Entertainment – waiting until Holiday 2011 for ME3 and all the way until 2012 for Prototype 2 is almost like torture, though. No, I take that back. Sitting through Spike’s award show was torture. Bring on the Canadian Video Game Awards [1] – a show done right.