Coffee Talk #87: Do You Care About Video Game Awards?

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Fat Tuesday, Chris Taylor talking to farm animals, or Bode Miller blowing the gold, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

With BAFTA announcing its British Academy Video Game Awards Nominees and the AIAS’ Interactive Achievement Awards taking place on Thursday, I’ve been thinking a lot about game awards. I love them. I love that developers get recognized for the awesome games they make. I particularly love the aforementioned Interactive Achievement Awards and the Game Developers Choice Awards that take place during GDC. They’re important for the business.

I’m guessing that some of you (perhaps many of you?) don’t care or don’t know about the different organizations that give out game awards every year. If you fall into that group, I urge you to learn about the different groups. It’s important to acknowledge the brilliant talent behind the games. Prestigious awards also go a long way towards mainstream acceptance.

I was wondering what you ladies and gents think of video game awards. Do you care? Do you think they’re necessary? Do you see them as the gaming industry’s Grammys or Oscars? Is there one particular award that you think is more prestigious than the others? Kindly share your thoughts on the matter.

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

60 thoughts on “Coffee Talk #87: Do You Care About Video Game Awards?”

  1. I don't think they are in the same league as the Grammys or Oscars. Simply because the music and movie industry televise their event so people can see other actors and musicians hand out awards to one another. I don't think the games industry is that full of itself yet.

    Do I care for their awards? Not really. GoTY doesn't influence my purchase anymore than "Best Sound".

  2. as far as how prestigious the awards are, I don't feel that they are up there with the oscar's and grammy's. But they are important, because I feel it is a way that the video game industry can be recognized in a mainstream way. If these awards can be publicized to the mainstream audiences, I think there is a better chance of more people beginning to realize how big the industry is, and that it is here to stay. We matter, and this is just a way to show it off to the world.

  3. I'm torn.

    I think the major publishers have a better push than the more indie ones and therefore there's alot of backscratching going om (alot like any other awards).

    However, I probably care more about them than I do the Oscars, Emmys, or Grammys.

  4. @bsukenyan

    Exactly, because someone else gave it an award it for some reason justifies for it some people. I have never been in that crowd.

  5. @ bsukenyan

    Which is why it's worth it to scratch these people's backs in the first place.

    Some/a crap load of people are just like sheep. You point a finger, and they'll walk right in to the slaughterhouse.

  6. I couldn't agree more with everyone else. I don't need to see Grammy's, Emmy's, Oscar's, or whatever other award shows out there. Maybe instead of showing it they can just read off who won or publish the list somewhere. honestly, do we need to see the rich celebrating themselves. As far as videogame awards go, i don't mind if they have their own awards. Are they necessary? Well if the people want to get recognized by their peers for the work they did, sure wny not? everyone needs highlights on their resume but do i need to see it? no. is it going to affect whether i play the game or not? no.

    @bode miller

    OMG this has been the most overhyped olympian ever. in 2006 all they could talk about how he's bringing the gold and that he would be the most decorated olympian ever; do you know what happened? that guy didn't even win one! At least he got a bronze now, but the media needs to stop trying to hype up people for you.

  8. @smartguy yeah I've always tried to avoid that crowd myself, also. I enjoy havign a mind of my own.

    @N8R it can definitely be worth it to scratch their back though. There is just so much money involved that it can be a little overwhelming to really stop and think about it.

    However, as long as there are enough people out there who are willing to buy into it all and follow someone else's opinion, the video game industry might as well try to gain some much needed recognition out of it as well. Why leave all of it to music and movies??

  9. @smartguy

    Yeah i know. I was against him too but at least he actually did meet the expectations thrust upon him. I actually feel bad for him because he was just 23 and all this focus started to get on him. All this stuff about his activities off campus took him down. The media built him up and they tore him down. It's like you can never win with the media. Why bother media, why bother?

  10. @tokz

    I was referring to how sick of his commercials and how sick you will be of the telecast crew raving about him.

    Yeah, he was pretty young for the spotlight…but it is no excuse for getting your pic taken smoking a bong. He didn't start training a month before the Olympics.

  11. @ bsukenyan

    I agree. I know I'm a "one off kinda guy" (as someone so delicately put once) and the stuff I like will probably get recognized either only by me or just more adored by myself.

    Either way, video games are up and coming. I just fear what these awards will turn into given 10 or 20 years.

  12. @Smartguy As an added bonus, Jay Moore is an excellent host that actually roasts the game developers in a funny way. Last year he told Richard Garriott, "You're going to launch yourself into space, but you can't launch Tabula Rasa?"

  13. I personally don't care about the game awards but I'm glad that a dev gets recognition for a great game though. I think the game awards are going in the right direction because last year Unhcarted 2 won virtually all GOTY awards over the popular COD MW2 and that's shows that people actually considered what game was the best and not what game was the most popular. As far as the Grammys go, it's also a popularity contest and I only watch for the performances. All hail Pink. She put on the best performance by far.

  14. @bsukenyan

    It's not just american society that does this nonsense. The Nobel Committee gave Obama a friggin peace prize! How skewed and rigged do you think that thing is? They also gave Gore a prize for his powerpoint! It's a lot of awards that are merely fluff and the rich celebrating the rich.

  15. okay okay okay

    @ray

    remember 2 years ago when fable won game of the year…..

    that was a bunch of crap, right?]

    sessler wanted it, so thats how it went…im right, arent i?

    @topic

    i only care if its a total crap decision…like fable 2, i didnt agree with bioshock, but at least i could see that one…

  16. @RRODisHere GOTY awards and the ones I mentioned are very different. I'm not talking about awards decided by web site editors. I'm talking about awards that are selected by other game developers. That's way more meaningful than any site's or magazine's GOTY awards.

    @thundercracker See my comment above. We're not talking about the same kind of awards.

  17. @smartguy I can't argue with either of those people as valid points for this argument! Ha, an award for Al Gore's power point is about as relevant as if anyone would have given him an award for inventing the internet.

  18. Game awards are harder to compare simply because games are becoming nonlinear in nature. I think for this reason more than any other a bad title compared to a good title is relative to the enduser. Good example is Heavy Rain. I'm sure the story is great, but I don't care for the method of interaction chosen for the game. Therefore, I wouldn't call it spectacular or great. Perhaps just good or decent for me. It's all relative.

    I thought Fable 2 was a great game. Much improved over the first. I knew it was only a 10-14 hour game. I didn't care. I have bought and will buy short games in the future. I don't have the time to play a 40 hour epic game. It would take me 4 months to do that. I like to beat games, so I don't mind a short one really. Some people can rent it and be done with it in a weekend. I can't. There are too many things that must be done or that I'd rather do. (see doing yardwork, going to work, school, bbq, beer drinking, time with the woman, etc).

  19. thats cool ray

    in that case, i spose i am a bit more curious if the voting is being conducted by actual game developers who have no hidden agenda or whatnot

    @off topic

    i finally succombed to the facebook….lord help me

    i will have no farm, fish tank, mafia, cafe or town though

  20. @Raymond Padilla

    Oh. In that case, recognition from peers is a great thing. I'm sure they don't let popularity get in the way of their picks. That is much better than sites and mags.

  22. @RRODisHere It's mostly great. I love that it acknowledges old wrestlers that really influenced the in-ring style and business of pro-wrestling. The one pick I had a problem with was Koko B. Ware, who was included last year simply because of his involvement in the WWE Legends game. Having Koko B. Ware in the hall of fame but not Ted DiBiase?!? The good news is that it looks like Ted will be headlining this year's class.

  24. DiBiase, along with Mr. Perfect, had the best vignettes ever. I loved the one where he paid a lifeguard to kick kids out of a public pool so he could swim. My friend at ESPN loves the one where he bet a kid that he couldn't dribble a basketball ten times and he kicked the ball after the ninth dribble.

  25. i love diabiase, i forgot how entertaining those vignettes were…

    mr perfect is still king of the vignette, there will never be anything close

    if i recall correctly, rick the model martel had a few good ones too, as did ravishing rick rude

  26. @wrestling

    let me get you guys opinion on something

    on february 27th there is going to a wrestling card at the high school down the street from my house…its 20 bucks for general admission seating

    the headliner…jim "hacksaw" duggan…ive never heard of any of the other guys

    would you guys mind looking?

    http://prowrestlingmidatlantic.com/

  27. lol

    it appears theres going to be an announcement on the 18th of another "huge" superstar that will appear as well…..100 bucks says its greg "the hammer" valentine

  29. @Thundercracker

    Looks neat. I'd probably spend the $20 bucks to go with a friend or two. Maybe watch The Wrestler before you go. They are adding someone in two days, interesting.

  35. no, ray, i meant that on the 18th i bet that greg valentine will be the surprise announcement

    either him or one of the koloffs…they come around here a lot

    ok im off, see yall tomorrow

  37. @LarcenousLaugh

    What about when he made the basketball half court shot behind his back and it was nothing but net.

  40. don’t really care since there is no point in being upset if a game I might find great isn’t liked by the media

  41. @Smartguy The Interactive Achievement Awards are being live streamed. Last year they were on IFC. It’s a fun show and I urge you to watch it. Maybe I’ll end up in a reaction shot. Ha!

  42. @Bsukenyan
    Prestigious? No…N8R put it correctly with “backscratching”. Take the Oscars for example, do you really think Slumdog Millionaire was the best movie? How about No Country for Old Men? The reason they are backscratchers is because it is so mainstream the media does nothing but star&*($.

    @Ray
    No promises man. I don’t watch award shows. I love football, but I can’t watch the Heisman award show and have only watched a select few inductions into the HoF.

  43. @smartguy Oh I don’t really think that it was the best movie at all. But an example of what I mean is this: When it came out that Slumdog Millionaire was the best motion picture (and whatever else it won) my math professor started raving about the movie. She saw it four times and was dying to tell us how good it was. She did not formulate this opinion until after the oscar’s really named it as such and solidified it’s place in the mainstream opinion as best motion picture.

    That is more what I mean when I say prestigious, I guess influential could be a better word. They might have lots of backscratching going on (which I believe they do). And it might only take approximately 20% of the vote to win an award. But what they say does matter to some people, and it holds a lot of influential power.

  44. @N8R Yeah I don’t really want to think about what they could easily become in the next 10-20 years. But I think right now it is the best move to make (to have video game awards). It is rather unfortunate that modern American society does not really know anything about moderation. We have to beat the horse far past death, to the point where video game awards could be horrendous to watch in 20 years, simply because as a society we don’t know when to stop.

  46. Mr. Perfect’s were the perfect ones. His feats of perfection were great lol. I love the football one where he throws the “perfect” spiral and then runs out and catches his own pass.

    That and you can’t get any classier then smacking your own gum out of the air. I wonder how long he had to practice that move.

  47. @thundercracker Valentine was inducted a long time ago.

    Looks like the card has a lot of great old NWA talent. JJ Dillon was the original manager of the Four Horsemen. Baby Doll was a valet for Tully Blanchard and Dusty Rhodes. The Rock and Roll Express is one of the best tag teams ever, particularly Ricky Morton (one of the best sellers of all time). Jimmy Valiant wasn’t very good in the ring, but I enjoyed watching him because I thought he was nuts.

  49. @RROD – that one was awesome too. They had that Timberwolves player just looking on saying things like “Perfect” and “Fantastic”. Perfect look absolutely huge in that vid too.

  51. @smartguy

    I hate Warner Bros., for making netflix and redbox do this. You figure this is good news for Blockbuster because they do not have such a deal with WB distribution. I guess if i really need a movie rather than getting for $1 or through my netflix sub., i'll just have to go there.

  52. @Tokz

    Or you could just wait, or pirate the thing. I will be damned if I go to BB because the movie studios get a bigger chunk.

  53. @smartguy

    I'm pretty sure i'll wait. I usually do rip the dvd's anyway but if i can't then i look for them online. BB is always my last resort but i'm talking about like the everyday person that's not up to date with news like we are. they may be like well they don't have it here or here i'll just go to BB or any local video store.

  55. continued from yesterday

    nope, its not gonna be greg valentine

    February 27, 2010 (Saturday) – Clayton NC

    NCWA/AIWF 2nd annual Ivan Koloff Tag Team Tournament

    Clayton Fitness Center, Clayton NC Bell Time is 7:30pm

    Featuring Ivan Koloff, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, "Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr., The Barbarian, George South, and others. Tickets $10 and kids 6 and under FREE. Email jlmterminator8@aol.com for more information.

    hell be in north carolina that day

  57. i would love for it to be ax and smash from demolition

    i love those guys, and crush was awesome too…i think hes dead though

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