I won RPG of the year and all I got was this lousy...
The synopsis blurb reads:
G-Phoria 2005 celebrates the year's hottest games, stars, music and trends that define the videogame lifestyle. The only videogame awards show that gives viewers a voice premieres exclusively on G4 on Tuesday, August 9 at 8 PM ET/ 5 PM PT, with the pre-show broadcast starting at 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT.
Obsidian Entertainment sent a few representatives to last night's filming at G4's request, as our title from last year, KotOR2, was in the running for RPG of the year. Based on their account of what transpired last night, G-Phoria managed to celebrate almost nothing to do with games or the people that made them. They do, however, manage to parade a sequence of bands, Hollywood actors, rented porn stars, and lame skit actors on stage while a disembodied voice broadcasts the winners in the various categories. Anyone that had anything remotely to do with actually making games was kept backstage until the credits roll at the end, where they get seven seconds or so to walk across stage and wave. G4 didn't even spring for a $20 cheap plastic trophy or anything of the sort to display at the offices of the companies that won.
When our game was announced as RPG of the year, it went something like this:
Voice over the speakers: RPG Game of the Year - Knights of the Old Republic 2.
Some rented clown comes on stage looking like he's supposed to be a Jedi, wielding a menacing plastic lightsaber. The Jedi approaches the mic and tells lame jokes that have nothing to do with the game in question, or even games in general. He then exits the stage.
This seems to be a trend with game industry award shows hosted by the TV Media. The previous mockery of an awards show was the SpikeTV Game Awards last December. Watching these award shows, it feels like they are trying to teach us that the creative power behind electronic entertainment comes from movie actors, standup comics, boy bands, and rap artists.
Now I'll be the first to admit that game developers probably don't make the most attractive stage presence. But I have to wonder who G4's actually trying to target with their game awards show. What demographic of the TV watching population is interested enough in game awards yet ALSO interested in lame standup, retired movie stars, and random bands?
It would seem that if someone was interested enough in seeing which games won, they would also be interested in at least a glimpse at the people that made the games they were interested in. I know I would be. Not because I care what any of them look like - but I would like to at least hear in their own words why they designed the game the way they did, or how they came to decide to implement the features that lead to their game winning an award in a particular category.
I freely admit to being a mid-20's geek, and that just might not put me in G4's target audience. But I still think most gamers that would be even idly interested in hearing what won what award are somewhere in the same neighborhood of the geekdom scale as I am, even as games have become more 'mainstream' over time. It seems like they would have to feel just about as disconnected by how G4 chooses to 'Celebrate the year's hottest games, stars, music, and trends that define the videogame lifestyle.' Last I heard, William Shatner doesn't define the videogame lifestyle.
Anyway. It's nice KotOR2 won in its category. Since the awards were determined by open voting on a website, it actually does mean a little to me. Whereas if it had been decided by some panel of G4 'videogame lifestyle defining' judges or something, then it definitely wouldn't have meant much at all to me. Still, it seems they could've at least sprung for a laser printed certificate that reflected the award!
-Akari
G-Phoria 2005 celebrates the year's hottest games, stars, music and trends that define the videogame lifestyle. The only videogame awards show that gives viewers a voice premieres exclusively on G4 on Tuesday, August 9 at 8 PM ET/ 5 PM PT, with the pre-show broadcast starting at 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT.
Obsidian Entertainment sent a few representatives to last night's filming at G4's request, as our title from last year, KotOR2, was in the running for RPG of the year. Based on their account of what transpired last night, G-Phoria managed to celebrate almost nothing to do with games or the people that made them. They do, however, manage to parade a sequence of bands, Hollywood actors, rented porn stars, and lame skit actors on stage while a disembodied voice broadcasts the winners in the various categories. Anyone that had anything remotely to do with actually making games was kept backstage until the credits roll at the end, where they get seven seconds or so to walk across stage and wave. G4 didn't even spring for a $20 cheap plastic trophy or anything of the sort to display at the offices of the companies that won.
When our game was announced as RPG of the year, it went something like this:
Voice over the speakers: RPG Game of the Year - Knights of the Old Republic 2.
Some rented clown comes on stage looking like he's supposed to be a Jedi, wielding a menacing plastic lightsaber. The Jedi approaches the mic and tells lame jokes that have nothing to do with the game in question, or even games in general. He then exits the stage.
This seems to be a trend with game industry award shows hosted by the TV Media. The previous mockery of an awards show was the SpikeTV Game Awards last December. Watching these award shows, it feels like they are trying to teach us that the creative power behind electronic entertainment comes from movie actors, standup comics, boy bands, and rap artists.
Now I'll be the first to admit that game developers probably don't make the most attractive stage presence. But I have to wonder who G4's actually trying to target with their game awards show. What demographic of the TV watching population is interested enough in game awards yet ALSO interested in lame standup, retired movie stars, and random bands?
It would seem that if someone was interested enough in seeing which games won, they would also be interested in at least a glimpse at the people that made the games they were interested in. I know I would be. Not because I care what any of them look like - but I would like to at least hear in their own words why they designed the game the way they did, or how they came to decide to implement the features that lead to their game winning an award in a particular category.
I freely admit to being a mid-20's geek, and that just might not put me in G4's target audience. But I still think most gamers that would be even idly interested in hearing what won what award are somewhere in the same neighborhood of the geekdom scale as I am, even as games have become more 'mainstream' over time. It seems like they would have to feel just about as disconnected by how G4 chooses to 'Celebrate the year's hottest games, stars, music, and trends that define the videogame lifestyle.' Last I heard, William Shatner doesn't define the videogame lifestyle.
Anyway. It's nice KotOR2 won in its category. Since the awards were determined by open voting on a website, it actually does mean a little to me. Whereas if it had been decided by some panel of G4 'videogame lifestyle defining' judges or something, then it definitely wouldn't have meant much at all to me. Still, it seems they could've at least sprung for a laser printed certificate that reflected the award!
-Akari