GOTY.cx 2013

[JonCole]

Joe Danger was lead PS3, year later 360, year later PC/Mobile, so I imagine it'll be a situation of them selecting one platform to develop for and potentially porting thereafter once again.

[Merus]

Why did people expect the VGX to be not terrible? The problem with previous years was not the format, it was the horrible creative judgement. The same people are still in charge.

 

Thank you for actually reading my rambling thoughts, clyde!

 

I'm hoping that you will expand the thought that you wrote at the end. It seems like you have something to say, and I'm not clear on what it is just from reading this [last line].

 

Okay, so: games are pretty great! But there was always this belief that gaming needed ambassadors to explain to people who don't play games just how great they are. They're something you have to learn, so it was assumed that someone would have to actually try and explain what it was like to be good at a game and interact with it and have it respond in pleasing ways. And we had people like Tom Bissell and Charlie Brooker happy to make that case. But what actually did the trick, it seems to me, was not cultural criticism, but making truckloads of money - it's about the time that Call of Duty started making mad bank during a recession that serious publications like The Economist started paying attention. I distinctly remember one article that can be summarised as 'what are these video games, and why are people spending so much money on them -- guys do you realise that they're already doing digital distribution -- holy crap they throw out their own platforms every half-decade, by choice, look how quickly they adapted to the mobile world -- whaaaaaaaaaaaaat these people are amazing how did we not know about this'. Making eye-bogglingly large amounts of money is the most respected form of cultural relevance, because it is an argument for relevance that cannot be easily dismissed.

 

The other big thing is Minecraft, I'd say - I don't think we realise how huge it is, and I strongly suspect it's Pacman/Space Invaders huge. I suspect there will be a generation that will see the creeper face and respond to it in the same way that everyone knows what the chomping yellow dot means. And what parents see is their kids tooling around in this blocky, smeary world, and then they get their mum and say, 'look what my friends and I built' and it's an entire goddamn castle and mum understands now. There are monsters because monsters make it exciting, but the important thing is the freedom. GTA3 had freedom, but it also needed people to explain and contextualise its faults. Minecraft doesn't have those faults - it, like many games this year, demonstrate their special qualities much more readily than games have for a while.

[Stuart]

Why did people expect the VGX to be not terrible? The problem with previous years was not the format, it was the horrible creative judgement. The same people are still in charge.

 

Yeah, but not THIS terrible. Seriously, ignoring the offensive jokes and the Joel McHale's depressed state during the show, the entire show was fucking haphazard in production values and actual care. The fucking thing looked like it was filmed in some random dude's apartment loft, no one seemed to know what the fuck was going on, and everything was just...UGH. UGH. At least previous VGAs had a few interesting and memorable things, but this was just 98% BAD (The Telltale announcements, No Man's Sky, Mega64, and Hot Scoops getting an award was cool). I'm amazed I managed to keep watching it, but thankfully I was watching it with someone else, so I had some company at least.

 

 

Sums up these two's "chemistry" throughout the entire thing.

[Twig]

Seriously, ignoring the offensive jokes

I honestly didn't notice any. Although I was only half paying attention. But, still, even only half non-offensive is better than some past examples.

 

Oh, one of my favorite parts was the inexplicable shitty-steampunk aesthetic they chose for the stage.

[Merus]

I'm still baffled. Guys, every single year I watch my twitter feed bemoan how no-one at the VGAs care about video games, the offensive and dismissive jokes, and how the entire thing is a joyless slog only mitigated by one or two cool announcements and a game that deserved an award getting an award, even if it was an award from Spike TV.

 

This happens every single year. Why do you keep doing it to yourselves? They have the worthwhile announcements up on Kotaku and Polygon as soon as they happen. You are missing nothing. This is something you are doing to yourself.

[Twig]

I watched because it was a hilarious trainwreck. I very much enjoyed it. Especially Joel McHale's constant snide remarks. (And also I got to see the reveal for No Man's Sky, which is pretty much now my most anticipated Big Game Developed By Small Studio.)

 

Then again, nothing will ever beat the legendary Konami press conference at E3 some years ago. That shit was amazing.

[Nappi]

Sums up these two's "chemistry" throughout the entire thing.

 

I hope someone makes a compilation video of all the awkward banter between Joel and Geoff. It was hilarious, although I wouldn't have liked to be either one of them yesterday.

[melmer]

(Don't read the comments, especially the one that says "thanks for running video games" I'd put that quote on all the Fulbright mech, it's absolutely priceless)

[Nappi]

Can you even run in Gone Home?

 

Anyway, congrats on GGOTY Steve and the rest of the Fullbright Company!

[Latrine]

Well, there was some semi-promising news regarding the show: http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/6/5183260/why-spike-is-hitting-the-reset-button-on-its-video-game-awards

 

Weirdly it seems they just decided to ditch the whole award show aspect of the show and just make it an extra long episode of Gametrailers. Now it just feels like any other outlet specific GotY. Oh well, I think the GDC/IGF is a pretty good awards show.

 

I find the negativity about Gone Home winning pretty odd because it was only really up against other indie games. I know there's a bunch of people who disliked Gone Home and liked Papers, Please and The Stanley Parable more, but I would've thought better of people who had the good sense to like those other games. 

 

I liked Matt and Trey. "This is the future of award shows." Also the high as hell band was a nice change of pace from drunk and depressed Joel.

[tegan]

This was actually the first year I've ever watched it.

 

All I have to say is that I'm excited for Giant Bomb's GOTY event to wash the taste out of my mouth.

[posh_somme]

i'll just list my favourites and say a few words about ones that I haven't seen many talk about yet

 

Gone Home

Animal Crossing: New Leaf - played 150 hours and still going strong!

Spelunky - i still play this game every day

LoZ: Link Between Worlds 

Injustice: Gods Among Us - i'm a big fan of Mortal Kombat 9, and Injustice felt like that but with a ton of stuff thrown in. I don't really care about the DC universe but I thought the roster and movesets were pretty cool, especially the supers. and the way combos work in netherrealm games is really satisfying. good fighting game

Skulls of the Shogun - i wish this caught on better because i found all the mechanics really fun. simple strategy with not too much missing, definitely plenty of nuance and room for their to be somewhat of a high skill roof, though the enjoyment definitely came from the accessibility and just being able to jump into a skirmish without worrying about it being too much of a timesink

Saints Row IV - where GTA games have lost almost all of their character since the PS2 era i feel like saints row games have been gaining more and more, and IV was just a ton of fun, probably my favourite open world game to date bar Sleeping Dogs

Super Mario 3D World

Fire Emblem: Awakening

Device 6

Hexcells - i love a good puzzle game

Starseed Pilgrim - most of the enjoyment comes from the first 2 or 3 hours of coming to terms with how the game works, after that the difficulty comes from actual gameplay rather than trying to figure out the systems. still pretty memorable for that though

 

 

I haven't played much of Ni No Kuni yet but I'm really enjoying it so far. Also wish I could buy Assassin's Creed 4, looks like something I could really get into. I want Luigi's Mansion 2 and Etrian Odyssey IV too, and if I didn't just have a Mac I would've played Gunpoint, Brothers and The Swapper by now

[feelthedarkness]

I didn't watch this, but it's funny to contrast the smarmy junk and disdain of the show with the idea that GTA 5 made 1 billion dollars in 1 day, the kind of payday Hollywood dreams of. How hard did they have to synergistically upsteam market The Avengers to get there? 

[JonCole]

This is pretty much the essence of #VGX

 

 

In hindsight, McHale wasn't really the worst thing about that "show". In fact, he was probably just 50:50 in terms of it being entertaining, mostly because he was the only outsider there and pointed out a lot of dumb shit that was happening. Probably those guys screaming about potatoes and the foul things they did in GTA5 were the worst part. Or the fact that almost every "world exclusive" trailer was basically just a 30-second recut of E3 demo footage with some semi-interesting voiceover or a subsequent interview that didn't reveal anything meaningful about anything.

 

I wish that there was someone who could make an entertaining, watchable celebration of video games that was honest and didn't try to be "cool". There doesn't need to be "viral" shit or "world exclusive" trailers, just genuine appreciation for games and maybe some cool interviews with devs.

[Ucantalas]

I didn't watch any of VGX last night. And I don't think I've ever watched the VGAs before.

But watching that video... jesus christ. If this is what we have for awards shows... Fuck. No wonder no one takes gamers seriously. I hate to say it, but this is apparently the most public and well known video game awards... to someone looking in, this is our Oscars. And it SUCKS. It doesn't look even slightly respectable or professional. It's... ugh. I'm sorry, I'm rambling a little.

[clyde]

I was under the impression that the Interactive Achievement Awards were the award show that people actually take seriously, or the Game Developers Choice Awards.

[Lu]

Yea, I didn't think McHale was that bad. I think it was more a production issue. When the guy was not on script, he seemed a lot more relaxed and normal then when reading from the prompter. What I personally found incredibly annoying was the developers that showed up for a talk about nothing "OOH! MARKETING OPPORTUNITY! Yea, we're still working on this video game thing you already knew about and here's 5 seconds of new footage. Now let's talk for 5 minutes how amazing and great everything is." If you have nothing substantial to say, why are you even there? Too much fluff and just kind of out of place for an award show, I think. That reminds me, for a show that is about the best games of the year, why the hell are they not talking to the developers of said games? The games are out, so they can actually talk about potentially interesting stuff.

 

For some contrast, compare Remedy's Quantum Break bit/Tomb Raider bit with the No Man's Sky bit. The latter is what I would personally want more of. The former can fuck off.

[JonCole]

The Tomb Raider bit was very embarassing, so blatantly marketing BS that I could barely watch it.

 

@clyde - I don't personally need an "award show that people actually take seriously", I just want one that's honest, valuable, and mildly entertaining.

[Stuart]

I'm still baffled. Guys, every single year I watch my twitter feed bemoan how no-one at the VGAs care about video games, the offensive and dismissive jokes, and how the entire thing is a joyless slog only mitigated by one or two cool announcements and a game that deserved an award getting an award, even if it was an award from Spike TV.

 

This happens every single year. Why do you keep doing it to yourselves? They have the worthwhile announcements up on Kotaku and Polygon as soon as they happen. You are missing nothing. This is something you are doing to yourself.

 

I keep doing this to myself (well, I did this year and the year prior. Haven't watched any VGA other than those) because I want to see up close what is wrong with the video game industry and point and call for change within it. This is a show that is watched by millions, unironically and with glee. That is a saddening thing and by commenting on the show's disgusting qualities I can at least meagerly hope that something will change for the better.

 

I honestly didn't notice any. Although I was only half paying attention. But, still, even only half non-offensive is better than some past examples.

 

Good for you for not paying attention. The shit they fucking said wouldn't be acceptable for any other fucking award show. Just read this:

 

http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=11609

 

Even one of the Gone Home members was arduous with disappointment.

 

https://twitter.com/koalaparty/status/409483602116636673

[Trip Hazard]

Spelunky gets my vote. Always fun, always challenging, no QTEs, no cutscenes, all game, all the time. It might actually be my fave game ever, not just this year.

[Ucantalas]

I was under the impression that the Interactive Achievement Awards were the award show that people actually take seriously, or the Game Developers Choice Awards.

While I'm sure both of those are more respectable awards, its Spike's VG(A/X) that are the sort of highly publicized "mainstream" awards show that even non-video-game people know about. It's the one that people who don't follow video games seem most likely to check out, and that's where it probably looks worst.

[jmbossy]

his happens every single year. Why do you keep doing it to yourselves? They have the worthwhile announcements up on Kotaku and Polygon as soon as they happen. You are missing nothing. This is something you are doing to yourself.

 

Can we not dream of a day when we won't be publicly represented as awkward, offensive, or apathetic

 

Edit: I'm still pretty new here, is there a reason why my sadfaces always end up being angry tomato monsters?

 

 

 

 

Second edit:

 

In hindsight, McHale wasn't really the worst thing about that "show". In fact, he was probably just 50:50 in terms of it being entertaining, mostly because he was the only outsider there and pointed out a lot of dumb shit that was happening. Probably those guys screaming about potatoes and the foul things they did in GTA5 were the worst part. Or the fact that almost every "world exclusive" trailer was basically just a 30-second recut of E3 demo footage with some semi-interesting voiceover or a subsequent interview that didn't reveal anything meaningful about anything.

 

This is a perfect summation of the show. 

[clyde]

That moment when you find out that emoticons on the Idle Thumbs forums are not quite right. Who is going to tell JMB about the auto-correct of Lords Management?

[jmbossy]

Lords Management.

 

Edit: I feel violated

[Yasawas]

I'm as surprised as anyone but I think the answer is Persona 4 Golden. I almost watched an anime after I finished it. Anime! It's been a pretty ludicrous year for handheld gaming with Monster Hunter, Fire Emblem, Donkey Kong, Zelda, Bravely Default, Theatrhythm, Crimson Shroud and Animal Crossing all being great but the one hard copy Vita game I've bought in the year I've owned it is the winner.

 

Game Not From This Year That I Beat This Year of the Year - Demon's Souls, two platinums son. Honourable mentions to Virtue's Last Reward and Super Mario Galaxy 2.