PRESS RELEASE
SPIKE TV’S “VIDEO GAME AWARDS 2009″ PLANS GLOBAL DOMINATION
7TH ANNUAL EVENT WILL BE BROADCAST IN MORE THAN 180 COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES WORLDWIDE
Two-Hour Event Premieres LIVE On Saturday, December 12 At 8:00 PM ET
Halo: Reach To Exclusively Premiere At VGAs, Plus Spectacular First Looks At
Never-Before-Seen Titles Set To Rock Gaming Consoles In 2010 And Beyond
Nominees And Categories Honoring The Best In Video Games Announced With Sony’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Topping List With Eight Nominations
Voting Begins Today At VGA.Spike.Com and GameTrailers.com
New York, NY, November 18, 2009 – Spike TV today announced the nominees and categories for the biggest world-wide event ever to celebrate the video game industry, the 2009 “Video Game Awards
The 2009 “Video Game Awards” will reveal blockbuster global premieres of never-before-seen titles and break international news with announcements of new games from the industry’s leading publishers. Game companies contributing exclusive new content to the VGAs include 2K, Activision, Disney Interactive Studios, Electronic Arts, LucasArts Entertainment, Microsoft Game Studios, THQ, Ubisoft, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and more to be announced in the coming weeks..
This year VGA viewers will get a sneak peek at Halo: Reach with the debut of an exclusive, world premiere video from the opening of the game. Halo: Reach is an all-new prequel to the massively popular Halo trilogy from developer Bungie and Microsoft Game Studios which launches in the fall of 2010 exclusively on the Xbox 360.
“The global appetite and response from the fans internationally has been astounding,” said Casey Patterson, executive producer and senior vice president, Event Productions Spike TV. “Video games, like movies and music, are a universal language and Spike is thrilled that we will now be showing gamers all over the world a glimpse into their future with more than 12 mind blowing world premieres.”
For additional information about other “VGA” world exclusives and announcements, fans can log onto VGA.Spike.com as well as get updates on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Spike_tv.
Leading the way with eight nominations this year, including nods for Game of the Year and Studio of the Year, is Naughty Dog’s cinematic adventure Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Batman: Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady Studios’ dark and gritty Batman game, racked up seven nods, including Game of the Year as well as Best Voice for Mark Hamill’s portrayal of The Joker. Infinity Ward’s military shooter Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Valve’s zombie thriller Left 4 Dead 2 each landed six nominations.
Nominees for Spike TV’s 2009 “Video Game Awards” were determined by the VGA Advisory Council, made up of a group of the most well-respected experts in the industry for leading game media outlets such as GameTrailers.com, Game Informer, USA Today, Wired, Penny Arcade, GameSpot and IGN. Games released between December 2, 2008 and November 23, 2009 were eligible for nomination.
Following are several of the nominees and categories for Spike TV’s 2009 “Video Game Awards.” For a full list, please go to VGA.Spike.Com.
GAME OF THE YEAR
• Assassin’s Creed 2 (Ubisoft / Ubisoft Montreal)
• Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos Interactive – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Rocksteady Studios)
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Activision Publishing / Infinity Ward)
• Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve)
• UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves (Sony Computer Entertainment / Naughty Dog)
STUDIO OF THE YEAR
• Infinity Ward
• Naughty Dog
• Rocksteady Studios
• Valve
BEST MUSIC GAME
• DJ Hero (Activision Publishing / FreeStyleGames)
• Guitar Hero 5 (Activision Publishing / Neversoft Entertainment)
• LEGO Rock Band (MTV Games – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment / Traveler’s Tales Games – Harmonix)
• The Beatles: Rock Band (MTV Games / Harmonix)
The official sponsors of Spike TV’s 2009 “Video Game Awards” are Burger King, Mountain Dew, Verizon Wireless, GameStop, Energizer and U.S. Army.
Albie Hecht, Oscar-nominated producer and Casey Patterson, senior vice president, event production & talent development for Spike TV will serve as executive producers of Spike TV’s 2009 “Video Game Awards.” Beth McCarthy will direct. Greg Sills is supervising producer.
Spike TV is available in 98.6 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV’s press site at http://www.spike.com/press.
Could someone clear something up for me. Does your game have to be released in Q4 to be more noticeable in terms of a nomination? I know that publishers like to have deadlines for blockbuster games released in Q4, but that wouldn’t affect your chances of nomination right?
I’m not surprised if GoWIII (OK Xbox 360 fanboys GoW stands for God of War NOT Gears of War because God of War came out first and it is the best hack and slash game ever) won’t win GOTY next year because it is being released in Q1 and Gran Turismo 5 won’t win for the same reason and the fact that GoWIII is better and COD8 won’t win because they will just steal everything off Infinity Ward and unless Heavy Rain is a true masterpiece that won’t win it either. And I think Gears 3 won’t be coming until 2011. But there aren’t any good 360 exclusive games next year because Halo is just becaoming a boring piece of shit (besides the multiplayer I have thought it was shit since Halo 2) and Alan Wake just looks down right GAY! But for this year I think Uncharted 2 will win it! Because it is truly the most epic game (I guess MGS4 was even more epic but that didn’t win) out of all of them. And COD is getting quite boring now! Each year it is the same thing, crappy six hour story, some other mose that you think is gay but then you start to play it more months after you’ve got it and you’re hooked (for a while) and the multiplayer is good until people become to NERDY or begin to CHEAT! I stopped playing COD4 as soon as on Downpour I got 1 shot killed headsot no scope from about 100 metres away and he couldn’t even see me! One minute he was running and then flick (his crosshair) and I died!
Yea I think there is some obvious “bias” with games released in Q4. The fact that Left 4 Dead 2 is a game of the year nominee but Killzone 2 is not, makes me laugh in a not so funny way.
I chcked the list and can’t help but thinking that this is the weirdest nominess list I’ve seen. Nolan North not nominated in best male performance, but he is in the best voice category. Whats the big fucking difference ? Why is there even a best voice category. Some of the categories also seem to exist only to give an award to a game. VGA shows are pretty much always boring anyway. Uncharted 2 and Dragon Age Origins not appearing in best cast ?? I guess I just don’t understand this lost at all.
This is kinda bullshit. I mean left 4 dead 2 was JUST released and is pretty much the same game as the first but with some few improvements. Assassins Creed 2 looks awesome but it too was JUST released. I think it would be fine but there’s no Killzone 2 witch is complete bullshit and no infamous which was amazing. And the fact that batman got a spot over them is dumb as hell. It’s so fucking dumb that these big time company’s are so biased now. I bet only reason they have Uncharted 2 on there is because it’s ranked at like 7th highest rated game of all time.
I found the whole list odd myself. Best human male/female. What the hell is that? Kind of cool Demon’s Souls is up for RPG of the year.
If Fox wins best human female and Claudia Black doesn’t get anything for Uncharted 2 or Dragon Age Origins. I call BS!
Why would Killzone 2 make it on here in the first place? It wasn’t that good of a game. Just because it looks fantastic, doesn’t make the game fantastic. ODST was great but short. It had its flaws. That’s why it didn’t make it on here. Killzone 2 also has some serious flaws, that’s why it didn’t make it on here. Is it truly that hard to figure out?
So… L4D2 it’s a better game than Killzone 2!? WTF! are you kiding me… it’s ok to say something like that about halo 3.2 but Killzone 2!!?… i dont think so…
Indeed there seems to be a bias towards Q4 games and not to mention… game GENRE.
Where the hell is Street Fighter IV!!!? Are shooters the only genre getting the attention ( besides batman AA and AssCreed of course).
Honestly, Street Fighter IV was the only game that lasted me more than 8-9 months.
Correct me if I’m wrong but, the idea of a fighting game being nominated GAME OF THE YEAR by any review site does seem to be very unlikely.
Oh look! This year’s game of the year is another FIRST PERSON SHOOTER!!! Who would’ve guessed it.
Prerequisites for being Game of The Year:
1. Must be released in Q4
3. Must be FPS
Let’s face it. As much as we all loved Batman AA and Assassin’s Creed. Do you think for a fat chance anyone would dare rate those above Modern Warfare?
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Why did they even bother to nominate COD: MW2? It’s not even CLOSE to being GOTY. I expect Naughty Dog to win best development studio and Uncharted 2 to take GOTY easily.
@kgbdarkday – Claudia Black, damn I knew that voice was familiar, she plays Morrigan right? Very good voice actor. You’re right regarding Demon Souls as well, Dragon Age is a great game, but I think Demon Souls stands out due to it’s different approach to an RPG and level of difficulty. I don’t have it but a friend of mine does and it would most definitely get my vote.
@Joey – Totally agree with you, where is Street Fighter IV? With the hype that game had on the run up, it seems to have been totally forgotten now and I don’t know why. It also seems strange to forgo Capcom in the Studio department, their commitment to games this year has been great, although their implementation down the line has been questionable. SF4, RE5, and Dead Rising Chop till you drop (Not the best but a pretty good implementation on the Wii). Add to that Marvel vs Capcom 2 online via DLC. Just a pity that Lost Planet 2 slipped behind this year for fear of being forgotten amongst the Uncharted 2, Assassins Creed, MW2 rush. Dark Void as well is a fallback, but possibly more due to dev reasons. Still that whole list seems to me that they stayed very concentrated on making a big games push this year, which seems to have been forgotten amongst Infinity Ward’s 1 game, Naughty Dog’s 1 game and Valve’s 1 game who’s prequel may very well have been in the running last year.
Doesn’t make much sense, but then again the VGA’s have always been disappointing in those big galleries. I say we poll amongst ourselves and figure out what (as gamers) we think accolades should go to in various categories. I don’t say this so we can start something major, but just so we know that we had a say in who we believe have come through for us over the year in game and out. If it’s something that sounds good with you guys let us know here or in the forums. I know Axe Head Schwick is curious as to what everyone’s opinions are and already started a thread a while back.
[...] in the week we told you about the freshly announced nominees for the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards going down December 12th in Los Angeles. Well, there’s [...]
a pretty odd list of nominees to say the least. but to be honest, this is a hell of lot better than actually letting the gamers pic. cuz if that were the case, then goty would be suttin like madden or wii sports fit…
You really think that would have a chance of happening? Would be pretty sad if that was the case, sure those can battle it out for best sports game, but something that is a yearly released with roster and graphical updates should never have enough development to allow it into the goty category.
i’ll go with the GOTY nominees, except L4D 2. No disrespecting VALVE (despite all the PS3 bashing) but this is a bad joke. Left 4 Dead is a fun game as far as MP goes but is nowhere near among the other nominees as far as story & chars go!
how about Dragon Age for GOTY?
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