Behind the Scenes: SpikeTV's Video Game Awards
Dec 13, 2006
LOS ANGELES--SpikeTV recently held its fourth annual "Video Game Awards," and we were on the red carpet, backstage, and in the green room to find out what Hollywood celebrities are playing these days. The show airs December 13 at 10 p.m.
"This show is increasingly high profile and winning an award at it is quickly becoming a necessity for any mega hit title," said Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer of Epic Games' Gears of War, which took home four awards. "I think the 'VGAs' have a good chance at bridging the remaining gap between casual and hardcore gamers by providing an entertaining venue for celebrating the business while taking the time to wink at its history."
Samuel L. Jackson hosted the "VGAs," for the second straight year, in front of a live audience at USC's Galen Center -- double the size of last year's Universal Studios venue. The actor is a big gamer; his voice work for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas got him more interested in the space. Jackson said he has several game projects in the works, including Afro Samurai, which will debut as an animated series and expand to video games and a live action feature film.
"I've been playing video games since Space Invaders and Atari football," said Jackson from the red carpet. "I've been playing games over and over for years. Now I'm more hooked on Tiger Woods Golf than anything else. I just played Guitar Hero II for the first time tonight and I'm ready for that."
Activision was on hand to give away Guitar Hero II bundles to any presenters who were interested--and most were. The game was also on hand backstage for presenters to play first, before deciding.
"Lost's" Daniel Dae Kim is a big Guitar Hero II fan. "A lot of the cast of the show plays it and my son loves it," said Kim, who did his first game work in Vivendi's Scarface: The World Is Yours. As far as gamers on the set in Hawaii, Kim said Jorge (Garcia) is pretty good. Dominic (Monaghan) is pretty good. Matthew (Fox) plays a pretty good game. And I like to think I have some skills in that department."
Tyrese was all for Guitar Hero II and any games that promote physical activity. He said, "I think they should start making video games where kids need to be on a treadmill to play them, so they're doing something other than sitting on the couch."
Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam for Wii at least gets kids into the games. The retired pro skateboarder was on hand at the "VGAs" to accept the award for Best Individual Sport for Tony Hawk's Project 8.
"Hopefully, if Project 8 does well, we're doing another Tony Hawk game," said Hawk from the red carpet. "And I'd really like to do another Downhill Jam for the Wii."
Superman Returns' Brandon Routh, who stars in both the new DVD and the Electronic Arts video game, was on hand to introduce the trailer for one of the most anticipated games of 2007, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Routh said he liked to play Warcraft on the PC, but he is also a fan of console games like Gears of War and Halo, which he plays with his friends.
"I'm loose when it comes to gaming consoles," said Routh. "I'm open to anything. I've been playing Ridge Racer 7 on PS3. It's a beautiful game. I'm excited for the new Gran Turismo, but I'll have to wait for another year for that to come out."
The stars of NBC's hit show, "Heroes," were on hand to present at the VGAs. Hayden Panettiere, who has worked on two hit video games, Square Enix' Disney's Kingdom Hearts I and II, enjoys gaming.
"I have all of the game consoles at home," said Panettiere. "My brother's a big gamer so he has all of them. I like Pac-Man, that's the only game I really play. I've played the Kingdom Hearts games, as well."
Panettiere's co-star, Masi Oka, who plays Hiro, has logged a lot of hours on World of Warcraft. He's looking forward to The Burning Crusade, especially after seeing the new trailer. The actor also spends time on set playing PSP games like Loco Roco.
Casey Patterson, executive producer of the "VGAs," said that the convergence between Hollywood and video games that has resulted in hits like Scarface, The Godfather, the Tom Clancy games, is not just about the movies. She said the music industry is also a big part of gaming today, which is why AFI and Tenacious D were on board for live performances.
Last year, 50 Cent performed at the show to promote Bulletproof, a game that featured six original tracks. That helped the game sell over 1 million copies.
"I've been playing games since Atari," said 50 Cent. "I like to play the one-button Atari controllers. It's started to get more complicated today with these 8-button controllers. I have a PlayStation 3, but I haven't used it yet. It's a Christmas present."
Fellow rapper and actor XZIBIT, who can currently be seen virtually in Activision's Pimp My Ride game, was on hand as a presenter.
"To be asked to be here as a presenter shows recognition for both sides of the fence that I play," said XZIBIT. "I have an 11-year old who's a big gamer and I like to play whatever he's playing."
XZIBIT, who was playing some Madden NFL 07 on Xbox 360 backstage in the green room, and getting beat, said "I didn't say I was good at them, but I like to play them."
Michael Irvin was on hand to watch the Madden gaming. EA Sports also had NFL Street 3 set up on PlayStation 2 backstage.
As far as the "VGAs," themselves, Jason Hall, senior vice president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, said the place for these awards in the game industry depends on the games that are up for nominations and if they resonate in the gaming community.
"It's not about hype or who's spending the most in marketing these games," said Hall. "You have to look at the results of what games are winning and why. I think the jury's still out, from a gamers' perspective, in terms of if it's going in the right direction."
One thing that is going in the right direction is the celebrity list for the show itself. Each year, bigger names attend the "VGAs" not just because they're in games, but because they're gamers. And that's something that will only grow each year.
Full Awards Results