The Spike VGX 2013 awards were held last weekend. For those who do not know the prizes Spike VGX is an annual gala of the television channel Spike Tv where prizes are awarded for the best games of the year. This gala is often considered the Oscars of video games, not so much because they are given by the highest authority of video games but because all the spectacularity of this gala makes it the closest that the world of video games has to the Oscars gala.
O last year's Spike Tv had its reputation questioned as being virtually the only entity of respect in the world of video games to consider The Walking Dead: The Game was the best game of 2012 and this year its awarding of prizes returned to be controversial. In the last week have been multiplied the negative critics the awarding of the prizes of this year by players in multiple websites and forums. Criticism has been directed primarily against the Best Action and Adventure Game awards, Best PC Game, Best Xbox Game, Best PlayStation Game and Best DLC.
As for the Best Action and Adventure Game, Best Xbox Game and Best PlayStation Game the complaints have all had the same source: the fact that the GTA V having won the best game of the year but not winning any of those categories. For critics, if GTA V is the best game of the year it cannot be considered worse than another game of its kind, that is, it would have to win the category of Best Action and Adventure Game. Since Assassin Creed 4: Black Flag was considered the best action and adventure game of the year and GTA V is an action and adventure game, the logic says that AC 4 is better than GTA V. The same idea, according to critics, applies to the Best Game for PlayStation and Best Game for Xbox awards. While it was not mandatory for the game to be considered the best game on both consoles, as the GTA V versions for PlayStation and Xbox are not entirely the same, many players wrote that as the best game of the year GTA V had to be considered the best of the year on at least one of the consoles. Some critics go even further and say that these awards lead us to believe that the important thing in a game is not the graphics, the story or the playability but the music since the only other prize that the game won was the Best Soundtrack , being considered inferior in all the other categories in which he was correctly named.
Criticism of the Best PC Game award has already begun when the nominees for the award were announced: Battlefield 4, Gone Home, Papers, Please and The Stanley Parable. Many people find it strange that Tom Raider and BioShock Infinite were nominated for Best Game of the Year but were not nominated for Best PC Game. However, criticism increased when BioShock Infinite won the best shooter award, because Battlefield 4 was also a candidate for that category and since the PC version of BioShock Infinite is far superior to the console versions, it would have to be present in candidates for Best PC Game. As one would expect critics almost had a heart attack when Gone Home won the prize. Although Gone Home is a creative and inspired game, for critics to consider this game better than Battlefield 4 (not to mention the games that should have been in the category and are not) should be considered a crime.
Spike Tv clearly did not hear the jokes that were made about Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon being nominated for Best DLC (downloadable content), as it went beyond nominating him for this category and gave him the prize. The jokes did not stem from the quality of the game, but from the fact that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon not be a DLC but rather an independent game from Far Cry 3. Although before it was released there was a strong rumor that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon was a new Far Cry 3 DLC, even before its release it was clear that it was not necessary to have Far Cry 3 to play the game. Now if you don't need Far Cry 3 to play Far Cry: Blood Dragon, it cannot be considered as in-game content. For critics to give this award to Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is the same as giving the prize for best fighting game to Fifa 14, it may even have parts that are similar to a fighting game but that doesn't mean it is. According to these critics, this award demonstrates how much the people responsible for these awards perceive and video games.
Although the attribution of several other prizes undermines the reputation of the Spike VGX prizes, the attribution of the prize for best DLC alone undermines the reputation of the prizes that undoubtedly lost a good part of their prestige, but that still enjoy good enough name to be able to recover what he lost this year in his 2014 edition.
For those who missed the 2013 Spike VGX awards and still don't know who the winners were, the results were:
- Game of the Year
- BioShock Infinite
- Grand Theft Auto 5 - Winner
- Super Mario 3D World
- The Last of Us
- tomb raider
- Study of the Year
- Irrational Games
- Naughty Dog - Winner
- Rockstar North
- The Fullbright Company
- Most Early Game
- Destiny
- Titanfall - Winner
- South Park: The Stick of Truth
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- Watch Dogs
- Best Shooter
- Battlefield 4
- BioShock Infinite - Winner
- Call of Duty: Ghosts
- Metro: Last Light
- Best Independent Game
- Gone Home
- Kentucky Route Zero
- Papers, Please
- The Stanley parable
- Best Action and Adventure Game
- Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag - Winner
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- The Last of Us
- tomb raider
- Best Sport Game
- FIFA 14 coins
- MLB 13: The Show
- NBA 2K14 - Winner
- NHL 14
- Best RPG
- Final Fantasy XIV: The Realm Reborn
- Fire Emblem: Awakening
- Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - Winner
- Pokemon X / Y
- Best Fight Game
- Divekick
- Injustice: Gods Among Us - Winner
- Killer Instinct
- Tekken Revolution
- Best Driving Game
- F1 2013
- Grid 2
- Forza Motorsport 5 - Winner
- Need for Speed Rivals
- Best DLC
- Borderlands 2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep
- Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall
- Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
- Mast Effect 3: Citadel
- Best Xbox Game
- BioShock Infinite
- Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons - Winner
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- tomb raider
- Best PlayStation Game
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- Rayman Legends
- The Last of Us - Winner
- tomb raider
- Best Game for Nintendo
- Pikmin 3
- Rayman Legends
- Super Mario 3D World - Winner
- The Wonderful 101
- Best PC Game
- Battlefield 4
- Gone Home
- Papers, Please
- The Stanley parable
- Best Casual Game
- Animal Crossing: New Leaf
- Disney Infinity
- Plants vs. Zombies 2 - Winner
- Skylanders Swap Force
- Best Actor
- Troy Baker (as Joel in The Last of Us) - Winner
- Troy Baker (as Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite)
- Steven Ogg (as Trevor Philips in Grand Theft Auto 5)
- Willem Dafoe (as Nathan Dawkins in Beyond: Two Souls)
- Best Actress
- Ashley Johnson (as Ellie in The Last of Us) - Winner
- Courtnee Draper (as Elizabeth in BioShock Infinite)
- Camilla Luddington (as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider)
- Ellen Page (as Jodie Holmes in Beyond: Two Souls)
- Best Soundtrack
- BioShock Infinite
- Grand Theft Auto 5 - Winner
- Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
- The Last of Us
- Best Song In a Game
- "ADHD" performed by Kendrick Lamar (Grand Theft Auto 5)
- "Sleepwalking" performed by The Chain Gang of 1974 (Grand Theft Auto 5)
- "Survival" performed by Eminem (Call of Duty: Ghosts)
- “Will the Circle be Unbroken” performed by Courtnee Draper & Troy Baker (BioShock Infinite) - Winner
And you what do you think? Will these prizes have been well attributed or shared the opinion of critics?
