I have to admit, as much as I generally loathe the production of any gaming television that finds itself in the mainstream, it’s still hard not to get excited about them when you know you’ll be seeing all kinds of new reveals and information. This year, Spike’s Video Game Awards show saw a bit of rebranding as VGX, a streaming only, more quiet affair that ditched the dude bro appeal in favor of something resembling, you know, something gamers might actually care about.
Whether they succeeded or not is another question entirely. While I found the show to be passable, there was no doubt the usual Twitter snark directed at Joel McHale, who really looked like he would have rather been anywhere else as he delivered poorly written jokes. Personally, I tuned in for the video reveals and ignored everything else.
And trust me, there were plenty of those to be had.
Telltale Announces Tales from Borderlands and Game of Thrones
First up, we got a couple of cool announcements from Telltale. In addition to the now-confirmed Game of Thrones series, it turns out they’re also making a Borderlands game. This matchup bodes well.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Nintendo revealed the first couple levels of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Which is, um, cool I guess. If you’re into that sort of thing.
Quantum Break
Remedy finally showed off some gameplay from Quantum Break, an exclusive XBox One game that until now has been shrouded in some mystery. Here, we see some cover-based shooting combat, similar to Uncharted, mixed with some time-manipulating mechanics. Interesting stuff, and gorgeous.
South Park: Stick of Truth
South Park came up next with a showing of their upcoming RPG, Stick of Truth. I’ve never been a huge South Park fan, but I have to say this game is just a bit appealing to me. I love the way the tutorial is espoused, and it’s sure to be a hit with fans of the show.
Destiny
Bungie revealed a new gameplay trailer of Destiny. While this game looks gorgeous, I haven’t thought any of its trailers have done it much justice, although this one does a lot of heavy lifting, thanks to some killer music. Can’t wait for this. And it’s nice that we have a date finally—September 9th, 2014 can’t come soon enough.
Broken Age
Tim Schafer arrived to show off some gameplay footage of Broken Age, Double Fine’s gorgeous adventure game that was Kickstartered just last year. There was a new reveal too in that Elijah Wood is the voice of the main character.
The Division
Wow. The Division simply looks stunning, and Ubisoft made a point of it by showing off a next gen graphics trailer for the game last night. I love that this game was on nobody’s radars until just a few months ago, and now it’s rapidly climbing to the top of my most anticipated games of 2014.
No Man’s Sky
Speaking of not being on anybody’s radar, Hello Games virtually stole the show last night with the reveal of No Man’s Sky, a procedurally generated, persistent, massively multiplayer online game that takes space exploration and combat to the next level. How a studio of just 4 people overshot Bungie’s imagination for Destiny is still beyond me, but dang, this game is interesting.
Dying Light
While I’ve heard of Dying Light described as “parkour meets zombies,” I’d never seen it in action before. This demonstration certainly got my attention.
Thief
I’ve never played any of the Thief games, but count me in for it this generation. Some really stellar stuff shown off in this new trailer.
Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Considering I’ve had a pretty major RPG itch for the last year or so, I’ve been getting most excited about playing Witcher 3 and Dragon Age 3 on my PlayStation 4 in 2014. After seeing the new trailer for Witcher 3 last night, it’s nice to see that I’ve got something to look forward to.
Titanfall
Finally, Respawn showed up to deliver some new Titanfall morsels, including a brand new gameplay trailer that showcased some of the newest Titans. This video shows the entire segment, including the interview with Respawn, with the new trailer at the end.
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So, what did you guys think of the VGX show? Which of these are you most excited for? Go!
I like Joel McHale, but I just can’t understand why they hire him for these kinds of events. He’s not the right match considering the target audience.
Yeah, and I’m not sure why the people that run these things feel like they need to write a bunch of jokes in. We’d tune in if it was just people on couches talking about games.
I believe “people on couches talking about games” is about 99% of what Giant Bomb does. Honestly, the VGX should just be Keighly and some very big gaming personalities (except for PewDiePie holy crap) talking about games.
Even if Joel McHale was playing a character by being ornery and sarcastic about games, two things come to mind: 1) nobody who plays games thinks that shit is funny and 2) why are they so inflexible that when their stuff is obviously bombing they don’t change it up? I’m sure you can just delete stuff from a teleprompter and let the hosts wing it a little bit (although if I recall correctly some of Joel’s adlibbed bits didn’t go over that well).
The show itself was atrocious, and continued the trend of having a lack of respect for the gaming audience. I long for the day where we can get a game award show that takes the medium seriously.
On the reveal side of things, there were lots to be excited about. I cannot wait for Quantum Break and Titanfall, Witcher 3 looks great and I will be purchasing a new graphics card just for it, Thief looks to scratch my enormous stealth game itch, and the Division’s graphics greatly impressed. It was good to see more from Destiny, but I feel like Activision hasn’t been doing a good job of telling us what the hell Destiny actually is and how gameplay is going to play out. Dying Light seemed so-so (the appearance of the cringe-worthy PewDiePie didn’t help it) however No Man’s Sky stole the show. Can’t wait for that.
Joel McHale was a terrible choice. Quite a few games to look forward to, I’m probably the least excited for Destiny on that list, Also, I’m a little surprised at all the hate for PewDiePie. While the “bro” stuff is annoying, he plays games like we used to when we were kids, before everyone got so serious about gaming. Swearing in other languages when people are scared is just one of my favourite things.
*drool* No Man’s Sky.