Spikes Video Game Award Nominees

I am really not one for these "award" ceremonies, granted they do give more merit to video games as more of an art than merely a toy. However the reveal of the nominees for the awards bring a whole lot of other issues to the table. So lets start with a review of this years VGA nominees!

Studio of the Year
BioWare
Blizzard Entertainment
Bungie Studios
Rockstar San Diego

This one to me is the most important but almost always feels completely redundant. The nominees are ALWAYS these companies. Bungie spams there halo franchise to death every year, Bioware and Blizzard are the two most famous and then Rockstar is back once again for Read Dead Redemption.

Projected Winner: Blizzard Entertainment
With the upcoming release of Cataclysm and Starcraft II already sold millions. This is easily a winner for the studios. I personally would of chosen BioWare because of there amazing titles artistically.

Best Wii Game
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Metroid: Other M
Super Mario Galaxy 2

For these next three ill be giving my projected winners as once again i am a PC only Gamer.
Projected Winnner: Super Mario Galaxy 2
if you haven't noticed all these titles nominated are by Nintendo and with Metroids epic fail at ruining Samus story wise and Donkey Kong flying so low under the radar im amazed it even made the list. Nintendo wouldn't have there main mascot losing out to kirby.

Best Xbox 360 Game
Alan Wake
Fable III
Halo: Reach
Mass Effect 2

Projected Winner: Halo:Reach
My feelings toward Halo are fairly apparent. its the same game remixed 4 times until each title is severely over hyped. However since people like to play games that are familiar and safe, its kind of obvious how Halo will take home the gold on this one.

Best PS3 Game
God of War III
Heavy Rain
ModNation Racers
Red Dead Redemption

Projected Winner: God of War III
my mouth literally dropped when i saw ModNation Racers on this list. Maybe its more popular among the younger crowd but i haven't heard anything of this game since E3 2010. However everyone loves the God of War, Red Dead Redemption didn't capture the same essence of grand theft auto that the player craved.

Best PC Game
Fallout: New Vegas
Mass Effect 2
Sid Meier's Civilization V
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Projected Winner: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
Oh how this list makes me cry. Finally the category i crave and they almost halfheartedly threw it together. its obvious Starcraft 2 and Mass Effect would make the list due to there popularity. Fallout New Vegas JUST came out not to long ago and its bugged to hell. This feels like they looked at the Steam front page and picked the first two titles that popped up on the slideshow.

Best Handheld Game
God of War: Ghost of Sparta
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Professor Layton and the Unwound Future
Super Scribblenauts

Projected Winner: ???
as being anti console, i still have time to catch up with reviews and previews of what games come out for the consoles. However the Handhelds really do fly under the radar. I never hear when one comes out nor do i follow any of them.  

Best Shooter
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
BioShock 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Halo: Reach

Projected Winner: Call of Duty: Black Ops
This really is a hard choice between halo and COD. both have a strong following and top sales charts. However i dont see Halo taking home more than one gold this year.

Best Action-Adventure Game
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
God of War III
Red Dead Redemption
Super Mario Galaxy 2

Projected Winner: Super Mario Galaxy 2
Same reasons as above but if there was a second option i would say Assassin's Creed might take it as well

Best RPG
Fable III
Fallout: New Vegas
Final Fantasy XIII
Mass Effect 2

Projected Winner: Mass Effect 2
Bioware ALWAYS takes the gold on these games and you can see why. There games are amazing and give great stories.

Best Multiplayer Game
Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Halo: Reach
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Projected Winner: Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
Easily tops the charts in any multilayer experiences all over the world.

Best Individual Sports Game
EA Sports MMA
Shaun White Skateboarding
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11
UFC Undisputed 2010

Projected Winner: i don't give a crap
Seriously sports games to me are just mindless and im not going to give it any special notion.

Best Team Sports Game
FIFA Soccer 11
Madden NFL 11
NBA 2K11
MLB '10: The Show

Projected Winner: Same reasons as above. 

Best Driving Game
Blur
ModNation Racers
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit
Split/Second

Projected Winner: Split/Second
What people like more than driving is driving and explosions. Out of all these titles i see this one making the gold easily.

Best Music Game
Dance Central
DJ Hero 2
Def Jam Rapstar
Rock Band 3

Projected Winner: Dance Central
This has got to be the funnest game that really shows off the capability of Kinect. Just don't dance naked :P

Best Soundtrack
Def Jam Rapstar
DJ Hero 2
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
Rock Band 3

Projected Winner: ???
I wish i could review this one but non of these games are on PC and i really dont know the music soundtracks for any.

Best Song in a Game
Basket Case by Green Day
Black Rain by Soundgarden
Far Away by José González
GoldenEye by Nicole Scherzinger
Replay/Rude Boy Mashup by Iyaz & Rihanna
Won't Back Down by Eminem

Projected Winner: ??? 
same as above and really dont have any idea which songs belong to which game.

Best Original Score
God of War III
Halo: Reach
Mass Effect 2
Red Dead Redemption

Projected Winner: Mass Effect.
Bioware always gets good composers.

Best Graphics
God of War III
Heavy Rain
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Red Dead Redemption

Projected Winner: God of War III
This made me laugh, kirby's epic yarn making the nominee list. Granted its really good for stylized but how i see this category being shown as how far we have come graphically as well as how good our animations have become.

Best Adapted Video Game
LEGO: Harry Potter: Years 1-4
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
Transformers: War for Cybertron

Projected Winner: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
People like what they are familiar with and the over powered lead really will give players the most fun in the experience.

Best Performance by a Human Male
Daniel Craig as James Bond
Gary Oldman as Sgt. Reznov
John Cleese as Jasper
Martin Sheen as Illusive Man
Nathan Fillion as Sergeant Edward Buck
Neil Patrick Harris as Peter Parker/Amazing Spider-Man
Rob Wiethoff as John Marston
Sam Worthington as Alex Mason

Projected Winner: ???
Another one where im not sure which actors go to which games 

Best Performance by a Human Female
Dame Judi Dench as M
Danica Patrick as Herself
Emmanuelle Chriqui as The Numbers Lady
Felicia Day as Veronica
Jennifer Hale as Commander Sheppard
Kristen Bell as Lucy Stillman
Tricia Helfer as Sarah Kerrigan
Yvonne Strahovski as Miranda Lawson

Projected Winner: ???
Same as above.  

Best Downloadable Game
Costume Quest
Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Monday Night Combat
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game

Projected Winner: Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game
If the movie itself wasn't made for the gamers, This gives the players and fans a classic style game that they love.

Best DLC
BioShock 2: Minerva's Den
Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx
Mass Effect 2: Lair of the Shadow Broker
Red Dead Redemption - Undead Nightmare

Projected Winner: Red Dead Redemption
More players are inclined to buy this DLC because of the replay value of RDR. Bioshock had none and surprised it even got any DLC.

Best Independent Game
Joe Danger
Limbo
Super Meat Boy
The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom

Projected Winner: Super Meat Boy
As much as i love that Indie devs are getting attention, i sadly don't play very many but i could easily see this one taking the cake out of the choices.

Most Anticipated Game
Batman: Arkham City
BioShock: Infinite
Gears of War 3
Portal 2

Projected Winner: Portal 2
The sequal to literally the most quoted and most famous game ever to be created. Valve knows how to build hype. As we have seen with Half life.

Game of the Year
Call of Duty: Black Ops
God of War III
Halo: Reach
Mass Effect 2
Red Dead Redemption

Projected Winner: Call of Duty:Black Ops
Like above Halo and COD will be battling this one out, in reality its a dual of which is the best multiplayer game as that is all what people care about with the series.

Hope you all enjoyed my rant and review of the Nominees! ill post the actual winners once i see them.