This week we learned that there will be over a dozen reveals at The Game Awards. This is the show created by Geoff Keighley to replace the VGAs (or VGX as it was known in its final year), an annual celebration of video games on Spike that had musical acts, celebrity guests and, of course, the awards themselves. After the terrible reception to last year's VGX, Spike cancelled the show.
For gamers, the awards were never the most important part of the event, it was the announcements. As we eagerly anticipate what we might see at Keighley's The Game Awards, l thought it would be a good idea to take a look back at the decade of Spike Video Game Awards.
Here are the top 8 reveals from the Spike VGAs.
The Last of Us
This PS3 exclusive from Naughty Dog would go on to become one of the highest-rated video games of all time. You'd think this would be the type of game Sony would want to show off at E3, but instead they unveiled it at VGA 2011.
This was our first glimpse of Ashley Johnson as Ellie and Troy Barker as Joel. Both actors later picked up Video Game Awards for Voice Acting at the 2013 Award show. The Last of Us also picked up Best PlayStation 3 Game, and Naughty Dog won Studio of the Year.
Mass Effect 3
The final chapter of BioWare's Mass Effect trilogy was announced with a trailer showing a lone soldier fighting off the invasion of Earth. As the camera panned out, we learned that the soldier was taking shelter inside Big Ben in London. It revealed that Shepherd has been sent on a mission to travel across the galaxy to bring back help and save his planet.
Mass Effect 3 was nominated for 5 awards at VGA 2012, but only walked away with Best RPG.
Telltale's Game of Thrones
One of the most surprising announcements of last year's show was Game of Thrones from Telltale. The studio had already announced Tales from the Borderlands at the same event, so a second announcement from the developer was not expected at all.
Telltale has had a lot of success at the VGAs. In 2012, they picked up a whopping 5 awards, including Game of the Year and Studio of the Year, for The Walking Dead. You don't get much more successful than that.
Dark Souls II
One of the most epic trailers to ever be shown at the VGAs was the reveal of Dark Souls 2. The original game was very well-received by gamers, so the news of a sequel was met with intense excitement.
Both Dark Souls and Demon Souls were nominated for Best RPG, but neither of them won. At this year's The Game Awards, Dark Souls II is nominated for Game of the Year, Best RPG, and Best Online Experience.
Batman: Arkham City
Although it did not yet have a name, the sequel to Arkham Asylum was announced right at the beginning of the VGA 2009, just a few months after the release of the original. The trailer re-introduced us to Mark Hamill as the Joker and teased a game that would be much larger in scale. At the same show, developers Rocksteady won Studio of the Year.
When Arkham City eventually came out, it was nominated for an incredible 11 awards. It walked away with four of them, including Best Character for The Joker.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
Originally entitled, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, this game was first shown at E3 2010 but was then quietly cancelled. In 2011, Kojima teamed up with Platinum Games to reboot the project as Revengeance, re-unveiling it at VGA 2011.
Although it had been rumoured prior to the event, the fact that Platinum was working on a Metal Gear title was a massive shock to all those watching the show. What makes this trailer great is that it isn't just cutscenes, it shows plenty of actual gameplay footage too.
No Man's Sky
By far the highlight of last year's terrible VGX, No Man's Sky is an exploration title from Hello Games, a British developer whose only previous creation was the Joe Danger franchise.
No Man's Sky isn't out yet, but is one of the most anticipated games of 2015. The procedurally generated space sim could be the title which truly shows the potential of the current generation of consoles.
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
This announcement may have only been a teaser, but it got gamers everywhere very excited for the next stage in the Elder Scrolls franchise. The voice over, the metallic dragon, the orchestral music; everything about this trailer made us want to beg Bethesda for more.
The publisher didn't disappoint. When Skyrim came out in 2012 it won Game of the Year, Studio of the Year, and Best RPG. It even won an award the following year as well, for its Dawnguard DLC.
What do you think of my list? Are there any announcements you think I've missed out? Leave your thoughts in the comment sections section below. For all the news and reactions from The Game Awards 2014, stick with GameSkinny.com
Published: Nov 30, 2014 06:51 pm