Boom City: Skyrim wins GOTY, Best RPG at 2011 VGAs
It was Boom City tonight, with Skyrim winning Game of the Year, Slegehammer getting teabagged and Naughty Dog's next project unveiled to the world at the Spike VGAs. Get all of the happenings below the break.
After a live-action introduction bit from several of this year's top games by host Zach Levi and a GOTY segment for Portal 2, the first announcement dropped, and it was a biggie. will.i.am of The Black Eyed Peas introduced The Last of Us, a brand new IP for PS3 from Naughty Dog. The trailer was "captured directly" from a PS3, according to the start of the video.
Naughty Dog vets Bruce Stanley and Neil Druckermann are involved with the project, with co-president Evan Wells promising it will be "a leap forward in cinematic gaming and storytelling."
Following the announcement, Rocksteady's Jamie Walker and Sefton Hill were on stage to accept the award for Best Action Adventure Game, as well as Best Adapted Videogame and Best Xbox 360 Game.
LL Cool J appeared on stage next for two BioWare-related things: first, he introduced a brand new trailer for Mass Effect 3, which also won Most Anticipated Game. The video showed Shepard in battle against a Reaper and some alien worm thing. We can't remember its name other than it was in Mass Effect 2. Masters of knowledge us.
Naughty Dog's The Last of Us debuts at
the VGAs.
BioWare also had an ace up its sleeve after that, though: the announcement of Command & Conquer: Generals 2 as a PC exclusive, releasing in 2013 from BioWare Victory and powered by the DICE-created Frostbite 2.
Following some sort of Felicia Day Spider-Man nonsense for charity, Kevin Jonas introduced a trailer for Rainbow Six: Patriots, which ended rather abruptly while the event was on live. The shooter's out on PS3, 360 and PC in 2013 from Ubisoft Montreal.
After a commercial break, in which a new Darksiders II trailer aired, as well as awarding Assassin's Creed: Revelations best trailer and a Skyrim GOTY segment, some group of idiots from some show called Workaholics introduced Alan Wake's American Nightmare from Remedy. It'll release in Q1 2012 for Xbox Live Arcade. Expect to hear more on this from us in the near future.
Seth Green - Chris in Family Guy and Joker in Mass Effect - came out to induct the first game into the VGA Hall of Fame: The Legend of Zelda. Almost to the surprise of everyone, Shigeru Miyamoto appeared on stage to accept the award, admitting Nintendo was "humbled" by the support for the series.
After another Felicia Day charity thing and commercial break, Tony Hawk, who earlier in the evening announced Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD for a summer release on digital platforms for $20, introduced The Amazing Spider-Man for the first time.
Hulk Hogan then came onto introduce winners of awards that were unable to be announced on stage on the night due to time constraints. Full list of winners are below.
Tebagging shenanigans
Following more Day charity-related stuff, a commercial break and a performance from Black Keys, former WWE diva Stacey Keiber was on stage to show Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. The end of its trailer confirmed a fall 2012 release.
Charlie Sheen then rolled up to announce the winner of Best Shooter: Modern Warfare 3. Glen Schofield and Michael Condery of Sledgehammer and Rob Bowling of Infinity Ward appeared to accept the award, but Bowling ran for dear life when he went over his limit for his speech and was due to be teabagged - long story - but Condery was his replacement.
After all of that, Ray Rice was announced as the cover star of NFL Blitz.
Epic's Cliff Bleszinski was next to appear to announce Fortnite, a brand new IP from the company's North Carolina studio. There was no date, no platforms and no published attached in the trailer, but it had a very cartoonish look to it, and looking very inspired by Minecraft.
Blizzard's Mike Morhaime, Alan Adam and Frank Pierce accepted the Gamer God award. Morhaime dropped an interesting statistic in his acceptance speech, mentioning that 4,600 employees were working at the company before going on to thank its fans and to introduce the opening cinematic for Diablo III. It looked awesome.
Metal Gear Solid: Rising: Reborn in
Platinum's hands.
BioShock Infinite was next up, showing a brand new trailer from what was to come from the Irrational epic, even if some of the stuff in it has been seen before. Still looked ridiculously amazing, though. it's out next year for PS3, 360 and PC.
Two UFC fighters introduced Character of the Year, with the winner being Joker for Batman: Arkham City. But not one to go out with a wimper, he seemed to hint at something called "Batman: Arkham World," before throwing a script containing its name in the bin and adding: "Oops, spoilers."
Game of the Year was the final award of the night, going to in the end - shock - Skyrim. Todd Howard, Ashley Cheng and Matt Carafano all appeared on stage to accept the award.
But not done yet, Hideo Kojima appeared to reveal "the truth" on Metal Gear Solid: Rising, following a big trailer leak that appeared online earlier in the evening. After attempting to introduce the game in English, which seemed to get to him due to the occasion, it was formally announced that Platinum Games had taken over the project. Producer Atsushi Inaba of PG introduced the trailer.
Metal Gear Rising still involves Raiden in his ninja form, but now takes place after Metal Gear Solid 4 rather than before it, as previously intended. More info is being promised for tomorrow.
Pre-show, a new trailer for Hitman Absolution debuted, and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was announced for a home release.
Get the full list of winners and liveblog below.
- Game of the Year - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Studio of the Year - Bethesda Game Studios, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Character of the Year - The Joker, Batman: Arkharm City
- Gamer God - Blizzard Entertainment
- Hall of Fame - Shigeru Miyamoto, The Legend of Zelda
- Best Xbox 360 Game - Batman: Arkham City
- Best PS3 Game - Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
- Best Wii Game - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Best PC Game - Portal 2
- Best Handheld/Mobile Game - Super Mario 3D Land
- Best Shooter - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Best Action Adventure Game - Batman: Arkham City
- Best RPG: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Best Multiplayer - Portal 2
- Best Individual Sports Game - Fight Night Champion
- Best Driving Game - Forza Motorsport 4
- Best Fighting Game - Mortal Kombat
- Best Motion Game - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
- Best Independent Game - Minecraft
- Best Adapated Video Game - Batman: Arkham City
- Best Song in a Game - "Setting Sail, Coming Home (End Theme)" by Darren Korb, Bastion
- Best Original Score - Bastion
- Best Graphics - Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
- Best Performance by a Human Male - Stephen Merchant as Wheatley, Portal 2
- Best Performance by a Human Female - Ellen McLain as GLaDOS, Portal 2
- Best Downloadable Game - Bastion
- Best DLC - Portal 2 - Peer Review
- Most Anticipated Game - Mass Effect 3
- Trailer of the Year - Assassin's Creed: Revelations, E3 2011 Trailer
[Original story by Johnny Cullen, contributions and liveblog by Johnny Cullen and Stephany Nunneley]