"That’s when reality set in, I was part of it, finally! I was here.."
As the show kicks off I sit back in my seat and let the environment take over. The first presenter was Camilla Luddington, the voice of Lara Croft. She fit the role really well and had similarities to the character she portrayed, to my surprise she was British?! Following a sweet speech about classic multiplayer, Splatoon was awarded best multiplayer. Thus Queuing Reggie Fils-Aime the head of Nintendo of America!! Speaking of icons, another figure I’ve come to recognize over the years. A guy who we all love for seemingly no reason at all. He’s quite taller than I imagined. Little did I know that I would see more of him not only on stage but in person at the after party (Spoiler Alert?)The first new trailer we got to see was for Uncharted 4!!! My personal choice for most anticipated game! Shortly after that the Best E-Sports team which was presented by Shaq-Fu himself!!! The reveal trailer for Shaq-Fu a Legend Reborn gave off an afro samurai vibe, it looked alright for what it was. I mean come on, it’s a fighting game staring Shaq and the 94' SNES original wasn’t very good to begin with. This is totally a niche hit but regardless a title that gaming could always appreciate, again it’s Shaq. Fuck it! I personally wasn’t too excited for the E-Sports awards nominees but it nice to have those teams recognized. The biggest impact from Shaq’s performance was the announcement of the TBS E-League. A new weekly E-Sports broadcast on live television featuring Counter-Strike GO. This wasn’t exactly a world premier due to this being announced recently by TBS themselves but none the less it was great in this official capacity. Nothing to hate about that right?! Who doesn’t love some competitive CS from time to time?! I’m biased though, my alias is Gordon4reeman for Christ’s sake, of course i love CS.
“It’s Shaq. Fuck it, why not!”
Over the next 10 minutes we are filled with a quick commercial break which showed DeadMau5 in the green room playing Battlefront, I have never seen somebody who looked more bored and confused. He’s a space cadet, I said aloud, “Is he fuckin high?!” That got some belly laughs from nearby audience members. He was asked for his impressions of Battlefront, his response was a complaint about the mouse’s DPI and sensitivity. I found it hilarious that someone who makes a living on a computer doesn’t know how to change mouse sensitivity, especially a “musician” whose music is primarily based on video games. The local hobo is more professional than this guy. Enough negativity! Time to move on. The commercial break ends with Bethesda announcing a 1 Million Dollar giveaway for ESO subscribers, seems like a desperate move but more power to them.Next up was Troy Baker! Voice of Joel in Last of us. If anyone were to win the dapper award it would be this gentlemen, he comes out smiling and dressed up like a boss. He read the nominees for Best Narrative which was awarded to Viva Seifert from Her Story. You could tell right off the bat that she was a powerhouse of a female. Professional and confident, portraying a very appreciative and humble personality. I always enjoy seeing impressions from stars who’ve never done game work before. In Kiefers words form the year before, you don’t realize the passion and appreciation that gamers have until you dive in head first. She spent time complimenting the writer/creator Sam Barlow. You could tell she was honored and proud of her work and team. Congratulations Viva!
The lights dimmed as we transitioned into the world premiere of Farcry Primal! The crowd reception was overwhelmingly positive, even I was on board for this and I’m not a big FarCry fan. Following that was a performance by CHRVCHES, is that Ceviche or Churches?! LOL JK I don’t know if I should be hungry or not. Coming back to the theme of female powerhouses, we all happily submitted to the talent in front of us. She has an outstanding voice! Not much of a relation to gaming, this seemed like a pop culture choice, which is fine. I’m sure I would ever have heard her work otherwise and I’m glad I did. The goons in the front row were waving their arms side to side as if in actual church, or something. I found that quite humorous. Shortly after was the nominees for Trending Gamer which is something that normally is a waste of an award, however this was special. This year’s winner was Greg Miller from Kinda Funny Games. His speech blew me away, he hit the nail on the head. He said what developers needed to hear on a celebratory night like this. A community full of negative feedback and harsh criticism was taught how the respect artistry. I can’t begin to summarize this, you have to spend 1 minute and watch for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoyN5NSorIM
Another world premier?! We see a trailer showing a general commanding a battlefield, calling in the Psychonauts as his last defense. Psychonauts 2 has finally been announced!!! I remember the first game on the original Xbox! As expected, the infamous Tim Schafer came out to present this game which is being funded using the Fig.com service. What I took from his speech was that this was similar to Kickstarter except that contributors earn shares of the profits compared to the amount invested. “When we make money, you make money” Seems like a good concept, I wish them the best.
*UPDATE:* “Psychonauts 2 campaign broke ONE MILLION DOLLARS in less than 24 hours on Fig!”
Rocket League wins best independent game before Iceman steps up on stage to present Quantum Break. Shawn Ashmore is a LOT shorter than you would imagine! An epic performance from Quantum Break. I’m always open-minded to new story telling methods. Overall I get a Heavy Rain vibe with more interaction.
The Man of the Hour…
Geoff took center stage again to give us a short speech regarding Satoru Iwata’s passing. Again this is another example of how Geoff makes for an unbiased and wholehearted letterhead for gaming journalism. He took the time to pause the awards, marketing and schedule to allow Reggie Fils-Aime the time to share Iwata’s greatest achievements along with the song “Man of the Hour” being performed live. It was really touching to see our big community come together to honor on of our founding fathers. I saw others crying and praying as we wished our Nintendo leader a peaceful afterlife and one last hoorah as we appreciated him together as a family. One person in the front row was even holding up a 3DS. The screen illuminated the scene like a lighter or candle amongst a quiet, respectful audience. That hit me hard. I can’t describe it any better than that. RIP Mr Iwata Man of the Hour! Man of our Hearts!BIG BOSS!!!
Our next presenter is Kiefer Sutherland, if you watched the live stream you may have heard me yell SNAKKKKKKE 3-4 times as he came on HAHHA! He presented the Industry Icon award to Westwood for their creation and evolution of Real-Time Strategy. I was a big C&C fan growing up. I always enjoyed the military and nation based themes those games had, especially Red Alert 2!!! I had not realized that Westwood was so far ahead of blizzard in this genre at that time. It really did influence a lot of major E-Sports today, the award was well deserved!LUKE!!
Mark Hamill started with a bit about past adventure games he’s been a part of, even begging to be on the posters HAHAH. He has such a pleasant, goofy personality! He’s the most respected troll on planet earth! We love you mark!!!! (Seeing Mark Hamill in person has been checked off my bucket list) Luke then went on with his Joker voice before the nominees for best Action/Adventure Game. I was happy to see Metal Gear 5 take the win for this.There’s no crying in baseball!
Shortly after the announcement Geoff personally thanks Hideo Kojima for his hard work on the game. Geoff subtely yet firmly shared the fate which Konami’s lawyers prevented Kojima from attending and representing the game. Its pure bullshit but Geoff’s response pretty much speaks for us all. I won’t buy another Konami game ever again. Why prevent him from accepting the award that he worked hard to earn! “There’s no crying in baseball” F you Konami!Game of the Year 2015!
As I’m sure you’ve heard the game of the year is the Witcher 3, I personally did not play the Witcher 3 (yet) but I predicted this to win GOTY. My personal GOTY would be between Fallout 4 or MGS5 but I do believe that the Witcher 3 deserved this! Cd Projekt Red came out of the gate strong, they are a smaller company when compared to Kojima productions and Bethesda. The expectations for Witcher 3 were lower than Fallout 4. Fallout 4 had extremely high expectations and has some technical issues while on the other hand a company with lower expectation comes out with Witcher 3 with little technical issues and equal scale. I also think the earlier release date for the Witcher 3 helped it gain the extra votes. It’s probably safe to say that most of the panel did not complete fallout or MGS5 yet! I better take advantage of that 50% off sale and play Witcher 3 soon!!!!After Party!!
"70 cabinets including arcade games and pinball machines"
Jordan and I spent the majority of the party walking around and people watching. The venue itself was HUGE! It was a giant hangar on the roof of a parking structure. Music blasting, people gaming everywhere! The first developer I saw was Tim Schafer. He was dancing with his friends, drinks in hand. I could tell that he had a few already HAHA, he was funny. At that moment I spaced out on his name and was embarrassed to ask for picture unless I could properly address such a talented man. We thought we saw Mark Hamill but between us both and the distance factor we weren’t 100% sure. As we continued to rotate around the venue we ran into Viva Seifert who had a small clique around her at almost all times, she seemed very approachable but also very busy! It was great to see her up in the general admission area with all of us “regulars” Throughout the night we wouldn’t stray too far from the VIP entrance for fear of missing a big name walkin by. It didn’t take long for us to see a few at that very spot. The head of 343 Industries Bonnie Ross walked by with a friend by her side. We had a quick view of Troy Baker exiting the party quite early, only a man like that would have a better party to go to! haha Shortly after that we saw Phil Spencer cruising the party before going back into the VIP section. Shortly after that sighting Geoff posted this picture on twitter that I thought was special and a true sign of what these awards are all about, especially in that moment.Even rivals were Celebrating together!
Phil Spencer – Head of Xbox & Shawn Layden CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America
At this point we knew the VIP entrance was where we needed to be. It had been an hour since our last sighting. Beginning to tire out from standing all night we prepped to leave. Then I saw Reggie Fils-Aime!; The Head of Nintendo of America. He walked right by me within arm’s reach. I turned and said “Reggie!!!! You’re the man! And gave him a thumbs up! He glanced over, smiled and kept walking. He is seriously way too cool for school and for good reason! At this point I’ve seen the head of Xbox and Nintendo (of america), and barely missed the head of PS4 too! This place was a dream come true for me. What a highlight at the end. We left around midnight due to work responsibility the next day. I'm hoping to get a hotel room next time around so i can stay for the whole party and actually have more drinks haha. I actually felt like I was part of the video game industry last night. A feeling I've been dreaming of as long as I can remember. As a game fanatic and aspiring journalist I hope to find the means to make it to more events like this in the future. The highlight of the night was the after party for me, if you thought the game awards are a wash then hold your thoughts until you have the chance to attend. I assure you, you’re in for a real treat. The overall vibe was like a company Christmas party, you don't exactly know everybody but you felt the comradery. Thank you Geoff Keighley & friends for funding, planning and hosting such a memorable night for everyone involved.
-Spencer Wright (Gordon4reeman)
