For year 4 of TGA I still don't know what to make of it. The show seems like it's trying really hard to not be like Spike TV's Game Award show, but it still holds onto the camp. There were still D-List random celebrities making cameos. There were still random cut-aways to gaming lounges. And of course there's always that one over-eccentric developer (NSFW) that makes us laugh and cringe at his behavior.
But they did try to class it up this year. There was the TGA Orchestra which played various melodies throughout the night in short bursts. The stage presentation sure looked a lot nicer. Instead of screaming in your face 'Xtreme Video Games' like you'd see in a Disney special, the stage was clean. Simple. And dynamic.
That's really the only good points I can make about the show. I felt bored through half of it. The World Premieres once again took over. My original guess was 12, but I immediately bumped it up to 22 once my counter went wild. The final tally of World Premieres for the night was 22. Go me!
A lot of the awards were rushed. At one point Knightly ran through 4 or 5 categories in one fell swoop and it was like...okay...so...guess those developers don't matter? Some categories felt half-assed when the teams behind the games should have been given a chance to shine.
Also very heavy on Western developers still. There was Persona 5. But no mention of FF15. Not even a "hey kids, Monster Hunter soon" which was surprising. Unless it's a straight-up Nintendo title, international developers were not really there.
The highlight was always going to be Kojima and Death Stranding. Where there was a new trailer, more questions, and 0 clues about what the game is about.
Other misses were the streaming issues. I watched on Twitch and I always felt like the sound was muffled. Particularly with the musical acts. I could barely hear the crispness of the orchestra. On YouTube it is a bit clearer, but that seems to be a common complaint with the show.
The show also still felt too long, too much emphasis on sponsors and random junk we don't care about. We don't need 100 World Premiers. We want a quick show that is easy to digest and move on from there. The categories also feel outdated and restrictive. Where's the MMO category? That's a huge market being overlooked. And if you have a category for "most played/still playing games" you need one for MMO's. 2017 was a big year for them with new games and expansions. They deserve their time in the spotlight too.
Overall at least TGA wasn't like last year. But it's not much better. Why do we keep watching this?
That's really the only good points I can make about the show. I felt bored through half of it. The World Premieres once again took over. My original guess was 12, but I immediately bumped it up to 22 once my counter went wild. The final tally of World Premieres for the night was 22. Go me!
A lot of the awards were rushed. At one point Knightly ran through 4 or 5 categories in one fell swoop and it was like...okay...so...guess those developers don't matter? Some categories felt half-assed when the teams behind the games should have been given a chance to shine.
Also very heavy on Western developers still. There was Persona 5. But no mention of FF15. Not even a "hey kids, Monster Hunter soon" which was surprising. Unless it's a straight-up Nintendo title, international developers were not really there.
The highlight was always going to be Kojima and Death Stranding. Where there was a new trailer, more questions, and 0 clues about what the game is about.
Other misses were the streaming issues. I watched on Twitch and I always felt like the sound was muffled. Particularly with the musical acts. I could barely hear the crispness of the orchestra. On YouTube it is a bit clearer, but that seems to be a common complaint with the show.
The show also still felt too long, too much emphasis on sponsors and random junk we don't care about. We don't need 100 World Premiers. We want a quick show that is easy to digest and move on from there. The categories also feel outdated and restrictive. Where's the MMO category? That's a huge market being overlooked. And if you have a category for "most played/still playing games" you need one for MMO's. 2017 was a big year for them with new games and expansions. They deserve their time in the spotlight too.
Overall at least TGA wasn't like last year. But it's not much better. Why do we keep watching this?
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