It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, I’m not referring to Christmas, although that is almost equally as great, but I’m talking about Spike TV’s 2011 Video Game Awards. It’s the one night of the year where the creators, voice actors and legends from the beloved industry all gather together in one location to honor the best of the year.
During the brisk afternoon we were able to talk to a couple of the great video game developers of this generation, one of them being none other than Hideo Kojima. If you may or may not know, Kojima is not only the director of Kojima Productions but is best known for creating the “Metal Gear Solid” video game series among a couple of others including “Policenauts.” He chuckled as the inevitable question about the once-was “Metal Gear Solid” movie came up but naturally the video game creator is open to the possibility of making a live-action version of his beloved franchise if it was approached right by a filmmaker.
Speaking of loved video games, one of the few video games this year that’s been on everyone’s lips this fall has been “Skyrim,” which I’d like to consider as one of the most addicting games of the year. “Skyrim” director Todd Howard spoke for a minute about his nominated video game and was very humbled with the attention it’s been receiving. “It’s very rewarding that so many people are playing the game and liking it. We make a game we want to play and the fact that it’s so popular kind of blows us away. We’re definitely excited to be nominated.”
A couple of voice actors nominated at the Video Game Awards came our way, one of them being the always wonderful John Di Maggio. This is a guy who’s not only the voice of Bender from “Futurama” and Jake the Dog from “Adventure Time” but is the voice behind Marcus Fenix in the “Gears of War” video game series. Unfortunately he beat me to the punch after asking him about the nomination when he revealed the latest on “Gears of War 4.” “I get to voice a lot of different stuff, Marcus Fenix from ‘Gears of War’ is really cool, and it’s been great to do all three of them now. Everybody’s asking me if there’s going to be another one. I’m like I have no idea. Who knows, there’s all kinds of stuff that they’re doing with graphic novels, comic books and stuff like that. It’s a huge universe so whether or not they’re doing another game I have no idea. I’d love for them to do another game!” Yes, we certainly would too.
While on the red carpet I was able to ask Deadmau5 about what he loves the most about video games right now. After all, video games are an ever-growing property that has gained a ridiculous amount of popularity within the past twenty to thirty years. “I think it’s the technology involved and the graphics… just the souped up GPU’s that can enable artists to do multiple, more wild and creative things, it makes every game different than before. How similar was Yars Revenge to Battletank? Just add some wings on the tank and it was the same f*cking game. So we’ve definitely evolved from that stage where artists are artists and programmers are programmers and they both work together to make this beautiful, unique product that’s different from anything else.”
Then “Super” director James Gunn gave his two cents on why video games are booming right now:
“Despite Roger Ebert, I do believe that video games are an art form which is an awesome place that’s still developing. Interesting movies always come out, but in some ways movies are what movies are but video games are still developing. What video games are going to be in five years will probably be different from what they are right now. To be able to be a part of that movement, to be able to create something new and something they haven’t been able to see before is an awesome experience.” Of course Mr. James Gunn could speak from his own experience, he’s created an upcoming video game called Lollipop Chainsaw.
Although the annual Video Game Awards have come and gone, none of us have no need to fret. Sure, we may have not agreed with who won whatever award but in the end we’ll all take comfort as we blast away half-human/half-alien beings, dragons or even rip apart grass looking for rupees. Play on video gamers, play on.
