Capcom’s Resident Evil 4 put a bullet through the competition during Spike TV’s 3rd Annual Video Game Awards ceremony, hosted on Saturday by actor Samuel L. Jackson at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. The latest installment in the popular zombie shooter franchise took Game of the Year and Best Graphics, while Ubisoft’s Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game stomped off with three, including Best Game Based on a Movie.
In addition to trumping all other movie-based entries, The eagerly awaited Kong game earned Jack Black a Vector Monkey trophy for Best Performance by a Human’Male. The rest of the cast, which includes Naomi Watts and Adrian Brody, was also recognized with the Best Cast kudo.
Other voice talent awards went to Oscar winner Charlize Theron, who took Best Performance by a Human’Female for Majesco’s Aeon Flux; Christopher Walken, winner of Best Supporting Male Performance for Activision’s True Crime: New York City; Walken’s co-star, Traci Lords, who turned in the Best Supporting Female Performance; and Maria Menounos, who played Eva in Electronic Arts’ James Bond 007: From Russia With Love and slinked away with the Cyber Vixen of the Year award.
Kong garnered the most nominations but Blizzard Ent.’s World of Warcraft pulled off the most wins, taking Best Multiplayer Game, Best PC Game, Best PC Game, Best RPG and Most Addictive Game Fueled By Dew (viewer’s choice). Another big battle title, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s God of War, claimed Best Action Game and earned the Designer of the Year trophy for David Jaffe, while Activision’s Call of Duty 2 claimed a victory with Best Military Game.
Sports titles were also big this year and Activision’s skateboarding extravaganza,Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, was named Best Individual Sports Game. Meanwhile, Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 06 scored with Best Team Sports Game and EA Sports Fight Night Round 2 knocked out the competition for Best Fighting Game.
Video game music has come a long way from the plunky tunes that accompanied early entries like Space Invaders and Pac Man. This year, Namco Hometek’s We Love Katamari was honored with Best Original Score, while RedOctane’s Guitar Hero took Best Soundtrack and Vivendi Universal Games’ 50 Cent: Bulletproof got Best Original Song for “Maybe We Crazy” by 50 Cent.
The evening’s other winners were Electronic Arts’ Burnout Revenge with the Pontiac Best Driving Game award (viewer’s choice), Atari and Glu’s Marc Ecko’s Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure for Best Wireless Game (viewer’s choice), Vivendi Universal Games’ F.E.A.R. for Best First Person Action and Ubisoft’s Lumines for Best Handheld Game. Last but not least, the Sony PSP handheld gaming device was named Best Breakthrough Technology.
The Spike TV Video Game Awards 2005 ceremony featured musical performances by 50 Cent, Def Leppard and Missy Elliott, and boasted appearances by Charlize Theron, Kiefer Sutherland, Jack Black, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Rock, Vin Diesel, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Carmen Electra, and Dane Cook, among others. Other highlights included a 25th anniversary tribute to Namco’s Pac Man and television world premiere clips of 2K Games’ 24: The Game, Midway’s Spyhunter: Nowhere to Run, Lucas Arts’ Star Wars: Empire of War and Vivendi Universal’s Scarface. The event will be televised on Spike TV on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Leave a Reply