Spike VGA Winners: GTAIV snags game of the year

Adding to this comment, I also tought that award shows were pretty boring, being show on Spike that it is. Xplay may have lost some creditability in the past, but it's slowly gaining it back as their award show was much better. It was 1 hour of straight award giving goodness. While Spikes was 2 hours long, but I finished in less than 45 minutes thanks to DVR. The rest of the crap was well, random crap.

And seriously, whats with the concerts inbetween awards?

You don't have to. I never did. The rewards weren't even that special. Sure GTA4 wasn't what everyone expected, but it does fall into these categories for GOTY material:

Multiplat
Multiplayer
Sequel to a popular franchise
Accessible to just about every demographic.

If you judge GOTY on these categories then GTA4 is a no brainer.

im sry ryan WHAT???? accessible to almost every demographic? you gotta be fuckin retarded to say something like that. a game where you play a russian mobster who has to drive/walk everywhere he goes, shoots people for a living, and has little empathy for anything is certainly not appealing to every demographic. old people, kids under 10, girls (and i dont care how many nerd girls play the game, rockstar makes is sexist on purpose), parents-- none of these people are going to play gta 4, and its pretty clear that the demographic (singular) that it appeals to has labeled the game as "boring" and "overrated".

so dont try to convince us that everyone and their mom is playing this game, because thats only feeding the hype machine and the ego's of all the crappy reviewers who succumbed to the hype (looking at you txb and ign for your totally unwarranted 10 out of 10s)

But what if GTAIV starred Snake and Locust, was sold with fake plastic instruments and had lots of free DLC that is better than most paid stuff?

My personal GOTY is probably Hitman Blood Money... Even though it is about 2 years old.
I wonder if some Agent 47 clothing will ever be released for the Avatars?

Change of plan...
My personal GOTY is Condemned 2. Love it, despite it's average/bad reviews.

you cant give a game OF THE YEAR award to a game made two years ago.... but nice try i guess.

JCP. dude GTA4 is too life like. its way to boring. i got tired at chapter 1. didn't buy it which was a very good thing. I just get tired of doing the same shit over and over again. rockstar knows that violance sales and that what they goona be doing from now on.. just look at the new addition, the lost and something lol.. base on a gang.. thats just really low. whats next? Colombian cartel? lol.. but i don't give a shit ill never buy a rockstar game. If you support rockstar you sopport violance. just don't come crying when a family member dies do to violance in society..

Josh, that's a pretty weak argument. I guess I'll start by saying the word is spelled "violence". No "a" to be found.

Secondly, there is a big difference between supporting artistic depictions of violence, and being violent. Are you really claiming that if one were to watch a violent movie, or play a violent game, or read a violent book, that he or she is deserving of an actual act of violence? Why?

How does playing an enjoyable game open oneself to some kind of Karmic act of violence? I LOVE GTA 4, and would never intentionally cause physical harm to another person. While there may be cases in which violent art has inspired violence among the audience, that kind of anecdotal truth should not be superimposed over every member of the audience.

If you don't like the game, fine, don't play it. But don't try to say I am "supporting violence" by playing what is obviously a popular and enjoyable game.

Halo2master and Josh you both have good points, it depends on the individual viewing the content, for example the movie "Fight Club" is a very violent movie and has actually spawned real life fight clubs, on the other hand a little girl who plays GTA saved her family from a car accident ( the car flipped over) by getting her family out of the car because she knew from the game that cars explode when they flip over...lol

I guess now you know I watch a lot of G4 TV LOL

read my comment above.

Not necessarily. LBP and GoW2 were both console exclusives. It's theoretically possible for one game to reign supreme when every platform is considered, even while individual platforms may have stronger offerings.

I agree. The GotY should be choosen out of games that actually WON some other awards. Like winning tournament brackets sorta.