MTV is a wily beast on the international stage. While we associate the one-time purveyor of actual music videos here in the States more with the decade long reign of TRL and reality shows starring wildly libidinous mannequins, Viacom’s behemoth plays host to a much wider and weirder slate of content across the globe. MTV Germany actually holds a special place in my heart. It introduced me to the Army of Lovers way back in 1997 during my international flight from the law. (I’d elaborate further, but this is a videogame blog. Let’s just say that I’ve atoned for my crimes and am no longer a target of Interpol. Sometimes you just have to cut a deal, you know?) I mean, just look at this video:
That’s the sort of thing that sticks with you.
MTV Germany held the MTV Game Awards last Friday. Yes, Game Awards. Jade Raymond, the most visually appealing computer programmer in history best known for producing Assassin’s Creed, gave a lifetime achievement award to Hideo Kojima for his work on the Metal Gear series. The presentation is pretty subdued, though it bears all the marks of award show tradition (presenters drone on a bit too long, awkwardly standing before a cheering pit of paid-for enthusiasm,) right alongside the garish production traditional to MTV’s other aging awards shows. There was even a token throwaway category: The Do-Believe-the-Hype Award for best unreleased game. FFXIII got the award. Right.
I’m not a defender or fan of the Motion Picture Academy Awards. It’s rare that they acknowledge that business’ best artistic endeavors and more often than not do little more than put more money into the pockets of film studios that already have plenty of cash money as it is. But the founding of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences some eighty years back was a monumentally positive event in the history of that medium. I’m starting to wonder why the International Game Developer’s Association, for all of its good work, hasn’t stepped up to fill a similar role for games. The Spike Videogame Awards is not the sort of event that adds an air of respect to the medium. It merely further entrenches the pre-existing image of games as largely the domain of big-gun-big-tit-big-dick machismo. The MTV Game Awards isn’t the right stuff either. I don’t think videogames need an Oscars, but I do think a high profile, IGDA-organized awards ceremony might do wonders for helping videogames through their ongoing, often painful, public adolescence.
Then again, maybe I’m crazy. Thoughts?
(Links: NeoGAF and FFXIII.net)
Related links:
A Letter to the Industry: How to Destroy the Female Gender Barricade
When Video Games Make Us Sniffle
Metal Gear Solid: Hideo Kojima’s Inability to Show Instead of Tell
Kojima's In Another World