A quick skim through a recent Spike press release would seem to indicate that it has. Spike has upped the ante in this year's show with a few new categories, including two that particularly piqued my interest: Best Gaming Publication and Best Gaming Web Site.
The release indicates that both categories are "fan favorites," meaning the winner will be chosen by voting through SpikeTV.com and cell phones and not by the "Video Game Awards Advisory Board... of gaming industry experts," that picked the nominees. If I had to guess, I'd say this is because the advisory board is probably made up of members of the nominated magazines and Web sites, but I'm not sure (UPDATE: This has since been confirmed. Read more).
Enough inane chatter. If you're here for some quick and highly opinionated thoughts on the nominees, you're in the right place?
For Best Gaming Magazine
- Electronic Gaming Monthly - The elder statesman of the list, I'd say EGM is probably the prohibitive favorite. Even though Game Informer has a larger circulation, I think EGM attracts a more devoted, hardcore gamer following. Interestingly, EGM is the only magazine nominated that isn't directly affiliated with a specific store or console.
- GMR - The new kid on the block, EBGames' magazine has gained a quick following through $5 in-store subscriptions. GMR's nomination among older, more established mags shows the power of game retailers in pushing publications.
- Game Informer - Gamestop's magazine has a lot of subscribers, but many of them probably just signed up for the 10 percent in-store discount (the same goes for smaller GMR). Will the casual masses turn out to vote for GI?
- Official PlayStation Magazine - The third Ziff Davis nominee shows how far the publishers influence extends in the video game publishing world. The demo discs are good, but the balanced PlayStation coverage (especially for an "official" magazine) is even better.
- Official Xbox Magazine - The underdog of the list. The limited base of support for Xbox hurts its chances, but Xbox owners do tend to be very devoted. The only nominee from Future Publishing, a sign of how far the once-proud publisher of Next Generation and Game Players has fallen.
- 1up.com - The Ziff Davis megasite has become an ad-soaked, community-centered behemoth since its recent redesign. Interactive content could lead to strong reader loyalty and a lot of votes.
- Gamespot.com - My odds-on favorite to win, ZDNet's site has been a draw for hardcore and casual gamers alike since back when it was videogames.com. Plus I write for them now, so my cadre of followers will vote in droves.
- Gamespy.com - It took me quite a while to figure out that GameSpy was more than an online game-matching service and actually a decent gaming information web site. Increased focus on consoles in recent months gives them broader appeal.
- IGN.com - The fact that IGN gets top billing in the IGN/Gamespy mega-conglomerate should tell you something about its size. Quantity doesn't equal quality, though, and IGN's quality hasn't been very high for a while now.
- ShackNews.com - The dark horse candidate, this PC-centric site is big among the hardcore computer gamers, but I don't think it's in the same league as the other nominees in terms of popularity.
- Does anyone else find it at least unsettling that the most prominent televised video game awards show is on "The first network for men"? Are categories like "Cyber Vixen of the Year" a symptom or a cause of gaming's male-centered demographic?
- Spike's press release named "Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour" as a nominee for Best Handheld, but the real name is "Mario Golf: Advance Tour." Toadstool Tour is the GameCube version. IGN and GameSpot were among the many who didn't notice the error when copying the press release verbatim. (to be fair, I wouldn't have noticed either if not for the eagle eye of Gaming Target's John Scalzo).
- Go Katamari Damacy!
"Does anyone else find it at least unsettling that the most prominent televised video game awards show is on "The first network for men"? Are categories like "Cyber Vixen of the Year" a symptom or a cause of gaming's male-centered demographic?"
ReplyDeleteIts reasonably simple to argue that it's a symptom; SpikeTV has an interest in covering men's interests, not creating new ones. However, there is a slight and marginal influence of reinforcing the stereotype. Consider the most famous, long lived, and popular game system ever: the GameBoy. It has gender bias built in. I've heard a few studies that generally say the gameboy rates as gender neutral, but puh-lease.
I think that's partially why Nintendo is refusing to dub the DS a successor to the GBA-- they're trying to kill their most popular brand and attract more women to games and gaming. Its something like half the market that Sony and Microsoft are generally missing. To this end, Nintendo has built some games that genuinely appeal as both games and to women. Look at Super Princess Peach: from what I've seen, its a quality mario game without Mario. It also builds on their weak image of the Princess, is she Peach, or Princess Toadstool? Its been a longstanding confusion reguarding the character, however stereotypical she may be.
Finally a bit of humor: what, no Nintendo Power nomination for best magazine ever? Who can forget such groundbreaking investigative journalism like the time they covered Sega's "Blast Processing?"
-Justin (dugger.notsoevil.net)