The MTV-backed Spike Video Game Awards have become an exciting annual fixture in the gaming news calendar, and 2011's event looks like it'll deliver yet another announcement-filled spectacular for gamers to gawp at.
Last year saw little known titles such as Mass Effect 3, Drake's Deception and Skyrim get their first outings, and this year looks to be similarly megaton-studden with talk of BioWare reveals, a new game from Epic and a PS3 exclusive you won't believe.
It all kicks off on Saturday, December 10 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT (Sunday, 1am GMT) and CVG will be covering live from our computer chair, in our pants.
To prepare you for the madness then (we don't want anyone having game trailer-related strokes) here's a round-up of everything we know, and everything we expect from this weekend's Spike Video Game Awards. Hold on to your arses...
Epic's new IP
The house of Gears of War is set to show off something completely new at the US show this weekend - and president Mike Capps confesses he's scared to death of what gamers will think. He said this week: "It's something radically different for us. New IP, new game. We're not really talking much about platform or anything like that, but... it's been really refreshing to the team to try some new things."
BioWare's Command & Conquer?
As longtime VGA backers (see Mass Effect 3's 2010 announce), BioWare's expectedly been one of the most active developers in terms of teasing its 2011 announcements, with a screenshot and teaser trailer already released for what looks set to be a modern-day war title. Specualtion's pointed to canned Mercs Inc and even Command & Conquer as possible candidates. We'll find out what it really is in 24 hours...
Get More: The Next Game From BioWare
MGS: Rising - The truth finally revealed
The VGAs promise "the latest" on Kojima Productions' elusive Metal Gear Solid: Rising, and as we've not seen anything of it for yonks this could pretty much be considered a brand new reveal. Kojima recently told OPM: "It's moving forward, but it's different from Metal Gear up to this point."
The good Transformers series returns
High Moon's Transformers: War for Cybertron was a good game - and now it's getting a well-deserved sequel. Fall for Cybertron continues the story of the Autobots and the Decepticons, but "changes and improves" upon many of the fundamental ideas in the original. We'll get our first proper look this weekend.
The PS3 exclusive 'you won't believe'
Arguably the most exciting announcement on the VGA roster is The Last of Us, a mysterious PS3 exclusive that gamers supposedly "won't believe" when they finally see it in motion at the North American awards show. Screenshots and Naughty Dog teases have so far fuelled the hype, but we're still waiting for the bit we don't believe.
Alan Wake earns a sequel
One of the first titles confirmed for this year's roster is the surprising XBLA sequel to Remedy's Alan Wake, which ratings boards are calling American Nightmare. Despite initial fan backlash over its digital positioning, Remedy came out fighting for the game, saying it will be "structured like a full release complete with a pretty damn impressive storyline". We're excited, are you?
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What Tony Hawk does next
After the critical and commercial disappointments of his skateboard peripheral experiments, fans will be keen to see this weekend if Tony Hawk follows up Ride and Shred with something a bit more like the old games we remember and love. The Hawkster himself said on Twitter this week: "I'll be announcing the upcoming release of something new on Sat; the same day as the Spike Video Game Awards. Coincidence? I think not."
THQ's 'very exciting' announcement
THQ core games boss Danny Bilson is set to announce what he's dubbed a "very exciting" new game this month, with all signs pointing to the VGAs. These days THQ announcements are generally quite exciting (see South Park, Crytek's Homefront and Itagaki) so this could be one of the better bits of news from the show.
Mass Effect 3, Hitman: Absolution - The latest
With all the hype involving new announcements, its easy to forget two exciting titles already announced for 2012 - BioWare's much anticipated Mass Effect 3 and Square Enix's Hitman: Absolution - and they'll both see new trailers aired during the VGAs.
BioShock gears for 2012 domination
Another exciting 2012 title, BioShock Infinite, saw a teaser screenshot released earlier this month, with proper footage set to debut this weekend. The screen shows a bronze statue of a man and a clock tower behind him. Could the game's main villain make his first appearance tomorrow?
Is Spider-Man amazing?
Activision's latest movie tie-in, The Amazing Spider-Man, is set to show its stuff during the US show. It's definitely not the most exciting name in this list, but Marvel nuts will be curious none the less.
Comments
17 comments so far...
bendz on 9 Dec '11 said:
The videogames industry never rests these days does it?!
anik_lc on 9 Dec '11 said:
No TOMB RAIDER! Damn.
StonecoldMC on 9 Dec '11 said:
Roll on Saturday night!
Actually, scratch that. Roll on Sunday afternoon
.
coolpro on 9 Dec '11 said:
Please let LucasArts give us something good ... & please let it be Battlefront 3 ... or a decent ending & TFU:3!
Their release roster is looking very empty once the Old Rebublic hits our hard drives ...
dicky1993 on 9 Dec '11 said:
i'm, really excited for anything bioshock related
and i need to buy mass effect 2, i waited thinking there would be an edition with all dlc
AvatarIII on 9 Dec '11 said:
I reckon the Tony Hawk thing will be a kinect/move game.
iucidium on 9 Dec '11 said:
I pray we get trolled with Resi 6 again. I need a reason to punt my cat.
iucidium on 9 Dec '11 said:
with a board peripheral that costs 149.99...
again.
Fr33Kye on 9 Dec '11 said:
Damn this year is kind of a big deal. I'm really worried about mgs rising
I hope it will still be all stealthy but with cut anything and more free movement. And i'm still interested in tony hawk.
Lsnake on 9 Dec '11 said:
I want Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3X, a true sequel to the masterpiece (Imo) in the franchise. Do that, and I'll preorder it the second it's available. Normal stages, lots of small, fun, bit-sized challenges, scores to master, secrets to find, and no dead time, no dull open-world structure or gimmick. Just a Dual Shock and Tony Hawk back the way the games used to be.
AK47-Mentalman on 9 Dec '11 said:
here's hoping for at least a scrap of GTA V information to tide me over until the next official information release
charlyd on 9 Dec '11 said:
Well said lsnake i would even settle for hd versions of the first three games as they were the best and still play well today and imo way more fun than skate .
AJDarkstar on 9 Dec '11 said:
Tony Hawk: does anyone else just want the original two games released on PSN/XBLA in HD?
mogel94 on 9 Dec '11 said:
Is it wrong for my most anticipated game here to be Transformers?
FlimFlam on 10 Dec '11 said:
You didn't like Skate? Man... I used to love THPS, the first 3 were borderline genius that I still own but Skate... Skate is a thing of beauty.
Try this: Skate 2 - party play - fun track + beer + friends. Seriously, they could have released that set up as an XBLA game. Possibly the best multiplayer this gen, real old school sitting round the TV laughs. Brilliant.
sepewrath on 10 Dec '11 said:
I'm far more interested in what BioWare has to show than Sony's zombie game. I'm also curious about what Epic is doing, if its suppose to be such a change of pace for them.
Barca Azul on 12 Dec '11 said:
Nothing on GTA?
Next year isnt exactly setting the world on fire!