Tony

8:03 – Got a little late start tonight, but here we are. Feel free to chime your thoughts throughout.

8:07 – As I watch the first nominee for Game of the Year, Call of Duty: Black Ops, I wonder how hindered my enjoyment of these awards will be by the fact that I haven’t played some of these game.

8:09 – Arkham City trailer. Wow. That looked pretty amazing.

8:12 – First award: Studio of the Year goes to Bioware. Great call, I thought Mass Effect 2 was one of the best games this year and The Old Republic looks awesome, too.

8:15 – I used to love Dane Cook, who is know announcing the first Character of the Year, but for some reason his humor just doesn’t do it for me anymore. He was great in Mystery Men, though.

8:21 – Bethesda announcing it’s new game: Skyrim. Very cool trailer with the stone carved dragon coming alive.

8:24 – Kratos and Mortal Kombat. BARF (<- that's PS3 envy, nothing more) 8:26 - Thor: God of Thunder trailer. Nothing earth shattering, but I’m guessing James is going to excited for this one.

8:28 – Next award: Action Game of the Year goes to Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Another game I haven’t had a chance to play but I’ve heard nothing but great things about. Crowd reaction isn’t very positive, which probably speaks more to its excellence. The crowd shots look to be full of C and D list celebrities.

8:35 – Holy crap Denise Richards, that was some seriously horrible teleprompter reading there. Awful, just simply awful. Could you not practice once or twice before you came out? Ugh. And now it looks like My Chemical Romance needs the teleprompters, too. Our first moment of FAIL.

8:41 – Now talking about Mass Effect 2, another GotY nominee, which I wholeheartedly endorse. And now the Mass Effect 3 trailer world premier. Looks like Shepard has to save Earth. As if the universe wasn’t enough. The Mass Effect 3 trailer has a distinct Halo 3/Finish the Fight feel to it.

8:50 – Award: Best Shooter goes to Call of Duty: Black Ops. Yawn.

8:51 – Olivia Munn and NPH arguing who should be hosting the show. Very forced. But that leads to the premier of the Resistance 3. Which looks EXTREMELY lifelike.

8:54 – Oops, not anymore!

9:01 – I’m a big fan of Nick Swardson, but I feel like I should be ashamed for admitting that. His delivery kills me. These God of War stage effects are really distracting.

9:06 – Now were getting to the ridiculous awards: Best Performance by a Human Male goes to Neil Patrick Harris for Spider Man: Shattered Dimensions.

9:11 – Prototype 2 trailer on now. I played a good portion of the first one and liked it. This looks pretty much MOTS, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. That game is juicy.

9:17 – And now we are going to hurl chickens and pigs painted green. This obviously can only end in one way — AWESOMENESS.

9:18 – Of course, PETA had to come and ruin everything.

9:20 – Guillermo del Toro announcing his game — Insane. This guy seems pretty genuine. I like him. Three years out! If the creatures in the game are as fantastic as his creations are in his movie, this game is going to be awesome. He also announces the Best Independent Game, going to Limbo (again, another game I haven’t played yet. I am ashamed)

9:22 – Time for some Portal 2 goodness. Why do robotic eyes need to blink? That’s distracting, too.

9:26 – Now NPH is singing while they do a “Memoriam” of characters we’ve lost. This was actually very funny, especially the random civilian getting run over by a car (in GTA IV, I assume). Well done.

9:27 – And now they’re listing a bunch of awards that were obviously not important enough for their own announcement, including Mass Effect 2 as RPG of the Year.

9:32 – Red Dead Redemption, the next GotY nominee. Finally, a game I’ve actually played. Oh wait, no, it’s Jose Gonzalez playing music while Red Dead plays in the background.

9:38 – Dominic Monaghan absolutely bombing his bit before the Forza 4 announcement. Not that that is any surprise but it does come out of left field.

9:43 – This TMZ bit is good, too. Just like the show, they go through the stories and joke about it. Kratos eating a Greek Salad, Master Chief at the TSA, Pacman and Ms. Pacman getting divorced. That’s the second zinger they’ve had tonight.

9:44 – And from one good bit to another bomb — Nathan Fillion clearly flustered while the music swells over his own voice over for Halo: Reach.

9:48 – Here is the next world premier — SSX: Deadly Descents. These are starting to get old. Seems like they should have led with this one. Very weak.

9:54 – Award: Character of the Year goes to Sgt. Woods from CODBLOPS. I have no comment on this. Good call, I guess?

9:56 – World Premier — Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. You say Uncharted 3, I say The Mummy.

9:58 – And finally Game of the Year — Red Dead Redemption. Even though I’ve only clocked in around 5 hours so far, I also heartily endorse this award.

And we’re done.

I have to admit that this is the first time I didn’t feel insulted or pandered to during this incarnation of Spike’s VGA. I know what Spike deals in, and it’s mostly stuff I’m not buying, but on this stage that treated video games with respect and had actual gamers involved. There were some missteps (Denise Richards being the most egregious) but overall it was positive.

I can’t believe I’m actually typing this, but I enjoyed the 2010 Video Game Awards.