Video Game Awards (VGAs) 2024

What an incredible honor it is to be writing about the Video Game Awards (VGAs) for the first time on this site. I’ve been a veteran of this event since… the beginning? I actually don’t remember. I kind of hope not. 12 years having passed since I started the tradition of watching the VGAs with my friends to riff on it is a depressing thought.

But much like breaking a bone helps you forget about the pain of a stubbed toe, nothing’s more depressing than watching this annual tribute to consumerism in the guise of a celebration of art. I mean, movies, TV, and music get that. Why not video games? It’s like we’re being told we’re not even worth a specific controlled media environment. That’s insulting.

Fortunately, event organizer and master of ceremonies Geoff Keighley rose to the occasion by establishing these awards. And in all fairness, rose he did: this is the least painful a VGA show has been since… the Schick Hydrobot? Which is saying a lot. I don’t remember the last time we finished a VGA without a unanimous reaction of, “that was even worse than last year.” Then begins the round robin of everyone floating the idea that we just skip next year’s awards.

And you know what? I’m the one who never breaks. I’m always the first to say I’ll be here next year. And I always will be, so long as the VGAs do one of two things: one, be hilariously terrible, or two, announce at least one cool thing. The odds are stacked in their favor, since those goals are at least somewhat negatively correlated with each other. This time, the second option prevailed. Hell, we got like, three cool announcements! Maybe four! Maybe five! But that would be it. It’d be a bad batting average normally, but the VGAs only play against themselves, so relatively speaking they’ve done well.

It’s not just the announcements that improved however, which is shocking. One of the most insulting things about previous years was the escalating focus on movie and TV trailers. It increasingly felt like the video games were a trojan horse to just shove more garbage advertisements down our throats. Considering Keighley claimed he began the awards show to give video games the recognition they deserved, this was always a shameless grift that made every pro-studio or pro-art statement of his come across as insincere to an insulting degree—as if we wouldn’t notice we were being sold commercials. Or that even if we did, we wouldn’t care.

He might have been right, and things could have continued in that direction. Whether Keighley’s heart grew three sizes today or major production companies stopped seeing the VGAs as a lucrative investment (either is possible), I can’t recall a single TV or movie trailer. I’m not saying there were none, so don’t fact check me. I’m just saying there were so little that they didn’t define the experience. It’s a genuine improvement for a Video Game Awards show to be about video games.

It’s almost a shame, really. My first time post-covering the VGAs and there’s not a whole lot to really make fun of. The cringe was there, of course, but it’s bland cringe like watching your dad try to deliver a joke but tripping over two words so it doesn’t really land. You expect it. You don’t laugh at either the attempt at the joke or its failure, and any perceived humor response is being mistaken as simple courteous acknowledgment that a joke was attempted. Come to think of it, this isn’t a great metaphor. When the VGAs are funny, they’re certainly not trying to be. You can tell when they’re trying. It’s the part where no one is laughing.

Speaking of nobody laughing, the Muppets appeared again somehow. Waldorf and the other old guy appear once every two hours to give the proceedings a gentle burn. At least the puppets always look really amused at their jokes. I don’t know why they’re trying so hard. Just get Beaker up there to scream “mi mi mi mi mi” and watch everyone (including me) lose their minds. Where is Beaker? Did he finally develop cancer from Dr. Honeydew’s experiments? Did he have a falling out with Geoff Keighley?

If he didn’t, I might. I appreciated recent VGAs deluding me into thinking I had a chance to win a Steam Deck, but the sweepstakes were off for this year. Maybe Keighley had to sell all his Steam Decks to make up for the lack of revenue from running movie trailers this year. Whatever, I guess. I didn’t even want to play video games.

Turbo Breakdown

Ah, fuck. I’m tired. Let’s shotgun some stuff I remember thinking was cool:

1. A new Ninja Gaiden game. We haven’t had a serious attempt at a 2D Ninja Gaiden since… what, Ninja Gaiden 3? I don’t even want to look up when that was released. Apparently the studio that made Blasphemous is responsible for this one, which explains the beautiful pixel graphics. I haven’t played Blasphemous yet, but I know it’s well-regarded. Here’s hoping the same holds true for Ninja Gaiden. I’m optimistic.

2. A new Onimusha! Holy shit. I want the record to show that I called the trailer being for Onimusha as soon as I saw the red orbs. Meanwhile, the YouTube chat was predicting a Ghost of Tsushima sequel. Scrubs. As someone who’s played every Onimusha game, my question is this: what the hell will the game be going for? From the gameplay footage we saw, I’m not expecting a return to 1’s sparse survival-horror roots.

At the same time, I think 3’s combat will feel too simplistic to a modern audience. Dawn of Dreams was a highly underrated game and fairly close to being a “character action” game, but it did get an unfairly bad rap from the fanbase. In all likelihood it’s just going to be an action RPG adventure in the vein of Nioh et al. I think that’s fine. Have the Oni Gauntlet, the art direction, and the vibes and you have the most integral traits of Onimusha. This has my interest.

3. Okami sequel. Well, I didn’t expect that. Almost as unexpected as Kamiya’s sudden departure from Platinum Games. To my knowledge, it’s still a mystery as to the circumstances of that decision, but clearly the man never gave up on creating games. That’s good news alone, but Okami? Never would have guessed.

Now, I’m a bit less excited for this than some other people. I think Okami was a good game but had more than its fair share of weak areas that were overlooked due to its framing as a Zelda competitor. Zelda‘s derivative formula was a hot-button issue at this point, and Okami was often provided as a counterexample. In that context, it was always being relatively praised at the expense of something else, so the same evangelicals weren’t likely to package critiques along with their rhetoric.

Anyway… Okami left a lot to be desired for me with its action elements. People will be tempted to say, “but it’s not as if Zelda games are known for their combat.” And they would be right. What both games excel it is their immersion and how their mechanics organically intercept to create believable yet structured environments. What differs for Zelda games in this respect is how combat emerges from intrinsic interactions with the game world. Your sword can both interact with objects and fight enemies, but they’re achieved through the exact same actions.

In this way, there’s never a full separation between combat and interacting with the environment. Enemies are live actors within the game world as much as switches, pots, or grass are. What distinguishes these elements from each other only occurs after you’ve seen how they interact with your tools. This is a realistic, intuitive way to navigate an unfamiliar environment.

In Okami, combat exists in opposition to the rest of the game elements. Enemies are never fauna native to their dungeon that just oppose Amaterasu when she happens to cross their path. Rather, combat initiates in fixed, unmarked zones that spawn enemies when you cross over them. This erects an arena around you and the enemies you can’t escape from. In other words, there is a deliberate separation of environment and gameplay that constantly disrupts the atmosphere of the overworld and dungeons by suddenly yanking you away to unrecognizable pseudo-spaces to pound on enemies in dull, repetitive combat.

In Zelda, navigating a dungeon and fighting enemies mostly feel like they’re part of the same process. You’re doing them simultaneously. You can even run past them, but that still requires you to be cognizant of the space they inhabit in the same room as you. Okami feels like you’re constantly being asked to do homework before you’re allowed to continue playing the interesting part. Okami is still a good game, but that specific element was really lame and I hope it’s addressed in the sequel.

4. Elden Ring: Nightreign. Fucking what? I have so many mixing feelings. Above all of them is the general excitement for a new FromSoft game, but… what even is this? An Elden Ring spinoff in the style of Monster Hunter? Stranger still are the environment and creature designs which are so similar to previous enemies and locations throughout the Souls games that this comes across as a “greatest hits” multiplayer boss rush. But everything is technically original so it’s also… not that? It feels like they’re intentionally inviting criticism for being derivative because they couldn’t choose between fanservice and originality. Well, I’ll just wait for more news. I’m sure it’ll at least be worth playing, and I’m excited for it.

5. Fumito Ueda is back! I can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. One of gaming’s greatest visionaries was down but not out after the unfortunate development of The Last Guardian (TLG). We know very little about this next project, but we can only hope he’s given the resources he needs to realize his vision and that he can apply what he learned from TLG to avoid some of the same mistakes. What little we’ve seen suggests deliberate evocation of Shadow of the Colossus. Could we be getting a spiritual successor? Or perhaps your character commands the titans this time around in a role-reversal? With Ueda, it’s just as likely to be something completely unexpected. Just hoping for the best. Take all the time you need—so long as you’re being given it.

6. Shadow Labyrinth. Uh, yeah. Pretty weird. I thought this was a solid-looking moody explorative platformer. And then Pac-Man showed up. Now it’s a solid-looking moody explorative platformer with Pac-Man. I don’t know. It just looks like it’ll be a good game, and now it’s being signal-boosted by its quirky gimmick. My only real concern is Pac-Man will undercut the game’s seemingly dark tone. No matter what, it’s impossible for me to divorce Pac-Man’s iconic image from his past material which is uniformly bright and bubbly. It will be interesting to see if Bandai Namco can subvert that.

7. Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds. The death of Sonic Racing All-Stars was one of the great tragedies of the kart-racing subgenre. The subtitle of “CrossWorlds” makes me suspect they might be returning to form somewhat, but I’m ambivalent towards them not reviving the All-Stars brand. This could be an excuse to bring in characters from other Sonic universes or to just do the bare minimum of Sega cameos. I hope they prove me wrong!

Wrappin’ Up the VGA 2024

That covers the games I’m most personally interested in. There were many other cool reveals from series or developers I’m not experienced enough with to comment on, so no shade intended if your personal favorite didn’t get mentioned here. Hell, I’ve played many Yakuza games and didn’t even comment on Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios’ new projects. I just wanna see more. Dispatch looks to be a mind-blowing graphical achievement with a fun premise that I really want to turn out well.

I was going to compliment the VGAs for going a year without a security breach, but it seems that’s not the case. The infiltration is just coming from inside the house this time. One of the games revealed, Catly, is being accused of essentially being a scam. I don’t really care that much, but I hope the accusation is real, because it’s funny. The trailer itself definitely gives off AI-generated vibes with its uncanny valley cat models, and the onslaught of stock meowing sound effects you’ve heard thousands of times before don’t inspire confidence. Plus, if you were a soulless grifter looking for an easy thing to hitch your scam on, targeting cat-loving nerds at a gaming event is extremely on-the-nose and hilarious.

Snoop D-O double G made an appearance to promote his new album and Fortnite cameo. My opinion of Snoop Dogg is probably most people’s: he seems like a fun, genuine dude that gets infinite passes to commercialize himself for creating “Gin & Juice.” The new song seemed pretty decent, even. I think it’s about Snoop Dogg wanting to kiss a guy? Sounds pretty woke.

Good for him. Maybe I’ll check out the album. I do like Dr. Dre as well, who apparently features on at least the previewed track. Dogg also performed “Gin & Juice,” of course, but it wasn’t the best rendition of the song I’ve ever heard. The mixing of their act felt pretty poor to me, with Snoop himself being rather buried. Oh well. As far as musical acts at the VGAs go, this was certainly one of the most enjoyable.

Edit: I think Snoop Dogg sucks now.

Keighley also gave some lip service for the unprecedented and unacceptable amount of layoffs and studio closures we’ve been seeing as we delve deeper into late-stage capitalism. If you actually enjoy playing video games, news of the professional space becoming increasingly hostile to the people responsible for making them should strike you as an issue of the utmost importance. If it doesn’t, you’re playing into the hands of exorbitantly rich and powerful people who think you’re garbage just happening to be mistakenly holding some of their money. Many of whom bankroll this very event! Remember what I said earlier about shallow insincerity? Yeah.

To not end on a down note, I will reiterate that this event was a huge improvement over the previous years. Keep up the… good work? Hmm… Keep up the adequate work? Yeah, that sounds about right. See you next year. It’s not like pretending we aren’t in Limbo will help us escape it.

This post was sponsored* by Doritos. Doritos: they’re a chip you can eat while playing a video game.

Post not actually sponsored. Holy shit, did I forget to talk about the actual awards? Well so did they, so it’s fine.