Welcome to part two of my three part look at this year’s VGA nominations. You can read the first part here.

Best Fighting Game
Nominees: BlazBlue Calamity Trigger, SoulCalibur Broken Destiny, Street Fighter IV, Tekken 6

My Pick: Street Fighter IV
Most likely to win: Street Fighter IV

SFIV was one of the most anticipated fighting games of our time and this year fans of the fighting franchise were blessed with a new title. While the game had flaws, it was a higher profile game than any of the others in this category. Tekken 6 was only recently released, which is why I think there should be a cut off date for games included in these awards. BlazBlue was a great game, but very technical. (I should know. I have it and you can’t just button mash they way I like to with fighters).

Best Action Adventure Game
Nominees: Assassin’s Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Brutal Legend, Uncharted 2

My Pick: Assassin’s Creed 2
Most likely to win: Assassin’s Creed 2

A trip to Da Vinci era Italy without having to build a time machine. Ubi Montreal brought us a great sequel to the first game, improving on the graphics, expanding the environment and delving further into the Templar plot. The biggest disappointment with the game is still the controls. Not enough buttons for what they want to do makes it somewhat awkward to control Ezio, our tail-chasing avatar for Desmond in his second life in the Animus. Brutal Legend wasn’t a game for everyone, and Uncharted 2 suffered from a poor second half of the game. Batman: AA was a great game as well but I just think this is one for AC2.

Best RPG Game
Nominees: Borderlands, Demon’s Souls, Dragon Age: Origins, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story

My Pick: n/a
Most likely to win: Dragon Age: Origins

Of the four titles listed here, Demon’s Souls and Dragon Age Origins are the two that grab my attention the most. Demon’s Souls is supposed to be intensely difficult. Its also an Atlus title, making it more of a niche game. Dragon Age: Origins from BioWare is a more mainstream title and people are familiar with Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic. If either of these titles had been delayed into next year, they would have had stiff competition with White Knight Chronicles and Final Fantasy XIII.

Best Multiplayer Game
Nominees: Borderlands, COD: Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3: ODST, Left 4 Dead 2

My Pick: Left 4 Dead 2
Most likely to win: Halo 3: ODST

Halo 3 still has a giant following, and with Halo Waypoint pumping some new blood into the franchise and Halo Reach on the way, I believe it will take this prize. My personal vote is for Left 4 Dead 2, a game built for multiplayer and free from the underage smart-mouths that tend to hang around Halo. Left 4 Dead 2 did suffer from unfortunate server lag at launch which may have deterred some from voting for it.

Best Individual Sports Game
Nominees: Fight Night Round 4, Tiger Woods 2010, UFC Undisputed, Wii Sports Resort

My Pick: n/a
Most likely to win: UFC Undisputed

Its been a while since there was a UFC game (trust me, I heard enough about it when I was a manager at EB) and who airs UFC fights? Spike. Fight Night Round 4 didn’t seem as amazing as FN3 did, and Tiger Woods is Tiger Woods. And why it Wii Sports Resort in here? I’m going to guess it was to fill in a slot, but then why not put Tony Hawk: Ride in this category? Fail.

Best Team Sports Game
Nominees: Fifa Soccer 2010, Madden 2010, NBA 2K10, NHL 2010

My Pick: n/a
Most likely to win: Madden 2010

Unless Europeans are able to cast votes (and once again assuming the votes actually count for something), Fifa 2010 won’t win. Basically this category alternates every year between Madden and NHL. This year would make it Madden’s turn.

Best Driving Game
Nominees: DiRT 2, Forza Motorsport 3, Gran Turismo PSP, Need for Speed SHIFT

My Pick: Forza Motorsport 3
Most likely to win: Forza Motorsport 3

In this writer’s opinion, the Need For Speed franchise died about 4 games ago. Handheld racing games are not my thing, and I have never played either DiRT title, but its an extreme sports style racer. So while I sit back and wait for a new Rallisport game to hit the market, Forza 3 will have to suffice. With 2 discs worth of content and new car packs being released on a regular basis, Forza is the stand out choice for Driving Game of the Year.

Best Music Game
Nominees: DJ Hero, Guitar Hero 5, Lego Rock Band, The Beatles Rock Band

My Pick: The Beatles Rock Band
Most likely to win: DJ Hero

Its Hero vs Band again. Eventually we will all get past these as more and more content is released as DLC and we don’t need to buy discs anymore since we’ll all have garages full of drums and guitars. The Beatles Rock Band was a big deal and it was a lot of fun and included some of the weirdest songs that I didn’t remember from my childhood until attempting to sing them and sounding like I was an addict digging through garbage cans for food. But since we’ve all seen and done the guitar & drum based games, this is going to go to the turn-table. Because its new. Can we do something else with this game genre? Like let it go already. Thank you.

Best Soundtrack
Nominees: Brutal Legend, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero 5, The Beatles Rock Band

My Pick: The Beatles Rock Band
Most likely to win: The Beatles Rock Band

How can you deny one of the most popular groups of all time the Best Soundtrack award? That is like committing media suicide. Brutal Legend’s track list only appeals to fans of metal music, and Hero games, meh.

Best Original Score
Nominees: Assassin’s Creed 2, COD: Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3: ODST, Uncharted 2

My Pick: Assassin’s Creed 2
Most likely to win: COD: Modern Warfare 2

For some reason, people seem to love the patriotic sounds of music created for war games and movies, giving the edge to COD and Halo. I loved the score for AC2, as it doesn’t overpower the game itself. Since I haven’t played Uncharted 2, I can’t comment on the score.

Best Graphics
Nominees: Batman: Arkham Asylum, COD: Modern Warfare 2, Killzone 2, Uncharted 2

My Pick: n/a
Most likely to win: Uncharted 2

And here’s where the fanboys and girls get picky. Do we really need an award for graphics anymore? Maybe we should give an award of shame to the studios who clearly don’t make an effort to provide us with stunning graphics. In this day and age, high quality graphics are a necessity and are expected of studios. That said, since everyone was oo-ing and ah-ing over Uncharted 2, it seems safe to assume it will take this one.

Best Game Based on TV Show/Movie
Nominees: Ghostbusters, South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense Play, Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition

My Pick: Ghostbusters
Most likely to win: Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters was the coolest thing in the early 80s. We all had Slimer lunch boxes, dressed up as them for Halloween and woke up at the crack of dawn on Saturday mornings to watch the cartoon. Plus, they got the cast back together and its an original story. For an Arcade game to take this one would be wrong, even if it is South Park. X-Men and Riddick were probably pretty decent games, but you can’t argue with the nostalgia of Ghostbusters. Who ya gonna call?

Check back tomorrow for Part 3, where I wrap up my award picks and give some final snarky comments and hopefully helpful suggestions that will most likely be ignored by the people who run the giant commercial.

Popularity: 1% [?]