Here we are. The third and final look ahead to the Spike VGAs airing this Saturday. Please take a look at Part One and Part Two if you already haven’t. At the end of all of this I’ve also shared some of my thoughts on how a proper and respectable awards event should be handled.

Please feel free to comment as to why you agree or disagree with anything contained in any of the articles I have posted in regards to this laughingstock they call an awards ceremony.

Best Performance by a Human Female
Nominees: Eliza Dushku (Rubi Malone – Wet), Kristen Bell (Lucy Stillman – AC2), Megan Fox (Mikaela Danes – Transformers 2), Tricia Helfer (Dare – Halo 3: ODST)

My Pick: Kristen Bell
Most likely to win: Megan Fox

Kristen Bell did an amazing job as Lucy. Very believable voice over work. However, Megan Fox will win this because she is “hot” and “plays video games”. Shame on you all.  (And why the need to add “Human” to the title of this and the next category?)

Best Performance by a Human Male
Nominees: Bill Murray (Peter Venkeman – Ghostbusters), Hugh Jackman (Wolverine – X-Men Origins), Samuel L Jackson (Ninja Ninja – Afro Samurai), Shia LaBeouf (Sam Witwicky – Transformers 2), Vin Diesel (Riddick – Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena)

My Pick: none
Most likely to win: Hugh Jackman

Why the hell is every person listed in this category a Hollywood actor? What happened to the awesome talent of Voice Actors and why are they being shoved out of this category? Sorry, but I call BS here. How on earth do you justify Shia LaBeouf over the talent behind Ezio or Nathan Drake? This is definitely a category where Spike completely failed, probably because of ad money. For shame.

Best Cast
Nominees: Brutal Legend, Eat Lead, Ghostbusters, South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense, X-Men Origins: Wolverine

My Pick: Ghostbusters
Most likely to win: Ghostbusters

Does this one really need an explanation?

Best Voice
Nominees: Arleen Sorkin (Harley Quinn), Claudia Black (Chloe Frazer), Jack Black (Eddie Riggs), Mark Hamill (The Joker), Nolan North (Nathan Drake)

My Pick: Mark Hamill
Most likely to win: Jack Black

Harley Quinn and The Joker were spot on in Batman, and really I’d be completely okay with either of them winning. Mark has been voicing over The Joker for years in cartoons where they portrait a dark but still kid-friendly version of the mad man. In Arkham Asylum, he was able to show a completely dark and maniacal Joker and creeped the hell out of me every time I heard his voice. The reason I foresee the prize going to Jack Black is based on the fact that he was the host last year. I really hope I am wrong, though.

Best Downloadable Game
Nominees: Battlefield 1943, Fat Princess, Plants vs Zombies, Shadow Complex

My Pick: Plants vs Zombies
Most likely to win: n/a

If you are a fan of the site, follow me on Twitter, or read about my pick for PC game, then you should not be surprised that I think PvZ should win Best Downloadable Game. The more I look at the list, the more I can’t decide if Shadow Complex or Battlefield 1943 is going to take this one. Fat Princess is fun, but I don’t think it is the best of the four titles listed.

Best DLC
Nominees: Broken Steel – Fallout 3, Point Lookout – Fallout 3, GTA 4: Lost & the Damned, GTA4: Ballad of Gay Tony

My Pick: Fallout 3
Most likely to win: Fallout 3

Unless Rockstar through some mad money at the producers, Fallout 3 will take this category. And most likely it will be for the Broken Steel DLC. While Point Lookout was cool, it was Broken Steel that opened up the game, gave us a better ending and allowed you to level up from 20 to 30.

Most Anticipated Game
Nominees: Bioshock 2, God of War 3, Mass Effect 2, Starcraft 2 + Write In Votes (for previously announced titles)

My Pick: BioShock 2
Most likely to win: BioShock 2

First of all, this is the stupidest “Award” of them all. You can’t give an award to someone because the game is “anticipated”. The thing isn’t out yet! There are so many great games coming out again in 2010 that you would have to put as write ins since they only listed four. Not only that, there are delays and even possible cancellations of projects that could happen. I think its ok to ask gamers to “vote” just for people to see what most of those voters are looking forward to the most, but if there is a trophy for that, then I think you need a good spanking.

That said, my most anticipated game is BioShock 2, even over Final Fantasy XIII, which thankfully comes out about a month after BioShock 2. My Feb-April is going to be rather busy, which I believe can be said for a lot of gamers out there.

If I Were In Charge….

So what would I do differently if I were in charge of this mess? First off, nix the Hollywood stars. This is an event for the game community, so the stars here should rightfully be the studios themselves. The producers and community managers that we interact with and share the latest news with the fans deserve to be the ones in the spotlight. Real gamers want to see the people behind the titles we line up for at midnight and spend hours playing each week. If a Hollywood personality had something to do with one of the games up for an award, sure, they should be invited, but the red carpet should showcase the real talent.

My next peeve is musical performances. This isn’t the Grammys, folks. This is video games. You want to give us some music, then it should at least be music from the original score or official vocal theme song. Bring a real orchestra to the show, say one that’s participated in Video Games Live, and have them perform. Very classy and dignified, like the Oscars. If I wanted to watch Jamie Foxx or 50 Cent I’d flip to MTV/MuchMusic.

And oh those commercials!! Yes, we understand that for people like Axe body spray and Gilette, the VGAs are prime ad slots to bombard us with advertising, and I know that ads are needed to make the world of TV go ’round. However, when you are interrupting the flow of the program every three minutes so that you can give us seven minutes of commercials, you are fools. We will get annoyed and change the channel. Hell, you designate so much time to commercials that even the un-entertaining skits need to be kept super short so you can get right back to the ads. Not to mention that half the time there are awards that don’t even get handed out on screen because you run out of time or need to edit for time.

Skits & bikini-wearing models? Nix them completely. They don’t belong here, not unless they are actually performed by the developers themselves. And you know what? I bet they could come up with better skits than the ones the show’s writers slap together. If you want to have eye candy on your show, then start throwing some in for the ladies. We do make up around 40% of the market.

World exclusive announcements? Well, make sure its more than just a 15 second shot of the game’s title. Some early game play with a developer talking and explaining the game goes a lot further than just giving us a title and a year of expected release. You should enforce that companies doing “reveals” need to do more. Also, make sure this is more information than what we already know. For instance, a 15 second shot of Desmond from Assassin’s Creed saying he is ready to take on the Templars once and for all is no way to give us a date for AC3. First of all, we already know it’s coming eventually, and my guess is a lot more is going to take place outside of the comforts of the Animus, but that sort of thing is a total cop-out.

There you have it. My picks, predictions and overall thoughts on what is the Spike VGAs. Feel free to share your thoughts with me either now and/or once they air on Saturday. GamingAngel will be visiting the red carpet prior to the event, so look for coverage of that on the site sometime next week, courtesy of Kodak and the Zi8.