Gaming "Award Shows" Follow Hollywood

(Warning: Begin rant.) Do you ever sit down to watch a Hollywood award show and get furious that one or two movies win nearly every award? Do you ever feel like a larger number of movies should be recognized and not just nominated because they need a few other titles to list along with the one we all know will win?

I was watching X-Play's top games of 2007 episode last night and the exact same thing was happening - the same three or four games dominated almost everything - Mass Effect, BioShock, Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3. Yes, there were a few other winners here and there like Assasin's Creed, Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Super Mario Galaxy, etc. But, for the most part, those four heavy hitters took the majority of categories. I mean, it was so bad I was calling which one would win before they announced the winners.

This is not even to mention that only one DS game (which was really a GameBoy Advance game) and zero PSP games were nominated.

Yes, I know the heavy hitters are good games, I'm not disputing that. But, there should be a wider variety of categories that encompass a larger section of the awesome games that were released this year, instead of a narrow-minded look at just a few of the massive money-makers. As a start, each console should have their own section. The 360 is a good console, but just because it houses three of the four constant winners exclusively, does not mean its the best console, nor does it mean gamers only care about that console.

There were also zero PS2 games nominated. This floored me even more when they got to the RPG category, since at least two critically acclaimed PS2 RPGs were released this year - Rogue Galaxy and Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3. These games got excellent reviews when they were released, yet no mention at all during this episode. The current generation is not the only generation gamers care about. The PS2 is outselling at least two of the current gen consoles still. What does that tell you?

Finally, as if to add insult to injury, during their holiday buyers guide episode, which I also recorded and watched yesterday, they insulted PS2 owners several times, telling them they need to get with the times, ask for a current-gen console for Christmas and actually move into the 21st century. They act like PS2 games suck now that there's new consoles out. Well, let me tell you something...there's more awesome PS2 games than there are for all three of the current-gen consoles combined. In fact, this is the main point I'm considering not putting X-Play on my DVR's season recording list come January 14 when their redesigned episodes start up.

Yes, I realize they have quirky sense of humor and enjoy it most of the time, but insulting fellow gamers just because they can't yet afford to hop into the current generation of consoles is going a bit far.

As this post is long enough already, I won't even go into detail about them needing to define their categories more tightly. (Mass Effect winning RPG of the year? Any game where you control any character can be loosely considered an RPG...that doesn't mean its what gamers think of when they think of RPGs.) Nor will I touch on how they also insulted Stargate SG-1 fans.

Needless to say, the Gamasutra end-of-year awards are much better designed, even though there aren't as many. (End rant.)