Gaming Awards Show
Posted: Thu Dec 04, 2003 12:47 pm
Spike TV Eyes Male Gamers with Video Game Kudofest
Thu Dec 4, 2:01 AM ET
By John Gaudiosi and Chris Marlowe
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - There's been a lot of debate recently over where the male TV viewers ages 18-34 have gone.
Kevin Kay, executive vp programing and production at men's cable network Spike TV, believes they're playing video games. Kay hopes to lure these elusive male viewers back to TV through video game programing beginning with Thursday night's "Video Game Awards," hosted by David Spade (news).
The "VGA" telecast is the first in a series of original video game programing that Kay said he has in development. He said he intends the event broadcast to introduce Spike TV to the video game industry and demonstrate the network's interest in the games and their associated lifestyle.
"We want to plant the flag with male gamers with the VGAs," Kay said. "If you want to see programing about video games, come to Spike TV."
In a twist on traditional award show presentations, Kay said, there was no red carpet, no podium, no presenters and no acceptance speeches when the special was filmed Tuesday in Las Vegas. Instead, there were performances by P.O.D., DMX, Kelis and Tony Hawk's Boom Boom Huck Jam. Such celebrities as Lil' Kim, Pamela Anderson (news), Nicole Eggert (news) and some World Wrestling Entertainment stars also made appearances during the show.
Awards were given out in 16 unusual categories. For example, Ray Liotta (news) was recognized as best performance by a human for his voice acting in Take-Two Interactive's immensely popular "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City."
Game of the year went to EA Sports' "Madden NFL 2004," while Namco's "Soul Calibur II" was named most addictive. Microsoft's "Halo 2," which is scheduled for release in April, was chosen as most anticipated game.
The show ran about 20 minutes longer than its allotted two hours.
Kay said he hopes to use the VGAs to build momentum for the addition of several new video game programs to Spike TV next year. "We'd like to put together a two-hour block of video game programing next year that will incorporate a variety of different shows," he said.
A first-quarter 2004 episode of the "Spike 52" best-of genre series that will focus on the greatest video games of all time, which will be selected by viewers who vote at SpikeTV.com, is already in the works. "We're also looking to do a weekly video game wrap-up show that would feature the week's game news in an 'Entertainment Tonight'-style format," Kay said.
Other proposed projects include an original half-hour comedy show pilot from G-Net Media that blends video game footage from a variety of games into a cohesive story and a half-hour series featuring the adventures of characters from a known video game franchise.
Kay said that with a potential audience of more than 87 million homes, Spike TV is larger than both Game Show Network and G4. The former launched a two-hour video game block to its 52 million homes in October, while the latter is devoted entirely to video game programing but has a reach of only 10 million homes.
Thu Dec 4, 2:01 AM ET
By John Gaudiosi and Chris Marlowe
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - There's been a lot of debate recently over where the male TV viewers ages 18-34 have gone.
Kevin Kay, executive vp programing and production at men's cable network Spike TV, believes they're playing video games. Kay hopes to lure these elusive male viewers back to TV through video game programing beginning with Thursday night's "Video Game Awards," hosted by David Spade (news).
The "VGA" telecast is the first in a series of original video game programing that Kay said he has in development. He said he intends the event broadcast to introduce Spike TV to the video game industry and demonstrate the network's interest in the games and their associated lifestyle.
"We want to plant the flag with male gamers with the VGAs," Kay said. "If you want to see programing about video games, come to Spike TV."
In a twist on traditional award show presentations, Kay said, there was no red carpet, no podium, no presenters and no acceptance speeches when the special was filmed Tuesday in Las Vegas. Instead, there were performances by P.O.D., DMX, Kelis and Tony Hawk's Boom Boom Huck Jam. Such celebrities as Lil' Kim, Pamela Anderson (news), Nicole Eggert (news) and some World Wrestling Entertainment stars also made appearances during the show.
Awards were given out in 16 unusual categories. For example, Ray Liotta (news) was recognized as best performance by a human for his voice acting in Take-Two Interactive's immensely popular "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City."
Game of the year went to EA Sports' "Madden NFL 2004," while Namco's "Soul Calibur II" was named most addictive. Microsoft's "Halo 2," which is scheduled for release in April, was chosen as most anticipated game.
The show ran about 20 minutes longer than its allotted two hours.
Kay said he hopes to use the VGAs to build momentum for the addition of several new video game programs to Spike TV next year. "We'd like to put together a two-hour block of video game programing next year that will incorporate a variety of different shows," he said.
A first-quarter 2004 episode of the "Spike 52" best-of genre series that will focus on the greatest video games of all time, which will be selected by viewers who vote at SpikeTV.com, is already in the works. "We're also looking to do a weekly video game wrap-up show that would feature the week's game news in an 'Entertainment Tonight'-style format," Kay said.
Other proposed projects include an original half-hour comedy show pilot from G-Net Media that blends video game footage from a variety of games into a cohesive story and a half-hour series featuring the adventures of characters from a known video game franchise.
Kay said that with a potential audience of more than 87 million homes, Spike TV is larger than both Game Show Network and G4. The former launched a two-hour video game block to its 52 million homes in October, while the latter is devoted entirely to video game programing but has a reach of only 10 million homes.