VGX 2013: Did Joel McHale make the show better?

As opposed to what we got: a bunch of people not good at interviews looking stupid for no reason. Yeah, I'll take a standard interview over that any day.

This isn't politics. Asking hard questions (what Mckale didn't do, he was just an asshole) to a develloper won't get you anything. You'll just end up with dead air and a guy looking stupid on stage. How was that better than a standard interview again?

Surely we can be more introspective and respectful about the medium we enjoy. It has nothing to do with what anyone else thinks.

Let's not forget that spike TV's original basis is that it's "Television for "Men"". No matter who were to host that it would still be a horrible piece of pop culture ridden garbage. Joel is a wonderful performer, but it is understandable that his zingers could get some of you kids on the extreme end of the autism spectrum upset. However, even if this is the case, you can't blame him for the short comings of an entire channel, I mean honestly what else do you expect from spike? And, as a kicker, anyone who would have any synergism with Geoff Keighley would probably be a corpse.

I thought the show was better than the VGA's but the two co-hosts did not have good chemistry together. Geoff never played along with Joel's jokes, even if many of them were bad.

The best part of the show was Joel getting angry about the PR speak and not getting any of his questions answered because, "We are not talking about that right now." The real reason why these award shows are bad is because they are another avenue to market to us.

@ryanwhom: Very true.

@sil3n7: Yeah definitely. The GDC awards that Schafer hosts every year is a good alternative that people should really get behind if that's their thing.

Yeah and that's too bad. I guess we should just keep wallowing in the filth that is the VGX/A though instead of having any aspirations?

I watched about a hour of the stream, and I'm undecided about how to vote.

On one hand, adult-diaper jokes -- I counted a total of four in the hour I watched -- aren't funny the first time, but I'll give JM a pass on those, because the script was probably written by someone else.

I also thought that when JM was asked about what games he liked the look of his responses didn't sound genuine, but I don't know. I guess I don't really care whether he plays games or not.

Whatever. I'll vote "yes," because this show would embody all of the stereotypes about nerd culture and gaming that I hate whether JM was there or not.

In JM's defense, I liked how he seemed to make the other co-host kind of uncomfortable.

He pointed out the absurdity that we're supposed to listen to somebody talk about hair technology for ten minutes and take it seriously. It's bullshit.

Exactly. This isn't politics, so why should the interviews be that boring and softballed? Video games are the perfect medium to have more informal interviews where people go off-script more often and things can get down to real talk about the product and what there is to enjoy about it, and maybe some issues that the developers have been tackling along the way. Like someone mentioned earlier, we almost got some new info about Broken Age from Schaefer thanks to McHale's going off-script. It would have been exciting and cool.

I'm just quoting this cause it's so true, If you want a better take on a video games award show you should watch the GDC Awards.

Here! watch this years one! NOTE: This was in march.

@naru_joe93 said:

It's true. Keighley seemed to be the only one (I'm not counting the developers in attendance) on camera that seemed to give a damn about the subject. I think he'd be better served somewhere else. I don't why they continue to ask Joel McHale to do these kinds of things that he clearly has no interest in, and moreover, I don't know why he continues to accept (other than to get paid).

I think the whole thing was bad. It wasn't just the poor hosting, the show just seemed poorly put together. I mean when they went to Tyler the Creator he was reading off a piece of paper. The live music was even pretty bad, I mean that group performing Sleepwalking was awesome until the guy started singing and was completely flat. In the end though they were trending on twitter and even though it was mostly negative it means people were paying attention. Maybe next year they put someone in charge of running the event that actually pays attention to gaming a little more than whats got the most clicks on Kotaku. On a lighter note I thought the Broken Age and No Mans Sky stuff was really awesome.

I laughed heartily. Props.

Well no. But the Oscars can be a bit of a shitshow too because its a bunch of people who have no sense of humor about themselves possibly the most nervous they'll ever be, and Todd McFarlane or the dude from British Office were hired to bring in a bit of levity and the mix is like ammonia and bleach. Game culture isnt at a place where it takes itself seriously. If the Oscars were like VMAs, Pacific Rim would sweep the nominations. In a way, this broadcast was like every award show because it tried to mix admiration and love of the medium with levity and self deprication and like every award show that does that (other than the MTV VMAs for like 3 years in the early 00s who got the mix right) it was super duper painful to watch. Only difference between this and the oscars is the choice in clothing honestly. Without Joel, though, its not like the oscars. Its like a corporate moral meeting, everyone tell everyone how great they are. That's much worse.

I only paid attention to roughly 10% of the show. I had it almost muted streaming on my PC as i played stuff with some guys from here on my tv. So i didn't catch ALOT of it. But he seemed to do an alright job.

Really i only saw him mocking Geoff and i'm totally ok with that since i dont like that guy.

But its the VGA's (or VGX as its called now? Whats the X stand for btw?) have always been a shit show and trailer dropping ground and this has been no different.

Honestly the thing ruining this as an awards show is how its basically a giant ad for upcoming games. The Oscars for example doesn't show "EXCLUSIVE TRAILERS!!!!!!" for upcoming movies. They should completely get away from the reveals and exclusive trailers and all that bullshit. That'd be the first step towards actual credibility. Since it still just comes across as a giant advertisement for upcoming games. (also note its conveniently timed before the holidays so people can buy the big winners as gifts).

So a snarky asshole is the least of the shows concerns.

Yes, because he was actually trying to host a "Video Game Award Show" in his trademarked style. If it was just Geoff Keighley hosting, it would have just been a glorified 3-hour PR presentation. I respect Keighley for what he does, but the man can't host an award show. He is really good at grilling developers for secrets though.

Wow, I'm 10 minutes in and this is pretty good. Tim Schafer is a fantastic host and makes me wish I knew about the Gdc awards earlier.

Joel McHale makes everything better.

Didn't watch this, though. Have zero interest.

God, this was such a shitshow. I only caught the last hour or so (thank god), but even if the show wasn't supposed to be taken "seriously," a little bit of rehearsal could have gone a long way. Instead, it just came off as awkward when Joel began to read off jokes he didn't know in advance and stumble over easy lines. I don't blame him, though. Geoff Keighley offered him a paycheck to spend three hours of his time hosting this stupid thing. From the limited bit that I watched, this looked like the most hackneyed, thrown-together "awards" ceremony I've ever seen.

Even 4chan's stupid /v/gas has better production values than this. At least it understands its audience.

Better? Yes. Good? Ehhh...

So much of it was truly cringe worthy, but I'd place more of the blame on Geoff have NO comedic presence whatsoever.

That was the best part, what are you even talking about

he gave even less fucks than Joel and it was awesome.

From reading this thread, it sounds like Joel McHale wasn't really the host the VGX needed, but he was probably the host it deserved.

I actually really like McHale, but he doesn't strike me as a great choice for something where you want a host whose job is to be really enthusiastic about everything. Sarcasm is his entire shtick. I remember when he hosted Ubisoft's E3 press conference a few years back; it wasn't a great show for them, and he spent most of his time onstage looking really bored/uncomfortable.

Joel had some pretty dumb jokes in the beginning of the show, and then after geoff keighley told joel he was trending on twitter he turned it around. Joel actually started to ask some good questions and lessened up on the bad jokes. The first hour of the show it seemed he really did not want to be there.

Just thought I'd point out where the Joel gif came from.

#JOELBANDERAS Never Forget.

@themanwithnoplan: Where is the original from?

i kind of appreciated the awkwardness joel provided.

It's from the 1995 movie Assassins.

It was still appallingly bad, but without Joel it would've been forgettably bad.

@themanwithnoplan: Thanks!

Here's some real talk: Geoff Keighley was the worst part about that show. He kept blowing Mchale's spots, he reacted weird to every segment, and he has this crunchy coated covering that comes off as the fabricated BS that it is. I know he's making television but he comes off so incredibly fake its painful. Even Joe Mchale made comments about it!

Pewdiepie is the worst thing Youtube has ever produced. That segment was terrible, his shtick is terrible, and they should have just gotten Francis for a segment if they needed some "Youtube cred".

The "new" spots for Destiny and The Division and were everything but new. I don't recall a single spot of new footage and those were the two games I was specifically tuning in for.

Everything about the rap segment and everyone involved was a complete mess. Gametrailers needs to get their shit together as every broadcast of theirs that I have seen is terrible produced and most of the on camera "talent" seems to have no idea what is going on. All of those rappers were completely insufferable, in my opinion.

That being said, Joe Mchale was the best part about the show...outside of No Man's Sky.

Also, Pewdiepie is god awful. Even my wife came into the room to comment about how annoying the "doucher" on the screen was. I've never heard her call anyone that and I doubt I ever will again. Congrats, pewdiepie.

@hatking I totally agree. Geoff Keighley butchered every segway and upcoming spot that even Joe made reference to it a couple of times. Geoff Keighley comes off as one of the most soulless and uninteresting people in this industry. Is that really the case? I don't know, I am sure he is a great person but his on camera persona is lifeless and shallow. This is why people clung to the "Doritos and Mountain Dew Pope" pics so hard...because it feels so real.

I'm not sure any host could make any video game award show bearable.

This sounds like a complete shitshow in a different way than the VGAs usually are and now I kind of want to watch it.

But seriously, why are we giving this event any credence whatsoever? Even if Keighley solo-ed it, you know it'd be unbearable trash.

@sparky_buzzsaw: Tim Schafer. Also Chris Hardwick wasn't terrible, and he had a great momemt with a drunk dev who wanted everyone to win an award.

His snark was coming off rather oddly, but that may just be the setting they had. I felt as they found their groove (towards the middle) Joel was a good "disinterested snarky" guy (that he always does) to Geoff's nerdy super professional geekiness. They played off each other well when they got comfortable with it.

All in all I liked it way more than VGAs past. The focus on games is what matters, and I felt they delivered that.

For me the worst part was the music and the Loiter whats its. They weren't funny or interesting. Luckily that was at the end so I could just turn it off.

Really awesome to see Gone Home get some recognition. That was a little unexpected.

Joel's appearance was... well it was kind of half in half out. He ran full force with the snarky douchebaggery for which he is well known whenever he was sitting in on an interview with the major publisher/developers. However I noticed his attitude completely switched when talking to the guy from Hello and Tim, almost as if there was more of a respect for the craft when talking to the indie people. You'll notice the one bad joke he made with Tim's segment he immediately apologized for, so fast it was almost jarring.

I also think a lot of the more awful shit was all the scripted stuff he was taking from the teleprompter. I honestly believe he hates that fake ass scripted pandering nonsense that PR/Producer types fart out for the perceived demographic as much as the rest of us, hence the general tone of disinterest.

Him and his whole crew were trying way too hard to be awkward and funny. It was embarrassing.

Seriously, the winner for best indie game isn't even a game, and that's a good thing?

Edit: Oh no. What have I done? For the record, I really enjoyed Gone Home. Moving on.

@turboman: Dude, yes. I think since people probably don't watch The Soup, they don't understand that. Joel is a snarky asshole, that's why we love seeing him tear shows a new one on The Soup. He does this here, and everyone loses their shit. Joel is Joel, and if you didn't want that, then you shouldn't have asked him to do it.

Thank you very much for that.

Hehe

Hey I never said it wasn't funny. When they were with WAVVES I was dying laughing. Just using that as an example of poor planning by whoever was running the thing. "Hey let's hand these guys a piece of paper with a script on it. That'll be fine."

Seemed like a zero sum game from what I watched.

I don't know what would make these shows actually entertaining, short of putting all the game reveals back to back with nothing else. I'd watch a 30 minute game-reveal show every December.

In looking to improve it, I think the first thing that needs to be examined is Keighley and GameTrailers, and their role in it.

I can't really see how people hated Mchale. Didn't anyone think that the worst part of that show was Gametrailers and Keighley? Pretty sad when even the cohost notices how fake EVERYTHING is about the show.

I also don't see why people complain about this stuff so much...its no different than the Mtv movie awards or the people's choice awards. Hell, just as legit as the Oscars considering you can legitimately buy votes.

The VGAs are a fucking joke. Essentially just one long advertisements for publishers. It was nice to see someone on there who seemed to realize that and poke fun at it, even though I didn't watch more than 10 minutes anyway.

I think McHale made things a lot more bearable - but also, I think the format was generally better, I kind of appreciated that they were more upfront about the fact that the VGAs are barely an award show as much as they're a hype vehicle and so dived in deeper on the game trailers, bringing the developers/PR in to speak to them. There were still the usual spike tv/VGA elements that suck, but I think it's a better format and a solid roadmap for a yearly event - assuming reveals are better in future.

I really enjoyed McHale when he went off script, and even felt like his delivery saved what was some pretty bad writing when reading from the prompter.

yeah of course, he acted the way out the way I was feeling for most of this, uninterested and wanting it to finish

I'm rather resilient to cringe-worthy moments and general terribleness.

However I found myself muting the show whenever I saw his punchlines coming, and they came at the end of every sentence. The guy's mouth was a nightmare, it was disgusting.