The Spike Video Game Awards (in short VGAs, known as the VGX for the final show) was an annual award show hosted by American television network Spike from 2002 that recognized the best computer and video games of the year. Produced by GameTrailers TV's Geoff Keighley, the show featured preview trailers for upcoming games, live music performances and appearances by popular performers in music, movies, and television.

Quick Facts Awarded for, Location ...

Spike Video Game Awards
Awarded for	Outstanding achievements in the video game industry
Location	Santa Monica, California / Las Vegas, Nevada
Country	United States
First awarded	December 3, 2003; 20 years ago (2003-12-03)
Website	http://www.spike.com/event/vga

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The VGAs was held at various locations in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California as well as Las Vegas, Nevada. Spike's only Video Game Hall of Fame award, given to The Legend of Zelda, was awarded at the 2011 awards show.^[1]

On November 15, 2013, Spike announced a new format under the name VGX, calling it "The next generation of the VGAs". The last award show, carrying this name, aired on December 7.^[2] Changes from the previous format included "in-depth extended demos of the next generation of games and interactive one-on-one interviews and panels in an intimate studio setting."^[3]

On November 10, 2014, it was announced that Spike would drop their award show, ending their decade-long run.^[4] Geoff Keighley went on to create his own video game award show in the form of The Game Awards starting in that year, dropping the support from Spike.^[4]

Spike's Video Game Hall of Fame was established to recognize video game "franchises throughout history that have brought the industry to where it is today" – Casey Patterson, executive producer of the VGAs and executive vice president of event production for Viacom Media Networks Entertainment Group. The only inductee, due to the award show ending in 2013, was awarded at the ninth annual Spike Video Game Awards on December 10, 2011. The inaugural, and subsequently only, recipient was The Legend of Zelda franchise. Shigeru Miyamoto accepted the award.^[1]

With the exception of the fan-voted "Most Anticipated Game", "Character of the Year", and a few other non-annual categories, the award nominees and winners are voted by an advisory council, featuring over 20 journalists from various media outlets. Fans, however, can vote online for which games they think should win each category.

Video game journalism veteran Jeff Green has been vocal in his criticism of the Spike Video Game Awards. In his assessment of the 2010 VGAs, Green laments that Spike TV alienated viewers due to their decision to focus the awards on its own primary demographic, rather than the video game community at large. Green states that this leads to appearances by celebrities who "either didn't want to be or know why they were there."^[32] 2011 VGA host Zachary Levi recognized this and prior to hosting the event, told MTV in an interview that, "I'm happy to work on the VGAs on Spike and make the network happy, but I want to be respectful to the community of gamers because I am one myself. And [with] the humor involved, I want it to be smart, I want it to be honest, and accurate."^[11] Giant Bomb's Alex Navarro has also commented on the VGAs, questioning the importance of the awards themselves next to the VGA's focus on its exclusive reveals.^[33]

The 2011 VGAs were given similar criticisms. Kotaku reported that VGA nominees Mark Hamill and Tara Strong were disappointed that they were present at the event but their respective categories were not present at the show, only finding out the results of the "Best Performance by a Human Male" and "Best Performance by a Human Female" awards after the show.^[34] Wired.com writer Jason Schreier addressed Spike TV after the event in reference to food eating segments by Felicia Day and the host Zachary Levi having simulations of a sexual act performed on him. Schreier said, "It's not hard to find the root of the problem here: You think we're dumb. You think your audience is so stupid that they'll be amused by YouTube rants and health potion gags. You think we get our jollies out of watching girls bite cupcakes off conveyor belts. You think video game references make a good substitute for humor." Schreier also quoted Joystiq's Justin McElroy, who voiced his concern at many awards being shown together in a short montage. Praise was given for the handling of The Legend of Zelda's induction into the Hall of Fame including the video package of the franchise's releases and an appearance by creator Shigeru Miyamoto.^[35]

The 2013 VGX received considerable negative press after airing;^[36] much of the criticism was aimed at host McHale's insults towards the developers and the audience.^{[37][38][39][40]}

• The Video MADtv, highlighting the fictional 1st Annual Video Game Awards on June 21, 1977, hosted by Joe Namath (played by Michael McDonald) and Farrah Fawcett (played by Arden Myrin), musical guest The Jackson 5, and award presenter Mark Spitz (played by Ike Barinholtz). Pong and Asteroids were the only video games nominated for all of the awards presented, even though Asteroids wasn't released in the arcade until 1979. The categories shown in the sketch were "Best Graphics in a Video Game" (Asteroids wins), and "Most Realistic Sound in a Video Game" (Pong and Asteroids win in a tie). Bobby Lee accepts an award as a designer of Asteroids. Space Invaders is shown to display the future of video games, although it was released before Asteroids in 1978.^[41]