The Spike Video Game Awards are an event that says more about the coming year than it does about the current one. Last night gave us more than a dozen trailers, half of which concerned games about which we knew nothing, or next to nothing, before Zachary Levi started handing out the hardware. As to that, there were plenty of strange scenes on the stage and in the crowd, from the puerile to the cringe-inducing to the bizarre.
Here's your roundup of all the trailers from last night's show, plus excerpts of the ceremonies themselves. If you care about who won what, check out this list of all the winners and nominees in the 26 categories recognized at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards.
Games We Haven't Seen Yet
The Next Metal Gear Game is Brought to you by Bayonetta's Developers
It appears the trailer for the next Metal Gear game, Metal Gear Rising, has leaked ahead of the Spike Video Game Awards. If it's real, it contains an interesting little conclusion. More »
Tony Hawk's New Game is Tony Hawk HD
Having teased such an announcement earlier in the week, at tonight's Spike VGAs skate legend Tony Hawk made it official: after a short hiatus in 2011, his series will be back in 2012 with Tony Hawk HD. More »
Uncharted's Studio is in Charge of The Last of Us
The PS3 exclusive title The Last of Us is being developed by Naughty Dog, the studio that brought us the Uncharted Trilogy. More »
BioWare's Next Game is Command & Conquer: Generals 2
Just announced at the Spike Video Game Awards, BioWare's next project is a Command & Conquer sequel entitled Command & Conquer: Generals 2 More »
Alan Wake Meets His Evil Twin in American Nightmare
This is Alan Wake: American Nightmare, the downloadable sequel to Remedy's 2010 narrative game for the Xbox 360. In it, the protagonist author Alan Wake fights against his murderous doppleganger. More »
The Amazing Spider-Man Battles Berzerk Robots, Because Non-Beserk Robots Would Be Boring
After two games that weren't exactly dripping with hot web-slinging action, developer Beenox takes things open world in the Amazing Spider-Man. How focused are they on swinging this time around? So focused that they haven't noticed they've stolen the plot from a Robocop movie. More »
Epic Games Reveals Cartoony New IP Fortnite
They teased it earlier this week and tonight on the VGAs, the makers of Gears of War 3 revealed their newest game. Called Fortnite, it appears to expand on the fortification/tower defense mechanics introduced in Gears of War 3 with an all-new art style that leaves the gritty, steroidal look of previous Epic games behind. More »
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Coming Holiday 2012
Here's a pure hype video for Tekken Tag Tournament 2, to be shown later tonight at the Spike Video Game Awards. Namco says it'll be here for the holiday season next year. More »
Games We Have
Rainbow Six: Patriots Straps a Bomb to the One Percent in 2013
Told from the terrorists' perspective, this is the debut trailer for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Patriots, shown moments ago at the Spike Video Game Awards. Even given its fuck-the-man tone, it was little weird hearing the crowd cheer that suicide bombing with such verve. More »
Watch Hitman Kill a Bunch of Guys In Absolution's New Trailer
The Spike VGAs aren't about awards. They're about trailers. Here's one for the new Hitman game, Absolution. More »
Holy Shit! It's a New Mass Effect 3 Trailer
The VGA Awards Mass Effect 3 trailer has hit, demonstrating one way to handle a gigantic intelligent robot creature hell-bent on the extinction of everything: Giant bug sex. More »
This is How the End Begins in Diablo III
The opening cinematic for Diablo III debuted tonight at the Spike VGA awards, featuring the falling of more than one star and the passing of a torch from uncle to niece. More »
BioShock: Infinite Trailer Looks and Sounds Terrific
The upcoming BioShock: Infinite has a new trailer. It's for the VGA Awards. This is it. The trailer looks great and features a fantasy cover of the hymn "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" It is, however, a tad on the short side. More »
Michael Bay, This is How you do Transformers
Hot damn. I know it's just a pre-rendered trailer, and I know the song is corny, but this 1:47 of Transformers action spoke to me more as a Transformer fan than Michael Bay's three films put together. More »
Crazy Weird Wacky Stuff
Mario's Creator Rocks Out to The Black Keys
Fresh off a week of denying reports that he's retiring, the creator of Mario and Zelda was caught on camera rocking out to a little live music from The Black Keys during the VGAs tonight. More »
Watch Metal Gear's Creator Break Down and Apologize a Lot
During the VGA Awards, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima took the stage and introduced the new trailer for Metal Gear: Rising trailer. Things didn't go smoothly. At all. More »
Video Game Awards Show Host Gets Teabagged. This Ain't the Oscars.
If you win an Oscar and ramble through your acceptance speech, the orchestra will drown you out and the cameras will cut away. But, if you're a game developer and you prattle too much at the Spike Video Game Awards, you might have a man drop his crotch on our face. More »
Call of Duty Maker Gets Teabagged As Charlie Sheen Watches
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 picked up the award for best shooter during Spike TV's Video Game Awards show tonight, but not without a casuality. More »
(Top photos, from left: Getty Images; AP; Getty)