Mongo Nation

Exclusive Mass Effect 2 footage coming soon to XBLA.

As you probably all know by now, we’ve long been advocates of original video content on Xbox Live. When Microsoft teamed with James Wann, Peter Cornwell, Peter Gunn and Andrew Douglas for “Horror Directors Do Comedy“, we were the first to let you know. We also broke the news when Felicia Day brought “The Guild” to XBLA, and we were there on day one when Netflix first became available on your home console.

Today we learned from our sources at Xbox Live that our friends at Machinima.com will be joining the XBLA video club with their original series, “Art of the Game”! The first episode is set to debut on Monday the 18th, and will feature exclusive, never before seen footage of Mass Effect 2. Machinima’s history with producing awesome gaming videos should make them a good fit for the Xbox Live community, as well as providing a welcome alternative to watching Jessica Chobot pretend to like video games while reading text off of a teleprompter.

We’re all super pumped for Mass Effect 2 here at Crave (especially Erik Norris, who just wrote a long, embarrassing love letter to Bioware earlier this week), so we’ll certainly be watching. To get a better idea of what to expect, check out this episode featuring the art design of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. Then pretend that they’re talking about aliens and robots and stuff like that instead of superheroes and you’re halfway there!

We talk to The Dead Pixel, Matt and Mr. Sark at the Inside Gaming Awards.

“Inisde Gaming” is one of the most popular online video game shows, despite not employing a single hot chick with huge knocks that pretends to like video games so that dorks at home can have something to fap to. We were at their first annual award show earlier this month, where we talked to some of Machinima’s most popular stars, Adam Kovic (The Dead Pixel), Matt Dannevik and Scott Robinson (Mr. Sark). Check out the video, where we discuss some of the games that won awards, those that didn’t, what games to look forward to next year and why The Dead Pixel has to wear a mask in public!

We talk to Oscar Lopez and Mark Grigsby at Machinima’s award show.

Last week, we attended Machinima’s “Inside Gaming Awards” show in Santa Monica. Clearly, the fan favorite developer at the event was Infinity Ward, who took home six trophies for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. We talked to Infinity Ward’s Oscar Lopez and Mark Grigsby about their win, what they thought of the competition, and their favorite killstreaks (both real and fictional).

All the results from Machinima’s first annual award show!

By Jeremy Azevedo

Last week, we attended Machinima’s “Inside Gaming Awards” in Santa Monica, which proved to be a fun alternative to the incongruous celebrity photo-op that is known as the Spike VGAs.

We didn’t get to interview Busta Rhymes’ Watch, or talk to Audrina Patridge about that one time she played Super Mario Bros. with her brother for ten minutes when she was seven, but we did get to drink (too many) vodka Red Bulls with some of our favorite game designers and of course, the lovely people at Machinima.

Teh Call of Duty is SRS BIZNS!

To no one’s surprise, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 executed a serious killstreak on the competition, taking home no fewer than six awards. Here are the results from each category:

Game of the Year
Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)

Best Trailer
Halo 3: ODST (Microsoft, Bungie)

Best Multiplayer
Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)

Best Narrative
Brutal Legend (EA, Double Fine)

Best Art Direction
Batman Arkham Asylum (Eidos/Warner Bros., Rocksteady Studios)

Best Animation
Batman: Arkham Asylum (Eidos/Warner Bros., Rocksteady Studios)

Best Game Cinematography
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Sony, Naughty Dog)

Best Replayability
Modern Warefare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)

Best Indie Game
I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMBIES 1N IT!!!1 (Ska Studios)

Most Compelling Character
The Joker – Batman Arkham Asylum (Eidos/Warner Bros., Rocksteady Studios)

Best DLC (best content pack/expansion content)
Fallout 3 – Expansions (Bethesda Game Studios)

Best Downloadable Game (games only available digitally for purchase or free download)
Plants vs. Zombies (PopCap)

Most Original Game
Scribblenauts (Warner Bros, 5th Cell)

Best Control
Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)

Best Game Innovation
1 vs. 100 - Massively Multiplayer Online game show with real prizes (Microsoft)

Best Original Score
Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)

Best Weapon
AC - 130 - Modern Warfare 2 (Activision, Infinity Ward)

Best Sound Design
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (Sony, Naughty Dog)

(For a full list of nominees, click here and watch the embedded video!)

Official event coverage from Machinima’s “Inside Gaming”. Video clicks through to individual categories.

I was a bit shocked that Shadow Complex didn’t win in the “Downloadable Game” category, and that there was virtually no RPG love to be found in any of the categories. (No Dragon Age? WTF?). Not even Borderlands could put a stop to the Juggernaut that is Modern Warfare 2. I was, however, quite happy to see Fallout 3, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Brutal Legend and Scribblenauts each take a prize. What do you think? Do you agree with the results? Disagree? Join the discussion on our Facebook page and let us know!

Header image by Gavin Holt

Finally, a proper award show for the nerds that actually play the games being awarded!

For those of you that are interested in video game awards, but find the “Spike TV Video Game Awards” to be a bit too much of a glorified commercial (though not in an awesome way, like “The Wizard”), there is an alternative.

Our friends at Machinima are scooping Spike TV the night before their award show with an award show of their own, to be hosted on their insanely popular YouTube channel. The “Inside Gaming Awards” will air the first of two special episodes on Black Friday (Nov. 27^th) in which Inside Gaming host The Dead Pixel will announce over 90 nominations across 18 categories including Game of the Year, Best DLC, Best Art Direction and best dick joke in a teen-rated game.

Actually, I may have made that last one up. Not that I’d be surprised to see this category included. For an example as to why, check out their latest episode:

On December 11^th, right before Spike TV televises their award show, “Inside Gaming” will host an offline awards ceremony in Santa Monica, CA, and announce their own winners. On August 11^th of the following year, Machinima will not be invited to Spike TV’s birthday party for cock blocking them several months prior.

Anyway, the moral of this story is that you should watch the first “Inside Gaming Awards” special on Machinima, this Friday, while your dumb family members get trampled to death at 6am sales for shit they could’ve bought for less on eBay any other time of the year but don’t know how to operate a computer. And don’t forget to watch the results show on December 15^th, in which Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will undoubtedly have swept every award despite being nearly identical to the previous games in the series. (Although, I’m personally pulling for Borderlands, FTW!)