Spike Video Game Awards (VGA) is an annual award show hosted by Spike TV that recognizes the best computer and video games of the year. The VGAs feature live music performances and appearances by popular performers in music, movies, and television. Additionally, preview trailers for upcoming games are highlighted. The show is produced by GameTrailers TV's Geoff Keighley. The event has been held at various locations in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California as well as Las Vegas, Nevada. The first event was held on December 2, 2003 (aired on December 4, 2003).

The 2011 Spike Video Game Awards aired on December 10, 2011. Spike's first ever Video Game Hall of Fame award, given to The Legend of Zelda, was announced at the 2011 VGAs.^[1]

2011 Awards[link]

The 2011 VGAs were held Saturday, December 10, 2011 at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, hosted by Zachary Levi.^[2] The awards previewed world premieres of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Patriots, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, BioShock Infinite, Alan Wake's American Nightmare, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, The Amazing Spider-Man, the exclusive PlayStation 3 game The Last of Us developed by Naughty Dog, Command & Conquer: Generals 2 from BioWare Victory, and Fortnite from Epic Games. New trailers for both Hitman: Absolution and Mass Effect 3 were aired during the show, as well as a pre-show announcement for Tekken Tag Tournament 2. Mark Burnett was the Executive Producer for the event, and for the first time, the VGAs aired live on MTV 2 (US), Spike.com (US) and Ginx TV (UK), in addition to Spike TV. The winners, as well as world premiere trailers, were announced during a pre-show red carpet live event hosted by GTTV's Amanda MacKay and Daniel Kayser. The 2011 VGAs also honored The Legend of Zelda franchise with its first ever "Video Game Hall of Fame Award".^[1] Another unique award at the 2011 VGAs was the NFL Blitz Cover Athlete award. This award, determined by live online voting during the event (just like Character of the Year), determined which NFL athlete will be on the cover of the upcoming EA Sports game, NFL Blitz.^[3]

With appearances by will.i.am, LL Cool J, Felicia Day, Kevin Jonas, Seth Green, Shigeru Miyamoto, Tony Hawk, Hulk Hogan, Stacy Keibler, Charlie Sheen, Hideo Kojima, and musical performances by Black Keys and Deadmau5.

Previous winners[link]

2010 Awards[link]

The 2010 VGAs were held Saturday, December 11, 2010 in Los Angeles, California at the L.A. Convention Center and returned to using a host which was Neil Patrick Harris.^[4] Unlike previous years, all the awards were not awarded during the show.

Several new games were announced which include BioWare's announcement of Mass Effect 3, Prototype 2, Insane from acclaimed movie director Guillermo del Toro, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Mortal Kombat featuring Kratos, Resistance 3, Portal 2, SSX: Deadly Descents, and Forza Motorsport 4. Batman: Arkham City had another CGI trailer debut and the first trailer of Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception aired during the awards.

With appearances by the cast members of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Danny DeVito, Kaitlin Olson, Rob McElhenney, Academy Award Nominated Director Guillermo del Toro, Halo: Reach star and VGA Nominee Nathan Fillion,  Thor: God of Thunder star Chris Hemsworth, Olivia Munn, AnnaLynne McCord, and Tony Hawk, among others. Including musical performances by award winning violinist Diana Yukawa,^[5] My Chemical Romance and José González.^[6]

2009 Awards[link]

The 2009 VGAs were held on December 12, 2009 at the Nokia Event Deck in Los Angeles, California^[7] and were the first and only VGAs to not have a single host, but rather a number of presenters for the awards^[8] It opened with a trailer announcing the sequel to Batman Arkham Asylum. There were other exclusive looks at Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, UFC 2010 Undisputed, Halo: Reach, and others. Samuel L. Jackson previewed LucasArts newest upcoming Star Wars game, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. In addition, Green Day: Rock Band was announced and accompanied with a trailer.

With appearances from Stevie Wonder, MTV Jersey Shore cast, Green Day and Jack Black, live music performances at the 2009 awards included Snoop Dogg and The Bravery.^[7]

2008 Awards[link]

The 2008 VGAs were held on December 14, 2008 at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City.^[9] The show, hosted by Jack Black, featured ten previews of upcoming games. Musical performances included 50 Cent, The All-American Rejects, Weezer, and LL Cool J.^[10]

2007 Awards[link]

The 2007 VGAs aired December 9, 2007. Hosted by Samuel L. Jackson, the winners were announced ahead of the event which was held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The show featured performances by Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, and exclusive world videogame premieres of Borderlands, Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 and TNA iMPACT!^[11]

2006 Awards[link]

The 2006 VGAs featured musical performances by Tenacious D and AFI and show appearances by 50 Cent, Eva Mendes, Sarah Silverman, Seth Green, Masi Oka, Hayden Panettiere, Brandon Routh, Rachael Leigh Cook, Tony Hawk, Michael Irvin, Method Man, Maria Menounos, Tyrese, Xzibit, James Gandolfini, Kurt Angle, among others. In character as Stewie Griffin and Tom Tucker from Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane served as the voice of the VGAs.^[12] The awards aired December 13, 2006 at the Galen Center in Los Angeles and were hosted by Samuel L. Jackson.^[13]

2005 Awards[link]

The 2005 VGAs were held December 10, 2005 at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.^[14][15] This was the first year that Samuel L. Jackson hosted the VGAs.

2004 Awards[link]

The 2004 VGAs were held in Santa Monica, California at the Barker Hangar. They were hosted by Snoop Dogg.^[16] The event featured musical performances including Sum 41, Ludacris and a special live performance by Snoop Dogg and the remaining members of The Doors performing "Riders on the Storm".^[17][18]