Admittedly, last night’s 5th annual Spike TV Video Game Awards was little more than a 2-hour commercial.  I tuned out somewhere between Tila Tequila and Kid Rock, but upon watching the thing on TiVo, I see there was actually something worth watching.  8 new trailers were unveiled last night, and though some of them featured little to no actual gameplay footage, there was definitely some coolness to be seen as well.  Here’s a breakdown of the trailers:

Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Very little game footage here.  Interesting presentation, though.  It’s kinda cool to see games get the same kind of trailers that major movies do.  Kinda cool, but also kinda corny.

 

Gran Turismo 5 Prologue
Lots of footage, but so what.  Sure, GT5 is gonna be pretty.  It’s gonna have lots of cars.  Just like the last 4.  Looking for a preview that’ll tell you what you already know?  Have at it.

 


Afro Samurai
Plenty of blood, no game footage.  Purely a teaser, Afro Samurai’s trailer is perhaps the least telling and second least interesting of the show.  It’s a Spike property, and VGA Sam Jackson is the star, so it had to be here.

TNA: Impact
It’s never good when the trailer for “Game B” makes you appreciate “Game A” even more.  Thanks, WWE Raw vs. Smackdown!  We didn’t know how good we’ve had it!  Lots of in-game footage, but I’m not sure that’s such a good thing.  Some of the animations look cool, but when they’re on these character models, who cares.

 


Borderlands
This is what teasers are meant to be.  I’d never heard of this title before the trailer, and I have almost no idea what kind of game this will be.  But I’m intrigued. Mostly because of the guns.  Lots and lots of guns.

LittleBigPlanet
Plenty of full on gameplay footage from the quirky PS3 title.  I still don’t quite get the concept, but the visuals really are stunning.  Some of the best texturing I’ve ever seen, period.

Iron Man
Jon Favreau’s super hero blockbuster is shaping up nicely with a great cast, comic-accurate armor and some impressive trailers.  The game looks equally pretty, and looks to feature all the abilities one would expect from the armored Avenger.  Let’s hope they can get the frame rate stabilized.

 


Prototype
Easily the most exciting thing on the screen last night.  50 story acrobatics and helicopter jacking from a character that the developers describe as a cross between Darth Maul, Travis Bickle and Hannibal Lechter.  This one’s got me psyched.