The VGA’s are seen as a pariah among many in the gaming community, rightfully so in many circumstances. There’s a lot of forced humor, and celebrity appearances from people who seem to really know nothing about the games they’re talking about. Oh, we got to see an actual real life tea-bagging take place (Skip to 2:45 if you want to see it), which I’d like to see implemented at the Oscars for actors/actresses who’s acceptance speech goes on too long.

However, what the VGAs do provide us is some game premieres and trailers for titles we’re excited to see release. This year’s VGA show seemed to really focus on these reveals as we saw very little awards being handed out, which is probably a good thing.

On to the trailers…

The Last of Us – Ok, so my educated guess that this would be Hideo Kojima’s next project was way off. However, considering this is a Naughty Dog development, I don’t mind being wrong.

It looks as though the game will be some sort of survival-horror, with a female character who bears a striking resemblance to Ellen Page, and a male lead who I believe looks like Hugh Jackman. Neither of which are actually involved with the project.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – I’m not sure about the whole mushing of revenge and vengeance in the title. However, with Platinum Games, the developers of Bayonetta and MadWorld on the project, they can call it whatever the hell they want.

Oh yeah, it’s Raiden, so again, who cares about the title?

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD – What do you do when a franchise has grown a bit stale, and one of the last releases relied on a gimmicky accessory tie-in? Give the original everyone, including me, loved way back when a complete HD makeover. The title is going to be a XBLA/PSN download, so we’re probably looking at a relatively cost friendly trip down memory lane.

Ah, Superman by Goldfinger while shredding up the school stage. Have to love the memories.

The Amazing Spider-Man – Another movie tie-in game. Nothing to write home about, but depending on the developer you never know what might happen. In this case, it’s being developed by Beenox, the same team who brought us the last two Spider-Man games. So there’s a 50/50 chance of it being pretty good or complete crap.

Command & Conquer: Generals 2 – During the heyday of the RTS genre, there were two titles everyone had to play – Warcraft and Command & Conquer. These days, both series have veered off their traditional courses. Which is odd, considering we still have pure fighters and platformers. So why can’t we have pure RTS games?

With Bioware on the job, I doubt this game will be pure RTS enjoyment. However, it is BioWare and I’m a fanboy, so I can’t help but be giddy for this. 2013 though, think it’s a tad early for a reveal.

Diablo III – One of the series which spawned the isometric-view RPG movement on the PC, along with Baldurs Gate. One could argue Diablo is just as if not more popular than Blizzard’s other staples, Warcraft and Starcraft. They’ve always been great at producing quality cinematics, and the trend continues here with the game’s opening movie. Revealed for the first time at the award show.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron – High Moon Studios seems to really know what to do with the transforming robot property we’ve all grown to love. Transformers: War for Cybertron was their first outing, and provided a solid showing for Optimus & Megatron’s crew. There’s definitely room for improvement, and they look to be upping the ante with Fall of Cybertron. The bots look even more like their G1 counterparts this time around.

Alan Wake: American Nightmare – This downloadable addition to the survival-horror game, Alan Wake, will add a new villain called Mr. Scratch. The original game made some great use of lighting physics in the gameplay, can’t wait to see what they do here.

Fortnite – I’m still not sure what to think of this game, mostly because they show so little of what will be in the game itself. At this point, we know it’s a tower defense game with a few twists. The trailer makes it seem as though the cycle of night and day will play an important factor. Considering the game is built around the undead, it seems like a pretty obvious system to implement. It’s Epic Games; I love Gears of War and Unreal Tournament so I’m curious to see what becomes of this.

Mass Effect 3 – We’ve known about Mass Effect 3 for quite some time now, so seeing a new trailer at E3 wasn’t much of a shock. Seeing a thresher maw take down a reaper most certainly hyped me up for a release, though. Here’s hoping BioWare comes through with their promises of blending the RPG elements of ME1 and the action elements of ME2 into a package we all can love.

Rainbow Six: Patriots – Not sure what to think of this trailer. It’s definitely eye-opening, and will probably stir up controversy on the news, which will give the game some marketing push. However, showing a corporate higher-up getting a bomb strapped to him and thrown out a window without any context comes off a bit awkward. Oh well, at least the Occupy kids will enjoy it.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 – The past few years has seen the reemergence of the fighting genre, which is perfectly fine with me as I’ve met very few fighting game series I couldn’t play or at the very least appreciate. Instead of going with Tekken 7, Namco-Bandai will be bringing us a sequel to the Tag format. Not much is shown in the trailer, but considering we all know what Tekken is, not a whole lot is needed.

Hitman: Absolution – The Hitman series refuses to quit. It seems like whoever gets their hands on developing duties always tries to change the formula up to try and bring in new players. Will be interesting to see what happens here with Agent 47.

Bioshock Infinite: I was a pretty big fan of the original Bioshock, which stemmed mostly from my love of System Shock 2. The creepy setting of Rapture perfectly blended with the fresh gameplay mechanics, creating a modern classic. With Bioshock Infinite, it looks like they’re really switching gears. Going for a more dramatic experience than scary, plus a design overhaul with a more cartoon-y art direction. It’s Irrational Games, so let’s see what they can pull off.

Overall, I’d give the game reveals at the VGA’s a solid – B. I didn’t see anything that made my jaw hit the floor, and rewind the DVR, but there looks to be some solid titles coming out. In terms of quality, I’d have to give Transformers: Fall of Cybertron and Diablo III the award for best produced trailers.

Of course, nothing shown here beats Shigeru Miyamoto accepting the award for Legend of Zelda, which got inducted into the VGA Hall of Fame. Just stick Miyamoto anywhere, and the venue instantly becomes better.