Gears 3 Not nominated for VGA's Game of The Year Are we surprised?

GamerFitNation's BlackBible gives his thoughts on that Fact that Gear of War 3 not being nominated for Spike's Game of the Year Awards this your. After checking out Spike video game awards nominees on Spike.com GFN was surprised to see that Gears of War 3 wasn't nominated for Game of the Year.

[jaredhart]

it's a good game and defeinitely deserves to be considered but I can't see it as GOTY.

[BLACKBIBLE]

I agree I feel that it should be an contender at the very least.

[Abash]

Gears of War 3 did not blow me away just like Gears of War 2 didn't. The first Gears of War will always be my favorite.

Its still a nice game, but with games like Uncharted 3, Skyrim, and Arkham City this year you have to be a pretty damn amazing game to even fit into the nominations.

[LOGICWINS]

"Its still a nice game, but with games like Uncharted 3, Skyrim, and Arkham City this year you have to be a pretty damn amazing game to even fit into the nominations."

Whos to say that Gears 3 isn't as "amazing" as all those game you just mentioned? I think Gears 3 deserves a spot as well.

@Papertiger- Exactly. We we think doesn't matter when it comes to these awards.

They should at least wait until AC: Revelations is out since it could be a potential GOTY contender. Either way, I'll be watching for the game premiers and a potential Carmen Electra nipple slip.

[Papertiger]

Well to him and the head honcho's of the VGA's it wasn't as "amazing" as the rest which is why it wasn't given a spot. That's not really fair, but If it was your personal GOTY however, then the VGA's shouldn't really matter to you.

[Dante112]

Thought Gears of War 3 might be up there this year since it's the last game. Would've been cool if the Gears of War series atleast won one Spike GOTY VGA this gen.

Edit: Yeah, I kinda feel like they announce the nominees too soon. Skyrim doesn't even have reviews and it made the list.

[RedDead]

Don't really understand...Uncharted is 93/100 on Meta, Gears is 91...Skyrim has almost no reviews. Even though Skyrim will prob be my GotY, Gears 3 deserves the spot at the moment. But maybe they don't want two Tps in there

[BlindGuardian]

well, there's just room for five, in my list it would 7th or 8th for best of the year

[nix]

good but not good enough to be up there.

[HappyGaming]

I didnt know it was even out...

[ApplEaglElephant]

Good game, but there are simply better games out this year.

@Logic
its called general consensus among non biased gamers.

[gamingdroid]

I wish it was a way for users to vote for the nominations. I think that list would have been very different if gamers was voting.

I also find it odd that many games that haven't been released yet, received reviews yet are nominated. Clearly we won't know for another month if those nominations are reasonable.

Either way, it doesn't matter to me, because I think gamers can tell what is good and not. Gamers will vote with their wallet and how much time they spend with the game!

@ApplEaglElephant
***its called general consensus among non biased gamers.***

How is it consensus among gamers? I think the consensus among reviewers has spoken a very different picture while the consensus among gamers is a popularity contest since some of those games haven't been released yet.

It's not like Spike had a publicly open voting going on there....

[teething]

Well done Spike... last time I checked not all the games on your list were actually released, yet the public can vote for them.

That says a lot for how little the awards mean.

[Skip_Bayless]

Gears 3 actually exceeded my expectations but it's not doing enough the "newness factor" category. Every other game being nominated gives you a slightly more new experience.

[OmegaSlayer]

Gears 3 is a great game and would have deserved a spot but...it's on a dying hardware.
Epic shoot themselves in the foot by releasing only on 360.

[Hayabusa 117]

If you know it isn't going to win, why nominate it? If you want to acknowledge it for it's achievement, have an "honorary" category or something. And as much as I love Gears 3 I know it isn't going to win anything because there are so many other games out this year that have innovated far more than Gears 3.

But what also doesn't make sense is why nominate Skyrim when it isn't even out yet :( Don't get me wrong, I want Skyrim to win, but that's because I'm an Oblivion fanboy, not because I've played Skyrim and think it's the best game ever (yet) which is why it seems a little biased nominating a game that isn't out and hasn't been played by the mass public.

[PetitPiPi]

Gumtrol

You didn't know Gears was out?? How can someone visit N4G and call themselves a gamer and not know Gears 3 was released? It must've been the lack of articles and marketing. :/

[SnakeCQC]

i played the game and thought it seemed very good but its only flaw and the same flaw a few other games had who hoped to be goty was the fact they came out the same year as skyrim

[theonlylolking]

No, the big flaws are that most of the DLC is already on disc and major frame rate drops in story mode.

[vickers500]

@theonlylolking

Actually only the first DLC pack is on the disc, the rest will be downloadable.

And I never encountered any frame rate drops in Gears of War 3, and if I did, I never even noticed it, so saying "major framerate drops" is bs.

Then again, you do have rich history of fanboyism, so I guess your idiotic comment is nothing to be surprised about.

[kingdavid]

Gears of war 3 online is just great. One of the best multi experiences ive had this gen.

[Hayabusa 117]

@ Erudito87

I agree 100%, you can't aim for GOTY in the same year as Skyrim, that's just silly :/

@ theonlylolking

I haven't seen any frame rate drops in single player or multiplayer. I keep telling you to stop smoking that crack, it's not good for you :(

[SnakeCQC]

gears of war 3 played pretty well no problems at all(played a bit of story and multiplayer) although the bots in an online mode were kinda too hard (might be because i suck at gears lol)

[StraightPath]

hmm just 2% below of the likes of Uncharted 3 on metacritic i think it should of been among the candidates. Also there are plenty of games ..if they wanted to add another RPG they could of added Xenoblades from the Wii too.

damn Zelda is on a 98% metacritic so far with its few reviews? mind blowing game incoming? that will destroy the likes of games from Xbox and PS3 and PC?

Gears of War 3 is same par as Uncharted 3 so both should of got recognition, whereas Gears Of War does have a abundance of multiplayer and coperative modes. Horde Mode , Beast Mode , Multiplayer that is vastly superior to Uncharted 3 multiplayer. Easily.

I am on the cargo plane level on uncharted 3 so far it is a excellent game but after the platnuim i wont be playing it again. Multiplayer not on the same level as Gears. I will be sending it back through the post. ( I rented it and also rented Gears 3)

Damn Zelda with no hype nothing if it pulls this off it could be the HIGHEST rated game this year. Zelda games are full of innovation and groundbreaking material pushing the industry forward while games lacking behind.

So far Batman AC and Portal 2 remain highest rated.

[nondecaf]

I could understand why gears 3 is not one of the nominees because of the way Dom dies,it was lame just like Tai's death,really? the toughest most luckiest guy who revelled the killing of hundreds of locust smokes himself because they were to intimidating if Dom really felt that way he should of committed suicide at the end of part two instead of letting it be some what of a focal point in part three,gears was all about fun and making you feel like a bada** and they unnescessarily "retro-lanced" it home from gears 2 to 3.

[DeathAvengers]

I kind of agree, the UC multiplayer experience was kind of dull. However, the single player campaign is inferior on Gears of War's side. I can see them both being contenders, they're both great games. Depending on what you value more in a game, multiplayer or singleplayer, you can decide. Honestly, I could see them taking Portal off for Gears 3. Great game, but really enjoyed Gears more.

[frostypants]

U3 online is just like Gears, but with climbing. I cannot see how you could prefer Gears. I love Gears campaign, but online I hardly touch it.

[jimbobwahey]

The multiplayer is exactly why I rate Uncharted 3 higher than Gears 3 personally. The problems are that the sawn-off shotgun has completely broken Gears 3 multiplayer and the majority of the maps are terrible. Uncharted 3 excels with absolutely perfect balance, a great roster of genuinely good maps and a fully fleshed out multiplayer mode covering versus modes, a great co-op mode, a horde mode, and even a co-op versus mode. You can certainly tell that Naughty Dog put a lot more care and attention into the multiplayer component of Uncharted 3 whereas Epic, I have absolutely no idea what they were thinking.

I mean even during the original Gears 3 beta players were saying that the sawn-off had broken the game, but Epic only gave it a minor nerf. Then combine that with the pitifully small amount of multiplayer content (oh hey, look at all those skins and maps already on the disc that we have to pay for...) and yeah, Gears 3 has no place on any GOTY lists. They've treated those of us who bought their game like crap so quite frankly, screw 'em. Money grabbing scumbags.

[vickers500]

@jimbobwahey

Please stop talking out of your ass. If you can't avoid the sawed off shotgun, then that's your problem, not the games. How about trying to use something other than a shotgun? Retro lancers make very quick work of those who try to use the sawed off, as does pretty much every other automatic assault rifle.

I've yet to try Uncharted 3s full multiplayer mode, but the multiplayer beta that I played was absolutely TERRIBLE. I'll give it another shot, but I'll probably only put in a few hours before I stop playing if it's mostly the same as the beta, and this is coming from someone who really likes a lot of different multiplayer games.

[jneul]

seen as ninty has just been repeating zelda over and over again but with newer gameplay ideas. i expect the same treatment as what uncharted got in several places i.e points deducted, but you can bet it won't happen as the media love to hate on sony
Zelda is cool tho dont get me wrong i wanna play on skyward sword...
Anyway just finished uncharted 3 imo its a 98/100 easy, (i deducted 2 points just for ending too soon lol:-D - JOKING NO GAME IS PERFECT)

[A-Glorious-Dawn]

I bought Uncharted 3 for the campaign, however I find myself fully enjoying the multiplayer to the extent that it's keeping me off battlefield 3...

[oohWii]

Wait! Is skyrim even out yet?

This is just more gaming market politics. What a crock of BS.

Either way, what does Spike GOTY really mean anyway?

[Rubberlegs]

They used journalists select the games. Even though Skrim and Zelda aren't yet they all have played them.

[oohWii]

(EDIT)

I noticed on their stupid site, they have an area where that want gamers to select who they think will win. How can a gamer make a decision if some of the games aren't even out.

Sloppy...

http://www.spike.com/events...

[Shackdaddy836]

^^ Ya. VGAs have been a joke for a while. I don't even watch it anymore...

[Gazondaily]

I think GoW 3 is great but I can understand it not being nominated for GoTY. It is an exceptionally great game that refines the formula from its predecessors greatly but the single player campaign, whilst enjoyable, didn't have the impact it did all those years back. It is brimming with amazing content though.

With the likes of Deus Ex, Uncharted 3 (single player only), Skyrim, Zelda to name but a few all vying for the title of Game of the Year, its just a little too saturated for a heavily action orientated game.

[Marquis_de_Sade]

"Uncharted 3 (single player only)"

What?

[Gazondaily]

@ Marquis-

I'm saying the Single Player portion of the game only really qualifies for a mention as far as the GOTY award is concerned. The MP is nothing special that would warrant a GOTY award.

[showtimefolks]

i agree with a lot of my fellow gamers its a good borderline great game. Gears 2 to me is the best in the series but the 1st had a wow factor

nominated sure but winning no way

but VGA's made a mistake it should be nominated atleast

[KingME]

I prefer gears 3 over 2, but I still can't understand how they can nominate games that aren't even out yet.

Sounds like politics to me. Gears 3 should have definitely been nominated.

I think they also need to develop some criteria that reads something to the effect that the game has to have been out for at least 1 month in order to qualify. Or they need to do their GOTY show after the year is over.

[fluffydelusions]

I finished this game the other day and enjoyed it a lot. What I don't get is how Skyrim is nominated but no official reviews are even out yet...what's up with that?

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

There are no official reviews out yet because there is an embargo. The actual reviews are already written out, they are just waiting till the 10th to actually post them.

[ATi_Elite]

With Portal 2 being the only game on that list that i have fully played (2 just came out 2 are not out) besides Gears 3.........wait a minute!

In reality I don't give a shite what Spike nominates cause their award show is CRAPPY Crap CRAP! Sorry i just thought about that. Gears 3 is very good imo but GOTY is a stretch!

Like I always say.....I'm sure all your favorite video games will win a GOTY award cause so many publications hand it out and Spike is NOT the definitive video game award or award show.

[WANNAGETHIGH]

U3---->Gears3.Ps3---->Xb ox360. Enough said.

[DeathAvengers]

Wait what? Clearly not, because I don't understand what you're getting at.

[evilunklebud]

Not sure what the hell you are you are talking about......

[Spitfire_Riggz]

I know that skyrim is going to be great, but without it even out yet how do we know its a contender? just curious

[BinaryMind]

Even if you hated Gears 3, it still deserves to be on the list more than the two games NOT YET RELEASED!

[spicelicka]

i thought so too, but after unwillingly playing 4 hours per day of non-stop multiplayer, horde, beast, and 4 player campaign for the past few days, i am just not able to fathom why this game isn't nominated for game of the year.

[otherZinc]

Ridiculous!

This is further evidence of a popularity contest with ZERO factual results; I'll explain:

3 iterations of Gears & Uncharted:
Gears outsold each Uncharted game

Gears 3 vs Uncharted 3 will be no different. Gears 3 will outsell Uncharted 3's year end total, just using Gears 3's day 1 sales!

Explain that VGA's.

Further more, Uncharted 3 has an awful multiplayer that definitely wont be played longer than Gears 3.
Yet they get a nomination?

Whatever.

Gears 3 is one of the greatest games of All Times!

If I'm Cliff & Epic, I'm satisfied with the money in my pocket & the amount of people playing each day, Thats the point of making great games!

Consistent Sales makes this statement a Fact!

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

If this was a popularity contest, I can't see why Gears isn't there. By your logic is should be there as it is more popular according to sales.

Face it, journalists choose the nominees, and it was more or less agreed by MOST of them that Gears didn't have a spot there.

I'm actually kinda surprised you called Gears 3 one of the best games of all time. I mean yeah, it's a good game, DEFINITELY NOT one of the best though.

That would be like me arguing Drakengard is one of the best games ever LOL, sure I love the series to death, but definitely not the best buddy.

[Deathdeliverer]

Im sorry fella but sales don't equal a better game. Your first bullet point is ousted by that FACT. Secondly your comment about the UC3 multiplayer is YOUR opinion, which you are entitled to, but it is also not fact. Some games have more longevity than others but again that isn't instantly damning the shorter longevity game to be weaker. Take Twilight Princess for example. Its a great game TO me, truely epic on that first run. Longevity wise though it was rather weak. Then compare it to Halo Reach. Sure Reach has loads more longevity and is good mindless fun at times, but it at NO point gave me the feelings or emotions that TP gave. Demon Souls also killed halo in the better game category but lost in sales and longevity. (to a degree, I beat demon souls 4 times) Others are giving good thoughts, opinions, and valid reasons why game X should be nominated instead of game Y. You and the other fans are just taking up space with illogical junk. One more thing. Portal really shouldn't be on that list. Gears is at the very least above portal TO ME in all aspects. Not GOTY but edges out portal even if slightly. Batman and UC3 are a toss up, but with skyrim releasing on the 11th and over a month left for voting, theres ample time for people to delve deep into skyrim and make a fair unbiased vote. I will hold my vote until then. And lets not forget skyward sword! (reserved for golden wiimote!)

[Forbidden_Darkness]

Sales don't make any game better, it just means more people bought it. To make my point clear, does Call of Dutys consistant yearly record breaking sales make it the best game ever created? I wonder how many people would say no to that? Which, would by your definition, should also have made it GOTY since 2007.

Also, YOU say UC3s multiplayer sucks, but that's just your opinion. Lets look at the metacritic:

Uncharted 1: 88, Uncharted 2: 96, Uncharted 3: 93

Gears 1: 94, Gears 2: 93, Gears 3: 91

Not only does the Uncharted 3 and 2 have higher scores than Gears 3 and 2, but Uncharted 2 received over 200 GOTY awards, proving that the Uncharted series is outstanding to say the least. It also hold more merit than sales, because reviews aren't based on advertisment or such, like sales are. They are based of real opinions of a game. Though I see no reason for giving one game GOTY over another (because I find myself enjoying multiple games a year), I just thought I had to show you a different perspective.

I have loved the Gears of War series from the beginning, it has never felt GOTY material to me (close, but not close enough). That's a matter of my opinion too, but an opinion of which is backed up.

Sales, ratings, GOTY awards, etc. shouldn't change your opinion of any game. Just enjoy the games you enjoy (be that Gears, Uncharted, Call of Duty or etc) and not worry about what others games score or are rewarded above them.

[Gamer1982]

Your comparing sales? Fail... 360 is a shooters console so shooters always sell well on 360. Uncharted is a better game than Gears however since its not a shooter it doesn't sell as well. Nothing sells as well as shooters especially not on 360. COD is perfect proof of this. Nothing outsells COD even though its a crap series of titles. Not even the mighty GTA outsells it which also have violence and guns.

It's a shame violence sells these days and the more violent you make your game the more sales you get. But it doesn't make it a better game.

[evilunklebud]

It was good fun, but not like gears II. It will problably be Batman.

[JsonHenry]

I don't think it deserves a spot on the list. Not considering what the competition is anyway. But hey, its based on other peoples opinions than our own so we are not gonna agree with it 100%.

[Gamer1982]

Exactly they only nominate 5 and the best 5 had to be picked Gears just didn't cut it enough. It's not that it wasn't a great game. If they had 10 games on there then it would definitely be on it. Along with Forza no doubt and maybe a ps3 exclusive.

[Drake117]

The list that they have is perfect. If gears 3 came out last year then it would of had a chance. Like many others this is prob (for me) 6-8 best game this year. Yes zelda and skyrim have not been released yet but both nintendo and Bethesda have amazing track records and people generally know what they are gonna get when they play both those games. Plus GT the ppl who do the VGAs already have a copy of both.

[CYBERHATER]

So The Video Game Awards are legit? yeah right.

[Prophet-Gamer]

Gears 3 was good but I think storywise it just can't compete with the top tiered franchises like UC and TES. Though the story was great improved, whenever one thinks Gears you think about steroid fueled macho men shooting down wave after wave of aliens. Pretty generic and even though it's great, it just isn't of the same caliber as say UC. When you think UC you think epic cinematic, great characters, amazing story and graphics, not to mention sound. Which one sounds like the better quality game?

[coolbeans]

It's just Awards Show's opinion. Why should it matter which one falls through the cracks when there's only 5 nominees chosen?

[omi25p]

Im glad it wasnt. Biggest disapointment for me this year. I played Gears 1/2 to death and still play gears 2.

But Gears 3 online is so easy its gone from being a really hard game to play online to being one of the easiest.

I loved Gears 1/2 because of how challenging they were and the fact it took alot of bullets to kill just 1 player and every kill was memorable.

But now i can just 1 shot kill everything with the Gnasher and completely forget how many kills ive gotten because they are so easy to get.

At first i was hoping they would fix this but now i dont see that happening.

[dark-hollow]

I can't see how any gears fan could prefer gears 2 over 3.

1 is understandable, but 2 is just....

[omi25p]

Gears 2 took at least 2 shots kill someone with a gnasher, Gears 3 barely takes one.

[Eyeco]

im not the biggest gears fan but 3 is definatley my least favourite not because its inferior because its not i consider it to be the best but its not my PERSONAL favourite, i loved the dark gritty hellish chaotic feel of the 1st two games you really felt like humanity was on the brink extinction.

However i can see why people prefer gears of war 3 especially on a gameplay standpoint seeing as its the most refined in the series.

[aviator189]

Idk, I thought the mp for gears 2, while fun, just wasn't great. In my opinion, gears 3 mp easily bests gears 2 mp.

[multipayer]

Maybe they can bring back the terrible lag those games suffered for you. Gears of War 3 is just a bit faster paced, you could always gnasher people like no tomorrow. Just like I could always spastically shoot a pistol and make people regret ever rushing me. It is essentially the same game, with more noobies/bots and ALOT less lag.

I'd nominate it for GOTY just because the multiplayer pretty much defines Xbox Live. Why the hell do people pay if they don't want this... The campaign even tells a pretty good story and it's 4player coop.

[_Aarix_]

Omi, here's our problem. You don't play it right. In gears 3 all the mechanics have been kinked out so that shotguns are more effective but only if you're up close. You can't be a good gears player without using cover correctly. If you are so close to them that a shotgun will hurt and you can't out shotgun them then use your smoke, jump out of the way and gun their ass down. You should know better than to get close to someone on account of the sawed off

[TheBlackMask]

This isn't really fair to be honest.

I would take Zelda out and put in Gears of War 3, no offense to Zelda fans, even though the game looks amazing (I suppose like ALL Zelda titles ¬¬) it's been overshadowed so much by all the other GOTY contenders this year. I know it dosen't get a game GOTY but I have seen no hype towards Zelda at all, not like WindWaker or Twilight Princess.

Gears of War 3 deserves to be on there more then Zelda. It was a game which has been compared to Uncharted 3, don't you think it's fair to let them go head to head for GOTY.....it dosen't matter if it probably won't win, it's the thought that counts.

[Kur0]

I stopped reading at take Zelda out.

[Elyxir-pSx]

lol me too.

[despair]

You're contradicting yourself, first you say Gears over Zelda, then say popularity doesn't mean GOTY and finally give the reason for Gears over Zelda as popularity.

[Optical_Matrix]

How is it being over shadowed? So what, you're telling me GoTY should be based on hype and not how good a game is. End of the day Zelda will most likely be the highest rated game of this year. On par or higher than Arkham City. Zelda is bigger than Uncharted, bigger than Gears.

As much as I love Uncharted, neither it or Gears could ever get a reaction like this http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[despair]

I like how you say that with a "matter of fact" attitude when you haven't played Zelda either, talking about bigger than the other games.

And what does a 7 year old video have to do with the GOTY 2011.

You fanboys are funny.

[Elyxir-pSx]

I agree with I'll take Zelda over uncharted any day. Can't say the same about Gears because I've never played a Gears game.

Edit: Don't get me wrong I love me some Uncharted, but we're talking about ZELDA here.

[mendicant]

That was awesome Optical_Matrix. I had completely forgotten about that!

Right on with your point, I agree.

[dark-hollow]

Lol throw out zelda??? Overshadowed????
Maybe here in n4g where h4rdcorez fanboys are fapping to thier ech deeh graphixz!
Zelda is not only a contender, but it have A HIGH chance at winning too.

[zero_gamer]

"I would take Zelda out"

No.

[Honky Kong]

let me guess your too young to have played a zelda game?

[Deadman_Senji]

Ergh...people like you really tick me off. YOU are what is wrong with the gaming community today.

[HavenDan]

Eh, I can see why its not on there to be fair.

[Chuk5]

As much as I love gears 3, I don't think they could remove any of the other nominees for it.

[Kamikaze135]

Personally, I don't care for it. However, with the media hype, I'm a bit surprised it's not there. I'm also surprised Zelda and Skyrim are even nominated since they haven't even been released yet, lol.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Journalist choose the nominees, they've played both already.

[Kamikaze135]

Not all journalist. Can you provide proof? I've never heard of that.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

So I give you a logically sound direction as to who chooses nominees and you call me out on it...?
Ok if not, journalist, nor gamers, then I guess it must be random bums on the street, yeah that's it.

It's obvious that the game journalists from spike choose.

[Lord_Sloth]

A demo is not a game and they should not pick a game that hasn't even released yet.

[chiwoo]

Gears 3 is a great game I don't think it's GOTY maybe best 360 game.

[outlawlife]

gears shouldn't be there, if anybody played the campaign it was a fragmented mess that made zero sense.

it was nice having 4 player co-op but shooting 10 enemies, lift giant door, rinse, and repeat wasn't very fun.

it was a shooting gallery game...nothing more

the campaign didn't touch that of the previous 2

[DeathAvengers]

I disagreed up to the point where you said "lift giant door, rinse, and repeat wasn't very fun." That formula was so annoying.

[hotskys]

Not suprised. Gears sucks.

[Kran]

Gears of War 3 was a great game and I enjoyed it a lot.

But.

The thing is, we've seen it all before in the previous two games. The only thing that was new was beast mode. Don't think I'm trolling Gears 3 cause I'm not.

@BigShotSmoov007

Honestly, I do agree with you. I ain't denying that. But out of all of this years games, Gears 3 felt too familiar, more so than Uncharted 3.

[BigShotSmoov007]

And to Kran's point, we can also say that about every title on their list. Uncharted 3 is a mirror image to Uncharted 2, how many zelda games have there been, batman arkham city is similar to batman 2 and portal is a seguel also.

[BigShotSmoov007]

It's kinda difficult to me that they have 2 games on there, Zelda and Skyrim on the list for goty and they are not even out yet, I know they'll be great games but its kinda unfair when you do have games thats out and should be on the list, like dead space 2

[xPhearR3dx]

Agreed. Skyrim is my #1 game this year, but it's not even out so how can it be nominated? If I remember correctly, GT5 wasn't nominated last year because it came out after the VGA nominations, yet this year they make an exception for 2 games. Don't think that's really fair, but it doesn't matter to me anyway. As much as I love Gears of War 2, Skyrim is my GOTY.

[SageHonor]

People actually care about the VGA's?????

Wow....

[Kran]

Although the VGA's are rather silly now, I suppose what's good about it is that it allows people to rage about those that win awards, and to see what's coming up. I mean it's the VGA's that showed the trailers of Skyrim, Mass Effect 3 and Uncharted 3 last year. So I suppose it's something.

[SageHonor]

The only reason I watched it was to see the trailers :).You're right about Skryim, ME3, and UC3. That was the best part about the VGA's last yr i didnt care for the actual awards.

[Kurt Russell]

Not in the slightest.

[Gam3rSinceBiRTH]

So is the VGA's the Oscar's for video games? :/

Anyway, to me Gears 3 is the best in the series. Love HORDE! The shooting mechanics is top notch.

Is it nominated? No it's not. Do the 4 million plus that bought it care? No they don't.

[slutface]

of course someone is gonna drag sales into it...sales doesnt equal quality...as provided by VGA and their nominated awards lol

[Tanir]

gears 3 wasnt bad, but it wasnt that amazing. the 1st gears was awesome, the 2nd not so much and the 3rd is about the same as the 2nd.

other games like Arkham city, uncharted, dark souls and skyrim are far better competitors

[Chuk5]

Gears 3 has made far more significant changes than than Dark Souls

[eddvdm]

Maybe because Demon's Souls gameplay and mechanics were pretty unique and bold enough to fill a new game without being "the same old thing", while the old game formula from Gears (and 90% of the nowadays games - see I'm talking about the game design, not the game as final product) has to be reinvented to not fall as an EA-annual-edition kind of "sequel" "game".

[cyntell]

Getting Game of the Year awards is like watching the Oscars. Not everybody is going to be happy who wins. Gears of War 3, though not my favorite game series, still deserves to be nominated.

[cstyle]

I think gears 3 deserves to be there also. It improved on the last game even more than Uncharted 3 did.

[DigitalRaptor]

Hilarious. As if that wasn't an obvious thing to expect from someone with a comment history such as yours.

What a waste. Troll harder.

[Michael-Jackson]

Seems dodgy considering Skyrim isn't even out yet, even the reviews aren't.

GameTrailers probably already reviewed it but what happens if, for some strange unlikely reason lots of reviews turn out to be 7s. Still GOTY contender???

I'm not going watch that crap. They are going to hire some Celebs to host while reading a cheesy script, fake gamers and the most important, the ads.

[Deathdeliverer]

The games arent out yet but voting dosent end till the middle of december. Skyrim will be out a month and zelda will be out for half a month give or take. thats enough for some people to beat the games or at least make a clear decision. I have a guy on my list that %100 UC3 and it hasnt been out a full week. An edjucated feeling on what your favorite game is or how much you like a game can be deduced in about a week or two. Its really not as bad as people make it out to be. Its all for fun anyway, just another bullet point on the box. "SPIKE VGA AWARD WINNER FTW!" on the back lol

[Sizzon]

I'm suprised a little, I think Gears 3 should be nominated, the game is really fun and great.

But my favourite gears is still the first one, but the third one is so much better than the second one.

Gears of War is a quality franchise.

[TXIDarkAvenger]

Considered, but not GOTY.

How could this NOT be nominated?!?!?!?

[from the beach]

List of nominees surely can't be finalised yet!

Anyway, their competition is a joke if Gears 3 doesn't get the nod.

[KidMakeshift]

Am I the only one who was bored to death playing it?

I thought this was going to be the granddaddy of the trilogy

I will admit I've only played up to the retarded football sequence, but I just felt a complete lack of interest to continue. I started Dark Souls right after and already put 30 hrs in in 3 days.

[Chug]

Yeah, I was well over 40 hours into Dark Souls when Gamefly sent me Gears 3.

I played Gears for about half an hour before going back to Dark Souls. It just felt so generic.

I will give it another try though, considering I enjoyed the first two.

[TheColbertinator]

I loved Gears 3 but its not GOTY worthy.Great game but not every game gets nominated.

[xVeZx]

they should have just nominated it for shits and giggles like they are going to do for mw3 and bf3....we all know skyrim is going to win anyway....or batman might come out with the upset

[ArmGunar]

Not surprised, that's a great game but it can't compete with Zelda, Skyrim or Uncharted 3 ...

[WetN00dle69]

I think it did hold its own against those titles. GoW 3 should have been a contender.

[hazelamy]

considering two of those haven't even been released yet i'd say yeah it can.

[DonaldBeck]

agreed

[JonnyBigBoss]

It's not GOTY material. It's great, but come on.

[DonaldBeck]

i agree

[Noticeably_FAT]

It deserves to be up there. No offense to the people that will get offended by it, but if Uncharted 3 was up there, then Gears 3 should be as well. Both those games are solid, but at the end of the day they are both just sequel to a sequel.

There hasn't been a game that has so much content on one disk as Gears 3 in a long, long time. I mean what other game that has such a focus on multiplayer has such a long and epic campaign?

It's a travesty, but I'm sure Gears 3 will win some GOTY awards nonetheless. I never take the VGA's seriously. They tend to be pretty biased.

Hell, I mean Zelda is nominated for GOTY and it hasn't even released..

[iistuii]

Never had a game with so much content. Campaign, Many multiplayer modes, 4 player Campaign Coop, Beast mode & the brilliant Hoard mode. Yet they put games up that arnt even out yet. I mean I'm looking forward to Skyrim, but what's it like ? It's not out yet. As for Batman, that was just as similar as the last one, I completed it & traded it in for B3, nowhere near as good as Gears.

[stvn_k26]

No offense but gears of war has never been as epic as uncharted!!

[Noticeably_FAT]

In your opinion perhaps, but it's my opinion that if Uncharted 3 is up there, then Gears 3 should be as well.

[DonaldBeck]

could not agree more.

[jrbeerman11]

This 1 of 500 game of the year awards. Do I think gears is contender? Yes but I am 1 person.

I think whats important to note is that we are lucky enough to have more than 5 games that are worthy of goty. In my mind all gamers win.

[Dorwrath]

So how many people voted for the games that haven't been released yet?

Why have choices for games that haven't been released yet.

Anyway aren't we told by everyone here that the winners are chosen by which company paid the most.

Only thing this show is good for is the trailers, nothing else.

[GameGuy]

Winners chosen by which company pays more? then Modern Warfare 3 is winning lol

[DaPrintz]

I feel like it definitely deserves a nomination. Horde alone could be a stand alone game. I don't see it leaving my 360 til next year. Uncharted 3 I feel is the pinnacle though this gen. Truly remarkable. A must own and I thought that there was no way to out do U2. I was wrong. Both are exclusives of the year for there respective systems at any rate.

[Ninver]

LOL gears is only good for multiplayer and MW3, B3 and U3 all do it better. The game never had a chance. Will we ever see a 360 exclusive win GOTY?

[rob6021]

You have to wonder how much influence certain companies have on 'the advisory board' that makes the decisions for this thing. That's why it's hard for me to see their GOTY award having more weight than other GOTY awards.

[palaeomerus]

Well Gametrailers/Spike TV did a whole annoying bullshit PR set of Bonus Round episodes on the making of Uncharted 3 and Shane Satterfield can't go five minutes in a podcast without bringing it up so it's pretty obvious that it was going to end up on the list of five GOTY.

Personally I'm voting for Batman:Arkham City even though I haven't played Skyrim yet. I'm not going to play Zelda:Skyward Sword because I'm broke and I won't see Skyrim for at least 5 days (probably more like 8).

Batman Arkham city is just better than Uncharted 3. I'm tempted to say a few good words for Portal 2 because it was an excellent game but Arkham City is way fresher in my mind. Probably the best mix of gaming features ever. If they didn't use the ugly ass versions of the villains it would be nearly perfect.

[WhiteLightning]

I want uncharted 3 to win

Not just because it's an amazing game but because of how much work ND has put into it. I don't think I can name another company that care more about their fanbase and their game other then money.

Despite being a good game, the whole DLC money grabbing thing which happened put me off slecting Batman as being GOTY. They won't learn their lesson if they win and it will happen with the next Batman game.

[diehardgamer1000]

Lol all of a sudden people care about someone's opinion...in their opinion it doesnt deserve to be nominated.Funny thing this is the same argument about all the UC3 reviews where yu have xbots saying "respect the guy's opinion"...if you are complaining about this you are no different from people complaining about UC3 low scores

[Ulf]

Good game, but same-old, same-old doesn't win you GotY unless the presentation is *phenomenal*. Gears 3 just wasn't up to par in that dept... but U3 is. That's would explain U3 being nominated, but GeoW3 not, IMO.

[Goozex]

Wow! That's just too bad..... Oh well unchartd 3 FTW!!!!!

[Raider69]

No WITCHER 2!?What a fail this awards!

[Ulf]

Spike Video Game awards, not Spike Computer Game awards.

Sadly, you HAVE to be on a console to qualify as a "Video Game", and Witcher 2... isn't. It's a dumb distinction, I know.

[BitbyDeath]

@Ulf, actually it was on the 360.
It just did not measure up for GOTY.

[BigPenguin]

lol bitbydeath

You trolling or do you actually believe that? It is not on the 360.

[SignifiedSix]

Actually, BigPenguin, it is on the 360. Just releasing next year though.
http://xbox360.ign.com/obje...

[m23]

I was sure Gears 3 would at least get a nomination. It is such a great game, with tons of value. No offense to other games, but how are some games that aren't even out yet able to be nominated for GOTY? Are they basing it off pure hype?

[SignifiedSix]

I already know its going to be Batman or Skyrim lol

[dragon82]

Don't count out Skyward Sword.

[CanadianTurtle]

Im a PS3 owner, but damn, the Gears Series is amazing! I think it should be a contender at least...

Theres so much quality and polish added to this game.

[gypsygib]

They totally dropped the ball with the story in Gears 3, they barely scratched the surface - it was just a very shallow experience.

Humanity was on the precipice of extinction and they never really conveyed that desperation at all. Epic needs to work on its story telling.

MP is amazing though.

[Jocosta]

Interesting, all of the sudden the VGA awards are valid and have merit? Oh I see, we are talking about a 360 exclusive not being nominated, so it's ok.

[Tarantino_Life]

Oh the conspiracy...... Sony must have paid them... right?? /s Lol!! Stop being so butthurt and get over it. Gears is not a worthy GOTY contender according to a lot of ppl. If you enjoy it then play it.

[Papertiger]

There still might be a chance. If skyrim doesn't perform to expectations, im sure that they could be considered right?

[IAmLee]

Gears is shit.

Contrabution complete. :D

[HacSawJimThugin]

1st off...2 of the games nominated aren't even out yet and none of us has played them yet they get nods??? The shooting in Gears completely out shines Uncharted in every way but Gears isn't nominated?? How the hell did Uncharted get a nod but not Gears?? This shit is a sham. Gears is the best selling game so far, got rave reviews, and is the best looking game on 360 but no nods...Spike and everyone that voted for unreleased games can eat a dick backwards for that. That's like giving an Oscar nod to a movie based on a trailer or a Grammy to an artist without hearing the full record.

I love Zelda but I hope that game is flawless. I hope Skyrim is as polished as Gears was/is. Gears has spawned so many copy cats and devs have taken the success of Horde and implemented it in their own games but the originator/innovator gets no love or respect...WTF!!

Let the disagree roll...what you eat don't make me shit and I could careless who disagrees with my opinion.

[Tarantino_Life]

Awww go to the corner and cry :) no one cares. UC3 is the better third person action adventure game according to reviews. Face it like a man and stop feeling butthurt. Everyone accused Greg Miller of being a fanboy because of giving UC3 a 10. Here is another editor who comments on UC3 and Gears 3. Is he also biased for thinking Gears 3 is not that good? LMAO at you fanboys - http://games.ign.com/articl...

[BigPenguin]

Best looking game on the 360? Is that like being the best player in the WNBA? Yah it is an accomplishment, but Kobe (James, Nowitzki, ect.) will still destroy in head to head.

[leemo19]

wow that just disrespectful to gears of war 3. they need to take zelda out of there and put gears of war 3.

[IHateYouFanboys]

no we're not surprised, because the VGAs are a complete joke. they literally mean nothing.

all the VGAs are is a fanboy driven popularity contest to see which game has the most fanboys. i mean, a few of the games nominated ARENT EVEN RELEASED YET, yet they have fanboys claiming theyre the greatest game of the year despite not even having played them lol.

i mean take 2009 for example - the year Uncharted 2 won game of the year. now you might not have a problem with that, but take a closer look and youll see where the problems were: the fanboys were so busy spamming the 'game of the year' voting that they forgot to spam the genre award that Uncharted 2 was in, meaning that Assassins Creed beat Uncharted 2 out in the action/adventure (or whatever genre it was) category lol. so Uncharted 2 was said to be NOT as good as Assassins Creed in its very genre, yet was given game of the year at the same awards ceremony.

any awards ceremony where the public gets to pick the winners isnt worth any more than a random website giving a random award. its just fanboy fodder.

Gears 3 is one of the highest rating games of the generation, one of the highest and quickest selling games of the generation, and is the highest selling exclusive on the 360/PS3 this year. if the awards show was legit, it would be nominated for game of the year and be in with a very good shot.

[Brownghost]

there a joke and the only thing thats important is the announcements. I agree with everything you said

[The Iron Sheik]

5 paragraphs of you complaining why Gears 3 isn't nominated equals 5 reasons you should change your name.

[Brownghost]

gotys are overrated and everyone has their own goty in mind.

[byrnezy]

It was a good game, but really wasn't anything special

[BitbyDeath]

When reviews are performed the scores given are based on that game alone. Meaning a 10 for Uncharted is not the same as a 10 for Gears or even a 8 for Uncharted. A 10 for GTAIV is also not the same etc

You cannot compare scores with other games at all, this is why games like Pacman or Wii Fit are at the top of metacritic yet are no where near worthy of a GOTY nomination.

[ShinraE5]

This is a joke.

Gears 3 had a phenominal campaign, 2 very fun co-op modes, and a polished MP experience.

UC3 is similar to GEoW 3 in the sense that both are polished, yet somewhat predictable, sequels. The fact one got a nod and not the other is laughable (and I would think the same if Gears got the nod and UC didnt). Same with portal 2 - hilarious writing, but the puzzles werent that mind wrecking and once you played it once, that was it. No more fun to be had as you did it all and it never feels different.

Skyrim isn't even out ! Amazing how much support an unplayed game has. And as for Zelda...haven't played it, can't say if it does or does not deserve it.

Luckily, its not like these tools that run the VGAs can affect my personal experince with the property.

[Ashriel]

The VGAs have two unreleased games going for GOTY, why are they relevant again?

[bobrea]

Implying VGAs matter.

[Gigglefist]

Damn good game, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Still, I don't see it as GOTY

[jsslifelike]

You people are crazy. This shocks the hell out of me. The VGA's are such a meat-headed, Xbox 360-focused, Call of Duty/Madden audienced awards show that this story blows my mind.

[undercovrr]

Oh please the VGA's are a joke

[XDF]

It is all good that Gears didn't get nominated. The 5 games listed are well deserved of the nominations.

There are other great games that also didn't get nominated like Deux Ex, Assassin's Creed, Saint's Row.

Gears 3 will no doubt be in the Shooter of the year nomination and might win it too.

The good thing is I will have to chance to play all of them and decide for myself.

But seriously, How can they nominate something that is not even out like Skyward Sword? No doubt that is a GOTY contender but common..at least wait till all the games are out first.

[GameGuy]

VGA's don't matter, their opinion is like an opinion on n4g. The only difference is the winning companies will show off by putting a shiny sticker on the GOTY edition.

[Zephol]

what?? why not, is no innovation in this game.

[ShinraE5]

And most of the nominees aren't innovative either. Most if not all are also improved sequels. A weak argument imo

[KratosWitAGun]

not surprised at all

[VictoriousB13]

Does it matter? As an awards show, the VGAs are shit anyway. I just watch it for the world exclusives.

[TheLastGuardian]

They didn't nominate my GOTY LittleBigPlanet 2 either. Spike VGA's only care about the most popular games.

[Kluv]

yeah gears 3 is great, it's rather amazing, and maybe in a drier year, it would have been nominated. But i mean, skyrim, uncharted, zelda, batman, they all outclass it in my opinion

[shysun]

Is Skyrim out yet?

[Shojin1]

Frrrrrriiiiiiiiddddddaaaaaaaay yyyyy!

[NeoTribe]

VGA are flawed anyway. How is it uncharted wins game of the year but didnt win best game in its own genre. Assasins creed won best action/adventure game instead. Please make sense of that for me. So there saying uncharted 2 was the best game to be released that year but wasnt the best action adventure game......

[SDF Repellent]

I am waiting for the "Little Big Planet 2" not nominated at Spike award article. Oh, I forgot, this is N4G...of course you will not see a headline like that on here.

[SDF Repellent]

This is just like the MTV award and American idol. It is a popular and bias contest. Nothing to see here.

[Chucky2003]

no,this game for me,at least the single player was boring,i had times that i wanted to stop playing it,everytime i had to go get something,going to a new areas,shoot enemies, new area shoot enemies,in the entire single player i was just running to get fuel,wtf!!

[Shackdaddy836]

They should have nominated BF3 and LBP2 also.

But w/e. VGAs are stupid. I only watch it for the new trailers...

[rlm41]

Definitely deserves to be in there if Uncharted 3 is.

[BitbyDeath]

inFamous 2 deserves to be there.
rabble, rabble, rabble, rabble

[Fel08]

Oh the horror

[danthebios]

you need to use your brains to play Uncharted 3( puzzles & strategies ) while gears..well bang bang and who has the biggest guns

[mendicant]

danthebios,

What a horribly biased lie of a description for Gears. It takes a lot more than simply big guns and shooting to win.

At least the shooting mechanic in Gears works and is enjoyable. UC3 isn't even as good as 2-another overrated ps3 exclusive that I should've bought used.

[frankiebeans]

its really not tho its just copy and paste now, it dont have the magic the first one did because now its been done already nothing stands out anymore. I bought the last 2 but i never bought the new one because its just more of the same imo.

[BABY-JEDI]

'this is a SHOCKER.....'
Turns on hoard mode & cries. : (

[frankiebeans]

nothing standout about gears its just the same thing over and over,it might be a cool game but its not amazing anymore and i like that the vgas see that!! cod should not be up for it either. only games that take real work have real stories and amazing gameplay and gears and cod are just not at that level any more its just copy and paste.

[passthemstickss]

GOTY generally goes to games that deliver the strongest campaign, not necessarily exceptional multiplayer. While I personally don't like Gears, I can honestly say that the campaign is definitely lacking, which greatly hurts its potential GOTY candidacy.

[fourthpersonview]

Gears 3 did not bring anything new so I'm not surprised critics ignored it for VGA.

[tigertron]

Imo, GOTY should be either Gears 3, UC3 or Dead Space 2. I've not played the new Batman though so I can't say if that deserves GOTY.

[Ch1d0r1]

I would of been surprised if it was nominated.

[Bleach]

Not surprised a very mediocre game and i wouldnt be surprised if Cliffy's post release trash talk had a lot with the descion not to nominate it.

Heres some advice Cliffy, unless you know what you're talking about and actually have some intelligence like the God that is David Jaffe, then keep your troll mouth shut and let your game speak for itself, rather than trash everyone because it didn't do as well as you hoped.

[creepjack]

It's one of the highest rated and best selling games of the year, if that doesnt qualify it, I dont know what does. Just further proof that the VGAs are a joke to the industry.

[Tito08]

I agree, because there's already a Zelda nominated & isn't even out yet, and most likely MW3 will also be in it.... In the case of Nintendo games, they get very high scores for no reason....

Since games like Call of Duty & Assasin's Creed are released every year and sells huge amounts of copies, those 2 should be released on a non-holidays so it could give other games a chance to sell, that is why great games like Mass Effect & others are pushed back for next year!!!!!

[shysun]

Bull crap!!! Gears3 should be in there!

[Deadman_Senji]

It might help if the series creator wasn't a douchebag too. A victory for Gears is a victory for that assholes and nobody wants that guy in the spotlight anymore. He's made an ass out of himself on numerous occasion. There comes a point when people just get annoyed.

[frankiebeans]

angry birds is GOTY!!!!

[Richdad]

Not in GOty nomination. THats a surprise. Even Gears 2 got GOTY nomination and this one is much better and surpasses the expectations.

[Les-Grossman]

Games no one has played yet or not out yet should not be on any list

[Raoh]

Not surprised. A lot of games are overrated.

They real hype for most of these games came from wanting to pit new exclusives that the ps3 did not have. The media, microsoft and fanboys hyped these games as competition crushing games.

after ps3 caem into its own most of those exclusives lost their sting, and gears was a leader in graphics, ps3 also took that title, took the story titles all that was left was cliffy b talking trash which really doesn't help.

Gears has a solid fanbase. It really is a great series. But the hype is over. The story is generic. The characters are bland. It lacks the muscle to take on ps3 exclusives.

Gears is a type of game that should be multiplatform too.

[capcock]

I would get pissed if gears won GOTY, it would be an insult for gaming.

[CoryHG]

Just because Microsoft releases one exclusive per year doesn't mean it's automatically up for GOTY. Here's a link to real candidates.

http://www.examiner.com/vid...

[HumanStark]

Was this article written by a child?

"GEARS OF WAR IS A GOOD GAME AND I LIKE GEARS OF WAR BUT THE VGA DID NOT THINK GEARS OF WAR WAS AS GOOD AS OTHER GAMES BUT I THINK IT WAS AS GOOD AS OTHER GAMES. IN CONCLUSION, I THINK GEARS OF WAR 3 DESERVES TO BE NOMINATED FOR AN AWARD THAT I DO NOT THINK IT SHOULD WIN

THE END"

[lumley666]

Iv not played gears3 as I don't have a 360 anymore, but from the reviews it seems like a fair contender if the list was from top 10. But the amount of epic games this year its easy to see why its not. My goty so far iv played is deffo u3, absolutly incredable. Tho being the rpg lover I am ill be suprized if skyrim doesn't end up being my goty (pc version) lol

[sarshelyam]

Expectations got the best of us I think. Personally, I felt it was a stronger story than part 2, but with most series...it's hard to recapture the fanbase when nostalgia (yes, it can exist in a series not past its 10 years), is a difficult aspect to crush in a fan. Gears of War 1 was something special, hard to top...refinement was certainly a focus, but I don't feel any of the games top the first from a fundamental standpoint.

[Lord_Sloth]

Why does any1 care about the VGA anyway? I watched it for the 1st time last year and it annoyed the hell out of me. I'm not watching it every again. It sucks and that's all there is to it.

Also, I cannot STAND Dane Cook. Every time that man opens his mouth, I wanna shove my fist in it!

[Giru017]

The real question is WHY ISN'T DARK SOULS ON THAT LIST!!?

[Bounkass]

Not bad, just not good enough.

[Shojin1]

3 seems to be missing a lot of content. I was expecting chars maps and a better beast mode. The new Horde mode seems cheap and nothing like it was in 2 also.

Maybe some of the new maps coming will be great. It is odd that this game does not have more memorable campaign areas (they had the gameplay ironed out all they had to do was make the right environs...)

Gears is a great game but I have to agree on the GOTY decision. Gears 3 made me realize how good UT3 really is...