NEW YORK, Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --Star of NBC's
"Chuck," voice actor for "Fallout: New Vegas" and "Halo: Reach,"
owner of the nerd culture site www.TheNerdMachine.com and video
game super fan Zachary Levi will
host Spike TV's 2011 "Video Game Awards" (#VGA). Telecasting
from Los Angeles, CA and featuring
some of the most notable names in video games, Hollywood, music, sports and more, the
two-hour event honoring the outstanding achievements within the
video game industry over the past year will premiere LIVE on
Spike TV, MTV2 and Spike.com on Saturday,
December 10 at 8:00 PM
ET/5:00 PM PT.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110419/NY85419LOGO )
"Zac Levi is an avid gamer who is
truly a part of gaming culture and understands the fans," says
Casey Patterson, Executive Producer
and Executive Vice President, Event Production, Talent & Studio
Relations for Viacom Entertainment Group. "He has great ideas
about this year's show. Zac is all about honoring the year in
gaming and ushering in the future by showcasing massive world
premieres at this year's event. We're excited to be working
with Zac."
Audience members and viewers will also be treated to a live
performance by Grammy Award recording artists The Black Keys, who
will perform their video game hit, "Lonely Boy," and the duration
of the festivities will feature Grammy nominee and dance music
innovator deadmau5, who will transform the show with his visual
representation of sound into a real life video game experience.
Among the list of presenters and attendees are Sports
Illustrated cover model and star of "Battleship" Brooklyn
Decker, "Family Guy" star and voice of Joker in the "Mass Effect"
series Seth Green, cast members of
"Workaholics" Blake Anderson,
Adam Devine and Anders Holm, multiplatinum and Grammy
Award-winning recording artist LL Cool J, stars of the upcoming
"American Reunion" Jason Biggs and
Seann William Scott, the most
prolific quarterback and wide receiver combination in NFL history,
Hall of Famers Joe Montana and
Jerry Rice, and many more to be
announced shortly.
This year, Spike TV will be bestowing the Gamer God Award upon
the three founders of Blizzard Entertainment for their immense
contributions to the electronic gaming medium. Creators
of the "World of Warcraft," "Starcraft" and "Diablo" entertainment universes, Blizzard is
celebrating its 20th anniversary – as well as the 15th anniversary
of "Diablo" – in 2011.
Co-founders Michael Morhaime,
Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce will accept the award and treat
Blizzard's global community to the full never-before-seen opening
cinematic of the company's upcoming release, "Diablo III."
The talent joins the already announced never-before-seen world
premieres of the most anticipated games of 2012 and beyond,
including BioWare's next project, the next "Alan Wake" game and "Metal Gear Solid: Rising,"
"Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Patriots,"
"Transformers: Fall of Cybertron," and Most Anticipated Game
nominee, "BioShock Infinite" as part this year's "VGA"
festivities.
For additional information about other "VGA" world exclusives
and announcements, fans can log onto VGA.spike.com and get updates
via Twitter @SPIKE_TV, as well as the hashtag #VGA.
Leading the way with 12 nominations at the 2011 "VGAs" is
"Portal 2" by Valve. Rocksteady Studios' second adventure
featuring the Dark Knight, "Batman: Arkham City" garnered 10
nominations, while the third chapter in the Nathan Drake adventure,
"Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception" by Naughty Dog and independent
game "Bastion" rounded out the top most- nominated games with 9 and
5 nods each, respectively.
Nominees for Spike TV's 2011 "Video Game Awards" were determined
by the VGA Advisory Council, made up of a group of some of the most
well-respected video game journalists from media outlets including
Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Game Informer Magazine,
Kotaku, Joystiq, GameSpot, IGN and WIRED.
For the first time, Viacom Media Networks will broaden the reach
and impact of the 2011 "VGAs" by simultaneously airing the show
LIVE on both Spike TV and MTV2, as well as on Spike.com.
Internationally, the "VGAs" will air in over 100 countries and
territories around the world.
Mark Burnett, Casey Patterson and Carol Donovan will serve as executive producers
of Spike TV's 2011 "Video Game Awards."
The presenting sponsors for the 2011 "Video Game Awards" are the
all-new Chevy Sonic, Dr Pepper TEN, KFC Hot Wings and KRAFT
Macaroni & Cheese Dinner. Energizer® Ultimate
Lithium is the associate sponsor, with AXE and Mission
Impossible-Ghost Protocol serving as digital sponsors.
Spike TV is available in 99.8 million homes and is a division of
Viacom Entertainment Group. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA,
VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world's leading creators of
programming and content across all media platforms. Spike
TV's Internet address is http://www.spike.com and for
up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs,
visit Spike TV's press site at
http://www.spike.com/press. Follow us on Twitter @spiketvpr
for the latest in breaking news updates, behind-the-scenes
information and photos.
SOURCE Spike TV
