The date for The Game Awards is final and it looks like we’ll be able to watch The Game Awards in a new way this year; in VR
The date is set for The Game Awards as we will be able to see this event fire off yet again and this time on December 1st. Hopefully by now you are aware of what this award show is all about and we’ll give you a quick rundown just in case. This is the awards show set up by Geoff Keighly to do what the name suggests. It gives out awards for all of our favorite games, developers, and eSports players over the last year. We knew The Game Awards wasn’t going to sit out 2016 at all and it looks like the powers that be are also trying to make the show even better. How? By letting us watch the whole thing in VR. That’s how.
Yes, The Game Awards will be streaming online in the usual fashion for all but if you happen to have an Oculus Rift or a Samsung Gear then you can experience the whole thing in VR. We’ll have the option to have front row seats or many other views of the event as it goes on. Not only that but apparently there will also be a robot on stage that we can hop into and experience what is going on there. You know, just cause. At least it is a fun new way to integrate more of the industry in the whole event and not just have another award show out there for something we should praise anyways.
On top of the VR announcement here, it looks like there will also be an option to watch The Game Awards via Twitter so you can interact directly as the show goes on. What that means is still to be defined out but I’m going to guess polls and user questions will pop up to possibly be addressed. To kind of go along with the Twitter streaming it looks like The Game Awards will also be streamed live, and translated live, for the Chinese market vie WeChat. Most of the audience here will find little use of that but now we can bring in a whole other culture into the video game world here. There is that at least.
Through a partnership with NextVR, the leading virtual reality broadcast platform for live-action content, The Game Awards will be the first award show to livestream in virtual reality. Accessible via the NextVR app, the live VR broadcast of The Game Awards will feature VR camera rigs placed throughout the Microsoft Theater. The collaboration between NextVR and The Game Awards gives viewers multiple vantage points of the show including a front row seat next to some of the biggest names in the industry. An on-stage robotic camera, built especially for the show, will move around during the broadcast to continually give VR viewers a new perspective on the awards and musical performances.
Further expanding its global reach and distribution, The Game Awards will air a live localized version of the show on Tencent’s integrated Internet platforms in China, including QQ.com. In addition to watching a live translated version of the show, Chinese viewers can use WeChat, QQ.com, and Tencent News App to vote on a special “Fans Choice Award,” based on nominees selected by Tencent’s gaming editors. The winner of the award will be announced during the live global broadcast.
On Twitter, The Game Awards will be the first live awards show broadcast on the platform, creating a unified experience for viewers to watch and comment on gaming’s biggest night. Live Twitter comments on breaking news and the results of Twitter user polls will be integrated into the broadcast.
Are you ready for The Game Awards to air yet again? Do you have faith that the VR and Twitter streaming will add a better option to viewing or will it just be something lost for most of us? Do you think that we should still have award shows for the gaming industry or are they really pointless in general given how they are set up? Let us know what you are thinking and feel free to discuss in the comments below. As more on The Game Awards is revealed, we will have it all here for you. Be sure to stick right here on the site so you can keep completely up to date on it all.