New awards celebrate Canadian video games

When it comes to awards recognizing Canadian video-game developers, there’s a new player in town. The inaugural Canadian Video Game Awards will be handed out on Wednesday (May 5) in a ceremony at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

“I don’t want it to be super-long, obtuse, [aspiring] to be some big, glitzy Hollywood bullshit show,” Victor Lucas, cofounder of the CVAs, told the Georgia Straight.

Reached by phone during a break in filming The Electric Playground, the Vancouver-made TV show he’s the executive producer and a cohost of, Lucas explained that the idea came to him while he was touring the convention floor last year at the first-ever Game Developers Conference Canada. He mentioned it to Greg Spievak, the principal of Reboot Communications, a Victoria-based firm that organizes technology conferences.

The awards show is being coproduced by Reboot, along with Lucas’s Greedy Productions, Seven Group, and the Digital Media and Wireless Association of B.C. In a downtown coffee shop, Spievak told the Straight that Lucas “acts as the hub of vibrant energy and brings credibility to the event”. The TV host has long been an advocate of video games in general and Canadian developers in particular.

Spievak stressed that the CVAs are a “Canadian awards program, produced by and for Canadians”. The idea is to present a show that focuses on people, both developers and fans.

Many members of Canada’s video-game sector agree that there should be an awards program recognizing the achievements of Canadian developers. Colin Macrae, communications director for Electronic Arts, told the Straight that what distinguishes the CVAs from the Elan Awards—which once tried to fill this role—is that the organizers have been connected with the industry from the start. EA has signed on to sponsor the inaugural CVAs.

“We all recognize the fact that we have an amazing industry, we have amazing talent, and we make amazing games,” Macrae said by phone from his office in Burnaby. “We’re supporters of good ways to celebrate and recognize that.”

Spievak said that one of the first things he did to lay the groundwork for the awards was to form an advisory committee that included video game, media, and communications professionals. He said that once the CVAs become established, the awards program could be held in cities like Montreal, where game development is also a core creative industry.

Eleven awards will be presented on May 5, and tickets for the public are $35. Taking place on the eve of the second GDC Canada provides an opportunity, Spievak said, to “throw a great pre-party”.

The show, featuring a Video Games Live concert, is expected to run about 90 minutes. Footage from the show, interviews with nominees and winners, and behind-the-scenes shots from GDC Canada will be edited into a 30-minute television special that will air on G4 Canada.

The public is being asked to vote on-line for the Game of the Year. The nominees are Assassin’s Creed II (Ubisoft Montreal), Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II (Relic Entertainment in Vancouver), Dragon Age: Origins (BioWare in Edmonton), FIFA 10 (EA Canada in Burnaby), and Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes (Capybara Games in Toronto).

While many Canadians play video games, most of them “have no clue” how much game development goes on in the country, according to Lucas. While holidaying in Prague and Vienna last year, he saw statues of composers that “represented the cultural heart” of those cities.

“I started to think about what Canada provides that is culturally relevant around the world,” Lucas said. Notwithstanding the country’s vibrant film and television industry, he believes that “games really stand tall” as something significant that Canada provides to the world.