The first thing that struck me when I found myself standing next to William Shatner was how much he resembled my father. It was uncanny. I almost tried to give him a hug and a beer. My nerve failed, though. I suspect that, even at 75, Shatner would toss me over his shoulder like Captain Kirk did the Gorn.
Shatner was in Vancouver to host the first Canadian Awards for the Electronic and Animated Arts, nicknamed the Elans after the statuette designed by Dean Lauzé. Held at the River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond on September 14, the event was produced by local PR vet Holly Carinci, who figured it was high time for the burgeoning Canadian electronic-entertainment industry to have its own awards program.
Carinci managed not only to persuade Shatner to host the inaugural Elans but to actually show, disappointing the cynical predictions of both my editor and a friend in L.A. who claims the man has a reputation for going AWOL.
The event was planned as if it was the Academy Awards, complete with red-carpet walk and mandatory black tie, which was the only indication that maybe Carinci, who comes from the world of talent publicity, didn’t know this audience. Getting a crowd of video-game developers into suits, let alone tuxedos, is not easy.
Most people got into the spirit ?of the event, although there were some obvious protesters. Ben Burden Smith, who won the evening’s first award for his work on Mainframe Entertainment’s Tony Hawk in Boom Boom Sabotage (in the category of Best Production, Feature Length), appeared on-stage wearing a flannel shirt and trucker’s cap, his gnarly goatee and mop of hair revealing him to be a skater fashionista. “Thanks, everyone. This rules,” he said. He knew what those murmurs from the crowd were about. “It’s the Canadian tuxedo,” he said with a smirk. “I thought everybody would appreciate it.”
As the evening progressed, it was clear there was no danger the acceptance speeches would run long; some of the recipients seemed almost embarrassed by the attention and couldn’t get off the stage quickly enough.
That said, the Elans ran for three hours because there were just too many award categories: 36. Is there a need, I wonder, to separate Best Motion Graphics in Gaming and Best Graphics for Gaming? I understand the difference between them, but perhaps one category called Best Gaming Graphics would be sufficient.
In retrospect, maybe the idea of combining awards programs for the video-game and animation industries was overly ambitious. Both genres certainly deserve recognition, but not as part of the same program, and certainly not on the same night. Besides, the only elements the two industries have in common are artists and voice actors—which begs the question, Why wasn’t there even one award that night recognizing voice talent?
The best surprise was an appearance by film director Uwe Boll, who has made a career out of adapting video games to movies, and in Vancouver recently boxed into submission—literally, with gloves, a boxing ring, and extreme prejudice—some of his more vocal critics. Boll proved to be self-deprecating, defiant, and funny. However, his counterpart on-stage, Broken Saints creator Brooke Burgess, just couldn’t get enough of himself, and proved to be the most annoying element of the evening.
Vancouver video-game publishers and developers were in on the night’s trophies. Relic’s The Outfit won Best Game of the Year; Radical’s The Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction got Viewer’s Choice Game of the Year; Backbone Entertainment snagged Game Design of the Year for Age of Empires: The Age of Kings; and Electronic Arts’ Need for Speed: Most Wanted took the two sound awards.
Ubisoft Montreal was the big winner of the evening, taking five Elans for Far Cry Instincts: Predator (Best Motion Graphics), Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones (Best Console Game), and Peter Jackson’s King Kong (for Best Graphics, Best Character Design, and Best Innovation in Gaming).
Vancouver native Clint Hocking, at the event to represent Ubisoft, threw down the gauntlet when accepting the award—on behalf of producer Catherine Roy—for Best Innovation in Gaming. “We learned a lot from [King Kong] and if you didn’t, you’re in trouble,” he said. “We’ll continue to innovate and improve, and you’re going to have to fight to keep up with us.”