Hosted by Zachary Levi (aka Chuck) on December 10th, the awards featured a prize for just about everything, and for the first time a “Video Game Hall of Fame” award going to The Legend of Zelda being graciously accepted by Shigeru Miyamoto himself. The real excitement for any gamer though came from the new trailers on offer.

A number of games we already know about were shown, including Commander Shepherd taking on Reapers in Mass Effect 3, the opening cinematic for Diablo 3 and an action-packed Bioshock: Infinite video. What we’re going to take a closer look at are some of the more interesting new game announcements.

Command & Conquer Generals 2

It was all but confirmed we would find out what the new game from developer BioWare (Mass Effect, Dragon Age) would be. Few could have guessed we would be hearing about a new instalment of RTS favourite Command & Conquer. Generals 2 is a direct follow-up to the 2004 title which was a little more grounded in reality than the more bizarre games that followed it.

Powered by EA’s new Frostbite 2 game engine, as introduced with Battlefield 3, the trailer shows a typical vehicular war-zone with plenty of destructibility and graphics not too dissimilar from Battlefield 3, which pulls nicely back to the familiar C&C top down view. It’s great to see Command & Conquer making a good looking comeback and better to know it’s in very safe hands.

YouTube - Command & Conquer Generals 2 Trailer

Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance

Other than proving that you can still recognise a Japanese developed game solely through its title, MGS Rising: Revengeance is a re-announcement of the Rising game previously announced by Hideo Kojima at E3 2009. That game was ultimately cancelled and the ninja action game based on the Metal Gear series has passed into the hands of Platinum Games (Bayonetta, Vanquish). Starring MGS2 cyborg Raiden, expect plenty of giant robot smashing.

Although the slice-and-dice anything mechanics seem to have remained, the trailer shows gameplay has moved to a much more frenetic and suitably over-the-top combat style. No surprise based on Platinum’s work to date. Due next year on PS3 and Xbox 360, Kojima Productions continues to work on the story and cutscenes but has now placed the events “sometime” after MGS4 to position it firmly as a spin-off.

YouTube - Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengeance Trailer

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD

Continuing the realisation that most of the best games have already been made, simply forgotten (and look a bit crap), Tony Hawk himself announced Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is coming to PSN and XBLA next year. Featuring a collection of the “best” levels from the first two THPS games, it’s a welcome return to basics for the series.

Shown in the trailer is the original Woodland Hills Warehouse level, but also confirmed are School and Downhill Jam from the original game. The only skater confirmed is the main man himself and it will most likely feature an all-new soundtrack. All I know is there better be less Nokia ads and the player should explode if they try and get off their skateboard.

YouTube - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD Trailer

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare

We were promised Alan Wake would return at the end of his critically acclaimed first adventure into darkness. What you might not have expected was a follow-up via XBLA coming Q1 2012. Seemingly based out of a remote motel Psycho style, American Nightmare seems to have a more grindhouse feel to it than the Twin Peaks-esque mystery of the original.

Despite being downloadable only, developer Remedy stresses this is not a bite size game, although its action focussed gameplay does suit the platform. There is even a new survival mode, “Fight ’til Dawn”, which pits horror magnet Wake against hordes of enemies until the sun comes up. Still, it must be comforting carrying a machine gun strapped to that torch.

YouTube - Alan Wake's American Nightmare Trailer

The Last of Us

Sony had been teasing a big PS3 exclusive in the lead-up to the event and ultimately revealed The Last of Us, a new action adventure title from Uncharted developer Naughty Dog. Introduced through a beautiful in-game engine cinematic, we see a father and daughter literally fighting for survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

You could probably name a hundred post-apocalyptic references for what the trailer shows, but Naughty Dog promise the family driven adventure is much more than a simple zombie/monster survival game. With Uncharted firmly under their belt, I’m inclined to believe them.

YouTube - The Last of Us Trailer

And that’s about all we have time for. We certainly haven’t covered everything, but you can learn more about the awards from Spike themselves, and see more trailers and announcements at GameTrailers.com, who published the above linked YouTube trailers.