This week’s Georgia Straight has hit the streets, and in it I take a look at how video game sequels are often better than their predecessors. They are software, after all.

Video games are often compared to movies. But, unlike many film franchises, video games are usually better the second time around.

In keeping with the theme, also this week are reviews of The Godfather II and Puzzle Quest: Galactrix.

I don’t care if this was staged to look spontaneous, I want to go to there.

Now I must watch The Sound of Music.

This is a slight edit to a piece I wrote for the Georgia Straight Tech Blog after the Elan ceremony on Saturday night.

The third annual Elan Awards took place in Vancouver on April 25, and I hate to say it, but I think it was probably the last. I’ve supported the event through some major growing pains – I even agreed to be a juror for the third awards – because I believed the Elans were different than others, important, and necessary.

Three things made the Elans special. First was recognizing digital entertainment as a complete category, presenting awards to animated and visual-effects television shows and movies along with video games. Second, student work was recognized. Third, the Elans honoured Canadian productions, providing some much-needed homegrown recognition of the amazing talent in this country.

This year, the Canadian requirement was abandoned, and the resulting show suffered greatly.

It was poorly attended, for one thing. The ballroom at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, where the event was staged as a dinner-theatre production, was barely half full, and noticeably absent were the many tables of video-game developers who brought such energy to the first two shows.

But there weren’t any Canadian-produced—let alone Vancouver-produced—video games nominated, so why would any of the local studios attend? Ubisoft Montreal was the big winner at the first Elans, taking home prizes for Peter Jackson’s King Kong and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. Edmonton’s BioWare won the lion’s share of the hardware at the second event for Mass Effect.

This year, it was Valve’s Left 4 Dead. A deserving game, to be sure, but it was produced in the Seattle area. And, as the guy who accepted the awards on behalf of Gabe Newell said while being handed his fourth statuette, it was like there were only four games released last year.

With the exception of a best art direction nomination for Too Human, developed by Ontario’s Silicon Knights, the only nominees in the seven major video-game categories were Fable II, Fallout 3, Gears of War 2, and Left 4 Dead, none of which were developed in Canada.

Where were the Vancouver developed NHL 09, Skate 2, and SOCOM: Confrontation? Or the Montreal-created Far Cry 2 and Prince of Persia?

While the third Elans handed out awards to Bethesda Softworks for Fallout 3 and Blizzard for World of Warcraft, neither company had representatives available to accept the awards. There was no Pixar representative to accept the award for Wall-E, either.

There were three honorary awards presented at the third Elans, to Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, and American graphics researcher Paul Debevec. None of them attended.

Yes, these men are wondrous talents, but do they really need another award when the biggest peer awards in their industries are already recognizing them?

Elan Awards producer Holly Carinci has spoken about her ambition to move the show to L.A., but the Americans don’t need another awards program for animation and video games. They’ve already got the Golden Globes, Emmys, and Oscars for television and film, and there isn’t a need for another awards program for the video-game industry, either. The Game Developers Choice Awards, the DICE Awards, and the Spike TV Video Game Awards handle that task quite nicely.

They don’t need the Elans the way Canada does.

This year, the event was opened up to the public. I can’t help but view that decision as an attempt to fill seats that weren’t being purchased by industry types. Certainly, it didn’t seem like there was anyone outside the industry in attendance, and $225 is a steep price to pay for a catered meal, even if the beef tenderloin was delicious.

The new nomination process was also flawed. There were only four video games in contention for most of those awards, but where was Grand Theft Auto IV? Or Metal Gear Solid 4? What about Dead Space or Little Big Planet?

Wall-E was not the only feature-length animated production last year, but it won its category because there were no other nominated films. The best visual effects shot went to Spin VFX for its work on the Max Payne film. It had no competition.

Actor Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, was this year’s host, following William Shatner, host of the inaugural event, and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, who was brilliant as the second MC. Carinci must be, if nothing else, convincing.

In fairness, Carinci has been quick to seek help when she’s needed it. She pulled together an advisory board after the first event that consists of video-game and animation studio heads and she’s adjusted the award categories to better represent the industries being honoured.

But a celebrated partnership with IGN didn’t seem to help much. The Web site was engaged to track votes for a planned People’s Choice Award that was never handed out. That makes me wonder if anyone at all voted.

Carinci also brought on a new technical production company after a disastrous second event that was plagued with audio and video breakdowns. Seven Group did a much better job this year. There were a few miscues and glitches, but they weren’t too disruptive.

Kenny worked much harder than either of the first two Elan MCs did. Shatner and MacFarlane only stepped on stage to perform a few times, but Kenny not only handed out awards, but he took it upon himself to accept the awards for nearly every winner without someone present to accept. Kenny worked his ass off. But even his enthusiasm wasn’t enough to rescue the Elans from what it has become: a lame, less-than-generic awards show.

If the Elans are to continue, it needs to refocus on what made it special in the first place. Just in terms of video games, there are some exciting titles coming from Canadian studios in the next year, and I’d like to see them get some recognition.

So, check that ambition, Carinci, and give us back our Canadian awards.

Here’s a list of winners at the third annual Elan Awards:

Best feature length animated production

Wall-E (Disney/Pixar)

Best visual effects in a visual effect driven feature film

Iron Man (The Embassy VFX, Ironworks Productions)

Best mobile/handheld game

Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force (Disney Interactive)

Best animated short subject

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (Blizzard Entertainment)

Best visual effects in an independent/short film

Rock Garden: The Love Story (Pix Ray VFX)

Best casual/arcade game

Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst (Big Fish Games)

Best student video game 

Deguiyu (Masters of Digital Media, CDM)

Best student animated production
Shane Plante for Snared (Algonquin College Animation Program)

Best visual effects in a student project

Space Bar (George Kyparissous, Lost Boys Learning)

Best art direction in an animated production

Zoe Evamy, Patricia Atchison, Grug Huculak for Zeke’s Pad

Best visual effects shot

Max Payne (Spin VFX)

Best art direction in a video game

Istvan Pely Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)

Best character in an animated production

Toot and Puddle (Graham MacDonald, Emma Gignac, Kim Buck, Justin Sels; Mercury Filmworks)

Best animated character (VFX)

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Greg Fisher, Peta Bayley, Julio del Rio Hernandez, Tom Reed; Walt Disney and Walden Media)

Best Game Design

Gabe Newell, Left 4 Dead (Valve)

Best sound in a video game production

Mike Larson, Steve Jabonsky, Jarney Scott, Joey Kuras for Gears of War 2 (Epic Games)

Best voice over in an animated production (all genres)

Tom Kenny

Best digital environment (VFX)

Max Payne (Spin VFX)

Best console game

Fallout 3 (Bethesda Softworks)

Best PC game

Left 4 Dead (Valve)

Best director for an animated production

Dennis Jackson, Melanie Jackson, Cam Lizotte for Wapos Bay: The Series

Outstanding technical innovation in video games

Left 4 Dead (Valve)

Lifetime achievement in animation honorary award

Hayao Miyazaki

Visionary honorary award for VFX

Paul Debevec

Video game hall of fame honorary award

Shigeru Miyamoto

Best animated television production

Delna Bhesania, Liz Scully, Leonard Terhoch, Avrill Stark for Zeke’s Pad (Avrill Stark Entertainment, Bardel Entertainment)

Best visual effects in a broadcast series, miniseries, or MOW

Jim Lima and Steve Galich for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Video game of the year

Left 4 Dead (Valve)

This is brilliant. A design engineer from the U.K. who posts to YouTube as fluxlasers has started creating levels of the PS3 game Little Big Planet based on conceptual artist Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle.

This boggles my mind. I was in New York in 2002 when the Guggenheim was taken over by Barney’s Cremaster exhibition. The entire centre interior of the museum – which is open from the floor to the roof – was filled with dripping resin and sculpture, and props and stills from the films were staged on the spiral ramps leading up to the top of the building.

The idea of what Barney was doing was overwhelming, but to be in the middle of it, strewn around the Guggenheim, was like walking through a delerium.

That someone has the skill and ambition to translate the Cremaster Cycle into the craft-like world of Little Big Planet is astounding.

fluxlasers has already tackled Cremaster 1, which is above, and Cremaster 4, and plans to create Little Big Planet levels based on the other three films in the cycle.

The levels are being created out of order, in the same way Barney created his cycle. And true to the themes explored by Barney, completing a level will unlock the next in the sequence. For now, we can simply marvel at the creation by watching the videos.

Thanks to Oddworld for sourcing this.

Nintendo’s latest iteration of its handheld gaming platform was released this week. My take on the device – which adds photo-taking, sound mixing, and music listening functionality – is in this week’s Georgia Straight.

The Nintendo DSi is much more than a handheld game player. This latest iteration of the DS includes a wealth of new features, including an SD card slot that enables the storing of files.