Spike TV Announces 2008 'Video Game Awards' Winners

"GRAND THEFT AUTO IV" CROWNED GAME OF THE YEAR

LIVE Show Hosted By Jack Black Featured The Debut of Ten Exclusive World Premieres; Explosive Performances by 50 Cent, All-American Rejects, LL Cool J And Weezer

Televised LIVE Tonight Sunday, December 14th At 9 PM, ET

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14 -- Tonight at Sony Picture Studios in Culver City, CA, everyone partied like a "Rockstar" as winners were announced for Spike TV's 2008 "Video Game Awards." Hosted by superstar Jack Black, the sixth annual event gathered luminaries from the world of entertainment to recognize the outstanding artistic and technical achievement in the gaming industry over the past year.

Presented by the red hot Megan Fox, Rockstar Games record-breaking title "Grand Theft Auto IV" was crowned Best Game of the Year. The award marked the titles' second Vector Monkey of the night. Other two-time winners on this evening include Microsoft Game Studios "Gears of War 2," MTV Games' "Rock Band" and Konami Digital Entertainment's "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots." Keifer Sutherland, star of the FOX network hit "24," was on-hand to receive the Big Name In The Game Male award for his role as Sgt. Roebuck in "Call of Duty: World at War." In addition, the genius behind "The Sims" and "Spore," Will Wright, was presented with the first-ever Gamer God honor. A full list of winners can be found below.

The 2008 "VGAs" featured ten exclusive world premieres, the highest number in the show's six year history. First look world premieres included "Brutal Legend," "Uncharted 2: Among Thieves," EA Sports' "Fight Night Round 4," "Mafia II," "Terminator Salvation," "Watchmen: The End is Nigh," "Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned," "Dante's Inferno," "God of War III" gameplay for PlayStation 3TM and the announcement of the "Gears of War 2" combustible map pack.

Interscope Geffen A&M were this year's "VGAs" exclusive music provider. The label powered the event's playlist, including presenter walk-ons, bumpers and performances by 50 Cent, the All-American Rejects and Weezer. UMG/Def Jam recording artist LL Cool J, along with special guest UFC president Dana White and light heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin, Rashad Evans, Rampage Jackson, Frank Mir, Antonio Nogueira and Wanderlei Silva, brought down the house with a memorable two-song set featuring the '91 hit single "Mama Said Knock You Out" and "It's Time for War." Also, during 50 Cent's performance of "Get Up," Spike TV incorporated footage of his upcoming game "50 Cent: Blood in the Sand." Alt-rock band Weezer played "The Greatest Man that Ever Lived, the third single from their album "Weezer" (also known as "The Red Album" and the All-American Rejects gave the crowd a taste of their new album with a performance of "Gives You Hell," from "When the World Comes Down" available Tuesday.

The "VGAs" pays tribute to the outstanding achievements of games, designers, animation, breakthrough technology, music and performances of the past year in the world of video games. The awards also provide a glimpse of the future of gaming - including exclusive sneak peeks and world premiere footage of some of the hottest and most anticipated games of 2009 and beyond.

A full list of winners is included below:

GAME OF THE YEAR GRAND THEFT AUTO IV (Rockstar Games / Rockstar North)

BEST ACTION ADVENTURE GAME GRAND THEFT AUTO IV (Rockstar Games / Rockstar North)

STUDIO OF THE YEAR MEDIA MOLECULE

GAMER GOD WILL WRIGHT

BEST SHOOTER GEARS OF WAR 2 (Microsoft Game Studios / Epic Games)

BEST MUSIC GAME ROCK BAND 2 (MTV Games / Harmonix)

BEST SOUNDTRACK ROCK BAND 2 (MTV Games / Harmonix)

BEST RPG FALLOUT 3 (Bethesda Softworks / Bethesda Game Studios)

BEST INDEPENDENT GAME FUELED BY DEW WORLD OF GOO (2D Boy / 2D Boy)

BEST TEAM SPORTS GAME NHL 09 (Electronic Arts / EA Canada)

BEST INDIVIDUAL SPORTS GAME SHAUN WHITE SNOWBOARDING (Ubisoft Montreal / Ubisoft Montreal)

BEST GAME BASED ON A MOVIE OR TV SHOW LEGO INDIANA JONES: THE ORIGINAL ADVENTURES (LucasArts / Traveler's Tales Games)

BIG NAME IN THE GAME MALE KIEFER SUTHERLAND AS "SGT. ROEBUCK" CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR (Activision Publishing)

BIG NAME IN THE GAME FEMALE JENNY MCCARTHY AS "TANYA" COMMAND & CONQUER: RED ALERT 3 (Electronic Arts)

BEST XBOX 360 GAME GEARS OF WAR 2 (Microsoft Game Studios / Epic Games)

BEST PS3 GAME LITTLEBIGPLANET (Sony Computer Entertainment / Media Molecule)

BEST Wii GAME BOOM BLOX (Electronic Arts / EA Casual Studios)

BEST PC GAME LEFT 4 DEAD (VALVE / VALVE)

BEST MULTI-PLAYER GAME LEFT 4 DEAD (VALVE / VALVE)

BEST FIGHTING GAME SOULCALIBUR IV (NAMCO BANDAI Games / Project Soul)

BEST HANDHELD GAME PROFESSOR LAYTON AND THE CURIOUS VILLAGE (Nintendo / Level-5)

BEST DRIVING GAME BURNOUT PARADISE (Electronic Arts / Criterion Games)

BEST GRAPHICS METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS (Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc / Kojima Productions)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS (Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc / Kojima Productions)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN MALE MICHAEL HOLLICK AS "NIKO BELLIC" GRAND THEFT AUTO IV (Rockstar Games)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A HUMAN FEMALE DEBI MAE WEST AS "MERYL SILVERBURGH" METAL GEAR SOLID 4: GUNS OF THE PATRIOTS (Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc)

Albie Hecht, Oscar(R)-nominated producer and co-creator of the "Kids' Choice" and "Video Game Awards," and Casey Patterson, senior vice president event production, talent development & studio relations, Spike TV & TV Land, will serve as executive producers of Spike TV's 2008 "Video Game Awards." Greg Sills is supervising producer and Alicia Portugal is executive in charge of production.

Spike TV is available in 97.7 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV's Internet address is www.spike.com and for up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs, visit Spike TV's press site at http://www.spike.com/press.