Like them or hate them, the Spike TV VGA’s are the closest thing the gaming industry has to the Oscars. Granted, there are much more prestigious awards a game can win, most of which are within the industry itself. Yet, as far as recognition and public exposure for the gaming industry, the VGA’s are as close as we have to the red carpet; and you can’t blame them. This year alone there were 13 new titles revealed, many of which were highly expected sequels or new IP’s from well revered studios. The industry giants are there, the games are there, and while the way the awards are presented may come off as a year end party at your local frat house, the nominees are carefully picked, with the winners proving this is no popularity contest.

The nominations are distributed in the categories one would expect. Best downloadable game was snagged by Supergiant Games’ “Bastion,” which also picked up best original score and best song in a game. Best fighting game went to Neatherealm Studios’ “Mortal Kombat,” beating out “Marvel vs. Capcom 3.”

In the sports games categories: driving was awarded to “Forza 4,” team sports to “NBA 2k12,” and individual sports to “Fight Night Champion.”

The genre awards yielded some more expected winners. Shooter went to “Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3” while RPG was taken by “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” and “Batman: Arkham City” walked away with best adventure game.

Console awards were given to the expected best of each system. “Super Mario 3D Land” hopped off with best handheld game while best PC game went to “Portal 2.” Best Xbox 360 game was given to “Batman: Arkham City,” best PS3 game to “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception,” and best Wii game to “Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.”

In probably the biggest upset of the night the best multiplayer award was triumphantly handed to “Portal 2” beating out juggernauts like “Battlefield 3” and “Modern Warfare 3.” This, if anything, shows how carefully chosen the winners are.

In classic Spike TV fashion there were some offshoot awards. “Mass Effect 3” won most anticipated game and the Joker from “Arkham City” won best character. Awards were also handed out to the talent behind the games, with Ellen McLain winning best performance by a human female and Stephen Merchant winning best performance by a human male for their work on “Portal 2” as GLaDOS and Wheatly, respectively. A couple of industry “Hall of Fame” awards were given out as well with Blizzard Entertainment earning the “Gamer God” award and Shigeru Miyamoto being honored into the Video Game Hall of Fame.

Finally, the big award of game of the year was earned by “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.”

As mentioned earlier, several big games were announced in the show, with Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us” and Epic Games’ “Fortnite” standing out. Bioware announced they’re new project with “Command and Conquer: Generals 2,” the first real-time strategy game for the esteemed developer. One of the biggest surprises of the show was the long awaited gameplay reveal of “Metal Gear Solid Rising: Revengance,” a game that had not been seen since E3 2009. Kojima Productions has teamed up with Platinum Games (of “Bayonetta” and “Vanquish” fame) to bring about this side story to the Metal Gear Solid lore.

Overall, the VGA’s are getting better. Spike TV seems to understand that gamers tune in to the show to watch the major announcements and see their games earning honors. It almost seems fair to allow for rampant celebrity pushing when we see the developers stumble over their acceptance speeches, live TV is not for everyone. However, having a speech being cut short by a man in military garb tea-bagging the speaker or shoving some rather important awards into a montage during a commercial break is stuff that needs to go. We are a long way from the gala night seen at the Oscars, frankly, we may never get there. But once the gamers who watch the show are treated with as much respect as the games being awarded, then we will have a night to remember.

The iPort FS-2 is a multipurpose docking system compatible with all 30 pin dock connecting iPods.

The purpose of the product is to let you plug your iPod into both a stereo/home theater system and a computer in one fell swoop.

Now, it adds a decent amount of wires to your system, and I felt it would have been much more useful as a wireless product — letting you plug your iPod into the dock near your computer and beam music to the receiver end plugged into your stereo.

There are three situations where the iPort FS-2 is extremely useful. First, if you don’t have front A/V inputs on your home theater receiver, you can plug the iPort in the back and know it’s always there when you need it. Second, if you have a home theater PC used to sync songs on your iPod. Finally, it’s also useful if your household has more than one iPod — you can swap them back and forth and listen to your tunes on your home system.

I had preconceived reservations at first, but the iPort is one of the best A/V iPod docking solutions out there. It basically lets you plug all the audio and video wires into your receiver one time and forget it. Now all you have to do is drop any iPod in and you’re ready to go.

iPort created the product to allow users to plug into computers and receivers at the same time, but unless you have a computer a few feet from your stereo/receiver (or a laptop) I don’t see how that’s possible.

If you do have a computer or home theater PC nearby (and aren’t just playing music off that…) then it’s great.

The system supports A/V wires of up to 25 feet though, so you can definitely navigate across the room. The iPort company offers a bunch of in-wall solutions that go longer (up to 500 feet of audio in some cases), but this is their desktop variant, and it’s definitely a handy gadget.

Music and video are both crisp and clear. Give this one a shot.

Quick hits:

Developer: iPort
Platform: iPod
Launch Date: June 6, 2006

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Don Bouchard, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing at high-end audio/video cable maker Ultralink, is recovering in a Houston hospital after suffering serious injuries in a motorcycle accident this week.

“He is expected to recover and is surrounded by his family, close friends and business associates at this time,” said James Noyd of Noyd Communications.

Bouchard is one of the more charismatic figures in the A/V world. Over the past 30 years, he has done work with Ohm Acoustics, Dahlquist, Acoustic Research, Red Rose Music, Denon and Cello. He is also a successful motivational speaker, spokesman, and educator with clients that have included IBM, Tandy, HP, Maritz Corp. and Merrill Lynch, Noyd said.