Spike TV Announces 2005 Video Game Awards

North American television channel Spike TV has announced initial details of its 2005 VGA Video Game Awards, which will be held on Friday, November 18 at Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, California. Though held and recorded on that date, the awards themselves will be shown on Spike TV on Saturday, December 10 at 9 pm ET/PT. Last year's awards, hosted by hiphop star Snoop Dogg, were led by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which won four 'Vector Monkey' accolades. In addition, beginning on Tuesday, November 8, Spike TV has announced a week of programming in honor of the 2005 Video Game Awards nominations being announced. This will include movies related to former or current video games such as Street Fighter and The Warriors, as well as special episodes of the channel's 'The Ultimate Gamer' show. Finally, that week will offer a special premiere of its MXC (Most Extreme Elimination Challenge) show, a redubbed version of the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle which promises a 'Real Mafia vs. Video Game Industry' competition. Apparently, the popular Beat Takeshi-helmed action game show will be revoiced to resemble what happens when "...the real life mafia tries to ice the video game industry. It's the classic battle of hit men vs. Pac Men."