Samuel L. Jackson Back to Host Spike TV's 2006 Video Game Awards the Year's Biggest Celebration for Gamers

4th Annual Gaming Extravaganza Premieres Wednesday, December 13 at 10:00 PM; Tapes at USC's Galen Center in LA; James Caan, Rosario Dawson, Johnny Depp, James Gandolfini, Seth Green, Brittany Murphy, Patrick Stewart, Kiefer Sutherland and James Woods All Nominated for their Performances in Video Games

Voting Starts Today, Only On www.vga2006.spiketv.com

NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Spike TV presents an action, adventure, fantasy and sports gamer's paradise when mega star Samuel L. Jackson hosts the 4th annual Spike TV 2006 Video Game Awards (VGAs) premiering on Wednesday, December 13 (10:00 PM-Midnight, ET/PT).

Spike TV's 2006 Video Game Awards tapes on Friday, December 8 at the University of Southern California's Galen Center in Los Angeles with the two-hour "games vs. games" extravaganza.

"This year's show will be all about bringing the games alive on screen, huge world premieres and game inspired performances that will blow the roof off of our biggest event yet," says Casey Patterson, Executive Producer VGA's and Senior Vice President, Event Production and Talent Development for Spike TV. "There is nobody cooler than our returning host, gamer god Sam Jackson to lead the virtual madness."

Voting for this year's nominees on www.vga2006.spiketv.com starts today and runs through Thursday, December 7. Also online, fans can log on to view exclusive red carpet and backstage coverage of the event.

The official sponsors of Spike TV's 2006 Video Game Awards are Burger King(R), Mountain Dew, Pontiac, Stride(TM) Gum, U.S. Air Force and Verizon Wireless.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion from Bethesda Softworks tops this year's VGA nominations with ten including "Game of the Year," "Most Addictive," and "Best Performance by a Human - Male" for actor Patrick Stewart as well as "Studio of the Year" for Bethesda Softworks and designer Todd Howard. Company of Heroes (THQ) and Gears of War (Microsoft) each have six nominations. All categories and nominees are listed below.

Nominees of Spike TV's 2006 Video Game Awards were determined by the VGA Advisory Council, made up of a group of gaming industry experts. Winners will be determined by votes from the Video Game Industry Voting Council and consumer voting. The winner in the "Most Addictive Game" category will solely be determined by viewer voting.

Spike TV's 2006 Video Game Awards 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 at the future of gaming -- including exclusive sneak peeks and world premiere footage of some of the hottest and most anticipated games of 2007 and beyond.

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 for Spike TV will serve as Executive Producers of Spike TV's 2006 Video Game Awards. Alicia Portugal will serve as Producer and Scott Fishman is the Executive in Charge of Production. Beth McCarthy will serve as director.

The full list of nominees is too large to bother posting here. However, we will include the categories and games Nintendo is up for an award:

CRITIC'S CHOICE

(game to be released after 11/15/2006 & before 12/31/2006)

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)

Wii Sports (Nintendo)

BEST ACTION GAME

New Super Mario Bros (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)

CYBER VIXEN OF THE YEAR

Princess Peach - New Super Mario Bros. (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Electroplankton (Nintendo)

BEST HANDHELD GAME

New Super Mario (Nintendo/Nintendo EAD)

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (Nintendo)

Tetris DS (Nintendo)

BREAKTHROUGH TECHNOLOGY

WII (Nintendo)

DS Lite (Nintendo)

Electroplankton (Nintendo)

MOST ADDICTIVE

Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day (Nintendo)

You can see Nintendo's competition in these categories, including the full list of categories and nominees, at the Spike TV website.