Zachary Levi Plugs in as Host of Spike TV's 2011 "Video Game Awards"

NEW YORK, Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --Star of NBC's "Chuck," voice actor for "Fallout: New Vegas" and "Halo: Reach," owner of the nerd culture site www.TheNerdMachine.com and video game super fan Zachary Levi will host Spike TV's 2011 "Video Game Awards" (#VGA).  Telecasting from Los Angeles, CA and featuring some of the most notable names in video games, Hollywood, music, sports and more, the two-hour event honoring the outstanding achievements within the video game industry over the past year will premiere LIVE on Spike TV, MTV2 and Spike.com on Saturday, December 10 at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT.

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"Zac Levi is an avid gamer who is truly a part of gaming culture and understands the fans," says Casey Patterson, Executive Producer and Executive Vice President, Event Production, Talent & Studio Relations for Viacom Entertainment Group.  "He has great ideas about this year's show.  Zac is all about honoring the year in gaming and ushering in the future by showcasing massive world premieres at this year's event.  We're excited to be working with Zac."

Audience members and viewers will also be treated to a live performance by Grammy Award recording artists The Black Keys, who will perform their video game hit, "Lonely Boy," and the duration of the festivities will feature Grammy nominee and dance music innovator deadmau5, who will transform the show with his visual representation of sound into a real life video game experience.

Among the list of presenters and attendees are Sports Illustrated cover model and star of "Battleship" Brooklyn Decker, "Family Guy" star and voice of Joker in the "Mass Effect" series Seth Green, cast members of "Workaholics" Blake Anderson, Adam Devine and Anders Holm, multiplatinum and Grammy Award-winning recording artist LL Cool J, stars of the upcoming "American Reunion" Jason Biggs and Seann William Scott, the most prolific quarterback and wide receiver combination in NFL history, Hall of Famers Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, and many more to be announced shortly. 

This year, Spike TV will be bestowing the Gamer God Award upon the three founders of Blizzard Entertainment for their immense contributions to the electronic gaming medium.  Creators of the "World of Warcraft," "Starcraft" and "Diablo" entertainment universes, Blizzard is celebrating its 20th anniversary – as well as the 15th anniversary of "Diablo" – in 2011.  Co-founders Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce will accept the award and treat Blizzard's global community to the full never-before-seen opening cinematic of the company's upcoming release, "Diablo III."

The talent joins the already announced never-before-seen world premieres of the most anticipated games of 2012 and beyond, including BioWare's next project, the next "Alan Wake" game and "Metal Gear Solid: Rising," "Tom Clancy's Rainbow 6 Patriots," "Transformers: Fall of Cybertron," and Most Anticipated Game nominee, "BioShock Infinite" as part this year's "VGA" festivities. 

For additional information about other "VGA" world exclusives and announcements, fans can log onto VGA.spike.com and get updates via Twitter @SPIKE_TV, as well as the hashtag #VGA. 

Leading the way with 12 nominations at the 2011 "VGAs" is "Portal 2" by Valve.  Rocksteady Studios' second adventure featuring the Dark Knight, "Batman: Arkham City" garnered 10 nominations, while the third chapter in the Nathan Drake adventure, "Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception" by Naughty Dog and independent game "Bastion" rounded out the top most- nominated games with 9 and 5 nods each, respectively.

Nominees for Spike TV's 2011 "Video Game Awards" were determined by the VGA Advisory Council, made up of a group of some of the most well-respected video game journalists from media outlets including Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, Game Informer Magazine, Kotaku, Joystiq, GameSpot, IGN and WIRED.

For the first time, Viacom Media Networks will broaden the reach and impact of the 2011 "VGAs" by simultaneously airing the show LIVE on both Spike TV and MTV2, as well as on Spike.com.  Internationally, the "VGAs" will air in over 100 countries and territories around the world. 

Mark Burnett, Casey Patterson and Carol Donovan will serve as executive producers of Spike TV's 2011 "Video Game Awards."

The presenting sponsors for the 2011 "Video Game Awards" are the all-new Chevy Sonic, Dr Pepper TEN, KFC Hot Wings and KRAFT Macaroni & Cheese Dinner.  Energizer® Ultimate Lithium is the associate sponsor, with AXE and Mission Impossible-Ghost Protocol serving as digital sponsors.

Spike TV is available in 99.8 million homes and is a division of Viacom Entertainment Group.  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 http://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. Follow us on Twitter @spiketvpr for the latest in breaking news updates, behind-the-scenes information and photos.

SOURCE Spike TV