One thing you have to say for the Spike Video Game Awards (VGAs):  even if you don’t like the results, the awards have done a very good job at attracting top publisher and developers into announcing new titles that are in development, showing off titles that are further along since we last saw them, or finally confirming ship dates for titles that we are expecting. The VGAs on Saturday night gave us a little bit of all of this.

Electronic Arts confirmed what we had previously already had been telling you, with the news that SSX would be making a return with the new SSX: Deadly Descents. Our initial impression from what we saw makes it hard to tell where this title is going; but already we are hearing a good amount of mumbling that from what we saw in the trailer, it didn’t look anything like a hybrid of SSX Tricky and SSX 3 (which is what many gamers seem to want). We will have to wait and see on this one, but it is slated for arrival during late 2011.

Microsoft confirmed the new Forza 4, which will be hitting the track for a fall 2011 release. Our sources tell us that this will be a hybrid title that will offer controller and steering wheel support, but will offer the Kinect interaction that we have already seen; but it is currently unknown if you will be able to use Kinect to actually drive all of the cars in all of the modes in the game. This does not end the speculation that an additional title might be coming from Turn 10, which is a Kinect-only Forza title, but right now our sources seem to think that the focus is clearly on Forza 4.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception received a release date, which is 11/1/2011 that was confirmed in the new trailer. THQ showed off a new title called inSane that is being designed in conjunction with Guillermo Del Toro and being developed by Volition. Look for inSane some time in 2013. Rumors of Prototype getting a sequel are now confirmed, with Prototype 2 arriving on dealer shelves in 2012. Resistance 3 is now confirmed for arrival on September 6, 2011, which will finally end a three-year wait. Thor: Gold of Thunder will be arriving on May 3rd, 2011.

Skyrim: Elder Scrolls 5 was finally officially confirmed and surprisingly got a release date of 11/11/11, which means that it has been in development for almost as long as we have wanted to see this title happen. Mass Effect 3, the final chapter in the trilogy was finally officially confirmed for a holiday release in 2011 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Mortal Kombat fans that own a PlayStation 3 will be excited to learn that Kratos will be a playable character exclusive to the PlayStation 3 when the title arrives for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. Batman: Arkham City is not confirmed for a holiday 2011 release.

Overall, there was a lot to see from the trailers and release announcements within the trailers. Of course, many of the trailers didn’t feature a lot of in-game footage, but several of the announcements were big ones. The news does offer some clarity ahead of E3 as to what the release schedule for 2011 is going to look like, and it already seems that we are going to see a significant number of triple-A titles for 2011.