And the Vector Monkey goes to ...

The second annual Spike TV Video Game Awards, held Tuesday evening at Santa Monica Airport’s Barker Hangar and broadcast live, had all the traditional awards-show trappings: packed-to-the-gills red-carpet entrances, a celebrity-filled audience and an A-list host, rapper Snoop Dogg.

So maybe the best thing is to compare it to the Oscars.

Best picture? That would be game of the year, won by Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. The action-adventurer was the night’s big winner, taking home four Vector Monkey statuettes (a golden cartoon monkey wearing a tilted crown, holding a joystick and standing on a pedestal).

And best director? That would be designer of the year Jason Jones of Bungie Studios for Halo 2. Other awards handed out -- and not so easily compared to the Oscars -- included cyber vixen of the year, won by BloodRayne of BloodRayne 2; best driving game, for Burnout 3: Takedown; and best game based on a movie, won by the Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay.

What seemed lacking was a genuine sense of surprise by the winners. Brooke Burke won best performance by a human female for her role in Need for Speed Underground 2. Hey, wasn’t that the same Brooke Burke who hosted the pre-show? And rockers Green Day were in the audience all ready to -- you guessed it -- accept their award for best song in a video game for “American Idiot,” featured in Madden NFL 2005.

Samuel L. Jackson at least seemed sincerely surprised after winning for best performance by a human male, as a crooked cop in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. He let out a belly laugh and said, “This is incredible. Hopefully this is the first of many of these I receive.” Instead of thanking his agents and managers, Jackson dropped a little gamer speak: “If you guys at Rockstar [Games, makers of “Grand Theft Auto”] are listening, next year I want to do my own motion capture.”

Of course, what would an awards show be without musical numbers? Host Snoop Dogg was joined by super-producer Pharrell for a slamming live version of their hit “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and Motley Crue got together after a seven-year layoff to play a couple of hits, “Girls, Girls, Girls” and “Dr. Feelgood.”

The show even had its own version of the Academy Awards’ Governors Ball, an invitation-only after-party at the Koreatown nightclub Le Prive, where presenter Bobby Crosby (the Oakland A’s rookie of the year shortstop) chatted with the two Victoria’s Secret “Angels” who had been helping Snoop pass out trophies. (They were still dressed in the same white dresses they had on at the show, minus their feathered wings.)

But probably the biggest difference between the two award shows was the length. The Spike show ended exactly two hours after it began. Take that, Oscars.

The show airs again at 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 a.m. Sunday and 11:05 p.m. Monday.