Aside from wardrobe malfunctions, star-on-star assaults, and misfiring awards like the "La La Land" fiasco at the 2017 Academy Awards, every awards director's worst nightmare is a meandering, unscripted acceptance speech. This year's Game Awards was a disaster less than five minutes into the event.

In a moment of sincerity and uniquely Hollywood smugness, Christopher Judge, the voice of Kratos in God of War, and Hollywood legend Al Pacino formed a powerful Voltron that was awkward and endearing for a brief moment.

Pacino was the first envelope bearer at the awards ceremony, a surprise appearance by the big-name actor. He began by saying that he probably shouldn't have been there and didn't know his lines: "This is an unexpected experience for me, but as always I surprise myself. But anyway, this may come as a shock to you all, but it's hard for me to watch the teleprompter."

"As a matter of fact, I don't really play video games," the Oscar winner continued.

It may not be what you want to hear on a show dedicated to video games, but Pacino's narrative was at least pure and warm. As a veteran of countless such shows, he saved the moment as best he could, making his nephew look like a grandfather reluctantly appearing at a talent show.

Taking a natural pause before reading off the winners, Pacino began lifting the awards like dumbbells. I'm in the middle of a workout," he said. 'That's fine with you, right? Pacino asked as he held the winged trophy above his head. It's a cute, harmless stunt for the Hollywood game, and certainly nothing compared to director Michael Bay's 2014 tantrum (open in new tab) at the tech show CES.

Nominated for best acting were Charlotte McBurney ("A Tale of Plagues: Requiem"), Manon Gage ("Immortality"), Sunny Suljic ("God of War: Ragnarok"), and Christopher Judge, also of Ragnarok The winner of the award was Judge won the award. Judge, who voiced Kratos, took the stage in a shiny black and gold outfit with his young co-star hugging his side.

As Pacino handed off the award (recalling that he had been in a very good football movie), Judge marveled at the award for a moment, then saw Pacino step away from the microphone and off his mark to tap one of the most influential actors of the 20th century on the shoulder, Kratos tracked him down as he chased after Hellwalker. Luckily, Pacino was in the mood, and their hug was both sweet and uncomfortable at the same time. The best actor in the game used a moment about himself to hug the actual best actor award winner.

The wind was not at his back at this point, and the judges then began his acceptance. His first action was to ridicule the organizers of The Game Awards." Now I know why I didn't get more than a plus one."

Then it became more conventional." I want to thank my mom. Mom never wavered in her belief that I could accomplish something good. Judge was a well-deserved moment of recognition as an actor who has worked for many years. He gave heartfelt acknowledgements to his brother and his children before moving on to all those involved in God of War/Ragnarok.

And I mean everyone.

First our director, Cory Barlog, then our director of product development, Yumi Yang ("for the first time ever, the trickle-down theory actually worked"), then Rich, Dolly, Bruno, Erica, the entire sound team, and as you know, the entire development team.

Judge then began a long anecdote about how he came to accept the role. Cory didn't think I was actually going to do it," Judge recalled, "but if I had known at the time that it was a video game, I might not have done it."

Judge specifically noted Eric Williams, who is credited with "additional design" on the first God of War. Eric Williams is a hell of a beast," the actor said simply, and then shared a story about how Williams encouraged him when he was recording dialogue for a game under tight time constraints.

"Cinematics has a time frame you have to fit in," Judge explained, then turned and grinned at Pacino and Keely. 'I hope that wasn't a speech. By this time, the "Get off the stage" music, which had presumably been sealed in a secure vault and required two simultaneous keycard entries in the previous five minutes, had begun to play, pushing Judge toward completion.

Judge concluded by thanking his co-star, Sunny Suljic, who played Atreus, also nominated for best performance." Sunny, I'm not lying, I voted for you." After declaring, he moved on to an important note.

"Never forget the two things I hopefully gave you: hire me, and don't be a jerk."

From Pacino to Judge, the moment lasted 12 minutes, which is more than an eternity in a show where the fate of a game's marketing is born and died between a 90-second trailer and a 30-second teaser.

Geoff Keighley, with his usual Canadian humor, passed it off with a smile at Segue. Said Keighley, "I think he [the judge] was trying to hand out a few extra steam decks."

And you know what? It ruled. Judge's monologue, which followed Pacino's sleepy intro, came out of nowhere, spontaneous, unexpected, more than a little cringe-worthy, and heartfelt. Also, Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, but no one was hurt.

Besides, Chris Judge took 10 minutes of our time. Forget "God of War", have you seen him in "Stargate SG-1"?