Giant Bomb Mega Thread

[spatular]

listening to the podcast this week it sounds like Patrick is going to spoil 999 in the GOTY podcast. I hope he doesn't or there's time stamps on the net before I listen to it, because I've just ordered it and it wont be here until after christmas

ooh, where did you order from? been thinking about picking that up.

[DANGERMAN]

Videogamesplus I think it comes to about £17

[spatular]

Cheers!

[retroed]

New site is live. It's rather good.

http://www.giantbomb.com/

[DANGERMAN]

not to be mean, but I was amazed when Ryan said he was 33. I think him and Jeff are the same age and I'd have put them both nearer to 40. I'm only a couple of years younger than them but I'm aging better than I thought

[retroed]

not to be mean, but I was amazed when Ryan said he was 33.

Me too.

Also only a couple years younger!

[DANGERMAN]

I'm going to stop short of saying that I'm 'done' with giantbomb, but I've not been using their site very much recently. I've not bothered with the last 2 podcasts, partly because I don't really get time for a 3 hour podcast any more, partly because I started listening to the post GDC conference one and it was awful. I disagree with them on a lot of stuff, the rest of it the time they're just talking nonsense or making stuff up

Their video stuff has one really down hill too, it seems it only exists now to promote their friends stuff. Pre GDC Brad Muir was on, then he was on again with Double Fine for the pc release of Brutal Legend (this is after they heavy featured The Cave). The week after they gave over 2 hours to Dave Lang and his new game, which really doesn't need 2 hours of coverage, and likely wouldn't get any if he wasn't involved. Then they had Disney's skylanders-a-like, again seemingly because it was promoted by a friend of theirs. Their post GDC wrap up was just them drinking with their industry buddies (why are reviewers attending a Developers conference anyway? Only one of them seemed to do any work while there)

Today Ryan has used his twitter, and used Giant Bomb (not the site, mainly Jeff) to promote a kickstarter for an app for their hilarious joke about how many times John Drake gets on a plane. It's made a huge amount of money already, something I think they'd have to be idiots not to expect given their fanbase. It's crass, it feels like taking advantage of their audience. And that's after the mailbag this week where Patrick got a computer that outstrips any of ours on the site, sent to him for free from a fan. They seem to be disappearing up their arses, and Vinny (plus Drew and Dave), and maybe Brad, I can't say I actually like any of them especially

[Hendo]

I don't follow them on twitter and also only listen to the Bombcast and watch a few Quicklooks, that's fine for me.

[Sly Reflex]

I had enough of the cunts years ago. Occasionally they shine, but nowhere near enough to be considered 'professionals'. You guys are more insightful, I sometimes might not agree with you, but I know what you are saying is what you believe. With GB I find almost everything painfully inaccurate or uninformed.

I find it pretty crazy they are held in such a regard. I'd rather have someone like Leon Cox or Sean Bell in their position. Again, I might not agree with them, but at least they know what they are talking about. It's that what I respect.

[wholehole]

I still enjoy their content, although I've never held them to any standards. They're not doing anything that any one of us couldn't do given the resources and opportunity.

As for the Kickstarter thing, if their community wants to chuck money at them for something that was always meant to be a joke, go right ahead. the guy developing only wanted $550, he's now got in excess of $9000. To publish an app. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they waited until it was nearly over then knocked it on the head. That's far to much money being thrown around for the sake of a joke.

[DANGERMAN]

I think they will too tbh, still going to look shady even if that was the plan all along

[Craymen Edge]

As for the Kickstarter thing, if their community wants to chuck money at them for something that was always meant to be a joke, go right ahead. the guy developing only wanted $550, he's now got in excess of $9000. To publish an app

Yeah that's how I feel about it. I don't see an issue. Its exactly what kickstarter is for: someone proposes their project and people can choose to back it or not.

He was clear about costs and what it paid for.

[retroed]

I still love the Giant Bomb crew. Even Klepek. I've never understood the hate he attracts.

[halfagogo]

i stil enjoy the podcasts (never use the site) and look forward to it every week. sometimes they go on about shite that I couldnt care less about and they rarely speak of games these days that are of interest to me (end of gen drought, i dont do ios or pc games etc).

I like klepik - him and vinnie are the best ones, vinne because he seems the most human & normal andpatrick becasue i really like the way he goes into depth on one game (new or old) - convinced me to invest in binary domain (yet to play).

[wholehole]

I never understood the hate towards him either. He does so much work for that site with the amount of news and content he publishes and all the busywork at the conferences. I don't always agree with his point of view but he definitely knows his shit and I appreciate what he does for the site, especially his Worth Reading article.

The only person in the crew that I have any problem with in a critical capacity, is Brad Shoemaker. Time and time again during Quick Looks and the Bombcast he's proven that he's crap at most games. I just wonder how a person can publish a critique of a game that isn't fully understood. It makes me wonder whether the things he's calls a problem are with the game or the fact he's missed something obvious.

Even so, I wouldn't want him turfed out or anything. He still brings a unique point of view on things. I feel much the same about Chet Roivas & John Denton and I still enjoy listening to their stuff.

[DANGERMAN]

As for the Kickstarter thing, if their community wants to chuck money at them for something that was always meant to be a joke, go right ahead. the guy developing only wanted $550, he's now got in excess of $9000. To publish an app

Yeah that's how I feel about it. I don't see an issue. Its exactly what kickstarter is for: someone proposes their project and people can choose to back it or not.

He was clear about costs and what it paid for.

The problem is that Ryan would know their fanbase would donate, regardless of whether these people can afford it that's taking advantage and ethically unsound.

I don't agree Patrick knows his stuff either, for a news expert he gets a lot of stuff wrong. He's a weird mix though, on one hand the most willing to try something new on the other immensely cynical

To defend Brad too, he is very good at some stuff. His Starcraft ranking and the Quake tnt show that

[wholehole]

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about his love of Starcraft. That's one of the few subjects I do enjoy listening about from him.

I'm not sure about them taking advantage. Obviously I don't know them personally but I don't think they'd do something as intentionally malicious as that. It goes against the entire ethos of their site. I still believe it's just a joke between friends that's gotten out of hand due to an overzealous community.

[Craymen Edge]

The problem is that Ryan would know their fanbase would donate, regardless of whether these people can afford it that's taking advantage and ethically unsound.

huh? I don't even... You know that sounds metal, right?

[DANGERMAN]

I'm going to assume you mean mental, and no it doesn't. I'm not saying they're trying to rip people off, but they must know that their fanbase will support them, they've got premium memberships and got sent a £1k pc last week along with apple tv and a bunch of other expensive stuff. Taking advantage of that, assuming this wasn't always a kickstarter they were going to cancel, is ethically unsound, it's principally the same as when that site set up amazon wish lists for their fans to buy them stuff from

[Sly Reflex]

Sly in agreement with Ben shocker!