The Community Spotlight 2024.03.30

Hello, Giant Bomb Community and welcome to the latest edition of The Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best community creations and site-related news from the previous week.

PAX East 2024 might be over, but if you missed the event or couldn't catch the live streams when they happened, everything is available for your viewing pleasure NOW! Here's a list of the Giant Bomb staff panel appearances and Giant Bomb panels both on the site and elsewhere:

• Kinda Funny Game Showdown - w/ Ify Nwadiwe, Jeff Grubb, & Jared Petty
• Dandoko Dare - PAX East 2024
• Voicemail Dump Truck 108 | PAX East 2024 [Video] & [Audio Only]
• The Giant Beastcast: Never Been a Better Beastcast! - PAX East 2024

Not gonna lie. Seeing The Beastcast RSS Feed update for the first time in years got me and if you really want something touching from PAX East, here's an image that @alwaysbeclothing captured while attending the event.

There are a few updates when it comes to bugs on the site. After multiple people reported seeing black screens when trying to watch videos on the site, the video player has been re-prioritized as a top issue that requires an immediate solution. The same goes for the growing number of people that are trying to renew their premium subscriptions but are having their preferred payment forms rejected. This particular issue seems to be specific to PayPal, but it still shouldn't exist and is in the works of being resolved.

Finally, I have a weird anniversary to mention. March 29th marked the 14th anniversary of when @marino and I joined the Giant Bomb Moderation team. Fourteen years is a long time to do anything, let alone be committed to a singular source of entertainment and hobby enthusiasm, but here we are. I have been on this site trying to make it a safe and fun place for fourteen years. To really hit home how much things have changed, here's the PM that invited Marino to the moderation team; bonus points to anyone who remembers some of these names.

There are so many people that I can still recall meeting on this site and interacting with in the early days of Giant Bomb that are no longer here, and there are also many of you I have only recently met. To each and every one of you, including those that may never read this, know that you are appreciated, loved, and welcomed here. You have all made the last fourteen years incredibly entertaining as well as enlightening. In fact, if it were not for you, I wouldn't continue to do this very feature. As a wise man once opined, it's been a long road getting from here to there.

Galleria

Dan Tonight! (By: @jearum)

You'll have to probe jearum for details on what they were thinking with this one, but in response to Mike posting a picture of Dan next to a banana, jearum decided to imagine Dan as Mac Tonight but in fruit form.

Here We Goku Again (By: @ogto)

I don't even know how it is possible, but Dan has stated that he has forgotten all of DBZ Kai. Equally shocked, ogto imagined Giant Bomb doing another DBZ podcast but has a suggestion on what to call it....

Grubb - I Owe You An Apology Meme (By: @kone)

After Grubb apologized to Jan for his Cyclops ignorance, Kone took a chance to pounce on him to generate a quick work of Photoshop-based goodness. This Shaq meme may never die and I'm all here for it.

Jeff Grubb, The Gambler (By: @chucktowski)

So... it appears that Grubb was not lying about winning $10k from doing a joke bet on hockey. To hit home Grubb's new status as an elite gambler, chucktowski made this work of "art."

I Don't Even Know What To Call This (By: @KinguAmoz)

I normally have an easy time relaying the context to staff-related art on the Spotlight but this one is a doozy. On social media, someone shared a crocheted nude version of their idea of a "perfect boyfriend" and someone pointed out that the result looked like Grubb. Grubb has now seen this crocheted work of "art" and doesn't know how to react. Over on Twitter, KingAmoz made this to try and break Grubb from his denial.

I'm going to be perfectly honest, I debated if I wanted to share this because uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Tweets

Video

The Death of Jois Jane - An Animated Giant Bomb Superman 64 Blight Club Series - (Episode 2) (By: Pickle Giraffe)

Once again, Pickle Giraffe is back on YouTube with another edition of their Animated Giant Bomb series! This one takes what I think is one of the best individual moments from Blight Club outside of the peaks of Mike's Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero series.

Activities

Solar Ash Is The 7th Game Of UUGPGC Year 3! Finish By April 8! Mark All Spoilers! (By: @bigsocrates)

The Giant Bomb Game Pass Game Club has selected Solar Ash by Heart Machine as the next game! Do you have any non-spoiler thoughts about this action-adventure title?

The GB Album Club 057 - Kentucky by Panopticon (By: @unclejam23)

This edition of the Album of the Week Club is for Kentucky by Panopticon! What do you make of Panopticon's mix of black metal with bluegrass and activist and environmental messages? Join the discussion and conversation over here!

Blogs

I'm Going To Write About The New Alone In The Dark Reboot Because No One Else Will (By: @arbitrarywater)

ArbitraryWater is an expert on the Alone in the Dark franchise AND dubious horror games. With their latest blog on the site they review the latest Alone in the Dark game and share why they found it to be a thoroughly 7/10 experience.

Mento's Month: March '24 (By: @mento)

Mento is here to discuss the games from March that they played and (hopefully) enjoyed! Fighting CHAOS ended up being their "Game of the Month" but you read the rest of their gaming highlights.

Indie Game of the Week 363: A Little to the Left (By: @mento)

Mento also has a new edition of their "Indie Game of the Week" feature on the site and this one is all about A Little To The Left! Did they enjoy its mix of cozy art and household organizational gameplay?

Working My Shoot Friends Playing An RPG As A Kayfabe Gimmick (Looking For More Terms To Use) (By: @wulfbane)

WulfBane roped a few of their friends into an Avatar Legends pen & paper RPG campaign! How are things going so far? Read all about it, and share suggestions on how to RP in the world of Avatar, in the blog linked above.

What's The Greatest Video Game: NBA Inside Drive 2002 (By: @imunbeatable80)

imunbeatable80 is on the site with a new edition of their "What's The Greatest Video Game" feature and this one is about NBA Inside Drive 2002! Remember when Xbox had its own sports games in case they got Dreamcast-ed by EA? (Editor's Note: Also because EA Sports wasn't on Xbox Live)

Virtual High and Middles Part 2 of 3 Mr. Cyberpunk‘s Part in A Long War +

Virtual High and Middles Part 3 of 3 Holiday Special (By: @infantpipoc)

infantpipoc's retrospective on The Matrix film series to mark the 25th anniversary of the first film wraps up with a reviews of The Matrix Reloaded, Revolutions, and Resurrections. Read why they love/hate the sequels to the first film, and definitely respect The Wachowski's creative audaciousness at times.

The Price Of Contra: Operation Galuga Shows The Serious Price Increases Of Some "Smaller" Games (By: @bigsocrates)

bigsocrates decided to give Contra: Operation Galuga a shot and penned a blog on why its a sign of the growing price of smaller video game projects, which is an understandable trend, but on they still struggle with personally.

I've Been Playing Games On Console Since The NES And This Game Just Showed Me A Glitch I'd Never Seen Before! (By: @bigsocrates)

Likewise, bigsocrates gave RoboCop: Rogue City a shot and shares a fairly nasty run-in with a bug that they think speaks to the need for modern games to still have the option of manual saves. Have you ever been screwed by auto-save only games?

Discussion Threads

Hottest Mess 2024: Spring Check-In (By: @allthedinos)

We are a quarter of the way done with 2024 and there are already front-runners for "Hottest Mess" in the world of video games. ALLTheDinos is the one who runs the community voting for this category and is taking early suggestions on what to put on their list of nominees.

Important Blight Club News! Alex Navarro Is Subjecting Dan To Two Games! (By: @zombiepie)

CALLING ALL COMMUNITY MEMBERS! There's some pretty important news regarding the future of Blight Club! Here's a summary of what went down over the weekend at PAX East 2024, and join everyone in praying for Dan!

Stellar Blade Demo Impressions Sharing Thread (By: @spacemanspiff00)

Sooo... how many of you have checked out the demo for Stellar Blade? Does the game have any assets other than what everyone else is talking about? Join the community conversation about its "style," sci-fi setting, and fast-paced gameplay mechanics.

Take-Two Buys Gearbox Interactive For $460 Million From Embracer, Which Embracer Bought For $1.3 Billion (By: @zombiepie)

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is buying Gearbox Software LLC for $460 million, but not all of Gearbox! Get the details on the news and join the Giant Bomb discussion if this is a good or bad change for Gearbox by clicking the link.

What Is Your Favorite Pokémon Of Gen 1? (By: @topcyclist)

Call me basic, but I like Charizard and Blastoise as well as the legendary birds in generation one of Pokémon. Also, Bulbasaur is dumb. This is a discussion about the best and coolest Pokémon, not dumbest looking plant-dog-like things!

Lists

Fighting Games with no Motion Inputs or Combination Input Special Moves (By: @bluejay)

We have an INCREDIBLE new list that needs YOUR HELP! BlueJay is working on a list of every single fighting game that has "no Motion Inputs or Combination Input Special Moves!" Share suggestions here!

Werecats (By: @jacobproper1)

As JacobProper1 lays out in this list, there seems to be a handful of cat-like video game characters or those that can willingly transform into felines that are not werewolves. They're trying to create a list of every example of this and you can feel free to send them suggestions of characters they have missed.

Wiki Of The Week

PAX East 2024

Huge props to @marino for not only taking TONS of photos of Giant bomb's panels at PAX East 2024, but also sharing their other images of what took place at the convention. Even if you were not able to attend, you can kind of image what it was like thanks to Marino's tireless effort to capture everything.