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Giant Bomb News

381 Comments

Phase Two Is Go

We're saying goodbye to Sausalito and moving back to the big city. Our time is now.


Maybe a bit too literal, but hey, whatever works. 
Maybe a bit too literal, but hey, whatever works. 
I'm coming to you live, from my house... in my underwear. Just felt I should get that out of the way up front, but the reason for all the partial nudity is that we're between offices right now. Wednesday was our last official day in the old offices, and we spent most of that day packing everything up, slapping labels onto it, and drinking. Actually, I was driving, so I mostly watched other people drink. And I'm extremely lazy, so I mostly watched other people pack, too.

It's a big move for us that comes at the exact right time. With the addition of Tested and Screened to the Whiskey Media posse, Sausalito is now officially too small to contain us. So our new office is a bigger spot that'll give us more studio space, a dedicated podcast room, and, weirdly enough, an entire room devoted to our own private whiskey bar. I believe in the business world they call that "walking the walk?" This also means that I'll be able to make vague threats directly to Alex every time a bad game shows up in the mail and constantly pester Will to help me figure out which laser mouse is right for me without having to walk upstairs.

We'll have more to show of the old office getting dismantled and new office in the near future. But there's more going on than just a new basement to call home.

 The Human Tape Measure goes to work.
 The Human Tape Measure goes to work.
The number one question we get around here goes something like "how the hell do you guys stay in business with no ads on the site?" We've sold a few T-shirts in the past, but to be honest, those happened because we thought they'd be cool, not because we ever expected to make a huge profit on them. Same deal with the iPhone app, which is rapidly losing value now that you can view those same videos using your phone's browser. For us, it's been all about building a regular audience and treating the people that choose to spend their time with us with the respect they deserve. The business dudes have done some ad deals in the past, and they've signed a deal with an external firm called Six Apart, which will be largely responsible with putting ads onto Giant Bomb and the other Whiskey Media sites.

It's funny, a lot of people wanted to guarantee us a whole lot of money up front for the ability to sell ads on our sites. For just about any other company I can think of, this would have been the "cha-ching" moment, where you start grabbing as much cash as possible. That's the easy way out. We've gone a different way with it, instead focusing on putting a system in place that should hopefully prevent the Internet's worst types of advertising from ever sullying our pages. We're doing what we can to make sure that the ads don't ruin your experience on our site. There will be site skins, but you definitely won't see one every day. There will be banner ads, but not for dick pills or "YOU PUNCH MONKEY 4 FREE IPODZ" or all of the other bullshit that makes a website start to stink. It's nice to be working with guys that understand the value of your experience with our sites. My guess is that there will be some bumps in the road this month as we get things going, but it feels pretty good to be shifting into "proper business" mode. That'll give us some more leeway to do all of the stupid things that no other game website would dare to even try and continue having fun while we do it.

This is the part where I should come to you, hat in hand, and tell you how ad blockers block the fun in the worst way possible, but I'm not going to tell you how to live your lives. If you absolutely can't stand any form of advertising ever yet you still want to support what we're doing down here, well, we might have some things for you in the fairly near future that'll let you handle that without the intense guilt that comes from knowing that Coonce won't be able to afford any more tracksuits if you're blocking all of the ads.

My understanding is that today is the first official day that Six Apart is beating down doors on our behalf, and our office doors will open once again on Tuesday. In the meantime, we'll be working on some review stuff (I have a lot of Singularity to play) and celebrating... our Independence Day! *cue cheers*
  
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

381 Comments

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LiquidS

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Edited By LiquidS

Congrats on moving forward with the company!
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Daftasabat

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Edited By Daftasabat

Congrats on the new move, i hope it benefits all of you. Just, please don't change the core of what GB has become. I boot up my PC and the 1st site i check out is yours, your QL's your Reviews and your general `i don'r give a fuck` attitude is what sets you apart from the rest. Ads are all well and good but not to the extent where it "inspires" your decision on a game etc. Keep it real and for god sake keep it GB. You guys are unique and i welcome you into my internet home every day. Ad campaigns are worth millions but the smiles and joy you give us is worth so much more.
Keep up the fantastic work, we love you guys

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Death_Burnout

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Edited By Death_Burnout

New office looks sick!

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JauntyHat

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Edited By JauntyHat

Congrats on the move guys. It's a shame the old office became too small to hold all of the teams' awesomeness but at the same time it's good to know that Whiskey Media has become so successful over these past few years :) Godspeed!

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CptBedlam

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Edited By CptBedlam

Going to disable adblock for GB. I really appreciate the existence of this site and the way you guys run it. Good luck in SF and please don't change too much along the way. As long as that special intimate vibe is there, I'll  stay.
 
edit: Geez, it's been already disabled. Who knew...

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Scrumdidlyumptious

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Hooray finally some ads! I'll be clicking on them everyday to keep our Bomb afloat. Already added Giant Bomb to the excluded sites.

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meteora

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Edited By meteora

I'll disable adblocker on GiantBomb, just for you Jeff. ;)

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Rebirth1337

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Edited By Rebirth1337

I never used an AD blocker I guess I became immune to AD's or something I just don't seem to notice them anymore. Anyway I hope the move goes well and I'm looking forward to seeing a Video tour of the new place :D.

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Death_Burnout

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Edited By Death_Burnout
@Rebirth1337 said:
" I never used an AD blocker I guess I became immune to AD's or something I just don't seem to notice them anymore. Anyway I hope the move goes well and I'm looking forward to seeing a Video tour of the new place :D. "
same, totally same.
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MjHealy

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Edited By MjHealy

Onward and upward. I have my ad blocker disabled for the videos anyway and if my viewing of ads keeps Coonce happy, then I'm all for it.

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louiedog

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Edited By louiedog

Giant Bomb and a few selected other sites have been on my ad blocker white list for years. When I find a site that I visit regularly that doesn't use annoying ads, I white list them. It sucks for smaller sites that I stumble onto, but there are enough really terrible ads out there that ruin the web that I feel the need to do it.

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buzz_clik

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Edited By buzz_clik

For some reason, when I think of the dudes moving I have the intro song to Mystical Ninja on N64 playing in my head.
 

 
Godspeed, you lot. See you on the other side.
 
Oh, and I still think the Quest system is one of the coolest methods of advertising I've ever seen on a site. Advertising that's involving and rewarding? Who would have thunk it?
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Yit

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Edited By Yit

I'm gonna have to learn to click on ads again. I love you Whiskey Media.

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Ninja

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Edited By Ninja

I will always be here. I love this website and aslong as the guys keep their freedom to be mad then I will be damned  happy!
 
We all joined on day one to be part of something and I'm glad I still am part of somthing brilliant.

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Uberjannie

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Edited By Uberjannie

I disabled the ad blocker here on gianbomb back when their new mediaplayer wouldnt play movies with it enabled :P

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KainCarver

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Edited By KainCarver

Fully understandable and glad you guys are taking things seriously. I'm curious to see how this plays out & by the sounds of it GIANTBOMB won't turn into one of the many other AD riddled saturated game site out there.

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recroulette

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Edited By recroulette

Movin on up! Congrats on your expansion guys.

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damnboyadvance

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Edited By damnboyadvance

I've never used an ad blocker, Jeff! ;)

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ColdsnapBryan

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Edited By ColdsnapBryan

I think you guys at Giantbomb have the right idea about properly advertising on an internet site. This is coming from someone who is going to school for Marketing so you think i would completely the other way.

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ThePhilatron

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Edited By ThePhilatron

Another reason why I choose Giantbomb first and Gamespot last.

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Claude

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Edited By Claude

I'm not reading 14 pages to find this out. So, everyone is moving? I thought it was just Giant Bomb, but damn, Whiskey Media and its brethren too?
 
If so, that's cool as hell.

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landon

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Edited By landon

Just to be up front, if there is an ad telling me how Sonic has real ice cream and others don't before ever video, I just might leave...but probably not.

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wintermute

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Edited By wintermute
"If you absolutely can't stand any form of advertising ever yet you still want to support what we're doing down here, well, we might have some things for you in the fairly near future that'll let you handle that without the intense guilt that comes from knowing that Coonce won't be able to afford any more tracksuits if you're blocking all of the ads."

 I'm listening.
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deactivated-5d0799277f8eb

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Good luck to you all. You guys made me feel happy whenever I saw an ad on the site, and that says a lot about how much I love what you do. Keep up the good work!

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zanzibarbreeze

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Edited By zanzibarbreeze

I'm going to assume that that's the new place? That thing is a warehouse with carpets. Somebody is about to get a big payola from selling office/room dividers.
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CouncilSpectre

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Edited By CouncilSpectre

I'd consider a paid subscription to block ads.  Otherwise I trust Giant Bomb to do the ad thing properly.

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Ontheocho

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Edited By Ontheocho

Best of luck, as always, gentlemen.
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Shadowsquire

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Edited By Shadowsquire

Congrats on the big move guys! If it ends up getting you guys some profit, and as long as they're not obstructive, I definitely wouldn't mind seeing some ads up on the site. 
And as a side note, I really wouldn't mind seeing some more t-shirts go up on sale either.

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TheRealDJ

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Edited By TheRealDJ

There are only two sites that I don't have ABP for, Giant Bomb and google.

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jkz

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Edited By jkz

Good Luck guys, hope everything goes smoothly. 
 
Also, I just beat Singularity: game is effing great!

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crusnchill

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Edited By crusnchill

Awesome! I didn't even know this site did ads. 
 
Lucky for GB that I can decide which site my pop-up blocker works on. 
 
I trust this site completely with my computer. :-)

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Edited By eternitymemory

 I am green with envy that you guys are moving your business to San Fran. That city is awesome incarnate.  Good luck with the move, and may Whiskey Media make bank like it deserves to.  

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rachelepithet

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Edited By rachelepithet

Millions of Americans refinanced their homes in 2007 with the help of Extenze. Now tell me if the boy in this photo grew up to be Usher, Snoop Dogg, or Tiger Woods, and an 64GB IPAD could be yours!

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Pepsicolaboy

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Edited By Pepsicolaboy

Jeff,  
This is literally the best site on the internet. Do whatever you have to to support it.  
- The GiantBomb community.

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Adent

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Edited By Adent

Damn it I thought you meant Starcraft 2 Beta.

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Kajaah117

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Edited By Kajaah117

This may seem weird, but to me, hearing this news is the equivalent of a mother seeing her child go off to college. They grow up so fast. ='(
 
Seeing this site blossom from a simple blog to the greatest online resource for game info and awesome personalities has been a privilege. The way you guys have managed to strike a balance between professional coverage and small-town community-like atmosphere is a stunning achievement. That goes for all the Whiskey sites. 
 
The future of Whiskey is bright, and I'm not referring to the ludicrous amounts of fluorescents lighting the new office. Keep up the incredible work guys. 

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Crescendo1897

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Edited By Crescendo1897
@Kajaah117 said:
" This may seem weird, but to me, hearing this news is the equivalent of a mother seeing her child go off to college. They grow up so fast. ='(
 
Seeing this site blossom from a simple blog to the greatest online resource for game info and awesome personalities has been a privilege. The way you guys have managed to strike a balance between professional coverage and small-town community-like atmosphere is a stunning achievement. That goes for all the Whiskey sites.  The future of Whiskey is bright, and I'm not referring to the ludicrous amounts of fluorescents lighting the new office. Keep up the incredible work guys.  "
100% Correct my dear sir. Good to know others appreciate this wonderful website as much as myself. I trust the Bomb Squad to not make those ads very intrusive, and I hope to generate revenue for them and maybe the companies advertising on site. Best of luck to the crew!
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Curufinwe

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Edited By Curufinwe

I have ABP disabled for GiantBomb, but I don't see any ads...

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Kajaah117

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Edited By Kajaah117
@Crescendo1897 said:

" @Kajaah117 said:

" This may seem weird, but to me, hearing this news is the equivalent of a mother seeing her child go off to college. They grow up so fast. ='(
 
Seeing this site blossom from a simple blog to the greatest online resource for game info and awesome personalities has been a privilege. The way you guys have managed to strike a balance between professional coverage and small-town community-like atmosphere is a stunning achievement. That goes for all the Whiskey sites.  The future of Whiskey is bright, and I'm not referring to the ludicrous amounts of fluorescents lighting the new office. Keep up the incredible work guys.  "
100% Correct my dear sir. Good to know others appreciate this wonderful website as much as myself. I trust the Bomb Squad to not make those ads very intrusive, and I hope to generate revenue for them and maybe the companies advertising on site. Best of luck to the crew! "
That's one of the greatest things about building up such a tight community and earning the respect of the fans; I'm sure a lot of us have been concerned about how the site earns its revenue, and if whitelisting Giant Bomb on our adblockers is the only thing we need to do to support it, I don't think anybody will have a problem doing that.  
 
.... more shirts and hoodies wouldn't hurt though. *hint hint*
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Dryker

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Edited By Dryker

I'd pay for Giantbomb's content in a heartbeat. I actively avoid ads. I don't watch TV. I turn off radio stations. I even turn away when one pops up on a website. Ads are brainwash. But, if the ads don't slow down the navigation of the site or viewing vids, no big.
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YoThatLimp

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Edited By YoThatLimp

I'll say it again , more tshirts and hoodies please!

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Undeadpool

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Edited By Undeadpool

For some reason I'm just picturing the beginning of 7th Legion where all the soldiers are pumping their fists in the air and cheering. 
...Yeah, I'm the guy who bought the one copy of 7th Legion. What of it?

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LiquidPrince

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Edited By LiquidPrince

Wait, the whole Whiskey Media crew moved? I thought GiantBomb was moving alone. Epic!

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jakob187

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Edited By jakob187

Looks like all the Quantserve info is going to get put to some good use beyond what it already has! 
 
Congrats on moving on up in the world, and here's to Whiskey Media's future!

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ZombiePie

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Edited By ZombiePie

Well I can't wait for bigger and better things duders!

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Stefan

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Edited By Stefan

I've been a fan of you guys ever since you started podcasting back in the day together with Rich at GS and haven't lost any faith in your abilities as remarkably honest reviews and entertaining...dudes (your fun sides and goofiness exceed those regular journalists have, so I'm not quite sure what to call you, well entertainers fits I guess) It's just the other way around. With your increased responsibilities you grew with your tasks. For instance I was a little skeptical about Ryan hosting the bombcast but  after just a few weeks all my doubts were washed away by his competent, yet funny way of hosting which makes him an even better host than Rich was, I think. Countless hours were filled by your funny yet harsh judgement on games and I just want to thank you for all the joy you brought me so far. Of cause this also goes out to all the other folks that helped to shape the site and made it what it is today. I am looking forward to many more years of truthful and devoted reviewing, podcasting and quicklooking! so long :-)

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lilburtonboy7489

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Edited By lilburtonboy7489

about time...now make some money and keep delivering the goods!

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SatelliteOfLove

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Edited By SatelliteOfLove

"For us, it's been all about building a regular audience and treating the people that choose to spend their time with us with the respect they deserve."
 
I know it isn't often said by many, but I always strive to return that respect in my dealings on this site so y'alls time, if used reading my postings, is enjoyable too. You deserve no less.

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MrKlorox

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Edited By MrKlorox

Nice. I hope the site load times and video speeds begin to match others now that ya'll will have real internet.