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Giant Bomb News

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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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MiniPato

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Edited By MiniPato
@ZanzibarBreeze said:
"

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.
"
For a second, I thought they were in a subway station.
 
The lack of windows depresses me greatly. I hope they keep the lounge feel of the old basement and a bigger couch.
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Sersie

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Edited By Sersie

Glad to hear things are progressing nicely, not only with the Giant Bomb crew, but Whiskey Media in general.  It has been a blast following you all these many years (even before GB existed), and I have come to love the extended Whiskey Media crew regulars as well, so I am glad you are all moving together.  I was sort of worried we would not be hearing as much from Dave, Alex, and the others, but I need worry no longer.   My time here on the site is always fun AND informative and I try my best to evangelize the site to all my friends (gamers or otherwise).  I look forward to many more years of fun together.  Thanks guys. :)

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MichaelBach

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Edited By MichaelBach

Congratulations guys, big step forward. I wouldn't mind a 10 usd a month fee for a no-ads version either.
 
Shared podcast room.... smells like synergy..

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George_Hukas

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Edited By George_Hukas

Hope you guys don't ignore the users willing to pay subscriptions for an ad-free experience!

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meptron

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Edited By meptron

congrats! hopefully with all the new income generated by ads you'll finally be able to ship things to Canada?

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deactivated-5ffc9b0923f9f

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This means you're looking to hire another intern like me, right?

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the_purgatory_station

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jimmy johnson sells dick pills.  same jimmy johnson that won back to back super bowls for america's team dallas cowboys.  we're on the eve of america's birthday.  what are you trying to say jeff?  what are you trying to say? J/K
 
my position has always been let the ads flow; i don't care, so easy to ignore them.
 but good to hear the news on the ad deal.  my guess is us GB fans are just as excited as you guys about it.
 
love the looks of the new office; alot of space for you guys to work in.  looks like a cool place to have a art gallery party.  one of these days i'm going to go back up to visit & see the bay bridge in completed form.  i want an invite :p  oh allright i'll go back to my corner now.
 
have a nice weekend duders

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MrKlorox

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Edited By MrKlorox

Sweet. New servers. Will test videos soon. It reports as being in the US now instead of Canada :P
 
edit: videos seem to buffer much faster now. I'll try again during peak hours.

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c1337us

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Edited By c1337us

I never blocked any ads anyway. I'm too lazy to make it happen.

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Terranova

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Edited By Terranova

good luck GB and the rest of the Whisky Crew with the move, I would like to say i hope it all goes without a hitch but these things seldom do. 
 
I dont mind the odd Ad here or there it's when your bombarded with them that pees me off .  
 
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Kaigan

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Edited By Kaigan

No Caption Provided

Where's my medal?
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EdIsCool

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Edited By EdIsCool

ads are fine, site skins me no likey.

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LtCasual

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Edited By LtCasual

Ad blocker = off!  Glad to help you guys out any way I can.  

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BeautifulSpaceCowboy

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Hope the move goes well! Happy 4th to everyone.

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newmania

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Edited By newmania

I love you guys. I am not running an adblocker. I bought your iPhone app, and I'd buy your shirts if you didn't hate Canada.

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confideration

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Edited By confideration

Best. Site. Ever. 
 
thanks guys

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citizenkane

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Edited By citizenkane

Sean not being able to afford more tracksuits?!
 
What kind of sick, twisted mind would let this happen?

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wunder_

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Edited By wunder_

Wait, so there's going to be popups?

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rabidwombat

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Edited By rabidwombat

I didn't even realize that there wasn't a monetization strategy already in place.
 
I've already spent money on games I wouldn't have bought until I saw them on this site.  RDR is a perfect example - I would never have bought a cowboy game, until I saw Brad playing it for the Quick Look.

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artofwar420

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Edited By artofwar420
@Kaigan said:
"
No Caption Provided
Where's my medal? "
Well I salute you.
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RobJ

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Edited By RobJ

Thank you for everything you and the gang do to entertain us Jeff!!! :)

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Supermarius

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Edited By Supermarius

It's a weird way to make money really. Maybe it's different for general web surfers but I really really don't pay attention to web ads and i actively dislike companies more if they put up to many of them. Look at how the Halo ODST Video advertisement campaign went over. I think gamers fairly seldomly click through on ads. Its like a big conspiracy where websites pretend that their users like ads in order to trick advertisers into giving them money. It can't go on forever.
 
I would probably pay some premium thing, though. The monetary equivalent of an individual's monthly ad exposure can't be too high, can it?

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Supermarius

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Edited By Supermarius

Also, did you open the can? DO IT!

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thepantheon

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Edited By thepantheon

The best and only site for gaming. And for entertainment in general, I treat you guys like buds, checking GB nearly every day and laughing along with you guys in the Bombcast or a QL, etc. 
 
Y'all rule.

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blazingwookie

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Edited By blazingwookie

Thanks for the big update guys - good luck on the move and thanks too for your dedication to keeping the site pretty and dick pill ad free!  But I'm read for some ads - I know I'm not happy until you guys are getting paid!

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scottygrayskull

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Edited By scottygrayskull

So I have to go to elsewhere for my dick pills? D:

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darkjester74

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Edited By darkjester74

Congrats to you and the guys Jeff!  Its really gratifying to see you guys come up from square one and successfully build one of the best communities on the net.  I'm pretty much here every day and want to keep supporting you, so keep up the good work!  
 
Ill even put up with those site skins I despise so much!  *bleh*  :-P
 
Anyway, looking forward to checking out your new digs!

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Tsukiyomi

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Edited By Tsukiyomi

Pretty sure you guys had a site skin for Halo 3 ODST when that was released. Not that I'm complaining of course, this news story is an example of why I love Giant Bomb so much.

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deerhaunter

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Edited By deerhaunter

Giant Bomb is the only site that I have adblock disabled for. I know I can trust the staff to not get terrible face melting ads, and the ads that are here are pretty much all about video games that I might actually want.

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ChristianCastillo

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I wouldn't mind the dick pill ads :)

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Piranesi

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Edited By Piranesi

Always wondered how you guys got paid - I thought that was why you appreciated the food parcels so much (and poor Dave couldn't afford a decent shaver).  

 
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raidingkvatch

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Edited By raidingkvatch

Hopefully if there's more t-shirts/other merchandise it'll be available outside of the US, Specifically, in the UK. Glad to see the site expanding while maintaining the core principles and ideas that created it in the first place.

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cooljammer00

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Edited By cooljammer00

So what you are saying is that there is a chance one day that Giant Bomb will be "skinned" with possibly Kane, Lynch, or Kane and Lynch together to promote Kane and Lynch 2? 
 
Oh sweet irony.

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BrokenCage

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Edited By BrokenCage

Are the ads going to be hosted locally? Honestly, the only reason I block ads is because they're not secure. It's not about being a dick or not supporting the site, but people exploit ads to offload malaware all the time. So if it's not locally hosted, I block it. I don't want to come to Giantbomb and then spend the rest of the day removing "Uberguardzzz Virus Protection" from my computer.
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mrcellophane

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Edited By mrcellophane

giantbomb.com is hereby added to my AdBlock whitelist. When Jeff calls for us to do our duty, we will!

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mosdl

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Edited By mosdl

Giantbomb Plus coming soon - paying members can edit reviews to make em better!

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dpedal1

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Edited By dpedal1

GB is the only site I can think of in which I am in full support of ads.  I want to make sure you guys are getting compensated for all the hard work you do for us.

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DayOneAdvantage

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Edited By DayOneAdvantage

Seems like running a VG site and shilling for dick pills would go hand in hand.

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demontium

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Edited By demontium

Last time the ads were just ones for bioshock 2, and I actually clicked on them because they brought me to the official site were i got some wallpaper for my desktop. 
 
Not that it matters but I am fine with the way you guys ad. 
 
I would also like to support you guys by buying merchandise or such, so hopefully the next time around there will be more in stock. 
 
Btw, last bombcast was the shit.
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Seroth

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Edited By Seroth

I still wish you guys would update the iPhone app to put a space between "video" and "games." Perhaps make that an in-app purchase or something. :P

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Max_Hydrogen

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Edited By Max_Hydrogen

"It's the end of an era."
 
I remember watching the How to Build a Bomb videos. It was only two years ago but it feels nostalgic. I felt bad for Jeff and Ryan in the beginning but when Vinny and Brad joined, I knew everything was going to work out. Friendship and loyalty are the driving force behind GB's success. A renegade clan cemented together by trust and camaraderie can face the trials and tribulations that lurk in the wilderness.  
 
Although it was somewhat excessive, I am so goddamn touched by the special On the Spot commemoration of Jeff when he was fired from Gamespot. You are SO fucking lucky to have devoted friends like that Mr. Gertzmann; I don't even have the words to express how feel. 
 
And now, the City by the Bay is getting a Bombthreat. Like the prodigal son, it's time to return across the bridge to where it all began... 
 
Holy shit Giantbomb, you guys are awesome! 
 
P.S. Happy Independence Day America, Québec will follow in your footsteps.

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schizogony

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Edited By schizogony

I thought you guys made money with TNT and quests (putting certain games in the spotlight to increase awareness for a certain period of time).

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slyely

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Edited By slyely

Not how I wanted to start my day by having the idea of Jeff in his underwear. lol Anyways good luck to you guys and don't let the suits bully too much. :)

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cspiffo

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Edited By cspiffo

Much respect and love for all of you at GB.

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Kyle

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Edited By Kyle

I will miss you, old office :'(
 
Oh, the memories...
 

  Jeff and Ryan return from the store with Giant Bomb necessities
Jeff and Ryan return from the store with Giant Bomb necessities

    
BUT GIANT BOMB RAGES ON!!
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deadly_polo

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Edited By deadly_polo

Its always to see good people and ideas succeeding, and with the move into SF maybe Brad won't have to leave to get the bus during the podcast??? 
 
And also as Jeff said (I think in a "CarStream") a new studio with a standing set as well as the couch sounds pretty good; roll on the future.

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Kyle

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Edited By Kyle
@kingchris28 said:
"And also as Jeff said (I think in a "CarStream") a new studio with a standing set as well as the couch sounds pretty good; roll on the future. "
Oh crap! I didn't even know those existed til you just said that! No wonder they stopped updating their Audioboos! GAH what have I been missing?!