The Community Spotlight 2019.01.19

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight and I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host this week as we take a look at the best community offerings on and about Giant Bomb! It was a bit of slow week in terms of news and announcements on the site.

• Do not adjust your television or computer monitor! The fonts and formatting on certain parts of the site have changed ever so slightly! Remember to share your impressions of any changes on the site in our official feedback thread.
• As mentioned last week, if you see podcasts on the site but they aren’t showing in your podcast app, the issue is usually your podcast app. Manually refresh its feed as a default before filing a bug request.
• Community 2018 GOTY Results ARE OFFICIAL! I won't spoil the result, but I do have to commend Mr. Rorie for an expertly crafted troll with the promotional image for the article compiling the result.

Tweets Of The Week

Giant Bomb Community Activities

Giant Bomb Minecraft Realm? (By: @darkstar_pug)

Calling all Minecraft fans! User Darkstar_Pug is interested in hosting an official GB Minecraft Realm and is polling to see if people are interested! It would be a Bedrock version and open to PC, consoles, and mobile players! If you are interested, use the link above!

Giant Bomb Galleria

Banner - Giant Beast Procreate Poster (By: @maotsethong)

Over on Twitter, maotsethong used professional iPad to play around with the Procreate application. When they thought about the Giant Bomb East team, they ended up creating the artwork you can see on the top of the Spotlight! Also, here's their rendition of Jeff Bakalar:

Bioshock Infinite x Jeff Gerstmann Fan Art & Giant Bomb East Nier Artwork (By: @humanity)

After an artistic hiatus, Humanity is back with a new AMAZING work of Giant Bomb artwork. The first is a classic from years ago that plays around with the idea of Jeff being a character in BioShock Infinite. The second is inspired by Alex getting his name chosen for the NieR: Automata run'ski save file for AGDQ 2019.

Gallery

Best Of Blogs

NamCompendium 14: Xevious (By: @jeffrud)

The return of JeffRud's "NamCompendium" blog series is here! This week they provide the most exhaustive examination of the long and storied history of Xevious you will ever read!

The Premium 10 Pull - A (Weekly? Or Monthly?) Blog About Gacha Games (By: @meestero)

MeesterO is starting a new blog series where they try their hand at Japanese gacha games! Here's the first episode which talks all about games like Azur Lane and Dragalia Lost!

I Took 3436 Screenshots Of Mass Effect 3 (By: @willherox)

WillHeroX recently replayed Mass Effect 3 and took over 3,000 screenshots from their playthrough. Check out their blog to find out why they love capturing moments from the game.

Thought Popped In My Head Pre-Ordering Resident Evil 2 (By: @mrcropes)

Though their blog about Resident Evil 2 is short, MrCropes has sparked a strong discussion about Resident Evil 2's pre-order bonuses. Are the pre-order costumes not a big deal, or an artifact from a bygone generation?

Top Ten Games Of The Year 2018 (By: @yeahbrother)

YEAHbrother may be late in getting their ten favorite games from 2019 into word, but that doesn't mean you should pass on reading all about their favorite gaming experiences from the year.

Saturday Summaries 2019-01-19: Dirty Video Game Hipster Edition (By: @mento)

Mento's weekly breakdown includes their takes on Tacoma and Battle Chasers: Nightwar, a new Valkyria Profile 4 blog series, and a comparison of their 2018 top-ten with the community's top 500.

Join The Discussion

Mortal Kombat 11 Event Though Sharing Thread (By: @kevinwalsh)

With the Mortal Kombat 11 event behind us, what are your impressions of what NetherRealm showed off? Are you excited or hesitant about the direction of the most recent entry in the visceral fighting game franchise?

Anthem Isn't Ripping Off Destiny And Other Games, Or Is It? (By: @deathstriker)

Is Anthem bringing enough originality to the table to dodge being branded a "rip off?" Is there something to be said about how it probably wouldn't exist in a world without Destiny? Share your two cents' worth about whether or not Anthem counts as video game design plagiarism.

EA's Big Open-World Star Wars Game Sounds Like It Got Canceled (By: @rorie)

What do you make of the news related to EA's again canceled Star Wars video game project? Does the concept of an open-world Star Wars game intrigue you? Will EA continue to hold the developmental rights of future Star Wars games?

Who Else Here Is Excited For The Division 2? (By: NTM)

Are any of you excited for Tom Clancy's The Division 2? Will the lack of a Steam release hurt your interest? Whether your reply is "yes" or "no," vote for and discuss your feelings about the game using the link above!

Best Obscure Or Forgotten Video Game Music? (By: @sparky_buzzsaw)

Can you think of a video game with AWESOME music that doesn't get the appreciation you think it deserves? Share and discuss your favorite "obscure" or forgotten video game soundtrack!

Artifact Has Apparently Already Lost Almost All Of Its Players (By: @rorie)

Reports are starting to circle that Valve's Artifact is losing its user base rapidly. Join our community discussion on why that's the case, and if the game has a long-term future.

Was "Virtual Console" A Dumb Name? (By: @liquiddragon)

Jeff mentioned how dumb the term "Virtual Console" was and now you can share if you agree or disagree! Vote and discuss if you thought the name of Nintendo's digital marketplace was good or bad!

Netflix Being Sued By The Choose Your Own Adventure Publisher Over The Interactive Bandersnatch (By: @fezrock)

What do you make of Netflix being sued by the Choose Your Own Adventure publisher? Is this a case of patent trolling or trademark infringement? Is this issue important to the video game industry?

NIS America Will Be Publishing Trails Of Cold Steel III In The West (By: @lentfilms)

JRPG community is happily celebrating the announcement NIS America is publishing Trails of Cold Steel III in the West, but how about you? Are you happy? Do you have concerns about XSEED not handling the translation? Join the discussion!

Lovable Lists

Ranking of Marios (By: @devoureroftime)

Giant Bomb user DevourerOfTime tries their hand at "scientifically" ranking every video game bearing Mario's name. A taste of what you can expect can be found on the image to the right!

The 10 Best Double Jumps Of All Time (By: @benpack)

Ben is here to remind you that double jumps are "here to stay," on this highly educational but surprisingly controversial list "co-created" by the community!

Best Dracula (By: @ronindrummer200)

ronindrummer200 is going to be the next Canadian Dracula.

Game of the Year 2018 (By: @moonlightmoth)

MoonlightMoth is late to the party with their 2018 GOTY list, but their meditative and personal list is well worth the wait!

Useful User Reviews

• Giant Bomb user @solarco uses their review of Vampyr to articulate why they think it's an example of narrative game design done justice!
• Moderator @riostarwind felt inspired to play the original release of Killer7 following the game's PC release. Give their review a read to find out why they thought it wasn't their cup of tea!
• @humanity uses their review of Below to discuss how the game features a visually stunning and evocative world that they struggled to enjoy exploring.
• @bhlaab continues their retrospective on the James Bond video game franchise with reviews for the Wii reboot of GoldenEye 007and007: From Russia with Love!
• @ronindrummer200 took Jeff's comments about Mega Man X2 to heart and tried to play the game recently to prove them wrong! Sadly, they realized they were looking at the game with rose-tinted glasses.
• @frontman12 uses their review of Strange Brigade to share how it is a hammy experience that pines for the "glory days" of the B-game.