Something went wrong. Try again later

Giant Bomb News

187 Comments

The Top Characters of January 2010

Hey, curious to know who the most popular characters of January were? I was, so I went digging.

Around three or four homepage designs back, we used to keep better tabs of what the most popular database pages were by slapping them right on the homepage. After hard science showed that no one was actually clicking on any of that stuff, we cut it.

(Though before we go much further, I agree with you that we should probably bring it back in some form, just not necessarily on the homepage.)

As I was sifting through the growing Quick Look Thread over on NeoGAF, a dude named Karram reminded me that we used to have all that stuff. While I'm not enough of a database query man to actually build a page that automatically does this, it did get me thinking about alternate ways to get that information together.

So I started digging through the traffic logs and pulled together this list of the ten most-visited character pages on Giant Bomb for the month of January.

  1. Miranda Lawson
  2. Bayonetta
  3. John "Soap" MacTavish
  4. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya
  5. Subject Zero
  6. Taokaka
  7. Captain Price
  8. Mad Moxxi
  9. Death (Darksiders)
  10. Jill Valentine

I guess I'm not surprised that Miranda's done so well for herself, though I did think that the boss man, Commander Shepard, would make the list.

So I'll put it to you guys--I know this list stuff is pretty fluffy, but I'm genuinely interested in knowing what you guys are looking at, and I'm willing to bet that some portion of you are, as well. So what do you think? Should I keep digging and do something similar for concept pages and some of the other types of entries in our database? Or should I drop it and keep this stuff to myself, only stopping to look at it in the dead of night, when I'm at my loneliest?
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

187 Comments

Avatar image for sephiroth9997
Sephiroth9997

266

Forum Posts

12

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Sephiroth9997

GAF represent! 
Avatar image for persianspice
persianspice

36

Forum Posts

128

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

Edited By persianspice

No Thane? Dammit, guys.

Avatar image for impossibilium
Impossibilium

680

Forum Posts

108

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Impossibilium

That's the power of Strahotski.

Avatar image for rvone
RVonE

5027

Forum Posts

8740

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 6

Edited By RVonE

Cool stuff. I would love to see some sort of traffic listing on a more regular basis.
Avatar image for spiritof
Spiritof

2471

Forum Posts

28754

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 25

User Lists: 27

Edited By Spiritof

Miranda Lawson has a very Claudia Black/Aeryn Sun/Farscape vibe going for her.
 
That makes her hot in my geek book.

Avatar image for teptom
teptom

2074

Forum Posts

9175

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 7

Edited By teptom

I like lists. Especially when Tali is on them.  
 
It would nice to see this more often. If not the old stuff that used to be on the main page, then articles like this one.

Avatar image for zmilla
ZmillA

2519

Forum Posts

195

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By ZmillA

I definitely think the database, you know the thing that separates giantbomb from other sites, needs more attention. There needs to be some sort of feature to promote and encourage its development. Right now there is nothing on the front page besides the tag line thing, that gives any indication of a database or how to get to it. Sorry but "Browse" does not make think of a database when I first look at it.

Avatar image for mrspaceman
MrSpaceMan

120

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By MrSpaceMan

of course miranda is top, she's half naked in the images.

Avatar image for impossibilium
Impossibilium

680

Forum Posts

108

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Impossibilium
@SpiritOf said:
" Miranda Lawson has a very Claudia Black/Aeryn Sun/Farscape vibe going for her.  That makes her hot in my geek book. "
 
Yeah, because Yvonne Strahovski isn't hot in real life.
No Caption Provided
Avatar image for jedted
Jedted

2970

Forum Posts

1307

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 8

User Lists: 17

Edited By Jedted
@MrSpaceMan said:
"of course miranda is top, she's half naked in the images. "


This list isn't the only thing she's on top of. ;-) 
 
I'm surprised Thane or Garrus didn't make the list.  I got nothin but respect for Tali but Thane is my favorite new alien character, next is Mordin the scientist and Garrus. 
Avatar image for teh_destroyer
teh_destroyer

3700

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 2

Edited By teh_destroyer

No Ezio? Phail.

Avatar image for marino
Marino

8616

Forum Posts

1365391

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 92

User Lists: 102

Edited By Marino  Staff

I for one miss the old popularity charts.  I even asked about it during the PAX 09 Q&A.  They probably don't need to be on the front page, but with all the stat tracking done here with achievements, I think tracking the site itself fits well.  I'd suggest implementing it into the individual pages for each section found in the "Browse" tab.  So, if you click on concepts, you can see the traffic stats above the Alphabetical, Most Appearances, etc.

Avatar image for deactivated-5b45500a95f79
deactivated-5b45500a95f79

628

Forum Posts

11

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

I vote for Tali vas Normandy.  And I want to vote down Miranda, lame character, who's dialogs and side quest make her even more of a bitch.  Seriously, couldn't stand her.

Avatar image for haethos
haethos

341

Forum Posts

87

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By haethos

tali'zorah for the em-effin win. 
 
miranda too. :x

Avatar image for zohar
Zohar

135

Forum Posts

133

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By Zohar

Yeah, I think this is pretty interesting.

Avatar image for joshy
Joshy

15

Forum Posts

8

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Joshy

Do it!

Avatar image for baal_sagoth
Baal_Sagoth

1644

Forum Posts

80

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 10

Edited By Baal_Sagoth

I think stuff like this should be very interesting so share some of the results with us by all means!
As fun as it is to just explore the database on your own it doesn't hurt at all to have a select few different options to get going.

Avatar image for dagas
dagas

3686

Forum Posts

851

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 8

Edited By dagas
@SpiritOf said:
" Miranda Lawson has a very Claudia Black/Aeryn Sun/Farscape vibe going for her.  That makes her hot in my geek book. "
Speaking of Claudia Black. I just recognized her voice in ME2. She is playing a Quarrian. A minor role, but still good to hear her voice, even though it felt a bit weird since I kept imagining Morrigan inside that suit. A lot of voices from DA here and there in the game, guess that's to be expected. 
 
Personally I'm not a huge fan of Miranda's looks. And in some cases the game makes her face look really weird. Sometimes when she smiles it looks like when you make someone smile in Garry's mod, freaks me out. My female Shepard looks a lot better. She was the first character I created in ME1 and she became perfect somehow. Since then I haven't been able to create even a semi-decent Shepard. Too bad I can't take a screenshot from the 360.
Avatar image for penguindust
penguindust

13129

Forum Posts

22

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Edited By penguindust

Honestly, I didn't know who "Taokaka" was.  And in my opinion, Tali ranks higher than Miranda, but we all know Ms Lawson wears a sexy space bra, and that's why she's number one.

Avatar image for nikotinexero
nikotinexero

51

Forum Posts

150

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 5

Edited By nikotinexero

I think its a great idea, maybe not always doing characters, but like funny obscure lists would be entertaining

Avatar image for impossibilium
Impossibilium

680

Forum Posts

108

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Impossibilium
@dagas said:
" @SpiritOf said:
Personally I'm not a huge fan of Miranda's looks. And in some cases the game makes her face look really weird. Sometimes when she smiles it looks like when you make someone smile in Garry's mod, freaks me out. "
 
No kidding. The lighting effect they use in ME2 gives her face all sorts of weird shadows.
Avatar image for vintoks
Vintoks

30

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By Vintoks

It's interesting enough to post up. Do it.

Avatar image for miva2
miva2

240

Forum Posts

1105

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 7

Edited By miva2

wut?! soap and price are in the list but not ghost? =O
 i like this idea, GIMME MORE STATS!

Avatar image for eightbitshik
EightBitShik

1517

Forum Posts

4547

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 9

Edited By EightBitShik

Keep it!

Avatar image for lind_l_taylor
Lind_L_Taylor

4125

Forum Posts

6

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 5

Edited By Lind_L_Taylor

Miranda's got a nice rack.

Avatar image for chocobo_blitzer
Chocobo_Blitzer

305

Forum Posts

48

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Chocobo_Blitzer

Oh, I completely forgot you guys used to host that on the front page. Should totally bring that stuff back elsehwhere.
 
Also Mad Moxxi at #8? That's funny, especially because I'm pretty sure I contributed to that.

Avatar image for goodluck
tychoon

133

Forum Posts

645

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 3

Edited By tychoon
@Vintoks said:
" It's interesting enough to post up. Do it. "
Avatar image for lordcrom
LordCrom

324

Forum Posts

1465

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 11

Edited By LordCrom

Top characters of the month every month (or even week)?  Yes please!
Avatar image for sammydesinasnl
SammydesinasNL

849

Forum Posts

168

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By SammydesinasNL

 
Seems like a very good idea to me!

Avatar image for snail
Snail

8908

Forum Posts

16390

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 9

Edited By Snail

BRING THIS SHIT BACK.

Avatar image for csprunger
CSprunger

10

Forum Posts

11

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 1

Edited By CSprunger

I like it

Avatar image for mrcellophane
mrcellophane

570

Forum Posts

3969

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 6

User Lists: 7

Edited By mrcellophane
@TheGreatGuero said:
" Yeah, this is cool to see. I actually looked up several of those characters this month. All the Mass Effect ladies because of that thread, and I also looked at Bayonetta and Captain Price. "
What thread?
Avatar image for dr3day
dr3day

91

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By dr3day

I googled up Miranda a couple of times because she was modeled after a real person and I wanted to see how close they got it. I think a lot of people did.
 
Tits.

Avatar image for gr1mace
Gr1mace

80

Forum Posts

10

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 2

User Lists: 0

Edited By Gr1mace

Share it! That kind of info facinates me!

Avatar image for thegreatguero
TheGreatGuero

8881

Forum Posts

918

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 4

Edited By TheGreatGuero
Avatar image for krendrayven
Krendrayven

95

Forum Posts

1

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

Edited By Krendrayven

MIRANDA OVER GARRUS.....NO.  Disagree.
Avatar image for darthb
DarthB

273

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 2

Edited By DarthB

the stat stuff is cool. at least the way you put it up and comment makes it interesting.  keep doing this.
if anything, i'd say do more, cooler/wierd/creepy/funny ones.