Bombcast and Spoilers

hi!

i've started listening to the bombcast recently (from the start). about an hour ago I narrowly avoided a traffic accident when brad shouted "if you don't want bioshock spoiled stop listening to the bombcast for ten seconds"

so two questions popped up into my head:

- does the bomb crew have some policy against spoilers in the cast nowadays (back then they had the 30 days rule of thumb)? specifically because I heard patrick really likes to spoil

- is there some kind of online list of all bombcasts with specific games getting spoiled?

I'm asking because before this, the only other time I ever listened to several bombcast episodes where the GOTY 2010 ones. and there they pretty much spoiled RDR and ME2 and some others, without warning

just wondering. and a list like that is totally what many duders around here would put some energy in

thanks!

EDIT: quest unlocked! what happened to quests anyway?

they usually don't spoil the story for new games, don't think they've changed their stance on that(if they even had one). Uh and no don't think anyone has compiled a list of bombcasts with specific game discussions

Patrick doesn't necessarily spoil stories. The most recent one was probably for I Am Alive though and it wasn't necessarily a story spoiler but more of a scenario that he went through near the end of the game that really stuck out to him. I don't know if there are lists but I know there has been a thread being done by a fellow community member that has been listening to old bombcasts and started making time stamps of important and random stuff being talked about in the bombcasts that he has been listening to. It's very detailed. Try to track it down if you want. It was featured in the community section a few weeks ago.

Also, I have not played Bioshock but I already know what the plot twist is since its been spoiled to me years ago one way or another. Btw, were you listening to it with your headphones or through your car's sound system? Doing the former I believe is illegal and also very dangerous.

EDIT: Here it is! http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/matthew/blog/ It's not all of the bombcasts though.

They typically give a warning, but GOTY podcasts are different, usually they'll say that at the beginning of the podcast just so everyone is clear. Had L.A. Noire spoiled for me during last years.

I think they still try to do the 30 days of spoilers for really large games. When it comes to the GOTY discussions I believe it is implied that there will be spoilers. Since it could restrict points of games that could make it the best/worst in that category.

edit: Quest items were written by the interns. Since the move there aren't any (to my knowledge) and the engineers are working on a redesign of the site and don't have time to push quests.

Not typically, but if they do, they dance around key words if they need to explain something. It depends on how sensitive you are to spoilers, I guess. If it's a game that's been out for a while or if the story isn't the focus, then occasionally they do, but since they are always playing new games, it rarely happens.

@GaspoweR said:

Btw, were you listening to it with your headphones or through your car's sound system? Doing the former I believe is illegal and also very dangerous.

Less dangerous than those jerks who listen to their stereo so loud that everyone in the intersection can hear it. Dumb law.

They're also pretty good about spoiling major things. People like to freak out at Patrick but really, I've listened to every bombcast and haven't had one meaningful even in a recent game spoiled for me. Also, you thought you could listen to them deliberating the game of the year, and didn't expect the ending to factor in?

@Atta: The better question is: Why have you still not beaten Bioshock?

I remember that Bioshock Brad part, it was the first and only time I had actually skipped over a part of a Bombcast to not be spoiled. Aside from that I think that they're mostly pretty good about staying away from spoilers while the games are new. Every other time I can remember where they've talked specifics about a game I had either already played it or hadn't been interested enough to pick it up.

That Brad one was dumb though because the game had just, or was just about to, come out on PS3, so there was potentially a bunch of people that were interested in playing it but hadn't been able to up to that point.

@Bocam said:

@Atta: The better question is: Why have you still not beaten Bioshock?

Yeah, stop doing whatever it is you're doing and beat Bioshock. It's almost as if you want people to spoil things for you.

@Hunter5024: Well, those guys are assholes though but not being able to hear your surroundings well enough did almost get you in an accident as you mentioned in the post.

@Hunter5024 said:

@GaspoweR said:

Btw, were you listening to it with your headphones or through your car's sound system? Doing the former I believe is illegal and also very dangerous.

Less dangerous than those jerks who listen to their stereo so loud that everyone in the intersection can hear it. Dumb law.

Yeah who cares if you can't hear that ambulance racing to the hospital, you a have a podcast to listen to.

If I recall correctly, they don't like to spoil games less than 6 months old. After that, it's pretty much fair game. And GOTY podcasts are spoilerfests too, obviously.

@Manhattan_Project said:

@Hunter5024 said:

@GaspoweR said:

Btw, were you listening to it with your headphones or through your car's sound system? Doing the former I believe is illegal and also very dangerous.

Less dangerous than those jerks who listen to their stereo so loud that everyone in the intersection can hear it. Dumb law.

Yeah who cares if you can't hear that ambulance racing to the hospital, you a have a podcast to listen to.

Using headphones doesn't impede your hearing anymore than listening to the stereo, and if you use only one ear even less so. Besides, thats what the giant flashing lights are for. By this logic it's dangerous to drive if you're deaf.

@Hunter5024 said:

They typically give a warning, but GOTY podcasts are different, usually they'll say that at the beginning of the podcast just so everyone is clear. Had L.A. Noire spoiled for me during last years.

@MattyFTM said:

If I recall correctly, they don't like to spoil games less than 6 months old. After that, it's pretty much fair game. And GOTY podcasts are spoilerfests too, obviously.

My rule of thumb is to just jump ahead 10 minutes or so if I'm listening to a podcast where Brad or Patrick start to discuss in any detail the story of a game that I haven't played but intend to. Either skip ahead or pause, take note of the play time, and come back to it after finishing the game in question. It's definitely helped a few times.

@Marz said:

they usually don't spoil the story for new games, don't think they've changed their stance on that(if they even had one). Uh and no don't think anyone has compiled a list of bombcasts with specific game discussions

in one of the first podcasts there was a user question about spoilers and they kinda went jeff's route with the 30 day rule

@GaspoweR said:

Patrick doesn't necessarily spoil stories. The most recent one was probably for I Am Alive though and it wasn't necessarily a story spoiler but more of a scenario that he went through near the end of the game that really stuck out to him. I don't know if there are lists but I know there has been a thread being done by a fellow community member that has been listening to old bombcasts and started making time stamps of important and random stuff being talked about in the bombcasts that he has been listening to. It's very detailed. Try to track it down if you want. It was featured in the community section a few weeks ago.

Also, I have not played Bioshock but I already know what the plot twist is since its been spoiled to me years ago one way or another. Btw, were you listening to it with your headphones or through your car's sound system? Doing the former I believe is illegal and also very dangerous.

EDIT: Here it is! http://www.giantbomb.com/profile/matthew/blog/ It's not all of the bombcasts though.

well I don't have huge problems with small spoilers, but I also play most of my games for the story. so it depends on the game what one could consider a huge spoiler.

if i'd have a car i'd listen to podcasts on the stereo. I was on a bike and it wasn't a life or death situation. just really shaky with unusually many pedestrians walking around

@Hunter5024 said:

They typically give a warning, but GOTY podcasts are different, usually they'll say that at the beginning of the podcast just so everyone is clear. Had L.A. Noire spoiled for me during last years.

right. may have overheard that. and I wasn't angry BECAUSE it was a GOTY thing. some warning would have been welcome though.

@White_Silhouette said:

I think they still try to do the 30 days of spoilers for really large games. When it comes to the GOTY discussions I believe it is implied that there will be spoilers. Since it could restrict points of games that could make it the best/worst in that category.

edit: Quest items were written by the interns. Since the move there aren't any (to my knowledge) and the engineers are working on a redesign of the site and don't have time to push quests.

edit: thanks!

@will_leisure said:

Not typically, but if they do, they dance around key words if they need to explain something. It depends on how sensitive you are to spoilers, I guess. If it's a game that's been out for a while or if the story isn't the focus, then occasionally they do, but since they are always playing new games, it rarely happens.

yeah up until now they've been pretty good with tiptoeing around that stuff. basically I wanted to make sure how spoiler heavy they became since

@TooWalrus said:

They're also pretty good about spoiling major things. People like to freak out at Patrick but really, I've listened to every bombcast and haven't had one meaningful even in a recent game spoiled for me. Also, you thought you could listen to them deliberating the game of the year, and didn't expect the ending to factor in?

thanks. then I'll give the newer ones a hear! if I remember correctly the deliberations for the GOTY specifically wasn't influenced at all by the ending, because most of the games were more about the trip then the destination. but I may just remember it wrong. even so, GOTY, get it. read above

@Bocam said:

@Atta: The better question is: Why have you still not beaten Bioshock?

@will_leisure said:

@Bocam said:

@Atta: The better question is: Why have you still not beaten Bioshock?

Yeah, stop doing whatever it is you're doing and beat Bioshock. It's almost as if you want people to spoil things for you.

1. because I'd like it on steam but --> german low violance. and I've been too lazy for amazon

2. because I'm a wuss who thinks that in fallout 3 the raider base in the k-mart (?) near megaton was creepy

but yes, I will play it. and when I do I hope I forget everything about andrew ryan and the ending for it to actually mean something

@RockmanBionics said:

I remember that Bioshock Brad part, it was the first and only time I had actually skipped over a part of a Bombcast to not be spoiled. Aside from that I think that they're mostly pretty good about staying away from spoilers while the games are new. Every other time I can remember where they've talked specifics about a game I had either already played it or hadn't been interested enough to pick it up.

That Brad one was dumb though because the game had just, or was just about to, come out on PS3, so there was potentially a bunch of people that were interested in playing it but hadn't been able to up to that point.

correct. that and the fact that brad had the story spoiled for him (he was actually just reciting the topic title that spoiled the thing) kinda resulted in the warning. got lucky

@MattyFTM said:

If I recall correctly, they don't like to spoil games less than 6 months old. After that, it's pretty much fair game. And GOTY podcasts are spoilerfests too, obviously.

was wondering if they had like some concrete rules for this

thanks for the answers duders. is it weird that I like answering to every answer?

A.

@Atta said:

thanks for the answers duders. is it weird that I like answering to every answer?

It's not common, but it's thoughtful and it's your thread.

I should also add the Fable 3 Rule: if the end of a game changes the entire experience (usually for the worse), then it's the person's duty to tell everyone.

I think Brad played and reviewed Fable 3 and was desperately trying to tell people about the end part of Fable 3 without going into detail, but eventually did in a Bombcast a week or two later because fuck the end part of Fable 3.

It's never bothered me at all but maybe that has something to do with me being awful at retaining information. They most certainly spoiled Catherine at some point but when I played through it a few weeks ago, I had no recollection of any spoilers.

@Hunter5024 said:

@Manhattan_Project said:

@Hunter5024 said:

@GaspoweR said:

Btw, were you listening to it with your headphones or through your car's sound system? Doing the former I believe is illegal and also very dangerous.

Less dangerous than those jerks who listen to their stereo so loud that everyone in the intersection can hear it. Dumb law.

Yeah who cares if you can't hear that ambulance racing to the hospital, you a have a podcast to listen to.

Using headphones doesn't impede your hearing anymore than listening to the stereo, and if you use only one ear even less so. Besides, thats what the giant flashing lights are for. By this logic it's dangerous to drive if you're deaf.

The car stereo isn't directly in your ear. Anyone who has any sense knows there is a huge difference. Thats why its illegal.

It can be a little annoying but it's never really burned me. If a game just came out and I know they are going to talk about it, I'll avoid the Bombcast until I've played the game or am willing to be spoiled. When the game is older (they've made the Bionic Commando joke several times, for instance), I don't really mind. If I haven't played the game yet, it's my fault.

@Manhattan_Project: Thats all relative to the volume. Someone listening to a podcast with his headphones at a reasonable volume is going to be able to hear much better than someone blaring death metal out of his speakers. Why isn't that illegal too? You almost never have to use your hearing while you drive, and this is proven by the fact that it's perfectly legal for a deaf person to get a drivers license, and those that do are just as safe at driving as non hearing impaired people. It's just a stupid law.

@will_leisure said:

@Atta said:

thanks for the answers duders. is it weird that I like answering to every answer?

It's not common, but it's thoughtful and it's your thread.

I should also add the Fable 3 Rule: if the end of a game changes the entire experience (usually for the worse), then it's the person's duty to tell everyone.

I think Brad played and reviewed Fable 3 and was desperately trying to tell people about the end part of Fable 3 without going into detail, but eventually did in a Bombcast a week or two later because fuck the end part of Fable 3.

was it that bad? i am currently listening to a podcast where they are talking about the upcoming fable 2 and that fable 1 really wasn't that story heavy. i mean, if it's that bad with fable, what did they do with the me3 ending?

@Milkman said:

It's never bothered me at all but maybe that has something to do with me being awful at retaining information. They most certainly spoiled Catherine at some point but when I played through it a few weeks ago, I had no recollection of any spoilers.

sometimes I'm like that as well. on the GOTY podcast they said who the last boss of ME2 was. i totally forgot that until recently when I finished the game myself. that said, I still know what happens at the end of RDR and I really really hate that

@Hunter5024 said:

@Manhattan_Project: Thats all relative to the volume. Someone listening to a podcast with his headphones at a reasonable volume is going to be able to hear much better than someone blaring death metal out of his speakers. Why isn't that illegal too? You almost never have to use your hearing while you drive, and this is proven by the fact that it's perfectly legal for a deaf person to get a drivers license, and those that do are just as safe at driving as non hearing impaired people. It's just a stupid law.

Putting a physical object in your ear is different than sound entering your ear. When the object has sound coming from it, it's not only blocking all outside noise, it's pumping in its own noise over whatever little bit gets through the solid object. Noise-cancelling headphones are even worse.

You must not drive, I've concluded.

Darth Vader is Luke's father.

they should do 2 different podcasts.

a censored and none censored edition. and what they would do would be to censor the spoiler bits in the censored version and not censor the spoiler bits in the none censored version.

or they could have like 'pips' to denote a segment of the podcast that might stray into spoiler territory.

@The_Nubster said:

@Hunter5024 said:

@Manhattan_Project: Thats all relative to the volume. Someone listening to a podcast with his headphones at a reasonable volume is going to be able to hear much better than someone blaring death metal out of his speakers. Why isn't that illegal too? You almost never have to use your hearing while you drive, and this is proven by the fact that it's perfectly legal for a deaf person to get a drivers license, and those that do are just as safe at driving as non hearing impaired people. It's just a stupid law.

Putting a physical object in your ear is different than sound entering your ear. When the object has sound coming from it, it's not only blocking all outside noise, it's pumping in its own noise over whatever little bit gets through the solid object. Noise-cancelling headphones are even worse.

You must not drive, I've concluded.

I am aware that using headphones makes it difficult to hear, but that doesn't disprove any of my points.