Let me begin this by saying this is not intended to be a troll post, or to offend anyone on this forum.
I listened to the Bombcast for about a year and in that time experienced some of the best entertainment a podcast could provide. To this day I will occasionally(and in the right company) describe something as "totally spies." Though, a few months ago I unsubscribed because, while it was entertaining I got a general feeling that the two central figures, Jeff and Ryan, are less interested in the games aspect of the cast, and more the jokes. The tone in general became mocking and negative, and the boys rarely seem to excited about anything. The amount of negative comments that came out of Jeff's mouth seemed to increase on a near weekly basis. What I am listening for is to find out what these gentleman are excited about. Sure if a game sucks let us know, and let us know why, but also let us know why games are great. It seems the positive comments rarely go beyond "shits awesome."
Im sorry but I listen to gaming podcasts to get excited about stuff. Excitement and positivity are contagious. Sure honesty is most important, but if the GB guys are being honest they they clearly have gotten more cynical with age and while that is ok, and in most cases to be expected, what are they enthusiastic about, what do they love?
I honestly left the first few Bombcasts glowing, and thinking "Hey this might be the best gaming podcast out there" but after about a year the negativity just really turned me off.
I understand that the podcast owes me nothing, and that most of you love it, but am I alone in this? Does the constant 'tude from Jeff just wear you down? I mean i understand hes fat, but so am I..and I can still walk around this world with a smile on my face. Jolly is usually the adjective to describe our kind.
In light of the end of Listen Up, I am looking for another gaming Podcast that has the same enthusiasm of Listen Up...no snarky attitude, just a genuine and unbridled excitement for games. Garnett and John, though I didn't always agree with them, always just seemed like games were they passion and insted of getting down in the slow season they looked for the greener pastures of fall.
Should I give the Bombcast another chance? What other options are out there?
PS. I love these message boards despite my comments about the podcast.
Giant Bombcast tone.
It's why I love it when they get really excited about games I love. It almost never comes from Jeff or Ryan (I love hearing them bash the games I hate), but I love hearing Brad and Vinny praise Dead Space, Resident Evil 5, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts... I still love the Giant Bombcast, it's my 2nd favorite podcast (beaten only by Rooster Teeth's "Drunk Tank")
It is half burnt out bitter rage and half excited and enthusiastic. I think those two things go great together. Feel free to assign the burnt out bitter rage and the excited enthusiasm to whoever you like.
" Let me begin this by saying this is not intended to be a troll post, or to offend anyone on this forum. I listened to the Bombcast for about a year and in that time experienced some of the best entertainment a podcast could provide. To this day I will occasionally(and in the right company) describe something as "totally spies." Though, a few months ago I unsubscribed because, while it was entertaining I got a general feeling that the two central figures, Jeff and Ryan, are less interested in the games aspect of the cast, and more the jokes. The tone in general became mocking and negative, and the boys rarely seem to excited about anything. The amount of negative comments that came out of Jeff's mouth seemed to increase on a near weekly basis. What I am listening for is to find out what these gentleman are excited about. Sure if a game sucks let us know, and let us know why, but also let us know why games are great. "Their generally joking tone especially about games that aren't great is why I listen to it. The only other gaming podcast that does this as well is Idle Thumbs. I'm still subscribed to many other gaming podcasts, Gamespy, IGN, Rebel FM, Listen Up when it was running and all of it just gets boring with the serious tone. The problem with those podcasts is that their discussions just aren't entertaining. I remember on Listen Up when John Davison talked about an Indiana Jones WIi game for what had to be 20 minutes and how terrible it was, just hearing his verbal review of it was incredibly dull. To me, if one is looking for serious videogame discussion, a forum is the place to go. The good thing about the Bombcast is that I don't have to groan and skip through parts where they talk about games I'm not going to pick up because I know they're going to find a way to laugh over it, thus making it entertaining for me. Really, the Bombcast and Idle Thumbs are the only podcasts that have demonstrated that they can still have well informed discussion of the videogames while joking around with the games they discuss.
I can honestly say that I am totally not in the same boat as you.
I enjoy their sarcasm a lot!
No doubt about that
It's what Mercator hates about the podcast: The cynicism from Jeff and the general sarcastic tone means that they're looking at the video game industry from a similar perspective as me as they are aware as anyone that there is a lot of shit out there and so getting excited over a lot of games is a naive and stupid thing to do.
i've just started to listen to the bombcast more frequently but usually find everyone's input pretty solid. i think the format is a little looser than podcasts like listen up! but overall they deliver me with trustworthy info.
" It's why I love it when they get really excited about games I love. It almost never comes from Jeff or Ryan (I love hearing them bash the games I hate), but I love hearing Brad and Vinny praise Dead Space, Resident Evil 5, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts... I still love the Giant Bombcast, it's my 2nd favorite podcast (beaten only by Rooster Teeth's "Drunk Tank") "Dude yes! Drunk Tank FTW!!
I think I can see where you are comming from on the lack of enthusiasm, but in my oppinion their input is still solid. If they just got excited about everything not only would their integrity go down the drain but they wouldn´t be the people they are. I started listening back in Arrow Pointing Down (kinda negative connotations now I think about it :p) and by now listening to the show is as much about listening in on "what the guys are up to" (in a really freakish sort of stalky way... >.<) as it is about the video games they talk about. Especially since this site by its very nature is very console heavy as opposed to PC and I only own a WII and PC so most game releases does not affect me.
But like someone else said earlier, the cast seems to have taken a slightly lighter turn now we near the big release season with a plethora of really good titles comming we can get excited about :)
I don't listen to the podcast to get excited about games, I listen to it to hear thoughts about games. I also like hearing the random stuff they talk about because it simply makes the podcast more real and it makes them more real. They are real people, who really get off track and how love games. They literally sit around their table and just talk about games like it's a dinner discussion. Just guys having fun on their podcast.
I usually am understanding of people's criticisms of things, and whenever I disagree with something always make a point of acknowledging their opinions and their reasons for them. But I actually do not see what you are talking about.
Yeah I'm kind of lost too. They give their opinions about a lot of games in the Quick Looks and Reviews. It would be dumb to repeat the same exact things on the podcast. That's why usually their comments about games is "shits awesome".
As for upcoming games, I think maybe they are a bit negative but it's totally justified. There are games and companies that just sit there and construct their perfect trailers and commentary, then brag about some of the amazing features the game will have. And people are fooled by it, to which the GB team usually gets to some conclusion to how its actually going to play out. The perfect example would be anything Peter Molyneux promises.
I can see where you are coming from. Jeff and Ryan do have a certain cynicism in their tone, but that's fine... even though it kind of bugs me that they have to hate on every game not up their alley.
As Pazy, why do you feel the need to get hyped up on a game? If you followed the hype, you would have been led to believe Scribblenauts would have been game of the year, I greatly respect Jeff's cynicism because he tends to be right on the money. The bombcast is the only podcast I know that was in anyway seeing through the unmerited hype of Scribblenauts. There's a podcast call the Fanboys, last year when GTAIV came out, Mik collected a series of soundbites from numerous gaming podcasts giving unnecessary enthusiasm and how much pretty much how similar they all sounded, with the phrase "living breathing world" tossed almost about 40 times by different podcasters. Is that really what you want, a series of people hyping you up from press releases? I'm sorry man but if you want unchecked enthusiasm then you clearly have too much money to spend.
I don't really notice because that's the way my friends and I talk about stuff, games or otherwise. I think that's just Jeff's style: generally reserved with occasional spontaneous (and hilarious) outbursts.
I personally find the guys to be pretty on the money with their honesty about stuff. Plus I enjoy all the pop culture deviations, sometimes even finding myself a bit disappointed when they catch themselves and realise they have to reign it in. Oh, and on that point I don't think Ryan's being a downer when he tries to steer the show back on course. I'm sure he could sit there and riff on their crap all day too, but as the fearless leader he knows someone has to shape it into a listenable podcast.
Personally, I found ListenUp to be bland compared to 1Up Yours. Once Shane left, it wasn't the same.
" Personally, I found ListenUp to be bland compared to 1Up Yours. Once Shane left, it wasn't the same. "I couldn't stand Shane, although sometimes I think that dislike is born out of sharing similar personality traits. That being said, he definitely added something to the podcast and it was poorer for him leaving.
" I don't really notice because that's the way my friends and I talk about stuff, games or otherwise. I think that's just Jeff's style: generally reserved with occasional spontaneous (and hilarious) outbursts. I personally find the guys to be pretty on the money with their honesty about stuff. Plus I enjoy all the pop culture deviations, sometimes even finding myself a bit disappointed when they catch themselves and realise they have to reign it in. Oh, and on that point I don't think Ryan's being a downer when he tries to steer the show back on course. I'm sure he could sit there and riff on their crap all day too, but as the fearless leader he knows someone has to shape it into a listenable podcast. "Yeah, they definitely chose a good host in Ryan. Someone needs to tie things back down every so often.
I'm not sure what negativity you speak of, especially out of Jeff. The only thing that turns me off is the general feeling that Ryan Davis hates every second of the Bombcast and hates everyone who listens to it. I've never heard him say anything good or positive about a listener. Its always "this email sucks" "you guys didn't do question of the week" "this guy is terrible" etc. etc. Seems pissed off all the time and its gotten irritating.
The podcast as a whole is great though. I don't think they talk super negative about anything.
" I'm not sure what negativity you speak of, especially out of Jeff. The only thing that turns me off is the general feeling that Ryan Davis hates every second of the Bombcast and hates everyone who listens to it. I've never heard him say anything good or positive about a listener. Its always "this email sucks" "you guys didn't do question of the week" "this guy is terrible" etc. etc. Seems pissed off all the time and its gotten irritating. The podcast as a whole is great though. I don't think they talk super negative about anything. "Think about how many insanely retarded e-mails he must get every week. I pretty much hate everyone here already. I couldn't even imagine how much I would hate everyone if I got 20 e-mails from them every week saying shit like "HEY DUDERS YOU SAY NEVER ON THE BOMBCAST LAWLALALWLAWL" or "IS IT REALLY TRUE THAT YOU CAN'T BEAT 100 PERCENT?! LAAWLWLAWLALAWLAWL!"
I think the Bombcast crew play up their emotions, both positive and negative. That said, I don't feel the team is overly negative; if anything, I take their comments as more honest and blunt than the other podcasts I've come across.
" @Artie said:" I'm not sure what negativity you speak of, especially out of Jeff. The only thing that turns me off is the general feeling that Ryan Davis hates every second of the Bombcast and hates everyone who listens to it. I've never heard him say anything good or positive about a listener. Its always "this email sucks" "you guys didn't do question of the week" "this guy is terrible" etc. etc. Seems pissed off all the time and its gotten irritating. The podcast as a whole is great though. I don't think they talk super negative about anything. "Think about how many insanely retarded e-mails he must get every week. I pretty much hate everyone here already. I couldn't even imagine how much I would hate everyone if I got 20 e-mails from them every week saying shit like "HEY DUDERS YOU SAY NEVER ON THE BOMBCAST LAWLALALWLAWL" or "IS IT REALLY TRUE THAT YOU CAN'T BEAT 100 PERCENT?! LAAWLWLAWLALAWLAWL!" "
Dude has a point here.
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