Vinny is a great host.

No offense to Jeff's hosting skills, but Vinny killed it this week. He was really great on the HotSpot and this week I loved the enthusiasm and the return of the music. The fun radio show vibe Vinny brings is a nice approach and I'd like to seem him continue to host the show more often in the future.

I'm literally 45 seconds in and I love him. The intro mix. Holy shit. That was incredible. Man, I've been listening to this podcast for a long time...

I don't think I would want him to replace Jeff as the host, but I definitely got a kick out of this week's bombcast and the unique vibe he brought to it. The music he chose to introduce the segments was so great.

He sure is.

Yeah, My favorite era of Hotspot was with Vinny as host. I always loved Rich and then Jeff, but Vinny did such an amazing job in late 07.

Vinny is a great everything.

Vinny is the best host.

FTFY.

Yep, Vinny was an awesome host on The Hotspot. I'll listen to this weeks bombcast while I'm farming for stuff on the community Terraria server.

Vinny IS Giant Bomb for me personally

There is nothing that Vinny isn't the best at.

Vinny did stellar job really enjoyed it

Vinny really brings the game sometimes much love

I honestly wish he would host every week.

And have Patrick Skype in every week...

eh whatever

Wasn't Vinny hosting the Hot Spot back in the day?

In any case of course Vinny is great. Vinny's always great.

@metalgearsunny said:

I agree about Patrick. I understand why they don't have him Skype in for the whole thing, but it would be nice just for the news section.

I was honestly somewhat surprised that Vinny didn't takeover from Ryan. Of course Arrow Pointing Down started as Jeff and Ryan's podcast, so it wasn't that much of a surprise, but Vinny is such a great host, both on screen and in the booth, that I thought he might get a shot. I would like to hear him hosting more often or even permanently, though I very much doubt either of those things will happen.

edit - and having Patrick chime in briefly was also much appreciated. Sounded substantially better than most skype podcast guests too. Again, I'd like for that to happen more often, but I guess the impetus for it happening this week specifically was his TedX appearance.

I thought he was fucking great. Even that Squarespace ad was funny as shit.

And i thought skyping Patrick in for the news was great. It somehow made it feel like an actual news show.

@aajf: It was pretty much always Jeff that took over for Ryan when he wasn't available so it seemed the most logical fit to me.

I haven't listened yet, but it's no secret that Vinny is the secret weapon of this whole site. Everyone wants more of him.

A little off topic, but I live Vinnie stories. When he talks about Vinny time, his son Max (dad-casts via tested), or Wife out of town Fast Food Shame - it's Gold.

V bomb straight killed it this week. I honestly wouldn't mind him doing it from here on out. He certainly has the pedigree from back in the hotspot days. Whether or not he wants that responsibility is a whole other situation. I'm just grateful he's still working with GB.

I actually really enjoyed the vibe of this week's podcast in general. Very up beat and lively. Maybe it had something to do with not having Jeff chime in with how much he doesn't like whatever thing is being discussed at the moment. Don't get me wrong, I like Jeff a lot. It just nice to get a vacation from it.

@zeik: True, true. Vinny, to me at least, seems a little better at marshaling everyone through and keeping things tight, same way he's often the one to make sure certain features of a game get highlighted just before a quicklook wraps up. But whatever: ultimately the bombcast is the bombcast and I love it every week, even when there's an hour of speculation about robotic eyes in the future before they start talking vidya games.

they should just alternate every other week, keep it fresh.

He's good, but I wouldn't want to hear it every week. It's nice to have a SPECIAL TREAT once in a while, but that's what it should remain.

I strongly support the loose/unguided feel that Jeff leads the show through. Keep it that way.

Didn't Vinny take hosting duties a lot on the HotSpot? I really miss that. I think Vinny's completely awesome.

Jeff's great too. I dunno. I was kinda hoping Vinny would take over for Ryan when he was the MC for the memorial podcast. It's nice to have variety one way or another. I miss the consistent structure of Ryan's podcasts (the music cues, etc. not that it wasn't completely garrulous but still...)

I don't ever really want a Jeff-less anything. But I think he works better when he's not worrying about hosting. He has so much loud, awesome raw energy when someone else is worrying about hosting. As a host he seems like he's not totally into it. But when he plays the Second chair he's so full of crazy jokes and stories. I dunno I'd like them to at least try it and if it don't work then it don't work.

I wonder how the podcast would be if Bradley Shoemaker hosted it for once.

The sad thing is, Jeff probably wont relinquish his hosting duties, even though vinny is much better suited for it.

That opening was amazing.

@naru_joe93 said:

This is an absurdly presumptuous statement. What basis do you have to believe that Jeff would not want anyone else to host, or that Vinny would even want to take over permanent hosting duties? You make it sound like Jeff is some kind of dictator and forced his way into the position, regardless of what anyone else wants.

I think it would be a neat idea if they switched off weeks, or, if people tend to like Vinny's hosting way more, just switch over permanently.

Could've just stopped at the word "Vinny", and you'd have me on your side.

Because Jeff is in charge of the site, and he's the type of dude who knows exactly what he wants when it comes to the site. Not saying he's a dictator or anything and I'm not saying Vinny wants to be host. But if Vinny did want to be permanent host, I really don't think Jeff would relinquish his placement. And not for selfish reasons, but because he feels he's the best man for the job and that it feeds into his vision for this site (the site he leads and created)

Honestly, I don't even think the question would ever arise amongst them; the assumption (probably) is that Jeff wants to be host, because Jeff IS host. If Jeff didn't want to be host, he wouldn't have been doing it for the past 3 months. Like I said, he's a dude who knows what he wants, especially when it comes to this site. He has a rigid vision for it

@naru_joe93: I completely disagree. I don't feel like Jeff ever really wanted to be the host, but was kind of forced into due to obvious circumstances. I very much believe that if one of the others was confident enough to take over hosting duties and everyone agreed they were more suited for that role Jeff would gladly play second fiddle just as he had been before.

Obviously I don't believe he would just hand over the role to whoever. I'm sure he's doing it now because he believes he is best suited for it, but I'm also confident that was agreed upon by everyone and not just because Jeff said so. Giantbomb may be "Jeff's site" in a lot of ways, but I've never gotten the impression he only does what he wants and doesn't consider input from the others.

have to admit the amount of effort he put into it was pretty stunning given his transportation difficulties and myriad of production duties. the man knows how to produce a bomb 'cast!

(no offense to jeff but he also seems to know how to keep it nice and tite, beyond: two souls segment notwithstanding)

i love both of their styles tbh. in a perfect world they can trade off duties every other week or summat. we get fast and loose Jeff, then radio producer/DJ extraordinaire VinnDogg the next week. EVERBODY WINZ.

I hope you're right, because he really is better suited for it. He has an overwhelming sense of curiosity that makes every question and answer feel more meaningful.

This week's bombcast was the most enjoyable for me personally for a long time :) I was pretty disinterested in a lot of what they talked about, and would've liked to hear more games that they played over the weekend, but still it rocked.

Also Patrick skype was pretty good; particularly the not-tinny sound quality and the lack of delay.

@naru_joe93: To be clear, I don't actually agree that he's better suited for it. I enjoyed this week's bombcast a lot, it was an entertaining change from the norm, but it still felt kind of off. Maybe with time Vinny would feel more natural, but I don't think he's an inherently better host, just different.

It was great. I'd love to hear what it'd be like to have Vinny hosting with Jeff present. Vinny's boisterous wackiness was the perfect thing to offset the severe lack of Gerstmann this week, I imagine it'd be great to have that same brand of silliness with everyone accounted for.

Not sure if I am remembering correctly, but didn't Vinny host some of the old Hotspots years ago? No offense to Jeff, but Vinny is more suited to hosting.

I listened to the first sixty seconds and immediately said, "I need to write something on giantbomb.com about this."

My facial expression is currently a combination of laughter contortions and that photo of Ryan looking quizzically incredulous.

I love Jeff as a host, but Vinny was great because he's pretty much great at Internet.

Amen brother!

Have people already forgotten the amazing first week of 2013 when Ryan and Jeff were both on vacation? Still one of the best weeks ever with Sleeping Dogs DLC QL and the eurotruck simulator.

Yeah i just started this weeks bombcast, He's pretty great.

I wouldn't want him to host every week, sorta like an odd little treat now and then would be perfect so it doesnt get old.

+5

I loved the energy - it hasn't been that energetic for a while. Jeff has this intentionally awkward style of presentation, that is alright here and then, but it worked on UPF. With Ryan gone from the Bombcast, it's been lacking a lot of that energy. Glad Vinny is here, and hope he can host more.

Thats about right :)

Vinny is a great host.

Fixed.

@the_ruiner: Couldnt agree more. That podcast has been the best podcast in a while.

Vinny was great

Vinny is a great <insert anything here>