Giantbomb making a huge push for Premium...

EDIT: And because we each need more Marky Mark in our life:

@brodehouse said:

@splodge: Moustache Ryan is my favorite Ryan Davis skin.

Possibly next to Big Hair Ryan and Bleached Gamer Dweeb Ryan.

edit: WELL THOSE ARE REALLY VISIBLE.

Gallery

That picture of Big Hair Ryan is incredible. I got a good, long laugh out of that. He just doesn't give a shit. It's nice to be able to see and hear about Ryan without feeling infinitely sad. I've also noticed that the crew is bringing him up more and more, so I hope that they're coming to terms with it too. He made a lot of people really happy.

@humanity: absolutely spot on and hilarious observation.

@the_nubster said:

@brodehouse said:

@splodge: Moustache Ryan is my favorite Ryan Davis skin.

Possibly next to Big Hair Ryan and Bleached Gamer Dweeb Ryan.

edit: WELL THOSE ARE REALLY VISIBLE.

Gallery

That picture of Big Hair Ryan is incredible. I got a good, long laugh out of that. He just doesn't give a shit. It's nice to be able to see and hear about Ryan without feeling infinitely sad. I've also noticed that the crew is bringing him up more and more, so I hope that they're coming to terms with it too. He made a lot of people really happy.

He looks like Tim Schafer's drunk brother.

The content has been great in my opinion and has been well worth my money to date. When Vinny and Alex get going again, things will really start picking up again. Until then, the stuff that's happening is great.

Funny right when I was considering cancelling my premium.

Anything that lines Jeff's pockets is fine with me. That man needs an LFA, not a IS350.

I feel we should have a guaranteed Demo Derby and MGS a week as premium. Those would then lead into UPF which would total 3 premium pieces of content. But then again there are only so many demos and Metal Gear games.

@thethingaboutmachines: Lockdown. The greatest BGM ever

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to link. Lockdown

@humanity said:

... man. That got dark.

I'm happy with the level of content where it is now; some content I consume and some I do not. I figure what I like some might like and some might not, and what I don't consume other probably like.

I don't really get hung up about the amount, there is not some x + y/x = z equation for what I expect from GB. I see the $50 (or $40 on sale) as a annual subscription to get 'some content', not some weight, measure, or amount of content. Vinny's smiling face is my reward, Drew flying his Warthog is reward enough, Jeff drinking from a jar from time to time is my reward, and Dan making me literally scream at my audio device in agony when he say the latest bit of 'home spun wisdom' from middle-american is probably doing me some good too...somehow.

I have no measure of needing 10% more of this or that, or twice as much of this other thing.

A Time to Talk

When a friend calls to me from the road

And slows his horse to a meaning walk,

I don't stand still and look around

On all the hills I haven't hoed,

And shout from where I am, What is it?

No, not as there is a time to talk.

I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,

Blade-end up and five feet tall,

And plod: I go up to the stone wall

For a friendly visit.

~ Robert Frost

My opinion:

If they wanted to make a push for people to resubscribe, they would offer the $35 membership deal to previous members. My subscription ran out and I am not paying $50 for premium. The $15 gift certificate to the shop is useless to me because I am not paying $30 in shipping for a t-shirt.

Gotta love this old chestnut. I dont know where you people find the time to consume even a tenth of what GB puts out.

They've said more than once that there will be more premium content once things get smoothed out a bit with GBeast. Jeff has said things are finally going in the direction they always wanted to take the site but just never had the resources for.

Regardless of all that the amount of bandwidth I suck from this site per day I think it's worth tossing them some money. The premium content is just icing on the cake.

@splodge: That is the best video I've ever watched. Thanks for sharing the link! I really wish there was more stuff like this!

@azurath: As long as they keep playing through Metal Gear, I'm good.

Vinny's setting up their equipment, and I think he's on paternity leave, so him and Alex's end of that are gonna be on hold.

It's impossible not to dance to it while waiting for a Giant Bomb stream to start.

Making the CD-I stream and archive free was a fairly smart move on part of the crew. With this recent push for Premium content, it makes sense to at least have one full video that can let people know what some of the more unstructured content can look like. They also lucked out in that the whole video is pretty great, and serves as a great guide of how the Premium content can be when the crew is on a roll.

The premium podcasts are on the front page all the time, aren't they? But yeah, it's about time that GB actually began to promote Premium memberships in a big way. They had never made any real promotional videos for it, showing some of what you can get, before that recent video. And that's pretty insane!

Also, Jeff has said that they won't be having interns, at least not for the forseeable future. Jeff feels that they don't have the time to really put an intern to work, and he doesn't want an intern just so he or she can get them food :P

edit: As for the OP: One weekly stream is enough. It's better to have more spontaneous content spread around that. TNT was bad more often than it was good because they had to do it every week, even when there wasn't any games they were interested in playing. Better to have UPF as the flagship show, and then do stuff like MGS, the occasional stream when they find something they want to play (Mario Party Party, to give you one example). A regular schedule isn't what will bring people to buy Premium, good content will. And good content will more likely come from irregular stuff than weekly streams.

Right now is the golden age of Premium content in my view. Sure, there's no Random PC Game which was amazing, but taken as a whole there hasn't been any better period on the site for Premium content imo.

I think it's about more than just content, or at least it is to me. I've loved playing games for around 30 years now and I stumbled upon GB last year - the way they went about their business was just something I wanted to support, so I decided to become a premium member then.

Never regretted it.

I love the past content, but after things like Alex angrily tweeting things like "If you don't agree with me about [non Giant Bomb issue], then get off the site", I'm not re-upping my subscription. I'll still use it until it runs out to watch older content, but I'm not seeing things (apart from Dan The Man) any more that I'm interested in.

I agree with some of the posters here that while I often enjoy their "We're just playing games" shows, its often not compelling enough for me to be watching only that, so I'll usually be playing a game while its on.

The best shows are the ones with an angle, or gimmick that makes it unique. These are harder to plan and set up but they're always the memorable shows. Firing up some game and toying with it for a bit before moving on doesn't quite do the trick anymore.

My membership has lapsed and while I was enjoying it I'm not sprinting to fire it back up. I will, I just don't feel like there's a hurry. Make me rush, Gerstmann!

There's so much content now!!!!

Well, I don't think I could handle more content with the time I have. Also, probably I'm not the only one who's paying premium so they can continue to make regular content as well. It gives them more freedom to do what they want.

Personally I think if you're going in expecting a Netflix-esque experience then you're probably going to be disappointed. For me the membership has always been a way of just generally supporting the site, more of a Patreon deal than paying for a direct service.

Either way there's more content than I have time to watch already, so fuck it.

Personally I'm absolutely happy with the amount of premium content being produced. It's been great to see Dan so proactive since his arrival with pushing out new ideas and we've had a bunch of great series or one-off shows as a result. UPF is generally pretty consistent too, it certainly has its off weeks here or there but I feel as though that's always the danger with a regular show like that, which is why I'm cautious of them adding too many more. Otherwise it feels as though they've been pretty consistent in running at least one or two other premium series per week at any given point in time for a while now.

I do very much like the idea of throwing up an old sub video on the page once a week, because a lot of that stuff might not have been seen by newer subs and there's a fantastic backlog going on there that is completely worth watching. Overall though I definitely feel like I'm comfortably getting my value for money (and more) from the sub. I'm always up for more content, of course, but only if it's something they're generally interested in and not purely for the sake of having it.

Don't forget that it will probably kick up to at least one other regular premium show each week once Vinny and Alex are fully settled down and ready to go - it sounds as though doing so is one of their main intentions.

Unfortunate timing for this post because they posted 4 premium videos in the past 2 days. And they probably would have posted more or done something PREMUIM today if Vinny wasn't on break.

For new subs, the 35$ is worth it for Random PC Game alone. After that it's worth it if you want to keep supporting the duders.

Dying.

So, because Alex doesn't want people who condone and encourage baseless hate and vitriol spewed at a single person and anyone involved in any way with that person, you're not re-upping?

If you can't understand where that comes from, if you don't grasp why no one should ever have to endure threats of death and rape and the humiliation that has been slung about in this past week, good. Don't re-up. Don't ever even come back. You won't be missed. This community has no time for people who give those kinds of miscreants and assholes the time of day.

PS. He wasn't saying "if you don't agree with me" about that stuff. He was saying that no one should ever talk to another person with that kind of outward hatred, and if you are like that or sympathise with that point of view, you're not welcome here.

He doesn't have an obligation to re-sub, you know.

I realize that. But to refuse to do so on the basis of Alex saying that no one deserves to be under fire the way certain gaming personalities have been and that those who do support that kind of activity aren't welcome here? And to twist Alex's words into some sort of self-righteous attack on the community? That's not cool, and that's exactly the kind of attitude that's landed us here in the first place. He or she shouldn't be attacking Alex's defense of the person under fire, because that very activity gives credibility to the people who are slinging mud at people.

If Alex's words offend anyone or drive anyone away, they're the kind of person who he's addressing and exactly the kind of person who isn't really welcome here.

it would be cool if they added a monthly paypal thing. i don't really feel like paying for an entire year (again) right now.

@azurath: Feels like you haven't been paying attention, honestly. There is tons of content going up on the site now. the GBeast is getting finalized and Dan has been impressively helping funnel new content out with the ASTRIKER.

We are figuratively drowning in premium content lately. I don't mind the variety. Can't Spook with Scoops every week, as it does rely on Patrick's heart not giving out. Same with MGS and Drew's brain. MGScanlon has basically taken over the Breaking Brad/Endurance Run slot of a few episodes a week. Patrick has talked about how he hasn't had to do the daily streams lately because the site is doing pretty good without him cluttering up the site with Binding of Patrick or Spelunking with Scoops. If it allows the guys to do more video features with stuff they really want to do? I'm all for it. It's how we got MGScanlon and Demo Derby and the Mario Party Party. It's how we got those weird Vinny Quick Look solos for Bot Colony and Velvet Sundown before the actual Quick Looks.

edit: As for a more rigid, structured, scheduled premium feature, the second something feels forced or they feel obligated to do something, we have a problem. It's why Unprofessional Wednesdays or whatever that GS/GB show was went away: it was too hard to do and too forced.

@cooljammer00: I totally agree. I like the rigid Friday show but keeping the other shows fluid really keeps it all open for new and different shows. It's how the demo videos became the Metal gear videos.

Those spur of the moment, we thought of this earlier today, live streams can be some of the best stuff.

They need to do another "Box Office Bomb" podcast. That show should be biweekly at least. Maybe add a sit-down video like the old Screened days.