I'm probably a Douche but....

I'm probably a Douche but what the hell is up with Alex Narvarro doing 50% of the reviews on this site lol

It doesn't annoy me, rather it perplexes me that he gets every other review and Ryan Davies for example has done two in about 6 months.

That coupled with every I love Mondays being full of 'argh, Video Games are coming out, guess that means i have to do something other than talk about fast food and 90's rap/Wrestling'

I know criticizing any members of the Giant Bomb crew on this forum elates to the answer 'don't like it then don't come to Giant Bomb.'

I'm just wondering if there is a reason to why Alex is the sites main reviewer despite being on the other side of America.

I don't want to call Ryan lazy as what he does at E3 every night (despite the fact i would personally rather they just did a normal podcast every night with just them) shows just what a trooper he is. Just wondering if there is a reason?

"Probably" nothing.

In office people focus on the videos. Alex is in New York so written reviews and news are what he can contribute the most with

Well like you mentioned, he's on the other side of America. Alex can't participate in the podcasts or video content, so he writes articles and reviews instead.

He's a better write than Ryan, so why not let him do them all? I dunno, he seems to get lumped with mostly shitty games anyway, save a few decent ones like Sleeping Dogs.

@AlexW00d said:

He's a better write than Ryan, so why not let him do them all? I dunno, he seems to get lumped with mostly shitty games anyway, save a few decent ones like Sleeping Dogs.

Something tells me they all pretty much thought Sleeping Dogs WAS going to be shitty, given its dramatic development history. Happy it wasn't though, as I am playing the SHIT out of some Sleeping Dogs right now.

@AlexW00d said:

He's a better write than Ryan, so why not let him do them all? I dunno, he seems to get lumped with mostly shitty games anyway, save a few decent ones like Sleeping Dogs.

Yeah, I really like his writing style.

Again I'm expecting hate for what i'm about to say but Videos is what those in the office are only supposed to concentrate a majority of their time on now?

Well that's going swimmingly, i mean i swear its forgotten that these guys do full work shifts Monday to Friday and yet they produce video's wise the most easy content to produce. Handheld cam Preview for the week and one shot little to no editing Quick looks. I'm not dissing the QLs but Yotubers do that and produce it to just the same standard and the majority of them do it in their spare time. TNT is done behind the scenes by Drew and Vinny, no work at all for Ryan, Jeff and whoever can be bothered to show other than to be there and play the game for an hour.

Again these guys are good at their Jobs and are not lazy individuals, i have my opinions and personally think that they are slacking slightly to how they once were. Even the Bombcast has become mostly Drivel. I'm just bemused as to why they arn't reviewing the Games. Because the Video's Cannot take up the amount of time they are there. So if they arn't playing all the Games for Review then they are being paid half the time to just play the Games and maybe give a 2 minute opinion on it on the Bombcast before going back to talking about how Ice T etc

I'm just becoming bemused by how Giant Bomb is now compared to how it was say 3 years ago.

Bring on the hate lol

Ryan Davies has all these audio and video features to do. Guess who doesn't.

@gamerpigeon: Your problem seems to be you have no idea what work goes into any of the content produced on the site and so you have created a fantasy world in which everything is made by serendipity and pixies when the cameras aren't rolling and so in your little fake reality you think people are being lazy. I advise you go and make some quicklooks of your own for hour 12 of a game and tell me how long it takes to make that 30 minute video.

Thread lock in...

So insightful, continue.

Who's Ryan Davies?

If you notice the majority of Alex's reviews are for small releases or weird games. I'm sure that Ryan and Brad will start writing reviews again when the bigger release start to come out. Soon.

you're not a douche as much as you are woefully ignorant about how GB operates

@AlexW00d said:

He's a better write than Ryan, so why not let him do them all? I dunno, he seems to get lumped with mostly shitty games anyway, save a few decent ones like Sleeping Dogs.

The Civ 5 review is probably my favorite on the site. I wish that Ryan had the chance to do more written content. Alex's writing style, on the other hand, is usually oversaturated with jokes/asides that take a little too long to get back to the topic at hand. I don't have a huge problem with the way Alex writes, but it can be exhausting at times.

I personally think Alex writes the best out of the whole crew , I just love his cynical and snarky style. I don't read reviews for info on a particular game as I already have a pretty good idea if I want said game or not. I read them to get entertainment out of the article itself and it's author. I guess I'm weird like that.

They saddled him with a goddamn True Crime game.

You fought a dragon.

...wait a minute, you fought a fucking dragon, why was that a bad game.

Well although it doesn't answer alot of questions here's the reason why Alex is in the east coast from Jeff himself.

http://www.formspring.me/jeffgerstmann/q/354033329097434618

@D_Mac said:

Who's Ryan Davies?

ooh I like that name a lot more!

You have seen how tiny the crew is, right (not to mention Patrick is gone for a while)? Take that small number, add in all the content that is put onto this, plus meetings, plus queuing production for approval from the higher-uppers at CBSi, plus building a new website, and the picture should become pretty clear. You should also be aware that these guys are interested in other things besides games, so they freely talk about whatever is on there mind.

*long exasperated sigh*

Those who actually took the time to give an honest answer to this, you're doing God's work.

@BongChilla said:

I personally think Alex writes the best out of the whole crew , I just love his cynical and snarky style. I don't read reviews for info on a particular game as I already have a pretty good idea if I want said game or not. I read them to get entertainment out of the article itself and it's author. I guess I'm weird like that.

This.

He's the best writer in my opinion so it's not really an issue. He doesnt go overboard either, even when reviewing really terrible games there's generally something positive in there.

That said reviews are my least favourite part about the site. I come here for the quick looks and bombcasts which are always long, and generally entertaining. So it's not really an issue of lazyness.

I've been listening to the Bombcast for about two years and nothing has changed. The crew has always talked about random shit and it usually ends up being entertaining. Also, I really don't see anything wrong with Alex producing the most written content. I really don't understand what's so perplexing about it.

Again I'm expecting hate for what i'm about to say

Bring on the hate lol

It seems like you want someone to "hate" on you for this thread.

I don't really see what the problem is.

@D_Mac said:

Who's Ryan Davies?

Gah, you're too quick for me.

Reviews aren't a big part of the site.

Alex and Jeff are the best reviewers, so it makes sense they carry the majority of review content. Alex's reviews are particularly noteworthy because he I s almost invariably far more in-depth than the others. Sometimes I read Alex's reviews just for fun because they're lengthy and well written. As for the guys at the San Fran office not seeming to produce as much as they used to, you have to bear in mind they're working on a lot of behind the scenes stuff right now. the next version of the site is in the offing and they're still preparing their permanent home at CBSi. Things will pick back up.

Because we haven't had this thread enough.

@AlexW00d said:

He's a better write than Ryan, so why not let him do them all? I dunno, he seems to get lumped with mostly shitty games anyway, save a few decent ones like Sleeping Dogs.

Yeah, I really like his writing style.

Alex Navarro reviewed Big Rigs.
 
The man is obviously the most qualified reviewer they have.

Hey guys, remember when the Bombcast used to just be about games?

Guys?

Remember?

Hello?

@gamerpigeon said:

Ryan Davies

Jeff Gertsmann and Ryan Davies should start their own website. Or at least take over GameBomb.

Because there isn't much else he can do.

Sooooo why are you a douche again?

Well, don't be such a douche butt then.

@Fearbeard said:

In office people focus on the videos. Alex is in New York so written reviews and news are what he can contribute the most with

Word.

It's worth noting that there's a lot of meetings, logisticsm and emailing that goes on between the Bomb Crew, Alex, and PR. You think Harmonix is just "dropping by" with a copy of Dance Central 3?

It's probably been said by now, but I don't feel like reading all the responses. 
 
You realize that Alex chooses what he reviews, right? No one tells him to, as far as I know from what he has said and other Giantbomb dudes have said. The way I can tell, he plays a game hes got some interest in, then he reviews it since that's what he's paid to do anyway. 
He is basically reviewing games he decides to play since he played it. 
 
The main Giantbomb guys don't do reviews a lot and best I can figure at the moment is because very little has come out this year, let alone much worth reviewing. Plus, I don't know this for a fact, but the quick looks have kind of been there way of sharing their view of a game. Ya, you could read a review of a game they played, but they seem to basically say the same thing in the quick look (especially if it's a game they've actually put any time into). 
 
I don't know their reason, but seems like these days Giantbomb is a bit more then about reviews. Ya, they still review games, but it's not so much about reviewing games non stop as focusing on games they want to high light and then they give varying degrees of attention to it. 
 
Being a smaller website, it works best for them and I don't see a problem with it. I like the more casual feel about it. 

This week (August 6th to August 13th) there were 11 Quick Looks in total posted on the site. Ryan "Davies" Davis was in 8 of those Quick Looks for a total screen time of roughly 223 minutes. He was also the main part of this week's TNT which is anouther 90 minutes. Then there's a Bombcast each week (just shy of three hours last week), and time spent playing new games to prepare for Quick Looks. I don't have a clue what other logistical stuff he has to due.

If people think these guys are working a solid 9-5 they're kidding themselves, but that's awesome for them, right? I wish I could pull shit like that while already working with a medium I love. As long as we're getting content does it really matter? I do think the premium subscription feels like a joke at this point and I probably won't resubscribe unless I literally find a $50 bill, but what they put out on a regular basis is enough for me. 
 
Also, who even cares about reviews anymore? I would think the community built around the site would know better at this point.

Signed in just to quote this.

@gamerpigeon said:

Ryan Davies

Now proceeding to sign out again.

New Bombcast best-of for 2010 coming in a few weeks, by the way.

I'm not a fan of the disconnect between Alex's reviews and the other coverage on the site either.

That being said the more reviews the merrier, i'd just rather hear his thoughts in a Quick Look or Bombcast so they can bounce off the other staff a bit more and feel a bit more connected to the site and community.

Also why the fuck aren't they using the new review cartoons?

@Shivoa said:

@gamerpigeon: Your problem seems to be you have no idea what work goes into any of the content produced on the site and so you have created a fantasy world in which everything is made by serendipity and pixies when the cameras aren't rolling and so in your little fake reality you think people are being lazy. I advise you go and make some quicklooks of your own for hour 12 of a game and tell me how long it takes to make that 30 minute video.

Thread lock in...

No need to be a dick about it.

I think it's totally fair to pose the question of "what the hell do they do the majority of the day?" The crew has always been rather vague about it. Jeff's talked about setting up appointments and meetings for E3, discussing video content for the site, sure, but there's never been a real breakdown of what a day at the GB office is really like. All we see of them is them verbally jerking off and having a good time. I'm not naive enough to think that's all they do, but they've always kept the average work day close to the vest.

For curiosity's sake more than anything else, I'd like to know. I doubt we'll ever get a thorough answer, however.

Not to sling mud, but you're a bit of a douche for doing one of those awful, "Does anyone else think..." style topic titles that forces you to click through the link to read an often mundane and non-thought provoking post.

As for the actual topic at hand, I refer to my previous statement.

@dennisthemennis said:

This week (August 6th to August 13th) there were 11 Quick Looks in total posted on the site. Ryan "Davies" Davis was in 8 of those Quick Looks for a total screen time of roughly 223 minutes. He was also the main part of this week's TNT which is anouther 90 minutes. Then there's a Bombcast each week (just shy of three hours last week), and time spent playing new games to prepare for Quick Looks. I don't have a clue what other logistical stuff he has to due.

That's around 8 hours accounted for in a week...

I have no idea what their job entails, and I would bet you're right that there's a lot of "logistical stuff" to do, as well as a lot of just sitting around eating chips and playing video games - either way, I enjoy the shit out of what they produce.

I would also, however, bet that they do in fact have a piss-easy job, and don't put in half the time that I (as a software developer) do in a week. But listening to the Bombcast it sounds like they acknowledge that, and again, I enjoy what they do so ultimately I could care less.

Yeah... I kinda miss the old ILM videos. The ones that in a few minutes laid out what's coming up for the week, even though sometimes Ryan's floating head lied to us.