Is premium content better than it was 1 year ago?

If you want to just see the results, click "about the same" to keep the poll a little balanced.

Well, better than last year.

Very, very good, but the RPG, LOLS, random Phantasmagoria ER was still the peak.

I've been a member since they started taking memberships.

The content has been better and better everyday since day 1.

Feels about the same.

The Mario Party Party is worth the price of a subscription alone. I've rewatched it three times because of how funny it is. It just never gets old. Vinny's few bits of premium content so far have been amazing too.

I think it's much better than 2013. My sub ran out in September 2013 and there was nothing incentivizing me to reup. They got Vinny and Alex working out of a makeshift studio, they hired Dan and I feel like it's something close to Giant Bomb again. Resubbed and pretty stoked.

The Vinny and Alex situation reminds me a lot of Sausalito, and that's when Giant Bomb was pumping pure love into my heart and butt.

I think it has been short till the last month, but that is not criticism. They were rectifying the situation. Adjustments had to be made and hiring accomplished.

Nothing could ever equal that one year way back while with Whiskey Media, and they pulled out of that one also

Just over a year ago they had just taken a two week hiatus. So yeah, anything's better than no content.

I'm not a sub so I can't comment on the quality. But those free happy hours were some of the best videos ever recorded.

looked back to see what content was on one year ago and it happened to be a Daily Dota episode on August 1, 2013.

http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/the-daily-dota-08-01-2013/2300-7766/

Since I don't commonly follow the Daily Dota stuff my answer would be yes, in my opinion the premium content is better than what it was one year ago.

Of course it is better. Much better. It would be even more better if they posted tonights Unprofessional Fridays right now!

Had you asked about a month ago, I might have said that it is pretty much the same, but this last month has had some of the best premium content the site has seen in quite a while. Vinny's live stuff and the Mario Party Party were more than worth the subscription, and are hopefully a taste of the greatness that awaits.

Recently yeah it's been great.

Earlier this year? Ehhh it kinda sucked. But they're fixing that so good on them!

They've had their highs and lows, but for the most part they've kept a steady quality since last year, in my opinion.

I can't vote because I literally haven't watched anything from this past month as I tried to get some big games out of the way before our vacation but I'll probably go out on a limb and say...yes.

Last year had some great stuff with Vinny beating Dark Souls and Unplugged but that was what stood out. This year kinda...sucked in my opinion until as of late (again I haven't watched anything but come on, they play Mario Party, I'm sure that it is amazing)

I just wish we still had Random PC Game.

Theyre definitely at a high point right now. Though Im still hoping for another LP type thing from one of the crew. The WoW series with dan is kinda doing something similar, but WoW is really fucking boring to watch. I really wanna watch @jeff play through a game of his choice. And not an ER, something more like Vinnyvania, LoLSouls, Breaking Brad where he played Volgarr/Demons Souls, or Spelunkin with Scoops. It could be weekly, it could be bi weekly; I don't really care. Though it would, preferably, be something he never played or finished before (my vote is the first Yakuza game).

Also, to the people who haven't seen UPF yet. You're in for a treat, and it concerns Matt Rorie himself (you'll know what it is when it happens).

They've always had their highs and lows, but yeah, in the months after Ryan's passing, they certainly had a rougher time. Now they're rebuilding, and I'm enjoying quite a bit of what they're putting out. :)

I would recommend Subbing for sure. Some great stuff as of late.

The site has been killing it with the premium stuff recently, but that is also in contrast to the last few months not being spectacular, with your usual hit/miss unprofessional Fridays and not much else.

But to keep this from being a one sided thing, don't forget that the end of last year had both Vinny Souls and pathfinder.

Unprofessional fridays depend really on your videogame preferences. For example, if it's old retro games from around NES or arcades, I tend to skip ahead because those are not my thing and I don't have any attachments games of that genre/era and I'm not volunteering to torture myself by listening the horrible 8-bit music. But, Drew has similiar tastes to mine so it's always interesting to see what kind of games he comes up.

Unsurprisingly, Vinny's videos have been my favorites and it's mostly because he can seem to jump into any weird game with no preconceptions or cynicism and that positive tone just makes them enjoyable to watch. I guess it's kinda like watching bearded toddler playing with his toys and having hell of a time, even if they're just wooden blocks (metaphor for crappy game).

YES! My butt has never truly recovered.

I think the range of content is vastly superior to what was on the sit over a year ago.

I love UPF but dont think they have been as good since the passing of Ryan, he really was the glue of that show.

It's not on the same level as it was when we had LOL and RPG but it's good. I don't regrett my membership at all.

I miss the Vinny/Brad streams but its still pretty good. The Mario Party Party was great. And terrible.

I'm a little out of touch with what is and isn't premium because I doubled up on a subscription when there was a couple of sales, so bear with me on my analysis here...

It's definitely better since before the new hirings. Having two studios, even if it's limited Vinny and Alex commentary to one another, really has helped. Having Drew on camera more often is great, although I would still like to see some more stuff from Jason (I could also appreciate it if he wanted to remain a behind-the-scenes guy).

Unprofessional Fridays almost always has at least one amazing segment, and coupled with other random streams and features, I would say things are looking bright.

It's been pretty good and I hope to see it get even better as Vinny gets the New York studio up and running. I see potential with those guys once they finally get some decent equipment set up and aren't trying to play AND stream off of a shitty laptop. It's definitely better now than it had been in the spring when basically the only video content for subscribers was UPF and those were regularly underwhelming. ALT F1 would be nice if I cared about racing. The Power Bombcast is great, yet infrequent. I dunno...I hope to see more little things like the WoW stuff, even if that really isn't a great game to stream because it is basically just clicking on stuff for an hour.

I've only been a paid member for a couple of months, so can't comment, but I really like UPFs, and although I'll never be able to go back through and watch from the first one onwards, I can't believe I've missed out on so much premium gold!

The vinny streams are fantastic. If they make a weekly check in with GBeast and the California office playing premium Velvet Sundown scenarios, I would say this year's premium content is MUCH better than last year's.

Unprofessional Fridays are still unprofessional and on Fridays.

Quoted for truth, posterity, and the American Way.

This question leaves me thinking, I'd rather be under 132 tons of TNT going off. Ah, the sweet escape of not thinking about such things ever...like never, ever ever.

I accidentally clicked worse, then I realized 2013 was pretty shitty as well. Though I think that was the bioforge year, which is great. So yeah, I don't know though. Nothing comes close to 2011/12 though.

I don't think you can count last year fully. The time after Ryan's passing was very rough. They didn't only lose a colleague, they lost a very close and dear friend. It takes time to get over such a thing (if you even ever get fully over it). The news article announcing Ryan's passing has been unstickied and replaced with an in memorium thread. Though things will never be the same, business wise they are back making (premium) content both in quality and quantity in my opinion.

@nictel: I think you nailed it - we love Giant Bomb for the guys, and when you need good personalities rapid replacement isn't possible. I'm having to decide what content I skip now for lack of viewing time, a wonderful problem.

It's only better this year because last year was all Daily Dota and spooking with scoops which both were super boring all the way through. The best time for subscribers was 2011-2012, no contest.

I love Dan. He brings a special character to the team. I also like that he's playing through WoW. Oh the memories of online addiction.

All I know is, Dan better follow through with playing all of the Mario Partys. Also, maybe force the overall loser to beat the mini-game mode in the first Mario Party.

It's been pretty much the same in my opinion. Things are beginning to maybe ramp up a bit more.

No. Most premium content and quick looks are now tainted with Dan. Jeff saved that entire Mario Party video while Dan was just being disruptive. I just don't like that dude, and I don't find him funny.

Wouldn't any future dates automatically be better because you get all new content PLUS any old premium content? =P

I've been considering resubscribing because I do miss UPF, but there's more premium shows starting up now too.

@neonie: No need to call anyone names. I'm editing your comment and consider this an informal warning. There's a way to express yourself in other, nicer, ways.

I don't think an exact year comparison is worthy. As a year ago Ryan passed away and Patrick moved out of the office, it was very very different times ontop of the budget that should have improved GB went to rebuying equipment. So it was not until this year that the budget came through to improve GB as a whole. We got Dan and Jason to fill the much needed GB slots. We now have 3 GB's, West, Mid and East.

This is the whole point to why GB East is now getting funded with a studio and such to allow for more content. Vinny and Alex take a load off quick looks. GB west can get on with QL's and other "features" with East jerry rigging their own for now.

Really alot of what is happening now was supposed to happen a year ago but with stolen equipment and a loss of an important person, GB was stalled emotionally, evolutionary and budgetary.

So to compare this year with last year I see as unfair.

It's at an all time high for me personally.

I was gonna vote "about the same" but then i started actually thinking about it and i don't remember a single piece of premium content that's older than a week. To me nothing at all has been memorable for months save for Vinny going crazy playing bot colony on his own the first time. (Was that even premium?)

I subbed again with the mother's day promotion even though i'm not really enjoying much of anything anymore that doesn't involve Vinny in some capacity. There were a few months worth of content i missed while not a premium member from December of last year until Mother's Day this year that i wanted to watch and took a gamble with the hope the new hires would bring back my enjoyment of the site. So far though i'm not a fan of Dan. At all. But that's a story for another day.

Giant Bomb more or less always felt like a TV show to me and like any TV show, no matter how good, after 4 or 5 seasons i become tired of it.

With Ryan's passing the site took a blow it will never recover from in my eyes. You can't fill the hole he left, no matter who they hire or whatever new content they can think of.

Still, Vinny is fantastic as always and i always liked Alex a lot and never grew tired of him given how little we used to see and hear from him. So there's at least GBeast at the moment.

I don't think any of the content across the entire site measures up to where it was just over a year ago, when Ryan was part of it. I am impressed with the effort the team has made in the last year in the wake of his passing (something I can almost not fathom being able to overcome, if I were in the same situation). I just don't think it has the same joy and life to it that it used to.

I think the new blood may help with that.

I'm also not really aware of what content is premium and what isn't. I just pay my money (I'm subscribed up through 2016 or later) and watch whatever as it fills my RSS feed.

Even at its worst, GB is the best place I've found for gaming discussion and entertainment and coverage. It has a little of everything, but not too much of anything. For example, while I appreciate all the "social justice" stuff, it is not something I come to gaming for (and as I am not part of the gaming industry, it is only peripherally relevant in most cases). I like that GiantBomb covers some of that, but they are not excessive, like certain other rhomboid sites. When GiantBomb does it, it feels like it is of legitimate personal interest and not pandering or click-bait or part of a platform. It just "is". In fact, while it is not a thing I like to get too much into, I would actually love to have some industry women be contributors to the site on such topics and see articles from them on occasion (though I do appreciate Patrick's pieces on it, too).

Though... DOTA. I could do without the DOTA. I gave it a shot and everyone who plays it is a fucking twat. All the DOTA coverage here just makes me wish I could be part of that, but it's not a hurdle I'm willing to fight with. I'm too old and too busy to content with shitty thirteen year old kids balling me out because I did something while the other thirteen year old across the map balls me out for *not* doing the same thing, later.

I do, however, feel that there is a real sense of "group" that is wavering. There was something really great about everyone being together and getting together regularly for content. It feels so spread out and sparse, geographically, that now any "special events" or "bonus shows" just feel like they have to pull people in off the street just to warm chairs. I think everyone sitting in the office together in the same city brought a certain distinct energy that was rarely found elsewhere.

@seventango: :). If anything watch Vinny going mad while playing Bot Colony (If you haven't already)

The past month or two has seen a substantial increase in quality and quantity of the premium content. UPF was getting really stale, but recently it has improved tenfold.