So, Gamespot?

As you guys know, those of us who have had premium memberships for a while now got emails with codes for a premium membership (or whatever they call it) over at Gamespot. So, a couple days ago I went over to the site and created an account (same name as on here) and it wasn't until today that I really started to look at their content. The first thing I stumbled upon was this video they were promoting on their front page:

Now to clarify, I have never really payed too much attention to what the sites other than Giant Bomb are doing (except for checking occasional reviews or news that GB may not have covered), so I was wondering if this is a good summation of the quality and type of content they create. I found this video hard to watch with it's dull stunted script reading, the use of sayings like "for the win", and most of all that fact that it is an arbitrary list of some random topic made up of 13 points for some weird reason. It was right around the time GB started up and the first ER began that I actually started really paying attention to video games more than just playing what my friends and I thought was fun, and it was the first time I actually followed a dedicated video game site. I have been consuming basically all the content these guys have made since then, and I guess I just expected that other sites were similar, only less cursing and crazy random videos. But the more I venture outside of Giant Bomb, I wonder if I have basically just been spoiled by being introduced to the best of the best from the get go. I know it's going to be biased, but I guess I'm just wondering if this site really is as far ahead of the norm as it seems to be when comparing their content to videos like this, or is what I'm seeing just too small of a sample size and the other sites really aren't that bad, but they still aren't as good as GB?

The only video series that I really enjoy from gamespot is Danny O'Dwyer's Escape from mount Stupid. His retrospective video for Half-Life is amazing.

Not really a fan of Mark Walton as I find his voice super nasally, and not in a sexy Brad way. But Jane Douglas is super hot (quite an old photo but still hot) -

And Danny O Dwyer is a relatively new addition to gamespot but he does some great vids in a series called 'Escape From Mount Stupid' -

Danny O'Dwyer is excellent even though he is an Arsenal fan.

No gamespot really is that bad regardless of whether or not you visit giantbomb.

@RazielCuts said:

Not really a fan of Mark Walton as I find his voice super nasally, and not in a sexy Brad way. But Jane Douglas is super hot (quite an old photo but still hot) -

And Danny O Dwyer is a relatively new addition to gamespot but he does some great vids in a series called 'Escape From Mount Stupid' -

@Packie said:

The only video series that I really enjoy from gamespot is Danny O'Dwyer's Escape from mount Stupid. His retrospective video for Half-Life is amazing.

Yeah! That guy is great. I also heard the Giant Bomb guys thanking him for something, like helping them tear down walls or bringing them champagne, or something. I would be cool to see him on the Bombcast - too bad that will never happen.

And no, top 13 or top 10 is not the norm on Gamespot. I think they have some other weekly shows but I don't watch them.

Is everyone at gamespot British?

We had this exact topic yesterday.

Cool, thanks guys, I'll check that video series. I guess I just assumed that after 4 years of the success that GB has had, other sites would be trying their hardest to emulate it. I guess I'll keep going to gamestop, for now.

doesn't seem like great content man. o well on that.

i got banned there for getting too many warnings. such warnings as going threw word filters like f*** instead of it auto doing it ****. pretty stupid.

@jonnybob: There are a bunch of different gamespot offices. There is the US branch, the UK one, which tends to do alot of features and video content, the Australian gamespot, which I haven't seem much from, and I think there is a Gamespot Japan too.

Last I checked the US, UK, and AU branches all had their own podcasts of varying quality. I used to listen to their casts, but quit because of one reason or another (see Mark walton, Laura Parker and that I can never tell when the US cast is newly posted).

Gamespot has taken this mainstream approach ever since Jeff and the gang left. They try WAY too hard to be the "cool" game news site - their content, for the most part, makes me cringe while watching only the first minute. Gamespot simply misunderstands that their approach of trying to blend in with what they think is the internet crowd rather than stand out makes for a bad sum of content. I kinda wish Giantbomb didn't sign on with Gamespot... connecting your website with another is, to me, a sign of support for what I see to be a vastly corporately controlled business, but as long as Giantbomb is running as usual, I can't really complain.

@DoctorWelch:

@Packie said:

The only video series that I really enjoy from gamespot is Danny O'Dwyer's Escape from mount Stupid.

this

@RazielCuts said:

But Jane Douglas is super hot

And Danny O Dwyer is a relatively new addition to gamespot but he does some great vids in a series called 'Escape From Mount Stupid' -

...and these.

Cool tidbit about Danny O, i remembered back when he was just a regular forum poster at Gamespot, i liked his content then and it's cool to see him come up and now work for them. Even cooler that he ends up producing the only content i think's worth a crap out of Gamespot.

Didn't we have this exact same thread less than a day ago? Yes, Giant Bomb is awesome.

Pretty much every games site sucks besides Giant Bomb. 

@jonnybob said:

Is everyone at gamespot British?

GameSpot has an office in San Francisco and in the UK. I think Start/Select is a UK produced show.

Its difficult to make video content about video games that sounds intelligent. Most websites are not good at it. That said, Area 5 needs to bring back Co-Op soon. One of the only good weekly show about video games.

Giantbomb is the cool mysterious step brother.

@BaneFireLord said:

...and the emphasis on the UK guys has really rubbed me the wrong way

...what?

I like a pretty solid number of the GameSpot US staffers. They produce a lot of nice written content, even if you don't care for their video.

@BaneFireLord said:

@JasonR86 said:

@BaneFireLord said:

...and the emphasis on the UK guys has really rubbed me the wrong way

...what?

Okay, that does sound pretty racist. I find the personalities of a lot of the UK guys kind of annoying and there has been a distinct increase in their features on the US site. Hence, I was/am annoyed.

...huh.

I've scrambled through most of their different kinds of segments. And other than Kevin Vanord, I'm not interested at all. Imagine a world where peoples immature dreams of real television jobs came to the internet... bam. Gamespot. Nopes.

Please tell me if I'm wrong and if there's something I've missed.

@DoctorWelch:

Thanks, I opened this thread thinking "Oh crap, did I get my Gamespot thing? Did I miss it?" but yeah I guess I don't care.

A lot of people from GiantBomb came from Gamespot back when Gamespot was this:

Live unscripted laffs! Everyone's pretty casual and just kickin it for real.

But yeah most game sites are gross. I like watching GameTrailers' Bonus Round, cos it's mostly game developers who carry the show, but it's a different thing to what GiantBomb's doing.

Actually I like most features where the developers run the show, like this IGN extended interview with David Jaffe. Devs keep it real.

@demontium: Yeah, I know what you mean, but I always figure that they are basically immune to any kind of control from CBSi. The guys are known to leave if things get fucked up like they did at gamespot before, so if anything horrible happened to this site, I wouldn't be surprised if all of them just up and left and started a new site with exactly the same stuff. On the other hand, maybe part of the agreement when being sold was that they have immunity to make their own decisions about basically everything. Like when a developer gets a publisher to publish a game but the developer still controls the IP and has full control over everything.

I've also been a Whiskey member since day 0 ;) Thanks for the kind words guys, appreciate it. Ive been a GS member for years and feel privileged to be part of the future of the site. Especially now that GB are part of the family. That really was a dream come true. I don't post on the GB forums that often anymore - I'm so busy making sure my videos don't suck these days, but I visit the site daily and naturally get inspiration from the video features and Bombcast. Constructive criticism is important, and I appreciate honest assessments of GameSpot's stuff. It's the only way we will improve our craft. And thanks Sin4 - I remember you to buddy :)

@Packie: Yeah, his look at Half-Life is amazing.

I actually thought Gamepot was terrible after Gallup left, yes even with Jeff, Ryan and whoever else still maninng the ship.

Gamespot has been trying to become more personality based since around the beginning of this year and so far... I like it! I can see why they would pair up with Giantbomb.

Their video content, especially Start/Select, has become increasingly informative and entertaining. Yes, some of the jokes are forced - but sometimes you laugh because it's just so dorky.

Danny, Jane, and Johnny are my favorites.

@BaneFireLord said:

@JasonR86 said:

@BaneFireLord said:

...and the emphasis on the UK guys has really rubbed me the wrong way

...what?

Okay, that does sound pretty racist. I find the personalities of a lot of the UK guys kind of annoying and there has been a distinct increase in their features on the US site. Hence, I was/am annoyed.

That's not racism... just you being an ass.

I go to vidoegamer.com frequently...a UK gaming site (I'm in the US). Those guys are pretty hilarious on their podcast. Why not just enjoy people instead of categorizing them?

I've also been a Whiskey member since day 0 ;) Thanks for the kind words guys, appreciate it. Ive been a GS member for years and feel privileged to be part of the future of the site. Especially now that GB are part of the family. That really was a dream come true. I don't post on the GB forums that often anymore - I'm so busy making sure my videos don't suck these days, but I visit the site daily and naturally get inspiration from the video features and Bombcast. Constructive criticism is important, and I appreciate honest assessments of GameSpot's stuff. It's the only way we will improve our craft. And thanks Sin4 - I remember you to buddy :)

I usually only watch Kevin Van Ord's video reviews.

I've watched some of their video game month videos looking at certain franchises and the commentary is really hard to listen to. The way they constantly comment on the chat trolling them comes off as kind of amateur. Don't point out people are saying you're not doing very well, it just makes it more obvious that you aren't doing very well.

@BaneFireLord said:

@JasonR86 said:

@BaneFireLord said:

...and the emphasis on the UK guys has really rubbed me the wrong way

...what?

Okay, that does sound pretty racist. I find the personalities of a lot of the UK guys kind of annoying and there has been a distinct increase in their features on the US site. Hence, I was/am annoyed.

So you don't like people from the UK and your avatar is a nuclear bomb exploding. I bet you're lovely.

@handlas @Jothel I apologize for sounding like an asshole. Stupid, dickish, poorly worded comment a month ago is stupid, dickish and poorly worded. Sorry.

I think that CBS bought GB to kill it and, in the process, salvage its money pit called Gamespot.

@GolazoDan said:

Danny O'Dwyer is excellent even though he is an Arsenal fan.

Made me chuckle.

@laserbolts said:

No gamespot really is that bad regardless of whether or not you visit giantbomb.

Which is worse Gamespot or IGN?

@csl316 said:

@dannyodwyer

I've also been a Whiskey member since day 0 ;) Thanks for the kind words guys, appreciate it. Ive been a GS member for years and feel privileged to be part of the future of the site. Especially now that GB are part of the family. That really was a dream come true. I don't post on the GB forums that often anymore - I'm so busy making sure my videos don't suck these days, but I visit the site daily and naturally get inspiration from the video features and Bombcast. Constructive criticism is important, and I appreciate honest assessments of GameSpot's stuff. It's the only way we will improve our craft. And thanks Sin4 - I remember you to buddy :)

I think people glazed over the fact that the guy we're talking about just posted.

You didn't have anything meaningful to add to it; it looks like nobody else did either.

I didn't think it was that bad. It's exactly the type of content I'd imagine for a large audience like Gamespot.

@Packie said:

The only video series that I really enjoy from gamespot is Danny O'Dwyer's Escape from mount Stupid. His retrospective video for Half-Life is amazing.

Check out his new video series secret code, that pretty funny too.

@JasonR86 said:

@BaneFireLord said:

@JasonR86 said:

@BaneFireLord said:

...and the emphasis on the UK guys has really rubbed me the wrong way

...what?

Okay, that does sound pretty racist. I find the personalities of a lot of the UK guys kind of annoying and there has been a distinct increase in their features on the US site. Hence, I was/am annoyed.

...huh.

As someone who's FROM and lives IN the UK, I'm not utterly offended that you dislike them, but disliking somebody simply because he's/she's not like everything else you view is kind of limiting your own entertainment. Maybe e-mail them and ask them to be louder?

I like the new UK content, unsurprisingly to you I'm guessing, I also like the US stuff too, open minded to entertainment.

@Nightriff: Well Gamespot doesn't have Colin Moriarty working for them so...

@mordukai said:

@GolazoDan said:

Danny O'Dwyer is excellent even though he is an Arsenal fan.

Made me chuckle.

Gunners for life yo.

@Nightriff said:

@laserbolts said:

No gamespot really is that bad regardless of whether or not you visit giantbomb.

Which is worse Gamespot or IGN?

That's not even a question. Even if they aren't entirely successful, at least Gamespot is attempting to provide quality journalism. IGN's approach can be summed up very succinctly:

"Look, Tits!"

@NlGHTCRAWLER said:

Giantbomb is the cool mysterious step brother.

More like the hot step-mum. Dad went out and bought himself a trophy wife half his age.

I hate everyone at Gamespot now, yes, basically everyone. Like I am soooo happy everyone at Giantbomb have not done much cross-over. Giancarlo (a.k.a. Gamecop) is cool, Gamecop and come and 'bro out with the Giantbomb duders anytime, but yeah the rest make me ashamed of even telling hte people that I enjoy playing tetris. I hate the "nerd" vibe that they just ooze. Sick. Jeff and Co. are cool because if you walked up to the dudes on the street, you would not be able to tell that they even heard of what videogames are.

@alternate said:

@NlGHTCRAWLER said:

Giantbomb is the cool mysterious step brother.

More like the hot step-mum. Dad went out and bought himself a trophy wife half his age.

Please. Have you seen our teeth?

@dannyodwyer said:

@mordukai said:

@GolazoDan said:

Danny O'Dwyer is excellent even though he is an Arsenal fan.

Made me chuckle.

Gunners for life yo.

Ugh, don't even. I support Wolves, and whoever's playing Arsenal. If I have to read another article of Arsene Wenger complaining I might shoot myself.

@laserbolts said:

No gamespot really is that bad regardless of whether or not you visit giantbomb.

Ha ! Ha !

I guess you were really venting then, in a really clumsy way.

@DoctorWelch: Back when 1UP was at it's peak, it was something special.