The Community Spotlight - 03/14/2014

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! It's hard to fathom, but it has been two years since Giant Bomb was acquired by CBSi. Just think...two years ago Jeff introduced us to Big Bo, creepy right? There's no real going about it--the last two years have been rough. Many users have left us, and unfortunately we lost Ryan, a figurehead and undeniable tour de force on the site. Through all of this we are still here, and while this is not a perfect community it has continued to exist as one. Time and time again I have been humbled by the creativity and sincerity of you, my community. Such events have continually quashed whatever self doubts that may have develop from me being a moderator. For this I thank you, from the bottom of my heart I want you to know that your kindness is greatly appreciated.

With that please note that this week is GDC, so expect late night live streams filled to the brim with guest speakers. For those wondering Jeff has worked tirelessly to book one, @patrickklepek to appear on a live stream to discuss the new Yoshi's Island game.

Clips of the Week

@theburlaplemur decided to dedicate his latest Bitseize Bomb video entirely on the Amped 3 Quick Look, better known as "The Forgotten Endurance Run." @turboman also has a new episode of his Best of Giant Bomb series which features Vinny as a forklift as well as a creepy dude with AR Cards. Finally @wallofbricks has the final "Supercut" which compiles all of his previous video related to Brad's Breaking Brad for Demon's Souls plus plenty scenes from the end of the series.

Community Activities

• Drangleic Explorer Society: Compiling GB's DS2 Exploration - Help "Chart" and Chronicle All of the Goodies in Dark Souls II Over Here!
  
• PlayStation Dark Souls Friends List - Trade PSN IDs for Dark Souls II Over Here!
• Titanfall Xbox One Players Thread - Hook-up With Other GB Users Online Over Here!
• Titanfall PC/Origin Players Thread - Hook-up With Other GB Users Online Over Here!

Wonderful Wikis

Titanfall and Dark Souls II are, predictably, the big games of the week. Also in light of Patrick's review, check out a couple of newly improved wiki pages related to the Danganronpa franchise.

• Titanfall
• Dark Souls II
• Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
• Hope's Peak Academy

Best of Blogs

Gamer_152 attempts to explain the appeal of watching Twitch play Pokemon and why it's more fun than it has any right to be. Aurahack has a guide on why watching grown men wasting millions of dollars while burning fossil fuels (F1 Racing) is worth your time. Video_Game_King has started his effort to "party all the time" with Sonic Shuffle and Mario Party Advance. FluxWavez wrote about why he think Bravely Default shits the bed so to speak in its latter half. MikeLemmer has started a character log of his adventures in Dark Souls II and starts with the first boss battle. GrantHeaslip extrapolates why he's walking away from Persona 3 despite putting in 70+ hours in it and never having finished it. YukoAsho equivocates her disgust with conspiracy theories about his this generation of consoles will be the last. ILikePopCans played a smorgasbord of games this week ranging from Rsien 2 and Fire Emblem which would make Video_Game_King proud. MooseyMcMan returns to Giant Bomb by blogging about his thoughts on Strider and Tomb Raiders as reboots and self contained games. Shivoa decided to settle the Bombcast's confusion over the 720p vs. 1080i/p debate and other resolution controversies. halomaste19 wrote two blogs, the first asking where all the good dinosaur video games are, and the second contemplates if cut scenes prove how behind games are in terms of telling stories. thatpinguino mulls over what can be gained from understanding our play styles and gaming preferences. FLStyle has the massive event list and itinerary for the fighting game event, Final Round 17. dankempster continued his play-through of Pokemon FireRed, and FinalDasa detailed his attempt to finish up the Infamous franchise up to this point in preparation of Second Son. Yummylee elucidates on why he doesn't like Lone Survivor, despite being a huge fan of the survival horror genre. MMMman takes a humorous bent in using XCOM Declassified as a case example on how game design cannot get over chest high walls. Finally Pabba has a webcomic that exemplifies his experiences with Ben There, Dan That

• Crowdsourced (By: @gamer_152)
• The Unofficial Alt+F1 Beginner's Guide to Formula 1! — Introduction (By: @aurahack)
• A Mario Party Where Nobody Gets Laid (By: @video_game_king)
• Bravely Default and Its Terrible Latter Half (Spoilers) (By: @fluxwavez)
• Dark Souls 2 Character Journal: Light in the Darkness (By: @mikelemmer)
• Closing the Book on Persona 3 (By: @grantheaslip)
• Harbingers of the End, and Why They're so Damned Ridiculous (By: @yukoasho)
• Fire Emblem, Risen 2 and So Much More Right Here (By: @ilikepopcans)
• Striding and Tomb Raiding (By: @mooseymcman)
• Every Possible 1080p Image (@shivoa)
• Do Cutscenes Prove Games Are Bad At Telling Stories? (By: @halomaste19)
• Where are the Dinosaur Games? (By: @halomaste19)
• What We Can Learn from How We Play Games (By: @thatpinguino)
• Final Round 17 (March 14-16) Preview + FGC News: Capcom ProTour, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax's Story, Divekick: AE & More! (By: @flstyle)
• Pokémon FireRed Nuzlocke Challenge - Part Three [Part Two] (By: @dankempster)
• Infamous Incursion (By: @finaldasa)
• I...Don't Think I Like [Lone Survivor] Very Much (By: @yummylee)
• 2014 Game Completed Comics, #19 – Ben There, Dan That! (By: @pabba)
• (Over) Analyzing The Bureau: XCOM Declassified’s Chest-high Walls (To Within an Inch of Their Lives) (By: @mmmman)

Fantastic Forums

As to be expected we have a bunch of threads pertaining to Demon's Souls and the newly released Dark Souls II. Humanity provided the artwork that I used for the banner. wallofbricks has compiled all of his "Best of videos..." for Brad's foray into Demon's Souls into one video plus some clips of his ultimate victory. On top of that feel free to share your live stats, tips/tricks, and first death in Dark Souls II. Finally discuss if you have ever been offended from playing a game, and feel free to join the new Fantasy Formula 1 League.

• Brad/Vinny Demons Souls Fan Art (By: @humanity)
• THE Breaking Brad: Demon's Souls SUPERCUT! (By: @wallofbricks)
• Dark Souls 2 Live Stats - Lost Souls, Deaths, Network (By: @mb)
• Dark Souls II Tips and Tricks Sharing Thread (By: @liquidprince)
• Your First Death in Dark Souls II (By: @adoggz)
• Have you Been Offended by the Content of a Game? (By: @beachthunder)
• Alt+F1 - Fantasy Formula 1 (By: @deltaalphabravo)

Lovable List

NeoZeon isn't going to wait until the end of the year to list out the biggest gaming disappointments of this year.

• Disappointments Of 2013-2014. So Far (By: @neozeon)

Useful User Reviews

• @recspec's review of Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy
• @mento's review of Tappingo
• @spilledmilkfactory's review of Titanfall
• @vermisean's review of Thief (2014)
• @jeanluc's review of The Witcher

Potent Podcasts

• #Bombslaunched - Episode 38: GTA V on PC: Confirmed!
• The Mighty Electronic Box (03/03/2014)

It's been a few years since I've been on here - I was one of the users that signed up on day one. I've gotta admit, that bit about 'many users have left us' was a bit depressing. But it's good to see that there's still a good community here. And hey, this is still Giant Bomb! The best website dedicated to gaming, period.

Thanks for the shout out!

I didn't realize there was a large impact from the sale on GB. I mainly saw it through Screened's eyes. Hopefully now I can spend a little more time on GB and continue to blog or edit the wiki.

Thanks for the mention. Been awhile.

@damnboyadvance: Sure is a depressing thought. I wonder what type of numbers we are talking. I do worry that subscription numbers are low these days.

EDIT: On the flip side, smaller communities do tend to be better communities. I just hope the whole thing is still bringing in the cash.

That emotional first paragraph. I just wish I could engage with all this DSII content already.

For clarity, I don't think ZP meant that the size of the user base has decreased. In fact, I think quite the opposite has happened in the past two years especially in terms of subscriber numbers. He was more referring to specific notable members, in particular some notable bloggers, that have chosen to stop participating in the community.

Appreciate the mention. Now I have to go spell check everything!

Seriously, Though, Thank You.

That fanart at the top is perhaps one of the greatest images I have ever seen. I love this community and all its talented people. Keep on keepin' on, Giantbomb!

@onefreeman: @damnboyadvance:

As @chaser324 has pointed out my words have been a bit misinterpreted. My intent was to point out that some users have simply moved on to other things (like one time Screened mod Systech who was my predecessor). This is inevitable on any website, but it is something that you look back on and hope you can reverse.

Giant Bomb's overall user base has grown steadily since the CBSi acquisition, that and the amount of premium video content has dramatically increased. That all said you can't help but feel a bit nostalgic about the past.

@zombiepie: That's essentially what I assumed. Even users who probably would love to spend time on the site have life get in the way.

I signed up on day 2 of this website, so yeah, I also feel old.

I wrote this thing about Bravely Default and apparently it didn't want to post to the forums.

EDIT: Wow, double posting all over the place. This website has been more broken than usual recently.

I've been getting that problem too. Game-specific boards don't work, but the main boards, do. Sort of. The site's glitched up today, for some reason. (This probably means you won't see this message, but whatever.)

Congrats everyone!

Killer is Penguin. And it seems you found out about this.

Just this mammoth blog about animes saving the world for you this week. I'll spread myself around a bit more next time. So to speak.

I am only going to recognize one of these blogs.

I choose love.

I completely forgot to give notifications this week. Crap, okay then, so congratulations go out to:

@mento@video_game_king@machofantastico@ilikepopcans@fobwashed@phatmac@thatpinguino@granderojo@wrighteous86@fredchuckdave@gunstarred@demoskinos@sarumarine@arbitrarywater@marino@macks@shouldice@dankempster@majormitch@dimsey@turboman@redpangamer@ethanielrain@halomaste19@chrisharris@hero_swe@vermisean@armaan8014

Great job everyone! You will all have something on the next edition of the Community Spotlight!

@zombiepie: i am confused by this! :D

Yeah, manage to get my blog thing out today after some procrastination. Thanks again for the Spotlight @zombiepie

@zombiepie: Wow thanks! :)

The latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight is available for your viewing pleasure over here.