Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the best community creations and site-related news!
The Christmas holidays are here! GOTY content continues this week with the triumphant return of Guest Lists, Staff Lists, and the yearly Community GOTY Voting!
That's right! If you somehow missed it on the front page of the site, Community GOTY Voting for 2023 has STARTED! Remember, we really don't care if you vote for games that did not release in 2023; just vote for the games that you enjoyed playing in 2023 the most! Don't worry about Early Access dates. Don't worry about public betas. Don't worry about Game Pass or if a remaster of a game counts. JUST GET IN HERE AND VOTE! Also, if you don't feel like you can fill up all ten slots in your ballot, fill as few slots as you like!
Also, the website startmenu has been doing some fun interviews with the Giant Bomb staff about their thoughts about this year in gaming and what major narratives during GOTY debates they think reigned supreme and the ones they think fell to the wayside. This week, they talked to Jan, Grubb, and Shawn McDowell.
2023 GOTY Roundup!
Staff GOTY Roundup
- Here's What Won - GOTY 2023 (By: @marino) - Want to see which games won every single one of Giant Bomb's 2023 GOTY categories? If so, this article by Marino is for YOU!
- GOTY Day One Podcast [Day One Video]
- GOTY Day Two Podcast [Day Two Video]
- GOTY Day Three Podcast [Day Three Video]
- GOTY Finale Podcast [GOTY Finale Video]
- BONUS DAY | Best Game Music Podcast [BONUS DAY | Best Game Music Video]
- Giant Bomb at Nite: The Game Awards Podcast [The Game Awards VOD]
Community GOTY Lists
Author's Note: Did you write a GOTY blog or list that I missed? For now, feel free to drop a comment with a link to your GOTY list or blog and I promise to get it on the next edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight!
- Beardduder's 2023 GOTY List (By: @beardduder)
- 2023 GOTY (By: @valorianendymion)
- My Top Ten Games of 2023 (By: @madbootsy)
- Fakey's 2023 Games of the Year (By: @fakekisser)
- Oscar Bernard Presents The REAL 2023 Game Awards (By: @osagathegreat)
- kanelflarn's Game of The Year 2023 (By: @kanelflarn)
- Game of the Year 2023 (By: @barrabas)
- Game of the Year 2023 (By: @fenix1989uk)
- Top 10 In 2023 (By: @jonno7)
- GOTY 2023 (By: @yindotrunks)
- GOTY 2023 (By: @carnage1290)
- My Top 10 Games of 2023 (By: @dan_persona)
- GOTY 2023 (By: @arrsetus)
- 2023 GOTY (By: @windex)
- Game of the Year 2023 (By: @management)
Tweets
I'm here to inform you that @giantbomb GOTY Guest Lists are so back. pic.twitter.com/AnnDHTIXSU
— Brad Lynch (@MarinoV1) December 23, 2023
important video game conversations being have in the giant bomb chat pic.twitter.com/yNGla3Udvf
— lex luddy (kiryu's roommate) (@BasicalliLexi) December 20, 2023
Tender Loving Care is $2.99 on GOG https://t.co/5HKcOBwmmK#ad
— Wario64 (@Wario64) December 19, 2023
Giantbomb - Slice of Pizza https://t.co/3b72QsrFvEpic.twitter.com/VpUq1N4Bvg
Hey everyone, HUGE PROPS to @MarinoV1 for getting up the annual @giantbomb Community GOTY Voting!
— GB Duders Feed (@GBDudersFeed) December 19, 2023
If you have been enjoying the GOTY goodness with @_janjerome, @JeffGrubb, @DanRyckert, and @Tolkoto then NOW is your turn to get in on the fun!
Article: https://t.co/zE7lKOhGzvpic.twitter.com/dxusPBHOj9
It’s been a big year for @giantbomb.
— 🇺🇦 startmenu 🇺🇦 (@thestartmenu) December 21, 2023
From live shows to podcasts, and whatever the hell you call playing The Quiet Man for charity, @_janjerome has been there for all of it.
Now he joins us to explain how Tears of The Kingdom save him: https://t.co/XRcwFdSzTppic.twitter.com/kk9Fi49vPX
Galleria
Bakalar As A Flintstone (By: @rickytheintern, @JupiterJazz92, and @risottostone)
The Voicemail Dump Truck tried to imagine what Jeff Bakalar would look like as a Flintstone and what his Flintstone name would be. Some people took it upon themselves to use an image Grubb shared on Twitter in especially creative ways.
Bakalar Flintstone x ATHF (By: @jearum)
However, you can always count on jearum to take a quick joke and turn it into something wildly amazing! This week they joined the Bakalar as a Flintstone choir and applied it to their Aqua Teen Hunger Force staff art motif!
The Second Coming Of Scout (By: @kone)
In art that is bound to bring a smile to Jan's face, photoshop magician Kone had fun with everyone's favorite Corgi, Scout! If you want to enjoy FANTASTIC Giant Bomb fan art like this as it gets made, consider joining the Giant Bomb Discord!
I Started A Lucy Meme (By: KinguAmoz, v1va_la_v1da, and @BungleNoMore )
After chucktowski shared on the Discord a transparent version of Lucy looking disgusted, I shared it on the internet and asked people to have fun with it. Below are the results. If you want to have a go, feel free to use the final image in this slideshow to your heart's delight.
Video
Mike Minotti - Final MixMas II - Mitch Sings Karaoke Edition (By: @alwaysbeclothing)
You may recall Mike Minotti getting into wacky Kingdom Hearts nonsense to raise money for Giant Bomb's Extra Life team a few days back. AlwaysBeCorgi compiled all of their Disney song karaoke bits into a single video! It's over an hour long!
Activities
The GB Album Club 046 - The Miraculous Mandarin by Béla Bartók (By: @unclejam23)
This week the Giant Bomb Album Club is listening to The Miraculous Mandarin by Béla Bartók! Are you a newcomer to Bartok or classical music? Give it a shot! Also... THIS WAS MY PICK AND I'M FORCING THE ALBUM GROUP TO LISTEN TO CLASSICAL MUSIC!
Blogs
Little Goody Two Shoes Is My 2023 "Best Styyyyyyyyyyle" Game Even If A Third Of It Is A Chore to Play And Not Fun (By: @zombiepie)
While we have not seen Giant Bomb's "Best Styyyyyyyyyyle" award in a while, moderator ZombiePie makes the case on why Astral Shift's Little Goody Two Shoes absolutely deserves to win that award despite their misgivings about its gameplay at times.
Mis-Simian: Chimpossible (Part 2) +
Indie Game of the Week 350: The Forgotten City (By: @mento)
Moderator Mento continues their homage to Dan's "Burgle My Bananas" concept by continuing to try and get every Retro Achievement in Donkey Kong 64! This episode has some real doozies that you might remember from the video series.
Also, Mento has a new episode of their "Indie Game of the Week" and this one is about The Forgotten City by Modern Storyteller! Read why they enjoyed their time with the game and loved discovering the whys and hows of its world!
Arcadia: Polybius (2017) and Arcade Revivals (By: @gamer_152)
In case you missed it earlier, moderator Gamer_152 wrote a blog about Jeff Minter's Polybius! Does the game do a good job of embodying one of the great myths in video game history? Is it a classic Minter work?
Final Fantasy XVI's First DLC Has All The Problems Of Expensive Big Budget Game DLC (By: @bigsocrates)
Despite not being entirely impressed with Final Fantasy XVI, bigsocrates decided to check out its recently released DLC and writes about why it is a perfect case study on "all the problems of expensive big budget game DLC."
My Favorite Video Game Music of 2023(By: @majormitch)
Was 2023 a good year for video game music? MajorMitch sure thinks so and you can read which OSTs and musical tracks they enjoyed the most while gaming the past year on their latest blog!
Tosshi's 2023 Game of the Year! (By: @tosshi)
Tosshi is a TITAN on the Giant Bomb Discord and that's all the more reason to check out their cool GOTY 2023 blog on the site! See which games they most enjoyed this year and don't forget to make your own blog/list on the site!
Discussion Threads
2023's Quickest Walk Back: Twitch Announces It Will Allow "Artistic Nudity" And Then Reverses Policy Within Days (By: @zombiepie)
Was Twitch's "Artistic Nudity" policy reversals the quickest walk back of 2023? Do you remember what the original policy was before they went away? Get the details and discuss the policy you would support on Twitch on the site!
Evil Wins! Versus Evil, Publisher Of The Banner Saga And Pillars Of Eternity, Shuts Down Right Before Christmas (By: @bigsocrates)
In disappointing news, Versus Evil, the publisher of The Banner Saga and Pillars of Eternity (Switch), announced it is shutting down days before Christmas. Are you surprised to see another studio shutter its doors?
James McCaffrey Has Passed Away (By: @cikame)
James McCaffrey passed away and the Giant Bomb community has a memorial thread sharing and discussing his best video game and non-game performances as well as wishing his family and friends in mourning the best.
Epic And 50 AGs Win Case Against Google; Google Set To Pay Out $700M And Make Changes To Google Play Store (By: @zombiepie)
Epic Games and Attorney Generals across the entire USA won a massive anti-trust lawsuit against Google. With the company set to pay upwards of $700M AND change its app store policies, will it make a difference?
The Old "Mt. Rushmore" Question But For Wrestling (By: @sombre)
The Giant Bomb wrestling community is debating which American, European, and Japanese pro-wrestlers deserve to be on the Mount Rushmore of their respective continents in the world of wrestling.
Welcome (Possibly) A New Multimedia Empire/Overlord: Warner Bros. Discovery In Early Talks To Merge With Paramount (By: @zombiepie)
Sources are reporting that Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount are in the early stages of merger talks. What is YOUR reaction to this news and how it might have impacts beyond TV and films? Is David Zaslav the worst CEO in entertainment?
The Last Night Ain't Dead Yet - Game Architecture Video (By: @rebel_scum)
After an incredibly long hiatus and radio silence, it appears that the 2D cyberpunk adventure game The Last Night is not dead (yet)! Catch the developer's latest tech demo and share on the thread if you are still excited for the game!
After A Ending You Disliked, Do You Find Fan Endings (Reinterpretations) Better? (By: @topcyclist)
Here's an interesting discussion thread on the Giant Bomb forums! Have you ever actually fully bought into a fan theory for a video game ending or story? What makes fan theories so appealing? Squall is Dead lives rent free in my head.
Lists
MocBucket62's WAAAAAAAAAAAAY Belated Favorite Games of 2022 (By: @mocbucket62)
As they were enjoying the great GOTY content on the site, user MocBucket62 came to an embarrassing realization: not only had they forgotten to make a 2023 GOTY list they also forgot to make a 2022 one! Today they fix the latter of those two shortcomings.
Unreal Games Franchises I've Finished & Played (By: @hellscream)
hellscream has been dreaming of a modern Unreal Tournament reboot for a long time. So, they decided to replay almost every game in the Unreal game series and ranked them on Giant Bomb! Remember when Unreal wasn't just a game engine
User Reviews
@yyninja's review for Cosmic Star Heroine shares why they were not impressed by its attempts to emulate 16-bit JRPG formula and wonders how much longer the "mystique" Zeboyd Games' style of literal interpretation can persist.
@pauljeremiah's Snatcher review looks at the Saturn version of the game and declares it a "Cyberpunk Masterpiece" that honestly warrants a second chance even if there are a few gameplay and story quibbles that feel dated.
Wiki Of The Week
Giant Bomb Game of the Year 2023
Another week means there's more to enjoy on Giant Bomb's Game of the Year 2023 concept page! For those reading this after the fact, feel free to use this page to keep track of all the cool and wonderful guest lists that end up gracing the site during the week of Christmas! The programming agenda is PACKED this year!
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