Why I find myself going back to older content

This issue, at least I believe it is an issue, is something I have been thinking about for quite a long time. Why is it that when I'm sitting at home, bored and browsing the deep, dark and disturbing part of youtube that we should never mention and thus decide to head on over to GB to see what is happening, I end up in the older content? This can be older Unprofessional Friday, Thursday Night Throwdowns or even just listening to old podcasts. One would expect that the content would only get better over time due to new ideas being implemented, new games coming out ect. I just feel like something is missing.

First things first: I still listen to the podcast without fail on Wednesday (when it's released in Australia!) and watch all of the quick looks and the premium content. This isn't going to stop for quite a long time I would imagine as it is where I get a lot of information about whether or not I should buy and play a game. However, I feel as though this is the problem.

When I was first introduced to the crew, it was the podcast posted on the 27-9-2011 where Brad and Vinny played a marathon Gears of War 3 session. It was one of the funniest moments that I have shared with the podcast and I often go back to listen to it (DON'T GO OUT... I'm down). Another of my favourites is when Ryan is out of the house and Vinny explains his new fascination with HAM radios. I didn't even care about the games that were talked about back then! I simply loved listening to the funny off-topic conversations that were had and the discussion about games was just an added bonus as it's something I am passionate about. This is what is missing from the site. It's my opinion that it has become too politically correct, too "normal". Where are the stories about what is happening in their lives? Where is the random taste testing of ridiculous drinks? What happened to not actually talking about games until 40 minutes into the podcast? Where are the horrible but hilarious games on UPF?

Basically when did they all grow up and become so damn serious?

I understand that the website has grown and there is a need to reach out to a larger audience, but (and I am open to correction here) wasn't this site created to branch away from the normal "Gamespot" style of just talking about games? I'm not trying to start a war here. Just voicing something I've been finding a little bit off as I love GB and dearly want to keep watching and listening the new stuff and not just re-watch the older content.

What happened is that a lot of the great interaction disappeared because Patrick went to Chicago, Dave quit, Ryan passed away, and Vinny went to New York. You are talking about roughly 2/3 of the regular folks on the site disappearing from the main office in a little over a year. Things have changed and they still don't have nearly that same level of interaction as they did when they first came over from Whiskey.

It's not really bad now or anything. It's just different and is going to take some getting used to.

Yeah the breaking up of the group into three segments has definitely lowered interactions and the team chemistry and because of this, I'm assuming they're still trying to find their feet. I am going through old UPF atm and they definitely feel more involved and ridiculous (in a good way) than now. I do hope more premium stuff is coming as Beast gets up and running along with the SF guys, because really right now, all that is broadcast for members this week is UPF and that's all we had last week.

That being said, Dan has been awesome and is the perfect fit for GB and the amount of quick looks have been great.

Agreed...the old chemistry is missed, especially the Jeff/Vinny combo. Dan's been great (followed him at Game Informer for the past year or so), but the Vinny/Alex stuff just isn't exciting to me...I've even been passing up those Quick Looks if I'm not into the game. I'm worried, the old magic seems to be evaporating. I hope for new magic, but we're not there yet.

Two words: Bot Colony.

Yeah I understand that they have all spread out and Ryan passed away (RIP), I think I just miss Vinny with Jeff.

I do rate Dan too :)

I think the site is as good as it's been in years right now. Opinions.

But I too go back to older content once in a while, but that's more because the GB backlog is incredible.

Also, this post kind of proves that GB can't win with everyone (obviously): A common complaint about the Bombcast has always been that there's too much OT conversations, not enough games. And you want more of that! :) I've seen plenty of people on here saying that they think there's been too much OT topics on the podcast this year compared to earlier years, so different perspectives I guess. The random taste tests pretty much stopped 4 years ago though, because Jeff was tired of it. And I don't think the site has changed into more of a "Gamespot" kind of site; they still cover what they want to cover, unlike sites like IGN and GS that have to cover and review "everything". What you see right now with GS is that they're trying to turn more into GB with more personality-based content, not the other way around.

That's less becoming GB and more becoming what Gamespot used to be.

@corruptedevil: Whatever you call it, they're going more in the direction of GB than ever before. It's true that they were trying out some of that stuff with On the Spot, The Hotspot (with Jeff and Rich as the two main guys), but they totally walked away from that when they fired Jeff. Doesn't really matter what you call it (you could also say that it's a reaction to Youtube/Twitch).

Dave and Ryan are greatly missed. I always go back to the endurance runs and pick up random episodes I remember being funny. Also some of the random PC games videos are pure gold. Phantasmagoria springs to mind. DavexVinny (sounds like a creepy fanfic) was my favorite pairing closely follow by VinnyxJeff and it saddens me to think, that will probably never happen again. Or at least it's very unlikely.