Your feeling about the aquisition of Giantbomb? (POLL)

My worry is not with the content, it's with the goddamn GameSpot community of inbred fanboys spilling over to our duder ranch of semi-intellectual game appreciation. Fuck this.

I want to be optimistic, but D for now.  Giantbomb was created because a lot of these guys left Gamespot.  There was a reason that they did this and it remains to be seen if a return to that environment is going to work or not.  I also wonder how Giantbomb is supposed to coexist as an independent gaming content source when much of what they do is directly competing with Gamespot.  Are they going to review the same games?  Are they going to provide opinions on the same games?  Are they going to do news stories on the same topics?  It seems impossible for GB to maintain their independence without stepping on the feet of their new employers.

I'm pretty excited to see what happens. The only thing bumming me out is the split of the websites.

D I am actually depressed about this...

@Ragdrazi said:

A + B = D Community is almost evenly divided. Down to the tenth of a point. I guess if you throw in E, sentiment is negative.

wow, that's sad, 1/10 of the community right now is optimistic about this change.

Why haven't I seen Two and a Half Men mashups...

@Ragdrazi said:

@BestUsernameEver said:

@Ragdrazi said:

A + B = D Community is almost evenly divided. Down to the tenth of a point. I guess if you throw in E, sentiment is negative.

wow, that's sad, 1/10 of the community right now is optimistic about this change.

Both A and B are positive and optimistic. Only one tenth of the site is optimistic without reservation. By the same notion, only 1/50th of site is completely negative.

that's what I meant, full on optimistic about the change.

These guys haven't disappointed us yet. In general it seems that besides crossovers the users wont see much difference in the cast. Except potential for a bigger cast. This just means that Giantbomb can become even more mainstream. Also hopefully some Ryan MacDonald/Brendan Sinclair/Any other of the old guys still remaining, crossovers.

A good shaking up of the norm is just what Giantbomb needed.

I will wait until things actually turn sour. If they do, then I'll throw up my hands and cancel my subscription. For now I will say B.

Also without knowing the specifics of their deal, it's impossible for us to accurately predict what will happen. It's highly possible there are provisions in the contract which will prevent CBS from changing fundamental things about the site eg: (letting them swear/bash things in the industry they don't like). That's why I say wait and see.

I think that as long as the core GB guys are still managing the site then it will probably be ok. But I know how big companies work. Corp executives will only tolerate shenanigans for so long so as soon as one of the core guys leaves then I am out of here too.

Make no mistake I love what the GB guys have created I just think that the CBS guys just want the eyeballs/community (to sell ads) but don't care about the crazy batshit attitude that makes the content and community what it is.

But until that happens they will still get my money.

I'm confident that Jeff and Crew will do everything in their power to keep the site as awesome as ever, but that doesn't mean I'm not a little worried. Just a little though.

Rather than have a knee jerk reaction, I'm going to see how it plays out before I start screaming that the sky is falling.

I have to say, that when Jeff said, that GB has been bought by CBS, I was confused. But then I realized, that Jeff was fired by Cnet. Since then, CBS bought that company, so the management is different now. And I have followed these guys from there old days at GameSpot and have stuck since. They have proven to me (and I hope to many others) that they value there readers the most and would not do wrong by them. If they think, that this will make this site more awesome, then they have my support.

I think that giant bomb will continue in its current vein, but there will be changes down the line probably in some of its style and content. The forums may be more moderated for one thing, bet we will see that. As long as the guys stick to doing quick looks and reviews in the current style they are, thing can only get better.

B. Giant Bomb has earned the benefit of the doubt on this, they had plenty of suitors and THEY CHOSE Gamespot and CBS as the right fit. I trust Jeff and Co. completely to keep it real when it comes to editorial content.

Giant Bomb will be the Grantland to Gamespot's ESPN.com. They'll both get to focus on what they do best, and I'm looking forward to many different kinds of content.

At first I was a little bummed by the news. And I picked D before I watched the Pancake video. But after watching that video I'd pick B now.

I chose B, but only because I'm certain that while things will be good under the new model, it won't be the SAME. Which is hard to accept, but things will be fine! And I think the idea of everyone at Giant Bomb (plus Alex! Yes!) operating in some new digs with better gear, less technical hassles and more financial security sounds great to me. I think the change is mostly exciting, for sure.

And remember what ol' Buddha said: "Nothing remains without change." It's the truth!

I don't care that much, as long as the holy trinity (DDV) are preserved.

I'll miss the foot stomping in the majority of quick looks.

I still use the CBS sites on a regular basis, I don't hold any grudge to them over the review debacle and i like some of the staff members currently working at gamespot as much as the staff here at the whiskey media sites, i look forward to the future optimistically.

D. I'm not sure the change will be for the better.

G. Honestly, I don't really know yet.

A good shaking up of the norm is just what Giantbomb needed.

@Binman88 said:

A good shaking up of the norm is just what Giantbomb needed.

There's shaking up and then there's just going back to exactly what failed last time around.  This isn't a shaking up of the norm; it's going back to the norm.
 
Jeff was Editor in Chief over there last time around as I recall, which ended up counting for precisely fuck all once some nameless suit overruled him. What's different this time around, except the name at the top of the site? What additional safeguards are in place to prevent those pressures (which they've been railing against since this site started, but apparently no longer matter) from being exerted on them again? Is Jeff on the board of directors over at CBS now or something?
 
I don't find "Trust us, it'll be different this time!" to be a very compelling case.

So this means they can't say the Seven Dirty Words on the 'air' anymore, right?

H - I'm proud that this news are bigger than Diablo III getting a release date.

I'm just sad everyone won't be around together. I mean... no more Dave, Vinny and Drew Quick looks or Will Smith popping in on the Bombcast? Sad day. =( One thing I LOVED about this was the cross over between sites. Also wondering what does this mean to my Wiskey Media sub? Will Giantbomb go completely free? Will the archives of all the old Wiskey stuff still be there? I'm skeptical and nervous right now. Absolutely love this community.

I'll stick with them. I was with them at GS, with them Arrow Pointing Down, with them in the GB beta and with them now. And dammit, I haven't been let down so far!

G. I'm just going to wait and see before I freak out over it.

I went with B, it is kind of scary thinking what could happen, but I trust the Giant Bomb guys, they know what they are doing. They would never compromise what we all have grown to love about Giant Bomb.

It's not that I don't trust the Giant Bomb crew but this deal isn't about giving control to them; It's about selling control from Whiskey to CBS. I trusted Whiskey to be up front with it's userbase and put them first as it relied almost entirely on the community. CBS is a company with real trading shareholders that expect a certain level of growth at all times and who's revenue depends on advertisers more than a community. In other words we the community is what's being sold by CBS to advertisers. I don't trust CBS to do what's right by me because I'm just a product.

@Ravenlight said:

H - Cautious Optimism

that would likely fall under the umbrella of G, Other.

Sit back and watch Master Race REPRESENT!~~

I love Giant Bomb because it was the opposite of Gamespot, this makes me very worried.

It's not that I don't trust the Giant Bomb crew but this deal isn't about giving control to them; It's about selling control from Whiskey to CBS. I trusted Whiskey to be up front with it's userbase and put them first as it relied almost entirely on the community. CBS is a company with real trading shareholders that expect a certain level of growth at all times and who's revenue depends on advertisers more than a community. In other words we the community is what's being sold by CBS to advertisers. I don't trust CBS to do what's right by me because I'm just a product.

@Demoskinos:

http://www.formspring.me/patrickklepek/q/304696561600834217

Are Drew and Dave going with the regular GB crew as well? Will Will and Norm stop by the new offices for goofing around every now and then?
Yes, yes.

I'm certanly excited about it, but we'll see how it turns out.

@Mr_Skeleton said:

I love Giant Bomb because it was the opposite of Gamespot, this makes me very worried.

It's not like one is turning into the other. What this may tell you is that CBSi likes to keep all bases covered.

I like this news, because I like the crew and whatever they do I'm sure it'll be great.

Also because I have other things in life to worry about then a gaming website.

D, simply because now they are owned, even though they say they won't change anything content wise, they are in no position to say no to their employers if they want to continue being employed.

Worried.

Even with them saying "naw, it's all going to be the same", I can see that changing over time. Losing most of the rest of Whiskey Media also seems like quite a blow, even if I always focused mainly on GB.

But more funding is good and as long as they can keep the good video content coming, I'll stick around though. I don't quite understand why some are already decided the site is doomed and are "quitting", be pessimistic if you want, but at least wait and see how things go.

I think we'll know how things are changing if all the H-games and their screenshots suddenly disappear from the wiki. Until that happens, I'm not all that worried about how things are going.

We'll have to so how it ends up. Hopefully their able to become more creative and produce interesting projects, but there's always the thing that the big corporation is in it for the money which could lead to some changes (have you seen ads on gamespot).

More importantly: will we never see Rorie touching Ryan during live events ever again?

I have huge trust for the GB crew, I'm nervous as all hell but whatever happens, it will be interesting.

No worries. And even if someone get's fired they can just start another site, right... right?

@Ragdrazi said:

D. Because I'm not stupid.

This.

I eagerly await their next indie site after CBS "restructures it's online offerings"