Things that bother you about Giant Bomb?

@Jimmi said:

@munnyman5 said:

The part where it's on the Internet.

If GiantBomb could somehow cut the "Internet" part out of their product, that would be fantastic. Why? Because the Internet allows for a bunch of socially inadequate, whiny jerks to interact with each other and everyone else.

I don't really care a whole lot about video games (i.e. nothing really upsets me, like Mass Effect 3's ending or what have you), but I enjoy playing them when I get the time. For the last 4 years, the site has served as a great alternative to TV; likeable "characters," content related to my main hobby, and a good smattering of comedy. Their plan of making their content based around the personalities on the site has worked to provide great purchasing advice for me, as well.

But every once in a while, I'll have a half hour between lectures, and I'll come across the forums. It's like watching a girl disrobe, then when she strips off her bra you see a giant swastika under one of the cups. That seething issue lying beneath the beautiful surface: the Internet.

However, you're all entitled to your opinions, and I won't judge you for them; the above is my personal opinion. We can discuss our subjective opinions in a civilized fashion, and if we can't change each other's minds, we can agree to disagree, and move forward as friends (if we mesh as such. If not, no hard feelings).

Well said. I didn't realize it until you said it, but I basically just watch Giant Bomb videos instead of TV nowadays.

My brain can't fathom how people can do that, I get so bored during Quick Looks it's unreal. If I last 10 minutes I'm proud of myself.

...well that's going to be taken out of context.

I could use a lot less Alex, as in, no Alex.

@James_Giant_Peach said:

Lack of content.

Elitist community that seem to think they're better than everyone else because they visit a more 'intellectual' website.

The countless 'memes' and 'in-jokes'.

Staff who once said they'd never go down the ads and subscription route, only to do a total U-turn on everything they apparently believed in.

Staff that, for the most part, are terrible at playing games.

Staff with such out-of-whack egos they think people care more about watching them drink and do dumb stuff than actually cover video games.

Staff who ignore and belittle games they've never even tried.

Staff who are unfair to plenty of titles and hardware, and overly complimentary to their favorites.

People in the community who will defend the GB staff to the hilt and suck up to them to no end.

The word 'duder'.

Forum users who refer to people who don't visit GB as 'outsiders'.

Forum users who insist on criticising perfectly fine sites like IGN, Kotaku, Gamespot, etc, just because it's not their cup of tea and they'd bend over backwards to take the flag of GiantBomb right up their anus.

Countless PC elitists ruining the name of the PC community.

Countless forum posters who think they're incredibly important because they've got 50,000 posts.

And plenty more.

But mainly lack of content.

Yes, the food here is terrible, and such small portions.

The parts bolded are the only problems I have with the site.

@Shirogane said:

The fact that you left out Vinny....and that he's gone T_T

There's nothing to hate about Vinny. NOTHING!

@Sooty said:

I think Klepek is a boring podcaster and the indie game preaching gets really annoying.

I'm not so sure about the podcast part since I don't listen to all of them, but the indie game stuff is getting annoying. The fact that these people are pushing for games of the NES era annoy the hell out of me. It's holding games back. However, I have no problem with Patrick's journalism. He's just filling in the gap, that's all.

@James_Giant_Peach said:

Lack of content.

Staff that, for the most part, are terrible at playing games.

Staff with such out-of-whack egos they think people care more about watching them drink and do dumb stuff than actually cover video games.

I agree with all of what you said here. I like how they goof off sometimes in the videos, but the constant push for drinking and toting alcohol is unnecessary and irrelevant. If that's what people want, then they should just start a drinking website and forget video games altogether : /

@crusader8463 said:

• It drives me nuts during videos of them playing games when they just skip over stuff, pay no attention, then bitch and moan for half the video because they have no idea what they are doing due to them not taking the two minutes it takes to read a tutorial or listen to an exposition. If it's so hard for them to talk and play the game at the same time then get someone off screen to play the game while they talk about it.
• When they go out of their way to play games that they all hate and have zero desire to play, and then spend the whole video just moaning about how much it sucks and how they wish they were somewhere else. The Mario Party TNT is the most recent example of it.

This is one of the main flaws of the Quick Look. They start the game for the first time and just play. It's like a video demo. I can download that demo for free from my console anyways. Plus, with the lack of reviews(especially video reviews), it makes me go to other websites to figure out if I should get a game or not, particularly IGN and GameSpot. Turning their site traffic away like that is not wise at all. What also annoys me is the lack of a weekly live show. When you look back at "On the Spot", you can see how it was video game coverage all rolled into an hour or more, with great enthusiasm as well. This is what we need. I Love Mondays really isn't enough. It's just there.

I enjoy the content, community, staff, and comraderie. So, I guess I have no complaints. Keep up the good work. More content will come as the guys settle down a bit more in the new situation.

There is often very little content on Mondays, ILM cannot sustain an entire day (when it's posted on time).

@Falx said:

Entitlement

As in people using the word entitlement for any negative response to anything? Yeah, that fucking sucks!

"Entitlement" is the new "pretentious." A word stupid people use when they want to sound smart.

The only thing I'm bothered about is the lack of content right now. That said, we're still in the transition phase. Looking forward to them getting back into swing post-PAX and post-Vinny return.

90% of the community, and not enough dave

I think we all are in favor of the advantages of constructive criticism as part of progression and improvement for a site run by, now, increasingly more people whose personas aren't reflected as a whole among the five constants. I cannot imagine how it must feel like for the guys, from their end of the screen, to be seeing all of these comments. It's quite demoralizing if I were in their position, reading all of these comments. Not assuming the role of any particular staff member, I, as X staff member, would try to adapt to the many things that are being said on these boards, and act accordingly, if need be. I'm as much part of the echo chamber as the other guy, and am as much associated with the entity that is the internet, which, mind you, is a low posistion to be speaking from. As has been mentioned, because of the undergoing partial expansion, the site has gradually stepped one of its feet away from the community, putting the emphasis more on whatever else that is outside of our perview as "avatars." Whether for the sake of the site's viability and lasting power, becoming larger as a whole, things have changed at the hands of the people who ran it in the first place, and hopefully for the better. It's not a stretch to say that, even though it maybe hasn't been seen by others as such, the site has been thriving ever since it started out, and, natch, the gulf between us and the folks who run it have widened as opportunites of growth have taken precedence. I entertain the idea of crticism and am happy to hold a dialogue, in a civilzed way.

too much sexual / racial diversity

@crusader8463 said:

• It drives me nuts during videos of them playing games when they just skip over stuff, pay no attention, then bitch and moan for half the video because they have no idea what they are doing due to them not taking the two minutes it takes to read a tutorial or listen to an exposition. If it's so hard for them to talk and play the game at the same time then get someone off screen to play the game while they talk about it.
• Was never a fan of the defence force the community has always had. The second you criticise anything the crew does in any shape way or form, they bubble up from the sewers to scream and insult you for not worshipping the site unconditionally. I'm sure when they discover this thread they will have a collective heart attack.
• The way they dismiss games that they don't like as being complete crap for no reason other then it's dumb, only to go on a few moments later talking about how they love something just because it's dumb.
• The way the guys ignore things the community likes/dislikes and just go about doing their thing with seemingly no effort put into directing the site in a way the community wants it to go.
• When they go out of their way to play games that they all hate and have zero desire to play, and then spend the whole video just moaning about how much it sucks and how they wish they were somewhere else. The Mario Party TNT is the most recent example of it.

There are some other things, but those are the big ones. Sadly one thing I have learned over my years here is that they will ignore everything in this thread and keep doing whatever the hell they want. I can't remember where it was, but I recall in some old podcast or video of Jeff basically coming right out and saying that they don't give a fuck what anyone in the community thinks and that they just do whatever they want with no regard to what the community wants out of the site. That line has always stuck in my head because I remember it really surprising me when I heard it. Though he also said that they would never have dick pill/dating site style ads on the site and we got those anyway, so who knows.

It's their site to do with as they want. I just hope they can keep enough of what I like about it around. There really isn't anything else out there to fill the void of what I used to get from this site, so I don't want to lose that. I also really dislike the new office. It looks so plain and emotionless. All the other places had this vibe to them that the new one lacks. It's just barren and uninteresting. Hopefully they will get that worked out once they have had more time to get things settled in.

Whole hardily agree with all of the points, I remember Jeff saying or alluding to something along not giving a crap about the community and our opinions a few times actually. Sure, they do a lot of stuff for us (Jar TIme and to some extend TNT) but still, we are the reason why this site is running, and we should be heard and listened to, to some extend, when a large amount of people suggests ways to improve on content (not those who bitch and complain, but makes solid arguments around the complaining) there might be something about it. I'm not saying we should dictate the content on the site, that would be moronic, but at least makes us feel part of this thing that probably only survived because some of us were willing to donate money to a freaking website, seriously! I still love most of the site, and the complaints aren't massive for me, but they are there.

Oh, and to some extend I really hate when people just qoutes stuff and writes "this" for gods sake, write it yourselfs or at least do something else! I also dislike the massive amount of "hate" Call of Duty, sports games and "dudebros" gets around these parts, if you aren't interesting, stay away from topics instead of making stupid jokes about how awesome you are for not being a Bro or not playing COD. I'm also not a fan of lots of Patrick and the length of the bombcast, but I tend to stay away from that instead of creating topics or contatly talking about it, so :)

Why wasn't this topic called crybaby face? The End

I like basically everything about the site, but I have had a qualm about it here and there.
 
I see where many of these complaints/criticisms are coming from though.

The formatting of video and bombcast content. Trying to find a specific video or podcast can be a real hassle. For example why are the videos not arranged by year. It would be much easier if I could click on a 2009 tab to find a 2009 quick look. Instead I have to go through the pages hoping to luckily land on the 2009 pages.

I think there needs to be better filtering options for quick look. e.g I should be able to search for PS3 quick looks, 20+ min, 2010 and get a decent number of videos to scroll through.

Another issue is the limited content. I understand the guys have a small staff but I'd still prefer a regular timetable of shows. This is possibly an unrealistic expectation but it is still something that bothers me.

I hate the fact that they're not constantly at my house ready and willing to wipe my ass. And feed me grapes. I yell for them, and nothing. So irritating.

I have a few quibbles. I really don't like the way in which Patrick and Brad will talk about something they know nothing about. Instead of doing what Ryan does which is just saying "I have no idea" they start talking about a subject and are so far of the mark its not even worth listening to. I still like Patrick and Brad though.

I also dislike the way in which mods deal with regulars who are being dicks. Its not as bad now but a while ago people could be massive dicks or intentionally trolling and seemly get nothing but "Oh you guys" response.

I am not a fan of Alex but I don't hate the guy. I can see why people like him. And leading on from that I hate the idea that I have to like everyone on the site to be on the site or that I am not allowed to dislike someone. It also comes from the idea that I must dislike a person because they are new. Patrick is new and I like him, I never really liked Alex even at GS but again I don't hate him he seems alright.

When Patrick speaks up in a QL or a 'cast its like shifting gears without using the clutch. Noisy, grating and somewhat damaging. Also what the chap said about the crew growing away from the community earlier is dead on. I've had that feeling for a long time and nothing encompasses that feeling more than on Thursdays. It used to be a fun night with TNT they guys load up the friends list, send out the invites and game on! But it slowly devolved into one guy playing the game and the rest talking to each other or interviewing someone, not really interacting with the community at all. Then comes the nights where its just "Watch us play each other!" which is kind of terrible. Funny moments come out of it, yes. But it kinda defeats the whole purpose of TNT, in my eyes.

@ThePickle said:

@Falx said:

Entitlement

As in people using the word entitlement for any negative response to anything? Yeah, that fucking sucks!

"Entitlement" is the new "pretentious." A word stupid people use when they want to sound smart.

I never understand this. I don't think stupid people try to sound smart, maybe you just read posts assuming you must be of greater intelligence than the poster?

Patrick and Ryan combo quicklooks/ERs are kinda boring. That's about it really, everything else on Giantbomb is amazing.

Lack of content.

Elitist community that seem to think they're better than everyone else because they visit a more 'intellectual' website.

The countless 'memes' and 'in-jokes'.

Staff who once said they'd never go down the ads and subscription route, only to do a total U-turn on everything they apparently believed in.

Staff that, for the most part, are terrible at playing games.

Staff with such out-of-whack egos they think people care more about watching them drink and do dumb stuff than actually cover video games.

Staff who ignore and belittle games they've never even tried.

Staff who are unfair to plenty of titles and hardware, and overly complimentary to their favorites.

People in the community who will defend the GB staff to the hilt and suck up to them to no end.

The word 'duder'.

Forum users who refer to people who don't visit GB as 'outsiders'.

Forum users who insist on criticising perfectly fine sites like IGN, Kotaku, Gamespot, etc, just because it's not their cup of tea and they'd bend over backwards to take the flag of GiantBomb right up their anus.

Countless PC elitists ruining the name of the PC community.

Countless forum posters who think they're incredibly important because they've got 50,000 posts.

And plenty more.

But mainly lack of content.

Yes, the food here is terrible, and such small portions.

Took me a few podcasts to get use to Patrick's voice. I attribute that mostly to lack of exposure to his accent/speech style. Only issue I've ever had, and got over it pretty quick.

@Drebin_893 said:

@ThePickle said:

@Falx said:

Entitlement

As in people using the word entitlement for any negative response to anything? Yeah, that fucking sucks!

"Entitlement" is the new "pretentious." A word stupid people use when they want to sound smart.

I never understand this. I don't think stupid people try to sound smart, maybe you just read posts assuming you must be of greater intelligence than the poster?

What fucking planet are you on?

@ThePickle said:

@Drebin_893 said:

@ThePickle said:

@Falx said:

Entitlement

As in people using the word entitlement for any negative response to anything? Yeah, that fucking sucks!

"Entitlement" is the new "pretentious." A word stupid people use when they want to sound smart.

I never understand this. I don't think stupid people try to sound smart, maybe you just read posts assuming you must be of greater intelligence than the poster?

What fucking planet are you on?

Okay?

@bonorbitz said:

@James_Giant_Peach said:

Lack of content.

Elitist community that seem to think they're better than everyone else because they visit a more 'intellectual' website.

The countless 'memes' and 'in-jokes'.

Staff who once said they'd never go down the ads and subscription route, only to do a total U-turn on everything they apparently believed in.

Staff that, for the most part, are terrible at playing games.

Staff with such out-of-whack egos they think people care more about watching them drink and do dumb stuff than actually cover video games.

Staff who ignore and belittle games they've never even tried.

Staff who are unfair to plenty of titles and hardware, and overly complimentary to their favorites.

People in the community who will defend the GB staff to the hilt and suck up to them to no end.

The word 'duder'.

Forum users who refer to people who don't visit GB as 'outsiders'.

Forum users who insist on criticising perfectly fine sites like IGN, Kotaku, Gamespot, etc, just because it's not their cup of tea and they'd bend over backwards to take the flag of GiantBomb right up their anus.

Countless PC elitists ruining the name of the PC community.

Countless forum posters who think they're incredibly important because they've got 50,000 posts.

And plenty more.

But mainly lack of content.

Yes, the food here is terrible, and such small portions.

Why do you even visit the site then?

Was thinking the exact same thing.

@Drebin_893 said:

@ThePickle said:

@Drebin_893 said:

@ThePickle said:

@Falx said:

Entitlement

As in people using the word entitlement for any negative response to anything? Yeah, that fucking sucks!

"Entitlement" is the new "pretentious." A word stupid people use when they want to sound smart.

I never understand this. I don't think stupid people try to sound smart, maybe you just read posts assuming you must be of greater intelligence than the poster?

What fucking planet are you on?

Okay?

I've never heard of that planet.

Cool Baby. Fuck that baby.

Have to agree with a lot of the criticism that gets brought up in here. I don´t think a lot of it really detracts from my enjoyment of the site in general, but one thing does crop up every once in a while:

They just don´t have the same kind of spirit they had back in 08/09.. I know that´s a stupid thing to say, because people change and all that, but it seems like the business or life or whatever has weighed them down a little bit. Maybe it´s just the fact that they´ve grown to be more organized (shudder!) or the industry has changed into something horrible (it kinda has)..

I miss the genuine enthusiasm Brad had for stuff like Viva Pinata and Banjo. How Jeff would go on and on about how he loved Burnout Paradise and not just how he likes Trackmania and is stressed out because of server issues/management. I fucking loved how they would just talk about shit and the games they enjoyed. Hell, watch Ryan´s Review of Super Mario Galaxy 2 or the New Super Mario Bros Quicklook.. these dudes were excited about video games! I don´t know how to really describe it, and sometimes the old spirit seems to come through again and again.. but it does feel like they are just doing their job sometimes. That´s very sad and I feel like the new environment they are working in will not exactly help recreating the "indie" feel of the old basement in Sausalito.

@will_leisure said:

This is only a temporary gripe because they're just getting started and they're busy with other things, but their current location is bumming me out. I'm cool with the acquisition and everything, but their old office had so much character. I'm sure it wasn't as great in real life as it seemed, but I wouldn't have mind working in an area like that. I liked the fact that they had a green-screen area and a more traditional chair/couch area to do important interviews or day-long gaming marathons. Does Gamespot even have a studio anymore, or is it just that giant green-screen now? They don't even have a bar! Sure, the Whiskey Media bar wasn't featured that much when they were there, but it was cool knowing there was one down the hall. The building they're in now just looks like every other goddamned office building. Show me the kitchen where Tim Tracy had his cooking show to tide me over with nostalgia, plz.

I never liked the Gamespot offices even when the GB crew were there. The offices were just closets with tacky looking sliding doors. Maybe if GB get around to decorating, but they never were about dressing their areas with swag. And those semi-cubicles they have are depressing, even with the divider taken out.

Man I totally agree. The old office was almost like a sitcom set it was so varied, it made the content feel more lively. Now everything is drab and grey. What the fuck happened.

Perhaps they will find a way to load Quake 2 maps into the virtual set computer, though, and then things will be awesome.

I feel like the editors usually fail to give a game's "best reading" during a Quick Look. You may say I'm missing the point and that Quick Looks are supposed to be off the cuff balls out casual hang outs... to which I say, who cares, if these guys don't care about being professional journalists (which is fine) they can at least aspire to be competent enthusiast reporters.

Brad skipping things in quicklooks and then not knowing what to do, but that's also why I love watching his quicklooks

I just wish they would post on their own forums more. :(

That 20% of this website doesn't work with my browser.

@Superfriend said:

Have to agree with a lot of the criticism that gets brought up in here. I don´t think a lot of it really detracts from my enjoyment of the site in general, but one thing does crop up every once in a while:

They just don´t have the same kind of spirit they had back in 08/09.. I know that´s a stupid thing to say, because people change and all that, but it seems like the business or life or whatever has weighed them down a little bit. Maybe it´s just the fact that they´ve grown to be more organized (shudder!) or the industry has changed into something horrible (it kinda has)..

I miss the genuine enthusiasm Brad had for stuff like Viva Pinata and Banjo. How Jeff would go on and on about how he loved Burnout Paradise and not just how he likes Trackmania and is stressed out because of server issues/management. I fucking loved how they would just talk about shit and the games they enjoyed. Hell, watch Ryan´s Review of Super Mario Galaxy 2 or the New Super Mario Bros Quicklook.. these dudes were excited about video games! I don´t know how to really describe it, and sometimes the old spirit seems to come through again and again.. but it does feel like they are just doing their job sometimes. That´s very sad and I feel like the new environment they are working in will not exactly help recreating the "indie" feel of the old basement in Sausalito.

I completely feel you on that, but I suppose I attribute more of that to the current state of the industry. I personally haven't been that kind of excited since Metal Gear Solid 4. Hopefully the industry will soon become genuinely exciting again, be it with the new console generation, or just an amazing new franchise. Once that hits I think we'll see that enthusiasm return.

But man, reading your post reminded me how much I loved Giant Bomb's content in 2008/09. Everything just felt exciting and enthusiastic.

the crew has become more negative and cynical. i mean im a fairly large cynic myself. but come on guys? often times it sounds like they dont even like gaming anymore. kinda drags the energy out of it when alot of times they spend an entire quicklook just complaining. i mean pointing out flaws is fine, hell its a major part of it. like the ME3 quicklook, it was terrible. jeff kept insisting it was a really good game but spent the ENTIRE quicklook just nitpicking at tiny little details. that sorta thing has taken over alot of quicklooks.

theres enough nitpicky negative attitudes on the internet, too many in fact. the way the crew is turning into just another negative nitpicky bunch of twats is turning me off of one of my favorite websites.

@Sooty said:

@Jimmi said:

@munnyman5 said:

The part where it's on the Internet.

If GiantBomb could somehow cut the "Internet" part out of their product, that would be fantastic. Why? Because the Internet allows for a bunch of socially inadequate, whiny jerks to interact with each other and everyone else.

I don't really care a whole lot about video games (i.e. nothing really upsets me, like Mass Effect 3's ending or what have you), but I enjoy playing them when I get the time. For the last 4 years, the site has served as a great alternative to TV; likeable "characters," content related to my main hobby, and a good smattering of comedy. Their plan of making their content based around the personalities on the site has worked to provide great purchasing advice for me, as well.

But every once in a while, I'll have a half hour between lectures, and I'll come across the forums. It's like watching a girl disrobe, then when she strips off her bra you see a giant swastika under one of the cups. That seething issue lying beneath the beautiful surface: the Internet.

However, you're all entitled to your opinions, and I won't judge you for them; the above is my personal opinion. We can discuss our subjective opinions in a civilized fashion, and if we can't change each other's minds, we can agree to disagree, and move forward as friends (if we mesh as such. If not, no hard feelings).

Well said. I didn't realize it until you said it, but I basically just watch Giant Bomb videos instead of TV nowadays.

My brain can't fathom how people can do that, I get so bored during Quick Looks it's unreal. If I last 10 minutes I'm proud of myself.

...well that's going to be taken out of context.

Yeah but I never really got cerebral over Doctor Who or anything, either. I'll often run Quick Looks (TM) in the background of whatever I'm doing, and I usually pick up the main gist of it by flipping back to that tab every so often. If I hear laughter, I go and skip back so I can get the entire comedic effect.

But yes, they can get boring, which means whoever does those "Best of" videos on YouTube must be on lethal amounts of stimulant ADHD medication, bless their over-stressed hearts.

The rampant racism

People seem to think the staff are egotistical but I feel the opposite. There have been many times in the bombast and in quick looks where they are discussing some dumb stuff(which I am enjoying) and Ryan or someone attempts to steer the conversation back to games. It don't really want that system to change because too much of a good thing can be bad. Also not enough Jeff on the site.

Not enough countdowns of virtual hot chicks

When they criticize a game for failing to inform them about a mechanic, when it actually did and they weren't paying attention. That Chrono Trigger ER was painful.

Also these forums need age based gating via insta-bans for people that out themselves as <18.

@Jumanji: Plenty of dicks are over 18. Like me.

The only thing that bothers me about Giantbomb is that I haven't found a way to pump a constant stream of awesome into my brain like a IV drip bag at the hospital.

Patrick and MB.

@Barrock said:

I just wish they would post on their own forums more. :(

It's why I've always respected Rorie. Acting as the face of the site, doing all of the video stuff, and yet was still able to populate the screened forums a surprising amount too.

@SlasherMan I was just watching the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus Collection QL.

If nothing else, the grip meter fiasco made me want to rip my hair out. UGGGH.

the community never stop bitching.

Glad all these complaints will fall of deaf ears.