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@jSlack got it, and thanks, supporting China traffic is not getting any easier, I know.

@burt: Using a VPN would work, assuming GB hasn't blocked my personal VPN server. CNET sites have similar infrastructure in place to block requests from VPN/Large cloud services (for instance, I am blocked from viewing GameSpot videos while using my VPN).

I understand why GB/CNET would put a captcha protection on traffic from China, or cloud services, but that's not my main point anyway.

My problem is with captcha protection blocking access to podcast download, I am guessing the captcha protection works by setting a cookie in browser to grant me access to GB. But iOS podcast app/OS X iTunes don't support that, so their attempts to refresh podcast list & download new episode failed.

That's my guess.

I assume China IP range get a bad rep these days but since our ISP (China Telecom) assign random external IP to users, I can't really control which IP I am on, and recently I have been seeing the forced captcha protection page a lot (redirects to /user/vpn-day-pass/).

This is not a big deal when I am in a browser. But it does seem to prevent me from downloading podcasts on iOS, using default podcast app (for example The Giant Beastcast ep.19, direct download link works just fine in my browser).

Or rather, to me at least, I can only mark the OP as answer, which is exactly what you don't want to mark as answer.

A boolean flag in wrong somewhere in your codebase.

@damodar: much appreciated, if only I can buy games from GFWL (store front is definitely dead, right?)

After watching recent Rare replay QL, I start to think about getting my viva pinata fix (played it years ago, but don't have a copy now).

My problem:

1. currently live in China

2. using Windows 10

3. Games for Windows has been shutdown

There are no news for Rare Replay on PC right? Are there ways to get it legally?

I get around 500KB/s using 5 parallel connections at the moment, will report back if it stays consistent after 6pm, UTC+8 (when it gets busy). Akamai now maps v.giantbomb.com to 198.144.98.97, 198.144.98.129. Which is US PoP and is better for my ISP (China Telecom).

I think China Unicom is better with Japan PoP as they have much better peering there.

@edgework just wondering, does GiantBomb make use of Akamai' China PoP? I imagine they are much more expensive though, and maybe content restrictive due to local law.

In past a few months, my average video download speed on Giantbomb has reduced from 500KB/s to 20KB/s, while I have a 100Mbps (roughly 12.5MB/s) connection.

`dig v.giantbomb.com` shows that my request was routed to Japan (akamai 42.99.254.155/42.99.254.144). I am not sure how much of my problem is due to network congestion between China and Japan, but I rarely see `v.giantbomb.com` gives me a download speed higher than 100KB/s this June/July.

Same goes for video streaming, but I have given up on that idea long ago.

Not sure if you can fix it (cheaply), or whether there are Asian users out there experiencing similar problems (assume Japan users got pretty good speed given CDN PoP is located there). But just saying, I usually have to wait a whole day to download an episode of Metal Gear Scanlon or Unprofessional Fridays...

I am VERY GLAD to see Summer Lesson doing good on the chart, because THAT'S OUR FUTURE, AND I EMBRACE IT.

Doesn't seem to have anything that need visual to understand, is it an oversight or a decision we don't know? Seem weird as other part of live show is on podcast.