I just want to say that SaltyBet should have been URL of the year.

Saltybet should be URL of the year. But GB crew does what GB crew does.

Technically speaking GTA V is an impressive game, and for sure the writing is really good at times. However the gameplay is boring as sin, the Online system is so messed up and dull that it REALLY takes effort to have any fun it (which of course will be immediately ruined as soon as it begins). The missions are so inconsistent it's just frustrating and that is not what a GOTY makes.

SaltyBet should have been URL of the year. Also fuck you GTA sucks. I mean what?

I wish more of them had really played Metal Gear Rising. :(

Dan Houser is not pleased.

I concur. Ni No Kuni should have been game of the year.

MGR is not even that good. Ahhhhh, GOTY brings out the worst. I mean, yeah it is great that GOTY talk can showcase different tastes. That is my favorite part of it. Gets boring when everyone agrees on the best games.

I get what your saying to an extent.

I love Jeff to bits, but my taste is as often the same as his, as it is the opposite. For example, I'm zombie crazy, and jeff will never enjoy anything with any kind of zombie in it.

Same with Ryan why we were lucky enough to have him. He used to complain and act stupid at the sight of boobs. But stabbing guys as the central game play mechanic was fine, even sought after. I'm a realist, and would rather get Boobed in the head, then Stabbed. In the end, sex and nudity is pretty harmless, and violence kills people. But I'm not American, so I don't get a hard on for guns, which seems to be the case. The guilt over erotic feelings for violence makes them hate our natural state, which also can be erotic.

It is a positive though, the growth of gaming. I can have my adult adventure, and Jeff can play the same core mechanic he has enjoyed for 20 years, making the middle of the screen face someone, and pulling a trigger.

I also see a lot of gaming fatigue with the guys. There reason for complaining about Assassins Creed Revelations for example, was centered around you not playing your typical ideal male demographic of a protagonist. They were literally arguing that the game was worse for not having the same good guy every other game has had, ever. Then turn around and complain that they don't see enough new stuff in big games. They miss the part where they are part of the problem.

As much reverence as we have for these guys, their opinions should be considered, not automatically adopted.

@immortalsaiyan: I didn't expect it to make the top ten or anything! I just wanted them to talk a bit more about it 's all.

I always disagree with Jeff and this site is still neat.

@roxasthirteen:

I think its really cool that no one universally loves a game anymore. Back when Mass Effect 2 was named GOTY everyone was dead set about it save for Brad (Patrick and Brad could have made an amazing filibuster for Red Dead) now I feel like everyone can make an impassioned argument about how a game (like Metal Gear Rising) is there game of the year and not sound like a crazy outlier.

@tobbrobb:

Don't back down, Metal Gear Rising was amazing (at least better the Brothers).

That is fair. I wish they talked more about the games in general instead of about which game should be on the list or not. I felt not much was stated for the games themselves. I get it though, after talking about the games for the previous awards and throughout the year they must know how one another feels about the games.

....I have to agree. HOW DID SALTYBET NOT FUCKING WIN URL OF THE YEAR? I DEMAND A FUCKING RECOUNT!!!!

YOU HEAR THAT OVERLORD @jeff?! YOU HAVE THE POWER!!!!

And by that I mean just change the text in the GOTY article for URL of the Year to SaltyBet. ;)

The only time they had my top game of the year on their site wide top 10 list was Witcher 2, so there!

Yeah, Jeff's taste and playstyles are absolutely crazy (and boring) to me, and is so incredibly different from my own. But the guy's still a hoot all the same.

Though saying that, I have skipped all of the GOTY content because I'm pretty sure I would find a lot of it to range from irksome to outright maddening. Hearing that Lamar won Best Character (?!?) was enough to solidify my judgement call :P

Aw fuck dude, I totally forgot about SaltyBet. Dunno if it had what it takes to win, but it's certainly better than Bubsy 3D.

Woah, you just reminded me, duder. Saltybet should have been mentioned as one of the top URLs of the year. I call for a redo!

I think Candy Box is still deserving of best, but I do think Saltybet beats Bubsy 3D.

I think this is why Jeff should re-think his whole "I don't write anything down. If it's worth remembering, I'll remember it" attitude. People forget. We all forget. I really think if someone remembered that this URL fit the category they would have had a lot to say about it. It's not a huge deal, it's all just for fun, and I'm really just nitpicking, but I think it's worth saying.

Fuck Saltybet! They just ripped off Bipson Bank, RIP BB.

SaltyBet is no longer about betting actual matches and now it's all betting on MUGEN bots anyway and that's why it became a lot more popular. But yeah RIP BB.

To be honest I find it kind of weird that the GB guys seemed to love GTA5 when it came out but during the podcast they (particularly Brad) seemed to hate it.

Not that I care, I haven't even played the game. I also know that opinions can change, but there appeared to be an almost universal love for GTA5 on release, but now they barely even considered for the top 10 list. They literally mentioned the game, said 'this doesn't deserve to be on there', unanimously agreed and that was it. No arguments, nothing.

@theht: @truthtellah: I really need to play Candy Box so I can compare the to. With Salty Bets I feel like they add a fun sense of tension when you bet. When its just on its just fun background noise, but when you throw money down it becomes a awesome video game cock fight.

Also all of your responses are making me want to write about why Salty Bets is bad ass.

This year was the most diverse year there has been where no one really agreed on a top 10. Last of Us won and only Alex had it at number 1. So the best game of year was almost no ones favorite game of the year on the GB crew.

the thing with GTA 5 is that Brad gets bored too quickly with games now, also top 10 list were not done when they recorded the podcast so i think gta 5 would have got in the top 10 next year will be cool because there are a lot of games that are new ip or have never played before a game in the series. Also a lot of RPG coming in 2014 so yeah top 10 list could have from 2 to 5 rpgs

@benspyda: i think zelda should have won with Last of Us at nr 2

@benspyda: Maybe it was the over saturation of Negative Top 3's or the tearing down of every game but I ended up walking away from the GOTY deliberations down on games. Maybe it was the Loss of Ryan, but the GOTY deliberation lost a certain enthusiasm.

I was fine the way the site's awards rolled out. I may not have agreed with some of the choices, but I respect their decisions. I will however always hold a grudge THAT NI NO KUNI DIDN'T EVEN ENTER THE CONVERSATION FOR BEST MUSIC THIS YEAR. FUCK THAT!

....Ahem, I mean I hold a slight misgiving about the game Ni No Kuni not being brought up during the best music category. I'd understand if noone even played it, but Brad and Alex most certainly did.

Who cares? You enjoyed the music. Move on with your life.

I rarely play this card, but...

SaltyBet is not a game.

You're right. I'm really just joking.

@themanwithnoplan: Was there a certain track that stuck out for Ni No Kuni? I do need to play that . I mean Hell, it will be nice to see how much better Lamar is then Mr. Drippy ;).

@kevin_cogneto: I feel like Salty Bet becomes a game with the betting aspect, it may be a bare minimum as a game but you as a user are still interacting with it.

The whole soundtrack is pretty great in general. Something that's really important when playing a game as long as Ni No Kuni can be. Out of it though, two stuck out for me.

The first being Fairyground. It instills such childlike magic and at the same time holds a somewhat sinister tone about itself. It's a true delight to listen to.

The second being the vocal version of the main theme (Kokoro no Kakera) . After having finished the game I heard it play over the credits and actually teared up. That doesn't usually happen for me with games, but Ni No Kuni had something so special and innocent about it that I couldn't help it.

As for the Lamar being a better character than Mr. Drippy I wouldn't know. I' still holding out for a pc version of Gta V before I jump in. I will say that out of a somewhat stereotypical genre, Mr. Drippy is much more charming and lovable than you're average Jrpg character. The game is a little short on voice acting, and that can be a good or bad thing depending on the individual character, but every time Mr. Drippy spoke it put such a big smile on my face.

@themanwithnoplan: As someone that Really enjoys Ghibli Films (I think "Grave of the Fireflies was perfect") did the story live up to that studio?

Also GTA 5 is amazing and I am in the Minority that deeply loves the multiplayer. If you ever decide to get the 360 version I would gladly bring you into my crew :)

seriously "betrayed?" seriously? There's more then enough content documenting a majority of their reactions to GTA5. And also GTA5 still made it onto many of the 30 game of the year list by guests. No one is under minding GTA5, it's still a success, people like and it plays better then the last one. The end.

This is sad.

@crithon: I was being sarcastic when I said "betrayed" (I didn't actually feel like they were cutting me with dull razor blades either). My main point was that even though my game wasn't recognized I am secure in my feelings towards GTA 5 and respect the choices the Giant Bomb Crew made. I don't care if Jeff (love you Jeff) takes a dump on GTA and gives it to his roommate, I still think its an amazing game.

Though I am boycotting Giant Bomb for not naming Salty Bets URL of the year, especially if fucking Steak Uhmms was considered.

Evidently a boycott does not involve using the forums to complain about the very site that's hosting them.

The problem with GOTY for me is that the conversations are mostly about the negative aspects of the games. Many of the complaints about certain games are just bizarre or ignorant and are used to cheaply justify their own games. A big part of the problem is that the crew tend to talk a lot about games that they haven't finished or really even touched. It just leaves me a bit bummed out. Also GTA was my game of the year :)

@mb: I was being sarcastic about boycotting, I love Giant Bomb, despite there inability to see the greatness that is Salty Bets :(

@martez87: With that said, I do get the reality that they can't play every game on other peoples lists. I think Fire Emblem Awakening was amazing but I understand why Jeff would use his general dislike of Fire Emblem to categorize Awakening.

I'm fine with GB's choices. and Jeff took care of my favorite. Yes, there was other games could of been contenders. I am reminded that the season was perhaps a little more robust then I remembered it. GTA 5 I honestly did not care much about.

But my own real need in life is if they will do a QL of Remember me. I just want to see what it looks like. And for that matter, Did MGS Re-vengance make the GB top ten? I might actually pre-purchase that game on steam. Not my kind of game but...

@bybeach: Metal Gear Rising didn't make Giant Bomb top ten but it has a lot of really high moments. I would say at the price its at on steam currently the "must see" moments are worth playing even if you aren't a fan of character action games.

I felt GTA 5 was amazing but I don't Blame others for disliking it, its not for everyone.

They did a QL for Remember Me. I remember it.

http://www.giantbomb.com/videos/quick-look-remember-me/2300-7447/

@mmorpgal:

I truly believe they hit some really great highs and made an overall awesome package, story included. Although, I think when you compare game narratives to film narratives you'll sometimes be disappointed in comparison, especially when talking about a Studio Ghibli film. It can be a little spaced out, but that's somewhat normal for the genre.

Ni No Kuni definitely told a story worth experiencing. If nothing else It certainly inspired the same pleasantness/oozed the same charm a movie like Totoro instilled and captured the regular feelings of grandiose adventure often common in a Ghibli movie. The game even deals with a few heavy topics to some extent fairly well. I really would recommend giving it a go if you're interested.

On a separate note. I will warn that the game gets a little grindy later on. This makes the combat a little stale after a while. I ended up playing through the game over the course of about 9 months, so I just took a break when I got tired and came back later on. Unfortunately it's pretty similar in that respect to most Jrpgs. I still happily endorse the game though.

Also, thanks! :D

I really liked GTA V, but I can definitely understand the issues that people have with it. You can at least take solace in the fact that it's a big enough franchise that it garnered discussion. People that love more niche games like Fire Emblem: Awakening or Pokemon are almost always on the outside looking in on these GotY lists.

Opinions being opinions, it's not really worth getting upset if somebody else doesn't like the thing you like.

That being said...you have a point about SaltyBet. That is the URL of the year.

Maybe I just have a thick skin from playing lots of JRPG’s and other weird niche things, because I'm never outraged when my most beloved games don't end up in the running. On the contrary, I enjoy content like the GotY stuff immensely. Because even though it's not centered around my games of choice, it's still (largely) a celebration of games. It's fun to hear people talk about what they loved.

I have to agree on GTA 5. I played its manically from start to finish loved the story and spent 6 days on GTA O .

Same can be said for Saints row 4 for me, better than three closer to SR3. However Its more of a guilty pleasure right now.

Do I think its needs to be on my GOTY list or anyones...nah not realy. Then again when people ask me "what your GOTY" I reply "Kerbal Space Program." which gets "You said that last year...and the year before that. Its not even finished!"

So I figured GOTY dosnt matter to me in the grand scheme. Hell I forgot most of the games i did play this year, I keep thinking they were 2012.

I merely find the way they came about making the Top 10 List to be really ignorant when it should have been a mathematical infusion of all of their top 10 lists. A user on the forums showed how this would have come about and it would have been much more logical than the way the handled it. Also would have kept "one offs" like DOTA2 from showing up for no reason other than Jeff thought Brad would really want it on there somewhere when he was the absolutely only person there who cared about it.

I would also argue that the Bombers don't really have enough game diversity among them, outside of maybe Drew, for them to have a really broad spectrum of selections included.