Design Chat: 11/15/12

Looks awesome, can't wait for the beta to launch. These chats are always in need of Karen, though.

freakybananaswallowers.biz totally redirects to giantbomb. Well done.

Wow the new site looks fantastic. I cannot wait to try it out. Keep up the great work guys!

aw yiss giantbomb talking web dev

Please, please tell me that picture of Jonny V is staying.

Oh shit, we can write whatever we want into the Wiki on the Beta site?

Subscription justified ten times over.

EDIT: So glad to see Ian posting Homestuck images all over the beta site.

Can't hear alexis at all. Dave, barely, and if I turn the volume up too high, Jeff blasts me out of the room. Was looking forward to this video, too. Oh well.

@Juliodepatatas: Works fine for me. Grab a pair of headphones that might help.

@Nighthawk871 said:

freakybananaswallowers.biz totally redirects to giantbomb. Well done.

Incredible website is incredible.

<3 GB

Oh, the beta will start the week of my finals/the week I fly to goddamn Japan. Goooood timing.

Sometimes Dave kind of looks like Dez Fafara to me, sans chin tattoos and what not. Kind of freaking me out.

@Ghostiet said:

@Brendan said:

@Maajin said:

@TurboMan said:

@Ghostiet said:

@NekuCTR said:

I'll be the first to say it. Please don't monetize the Bombcast if at all possible.

And I'll be the second one to agree.

Oh No! There's a 30 second advertisement in my 3+ hour podcast! The world is doomed! The world is doomed!

I wouldn't mind it AT ALL, especially if they're advertised in a fun way like the MONEYZONE on My Brother My Brother and Me.

Totally against the first two guys. You don't want Giantbomb to make a little money off the most successful thing they do? Go fuck yourselves, seriously.

Maybe get of that white horse of yours and go fuck yourself in return. I'm not whining, I simply stated my preference and I don't plan to fight the issue at all. So stop acting like a preventive dickhead and start arguments with people who actually openly provoke that kind of reaction, instead of resorting to insults from the get-go just because someone dared to politely say shit on an internet forum.

For the record, every single podcast I listen to has ads except for the Bombcast. Just saying.

They should totally monetize the bombcast. People get all pissed when the talk of ads comes up but remeber on well my ipod touch at least there is a nice lil 30second ff button hell that is what I do with the Sherdog Radio podcasts.

I'm fine with short audio ads in The Bombcast, but only if they're professionally read by Jeff Gerstmann and are for CBS/CBSi properties.

@RoyaleWifCheese said:

Needs more Karen.

Can't wait to have a play! Will updates we make on the live site be viewable on the beta sight?

Is anyone else disappointed every time they see Dave without his mustache from forever ago?

I'm completely fine with ads in the Bombcast. It takes them tons of fucking time to do, it's one of the best things they put out, and they make nothing off it. In fact you can grab it from iTunes and avoid the site entirely now, which they've said a lot of people do.

Commit to a 3+ hour Bombcast, toss in an ad break every hour. More than reasonable. No different than any other high quality radio or video broadcast, and probably less obtrusive than most. Have to make money somehow.

wysiwyg stands for "what you see is what you get"?

mind blown. O__O

1:23:14 - "What are you wearing?"

I laugh frequently at GB videos, but rarely as hard as I did at that moment.

yes, fuck firefox!

@Deathpooky said:

I'm completely fine with ads in the Bombcast. It takes them tons of fucking time to do, it's one of the best things they put out, and they make nothing off it. In fact you can grab it from iTunes and avoid the site entirely now, which they've said a lot of people do.

Commit to a 3+ hour Bombcast, toss in an ad break every hour. More than reasonable. No different than any other high quality radio or video broadcast, and probably less obtrusive than most. Have to make money somehow.

agreed

I love Firefox.

@LegendaryChopChop said:

@RoyaleWifCheese said:

Needs more Karen.

Aaaaaproved!

@2HeadedNinja said:

@Deathpooky said:

I'm completely fine with ads in the Bombcast. It takes them tons of fucking time to do, it's one of the best things they put out, and they make nothing off it. In fact you can grab it from iTunes and avoid the site entirely now, which they've said a lot of people do.

Commit to a 3+ hour Bombcast, toss in an ad break every hour. More than reasonable. No different than any other high quality radio or video broadcast, and probably less obtrusive than most. Have to make money somehow.

agreed

Yup. Everything I listen to has ads, only the Bombcast has avoided this and it's the longest of all the podcasts I enjoy.

Totally OK with a 30 second ad at the beginning if they have to and really can't see anyone stopping to listen to them because of that (no-one's that ridiculously self-entitled).

@Vitor: Great point. Like you say commit to a long podcast every week and insert a few ads instead of the long break music that sometimes shows up.

I don't mind ads in the Bombcast either. However, would it be possible to have a Premium Members password/account-protected RSS reed of an ad-free version? Or would the bandwidth cost outweigh the point?

Either way, whatever you guys have to do to keep the Bombcast trucking, I'm all for it.

Good example of ads: Lasertime

Bad example of ads: Roosterteeth

Awesome to hear about the resume feature for videos. I like to watch everything GB puts out but often they are long and I don't have the time to get through it all. Be great to be able to come back to it without writing down where I left off and then buffering it to catch up to where I was.

can't wait until "they bleed alexis" comes out!

I wouldn't mind a few seconds of advertising on the bombcast either. Do it if it makes you money.

As far as the new site and its features go: it all sounds pretty fucking rad. I'm not sad at all about not having quests anymore (let's be honest: the feature got old quickly) but I do hope achievements will return some day.

If the guys want to put some ads in the bombcast, I'm all for it. They make a little bit more money and I press the skip forwards 30 seconds button on my podcast app.

@2HeadedNinja said:

@Deathpooky said:

I'm completely fine with ads in the Bombcast. It takes them tons of fucking time to do, it's one of the best things they put out, and they make nothing off it. In fact you can grab it from iTunes and avoid the site entirely now, which they've said a lot of people do.

Commit to a 3+ hour Bombcast, toss in an ad break every hour. More than reasonable. No different than any other high quality radio or video broadcast, and probably less obtrusive than most. Have to make money somehow.

agreed

Yep, completely agree. You deserve to make money off of such an awesome, in demand thing.

Wow haha. This is fucking awesome.

Site is looking great!

Can't wait to get to mess around with it.

Shouldn't it be 'magical Sweater of Wonder', by the way?

Interesting stuff, regardless.

The way to do ads without turning people off: bookend them. First and last thing.

Advertisers will love it because hey they're getting us twice.

We will love it because hey easy to skip them.

The only way to ruin ads is the way television WHICH ALL YOU GUYS HATE AND WE DO TOO did with commercial breaks.

The day there's dedicated commercial breaks around segments is the day Bombcasts stop being fun.

@Nighthawk871 said:

freakybananaswallowers.biz totally redirects to giantbomb. Well done.

I knew I wouldn't be the only one to try it.

That's pretty fucking hilarious.

@development said:

@Jeff

@Bishna said:

Please monetize the Bombcast. Even if its just a "The Bombcast is brought to you by" at the beginning. I trust you guys to do what is best for the users and I want you guys to grow. You have proven to me that you can add new people (Patrick) and make the site even better. I won't be satisfied until Giant Bomb is the biggest and best games site on the net. If monetizing the Bombcast is the way to do it, I trust you guys to make it work.

That would be great. So many people do it and nobody really cares. Like Joe Rogan's podcast. He talks about a product kinda like he hates it and hates having to do it; basically he makes it funny; and then after that you have two hours of what you came for. Nobody watches TV anymore and has to deal with those commercials; everybody has Adblock; what's one single advertisement going to do to hurt anybody? "Brought to you by GamerGlovz, because you need that extra power when you game!" "That hurt to say." "Yeah, it was great." ...and then it's over with.

Because once the crew start having to advertise themselves it is a slippery slope to what happened previously at Gamespot. What happens if they have to promote some head-tracking stuff or a game and then they try and it is shit. Are they going to be able to say this on the Bombcast?

I really trust their integrity but if they have to personally endorse products then they have lost it completely. It is slightly different if it is ready prepared ads, but once anyone personally endorses products they don't believe in their opinions don't matter and their integrity is gone.

I have heard Jeff speak against this sort of stuff too many times to believe that they would ever personally endorse products in anyway. The best way to advertise on the Bombcast would be at the begining and the end, and for subscribers to get it ad-free.

What I love about this site is that it is almost the only gaming site on the internet where you know for sure that the editorial staff are saying what they really think and not censoring their views to get ad dollars, pageviews or access to games. If it ever changed it would be a sad day.

@leebmx said:

@development said:

@Jeff

@Bishna said:

Please monetize the Bombcast. Even if its just a "The Bombcast is brought to you by" at the beginning. I trust you guys to do what is best for the users and I want you guys to grow. You have proven to me that you can add new people (Patrick) and make the site even better. I won't be satisfied until Giant Bomb is the biggest and best games site on the net. If monetizing the Bombcast is the way to do it, I trust you guys to make it work.

That would be great. So many people do it and nobody really cares. Like Joe Rogan's podcast. He talks about a product kinda like he hates it and hates having to do it; basically he makes it funny; and then after that you have two hours of what you came for. Nobody watches TV anymore and has to deal with those commercials; everybody has Adblock; what's one single advertisement going to do to hurt anybody? "Brought to you by GamerGlovz, because you need that extra power when you game!" "That hurt to say." "Yeah, it was great." ...and then it's over with.

Because once the crew start having to advertise themselves it is a
slippery slope to what happened previously at Gamespot. What happens if they
have to promote some head-tracking stuff or a game and then they try and it is
shit. Are they going to be able to say this on the Bombcast?

I
really trust their integrity but if they have to personally endorse products
then they have lost it completely. It is slightly different if it is ready
prepared ads, but once anyone personally endorses products they don't believe
in their opinions don't matter and their integrity is gone.

I have
heard Jeff speak against this sort of stuff too many times to believe that they
would ever personally endorse products in anyway. The best way to advertise on the Bombcast would be at the begining and the end, and for subscribers to get it ad-free.

What I love about this site is that it is almost the only gaming site on the internet where you know for sure that the editorial staff are saying what they really think and not censoring their views to get ad dollars, pageviews or access to games. If it ever changed it would be a sad day.

What this video talked about is not sponsorship or endorsement. This is not these guys want to talk up shit for money. This is not they want to change. This is not these guys begging for money. This is not a Kickstarter.

Dudes need simple ad revenue. The question is how they want to implement it.

@iodizedjoe said:

@leebmx said:

@development said:

@Jeff

@Bishna said:

Please monetize the Bombcast. Even if its just a "The Bombcast is brought to you by" at the beginning. I trust you guys to do what is best for the users and I want you guys to grow. You have proven to me that you can add new people (Patrick) and make the site even better. I won't be satisfied until Giant Bomb is the biggest and best games site on the net. If monetizing the Bombcast is the way to do it, I trust you guys to make it work.

That would be great. So many people do it and nobody really cares. Like Joe Rogan's podcast. He talks about a product kinda like he hates it and hates having to do it; basically he makes it funny; and then after that you have two hours of what you came for. Nobody watches TV anymore and has to deal with those commercials; everybody has Adblock; what's one single advertisement going to do to hurt anybody? "Brought to you by GamerGlovz, because you need that extra power when you game!" "That hurt to say." "Yeah, it was great." ...and then it's over with.

Because once the crew start having to advertise themselves it is a
slippery slope to what happened previously at Gamespot. What happens if they
have to promote some head-tracking stuff or a game and then they try and it is
shit. Are they going to be able to say this on the Bombcast?

I
really trust their integrity but if they have to personally endorse products
then they have lost it completely. It is slightly different if it is ready
prepared ads, but once anyone personally endorses products they don't believe
in their opinions don't matter and their integrity is gone.

I have
heard Jeff speak against this sort of stuff too many times to believe that they
would ever personally endorse products in anyway. The best way to advertise on the Bombcast would be at the begining and the end, and for subscribers to get it ad-free.

What I love about this site is that it is almost the only gaming site on the internet where you know for sure that the editorial staff are saying what they really think and not censoring their views to get ad dollars, pageviews or access to games. If it ever changed it would be a sad day.

What this video talked about is not sponsorship or endorsement. This is not these guys want to talk up shit for money. This is not they want to change. This is not these guys begging for money. This is not a Kickstarter.

Dudes need simple ad revenue. The question is how they want to implement it.

Yeah I was more replying the comment above who seemed to be saying that the crew should shill stuff personally at the start of the Bombcast. I doubt they would ever do this as it would go against everything Jeff especially has said before. As I mentioned, I would rather they didn't advertise on the Bombcast, but if they do it should be ad-free for subbers and presented in a format which doesn't break up the show for everyone else.

EDIT: The problem with advertising on the Bombcast is that it seems more personally linked to the guys than generally advertising on the site. What if Game X advertises on the 'cast and then it comes out and they all hate it. How is that situation going to play?

Can you get banned during the beta testing? If not, I am going to go completely ape shit on the beta site

Ha. I'll jump in here. You guy's are over-thinking it. All we're saying is the bombcast is getting expensive to host. It's Jeff and I personally that push for the company to monetize it, not because we need the money, but because it legitimizes the podcast as an important part of our editorial strategy. It means, hey, this thing is for real.

Podcasts just aren't thought of very highly by perspective ad buyers. I've never really figured it out, but I'm pretty certain it's because almost every other form of Internet advertising can have some form of tracking on it. While it's easy for me to say, hey, the Bombcast is listened to by 300,000 people, it's very hard for us to get an advertiser to believe that many people actually listen to it, because there's no form of ad technology out there that can tell me you've listened to an ad. In that way, it's closer to TV or radio advertising, which while totally viable in those markets, is just not the way the industry at large is moving, which likes to have oodles of info about the effectiveness of the ad. I just can't provide that reliably to them.

Someone buying a podcast ad these days (excluding Audible, which is selling to it's own market) is taking a decent risk. They're throwing their money into a hole and hoping it pays off somehow, maybe?

It's a shame, because very obviously targeting the 300,000 or so Bombcast listeners is targeting probably one of the more influential collection of gamers in the world. I know that, you know that, but it's just not something that's easy to prove.

@snide: Well go across the street and ask Twit Dave they have top tear sponsors/advisers for there audio podcast and they get paid for downloads.

Seriously I think Leo and the crew would help you out no problem!

I blame iOS 6. The previous podcast apps I had been using went nuts, and I had to switch between 4 or 5 different apps to find one that actually worked, which probably lead to lots of re-downloading the same podcasts over and over.

@snide: If you're interested, the Rooster Teeth podcast has advertising now, which seems to be working fine. Maybe give it a listen.

About the only thing I don't like about the new site design is how small the Giant Bomb symbol is.

Loved the Hot New Jam Big Red Phone talk. Classic.

@snide:

You should send an email or something explaining your sick idea of letting Premium users fuck around with the website, Just so they are aware or something,

Or have it as like a front page "HEY, THIS IS A THING YOU CAN DO!"

@snide: I know this might be replacing one problem with another, but would moving to a video podcast format remedy some of these issues? Video is obviously a lot easier to track, and now is somewhat viable as a monetized format. I'm not necessarily saying that the Bombcast should have a live video feed attached to it, but I don't know. I'm just spitballin' ideas here.

If I could put GNTNT into the coupon box at Thinkgeek or Snorg or <company outlet> and get £10 off a £30 purchase, I would.

If you had an Amazon link I could purchase my games through and GB got a little slice of that, or CV for my graphic novels, I would.

If you let me know these things for about 30-40 seconds at the head of the Bombcast, or even before, News Of The World as Ryan tell me I can do that, I wouldn't mind. Just don't forget your internationals.