We Talk To Giancarlo Varanini

@blastprocessing: VIDEO GAMES

@SSully said:

@KillerFly said:

@Seedofpower said:

Who is Giancarlo Varanini?

I don't know, some new guy.

IMMA HIT YOU SO HARD SCOOTER IS GONNA FEEL IT, BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

YES! The first thing I thought of when I saw this.

I need the transcript from whatever conversation Ryan is having in the background, I'm so curious but my speakers suck.

@CaLe said:

His mannerisms are similar to Dave's.

Holy shit your right....

@takua108 said:

I REALLY REALLY HOPE THAT THESE HANDHELD CAMERA VIDEOS ARE MAKING A COMEBACK. I was rewatching the early Giant Bomb videos recently, and went "man, they don't have Coke chugging contests, take shots of hard liquor as the result of a bet, randomly ramble about vegan breakfast burritos, or taste-test coconut M&Ms anymore." Then Whiskey Media broke up, and I was like "welp, those days are over."

So, yeah, more random crap like this, please! I love it!

this. ^^^ absolutely this.

@poveren said:

@PJ said:

Giancarlo is a former Gamespot editor(that worked at GS as far back as 2000) and has worked at EGM/1UP, GameTap, Nintendo Power and OPM. He came back to Gamespot when the 1UP shit went down(or around that time, I don't really remember). So he's not some new guy or anything like that and has worked with Jeff and the others before.

What is this 1UP shit that you're referring to?

1UP was sold to UGO and they ended up firing most of the more experienced and well known staff and as a result cancelling most of the podcasts and videoshows they produced. People like Ryan O'Donnell, Matt Chandronait, Jason Bertrand, Jay Frechette, Rob Bowen, Cesar Quintero, Phil, Koller, Nick Suttner, Ryan Scott and Anthony Gallegos were let go.

I REALLY REALLY HOPE THAT THESE HANDHELD CAMERA VIDEOS ARE MAKING A COMEBACK. I was rewatching the early Giant Bomb videos recently, and went "man, they don't have Coke chugging contests, take shots of hard liquor as the result of a bet, randomly ramble about vegan breakfast burritos, or taste-test coconut M&Ms anymore." Then Whiskey Media broke up, and I was like "welp, those days are over."

So, yeah, more random crap like this, please! I love it!

@poveren: 1UP got bought by UGO in 2009, and they fired a TON of very nice, smart journalists who were well-known from podcasts and the site.

It's good to see that people still remember the good ol' days... *nostalgia*

@PJ said:

Giancarlo is a former Gamespot editor(that worked at GS as far back as 2000) and has worked at EGM/1UP, GameTap, Nintendo Power and OPM. He came back to Gamespot when the 1UP shit went down(or around that time, I don't really remember). So he's not some new guy or anything like that and has worked with Jeff and the others before.

What is this 1UP shit that you're referring to?

His mannerisms are similar to Dave's.

Giancarlo is a former Gamespot editor(that worked at GS as far back as 2000) and has worked at EGM/1UP, GameTap, Nintendo Power and OPM. He came back to Gamespot when the 1UP shit went down(or around that time, I don't really remember). So he's not some new guy or anything like that and has worked with Jeff and the others before.

Ha, funny. Not sure who this guys is, guessing he's one of their old Gamespot buddies or something.

The way they're talking about this almost sounds like they're talking about an affair they had with Giancarlo's wife that they're skirting around but not getting right on it.

@BlastProcessing said:

GIANCARLO VARINI--VARINI-WHATEVA YA NAME IZ

BLAP BLAP BLAP BLAP

Exactly what I thought...

Good video.

Okay, need more behind the scenes stuff at the new office now that they have more things set up & have time to shoot things like this.

So they got the guy that was Game Cop in? wat.

This is seriously the first video they've attached to the RoboCop page? GiantBomb I'm disappoint.

@SSully said:

@KillerFly said:

@Seedofpower said:

Who is Giancarlo Varanini?

I don't know, some new guy.

IMMA HIT YOU SO HARD SCOOTER IS GONNA FEEL IT, BOOOOOOOOOOOM!

BLAP BLAP BLAP BLAP

God, I love this site.

@dudeglove said:

who the hell is this guy?

Seriously? He's a Gamespot employee.

The thumbnail of this video makes him look really stoned

I thought "gamecop" was that dude in the NEVER video. If they're the same guy, dude lost weight! lol

GAMECOP.COM COMING SOON

You guys still use AIM? jesus christ

@eccentrix:

Oh my god. Now I can't unsee it

@Branthog said:

@Lionheart377 said:

@Milkman: Agree@Milkman said:

@Branthog said:

You guys really need to give some more information with this shit, so we know what the hell is going on. This had no context until the end when it made sense that this was some dude at CBS.

A lot of people probably know who Giancarlo is. He worked at GameSpot with the guys back in the day, he's been on the Bombcast multiple times and also this...

Agreed, he's pretty well known at this point. I think this video's great!

I think the plenty of "who is this?" in this thread illustrates the need for explanation. You know, a huge portion of the gaming public has never had nor wanted anything to do with GameSpot and couldn't name a single person there (prior to GB staff returning). I mean, how would I know anyone that has anything to do with GameSpot, even if I *did* visit GameSpot? They don't feature their personalities whatsoever. Unless things have changed since the last few times I checked them out over the years, it's just a handful of poorly payed indonesian boys locked in a closet spamming out a ton of fairly generic content to cover as many "games" (for SEO purposes) as possible so they have more space to stick the advertising that makes up most of their website.

Whatever, if you don't know who that is then go and find out, same goes for everyone else. There are plenty of people who DO know who that is. Yes they could have explained, but they equally didn't need to. Also I don't get the vitriol for GameSpot at all. What do you think happened? Jeff and everyone else wore suits everyday and then decided to bust out of the suits and go crazy and make Giant Bomb? The way Giant Bomb is now stems from what they were doing there for years, only now they have had complete total freedom. Since they left things have not been the same obviously.

He looks like a cross between Dave and Vinny.

@dudeglove said:

who the hell is this guy?

I'm amazed so many here doesn't even know this guy. He is former EGEM, 1UP, OPM, Gametap, Nintendo Power. He has been in the business for many years.

Last podcast pre-announcement (the Dave's Home Chili Cast) had the introduction with Brad saying in a fake accent: 'Hello, Governor" - which created chuckles among the other guys.

In hindsight, it was a (poor) reference to John Davison and the talks btw him & Jeff?

Minutes before the announcement I saw a tweet by James Mielke and thought "no way" - but than the pancakes-stream started (which wasn't entirely about pancakes - we need to repeat that - needs a new ME3 ending, Dave? ;) ...

Who's this dude? This is meaningless to me.

I don't even get why he'd be all pissed (jokingly pissed, but still) about it.

@Undeadpool said:

Giancarl...Giancar...I can't even say your name!!! BLAP BLAP BLAP!!!

@samcotts:

Oh yeah, how could I forget. I've replayed that moment many times. Probably because I thought of it as the "NEVER" moment. Though as for Giancarlo Vvaranini, I don't remember the names of any guests I didn't recognise at the time.

Mother Fing Giancarlo up in this piece! Now we need Kevin Vanord and Vinny locked in a room to hash out Dark Souls.

@dudeglove said:

who the hell is this guy?

He's the Gamecop. Your ignorance just got you a ticket!

@OldGuy said:

@chubbs21 said:

At first, I thought "Woah! A Girl!" and then I realised, "Oh... It's just Sara..."

Nope... Patrick and Ryan are having a conversation with someone else... didn't recognize the voice... and the pan past is too fast for a positive ID (well, for me anyway)... but that is not Sara's voice you are hearing...

I think he's referring to this, which IS Sara, and not the voice.

Gamecop.

Wait why does this name sound so familiar? Is this the guy from Just Shoot Me or the guy who did that movie Life is Beautiful?

I remember him when he was an editor at Official Playstation magazine before it got shut. Sometimes I miss the old Ziff Davis/1UP staff.

We need the triumphant return of Video Thing.

Giancarlo Varanini. That's an italian ass name! So Italian the Italians don't even know what's up!

Too Human Video Thing was sweet. Now THIS video, this represents the bottom of the bucket of Giant Bomb. Remember this?

@Brendan said:

@Milkman said:

@Branthog said:

You guys really need to give some more information with this shit, so we know what the hell is going on. This had no context until the end when it made sense that this was some dude at CBS.

A lot of people probably know who Giancarlo is. He worked at GameSpot with the guys back in the day, he's been on the Bombcast multiple times and also this...

Looking back on that video, I can't believe that it happened. I guess at the time Giantbomb was young enough that I kind of took it in stride as a "Well, anything can happen!" situation, but it's such a one-off piece of weird content that it's the oddest thing to remember at the present.

I knew it! Giant Bomb and Gamespot didn't "merge." Giant Bomb expanded!

@Morden2261 said:

This is funny and all, but it still feels like Rorie was way out of the loop. I feel really bad for the guy.

Can't possible know what really happened, but I've got strong feels like this as well.

the owner of gamecop.tv

This is funny and all, but it still feels like Rorie was way out of the loop. I feel really bad for the guy.

Amazing. Even better this isn't filed under corporate espionage but Robocop.

@LiquidSwords said:

@Pudge said:

Wait so at one point, there was going to be a plan where Jeff and Ryan came over as Hall and Nash and NWO'd Gamespot? AND THEY DIDN'T DO THAT?

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Bummed that they didn't go for it. Would've been epic internet shit!

yeah would have been great

@LiquidSwords said:

@Pudge said:

Wait so at one point, there was going to be a plan where Jeff and Ryan came over as Hall and Nash and NWO'd Gamespot? AND THEY DIDN'T DO THAT?

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Bummed that they didn't go for it. Would've been epic internet shit!

This really had to be done with the Too Human Video Thing outfits too, especially Brad with the bandanna. YES.