Giant Bombcast 758: The Ted Danson Pack

Woof — woof!

I'm calling bullshit on Jess' baby story.

i really don't understand the consternation and gnashing of teeth with remakes/remasters. i get that they might be among the least creative endeavors a AAA dev can engage in, but if they're keeping large teams employed that know how to make a specific type of game, adding things like enhanced accessibility settings, and no one is being held at gunpoint and obligated to purchase...maybe just shrug it off?

not to mention- every piece of pop culture seems to do this- movies have multiple versions, bands release multiple versions of albums per cycle (to say nothing of rereleases), comics are offered in multiple SKUs.

yes, $70 is a lot to ask for a relatively recent game- so maybe make that personal value judgement and move on?

I think cutting bread has been a way to reduce increasing costs to run restaurants.

blessed content

that slow-mo outro ruled

VERY UNSANITARY garbage popcorn bucket
I do not drink from glasses or use silverware at any bar or restaurant
I also do not eat at fastfood places out of fear of people like Dans old friend

We absolutely need an animated on the popcorn bucket debate, I was dying when Dan brought up looking at popcorn buckets like RE clues

Little oreo talk: Canadian oreos are almost black and hardly chocolatey at all and have much more snap. Don't eat oreos very much but I was surprised the American ones were different.

On baby poop: you don’t even think about it once you have a kid. Mostly I think you just become so permanently tired as a parent that a lot of things no longer faze you.

I don't think Beatles records ever cost less than full price no matter how many formats they had been on. You pay the same price for new printings of old books as you do for new books. Games seem more aged, because of ongoing technology, but there isn't really much reason they shouldn't charge for anything people will buy.

Good to get a confirmation that this was indeed a reference to a real story.

Jan and I had the same path to GiantBomb lol

Why is Jess so against reusing paper instead of just trashing it?

Dan and Jess have got me howling on this one

also Mind Game rules

Earliest Bombcast memory (I think it may have technically still been Arrow Pointing Down):

I would like to state for the record that I stand with Jess re: the popcorn debate

10 bucks for frickin' popcorn, that's the worst part of that story.

This sounds like a tough way to live a life.

Hiking is the thing that keeps me going, honestly. Did a 8-day hike in the mountains in September and it was the highlight of this year.

Great show. Cool to hear how Jan found the site. I'm bummed that I wasn't paying attention to Gamespot back in the day. Not that anyone asked me but I learned about Gerstmann after he was fired from Gamespot back in the day and that, I think, eventually got me here. I'm pretty sure I came to the site from the Modern Warfare 2 video review. I know I was listening to the Bombcast at that time too so I don't know if I was around before that. I didn't sign up on the site until like a year later though. I kind of wish this site had like a view history but Im positive I was on the site before I actually signed up.

If anyone actually read this comment it would be cool if you replied letting me know how you found the site. New or old duders. I'm super curious.

@mellotronrules: I totally get what you mean but it's honestly like kind of offensive to try to sell me the same thing again so soon. Like the teams can work on something else I'm sure. I'm not a game developer but I've always heard developers usually have a small team working on the next game if they have something lined up, or the next thing or the next pitch or whatever while they finish whatever they are currently working on, and then the rest of the team transitions when they are done supporting the current game. Of course, I could be wrong though.

Granted, Sony pays them and might have suggested a remaster as the "next thing" and it does make sense because it'll line up with the Horizon show but they could've also taken a risk and greenlit something new instead of something so safe that it is almost lazy. And I'm not sure it's such a safe bet because I think they are pushing remakes too hard right now, hence the backlash. I'm honestly not even the maddest person when it comes to Horizon specifically because I think HFW is one of the best-looking games out, so I wouldn't mind Zero Dawn looking that good. But even so, at 70 bucks, if it is that much, that just feels like gouging. It just feels like slimy and insulting like a used car salesman offering you a horribly marked-up waxing deal. For some people, I think that's just hard to shrug off without a knee-jerk "Fuck you. Fuck off." And then we are on the internet, so it just snowballs. Also, the news came out like a few days ago. So we are still in the middle of people reacting to it.

Honestly, I'm just bummed that it's almost two years into this Gen and most of the best-looking AAA games are just remakes. And yes, I get we are in the pandemic era plus games are more expensive to make and take longer to develop now so I understand that, but it's still a bummer. Like if there were some other great-looking, new AAA games to buy instead then I guess I wouldn't be so upset. Also, I'm not even sure the developers enjoy making remakes because I've heard developers say that they hate retreading old ground.

Sorry for the wall of text. I just didn't want to give a "remakes r bad lul" response.

As far as I'm concerned, basic Oreos might as well not even exist, double stuf Oreos should be the default. The cookie to filling ratio in regular Oreos is way off, you barely taste the filling then, doubles are the only way those tastes actually work together properly.

no need to apologize, i appreciate the thoughtful response! and here comes my wall :)

i don't challenge the notion that if Sony gets in the habit of asking for $70 every 3 years for the same game- that comes off as crass and maybe feels like a shakedown and/or icky. there's a reason why Skyrim has become a bit of a punchline in the industry, and it's probably because it's been repackaged roughly 45 times since 2011. it doesn't actively bother me though- i was one and done with Skyrim on PC on 11.11.11- that version still works great.

however- i also kinda get why remake/remaster city might be happening. for one, if you look at the two high profile cases right now (TLOU and HZD)- both have dev teams that likely ballooned to close out their most recent games of TLOU2 and HFW- and while both have other projects on the go (TLOU multiplayer and Horizon VR)- my guess is the new projects or new IP can't justify all the support, non-lead employees staying on, but a remake/remaster potentially could. or put another way- brainstorming doesn't have the same staffing requirements as going gold.

and from a Sony publishing perspective- since they don't have business units with cash to burn (like Microsoft with Windows, Office and Azure), and because they aren't propped up by recurrent rev like their competitors are- they need to squeeze every dollar from each successful IP- which probably means, like an Apple or Nintendo- making sure there's always a full price version of their tentpole products for sale. thus, new TLOU1 and new HZD.

i'm a single player, narrative-driven consumer, and i tend to invest deeply in a few titles per year as opposed to graze and hop around. i'm also fortunate to not be trying to stretch my gaming dollars as hard as i used to- so a $70 hit, two or three times a year for games i'm really enjoying is not so rough...which is all to say the Sony setup tends to play more to my tastes than Microsoft IP and Game Pass. if the $70 remake/remaster shakedown is the new normal so they can continue to make what they make (which is usually what i like)- i'm probably ok with that. and strangely enough, i'd probably be more pissed at remake/remaster city if they were propping up a subscription model than a la carte or $70 opt-in.

but don't get me wrong- new IP or proper sequels are almost always preferred to a remake/remaster. i just don't think a 'redo' precludes new creative work- especially if it's coming from a large team that is still figuring out what their next thing will be.

Fantastic hangout vibes on this cast!

@daltimond:

I came to Giant Bomb relatively late. While I remember hearing about Gerstmann being fired from Gamespot and setting up his own site, I didn't watch any GB videos until Colin Spacetwinks tweeted an incredible clip from the 2016 Hitsmas video (the one involving Vinny, a door, an axe and "Roundabout")...

...and even then I didn't watch the whole thing because I balked at the 3-hour runtime.

(I have since watched said 3-hour video multiple times. It's an all-time favourite)

But I slowly discovered the Best Ofs and Quick Looks, right around the time Drew's face started flooding my social media feeds. Soon enough, the E3 talkovers were appointment viewing and I finally pulled the trigger on becoming a premium member in December 2019.

Just in time for Covid to fuck everything up.

I'll be honest, it felt like arriving at a party just as it's starting to wind down, but being able to discover Crime Crew, Metal Gear Scanlon, Game Tapes and the rest of the archive during the first lockdown year gave me some much-needed joy at a very uncertain time in my life. Watching the crew slowly adjust to the new normal has been rough, with some major setbacks obviously, but I've been cheering them on all the way. The last few months have got me feeling really optimistic about the future, all things considered. I'm in it for the long haul!

So does Dan know what butter is?

I think it’s remarkable that Dan uttered the phrase “2 inches of standing butter,” yet something else became the episode title.

I was feeling very good about the new GB crew, until realizing we have majority pro-used popcorn bucket crew. Gross! Thank you, Jess, for holding strong. If you are a child or a teen or if $8 for a bucket of popcorn is just unaffordable for you, I won't judge you, but if you are a grown adult who can afford their own popcorn, don't be gross! Yes, other things can be gross too, but taking a stranger's used food container out of the trash to scam a movietheater into giving you free popcorn is shameful! For shame!

Dan eating eggs with toast, saying it's awesome, and then forgetting he liked it is, so Dan

I'm so excited for Jan and Matt's podcast return!!!

@mellotronrules: Yeah, I get what you mean. I guess if this keeps studios alive then I'm not too mad. I'm just worried the backlash on remakes is going to end up leading to layoffs if they don't sell well.

@xenonxylophone: Thanks for sharing. Interesting to hear that the Drew blinking meme actually made people aware of the site. Also interesting to hear that the site seemed like it was winding down when you came to it. That didn't hit me until near the site relaunch/reboot situation. But it was more how things changed after Covid, and how it's the new normal so I just felt like times were changing in general. Glad you like the site now.

@daltimond: In hindsight, it wasn't so much a sense of things winding down, more a lack of momentum, which I'd also completely put down to everything being upended by the pandemic. But the last few months have got me feeling that momentum again!

I would pay WAY TOO MUCH for a Cheers character pack in any game.

Business Class is very much less fancy than 1st Class.

Is there any word on when the Bombathon archive is going up?