Giant Bombcast 775: Hunter Biden Kaitos

Haven't listened to the podcast, but I just have to say that the title is *chef's kiss*.

Is this "2 members of GB and 2 friends of the site" model sustainable?

does the archived video work for anyone?? I keep having to go to Twitch to watch the bombcast (well any archived video really) and I'm suspicious that's it's what the corp overlords want..

@bigsteve33: working fine for me, but other videos have not the past few weeks

Multiple browsers and no luck.. I've had the problem for weeks as well. I've submitted a help ticket, but with the recent shakeups I don't have much confidence in a (swift) resolution.. No shade towards the employees.. massive stink eye at the corp overlords...

i would say if ppl keep listening anyway yes , but also its gotten rather old ,. it was old before jason and jess got laid off and its frankly kinda ridiculous now. no offense ment to the guests at all its just i don't come to this podcast for their opinions i come for the gb staff , granted its dwindeling now .. still jan n grubb are great , but where the hell is dan on these n bakalar even i always thought they rotated cause there were more ppl but now that doesn't seem right. it also gives off a bad impression dan is 'saving it' for fire escape.

Premium video does not work.

I'm using Safari and premium doesn't work but free does. I also noticed that free seems to be using a new video player, or at least looks different to me.

Last week I couldn't find the dumptruck in the VMDT playlist and it had some issues playing as well.

I worked at Burger King in 1993, the long Italian Chicken sandwich was my usual meal. I don't know why it went away after that.

How many times did someone say "You love to see it" this episode?

Thank you Jan and staff for standing with my homies. This site has always been very accepting and it means a lot to see it continue.

The line between youth culture/internet culture gets blurrier every day so maybe I'm wrong on which of those is the culprit, but "you love/hate to see it" is definitely one of those things where I go "oh, that person spends a lot of time online," when I hear it.

Across varying ages of friends/families/coworkers I don't think I've ever heard anyone say it IRL, but it sure is a common turn of phrase among podcasters/Youtubers/streamers/online media professionals. There's something to be said for people who keep up with Twitter and don't let Twitter dominate all of their commonly used expressions, but I imagine that's a deliberate decision one has to make.

In closing:

It seems like there's a disconnect with how Hogwarts Legacy is being treated versus other games with problematic leadership. I've heard arguments on this site before about supporting the large development teams who are passionate about creating a good game despite having overarching issues in the company they work for.

People love the Harry Potter franchise and can dislike JK Rowling. These things are not mutually exclusive. How much have we talked about every Activision Blizzard game while simultaneously talking about what a shit person Bobby Kotick is?

@darthjoe94: I understand wanting to make a stand against a hateful person and will admit I'm not sure how I feel about the ethics of buying a game that in some way benefits them. At the same time Harry Potter is a massive franchise entrenched in many people childhoods that brings them a lot of joy. I think we should be able to enjoy this art and without people saying its a direct endorsement of JK Rowling's shitty ideas.

@darthjoe94: If you want to go play the game, then just go pirate it. The bar for being an ally to the trans community is literally on the floor at this point with "Please don't buy one video game that directly supports someone who wants trans people to not exist". I don't understand why people are bending like pretzels to justify spending money on video game.

@drgonzo456: It's not really bending like a pretzel. The justification is "I want to play the game". Illegally pirating a game is also not exactly a great recommendation...

Again I don't understand why the livelihood of the development team is just dismissed for this game but none of the others...

I've tried giving Higham the benefit of the doubt several times over his guest appearance tenure but there's something about him that does not click with me at all.

I don't know if this feeling is coming to a head because of the frequent "guest model" others have mentioned in the comments, but the dude has always come off as insufferable to me. I'd honestly rather they force Dan back because as a listed full-time member of the website he should be playing a bigger part in arguably the site's biggest draw. It's especially egregious given they lost two members of staff and his only defense for not joining is because of his other podcast.

Jan and Grubb continue to do their best under enormous pressure so props to them as always.

@darthjoe94: The developers were paid for their work already though.

This might be it for me. I've been a premium member since the day it was available it ran out the end of January and I didn't renew it the money from it isn't helping to keep people employed. I'm not a Harry potter fan but not covering what's looking to be one of the biggest releases of the year over angry people on twitter. You won't have to worry about whether this game will be discussed during game of the year cause I doubt this site will be around by then.

You have no problem talking about Burger King, but refuse to talk about the new Hogwarts game?
Ya'll need to do some research on your favourite fast foods brands.
Also get some Giant Bomb staff on Giant Bomb's podcast.

For the record, I don't agree with any of JK Rowling's personal politics, buuut: why does the WWE & the McMahon's (who are literal human garbage) get a continual pass, but a Hogwarts / Harry Potter sim game with--I assume--no direct involvement from Rowling beyond the IP (please correct me if I'm wrong) gets put on blast???

I don't see any other calls for boycott or not covering games like Call of Duty, because Acti-Blizz is also a dumpster fire, controlled / run by similar human garbage / sex pests as Vince McMahon.

Edit: quite honestly, it seems like the height of hypocrisy to me, cherry-picking what to be outraged by: either it all matters, or none of it does.

@nameredacted: While I think it’s overall a separate debate from the Rowling/Harry Potter issue, I do wish the site would stop discussing WWE stuff for the reasons you get at.

There’s AEW, there’s New Japan, there’s indie circuit stuff. I don’t know what it would take to make long-term wrestling marks give up their attachment to WWE. It being the biggest promotion and their near-monopoly on televised English-language wrestling for years obviously goes a long way, but wow that organization and its leadership suck.

Why are people so weird about GB not covering the wizard game? There are plenty of games they don't cover because of lack of interest from the staff. Specific IP aside, why are those not a problem but this is? Because they actually said something about it?

Seriously, how dare they care more about the lives of trans people than one game that will be remembered more for the controversy than the game itself.

After being with giant bomb since it’s inception, I’m done. It was a good run guys. The site has not lived up to what was promised after Jeff left.

@darthjoe94 : This has been something I've thought as well. I don't endorse what she says or believes at all for the record. But there are many people on this site that watch and support WWE. There is no way in my mind that JK Rowling is a worse person than Vince McMahon. A person who has settled multiple harassment lawsuits (which cause actual harm). WWE running shows in Saudi Arabia a regime that commits violence against LGBT people. But because JK said something bad everyone tied to the Harry Potter franchise should be punished? I don't get it. At least be consistent with your philosophy.

@chippy180: It's why I stopped listening to Gamespot After Dark for so long. I just don't like his persona. When he drops the "holla at your boi", "Shout out to ....", "motherfuggin...." he's fine. But you can make a drinking game out of all that stuff. It's just offputting.

I personally love the new generation on GB, all while still loving and missing the old. Surprised that so many don't seem to recognize the hard work being put into by this crew, especially after the layoffs. I also really like Higham. He has a different mode/approach and I'm all about that type of personality diversity (and the other diversities, while we're at it). Thought the MGS image for Grubb was hilarious, so kudos to whoever had that idea. Now we also now that he's an otaku too.

@janman This isn't showing up under the Video section. Appears to prevent it from appearing in the community video apps. Also missing from the Premium list under Videos.

Also when you go to "Giant Bombcast" under "Popular Podcast" it goes to last week's show. It does show up on the Podcasts section.

LOL, maybe check yourself as to why you think west coast cultural slang from people of colour is annoying, my dude - or at least keep that opinion to yourself, haha.

@rjaylee Apologies that came across wrong. My main gripe is it's just nonstop. Slang doesn't bother me at all. But if you can't go a single sentence without it that's a crutch. I don't notice it from anyone other than that one individual. :

@janman Thanks Jan!

-Your 1/16th Filipino bro.

Idea for a tier ranking: Adult Swim shows. I have strong opinions about this and want to get unreasonably angry.

Also that owl question has been living in my head all week, thank you.

@allthedinos: The Toonami bracket was pretty good:

https://www.giantbomb.com/videos/top-toonami-bracketology/2300-15562/

Hey how come y’all don’t boycott just about anything from Activision Blizzard given that awful and recent history of sexism and harassment. Selective virtue signaling.

@yuriyb: Is it really virtue signalling if not giving coverage to a massive release means missing out on all the traffic they'd get? Is it really virtue signalling if they're giving their honest opinions on their video game podcast? A better question would be why you suddenly care about them not boycotting Activision Blizzard.: