Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight and I, @zombiepie, am honored to be your host this week. If there is one major takeaway, I pulled from this week it is you all want to talk about Mass Effect: Andromeda. Never have I seen a game so thoroughly trounce all the other releases on the Giant Bomb forums like Mass Effect: Andromeda. Whether it be a strong indictment against the game's facial animations or a passionate defense of the game's beautiful worlds; Andromeda is forcing many of you out of the woodworks. Here are the other notable takeaways you should be aware of:
- The engineers submitted a new version of the Roku beta app recently. Make sure your channels are up to date.
- @lionheart377 had the pleasure of interviewing Vinny for the purposes of a podcast! Give it a listen and learn all about how he ended up in Giant Bomb.
- Speaking of podcasts, MakoTitan had tons of fun interviewing Drew! Learn what the two have been playing by giving it a listen.
- @chaser324 published an update for the LiveBomb Chrome extension this week. Let him know if it breaks anything.
Clips Of The Week
Best of Film & 40s for 2 Fast 2 Furious (By: @mendelson9)
Mendelson9 compiled the best and most hilarious moments from Film & 40s commentary track for 2 Fast 2 Furious.
Giant Bomb - F&40s - Vinny Loves to Hate 2F2F (By: Method Fighting)
And here's a compilation video of Vinny slowly losing his sanity while watching 2 Fast 2 Furious.
Best Of Blogs
Exploring The Trope-heavy Relationships In Tales Games (By: @generic_username)
Using Tales of Hearts R as a jumping point, Generic_username discusses how anime and trope heavy relationship arcs can work in video games.
Lemme Tell You A Story: Magic the Gathering (By: @launch)
User Launch extrapolates why he thinks the Magic: The Gathering franchise doesn't receive enough credit for crafting a story from art.
Immersion By Familiarity- A Look At Kamurocho In The Yakuza Series (By: @marzz4967)
marzz4967 uses the Yakuza franchise as a case study on how video game worlds can create immersion from familiar locations near and dear to our hearts.
Revisiting Mass Effect: Part 6 (By: @meteora3255)
Andromeda might be getting all the attention now, but meteora3255 continues his series on the first Mass Effect. This week he re-examines the game's cinematic concluding moments.
Breath Of The Wild Influences Are Far-Reaching (By: @phoenix654)
Phoenix654 deconstructs the games he suspects may have influenced the development of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild on his latest blog.
Detached: The Design of Inside (By: @gamer_152)
Fellow moderator Gamer_152 uses Inside to discuss how games can cut lines of communication with the player for the benefit of their narrative.
A Game Not To Play: Rainbow Six Siege (By: @themist997)
TheMist997 recently spent some time with Rainbow Six Siege and shares why his impressions of it are entirely negative.
All-New Saturday Summaries 2017-03-25 (By: @mento)
In this Q1 special, Mento summarizes the game releases we can expect to see from April, May and June as well as providing his final thoughts on Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. New entries for The Top Shelf and Indie Game of the Week (which was Blue Isle Studio's 2016 game Valley) are also available for your perusal.
Games With An Active Development Life Cycle; Good or Bad? (By: @devise22)
Using Hitman and Destiny as examples, devise22 questions the positives and negatives of an active development cycle.
Two Weeks In The Switch Is A Delightful Throwback (By: @bigsocrates)
BigSocrates has owned his Nintendo Switch for two weeks and shares why he believes it to be a "delightful throwback" you should consider owning.
Join The Discussion
Good Game For A Five-Year-Old? (By: @guthwulf)
guthwulf wants to introduce his five-year-old to video games and is asking for YOUR HELP on where to start! Help a duder out in raising a future video game player!
What Is The Quickest You've Ever Returned/Resold A Game? (By: @meetthepyro)
Inspired by the recent outcry against Mass Effect: Andromeda, feel free to join this community exercise in discussing how quickly you sought a refund for a game you purchased.
Favorite Ability Combinations in Mass Effect: Andromeda? (By: @junkerman)
Have you discovered some interesting ability combinations in Mass Effect: Andromeda? Share them and discuss how effective they are in combat.
How Does Mass Effect: Andromeda Compare To Your Expectations? [Poll] (By: @spaceinsomniac)
Did Mass Effect: Andromeda exceed, meet, or fail your expectations? Vote for and extrapolate your stance after playing what you have of the game.
Post Your Mass Effect: Andromeda Ryder (By: @alistercat)
Did you create a custom character in Mass Effect: Andromeda? Post pictures of your version of "Ryder," even if it is an abomination, over here.
Mass Effect: Andromeda Bug Sharing Thread (By: @alistercat)
Feel free to complain and gripe about the smattering of glitches you have encountered while playing Mass Effect: Andromeda on this thread.
Fast And Furious Discussion Thread - Funderwear (By: @csl316)
Thanks in large part to Film and 40s, we now have a "ranking thread" for the Fast and Furious movie franchise. Just remember to not vote for Tokyo Drift. Despite what Jeff says, that movie is a trash fire of epic proportions.
Recommended Chips/Weapons/Pods? (By: @bbalpert)
Attention NieR: Automata players! What are your recommended chips/weapons/pods for newcomers? Share your tips and tricks for everyone to enjoy.
Everything Discussion Thread (By: @glots)
David O'Reilly's Everything has been released and you can join our community discussion about it. Can you help others better understand what the game is about?
Lovable Lists
Games of My Years (By: @audiobusting)
audioBusting annotates his favorite game from every year since his birth on this highly informational user list. Check it out and think about which games would grace your list.
Useful User Reviews
- @jedo shares his formative impressions of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands on his mostly positive review of the game.
- @dinoracha's review of Killing Floor 2 praises its addicting gameplay while criticizing its wasted potential.
P.S. Giant Bomb East "singing" during test streams is quickly becoming my new favorite thing on this site.