Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight and I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back on the best creative offerings from the Giant Bomb userbase! With temperatures slowly rising for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it appears as if we have thoroughly shrugged off the burden of Winter. Hopefully, and fingers crossed on this one, this was not our last winter season. Regardless, we have an incredibly diverse Spotlight yet again filled to the brim with great works from the community! But, first, let us jump into the site housekeeping!
- Giant Bomb East's Thursday livestream was canceled due to "questionable odors" seeping into the recording studio. If you want a full explanation of the situation from Vinny, then here you go!
- For anyone using the API, the engineering and design team are looking working on higher resolutions of the Giant Bomb logo and icons for RSS feeds.
- As mentioned at the end of the 02/14/2020 UPF, Jeff will be out during the week of 02/17-21/2020 attending to a medical surgery on his child.
Tweets Of The Week
On this day in 2009, two young men embarked on a 155-day test of endurance.
— Brad Lynch (@MarinoV1) February 9, 2020
A run involving velvet limos, commercial jingles, punting tanks, funky students, getting bent, talking to foxes, and casting bufu. @giantbomb pic.twitter.com/97rguAJVoT
Welcome to Butt City. No you cannot sit on my lap.
— Giant Bomb Out of Context (@giantbomb_ooc) February 14, 2020
- Jeff Gerstmann, 2014
@giantbomb "When your back is against the wall - it's time to crunch."https://t.co/ulAd2tsQnt pic.twitter.com/665lf0uD84
— Steve Kim (@Fobwashed) February 12, 2020
Giant Bomb Galleria
Updated Pro Moves Icon (By: @monkeyman04)
monkeyman04 thought it was high time to "update" Brad's "Pro Moves" graphic for their premium video series on The Lost Levels!
The Shenmue Project Banner (By: @jearum)
The YouTube banner for the Giant Beastcast Clips video for "The Shenmue Project" was actually done by a Giant Bomb user! The user in question was jearum and you should check out their Twitter account if you want even more Giant Bomb fan-art goodness!
Things JeffHachi Has Held Webcomic (By: @Odd_Particle)
Here's another hilarious edition of the JeffHachi webcomic! Don't forget to follow on Twitter to stay up to date on future episodes!
Community Activities
The Giant Bomb Dream Team (By: @turboman)
CALLING ALL Giant Bomb users! Now that Dreams has officially released don't forget, we have an unofficial community for the group where you can get tips and share levels! Just use the link above!
Clips Of The Week
Nintendo's Ridiculous Power Glove Is As Annoying As We Remember (By: CNET)
Beastcast's own, Jeff Bakalar, has a new video all about the infamous Nintendo Power Glove. And it may or may not feature a few familiar Giant Bomb faces from days past and present. Give it a watch regardless.
Best Of Blogs
The Design Schizophrenia Of Nioh And My Hopes For Nioh 2 (By: @atheistpreacher)
AtheistPreacher ended up playing the original Nioh for 640 hours and 34 minutes and even they couldn't tell you how exactly the late-game equipment grind was supposed to work!
30 Years Of Game Boy: How I Persevered Through The 90s With Nintendo's Brick At My Side! (By: @gruel)
Gruel continues their wonderful retrospective on the consoles and handhelds of their childhood with a look at the original Game Boy and why the little brick was an important part of their upbringing!
2001 Jeff Gerstmann's Thoughts on the Console Wars and a Sega Genesis Retrospective (By: @michaeltransactions)
michaeltransactions was doing some housekeeping and ended up finding a "Videogame Yearbook" from dating back to 2001! Use the link below to find some interesting articles by about the legacy of the Genesis and the state of the 2000s console wars!
My Experience Finishing The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners (By: @clintlandon)
clintlandon completed The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners and want you to join them in discussing the game's story, spoilers and all on their latest blog!
Unpopular Opinion: Luigi's Mansion 3 Is A Bad Co-op Game! (By: @bakoomerang)
Giant Bomb user bakoomerang gave the co-op for Luigi's Mansion 3 a shot and discusses on their latest blog why they found it to be a huge disappointment and logistical nightmare.
Getting Something Off My Chests +
Indie Game of the Week 157: Donut County (By: @mento)
As to be expected, moderator Mento is back with a handful of blogs worth checking out! First, Mento needs to get something off their chest, they spent the last week playing The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC and want to talk about the treasure chests with optional dialogue and side quests! Finally, the latest episode of their "Indie Game of the Week" series is all about Donut Country! Give their blog a read and discover why they found it to be a delightful breath of fresh air.
Join The Discussion
Nintendo Might Not Be On The E3 Floor And Geoff Keighley Definitely Won't Be There (By: @rorie)
The news/reports surrounding E3 2020 have been wild today! Here's a thread by Rorie compiling all that is known so far! Also, feel free to join the Giant Bomb community about the viability of E3 after 2020!
Never Played An Animal Crossing Before... What Can I Expect? (By: @mightyduck)
Multiple users have mentioned Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be their FIRST Animal Crossing game! If you are a long time fan of the series, use the link below to share what they can expect!
HQ Trivia Is Dead (By: @zombiepie)
HQ Trivia is dead. Join the rest of the community in reflecting over the app's rise and fall and share any memories you might have interacting with the viral trivia game.
BioWare Is Hitting The Reset Button On Anthem (By: @rorie)
What do you make of the recent BioWare hitting the reset button on Anthem? Does the game have any hope of revitalizing itself, or is the game doomed at this point?
System Shock 3 May Not Be Happening After All... (By: @ahifi)
All signs currently point to System Shock 3's future being beyond grim. Read why that's the case and share if you have any remaining hope of the sequel coming out using the link above!
Tom Clancy's The Division 2 Announced A Shift To A Seasonal Model (By: @rorie)
It was recently announced Tom Clancy's The Division 2 would shift to a season format rather than relying on full-fledged sequels! Here's a link to the Giant Bomb discussion debating if this is an exciting change of course for the game!
Criterion Games Will Be Making Need For Speed Again (By: @jsmith79327)
Reports are saying Criterion Games will have another go at the Need for Speed franchise! Does the idea of another Need for Speed from the makers of Burnout get you excited?
First JRPG To Have Individual Town And Dungeon Themes? (By: @azhp)
Calling all would be video game historians! We have a bit of a "Video Game History Project" that needs YOUR HELP! There's a community effort to pin down the first CRPG and JRPG to have "individual town and dungeon themes!" Comment with your hunches!
How Do You Eat Your Oreos? (By: @sweep)
Apropos of nothing, here's a poll and discussion thread debating the "CORRECT" way to eat an Oreo cookie! Use the link to share your two cents' worth on this incredibly pressing matter of the utmost importance.
XFL Discussion Thread (By: @wmoyer83)
As a result of popular demand, there's an "XFL Discussion Thread" on the Giant Bomb forums! Use the link below to join the community discussion about the league's first couple of weeks and if it has a viable future based on what you've seen.
Lovable Lists
Video Game Book Club (By: @totalpatoot)
totalpatoot is using a list to start a "video game book club." On it, they briefly jot down their summative feelings about games they are currently playing! Give it a read and think about starting a list of your own!
Best of 2019 (By: @aggrocraig)
After several delays, Giant Bomb user AggroCraig finally got around to making a 2019 GOTY list! As you can hopefully see, they have a little bit of everything represented on it!
Game of the Year 2019: We Back At It (By: @thdemn)
thdemn might be late to the party, but they finally published their 2019 GOTY list! Give it a read and read their highly entertaining write-ups for each of the games on it!
Useful User Reviews
- @jeremyf gave the Switch version of Kentucky Route Zero a shot and discusses what they liked and disliked about the port on this handy review!
- @capt_blakhelm uses their review of Indivisible to discuss why they loved the game's Metroidvania trappings but disliked its writing and world design.
- @capt_blakhelm also wrote a review for SnakeyBus and shares why they think the game loses its luster quicker than they' like.
- @alimatoori16 wrote a review for Journey to the Savage Planet and discussed why they were impressed by the game's visual style, but not its mechanics and gameplay.
- @astrophyle finally got around to playing Quantum Break, and even though they found the combat mediocre and checkpoints frustrating, they discuss why they fell in love with it in the end.
- @count_zero's Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order review details the many pitfalls of the Switch port as well as who the game might best appeal to!
- @infantpipoc recently gave the Switch port of Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE a try and discusses why they were overall impressed by its gameplay and cast of characters!