Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the latest great works from the community.
After a well-earned vacation, Dylan aka @dtoast is back. After having a meeting with him, there's news to share about some of the issues on the site.
The new news is that Dylan has moved all of the missing podcasts or videos issues and problems with the feed to a Tier-1 Priority. This means that the executive staff will be included in your support requests. If you flag these problems, and ping him on the site or Discord, they will now be classified as the highest possible priority for a fix. Also, here's the link to the support ticket site.
All of that also applies to those of you with a premium subscription that are still getting podcast ads for content that should be ad-free. If your feeds for JJBA and GMM are still messed up, drop a comment on the Site Tech Issues section of the Discord or post a bug report on the site. Just, please ping @dtoast in your report as he is the one that is increasing the priority for your issues.
For the video player, there was a site-wide update that seemingly fixed the problems with cookies for a majority of people and that has seemingly been reverted. Follow the same reporting steps I reviewed above and this issue has already been sent as a Tier-1 issue with the CEO of Fandom included.
Also, don't forget that there's a new shirt in the Giant Bomb store and this AMAZING design comes from Blake Stevenson! There is a men's and women's variant as well as many color options!
Tweets
PAX Panel Show went great, thank you @tamoorh @JeffGrubb @_janjerome and WINNER WINNER @lucyjamesgames ! pic.twitter.com/4bWUBiv4Oz
— Jenna Stoeber 🔜 PaxWest (@thejenna) September 2, 2023
Demoing Panic's "Thank Goodness You're Here!" and leaned over to the guy next to me to ask for advice on where to go next. *Of course* it turns out to be a couple of @giantbomb-ers.
— harris.zone on b’sky (@HarrisFoster) September 2, 2023
Hi guys! pic.twitter.com/cada8NbmYc
I’ve always wanted to take the Amtrak sleeper train to Seattle, and I’m so happy we’re doing it for #PAXWest 🥹 pic.twitter.com/f8KThE8wjb
— Lucy James (@lucyjamesgames) August 31, 2023
15 years ago today was the first public @giantbomb event. At PAX 08 in the Walrus Theater aka "that corner over by the escalators".
— Brad Lynch (@MarinoV1) August 30, 2023
This year will be the first one I miss. A while back, I made a montage using my photos from the first 10 years of panels.https://t.co/QT3bfvgIM8
— Giant Bomb Out of Context (@GBombOOC) August 30, 2023
Activities
The GB Album Club 038 - The Money Store by Death Grips (By: @unclejam23)
It's time for things to get HEAVY with the latest effort from the Giant Bomb Community Album Club as it is listening to Death Grips' "The Money Store" this week! Break out the yellow flannels! Does this album deserve the "classic" label?
Supraland: 6 Inches Under Is The 17th Selection Of Year Two Of The UUGPGC! Finish By August 28, 2023! Spoilers Open! (By: @bigsocrates)
Planet of Lana is the 19th pick of SEASON TWO of the Game Pass Game Club! If you have thoughts about this 2023 indie sci-fi puzzle adventure game from Wishfully, you can join the community discussion by clicking the link!
Also, the Game Pass Game Club has opened its discussion thread for Supraland Six Inches Under to SPOILERS! Say whatever you have to say about the game.
Art
Ryckert The Coyote (By: @cosmicwhalefall)
Over on Twitter, cosmicwhalefall shared their love for the return of Dan playing Sonic the Hedgehog for Blight Club by imagining what he would look like as a Sonic character. If you ask me, I think they nailed it!
Mike & Dan Play Sonic Generations (By: @DuctSauce)
Should Dan get to play a "good" Sonic game for his many sacrifices to the Blight Club gods? As DuctSause posits on Twitter, if they play Generations, Mike should be Dan's tag-team partner,
PAX Mike Minotti Panel (By: @kone)
Taking a photo of the Grubb and Jan posing next to a banner with the PAX event list and running with it, Kone graces us with yet another amazing Minotti-inspired work of Photoshopped goodness.
Giant Bomb x Mario Pipe (By: @mynameisfatmike)
Many thanks to MyNameIsFatMike for photoshopping Jan, Grubb, Lucy James, and Tamoor so now everyone can have their way with this image! Hopefully this inspires you all to MAKE MORE MEMES!
Blogs
Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew...... In Memoriam (By: @jeremyf)
jeremyf has penned a massive review of Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew that glows about its structure and gameplay but laments the loss of Mimimi Productions with their recent announced closure. Give it a read when you can!
All PS1 Games In Order: Part 026 (By: @borgmaster)
borgmaster is back to playing every single PS1 game that released in North America! This time, they ended up checking out Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, Namco Museum Vol. 1, Epidemic, and International Track & Field!
The Purpose Of Video Game Discourse (By: @purpleshyguy)
With the reactions to Starfield being what they are, PurpleShyGuy wrote an essay on negative and dogmatic discourse in the video game hobby and why we all seem to fall victim to it despite knowing its many pitfalls.
HuCARTography VII: YÅ« YÅ« Jinsei (By: @jeffrud)
jeffrud wants to talk to you about the history of Jinsei games! Why are there so many retro video games based on the Japanese version of The Game of Life? Read to find out, especially if you don't know anything about the Jinsei Game franchise!
What's the Greatest Video Game: Hitman World of Assassination (By: @imunbeatable80)
It is time to enter the world of assassination with imunbeatable80's latest blog on the site as they are reviewing Hitman 3 for their "What's the Greatest Video Game" series! Give it a read and see what they thought of its free-form gameplay.
Urban Zone Residents (By: @infantpipoc)
Don't ask why, but Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon inspired infantpipoc to re-watch 2012’s Dredd movie and that led them into a movie wormhole wherein they watched almost every single movie where Karl Urban is the leading character.
Editor's Note from Marino: I mean... it's probably because of this.
Rebound: The Design of Pinball (By: @gamer_152)
In the second part of their series looking at the history of pinball, Gamer_152 examines the design philosophies of Pinball machine through the ages. What makes a good or great cabinet?
Indie Game of the Week 335: Splasher +
Game OVA Season 2: Episode 4 — Natsuki Crisis (By: @mento)
For this edition of Mento's "Indie Game of the Week" feature on Giant Bomb, they are looking at Splasher by Splashteam! How well does the first game outing from the Tinykin team hold up, read to find out!
Also, it's time to get retro again because Mento has another blog post that looks at the long-forgotten OVA-to-video game, Natsuki Crisis Battle! Is there anything redeeming about this 1996 TOSE Co., Ltd. title and its source?
Finishing Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin [Part 2] - I Have A Conspiracy Theory: This Is A Self-Plagiarism (By: @zombiepie)
ZombiePie wraps up their blog series on Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin. They want you to join their discussion about its crazy ending and their conspiracy theory. Are you ready? They think it self-plagiarizes a discontinued gacha game.
Discussion Threads
Armored Core VI Impressions Sharing Thread (By: @allthedinos)
How many of y'all have been enjoying their time with Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon? For those playing, are you an AC veteran or new to the series?
Armored Core 6 End Game Mech Codes (By: @cyrusraven)
Speaking of Armored Core VI, what are some of the mech designs you used to get through its tougher end-game levels and bosses? In this thread you can feel free to drop design codes and screencaps of the mechs that helped you out.
Embracer Pulls A Drive-by On Volition (By: @sparky_buzzsaw)
The community is still reeling from the news about Embracer Group shuttering Volition. What's your reaction to the news and do you have any fond memories of the studio? Also, wish the impacted employees the best in this thread.
Starfield Reviews & Discourse Discussion Thread (By: @splodge)
Are you reading the reviews for Starfield or are you still trying to avoid spoilers? Have any specific reviews stuck out to you for those of you that have checked them out? Share your thoughts about those questions and more in this thread.
Looking Back On Borderlands 3 (By: @sombre)
We are nearing the fourth anniversary of Borderlands 3, which was the last time there was a proper numbered Borderlands game. What do you think of Borderlands 3 in hindsight and the lack of any follow-up?
Lists
T Rated Games With M Games In The Series (By: @jacobproper1)
JacobProper1 is working on another interesting video game list concept! This list tries to think of every example of an E-rated or "T for Teen" game series that ends with a "M for Mature" game or has only one Mature-rated entry.
User Reviews
@mrcropes's Final Fantasy XVI review shares why it is the first Final Fantasy video game they have ever written a review for and how the highs and lows that keep them thinking about it.
@pauljeremiah's Metal Gear review retrospective continues even though they have finished the mainline MGS games. This week, he checked out Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, which is one the most loved MGS spin-offs!
Wikis Of The Week
Saints Row: The Third + Red Faction: Guerrilla
To better pay tribute to the people who worked at Deep Silver Volition, Inc. both in the past and present, our wiki pages of the week pay tribute to two of the games that helped their boost their popularity in the PS3/360 era, Red Faction Guerrilla and Saints Row: The Third!