The Community Spotlight 2023.10.14

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 best community creations from the previous week.

First off, in case you missed it, it was recently Jan's birthday! Feel free to wish him a belated birthday if you haven't done so already by either using the link to his Tweet or drop a supportive comment here.

Hopefully you enjoyed the return of Friday Night Forkin'. For those wondering, the video archive version of debut episode of season three is available on Twitch, but technical issues have prevented a proper upload elsewhere. Also, due to Grubb's vacation, normal programming was delayed or put on hiatus until next week.

Michael Higham's mother passed away. If you have enjoyed his appearances on GB or his work on GameSpot, consider sending Michael your condolences. The link also provides access to his family's funeral GoFundMe page.

Finally, in response to recent events, Tamoor is raising money for Medical Aid for Palestinians, a British charity that works with NGOs to deliver aid to Palestinian civilians. It is a charity organization that is supported by the UK Government (DfID), the European Union and other international aid organizations and delivers medical supplies and services to civilians.

Giant Bomb's Extra Life 2023 Information

Hey, everyone. As the sub-headline here suggests, we are quickly approaching Extra Life 2023's Game Day on November 4th. As of right now, the Giant Bomb staff are still finalizing their plans for the event, but that does not mean YOU can't help with the cause! Right now, the Giant Bomb Team, which is linked below, is hovering around 24 team members. The hope is to get to 35 before this time next week! Even if you can only stream for a few hours or on a different date that is not "Game Day", please consider joining the team to help increase the numbers!

If you cannot join or are not a streamer, no worries! You can still help the effort by donating to the accounts that have already joined the team! As with previous years, we always try to make sure that everyone on the Giant Bomb Extra Life Team has at least one donation and that we have ZERO PEOPLE AT $0! If you cannot donate, no worries, maybe spread the word and share a team page at $0 to someone you know that might be interested in donating!

• Giant Bomb's Extra Life 2023 Team Page - JOIN NOW!
• Giant Bomb's Extra Life 2023 Announcement Thread - This is still under construction. Over time, it will be populated with the streaming plans for the site as well as community events that take place before or after Game Day.
• Dan Ryckert (Giant Bomb Staffer) - DONATION GOAL OF $7,440
• Shawn McDowell (Giant Bomb Social Media & Team Captain) - DONATION GOAL OF $100

Tweets

Activities

Gris Is The 22nd Selection Of Year 2 Of The UUGPGC! Finish By October 23, 2023!

Gris by Nomada Studio is the 22nd selection of the Giant Bomb Game Pass Game Club! Do you have any early impressions or thoughts about this narrative adventure game about a girl restoring the world?

Giant Bomb Community Announcement: Quake II Is The 21st Selection Of Year 2 Of The UUGPGC! Finish By October 9, 2023! Spoilers OPEN! (By: @bigsocrates)

Also, the Game Pass Game Club's discussion for Quake II is now open for spoilers! In the Quake II thread it is now time to debate if you like the Cthulhu-inspired enemies of the first game or The Strogg. Where do you stand?

Art

Grubb x 24 (Season 1) (By: referendaPanda)

Last week, the Spotlight was PACKED with memes at the expense of Jeff Grubb. Things definitely have petered off this week, but that doesn't mean we can't have one more fun one by Panda!

Grubb Hiking Photo Edit (By: KONE)

Jeff Grubb posted a photo of him hiking during his much needed vacation and Kone decided to edit the photo to make it "better." You should also check out the photo Mike posted in reply to Kone on Twitter.

Last of the Nintendogs Photo Edit (By: cristian_rarg)

See if you can find what "Easter Egg" cristian has hidden in this photoshop. You might need to squint.

Mitch's Crush on April O'Neil (By: chucktowski)

Oh, dear God. Someone on the Giant Bomb Discord challenged themselves to photoshop Mike's Robo Mitch onto Donatello from the 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. Here's a link to the Discord if you want even more GB nightmare fuel!

Giant Bomb Logo x One Punch Man (By: @kone)

Also from the Giant Bomb Discord comes this crossover between the Giant Bomb logo and One Punch Man by Kone! Again, you can enjoy this and many other Giant Bomb artistic community creations by joining the community Discord!

Blogs

Ass Do Lurk: Adventures in a Jumbled Lordran +

Indie Game of the Week 341: Hell Pie (By: @mento)

Hey! Did you know there are randomizers for Dark Souls? Do you want to know how it runs and how you could have a fun time with it? Does it make the game easier? For the answers to those questions, you should check out Mento's blog.

What's the Greatest Video Game: Vampire Survivors (By: IMUNBEATABLE80)

imunbeatable80 is back with a new edition of their "What's the Greatest Video Game" feature on Giant Bomb! This week, they decided to tackle the surprise hit of 2022, Vampire Survivors! Read what they thought by clicking the link above!

Bad Licensed Games Quietly Made A Comeback And They're Worse Than They Ever Were

Almost a fun post-script response to Mike Minotti's RoboCop: Rogue City and Robo Mitch content, bigsocrates posits that we are in the midst of a return/comeback of bad licensed games after they completely petered off last console generation. Do you agree?

Schlocktober '23: The Medievil Remake Is Pretty And Stylish But Doesn't Fix The Original Game's Flaws +

Schlocktober '23: I Never Liked The Original Castlevania Much And I Still Don't. I Will Turn In My Gamer Card (By: @bigsocrates)

Also, bigsocrates' "Schlocktober '23" series continues with a look at the MediEvil remake and the original Castlevania.

In An Attempt To Combat Apathy, I'm Going To Be Reviewing Again! (By: @sombre)

Sombre, one of the frequent posters on the forums, has announced they are planning to use game and anime reviews on the site to help them work through their struggles with apathy and procrastination. Help them out here!

Wake Up The President: Nuclear War In COLDLINE (By: @gamer_152)

Have any of you heard about COLDLINE, the indie game that gives you six hundred seconds to prevent a 50 megaton nuclear warhead from detonating on New York City?

Discussion Threads

Xbox Officially Acquires Activision Blizzard (By: @bigsocrates)

Now that the deal is "official," it's time to revive the thread discussing Microsoft's purchase of Activision-Blizzard. Do you anticipate repercussions to competition? Does it move the needle for Xbox's fortunes?

Are Negative Reviews More Useful To You Than Positive Reviews When Buying A Game/Movie/Music/Etc.? (By: @topcyclist)

When was the last time you can remember when a negative review of a game was more helpful than a positive one? Also, what is your advice for finding the "right" critical voices in gaming? What are your red flags when assessing critical voices in the modern gaming editorial world?

Forza Motorsport (2023) Discussion Thread (By: @bigsocrates)

What are your thoughts about the new Forza Motorsport? Do you think it is a refreshing "back to basics" endeavor or do you think the mainline franchise continues to struggle in a post-Horizon racing world?

Do You Think Real World Animals Exist In The Pokémon World? (By: @sombre)

In a discussion that would make Jan proud, we have a new thread debating if there are real world animals (i.e., dogs, birds, etc.) in the world of Pokémon. What do you think? Do you consider the anime canon or a goof?

PS5 Slim Announced. External Blu-Ray Drive For Digital Edition Announced (By: @bigsocrates)

Sony has confirmed that there is indeed a PS5 Slim coming for this holiday season! Is there anyone here that plans to get one when it goes on sale? Do you think there will be supply issues?

Best Buy Will End Sales Of DVDs and Blu-Ray Movies in 2024; Early Rumblings Physical Game Media Is Next With Retailers (By: @zombiepie)

Recently, Best Buy announced that they would cease all sales of Blu-ray and DVDs both in-store and online. For those of you that are film buffs, where will you go now for discs?

Wario64 has confirmed that Best Buy will continue to sell games... for now.

Riccitiello Out At Unity, Effective Immediately (By: @bigsocrates)

Riccitiello is out at Unity and the new licensing deal isn't a complete disaster, but what else do you think Unity needs to do to build back goodwill, especially with indie devs?

Lists

Most Epic Games Of All Time (By: @redfoxbennaton)

redfoxbennaton tried to tackle the issue of the word "epic" when used to describe video games and that resulted in a list of games they think deserve the label.

Reviews

@infantpipoc's Policenauts starts off their review and blog coverage on Giant Bomb related to the 25th anniversary of Metal Gear Solid’s English release. Read why they don't think Policenauts stands as a game that justifies its reputation.

@pauljeremiah's Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom review looks at the game's merits as a rich storytelling piece as well as a follow-up to a game most people enjoyed as a standalone experience.

Wiki Of The Week

Forza Motorsport 4

With the release of the new Forza Motorsport, let's throw things back to a venerable classic in the series with this week's Wiki of the Week with Forza Motorsport 4! Get a comprehensive explanation about all of the game's mechanics and DLC throughout the years on a single handy page!