Best Bombcast Year so Far?

2011 is the year of Nintendo Downloads. 2011 is love.

I just started listening from the beginning; I found it in 14. I'm currently on 09 and it's been hilarious. I'm excited for when Patrick shows up. It's also crazy how fun they make it to listen to news from 6 years ago. Also o how little they knew last gen would last till.

I can't really distinguish them in my head.

When Patrick left I thought the quality may go down but Dan has been a adequate substitute. I guess the best run to date was when Ryan and Patrick were both still on.

Guys, we're getting old.

2008 was so long ago. God damn it.

8 years....holy shit, why won't time slow down?

2011: The Nintendo Download Era. Year I joined the site after visiting since 2010 so there's some amount of nostalgia there I'm sure. Also the year Klepek joined up! Loved his stuff. To be fair I think the bombcast is almost always gold. Dan and Jason are great additions to the crew, even if Dan is kind of a monster.

Man I've been here 5 years. I feel old and I'm basically a new comer compared to some people on here. It's crazy that I've visited this site literally every day for those 5 years too. Maybe I'm getting too nostalgic and emotional, but goddamn I love this place and it's community.

2014 had Australian beef and the introduction of Dan Ryckert, resulting in terrifying new revelations every week. 2010's the right answer, though.

2010-2011 really was the peak imo, at least so far.

2009. But let's count this as Episode 0, because it's right at the end but almost gives the edge to 2008.

I still like the podcast but those first 3 years were like the 1927 Yankees of podcasting. There was a time when almost every episode had an amazing segment.

2012-13 were bummers for obvious reasons, but they gave us conspiracy HAM radio talk so no problem.

2008-09 gave us foreign salty snacks and Johnny V.

2014-15 was the shit talk, Outback dumb hole comeback.

2010-11 saved my life. Traveling across the USA, desperate for entertainment to keep my sanity, and The Ricker came through for me.

2011 was the peak of this entire website by a fucking country mile. Everything was perfect and the podcast was at its best. Everyday on this site was a new pleasant surprise and it felt like anything could happen. Everyone also seemed genuinely enthused about what they did, including the interns. Things were so great that that was the year I finally quit lurking and actually made an account here.

And of course, the single greatest podcast episode ever was in 2011 (the California Extreme/Narc/Applebees suicide/RC Cola twitter episode):

http://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/giant-bombcast-07-12-2011/1600-240/

Last years was pretty amazing with the amount of broken games and PR releases it was pretty incredible. In 2013 we all thought Sim City was an outlier but we weren't prepared the coming avalanche that we got in 2014. Then to top it of the GOTY awards were something special. "Destiny is the game that should be the game of the year" the legitimate diatribe by Jeff in the most disappointing category was amazing. Then for GOTY the way Brad got out his fucking Vex Mythos and started laying waste till it got in the top ten was equally amazing.

As someone who loves to watch things burn last year was amazing. If only the kojima stuff happened last year it would've been an even better year.

As a side note on this week's bombcast when Dan says "Remake of the Remake" and Brad follows with "gussied up remake of original resident evil" Jeff's "Fuck this, Jesus Christ" was pure gold and filled me with joy.

This is exactly what I thought as soon as I saw the thread title.

I noticed they started to get repetitive and maybe a little worn out by the length of the console cycle during the fall release schedule in 2011. Recall the "3" games (Gears 3, MW3, Assassins creed II-3) starting the malaise in the coverage that still feels we are in a little bit to this day. I listened to the show on and off til 2011 but went through the whole catalogue back in 2012 and remember that maybe mid 09 to summer 2011 really being the golden age. Really the wiiware/dsiware era seemed like the heyday, and now nostalgia has set in pretty hard, so 2010.

I went with 2011 for some of reasons mentioned by other people, but 2012 is a close second with the Petaluma pizza problem saga, The Olympics and Ham radio discussion and of cause Jeffs Space catapult / Murder Slingshot.

this year is super tight.

2011 is the peak of craziness

but i still like 2008 for the laid back nature and the "everything keeps changing" way the site was going at the time. going with 2008

Definitely 2011. The peak of Whiskey Media and the Nintendo Downloads.

2009 or 2011 is the best year ever

I love that everyone agrees that some of the best content on this website is just readings of shitty Nintendo press releases. I can't disagree, but man, I think this must say something about what a low bar for entertainment I have set for myself.

"If a banana appears, simply whack it off the screen!"

"Analogue laser sucks dicks!"

I can't really tell the years apart but nothing has been as good since it was Ryan, Jeff, Brad, and Vinny. I love all the guys from the site, but those four created the recipe that hooked me.

Ryan was the perfect glue that held the podcast together... it's still awesome but he brought it to an all new level. No one hosts like RD.

Aside from all the great stuff you've mentioned, 2011 also gave us Jeff's rant about Duke Nukem Forever and how much the Duke character sucks. And I think 2011 was also the year of "Strap it on".

Je m'appelle whip your ass

The year that featured Big Jeffery, Brad, Ryan, Vinny and Patrick Doing the 5 man bombcast week in week out

out.

They have yet to assemble the killer bombcast for me, personally, yet. I personally can't handle much Brad, so his hosting has taken the bombcast in a direction for the worse. If Rykert hadn't shown up and been amazing, I would have stopped listening by now. He really makes up for the hole left by Vinny. My perfect show would be Drew, Jeff, Vinny and Dan.

The cast where Rykert brought in the game about the Rare composers? Fantastic. He knows how to make fun. Brad just isn't a fun person and sometimes actively kills fun bits for no real apparent reason. The bombcast needs a host like Ryan, Jeff, or Vinny who know how to create fun. I like Brad ON the bombcast, because he adds a distinct flavor of gaming that needs to have a voice (obsessive gaming like Blizzard caters to), but I don't like it when he's in charge.

@bisonhero: Jeff ranting about Duke was hard for me to take because he was wrong. It was funny, but he was wrong. He kept talking as though the persona Duke had in Duke Forever had always been Duke's character. That's not true. Duke 3D HAD no NPCS and therefore nobody for Duke to talk to. Aside from like 2 lines he spoke to strippers, you had no real sense of how Duke interacted with the world or what the world thought of Duke. Jeff's criticisms were about the characterization of Duke in Forever that he retroactively applied to the character's previous games. If Forever hadn't had such a greasy, slimy version of Duke, nobody would have that opinion of him.

It has to be 2011.

Ha! It hasn't been 8 years, shut up you dummy.................................oh god.

I know, right? I love hearing people reminisce, though. And GB ain't even close to dead yet, so there's that. I get the 2011 argument. I like Patrick and the conversations he brought to the cast. There's something endearing to the light wackiness of 2010 and all the Kinect and Mass Effect and the industry being at this weird transition point. It's a toughy.

I'm just psyched we finally have Beastcasts to get Vinny back. Because that was a hard time of podcast hardship right there.

I've heard every Bombcast but I don't think I've ever listened to a Bombcast more than once, so I couldn't really say on my own, but you guys are making a strong argument for 2011. Also that was the showdown between Skyrim and Saints Row.

I'd have to go with 2010 or 2011. It's definitely not 2015, where the bombcast is mostly just depressing and frustrating to listen to. It's a shame, it used to be so damn entertaining.

...there are too many years in this poll. How are there that many years on this poll.

Oh god.

Not this year, or last year. I hate listening to the Destiny stuff, and don't feel like they have had their strongest team together enough (Brad, Jeff, Drew, and Dan on a good day). I'll go for 2011.

2011 was the peak of the entire website, let alone the bombcast. Not to dismiss the great work they've done since, but I doubt anything will ever come close to the magic of 2011 Whiskey Media.

2011. All the originals in one place under the WM umbrella, Saints Row 3 was the best game to come out that year, and NDX. I'd be perfectly happy if we had the equivalent of 2011 over and over.

2010 a close second, with NDX before it was NDX highlighting all the podcasts.

2010 seems to be my favorite year. I like the original GB crew and while I like Patrick, I just didn't enjoy when he joined the podcast. His humor just didn't seem to mesh well with the group. Plus Ryan and is wonderful vocabulary increased my vocabulary substantially.

The episode where Jeff talks about the word "gank" and how ridiculous it is that it's now part of DOTA is single-handedly my favorite part of any podcast. I wish someone would animate it. Granted it's pretty recent and I dont love the newer podcasts since Vinny left.

http://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/giant-bombcast-07-22-2014/1600-941/ its from this podcast.

Are there any RSS feeds that go in reverse order for each year? I hate having to scroll all the way down to 2010 in the current feed on my phone. Each year having it's own feed would be handy.

Any year with the original 4 bombcrew. You just cant beat that synergy.

Gosh, they are all so good. 2008 has it's charm as just a bumbling mess of fun, and after that 2009-12 they found their stride and just perfected what they had with that crew, so I think 11 or 12 would be the best. 2013 was a giant bummer for obvious reasons, and the podcasts after July were some of the worst. They were trying and I respect that a whole hell of a lot but the show was lifeless. I like Jason and Dan but 2014-15 have just felt like a different podcast completely. Not having Vinny on was a huge blow to my enjoyment, which is why I'm so incredibly into the BeastCast right now. Better than the main show right now to me.

I think this site, podcast included, got better and better until somewhere around 2011, and has been on a slow descent ever since, in many ways, for many reasons. But it's been getting a bit better more recently, at least the podcast has been, even though other (free) content has been a bit lackluster. Can't comment on the quality of premium content, since I've never shelled out on a membership .

Even though I kind of disliked Dan at the beginning, or I guess I was skeptical, to be more precise, he has seemingly injected a lot of enthusiasm back into the podcast as well as the crew in general. Drew is finding his place, etc. Giving Brad hosting duties was a good choice. He's no Ryan, obviously, but Jeff works better as a commentator than a host. The bombcast just moves better when it's someone other than Jeff hosting it, and isn't just about Jeff hating on stuff and being nostalgic about the past.

Also, even though I'd much rather see Vinny at the SF office on a regular basis, it's still great that he's at least on the site. Where Ryan and Jeff were the best bombcast team, Vinny is great in quick looks. And it's good to know that he'll visit the main office every now and then, be at E3 with the rest of the crew, etc.

All in all, this year has been better so far than the past couple of years would have led one to believe, so I'm cautiously optimistic about E3 and the rest of the year.

2010.....goddamn I miss you Ryan. Him and Jeff just had one of those partnerships which just worked so well. It was just beautiful to hear those two talking shit, some of the very early podcasts are my favourite for that reason. Anytime I heard Ryan's high pitched girlish giggling I would just beam - wherever I was.

I just feel that with Vinny gone there is no-one who can properly work with Jeff when he is at his most creative and funny. Also Dan really rubs me the wrong way a great deal of the time. Occasionally I can listen to him but his schtick just aggrivates me most of the time which is a shame...still a quality show though. Feels like coming home every Wed.