Dan's growing on me.

@mano521: You don't get to choose what people are offended over. People can joke about what they want to, and people can get offended about what they want to. That's it really.

Now personally, I was one of those who were pretty disappointed about GBs new hires - I won't go over that whole debate again because it's been talked about an awful lot, but I must say Dan has been a lovely surprise. I like that's he's optimistic (although I think it can maybe be a little crazy when you're playing a really bad game like that rails shooter from the other day), I like his infectious laughter, I even like that he's so immensely ignorant about some things (how did he grow to be in his 30s with the diet he's had?); it gives him a sort of guileless charm. I've been watching his videos where he plays games with his dad; love them.

I will say that joke about deporting football fans makes me think he probably could stand to think a little harder about what he says.

Dan is weird and socially awkward. I can relate.

I'm liking Dan. He has an almost infectious amount of enthusiasm about everything and is a plague of cheerfulness you can't help but appreciate. I don't think I've really seen him be overly negative about anything and that's refreshing. His shit talking during Mario Party was awesome too.

This thread is so awkward. I can't imagine what it must be like reading something where a bunch of people discuss my personality. That being said, Dan if you're reading this, you're awesome, AND FUCK BOYLE.

Dan did formally apologize for his soccer comments and deleted those tweets fwiw.

Dan is great, he brings just the right amount of "wtff???" and craziness to the office. His silliness, enthusiasm and energetic personality was sorely needed in office after Vinny moved out. His energy and joy in videos like the TMNT kinect game qlook brought a smile to my face. It also seems to be rubbing off on the others, Jeff and Brad seem a bit less negative, tired and jaded lately.

The content the last few weeks has been really amazing, there's so much of it that for the first time ever I can't even keep up with everything, having to catch up when I can, it's a great issue to have. I was extremely skeptical about breaking up the office more and Vinny going to GBeast but it really has been working out great. We get even more Vinny then ever (yessss!), some of the GBeast content has been truly special and with Dan the main office is still doing great stuff. So glad the ridiculous tumblr-esque drama is over and people are back to just enjoying the content. I just hope we get to see some more of Jason in the coming months, he seems pretty cool too and I'd like to see him in some content for more than 2 minutes when he comes out for 1 round of a fighting game.

Ps- I've only had tea once in my life, guess I'm some sort of caveman sheltered blahblahblah too, fine by me, it always amuses me to watch snobs lose their shit.

@splodge: That was amazing. Though I don't know how that guy expected Dan to know what the heck is going on in a moba. They are impenetrable. When the (seemingly) only thing you can do is right click on an enemy to attack, why wouldn't you try that over and over again?

EDIT: Wow, the more I'm watching this the more it seems like Dan's old co workers were assholes. At GB it's a comedy bit when Jeff and Dan disagree. It seems like at GI they treat him like he's some kind of huge moron.

I've been following the site for years, but just signed up as a premium subscriber yesterday to watch Dan's WoW and Mario Party videos. Someone with genuine unfiltered enthusiasm for games as a medium honestly makes a big difference to the feel of the site. The cynical deconstruction of games is interesting and informative but when it's the only thing happening it can leave the impression that gaming is a chore and that the industry is in a rut.

I also hope Dan can plug some of the gaps in genre interest. It's good to hear that Dan is a big fan of Smash and Zelda, because the podcast sometimes passes over fantastic, top quality games simply because nobody in the office is personally invested in them (particularly with Nintendo, where a common sentiment is "I understand that the game is high quality but it just doesn't interest me") and I'd love to see more discussion on Smash as it approaches.

This weeks bombcast is the first I've listened to with Dan in it and I'm enjoying it a lot more than the last few. He's a great addition, and finally, some decent Nintendo discussion.

Michigan doesn't have a DMV. We go to Secretary of State for that stuff.

On the podcast his enthusiasm for video games is very refreshing, compared to the somewhat jaded vibe that is usually present. Him and Drew are the positive, and Jeff and Brad are the sarcastic negative.

Perfect ying and yang! :D

(The fact he had never heard of the term 'drag race' annoyed me for some reason, but I realize that's all on me. It seems like he came from an alternative dimension?)

Pretty much how i feel...also I'm a bit fascinated by his lifestyle, and how the community reacts to his opinions and personality.

@tothenines: the perks of being a public figure.

If he could dial down the wrestling talk to maybe 75% of the time it'd be great!

No. Dial it up to the most per-cent. Although fuck eating out of shoeboxes. I'd take the moral high ground but this aired in Britain not so long ago.

Dan, under no circumstances insert paper plates into a washing machine.

I don't know if this is necessarily true since there are many stereotypes of Americans. However, I would say he is the stereotype of a man-child (think Adam Sandler/Happy Gilmore character). He seems to be living some kind of arrested development from his college days, a 30 year old that is still eating off paper plates, drinking 40s, and watching wrestling.

My main critique so far is his taste seem to be almost exactly like Jeff's, but Jeff has his encyclopedic knowledge about game history and sharp/insightful criticism. I'm not sure what he adds. I see a lot of comments talking about enthusiasm, but declaring a game "great" is very shallow. A word like great has as much weight as cool or awesome. Ryan had a boisterous enthusiasm also, but he could back it up with biting takedowns that made you think. So far I haven't heard anything like that outside his comments about wrestling which I couldn't care less about.

I really have not had any issues with any thing the man has said. But shaving with a razor and no shaving cream, WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL?!

@xanadu: I seriously cringed when he said he dry shaved. That's downright barbaric.

I don't know why so many people are downright offended by his lifestyle choices. I mean, it's pretty savage from the sound of things, but hating the guy over something that has no effect on you whatsoever just makes no sense. Heck, if anything, it's pretty funny hearing him talk about the dumb things he does.

And the best thing about this is that he genuinely doesn't seem to give a shit about revealing this stuff. That's kinda admirable, in my opinion. Everyone has done some stupid shit in their lives. I'm not sure I'm confident enough to reveal my past blunders, even if it can make a room laugh. That being said, some of the things Dan has done - oh boy, that's some pretty dumb stuff.

@ford_dent: @xanadu: You guys must be using dull blades or something. I've been doing it raw my entire life, looking like a real man and not a clown.

I love Dan on the Powerbombcast and have been thoroughly entertained by his antics on Giant Bomb thus far. Keep it up, Dan!

I can't stop thinking of Dan as a grown up version of that kid Luke from modern family

I love Dan on the Powerbombcast and have been thoroughly entertained by his antics on Giant Bomb thus far. Keep it up, Dan!

I just need to say that the Mario Party Party made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe. I had to pause it regularly to just to try and stop the laughing fits.

They need to put a warning label on future Dan videos.

He has to be the counterweight of Brads DOTA talk.

@octaslash: I guess if you're shaving every day before it gets thick it wouldn't be so bad. I shave my uni-brow without any cream :p but I tend to let my facial hair grow out before shaving out of laziness.

@djou: The "if it's not American it's bad" is the biggest American stereotype here in Europe. That's why I love Drew, hes so curious and accepting of new stuff! He watches F1!

EDIT: WTF My 1st post was f-ing edited, removing that I didn't like Dan on twitter!? Is this communist Russia!? You can delete my posts yes, but don't f-ing edit them, it completely changes the tone of my message. I just lost a lot of respect for this site. BOO!

I'm really enjoying this movement to be offended by his joke that anyone watching soccer in an American bar should be deported. He was NOT talking about ethnicities, just soccer fans in general, and it was a joke on par with any random throwaway line from The Colbert Report.

I think what I like most about Dan is that it is enjoyable to listen to him play games. The amount of "Fuck! fuck! fuck! fuck! fuck!" when playing a platformer or the "Hi ya! ho! ha!" when playing a fighting game is great.

We stealth edit now? Weird, didn't think mods did that often or really ever

Edit: But Dan is awesome and i wish Jason was on things so I could figure out who he is

It seems like people are annoyed by this but as someone who is rarely around people who play games, and when I am they are usually an invested, rowdy bunch (partially because it's a lot of sports games or Rockstar games), it's definitely refreshing to have him constantly engaged in a game in ways other than a death stare.

@slyspider: It makes djou's reply make no sense after that part is removed. It wasn't even that bad, I just said I wasn't a fan of his twitter but like him on the site. Other people are being much more critical.

could be something wrong with the site, we've had similar problems before

@slyspider: Hmm I dunno, it removed the first part, and the 'However' from the second bit... Follow the money.

@masterrain: Well I don't want to devolve into stereotyping. I'm sure there are many different stereotypes in Europe also even just in Germany I know there are stereotypes for more urban Germans and the northern Bavarians, or even people regional stereotyping in the UK. However going back to Dan, so far he's displayed a tendency that both Jeff and Brad has spoken out against. The trend of video game opinions either being the absolute best or worst, one-star or five-star, a binary of extremes. This game is great, its the best; or no this game is not for me. Ryan, Patrick, and Vinny all expressed varying taste and they all had nuances to their opinion. I haven't heard anything like that from Dan.

I watched the Pure Pool QL, it was 30 minutes of Dan and Jeff agreeing about pool, then talking about wrestling. I was actually interested in buying this game and I came away having no idea if I should do this. Either this week or last on the Bombcast, Dan mentioned playing Shovel Knights NG+. I thought great... he wasn't in on the QL now he will voice his opinion on what he liked about the game, but nothing.

One of the things that separates this site from Youtube streamers is that the personalities are not just personalities, they are paid to play games, consider them, and articulate their criticism. Jeff masterfully does this, but I'm not sure what Dan adds. Maybe that's unfair considering I don't what its like to adjust to moving to SF and the GS office, but so far I find myself avoiding QLs when I see he's involved. The only interesting content he's been a part of is the stuff about Cannon Brawl, and the segment of Mary Kish and Danny playing that game with the devs on the Lobby was twice as interesting.

I'm kinda the opposite here. When Dan first turned up I was really excited and thought I'd really like the guy but the more I see/hear from him in videos and podcasts the more I dislike him. I mean some of the stuff he says....

Fucking chem trails duder.

I like Dan quite a bit. I share many of his interests, he's a funny guy, and as said previously, he is enthusiastic as hell.

On the other hand, is he literally six years old? Has he never had a long-time girlfriend or parent teach him basic things about life? I'm genuinely perplexed. I mean, holy shit, the egg shell story.

Every piece of content/bombcast he has appeared in will have at least 10 references to wrestling and that's a conservative estimate. Every single time i have seen the staff twitter feeds on the homepage Dan's has been about..... you guessed it.

Not everyone is obsessed with wrestling so it would be better if he toned it down some.

I don't post on forums. But I had my grandson show me the internet so I could say: Dan's great, looking forward to hear more of him.

Being articulate, funny, enthusiastic is actually plenty to carry someone who is basically just hosting video content. He does a great job with all those things. They shouldn't be taken for granted, they are real skills.

Or not. Don't follow him. Don't follow Rorie and complain about puppies.

I like Dan. He makes me laugh every now and then.

I like Dan. I had no knowledge of his work prior to GB, but went and checked out some of his Game Informer content after his hiring was announced. It's good. He strikes me as the perfect addition to the site.

I don't enjoy wrestling and do enjoy most foods and sauces. Go figure.

I'm really on the fence about Dan. On one hand I think he is a great guy who can make people laugh. On the other I'm certain how well he is able to express an opinion beyond "this game is great" or "this game sucks". I'm not saying he can't express that opinion, just that I am yet to see it.

The thing that really gets on my nerves is his attitude towards some things. If someone tries a food for the first time and their response is "oh no, nope, don't like that, that is not for me", I am totally fine with that. Everyone has different tastes and that's cool. However Dan's attitude towards a ton of stuff (not just food) seems to be "I've never tried it or have given it a half-assed go (eg. shaving) and I will just write it off as terrible and anyone who does enjoy it as terrible". That sort of attitude really drives me up the wall.

At first I wanted nothing more than a video of Drew and Dan sitting down and Drew introducing Dan to all sorts of crazy foods and trying to broaden his horizons. But now I am 90% sure that Dan would either refuse to take part at all or would just ruin by being determined to hate everything no matter what.

I don't want to pile on but I actually can't think of anything articulate that he's said outside of wrestling. And I don't think he's funny at all, case in point the Sniper Elite QL or Mount Your Friends, dick jokes are the absolute most uninteresting juvenile humor. They're lazy jokes which is why frat boys tell them. I don't think this GB is just hosting video content. The host of a good segment elevates the gameplay with the commentary and insight. Its not all puerile jokes and color commentary. I recently wanted to finish the Killzone campaign and watched Jeff's QL and read his review again. Pretty much spot on outlining why I never finished it the first time. Same with all the stuff that's been said about Watch Dogs.

I don't want a quick look where the host starts with "I don't know anything about this game, but I'm going to talk about it and play like shit for the next 30 minutes." That is lazy filler content that equates the worst buzzfeed style click baiting. I don't want to be harsh because he seems like a good guy that you want to have a beer with, but he's been on the site for a month and it already sounds like he's phoning it in.

I've been catching up on the Ryckert-era Bombcasts and yeah, he's growing on me. And Dan likes Nintendo games, and not just the few weird ones.

However, Dan needs to work on eating food better.

While I can totally see where the people that are not Dan fans are coming from, I do like him and I feel as though he adds a fresh dynamic amongst the crew. I imagine him living his life like a younger, drunken version of Mr Magoo that has somehow made it this far despite the odds.