End of Giant Bombcast 01-11-11 was uncomfortable to listen to.

 I kind of dislike posting this to be honest.

But something just doesn't sit right with me, please consider this just my personal opinion and feeling.
At the end of  Giant Bombcast 01-11-2011 there was a giveaway of  dA2. What followed started out nice enough but then Ryan went on an on about the preorder and listing of the features. It started to get annoying the more he went on about it. Then I realised why: It felt too much like advertisement.
Now I know that things get plugged often enough on the bombcast. But this time it just stood out for some reason. I can't but think that someone at Bioware/EA marketing team was sitting and saying: "Hmmm at the cost of 3 games that cost us almost nothing, we get avertisement for our game that will reach thousands of listeners, sweet"
 
My 2c, feel free to disagree.

edit:
BECAUSE APPARENTLY SOME PEOPLE CAN'T READ - I am not at any point in the above post implying that GB crew are selling out, it just felt weird, the end.

No, you're right, it was weird.

It didn't stick out to me, and I couldn't care less if it actually was an advertisement.

Yea they've done givaways and contests before, so at the start of it i was just like oh ok another contest, cool. But then when he started like... making a sales pitch for the game i started to get wierded out.

Yeah, it was an advertisement. It's either that or an audio ad and at least some site users get something out of it. You could always just stop the show since it's at the end or skip forward. 

Meh, it didn't bother me. Just part of the biz. I'd much prefer that than them having commercial breaks.

Yeah, it was fucking gross. Hope he got paid a ton for that.

It makes sense, they did something similar with Dragon Age Origins, Reach, Assassins Creed etc... its still video game related. It probably came with the deal, you can give away these games, but please say these things. Personally, not a big deal until they try to sell you time shares.

They were given a couple of gifts by Bioware to give to us; dropping a little promo is common courtesy.
 
EDIT: Furthermore, IIRC a good portion of it was Ryan just describing the box's contents.

" Yeah, it was an advertisement. It's either that or an audio ad and at least some site users get something out of it. You could always just stop the show since it's at the end or skip forward.  "

It didn't stick out to me like an advertisement at all.  Seemed more like a, "we get to spoil you guys with an awesome, free game" giveaway thing.  Give the props to bioware for hooking you guys up.

I'm pretty sure the last people you'd need to suspect of getting paid for a dishonest ad is these guys. 

Didn't jeff and brad laugh after ryan finished reading all the details, as if they knew how blatantly lame it was but were doing it anyway? Thats how it came across to me, but it didnt really bother me because they rarely do that kind of stuffs

Can't say it bothered me, and I didn't even notice it.  Sure, Whiskey has a small business kind of feel, but it's still a business.  It's not like they sold their souls or anything.

Yeah he advertised giving our community free games. What a sellout.

If something like that bothers you, then you should probably get out more.
Sorry, but it's just not something to complain about in this day and age.

The only reason it really stood out for me is that is was edited in afterwards.

It was a bit wierd, especially considering that they named pre-order bonuses the "worst trend" of 2010, though that was retailer-exclusive pre-order bonuses, but still. 
The fact that Jeff was laughing a little when Ryan started talking to him afterwards made it seem like he was laughing at Ryans sales pitch.  
Granted, he could also have been laughing at something else entirely which had nothing to do with all this, but that isn't as fun. 
 
It didn't really bother that much, actually. After all, Ryan was doing it for the greater good. The greater good that is free stuff!

" I'm pretty sure the last people you'd need to suspect of getting paid for a dishonest ad is these guys.  "

And thus it begins.

" Yeah he advertised giving our community free games. What a sellout. "

Yeah, it did sound like a sales pitch...but at the same time, by the time the show was up, it was already too late to preorder the Signature Edition, so why try hyping it?  Maybe Ryan was just trying to hype up the prizes.

This contest is a scam. At 2:17:43 Ryan tells us to go to giantbomb.com/bombcast, which DOES NOT EXIST. I'm filing a complaint.

" Yeah he advertised giving our community free games. What a sellout. "

It kind of works both ways, yeah it's a plug for the developers and their game who where cool enough to offer some giveaway copies, but at the same time he's letting people know the extent of what they are competing to win, works as a little extra motivation to try to win it.
 
Although it's use for advertising the signature edition being given away was kind of limited since the podcast went up on the last day that version of the game was available for preorder.

" If something like that bothers you, then you should probably get out more. Sorry, but it's just not something to complain about in this day and age. "

It didn't bother me too much. But whatever, it not like they inserted into the "What have you been playing" segment. They were pretty straight forward about the whole thing saying that they received the giveaway from Bioware, anyone with a little bit of sense would know to take anything said after with a grain of salt.

They were giving away a game to the community, of course they were going to talk about what was in the signature edition and all that. Marketing lingo like that is always going to sound like an advertisement, regardless of who's reading it.
 
Seems like sometimes people are way too fast to jump on this "Giant Bomb is a sellout/has changed/has no soul/etc" bandwagon for some reason.

" Didn't jeff and brad laugh after ryan finished reading all the details, as if they knew how blatantly lame it was but were doing it anyway? Thats how it came across to me, but it didnt really bother me because they rarely do that kind of stuffs "

Yeah, he should have totally said something like "Hey douchebags, ya wanna win this piece-of-shit game from those cock-smokin' asshats at Bioware? Well do ya? DO YA?"  while Vinny made fart noises in the background.

You people have problems, stop being paranoid.  Of course they are going to plug the game if they got sent some. Have you not watched TNT before?  Its common courtesy and they were just imforming people why it's a CE.  I doubt "and a bunch of other stuff" is a PR line.

They make their money by advertisements and investors alone. So I don't have a problem with it, I've heard worse things on programs with loads of cash.

I was so angry when I heard him that I ripped off my pants and threw them across the room into the bin. Then I was naked. This was at work too so I got fired as well. My life has been ruined.

Edited my post because people are jumping to wrong conclusions and I can't be bothered to correct everyone.

What the hell is wrong with you people? 

It stuck out to me, and it did feel a bit like an ad, but it didn't bug me too much.

If it helps keep Giant Bomb around longer, then I couldn't care less.

it was a good deal that was about to quickly expire 
 
why not mention it?

If it was an advertisement, awesome! The more money GB makes the better.
 
I just wish they had stated that it was an ad, or not fawned over the contest as much as they (Ryan) did.

i just wanna hear some ads for audible, i know i need some of that in my bombcast lolol

I was so angry when I heard him that I ripped off my pants and threw them across the room into the bin. Then I was naked. This was at work too so I got fired as well. My life has been ruined.

I totally agree. 
 
The way he said that you get all this sweet 'bonus' content for pre-ordering did not sit right with me.

It was weird.

Well, if you think about it, aren't all gaming websites just giant advertisements? Let's take this site for example. When any of the crew post up news about certain games are going to have certain features. Or this and this will be in this game. Isn't that technically them selling us on a game? Therefore giving the publishers free ad space? Just like Brad (the one that's not on the podcast. Couldn't remember his last name), sometimes he'll post up videos that look like they're meant for commercials. 
 
I know that realistically it's not the case, but that's what it feels like if you really look at it.

While I don't think it was a straight-out advertisement, it did not seem to sit well with the usual tone of the podcast, and even Mr. Davis in general, a man who's integrity I ordinarily respect.  It seemed like he was reading it through gritted teeth, almost like it read fine in rehearsal, and then sounded a little crass and paid-for in reality.  Mind you, Giantbomb seems to enjoy a good relationship with BioWare, respecting their work and being appreciated in return, and it's not like DA2 is going to be a bad game, if the original is anything to go by, so I didn't really mind it being plugged. 
 
Just hope Ryan doesn't review it when it comes out...just joking.

" Well, if you think about it, aren't all gaming websites just giant advertisements? Let's take this site for example. When any of the crew post up news about certain games are going to have certain features. Or this and this will be in this game. Isn't that technically them selling us on a game? Therefore giving the publishers free ad space? Just like Brad (the one that's not on the podcast. Couldn't remember his last name), sometimes he'll post up videos that look like they're meant for commercials. 
 
I know that realistically it's not the case, but that's what it feels like if you really look at it. "

" @thehexeditor said:

" If something like that bothers you, then you should probably get out more. Sorry, but it's just not something to complain about in this day and age. "

It bothers me because it is kind of against the spirit of GB and what the guys are trying to do as they said themselves: make the community their business partner. Which is why membership was introduced with no adverts.   "

I had no problem with the segment. Other than it was clearly edited in later and that I had no chance to win the contest. Mostly because I listened to that segment two days after it posted.

I don't understand the purpose of this post.  If you don't want to hear about video game products or have a chance at winning a free video game, why come to a video game site?
 
Sorry Giant Bomb isn't alternative enough for you anymore.