Does Giant Bomb need more diversity of Opinions?

First off, I don't mean we need more female or more racial background for GiantBomb. That is a can of worms that I wouldn't touch with a ten feet pole.

What I mean is that Giant Bomb, recently, with the leave of Austin and the unfortunate departure of Ryan, has nobody to speak out for much of the Japanese/Anime market. I know Jeff does look at Japanese game more than the others but his videos emphasize the weird and bizarre parts of Japan.

The cast feels very homogenous in their opinions, they watch sports, wrestling, or television but nobody shows any niche interest. For example, Brad was into eSports and Dota and that make him stand out as a personality compared to others. Or Austin whose into Anime, albeit his taste is a bit on the older side, but it was exciting to listen to Austin and Vinny talks about Gundam.

There were so many great games that came out this year on the 3DS that was simply looked over because GiantBomb lacked a personality for this niche. Games like Shin Megami Tensei 4 Apocalypse or Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice.

I also notice that GiantBomb focuses much more on breadth of knowledge rather than depth. Dan played Fire Emblem Fates for us in his quick look but he lacked the understanding of the series and how fans should view the game. A good example of a personality that has depth of knowledge is Huber, where he can tell you every detail of Shenmue. Even Vinny to an extends have a good knowledge of the Souls series and are able to articulate his experience with Brad in his first Breaking Brad series.

There are tons of people who plays video games and tons of niches that GiantBomb couldn't possibly hope to fill. Combined with the fact that Giant Bomb members are getting older and finding themselves to unable to dedicate themselves enough time to truly immerse themselves into video games. But what got me hooked on Giant Bomb was their 150 part series endurance run on Persona 4 and Vinny's Load Our Last Souls and Brad's Breaking Brad that made me a subscriber. These series stands out because it has passion and heart. They not only great series to watch but they changed how Jeff, Vinny, and Brad viewed these games.

Agree or disagree but leave your comment to share. I would like to hear others' opinion on this topic.

Diversity of opinion is great, but I don't think that's really the issue you've identified. I think that GB doesn't cover 3DS games very much because they're a pain to capture from and often don't make for great looking videos. I also think it's weird to say that what got you hooked on GB was certain content with people who are still part of GB, but now suddenly their...opinions aren't diverse enough anymore? Also nobody on GB is really into sports, and when you say "nobody shows any niche interest" you seem to be ignoring Drew, who has all kinds of interesting hobbies and passions, and Rorie, who also has a variety of interests and knowledge.

I feel like this is the same old "I liked the old content better than the new content" complaint that gets thrown around a lot, but dressed up in clothes that don't really fit it.

You say that they don't get really deeply into games or talk about Japanese stuff anymore, while they have the long running VinnyVania series delving into a huge part of the Castlevania library. Meanwhile the Ranking of Fighters series gets into fighting games and has focused almost exclusively on Japanese games.

It would be great if the next person they bring in has the diversity of taste of an Austin and yes they could always branch out, but I don't think this complaint really makes sense in the context of what Giant Bomb has always been. It started with Jeff, Brad, Ryan, Alex, and Vinny, four of whom are still with the site, and has only added more interesting people since then.

You may want them to do a quicklook of SMT IV: Apocalypse, and maybe they should, but I think the reason they don't isn't lack of 'diversity of opinion' it's that it's not so easy to make a compelling 30 minute gameplay video about a massive RPG on outdated hardware that's difficult to capture from.

Yes, I definitely feel like they could use some expertise on the Japanese market, JRPGs etc. Maybe two people so they could have a show about it.

I've never really visited this site for its breadth of coverage, but sure, I'd appreciate having a "JRPG" guy or something. It really depends on whether or not they can get enough funding to support growing the site's audience to include those niches, though.

theyre a small team. it'd be nice to have that diversity but it's kinda hard to run the gamut with only four or five full time editors.

I will say that the site really lost something when Austin went to Vice.

@bigsocrates:

You brought out a lot of good points that I didn't consider. I can address some of them.

First, by Niche interest I'm more talking about it in terms of gaming. You mentioned fighting games but who has the depth of knowledge of Evo or Capcom Cup like how Brad understand the DotA scene.

Second, I'm nostalgic about the best series they've done in the past but I don't hate the current series over the past. I didn't talk about their lower quality videos they've made throughout the years nor did I mention the good series theyre doing right now like Metagear Scantlon or Shenmue Endurance Run. The infamous Gal girl unprofessional Friday.

By introducing more diversity of ideas, like an esports expert or JPEG expert or personalities that are fans of certain video games. Like the infamous Michael Huber Gametrailer video on the announcement of FF7 and Shenmue. Someone whose passionate over certain games or be able express the excitement of fans and even explain to the other cast why games like Kingdom Hearts is good.

Like the recent podcast where only Dan likes Majoras mask game out of the Zelda games. It is not fun when everyone has the same opinions.

I'm happy with the way the site is now but someone who is a little obsessed with Early Access multiplayer games or playing VR daily would be interesting. I'm glad Giant Bomb doesn't dive into social commentary like other sites do, I am here for games and goofy stuff.

I think you are mixing two different things:

- Long series with someone knowledgeable on the subject/game.

- Different personalities with diverse interests.

Long series can be hit or miss for me. If I like the game or the first episodes I’ll probably watch the whole thing and enjoy it, if I don't I’ll just skip it. I’m not sure I personally want much more of this kind of content since I bet it takes a ton of time to produce.

On the other hand, I’m completely in favor of having someone new with different interests. I'm pretty sure they are looking for that. Austin added a ton with his interests but I’m not sure I want a new “jrpg guy”, he was much more than that.

I also don't think their interests are too similar: Jason likes fighting games, Drew is into simulation/military stuff, Brad likes dota, Geometry Wars and addicting stuff, Rorie wow, Dan likes wrestling and bad videogames, Vinny and Alex are a bit more complex to describe but are also different, and Jeff is simply incredible.

I just hope the new guy isn’t too niche, too young or another wrestling fan.

Jeff's knowledge of non-modern Japanese games is basically encyclopedic though. It would be nice, especially when it comes to non-JRPG releases such as Danganronpa V3 or The Silver Case, but I feel like the forums make up for it.

Doesn't Jeff have an anime-looking avatar for the forums? Close enough.

Not for me, personally. I'm only here for the humor. There been no one at GB whose interests align even in the slightest with mine.

Only reason I'm still premium is because these guys have a fantastic sense of humor (90% of the time), and I think that deserves support.

Diversity of opinion is not what I come to Giant Bomb for. I want Jeff & co's shenanigans. If I want diversity of opinion on games and such, I'll go to IGN, Gamespot, or *gasp* Youtube. Giant Bomb is not really the place for that. Never has been, and probably never will be. I mean, come on, half of this site's content is wrestling, games made 20+ years ago, and in-depth discussions about Taco Bell. As Jeff has said again and again, they cover what they want to cover, not anything and everything that comes out. If you want coverage on something that isn't on Giant Bomb, there pleeeeenty of other places on the internet to find that.

@santiagocr:

Why don't you want more younger people? I think GB have enough people who are around their mid30s. I think GB needs more people who are young and naive, ones who grew up on Pokemon, GBA, and Saturday morning cartoons. People around my age who are in college or university.

I mean Brad is the anime editor, and they have Jason talking about terrible japanese games like EDF on the bombcast, so I'd say they have their bases covered.

@grimluck343:

Isn't Brad an Anime editor a running joke?

I just want Dave back :(

100% yes. I would love somebody at Giantbomb super into different genres than the usual stuff the guys play.

@yujinred:

It´s hard to explain honestly. I know some them are a bit scared of getting old but that´s one of the main things for me.

This site has a sense of maturity and knowledge while also keeping up to date and open. That´s extremely hard to find these days.

The internet is full of young people trying to make it on this industry, have a look at Youtube while not logged to your profile for a second. It´s probably just that I'm old but I find that completely unappealing. And that kind of content is available on other places, I don't think GB would gain much from it.

Perhaps that user doesn't want younger people because he or she is closer in age to that of the current GB crew? I am, and I happen to very much appreciate their take on games, because it more closely reflects my own experiences. Almost all of them are very seasoned professionals in the field, and have evolved into their current roles on this site. I love things like Encyclopedia Bombastica, because I get to see games that I didn't necessarily get exposure to when they came out. Maybe I didn't own the particular game/system, didn't have friends who owned the game/system, or because it was just out of my interest wheelhouse at the time. There was simply no way to showcase video games to a mass audience back then, outside of print--which is obviously limited in efficacy in showing off an interactive medium--or poorly-produced game show style television programs. GB was started primarily as the Wiki, and a way to chronicle video games past and present, with less focus on the future. Hiring someone "young and naive" doesn't really jibe with that perspective, because they likely have less familiarity with old games.

Diversity of opinion, your original topic, is a separate thing from age and knowledge base. Sure, it's important, but you can have it and still focus more tightly on the history of games and how modern games have been influenced by that history. I think to do that properly, they need to hire people who are very familiar with gaming history and have a broad general knowledge base about games, even if that means a lack of specialization. Anyone can deep dive into a game if they have the time, but often the GB guys don't have time because they are older and have more day-to-day responsibilities (e.g. kids, home ownership, holding old games within the last 24 hours) that limit their ability to do that. Finding deep-dive coverage of specific games or genres is easy now. Finding what GB has always offered is harder, and it has been successful largely because of it's crew's perspectives.

new person with japanese game interests would be nice but i really miss "the pc guy" role dave snider filled. Maybe these days their kinda all pc guys though.

I get what you're saying OP, but I feel that too much branching out would clash with GB's original purpose. The site was founded as a response to the then conventional wisdom of the big video game sites to cover anything and everything. The editorial focus at GB would instead be determined by the staff's interest, which luckily is quite wide ranging. While the benefit of this approach is that you get more passionate and long form content about awesome video games, the downside is that there will inevitably be blind spots in coverage. The crew has over the years tried to make up for this by trying games outside their comfort zones (see the Persona 4 Endurance Run or Vinny getting into Demon Souls), some games still fall through the cracks (i.e. fashion games, browser games, basically the entirety of Vita games, etc.). The only way I can see to fix this is for Giant Bomb to reform itself as a "cover everything" site akin to IGN. Personally, that's not something I want, especially considering that already IGN exists and there are plenty of smaller sites (like Kinda Funny) that focus on games that the GB crew may ignore. My two cents, at least.

I think their opinions are plenty diverse but it kind of just feels like other than Dan most of the crew don't play through many games anymore. It was real apparent last year during the goty discussions.

Other than that, I wish they'd get someone who is actually into competitive multiplayer games. Not e-sports but just competitive online games in general. They do a great job of covering most games but their coverage of multiplayer games is often bad.

Never hurts to have more diverse opinions -- that'd be great if it can happen -- though I think the crew is more varied than the first post gives them credit for. I'm actually having trouble thinking of many genres that at least one person on staff isn't into, besides of course the obvious JRPG niche.

Personally, as a JRPG fan myself, I don't care that they're not into that stuff, because I already know about that stuff. I don't need someone on the staff to affirm my video game picks. I'm here because the thoughts, perspectives, anecdotes, and hot takes of the Bomb Crew are fun and interesting to listen to -- and uniquely-fueled by their status as industry vets.

If they find someone who's similarly industry-savvy, has good chemistry with them, AND can spit game about JRPG's -- yeah, rad. That'd be cool. But I don't find it necessary for my enjoyment of this site. And since the question of the topic was "does Giant Bomb NEED more diversity of opinions," I guess my answer is "nah."

Man, if every staff member of GB had similar opinions, those GotY podcasts would be very short. Which they're not, so they don't.

One of the dangers of browsing this site for so long is that you start to lump everyone into one heap of opinions. "GB this", "GB that".

They don't cover fighting games? Jason and Jeff cover Evo and the Capcom Cup Finals when the time is right every year on the podcast. Hell, those two even started a new Premium feature called Ranking of Fighters.

They all have the same interests? Brad has a fascination with Dota (to the site's detriment...), Drew has his simulations, Rorie his MMOs, Jeff has everything classic gaming related in his hands not 24 hours ago, Dan has Mario Party, and so on. The reason you don't hear those interests very often has partially to do with personnel and partially to do with the demand in the market. With 3 video producers and 5 editors there isn't enough time in a week to showcase everything. And with the current emphasis on FPS and sprawling RPG-lites there simply isn't anything new and different coming out.

And to top it all off... Japanese developers have hitched their wagon to the moe-train and are riding that train into a gigantic ravine. Think about it: in many ways, Demon's Souls is the last time Japan came up with a fresh idea that worked. And that was in 2009.

Austin was my spirit animal for the short while he was here. I've been a subscriber for 6 years now, (and a lurker before that). And during all that time he's been the one person I've agreed the most with by far. Even if he does like DkS2 the best (lunacy). I miss that guy already.

This is more for Goty talk than anything else, but I reaaaaaally wish they had one more guy that could take Brad's side more often. The amount of times he has tried to salvage a cool thing from being ripped off the list all by his lonesome is the worst. That Journey and Ori weren't recognized on the soundtrack of the year lists is goddamn heresy I say. What's wrong with some sweeping orchestra? :(

EDIT: As for the age thing, I'm only 23. But I vastly prefer GB's way of things over just about any other site I've tried. They are experienced to the point where they can just roll straight with the punches, cut the bullshit and just do their thing. It's kind of the last bastion of people who aren't trying to one-up each other with new gimmicks and trends.

@ralphmoustaccio:

Yes, I’m closer in age and I agree with what you said. To add a bit more, it´s not only the knowledge that I appreciate but the general attitude, they are not only knowledgeable and experienced but confident. To me younger people in videogames tend to be somewhat fake because they lack confidence and they are “hungry” (as Austin once described).

I realize it's incredibly difficult to make a living for them but it´s a matter of what audience you wants to appeal to. I followed Patrick for a while after he left but his content started to become way more immature, and thus less appealing to me. I still respect him and I understand why he did it, but it's just not for me.

I also think they can connect more with some developers by being a bit old. The long video with Jonathan Blow about The Witness, that technical video about the Uncharted series, the E3 panels with some devs, etc. I just can't imagine that kind of content being interesting with a younger crew.

More variety is always a good thing, in all shapes and sizes

@santiagocr: I forgot to watch that Uncharted tech video. I should do that. Thanks for mentioning that one!

Yes, I think GB could use a few more perspectives.

It would be nice if I had anyone in there close to my tastes, but honestly the most important part to me is that they're funny. I'm in here for personality antics, not to hear them talk about the games I like, even if it's cool when it happens.

Really, for coverage of games GB don't talk about, there's a million youtubers out there who like those games way more than they ever would, and can talk about them in more depth, considering they don't have to keep moving on to new games.

Sure, just no assholes. The biggest thing for me with this site is they all generally seem like good peoples. Finding people with different interests and perspectives who aren't dicks about it I'd say is most important.

I'll touch it for you.

Giant Bomb presents a very straight white male face. Almost every contemporary outlet has some kind of diversity even if it's not always the most affirmative.

I've been following the Bomb since it was just the podcast link on a black webpage and I enjoy the content and people running it. I'm just sad I have trouble involving anyone else in the fun because the outward face is very hostile to other groups.

Austin's loss was a huge blow to the site but I can't blame him for taking a solid opportunity like he did. His departure made it more evident than ever that Giant Bomb needs make some choices that move towards building a place that feels inclusive and diverse if they want to continue to grow.

Yes, some differing opinions on games wouldn't be a bad thing. Nor would having the ability to do some deep dives on certain topics. I think Jeff has the knowledge to do it, but would probably need to clone himself to make it happen. At this point, having even a passing interest in wrestling should be instant disqualification for employment at Giant Bomb. We are at maximum capacity for that garbage.

This is exactly how I feel about it.

The site is good as it is and it has all I'm looking for on Giant Bomb. If, for some reason, something comes out that I'm interested and isn't covered here, I can easily find them somewhere else. My interests and opinions usually line up with the GB crew anyway, if it didn't I wouldn't be here. Giant Bomb is on it's best when they do what they want to do and talk about what they want to talk. I don't want them to suddenly become more diverse just for the sake of diversity and nothing else. Also, their personalities and backgrounds are already different enough so we already have diverse points of view anyway.

@wandrecanada: There's no reason to touch that can of worms now. That is not what this thread is about as OP specifically pointed out.

Need some hardcode anime love in the west coast.

@johnymyko: Well the biggest draw from more varied thoughts would be its impact on discussions, and the biggest draw from more varied interests would be increasing the breadth of experiences for the whole. Both are in service of expanding minds, so why not? It certainly doesn't automatically run up against having fun on the site. Just depends on the personality of who they hire.

I don't know.

As others have basically covered, no I don't think they "need" it, but of course it would be nice. I don't come to GB for breadth of coverage, I come for personality. While it's great when someone like Austin can bring whole new genres of games into the mix, while it was appreciated I wouldn't call it necessary. More diverse views are almost always better, but ultimately is not why I come to the site.

I think GB has more diverse interests than a lot of you guys give them credit for.

What it seems to be more of, is "I want someone on the site interested in the same things as me", which is completely understandable. But it's also an impossible task with such a small team.

I would argue that Alex is the only one who actually cares about sports. Drew watches F1 but that's basically it, and Jeff only casually watches baseball. Alex is the only one that could answer trivia questions about current sports topics.

As for the rest of your post: the breadth vs. depth thing is something that is always going to be a problem for general industry- or review-focused sites; they simply don't have the time to dedicate to getting really good at an entire series or multiplayer game or whatever because they constantly have to be jumping to new releases all the time. Other people are able to cover those niches in depth when they devote most of their channel/outlet/stream/etc. to one series or game. Both approaches have audiences and uses. I generally could not give less of a shit what the GB crew thinks about a new MMO because a) I pretty much already know the answer, and b) I have other places I can go to get that knowledge in an actual useful form, from people who already like MMOs and can compare a new one to other games in the genre, instead of shit like "they should remove rep and loot grinds and add more story missions. This game will continue to suck until they do that," which might be what the GB crew wants, with their limited time to devote to a single game before moving on, but is basically the exact opposite of what an MMO audience wants,.

Brett's the only anime editor we need.

Who else has credentials like this?

@superkenon: This is exactly my thinking. I don't exactly come to Giant Bomb for the "am I interested in this niche video game?" coverage, but regardless, I don't think I like the idea of "lets hire someone who's into anime and JRPGs because people say we should" any more than "we should hire a woman/person of a different race" for the same reason. It's kind of a cynical way of thinking about hiring new personalities, especially considering the principles Giant Bomb is based on.

Hire someone who's funny, personable and knowledgeable. If they're the "right" age or have incredibly diverse opinions or genre preferences, cool! If they don't, well, nobody is exactly the same as anyone else. They'll probably be a lot more unique than what a cursory glance tells you.

No. If I wanted that I'd subscribe to 8-4 play or an anime podcast.

No. Brad is the anime editor of this website.

Definitely.

Especially if they continue to cover/review games that only personally interest them. We don't need more Call of Duty, DOTA 2, Street Fighter coverage etc because the current guys got that nailed. There's tons of stuff that understandably doesn't get touched because it isn't in their wheelhouse. It's a small staff, they can only do so much.

As for the team chemistry question people keep raising. This isn't an either or thing guys.

I find it impossible to believe there aren't hundreds of suitable people from diverse backgrounds with diverse tastes who can fit right in with the current crew. Some may not have as impressive a resume as existing journalism establishment candidates, but that doesn't mean they don't natural talent that can't be developed or knowledge that could be nearly as comprehensive. If anything Youtube should help surface new people more than anything in the past, which makes finding them hopefully easier than ever.

It's always funny when people rally against this when the guys themselves actually agree. I mean Vinny and Alex talked for like 30 min on the podcast about how they need to get new hires with different interests and opinions.

I don't think we should be so afraid of talking about this. If we want more diverse opinions, a great way to have that is to have a diversity of experiences. Even if someone grew up playing the same games as the current crew, by virtue of not being white and/or not being a dude, they will have different perspectives and different life experiences to inform their opinions. There is more to a discussion of video games than if you like a genre or not, a lot of discussion and humor and critique can come from just having other experiences and perspectives to draw on.

Also, i think that would be healthier for the site as a whole. People like to have a familiar voice, someone like them. Right now, its only us white men that have that. I'm not saying that the site is discriminatory, but simply that we shouldn't dismiss diversity out of hand, it is valuable for many reasons.

@coaxmetal: I think he's saying he doesn't want this conversation to have anything to do with 'that' conversation - even though, in many ways, they are inextricably linked, as you've pointed out. I agree completely. But, as is typical of GB forums, the OP doesn't want to talk about race or gender, just taste.

As to the OP's question, I agree insofar as I believe that there is no longer a real diversity of age, which is a factor that has a ton of influence on someone's perspective. In addition to wanting desperately for the next staff member to not be a white dude, I also want them to not be in their 30's. While I am in my 30's, I don't come here to have my opinions and tastes vindicated by people like me, I come here to experience other people and hear their thoughts. The more different they are from me, the better I am for it, and the wider my horizons might grow.

I don't necessarily want someone who loves Japanese games, but I do want someone who has opinions on things I don't understand, and who can articulate what makes them good or bad. Austin's inexhaustible ability to describe the things he loves, and what makes them special, is what drove me to try some of those things in spite of my predisposed indifference to them. THAT is how I want to benefit, and that's why I'd love someone different, yes - just not in the way the OP wants.

Far more than diversity in race, gender, sexual preference, etc, what I feel is most lacking from modern gaming press is diversity in ideology. I've just about given up on that one, though. Someone who plays games that the current staff doesn't would be nice, however.