How newer games are treated on the site (here we go...)

So, I was thinking about this earlier, and figured I would start a thread and see other people's opinions.

Why is it acceptable that GB, with as many staff members as it has (Ryan passed away, I know, it fucking blows, but it doesn't change the fact that GB has more people on staff than most YouTubers that make LPs and such), most games get a single video about them, and that is it? I'll get this out of the way first, yes, there are obviously games that get multiple videos (Souls, GTA did, TitanFall, etc.) but the list is pretty short.

When Patrick uploaded the Kinect video the other day, it got me thinking that videos like that could be really interesting. Calling it "scripted videos" is stupid, but accurate I suppose. Seeing the crew's progress through games they are reviewing or just playing (like they did with Dark Souls 2) would be nice for people like me who never actually get to play new releases because they are poor and can't afford current gen (or last gen :C) consoles. Most video game channels/sites will have multiple videos on big releases, or even do full playthroughs, but Giantbomb records a single play session and then more than likely that game will never again appear on the site.

I know there are constantly "PREMIUM ISN'T WORTH IT THERE ISN'T ENOUGH CONTENT!" threads, but maybe they are partially right. I mean, look at Two Best Friends Play. They record a podcast, are always doing at least one full playthrough at a time. They also make one off content, non video game related content, and Quick Look type videos which appear pretty much every week and they are just 4 dudes in an apartment. Giantbomb is (sort of) 6 people in an actual office made for doing shit like that, yet they release maybe one QL a day if we are lucky.

I also am aware that we get the Bombin in the AM things and whatever the hell Klepek does with his time but they are kind of shitty not my cup of tea so I can't really speak to weather or not they make up for the lack of content from everyone else but they certainly don't make up for it too me.

This post meandered a bit, but my main question is, I'm not the only one who would like to see more new games get looked at more than once, right? It seems like every time they give a game the time of day, it came out before Patrick was even born. Honestly, the lack of content in that regard has me looking elsewhere for it, and trust me there are PLENTY of people who offer what I am looking for. Obviously I could just go to them, but I don't want to. I want to see Jeff and Vinny bumble and stumble through games, not some random kid on YouTube.

P.S I know there is a very solid counter to this argument, which is "It's their site they will play whatever they want.". That's true, but extremely shitty since they are not making the content for pleasure, it's their job and they are dependent on people watching them.

P.S.S The jabs at Patricks were just jokes, so please don't turn this into a Patrick thread....

I'm not kidding when I say this, but a ER will calm a lot of disgruntled people on the site. Its a lot of work but a lot of us are here for the crew and to watch them play games, more so play through full games from time to time. We do get ER esque things like Demons Souls but that didn't scratch the itch for me personally. There is something special about seeing them play through a chunk of a game evert day of the week.

I hate the fact that I probably won't resub as a premium in a few months because there seems to be no energy except from time to time. UF has been stale for months and I usually skip through most of it. I wish the did things like RPCG and SimGolf type stuff anymore but they don't, its 30 minute coverage of games while the other guys pay little to no attention.

I agree with you, and I hate that

My counter argument would be why do more videos of the same games when they could do more videos of more games?

It's a bummer and a poor excuse, but being employees of CBS means they probably get a lot less time to do what they want to do. It sounds like they are in meetings every other day, constantly having to deal with bullshit corporate meandering, and have to use what little time they have as best they can.

Greater depth of content?

@azurath: While I think the content GB does pump out is pretty great (I'm with you on the Patrick stuff, though), I definitely feel like there's a relatively small amount of it. Granted, they make up for that by having really fucking long videos and there are somehow people who manage to complain about that, but I just want more.

The problem is that I don't know what I want. They do a pretty good number of "let's play lots of old shit" videos, and while those are fun here and there watching 20+ old-ass sidescrollers gets boring fast. At the same time, taking multiple looks at the same game doesn't really appeal to me for most new releases, and while the endurance run style series are fun they seem to get into a rut where even the person playing it is in a sort of "here we go again" sort of mood.

I guess what I really want is less direct video game videos. Not that I want them to get into scripted stuff, but my favorite part of the site is when they get wildly off topic and just discuss random things. I don't know how that would manifest as proper content any more than just making the podcast longer or something like that. Seems like it would also semi-solve the problem others have discussed which is that the guys (Jeff in particular) just seem to have a lot of trouble getting excited about most gaming related stuff in a non-journalistic way. If it was just a site about stupid shit that they were way into, that'd be a way more interesting course and could fill the gaps between the 3-5 quicklooks and 1-2 livestreams a week.

P.S. It seems like all these discussions are kind of moot until the new editor(s) get hired. Hopefully that will shake things up a bit and make it all crazy. Or maybe it'll be Brad Nicholson all over again.

P.P.S. While I agree that they have way more resources than your average LPer, you can look at a group like the Yogscast for the counter argument. They have something like a dozen folks on staff including (to my knowledge) multiple dedicated video editors and yet as a group and across multiple Youtube channels they release like five 10-15 minute videos a day. Obviously coordinating their recording sessions and their editing processes are a bit more intensive than the work GB has to do for (most of) their content, but by those metrics GB is putting out many more raw hours of content a week than those places.

While I definitely see your point, (and I personally would love more videos, playthroughs, and other content) I think there's something to the idea of less quantity - more quality. I never get tired of watching the Giantbomb guys or listening to their podcasts, but that's mostly because I don't have an infinite stream of their content being pushed at me.

For all the playthrough videos I like to watch of other sites/channels, I have always gotten tired and had to take a break. I might be a weak willed motherfucker, but there's something to just not wanting to spend infinite hours with the same people, watching them do the same things, as they try to entertain a huge userbase for hours on end. After a while they just get boring. It's not usually their fault, it's probably my body's fault for wanting some sunlight and external stimulation which doesn't come from a screen. Even if in a dream world the Giantbomb guys could produce hours upon hours of the highest quality content, I'd probably still get tired of it, just like I get tired of hanging around with my best buds, or girlfriend (back when she was there).

Sure, I'm sure they could squeeze out a couple more videos per week, like a sort of "Quick Look Check-in" for recent games which deserve more time, but honestly, I'm very satisfied with the way things are. I already struggle to keep up with all of their content (including Bombin in the AM and anything else that's put out), and that's not even counting the monumental amounts of content which come with certain events (GDC, E3, GOTY stuff, etc.)

Furthermore, my time spent on gaming entertainment is (very roughly) either Giantbomb or playing games. The less Giantbomb, the more I actually have time to play games (however that's a very personally-centered argument which won't apply to all). Basically, I think about it like this: if one day I truly ever have the need for more Giantbomb content, I'll just go premium, and then rejoice in all the extra content available to me.

Edit: Now formatted to ensure no retinal damage from the wall of text.

I don't work there so I don't know what they actually do all day, but there are easy ways to add content to the site without too much work.

For example: What about having a spoilercast for games that the crew finished. They all played Infamous Second Son. Had Brad Finished it they could have sat down for half an hour and talked about it, like they talked about Mass Effect 2 or Modern Warfare 2. Why do spoilercasts have to be reserved for "big" games all the time. I know plenty of people would like to know the reasons why Jeff went from hating Infamous to loving it and Brad did the opposite. A couple 5 minutes discussions about it on the podcast isn't really as interesting.

Part of their jobs is to sit and play games at their desks...why not stream that? If the embargo is up just go ahead and stream yourself going through the review process. Don't bother archiving any of it, just stream it and be done.

But at the end of the day it's their website and they can and will do what they want. I'd love to see games get more attention but hey...such is life.

You're setting up a false dichotomy here. Their job is to make content for their own pleasure. That's what has always set GB apart from the rest, and it's what'll keep me coming back for a long time.

Also, the "newer"games that you long for have every bit of coverage ringed out them... by every other gaming site (including many prominent YouTube personalities, as you mentioned.) The only unique coverage GB can offer is their opinions, and they already do that on the Bombcast.

I don't come here for all the hot coverage of the new shoot dudes game. I wan't to see them awkwardly playing PC Engine games while Vinny fights Dracula. That's GiantBomb.

The good news is that, as I said, the coverage you're looking for exists almost everywhere else! Is it a huge problem to scratch that itch on another site, and come here for the niche stuff?

@waffles13: Specifically with the Yogscast thing, they are actually putting out a hell of a lot more content than GB, since pretty much everyone on the team uploads a video or two a day (that's a lot of fucking videos) but I agree that they are not putting out an offensively small amount of content, it's just not enough content.

@mosespippy: See I was thinking that earlier, before I decided to make a thread, when I realized that the reason they are so limited is because only so many games come out a week. Which got me thinking that maybe they should do more than a single video per game, which led to me making this thread. They need a schedule, or something, where I can say "Oh it's Monday, they will be doing a Load our Last Save today!." or "Shit! Is it Tuesday? I forgot to watch _____!". I know I keep drawing comparisons to LPers, but again I know what to expect from Achievement Hunter. I know to look for a GTA V LP on Mondays and a Minecraft LP on Fridays.

Content like this now replaces TV for me, so knowing the newest episode of a series that I like will be out on a certain day pretty much guarantees I will watch said video. A schedule wont fix the problems I and many others have with GB's current commitment to content, but it may help.

Giantbomb is made up of a skeleton crew compared to other big games websites (like Gamespot, which is made up of several dozen people). Also, more is expected out of them than Youtube personalities. Two Best Friends Play has all the business end done for them, while Giantbomb has to deal with the holistic range of adding content and managing a business at the same time, which takes up time that might have been spent on covering games. With the resources they have, I think Giantbomb is wise to cover a certain amount of as many games as they are willing to cover rather than just focus deep on a few games. That miniseries on Dark Souls II was an anomaly, and it was likely due to Giantbomb's own extreme interest in the game. Basically, if Giantbomb isn't super interested, then it won't pursue further.

If Giantbomb isn't making it up on the coverage for you, there are several other sites to fill in the gaps. Giantbomb isn't my only source for video game stuff either.

Giantbomb's fucking weird, you guys.

@joshwent: Times are changing. Maybe you will keep coming back, but others wont and they sure as hell wont appeal to the ever growing LP market by saying "Eh, we play games sometimes, whatever." and leaving it at that.

congratulations on being the 100000000th visitor to make a thread about why don't they do more content

@coribald: He was at Destructoid for a while. Don't know if he's still there or not.

@bwheeeler: You'd think that after 100000000 people have agreed there isn't enough content released on a regular basis, that maybe they would, I don't know, make more content.

You do know that they're actively hiring new people with the explicit goal of creating more content, right?

I think it takes a really special game for them to do that, and those don't come around often. I still think patrick should shift the daily rogue like streams he was doing into a lets play series where he just plays whatever. Would love to watch him play through The Thing: The Game

@joshwent: Completely aware.

I didn't make this thread to say that they don't want to make more content (even though they have made it clear on several occasions that sometimes they don't), I was asking if people wanted to see more content from newer releases. That is what this thread was, and at least should still be about. Not really my fault that it became about a lack of overall content.

I've wanted them to expand, refresh and generally just do more of their content for a while now, but I've been satisfied thus far knowing they're hiring on more people soon. I really hope the front page starts exploding with really cool stuff once they get all staffed up. Honestly I've started to drift away from the site the last month or so. Don't get me wrong I still love this place and the people that run it, but for some reason I just don't tune in every live show anymore. I don't listen to the podcast right when it's posted like I used to, in fact I haven't even listened to the last four. That fervor I once held for the site just isn't there anymore. I don't think that I'm growing apart from the site either, I just think I'm getting a little bored (It feels really mean to say that, I'm sorry :(

On one hand you might think it's just me that's changed, but I go back and watch older content all the time. There just seems to be a different air to the site nowadays. Like everyone's run out of steam. I can understand why though. The site's structurally the same as it used to be what with all the Podcasts, quick looks, live shows, and shenanigans, but it's definitely changed in certain ways. Some of which weren't, understandably, of their control. Ultimately, I could be the only one, and if I am then just ignore me, but I just don't sense an excitement for video games anymore among the crew.

That's why I'm happy for new blood. The Gb crew's been in the industry for a long time now. They've gotten older, took on more responsibility and have naturally become a little more cynical as time's gone on. Happens to us all. In the end, I'm still going to stick around because I love this site and value the crew's opinions. And even with all that I just said, there's still plenty of fun to be had around here.

@coribald: @pr1mus: The last I heard he works at Touch Arcade. A site devoted to phone/tablet games. I don't know if he's still there though.

Give them time. They're just getting used to the new office.

Made a small change.

More videos doesn't necessarily mean more good videos.

Also we're in a strange post console launch drought. Big releases are coming few and far between it seems and gathering to do a video on a random release doesn't always lead to quality content.

The new hires should free up more hands to try out new ideas. Two editors and two producers can only do so much.

@themanwithnoplan: Sweet. What do I win and where should I send my credit card information?

I get where you're coming from, and while I don't agree with all of it (the "fuck it, we'll cover what we want, when we want" angle is part of what I love about GB, as well as the partial focus on old games), I do think they'd do well to do more Quick Look updates. Maybe even get different duos on the same game, a la Endurance Runs. Perhaps Brad and Vinny have a rough go of Video Game 7: Video Game Origins Unleashed, but Jeff and Drew have a much better experience. Not for every game, of course, but open world or online games could certainly benefit from something like that.

But hey, new blood will invariably mean new content and ideas, so yeah. Of course, it'll also mean the assholes will come out of the woodwork to spend a couple years screaming about how Newbie McNewguy from Newguynews.biz is destroying Giant Bomb, but that's the internet.

I think a video game editorial site that was name one of the best websites of the year by Time Magazine was just compared to a youtube lets play channel.

This is the end of times folks, it's been an honor serving with you all.

I am of similar age to the crew (older than Vinny and younger than Jeff) and I understand exactly why the content is what it is. I find myself more and more bored with the latest releases and more and more looking back to the great video games of yore that I grew up with. Vinnyvania Part 4 vs the PC Engine Parts 1 and 2 are by far my favorite piece of recent content, though someone really needs to step up their game and give Jeff some competition at Bomberman.

Just direct that information to Vinco and they'll get your prize sent out to you.

I don't come to GiantBomb for the sheer amount of game related content, but the humor and camaraderie from the (typically) great community.

There are thousands of sites and people fabricating video game related content, none of the ones that I've watched have hit that spark that GB. I only speak for me and my opinion anyway.

I haven't grown tired of the current slot of stuff yet.

@azurath:

Concerning twobestfriendsplay, you forgot to mention Woolie and Liam have real fulltime jobs. Woolie is like killing himself getting those podcasts out before he has to go for work, i feel bad for him. And they totally are putting out significant levels of content, but GB definitely has more quantity(including the subscriber).

I get what you are saying, the subscriber stuff once felt like extra... Oh man, I really hope the new hires will help unleash the GB we have been waiting for.

Remember when people kept asking why Patrick was in most of the quicklooks? Well its cause he was the reason they were even happening. The only criticism I have for him is to do whatever it takes to have someone else in the quicklook. It can be anyone, wife, mom, mailman, Max, Lang, Alex. Online or in person, it makes all the difference.

As for your original question: i think the way it is now is fine. If they cover something more because it catches their interest rather than out of duty, it will make for more interesting content.

Will pay to see Patrick walk random strangers through various indie games.

"I could go to any other website/youtube channel that does a better job than Giant Bomb"

"Nobody does a better job than Giant Bomb"

Ehhhhhh maybe kinda your fault.

As for the "more content from newer releases" thing goes, they do occasionally do that with things they're interested in as you pointed out, but I think a lot of the other additional new release content used to come from Thursday Night Throwdown, at least with games that had multiplayer.

I think@jeff's said in the past that doing something similar to TNT is certainly something that's on their minds, but we know they're thinkin about doing a lot of things right now. Videos where the crew get out there and film video game related stories is something I'm particularly hoping comes to fruition, moreso than having extra coverage of new releases. Getting more stuff like Building the Bastion, the travelogues, event videos, or whatever other interesting videos they can create that aren't just playing more of the same game, sounds like a fantastic way to both highlight what's great about Giant Bomb and set themselves apart from the droves of Let's Plays and Quick Look-esque videos that are out there now.

Greater depth could be cool, but doing more videos of the same games doesn't automatically mean greater depth. I think it'd be more interesting if they focused on putting out those creative videos that only Giant Bomb can put out, while maybe also expanding their quick look coverage. Another editor and producer will hopefully mean they can do just that.

I also wish they'd put out more long-form written content (like Guns of Navarro, cc: @alex), but I realize it's towards video content that this whole "games coverage" thing is headed, or already at. Still, I enjoy a well-written piece every now and again, and Giant Bomb's got some fantastic writers.

Patrick and His Dog Play Joust Episode 38

@theht: FUUUUUUUUCK! I completely forgot that they even did TNT's! Jesus christ, the more I think about the more I am realizing just how fucking important that show was to the site. GOD DAMMIT!

Why are they not doing those any more?!

EDIT: By the way, partially my fault. :)

These threads have a faulty premise, because they assume that they know what anyone at Giant Bomb is doing at any given time. Video content is assumed to be proportional to hours spent at the office, or quantified by X amount of words on a page. It's assumed that the point of someone being at the office is to produce entertaining content. Giant Bomb's employees are called "lazy", and those whose names are not directly attached to work have their work ethic questioned.

The fact is that we do not know what is done at the office unless a camera captures it or someone writes about it. Just because we aren't immediately privy to office happenings doesn't mean that there are none. I don't purport to know what is happening, but my point is that neither should anyone else. What of meetings? Emails? Time spent maintaining relationships with developers and their ilk? What if they are changing Giant Bomb completely? Battling corporate for more bandwidth, money, space, people, etc.? These things also take time, along with plenty of other responsibilities wedo not know of.

Secondly, the difference between GB and homegrown efforts (not to be confused with Rooster Teeth or like corporate entities) is that homegrown videos are produced by people on their free time, not for their job. Some people have free time that can be greater than their workday, if they let it, by sacrificing sleep or other responsibilities. These people can put out videos in their 'spare time' that wow us with their length, and perhaps these videos also come at a steady pace at the cost of the producers' social lives or health. I would never expect that of someone who is already doing that for a living. We might think that video games are awesome and fun and we'd like nothing more than to get paid to play them, but comparing GB to the homegrown community is like saying that GB employees need to start working off the clock.

We don't know what the workload is like at GB, or what the circumstances are. We can be dissatisfied with the result of the workload and circumstances, whatever they are, but we shouldn't presume to know what they are and judge GB employees with that 'knowledge'.

I don't think the comparisons you're making to various youtube groups really hold up. Giant Bomb has leaned that way a bit, but at the end of the day they're still a press outlet while those guys are pure entertainment. For those guys videos are the point, for Giant Bomb videos are the best way to make the point.

I can understand if you would like to see them change their focus, but it seems misguided to call them lazy for not doing something they aren't trying to do.

I personally want more content about old games, not more videos of new games. I've found the podcast to be the most enduringly enjoyable content Giant Bomb produces, and I also like going back to the edited pieces they used to do such as TANG and old video reviews. Back when more careful consideration went into a video than just some footage of a game with people talking over it. You weren't wrong in comparing that kind of content to YouTube, that manner of game coverage is a dime a dozen dozen.

That mention of more spoilercasts is something I would back one hundred percent. I often listen to older podcasts and they did one for SPORE, a game I guess was hyped at the time but it struck me as novel now six years later. I don't mind having more explicit discussions about games as the stories don't exactly matter most of the time. Even something like The Last of Us, Walking Dead or LA Noire would have been nice to hear about in more detail.

@kcin: @kjebka: When I said lazy, I was specifically talking about GB as an "entity", as an idea. Conceptually, a video game website that sort of is a press site but that press shit is really just an excuse for entertaining guys to talk about video games is great, but it is very lazy for them to also use the press thing as a crutch when they don't want to make more content. They rarely review games, and they have one guy who writes articles. They are only a press site because it gets them free games and press access and they know that. At the end of the day they are really a video game entertainment site.

kcin, the argument there really just comes down to "We don't know how they spend their time.". You're right, we totally don't, but that doesn't change the fact that many people feel there is a large lack in content. Maybe they need to fix some shit internally (like they are with hiring new people) if they seriously cant find the time to make more content. Does it make any sense at all for a video game website based around personality driven video coverage to be too busy to make said videos? No, that's fucking crazy, but that seems like it is a legitimate problem here.

I would say how I really feel about this thread, but I'm pretty sure it would at least partially run up against the site rules on not disparaging fellow members.

All I'll say is that your premise seems inherently flawed and appears to be based more off a lack of understanding and an odd sense of entitlement than anything to do with just how much work the Giant Bomb crew do. I won't fall back on the tired "if you think others can do it better, then leave" argument, but your core point about desiring more video content of the latest games is a bit buried beneath layers of baseless assumptions about what the staff actually do and what site they have clearly wanted Giant Bomb to be.

If all you wanted to do was suggest that you wish they did more coverage of recent games, I'd probably be on board with you, but presenting your uninformed opinions alongside so many demeaning comments about the staff and how hard they work makes this extremely hard to take seriously. I am embarrassed to see posts like these which give a bad name to the many Giant Bomb members which offer genuinely considerate criticism and advice to the staff.

Have GB ever done multiple videos of the same game on a regular basis? I can't remember that ever being the case, except for a few games at the time (like they're doing now).

I'll answer that for you: No, not really.

I get that people want more content, that's fair. But talking about them covering new games multiple times on a regular basis is just wanting the site to be something it has never been. Also, I have a problem with the people throwing around the world "lazy" here.

By "most" you mean, youtubers right? The reason they do it is to make youtube ad money off you by playing the latest of every game and uploading it in 100 videos. The reason the guys have done multiple look videos before is because they personally want to play through it (Dark Souls, Breaking Brads, Endurance), not to make cash off of uploading MGS: Ground Zeros in twenty different parts with a 20 second ad roll before each video.

You are still making a lot of assertions about their thoughts and business practices, about which you know nothing. Who has said that there is less video content because of "the press thing"? Who said that they only use their press role to get free games? How many times has a staff member said they went out and bought a game, or worse, a console? At best, CBS might consider these purchases a business write-off, and at worst CBS doesn't reimburse them (yet another unknown), but they are certainly not getting flooded with free games besides what their press Steam account allows. Besides that, we are seeing a large amount of Quick Looks on consoles, even for games which have PC versions.

You seem to understand that you don't know what is happening, if anything is happening at all for that matter, but you are still saying things that suggest that you do think you know what's happening. This is a commonality shared by all complaint threads like this, and it should be dropped, because it results in character critiques that aren't fair or, likely, even accurate. Feel that there is too little content for your tastes. That's fine, you're entitled to that. But don't assert that you know why.

That damn Persona 4 Endurance Run is both the biggest gift and the biggest curse to this site.

I don't think Giant Bomb is ever going to turn into the "Let's Play" (...I hate that term) factory that you seem to want, and I personally don't want it to ever be that. There are more than enough people out there flooding YouTube with that stuff, and I'd much rather see Giant Bomb continue to explore the full breadth of games out there. Whether it be the latest indie games or literally dozens of hours of an all but forgotten NeoGeo game, I'm along for that ride.

The bustling "Let's Play" business on Twitch and YouTube make it clear that many people don't agree, but I personally still enjoy playing games myself, so I'm not all that interested in watching people play through the entirety of the latest releases.

All that being said, if this is going to continue to stray from the subject of the OP and become largely just about the same subjects covered in this other currently active thread, this is probably going to get locked.

"With as many staff as GB has..."

2 video producers, 2 Editors in San Fran, a news/interview guy and Alex. If you think that' many then I have news for you. And remember that Jeff is currently in meetings a lot of time dealing with how to bring in the new hires and all the typical managerial BS he has to do. Even when they had Ryan they were a very small site.

Comparing them to youtube folks who churn out content is misrepresentative as well. Those videos are recorded in huge batches, diced up and delivered over time. GB will just dump whole sessions in one go. Most YT people have far less admin BS to deal with since for the most part they are still just hobbyists doing it for themselves. The whole production model is completely different and that's before we look at the areas outside of video production that GB also tries to do like the Bombcast, a weekly 2-3 hour podcast that needs all hands on deck plus post editing. Then there's the live content, special events they travel too with even more lengthy podcasts...

There's justification to talk about low content at GB but comparing them to youtubers is incredibly flawed and suggesting they have a large staff is hilarious.