Is it really worth it for GB to go to PAX?

No way to know for sure before they get there. PAX controls which rooms have live streaming, so they won't know until they get there.

It's on Friday night, don't remember the exact time but just look at the schedule. Jeff will probably give an heads up on Twitter, and if there's decent wi-fi in there he'll stream the panel on his Mixlr as a backup (and they'll record it and upload it on the site no matter what).

Personally, I'd prefer if they didn't bother going to E3/PAX/GDC/whatever, but it's not really a huge deal. Also, I'm not privy to the stats, so for all I know, it's good for business.

If they didn't think it was worth it they wouldn't go.

From a business standpoint stuff like the premium member meetup they did last PAX prime (and I think maybe there was a sale around the same time?) probably brings in a lot more new users than a single UPF, I'm guessing. And going to an event that fans can also attend and are able to go up and say hi and stuff generates a lot of goodwill, even people who can't go can see the panel and hear stories about PAX on the bombcast and forums and that probably has a very positive impact on plenty of folks.

@teddie: Doesn't look like a ton is going on to me, suppose "a lot" of content means different things to different people though.

I personally don't like any of the PAX content that gets produced but I do think it's cool the GB guys get to connect with some of the community on a more personal level. That being said several PAX shows a year is a bit much. I think it's pretty weak but that just my personal opinion as I'm sure there are a decent number of folks who like the content or don't care either way.

Man, y'all's crazy. Crazy! PAX Panels are always a GB highlight. Where else can you see such breast-milk-drinkin', Dave-Lang-bottle-smashin', Firewatch-not-knowing-what-is....in', Brad-twerkin' madness?

Seriously, though. Look at how much content we get every year. Even if the PAX stuff does nothing for you, it's a tiny drop in the bucket. A slightly emptier week or two really isn't a big deal.

And besides, they did a great job of making sure we got stuff to watch this week while they're out. Hell, we're getting MORE stuff this week than we do on some "regular" weeks.

It's probably a good way to expand our ever-growing army of duders, as well. I'm sure a number of people go into GB panels with no idea what a "Giant Bomb" even is, but they just wanted to see a panel and picked this one.

People like them so yes it is worth it I would think. Personally I would be more interested in the panels if they didn't do one every 3-6 months. They literally just did one less than 2 months ago. Since there is so many I kinda just pass on them and wait for other content.

@teddie: Your picture is the most logical response on the whole site and barely anyone cares. I care ted. I care.

@mortface: I always feel like they put up extra content whenever a pax is happening.This week we got two episodes of MG scanlon with one extra coming, a 45 min interview with Harmonix, the usual amount of quicklooks, a feature about Monster Hunter and a 3+ hour episode of the bombcast. I don't think it's warrented to act like they do a bad job of providing content whenever a PAX comes around.

GB is a personality/audience/community driven site so it makes sense that they take the opportunities afforded to them to get out there in the wild whenever they can to interact with the audience they make content for.

I understand why they go, but it would be nice if maybe they picked just one PAX to go to and then maybe be able to cover gamescon or tgs

The amount of hours of content over the last 2 weeks has been obscene.

Frankly, I'm glad of the break so I can catch up!

I like the content that comes out of PAX so don't number me among your sad 1000.

It was ~really~ fucking rad meeting those guys at PAX south. So I say yes, 100%.

While I have never really been into the event coverage content, GB not going to events/conferences is a really bad idea. Regardless of the community thing, it's just a something professional people do and get a lot out of. Also, we literally drowning in content at the moment, I remember when a quick look per day was a good week for GB.

I never had any interest in PAX so yes, I wish they wouldnt go. Usually it ends up in very little content on the site and then a new podcast full of them talking about PAX which can get quite boring. I know others disagree, but I was never interested in anything PAX, even though I do enjoy indie games.

Hopefully with two teams it will be better now.

I've been to 2 PAX Easts (all the way from Australia) and loved being at the GB panel and meeting the guys. The site benefits from it because the team gets to play lots of games and give us plenty of impressions. So yes, I think it is worth GB attending PAX.

It's fine, and going to these events must be nice for them. Meet fans, get out of the office, mingle with other videogamesmen. We get some video out of it.

Seems alright.

@lvl3bard: That's a little bit of shitty and closed-minded thing to say. Is it so offensive to you that people have opinions that differ from yours despite having expressed them in a generally respectful and honest manner?

No one is demanding anything from the GB guys or acting like the are owed anything so your post is ridiculous and contributes nothing to the conversation. Plenty of people love the PAX stuff GB does and plenty of people are not that crazy about it or don't care. Either way I see nothing wrong with having a conversation about something like the PAX shows among the GB community. That's no doubt one of the many ways the guys directing the site adapt and grow along with their community and fans.

I'm not crazy about the PAX stuff myself but if that's what the guys want to do then I probably wont watch it but I'll still happily support the site and continue watching the content I am interested in. That kinda thing doesn't really bum me out at all, what I do get a little bummed out by and find to be pretty petty/sad are some of the comments in these forums. Anytime a conversation or question comes up that is even the slightest bit critical of something relating to GB there some people who just feel the need to post non-constructive trite with the sole purpose of belittling or insulting the people they don't agree with. The vast majority of dudes on this site, and on these forums, are reasonable and tolerant people who are willing to have a conversation about a topic like adults. But then there are the people who just want to act ignorant and toss out insults and those dudes suck.

Anyways, I've said my piece. These forums are in no way unique when it comes to this issue. In the end the internet is going to be be the internet.

/rant.

I think GDC is more entertaining for people who are watching on the site, PAX is better for being there live. That said, I would have preferred GDC, the Pax wrestling stuff doesn't interest me in the slightest, I actually find it pretty lame.

UPF's have been really lackluster for ages now, just like how TNT started to feel tired near the end of it's run. PAX is a unique event that doesn't happen all that often and I honestly can't imagine why anyone would prefer a UPF over the PAX panel which is almost always awesome apart from the Q&A which continues it's tradition of raising hairs on the back of your neck with it's awkwardness.

@jrm: I didnt read most of your ridiculous rant. But how dare Giant Bomb do something I dont want them to!

Eh. I love the panel shows. More please!

Personally?

The big problem I have with events is that they don't really get much out of them that they couldn't get from just stealing GS's news feed for a week. While I'm sure they enjoy seeing their friends at big gaming events again, more often then not the news they pull out of stuff like E3/PaX is underwhelming, and barely ends up making up for the cost of them disappearing a whole week/how much they probably spend going to these events.

The one exception to this is PaX panels, because unlike E3, it's actually a fan orientated event. So it's nice they get a chance to interact with their fanbase, and do PaX panels answering questions. Being honest I don't watch these panels live, instead opting to wait for the highlight reel videos thanks to how awkward people can be/how questions keep getting reasked, but it's something the crew feels passionate about, more power to them.

I'd much rather they start skipping out on E3, and instead just focus on PaX.

Also while this week is different, I do have to agree with the OP. For most of the previous PaX/E3 events, GB stopped producing content 1-2 days before, would go to the 2-3 day event, then you'd have 1-2 more days of dead air before they finally started producing content again. Worse if they came back into a weekend! As someone who has no interest in these events even though I live in Seattle, it really bummed me out. However it seems with two video production pipelines, they are able to backlog a significant amount of content beforehand now, and as long as this keeps up for future events, I don't really care that much what they do.

Yeah they do plenty of paxes, missing out of the GDC couch stuff this was was the wrong choise in my opinion. I am for variety in content.

Also when they do panels that wont be recoded thats the most annoying. Im sure they can manage to just set up 1 static camera with OK sound.

As a foreigner, I was never a fan of PAX, but I tolerated it because we got the panels out of them. This may sound harsh or selfish, but I've lost interest in them. I just don't think they're that special and entertaining anymore. They're like regular podcasts, only worse. Lots of talking about 'the show floor' and games I don't care about, the whole wrestling event that got old after the first time, friends of the site I don't know and don't want to know... On top of that, the site takes a noticebale hit whenever the crew needs to go somewhere, and that is no different for PAX.
So no, if I were in charge, I'd say it's not worth it anymore. I agree that a change of pace is good for the site, but maybe they should do something other than PAX every single time.
There's probably other places to go or cool trips to make videos about. I'd rather see the crew play games on rollercoasters again or something silly like that.

I don't think PAX panels are as fun to watch as they were in the Ryan Davis years, but I'm all for the staff doing something different. With Alex and Vinny still reduced to less important Quick Looks, GB is kind of stale unless you like everything Dan does (I don't, unless it's MGS or Demo Derby).

The PAX Rumble is kind of a mess, and it just seems like unless you are a part of the main GB clique, you're just some random person in the industry that they needed to fill in space to play out their little stories. Team GFB pretty much ruined the fun last time, and I don't think it played off as well as they wanted it to. Especially when three dudes established in the industry throw out a few women players in a row (especially Samantha, who was doing so well). I know it was all coincidental, but it couldn't have come at a worse time. I probably won't be watching the next one; it feels like the joke has run it's course last year.

But anyway, most years it is barren during PAX/GDC, but they seem to have everything covered this week. Most years they start off strong during January and February, and then March happens with all the conventions, and then they come back and forget all the content they started with, and hardly anything is put out for months and everyone complains.

Its easy to say for us that can't go to PAX, but for those close its an amazing opportunity to meet the guys and interact more with the site than ever before.
I gladly miss one UPF for the stuff that comes from PAX, even if most if it I don't even get to enjoy.

@humanity said:

Really? Seems to me like it's constantly PAX somewhere.

I find GDC a far more interesting convention. Especially given the announcements coming out of there this year.

I was going to disagree, but then this:

Yeah, I would rather see them go to those than PAX. They could produce so much more content going to those than simply a panel.

They should have gone to GDC, I always liked hearing Ryan and Jeff's opinions about it.

They meet fans and get to talk to industry people so yeah I think its worth it.

Can't explain how hard I rolled my eyes at this. Team GFB was the best part of it and they helped set up some dumb stuff for this weekend. I'm excited.

Yeah, talk about sucking the fun out of something.

It's worth it for them to go to industry events but it's obvious they're limited in how many they can attend and i'd much rather they vary a bit more than continue to go to every Pax out there. At this pace there's going to be 17 different Pax in a couple years.

I wish they'd go to TGS or Gamescon instead.

Pax seems to be basically just one big fan meet up for them which they could probably do on their own if they wanted to.

@pcorb said:

@humanity said:

PAX is a unique event that doesn't happen all that often

Really? Seems to me like it's constantly PAX somewhere.

I find GDC a far more interesting convention. Especially given the announcements coming out of there this year.

Taking under consideration I was thinking of PAX's that the Bomb guys go to, even that aside, 5 out of 365 days in a year still isn't all that often.

I think TNT could be really great if they retooled it. It would be like a call in show but with playing games.

@ejc93 said:

But also, TNT made sense in the Xbox Live times when playing online with GB watchers made sense as a segment. With the rise of local co-op it makes sense to do that instead as part of UPF.

And about PAX... eh, the panels are fun most of the time. I think depending on the instance we get decent backup stuff or it turns out to be a slow week, but as long as their PAX stuff makes it to the site I'm cool.

Except the Paxamania stuff, because screw wrestling.

Also, I agree with @baal_sagoth that the US convention scene is kind of out of control and gets very navel-gazey when seen from the EU, but hey, it's a big country and having that travelling circus going allows people to have that experience. It does happen in Europe as well, but with the language barrier it can't build up that sense of scale and "have to be there" in the industry/press types. I... kinda wish it did, actually.

I would have to say no. Pax is usually one of the more boring shows imo (not as big as E3, not as crazy as TGS) and the panels/live bombcasts tend to be a bit cringe inducing.

I think they did a good job keeping the content flowing while they were at PAX this time. I'd prefer GDC content but it sounds like that would be difficult to make happen since both conventions are happening simultaneously.

@lvl3bard: It's ok bud, no worries. I wasn't posting for your benefit anyhow.

I was thinking of this topic when the questions part of the latest pannel started. I'm gonna have to agree with OP just so we never have to hear anymore god awful questions from the crowd.

It was incredibly difficult to listen to, jeff going "what am I supposed to say? This is fucked!" summed the whole thing up pretty nicely. I didn't envy him on stage

@oscar__explosion: That obvious ethics question troll was painful. Props to Jeff for not giving the little weasel any more recognition than he had to.

The panel felt like a big bummer to me this year... the first segment was arguably the most interesting (the Groundhog Day like game seemed neat), but otherwise the whole prank on Dan segment felt mean in a way. Like it felt like they were just making fun of Dan the whole time for no real reason. The Q&A was atrocious, but I guess it's never been very good, and the wrestling segment felt too long, and fell kinda flat compared to previous years. Also we really spent like 10 minutes listening to Jeff read Tim Allen's book? I mean it was funny, i guess... but not exactly what I go to GB for. The whole thing felt very thrown together, and that's fine... it just felt like nobody at the table really wanted to be there.

After that panel I would say 'No, No, oh god no, please no!'

The panel wasn't fantastic but it had some redeeming bits. Win Dave Lang's Money was fantastic and credit to Dan for playing along. The wrestling stuff, at the end, fell flat but Greg is honestly pretty great on the mic. He could totally cut it as a manager if he wanted to. Get that dude to Hoodslam.

The beginning was kind of just the podcast but in front of bunch of people, which made it awkward. And the Q&A, by god. That had to be the worst one yet. Getting up there is nerve racking, I understand that. But for the love of god, just keep your question simple and get out of there. The guy who asked "what's better The Rock, the wrestler or The Rock, the movie?" Perfect. Unique question, kind of jokey but legit enough that people can actually respond and most importantly, short, succinct and to the point. Do not get up and say shit like "WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH AIR FORCE GATOR?" like these guys are your best friends. And that "how do I not look like a dumbass guy?"... I just felt bad for all involved. I didn't know my body was capable of cringing that much.

I love the guys and all, but something about the panel rubs me the wrong way. Its a become a bit too much of a cult of personality or whatever for my taste. Maybe I am just being a "hipster" dbag about it. I just remember back in the day being drawn to the site because of the crew seeming like ordinary/funny down to earth guys who knew a lot about video games and the industry. Watching the panel I realize that they are like internet celebrities now and when Jeff talks about branching out and doing other stuff I am both excited and a little "afraid" of what that might be. Maybe I am just a dude who is afraid of his favorite site changing too much.

I mean I can certainly appreciate the panel for what it is and draw a lot of entertainment from it (Tim Allens fucking creepy book for instance). And I realize that the people there are just like myself, fans of the site. So in a way I am glad that giantbomb has found so much success even if the celebration of the guys and their personas can be a bit too much when it comes to panel shit like this.

I hope they keep going. I plan on going to PAX for the first time in Seattle and it would be great to see them live.