Jeff on Burnout Paradise's 10th anniversary. Also almost 10 years since the founding of this webiste

I was just thinking last night that it has been aproximetly 10 years since Obama had became a president. 10 years.

For those who don't know, Burnout Paradise has a big influence on this website. The first Quick Look was for BP Bikes and numerous times the game has been reffered to as the game of that generation (alongside Geometry Wars, RDR).

The podcast Jeff reffers to aired on the 22nd of January, 10 years ago. He talks about what he is up to, at that point, at 55:15, for those wanting to hear it.

As you can imagine the industry was in a totally differnt place - just of the heels of COD4, which Jeff reffers to as one of the most influencial games of 2007. And hey, he was right. People were apparently devided on AC 1. We can see what Ubisoft did with that. The Orange Box came out. Also this was months before GTA 4 came out - how fucking crazy was that game? Oh, BTW, this was a year before Minecraft was made as well. Fuck.

A crazy, compared to today, topic on the podcast was how Vivendi had a stake in Activision and how EA might want to buy Ubisoft in the future. Those prognostics turned out different, ha? Anynody remeber the rumours that EA was also going to buy Rockstar at around the same time? Hm.

Another topic was about how there're so many Wii remote games, which is crazy to think about these days. But they were talking about it 2 years after the Wii came out. In my mind the gap between 2005 and 2007 is soo huge, granted I was 11 then.

So, where were you and what were you doing at the beggining of 2008? Because Jeff was thinking about making something new and different.

I was in 5th grade.

Things have changed.

At the beginning of 2008 I was moving back in to my mom's house after a horribly wasteful and listless first semester at college and planting the seeds for my account on RateYourMusic and ~seven year period writing for PopMatters.

Still haven't graduated college, never went any further with the writing-about-culture thing. I do live on my own, though.

Good gravy, time flies. I was never personally a huge fan of Paradise (open-world racing... not my jam), but I do remember downloading the demo and spending a lot of time drooling over the deformation physics. Today I somehow own three or four copies of the game over various services since they were giving it out like candy at one point.

I was 21 at the time, which in itself is crazy to think about. I didn't discover GB for another couple of years (and didn't join the forums for at least a year after that), but I was following Gerstmanngate and all that and cheering Jeff on for sticking to his guns. I was dabbling in writing reviews for a couple of small sites myself, and I saw Jeff as a big influence on my own review ethic.

Now here I am, turning 32 in July, and it's too early in the morning to be this introspective, so I'll leave it there. Last thing I want to do right now is think too hard on what I have to show for the past decade, haha.

In January 2008 I was in Tokyo with my brothers and we were watching TV at the early hours of the morning and heard that Heath Ledger had died. The rest of the day was a blur but I distinctly remember that.

Burnout Paradise has most definitely not aged well. I tried going back a few years back and even then it felt like a very old game.

On the other hand congrats on the anniversary and making something great from the ground up.

Seems like a lot of "10 year anniversaries" are happening around me this year. I thought I came into GB super late but I guess it was only a bit over a year after they started up. Still miss the (weirdly) comforting feeling of the old basement digs, but hey, they finally got that GBWest studio decorated.

I barely remember anything about 2008 since I was halfway through highschool and who remembers any of that shit anyway? Only thing I can distinctly remember is the conversation/sequence of events that led to me meeting one of the most important people in my life.

July 22, 2008. Mark it in your calendars. The birth of a gaming bastion about hamburgers and occasionally video games.

Man I was a senior at Florida State, and I think the summer of '09 I heard of Dragon Age and got super hyped for it and discovered this website for the first time because of it....

In 2008 I was interning at a city hall.

I was in law school and barely had any time for games but did carve out some time to mess around in Burnout Paradise from Gamefly I think.

Just started a new job after leaving the military. Hadn't played many games the past 4 years but would get back into it later that year with Left 4 Dead and Fallout 3. I distinctly remember watching Breaking Bad, Scrubs, and How I Met Your Mother over that winter.

The only thing I remember about the first couple years this site was in existence is a workup and deployment to Iraq

I was a University in 2008 (2nd year of 3). GTA 4 was the first and only game I went to a midnight launch to buy.

Still the best driving game ever.

Happy Anniversary GB!!!!

By 2008 I was in my second year of college, and would be moving back in at home. The dorm life was cool, but it was expensive and I had lost my taste for it. I was still working part time at Disneyland. I was probably working crowd control for one of the big night shows they do.

The first Bombcast episode I recall listening to was actually in early 2009. I was looking for a podcast about video games when someone in another forum recommended Giant Bomb saying it was brand new. If my memory serves me correctly, it was the one where they talked about "Podcasting ON THE MOON!"
I instantly fell in love ever since.

I remember getting into On The Spot some time before this all went down (when Rich was hosting), and the firing being the first time I was close to some kinda crazy corporate shenanigans, and teenage me being all low-key riled up about it.

Hard to believe it's been over a decade of tuning in to these folks.

In 2008 I was a Junior in college and followed Gerstmann and Davis to Arrow Pointing Down and then GiantBomb. I had been a follower of Gerstmann and Gamespot since middle school/high school - I listened to the first episode of the Hotspot and watched the first episode of The Spot!

I was also an assistant manager of an amazing Gamestop - we for real had amazing customers and cool not shit head employees in my college town. And I threw some fucking awesome fighting game tournaments every other month at the store - which became huge. Like, we would have 50-100 people hanging outside of the Gamestop waiting for their turn on some weekends. I have some great memories of that time in my life and met lots of cool duders.

@humanity: I'm really surprised you would say that. I played Paradise again last year and was amazed at just how well it has aged. Maybe playing it on PC makes a difference though.

@coryukin: I played it on PC as the bundle was cheap on some Steam sale and no, it definitely didn’t hold up for me. It’s a very empty, dead looking open world that doesn’t really do the game any favors. Of course opinions and all that but I wasn’t very impressed especially after hearing the enthusiastic praise the game receives whenever it’s mentioned on the site - but I’m sure it’s just one of those things inherent to their group that they remember fondly. I think Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 hold up incredibly well for RPGs that were released in the late 90’s but I’m sure that’s just my love of those games putting some rose tinted glasses over my eyes.

Ohh, 2008. I was probably working a desk job somewhere. If that sounds vague, it's because when you almost hit 30, life just becomes an indistinct blur.

Also, I remember when this website was about energy drinks, wrestling and speedy race cars. And I remember when the icons for moderators were purple instead of blue.

Man, 2008. Good year, though I didn't get into Giant Bomb until 2009 (pretty sure my first exposure was the Bombcast episode where Vinny said "cunt"). I started my first year of high school in the fall, which coincided with the beginning of my gaming career. I played the first hour of Oblivion at a friend's house sometime in September and walking out of that sewer for the first time was practically a religious experience. That vista of the lake and the dock and the island ruin with the mountains sketched across the horizon branded itself on my brain like few other things have.

GameSages was awesome, I wish that thing stuck around for a bit longer. At the time, mixing different websites felt like some forbidden thing so I listened to these a bunch of times.

Hmm, I had been listening to the hotspot a few years before Giantbomb, so I was super happy that the gang was getting back together in 2008. In 2008 I was 16. wow. I was working at a pizza shop which was a funny, dumb job. Since then I finished high school, finished uni, lived in China, lived in Korea, got engaged, got married and now I'm set to move to the states in 3 months. LIFE.

I listened to the bombcast and tried to watch everything the guys put out along the way. This website is awesome and you guys are awesome. Here's to another 10!

I started university in 2008 which was the period I almost completely fell off games for a good couple of years. The one exception through this time was Burnout Paradise. I played an absurd amount of it over a 2 year period despite not having an internet connection to my PS3 meaning I completely missed what many consider to be one of the best parts of the game. I believe I eventually got 100% of everything but my launch PS3 eventually gave out so I lost the save.

10 years ago I was a freshman in college.That's around the time when I first started going to giant bomb and listening to their podcast. Wow, time really creeps up on you. Doesn't it?

10 years ago I was getting super hyped about Persona 4 and not having a clue Giant Bomb existed until like a year later when I stumbled upon their Endurance Run.

I was aware of the site since 2009 or so but didn't create an account and start actively listening to the podcast and coming to the site until December 2011. It's been a great run so far and here's to 10 more years.

I didn't discover the site until 2011, but in 2008 I was primed and ready to discover GB. I remember in May/June of '08, I was home sick from my first year of college and just wanted the fuck out. All I did was play video games and chill until the semester would be over. Around that time I first heard of a, I think its called a podcast? Anyways, for whatever dumb reason I only listened to sports podcasts for years until I got sick of those and thought, maybe there might be a podcast about video games, and I like those. And thus in late June of 2011 I searched video games in the itunes podcasts and my life really changed.

I do believe in fate to a degree, and if I found GB before I ever met my wife, I would be a very different person honestly, just so happens that I met my future wife two months before I discovered GB.

I was unemployed, probably. Also knee-deep in playing WoW and dating, so it could’ve been worse.

Think I discovered GB in 2010.

Burnout 3 is a better game then paradise !

there i said it.

Agreed, althought part of the reason people like it so much is due to the online which I didnt touch.

I think I was just starting college when this came out, not too sure.

I was unemployed but had more hair. I've been meaning to replay Paradise.

I was 17, very soon 18, and was midway through high school. I had been following Gamespot for years and remember being really happy that Jeff and Ryan had come together at Arrow Pointing Down. At the time San Francisco and Jeff and Ryan's antics seemed like magical faraway land, which I guess it kinda was because it was halfway accros the Earth from me.

Much like Zeik, and probably many others, my experience with Giantbomb started with the Persona 4 Endurance Run. I never actually finished watching it, I should do that, but it was the stepping stone that made me decide to make an account. I've only really gotten active in the site's community and videos last year though.

I was 17 and had recently returned from Christmas vacation. I think that was my second year of High School. At the time, I don't think I had heard of Giant Bomb yet - I'd come along sometime during 2009 or 2010, through a link to the Dead or Alive Xtreme quick look for PSP and the P4 Endurance Run. Never was one of those guys that came along from the Gamespot days, my gaming sites of choice until then had been a local site, Gamespy and the Escapist.

I didn't get a 360 until 2011, and only had a Wii as a then current gen console - so for two years or so I listened to the Giant Bombcast with zero idea of what most of those games were like besides the occasional video and the podcast. In retrospect, that made me able to listen to discussions about those games without ever being upset that they covered it shallowly or didn't represent what I felt about it.

I have yet to play Burnout Paradise.

Calling COD4 one of the most influential games of 2007 is understating it a little. Pretty sure he's gone further than that.

In 2008 I was starting my 3rd year of High School and was actually listening to the podcast that Jeff linked to, gonna have to give that another listen. Other than that, I was probably downloading an Apollo Justice trailer from GameTrailers and putting it on a zip disk so I could watch said trailer on my Windows 98 computer I had in my room at the time. I think I was also figuring out how to use Kega Fusion so I could play Snatcher and was getting really hyped about the upcoming release of the Mother 3 fan translation (which I have still not finished to this day).

Oh yeah and I was checking Nintendo's Smash Bros website every week to get new information on Brawl.

Man, I'm old. I was married, corporate job and just had my first kid. I've been with the duders from the beginning. In fact, they helped me through sleepless nights as a new dad and kept me up to speed on gaming when free time was at a minimum. Also, paradise is still amazing.

@froghourt said:

Very close to my own story.

Also you are right...and Revenge is better than both.

No! FUCK YOU!! Paradise ISN'T 10 years old already!!! (And Burnout 3 even older oh god death take me now)

Also between it (I'm not fond of it but I will admit it's still a damn good looking game) and Crysis it really seems like there isn't that big of a gulf in graphics fidelity between then and now, which is strange.

I was just starting where i still currently work, and still live with my parents.


The more things change, the more they stay the same.

2008 was probably the turning point in my life since I got my first programming job as a high school dropout. I only encountered the site in 2012 though, so it'd be a couple of years until I got to know Jeff & co.

In 2008 I was a senior in high school. I had a full time job at a Del Taco also so didn't have much time for games. Although I do remember playing a lot of Guitar Hero.

I feel like I came really late to the website. I didn't discover Giant Bomb until I was searching for a gaming podcast in early 2014. I remember this because Dan Ryckert just got hired and was thinking to myself how crazy his eating habits were. I wish I found this site earlier, I feel like I missed a lot of good years, but it's better to have found and love then to have never found at all.

Both of you duders are correct.

2008 I was in college. I remember playing a good amount of Burnout Paradise, a lot of COD4, and still playing Halo 2 with friends. Oh and we also made ourselves in NCAA Football and we were all amazing.

10 years is a long time in the IT world. If I look back, this past decade has mostly been about the rise of the smartphones/smart devices I guess. Iphone launched in 2007.

.

Eww no. Traffic checking and the increased leniency/'nudging' when it came to crashing were detrimental to the game. 3 is the absolute pinnacle of the series and perhaps the greatest arcade racer ever made in my opinion.