New GB fans - How did you become a fan?

I have noticed recently a number of folks on the forums/in comments/etc. saying that they are new to the site. I have been following Jeff and the guys for than 10 years, since they were at Game Spot, so the idea of being a new GB fan is kind of mind boggling for me.

So how the hell did you get here?! There are so many websites about games, and given that Quick Looks are 30-90+ minutes long, you have to dedicate some time to get a feel for the overall voice of the site.

What drove you here? Why did you stay? I'd love to hear a newcomers perspective on the site.

I was poking around in XBMC and I saw that Giant Bomb was a video plug-in. The plug-in said it was a site about video games, and hey, I like video games. I went to Quick Look section and saw the video game "Michael Phelps: In the Zone." Having no idea what to expect, I pressed play.

In less than 5 minutes, I was doubled over in laughter with Vinny and Ryan playing the Kinect game. My wife wanted to know what was so funny, so I played the video again. I laughed even harder the second time. That weekend, I watched the Quick Looks that XBMC featured.

On Monday, I checked the website, and I was blown away with the amount of Quick Looks that were completed. I read the articles and I told myself, "I found a new video game site."

Endurance Run!

(My heart belongs to giant bomb)

Dan.

I was a big fan of Dan's at GI, especially for the Replay stuff, so when I saw that he was moving to GiantBomb, I came over to see what the site was about. Never going back.

Danny O'Dywer form his days in Gamespot Uk

This is fascinating! I used to watch Game Informer's Replay show for a while, and Dan was easily my favorite contributor.

I wonder how many people migrated over with you.

Which one, if you don't mind me asking?

Persona 4. It was a bad time in my life, and the ER was a daily thing that was there for me.

I was browsing iTunes for new podcasts about video games to listen to and the bombcast was pretty popular and I've listened to it ever since. Funnily enough, I didn't actually visit the site itself until mid-2011, a year and half after I started listening.

Also for some reason until I started watching site content I thought Brad was everyone's boss and Jeff was this wacky fun personality that Brad had hired to spice up the site. No idea why I thought that for so long.

The podcast brought me in, I was listening to Epic Battle Axe at the time it was ok and wanted more so I looked up video game podcasts.

Found the A-10 flight club video on youtube. Checked out the site and found that they all are seemingly apathetic towards video games and take nothing in this industry seriously, which is my style. Also, they spend more time not talking about video games which is what I enjoy the most. I really don't even watch QL's unless it's a game I'm considering buying. The Podcasts are great for my 2 hours of commuting a day too.

For the most part, I don't really like games all that much because I don't like people that play video games. Generally they are too long and I don't have time for them. Expect I did make time for MGSV, but it still took me forever. I stick to racing games (Shout out to the Giant bomb Forza 6 racenight on thursdays), yearly shooters hook up with friends for about 2-3 weeks and never play them again after launch (COD, Destiny, Halo), and love a good indie darling that isn't platforming or shooting (Kentucky Route Zero, Papers Please). I also don't really consider Kerbal Space Program a game, it's more like my Zen Zone of Mathematics.

I became a fan in early 2012 after my son was born super premature and I just needed some levity in my life. More or less just stumbled in.

I dunno that I'm new...but I just recently started poking around in the forums. I joined because of my husband. He's been a fan of the site since it started, and after listening to the bombcast with him and watching quick looks I decided to make my own account. Been here ever since.

I bet a lot of people come in through the podcast.

It's fascinating that you thought Brad was the boss though, especially since Ryan was still hosting the podcast then. It makes sense to a degree. Brad was definitely the most cool-headed of the bunch at the time.

Found the site somewhat randomly and fell in love with the personalities, they could review an actual steaming pile of garbage and I would watch it to completion...they play off each other that good. Been here since the first few months of the site.

I was also a fan since the GameSpot days. Jeff's reviews were always my favorite to read, so when he left, I followed.

So what does "somewhat randomly" mean? Were you looking for videos on YouTube? Searching for a review of something on Google? Clicked through a link on another site?

Sorry if it feels like I'm prying, I'm just curious if you remember.

Not a new fan but this question made me rack my brain for how I became a fan. I used to go on Gamespot some and was kind of aware when Jeff left but I didn't know enough to follow him specifically. I think I just stumbled upon the site or saw someone mention it and was like "oh yeah Jeff's new thing I wonder what that's like" and stayed. That was so long ago I barely remember those days. Maybe I was looking for videos of a specific game or maybe I found the podcast first or something. Hmmm. I also watched XPlay back then and Jeff was on that a few times so maybe it was through that?

I signed up for Premium after seeing Jeff's legs on a livestream.

After buying an iPod back around 09 and poking around the podcasts section I stumbled in their podcast and their coverage of e3. Giantbomb was my first podcast I listened to

I used to follow Gamespot casually back in the day when Brad and Jeff were still there and sort of lost track with the site for a period. I looked up what Jeff was doing and found out about Giantbomb and read up about why he was let go.

@cale: If that's not a reason to be a fan, I don't know what is.

I'm not super new, but I'm not of the Old School.

I was working in a job that allowed me plenty of time (like hours straight) of working by myself not talking to anybody. Turns out those types of gigs are great for podcasts. I was browsing iTunes and saw the Bombcast as one of the more popular gaming podcasts on the service. I started listening to the Bombcast around May 2013, and started watching videos on the site around the PS4 and Xbox One launches. It was sort of like "I had to see these games for myself."

(Funny thing is I almost stopped listening to the podcast after like 2 episodes in. Jeff was being all doom and gloom, saying things like everything is fucked and he wants to see everything all burned down, and on that day I was really not in the best of moods. Hearing somebody talk about how the world and everything in it is fucked is not the most encouraging thing for somebody who is feeling the blues.)

I've been posting more in the forums as of late partially because I got more interested in the community involvement (like stuff that's featured on the community showcase). And as cheesy as it sounds I would like to be one tiny, tiny, tiny part of this site and contribute more to the discussion of things, as opposed to silently watching and listening to content by myself.

It's been 4+ years now, but I started listening to the podcast after Joystiq changed to a terrible format that completely killed any of my interest in their show. I think I picked it because people were posting suggestions in the Joystiq comments about other shows to listen to - i think a LOT of people instantly dropped Joystiq's podcast and were looking to fill the void.

I think I listened to the Bombcast for months before I ever visited the site. Once I watched a few quick looks though I bought a subscription pretty quickly.

Been a fan since 2011.

I was listening to a comicbook related podcast called War Rocket Ajax and at the end of the podcast they have a couple cool mentions. They mentioned the Pax panel in which Ryan read Ice -T's tweets about games out load. I decided to see what those dudes were about and have been a fan ever since.

I started listening to the Bombcast in late 2011 because I wanted a video game podcast. The first episode I listened to started with Brad talking about the (then) new Call of Duty, and because I was a Cool Real Gamer who liked Cool Real Games, my initial impression was that Brad was a big dumb greasy garbage person who did nothing but eat pizza, guzzle beer and chain-smoke while playing loser video games like Call of Duty (which is really funny to think about now, as a.) that is perhaps the most inaccurate depiction of Brad possible and b.) Brad quickly became my favorite member of the GB staff). I stopped listening and shopped around for some other podcasts, but none of them were really doing it for me, so I ended up giving the Bombcast another shot. I skipped past the remainder of Brad's portion of the "What'cha been Playing," and enjoyed everybody else way more than Brad, so I kept listening.

My first time checking out the site was halfway through Lavos Live, and as Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite games of all time, I immediately went back and watched through the entire Endurance Run (probably still my favorite series of GB content), which in turn led me to watching any other video content I could. I got a subscription sometime around late 2012, and the rest is history.

My story is very similar. Back in 2005 when I got my first iPod I found the HotSpot, and when Jeff left GameSpot I followed him here.

@buttle826: Yeah it's really strange looking back on it.I think I thought Brad was the black-haired guy featured on the podcast art that was actually Jeff, and because he was featured prominently my brain just decided that he was the boss.

Gamespot 2001 watched Jeff's GTA3 review I miss the old Gamespot days with Greg Kasvin, Jason Ocampo, Ryan Davis Rip, Ryan McDonald, Carrie Gouskos ect.

Sick filth.

@jec03: that was my 1st video review ever! been a fan ever since.

Persona 4 Endurance Run.

Ryckert.

I was a big fan of his at GameInformer after watching their legendary Overblood Super Replay (Tale of the Sun also being a personal favourite. Damn Joe Juba murdering Ric Flair) One day earlier in the year I noticed I hadn't seen Dan on anything in a while and gleaned from his profile that he had moved over here, a site I knew existed but knew nothing about except that the Kane and Lynch dude worked here now.

A few Quick Looks and Ep. 1 of MGScanlon later I went premium.

I'm originally from gamespot(still have my account there, haven't logged in a while though), but I wasn't around during his time. Came to this site because a friend recommended it... and he's never on now.

I was listening to the CAGCast and they mentioned GiantBomb, this was probably around 2009. I checked a few podcasts and was hooked. I think the first video I watched was the Jackie Chan fighting game.

I became a member of Giantbomb on Dec 30 2008, when I found out this is where Jeff had moved too. I first saw Jeff when he and Rich Gallup hosted a tournament for Gears of War 1, and they have just been a great source entertainment since I was a freshmen in High school, till where I am now which is a Senior in College

I subscribed to the Bombcast when it showed up in iTunes as a brand new show called Arrow Pointing Down. I didn't even realize there was a website connected to it until the subscription announcement episode went up. Through all of the prior episodes, I thought Brad was black.

I was familiar with Gamespot when Jeff, Brad, and Alex were there, but I only ever went there for the reviews and occasional news.

Most of my time was spent over at 1UP and their network of podcasts (and the 1UP Show). The Giant Bomb guys were a guest on the 1UP Yours podcast, and I remember loving their energy and chemistry that I ended up checking out the Bombcast. I ended up on the site not long after.

I originally spent the majority of my time on other video game websites. When Ryan passed away, the enntire video game community seemed to be affected by it. I had no idea who he was or who Giant Bomb was. The first podcast I ever listened to was GB remembering Ryan. Never missed a podcast since. After listening to the podcast for a while I decided to see what these quick looks were all about and now GB is the only place I go to daily. It is very strange knowing that it was Ryan that brought me here and seeing past content with him in it.

I think I qualify as new since a lot of the people here have been following Jeff since gamespot days.

I came to the site because of the podcast, but it was an awkward time. I was looking for new game podcasts and the one that popped up more frequently was the Bombcast, so I downloaded like 2 episodes but decided not to listen to them right away because they seemed too big.

About a week or so later I was listening to GameSpot Gameplay, and Kevin VanOrd started talking about Ryan's passing. I had no idea who he was, but then he mentioned the site and I realised he was probably on the podcast as well. So I listened to those two episodes, the last two with Ryan on, and it was pretty weird and sad, even though I did not know him.

I kept on listening and it became my favourite podcast almost instantly. The 3 hours did not seem enough anymore, so a few months later I started to come to the website for more content and soon became a premium member because I wanted to see Breaking Brad and UPF.

edit: oh, only saw it now, very similar story to @theupperbecker

I was playing Persona 4 back in '09 somewhere, and for some reason I went to go check something on gamefaqs. A person linked a video to the endurance run, so I watched it, and was thinking something along the lines of man these two guys are hilarious! Yeah been a fan ever since.

@dercomrade said:

Exactly this. I'll stand by the Overblood 2 Super Replay is some of the finest 'Watch people play a dumb video game' content on the internet today.

There was an arrow and it was pointing down.

I wouldn't say I'm a new fan, but I discovered the Bombcast about five years ago simply because it was a top ranked video game podcast on the iTunes charts.

As a big Persona 4 fan browsing it's related pages on TV Tropes in summer 2009 I started seeing a bunch of mentions of a crazy site named Giant Bomb doing a playthrough of it. Given the sheer amount of videos in that endurance run, I somehow ended up not watching a single one of them, but I loved the other videos on the site, so I started lurking around and created an account a few months later, around the time Borderlands 1 came out.

I didn't actively visit Gamespot, though I do remember seeing Alex' Big Rigs video back in the early 00's.

Youtube compilations.

There was some random mention of Dr. Tracksuit on penny arcade a little over a year ago. I had heard that name before and decided to look it up.

Their Red Faction: Guerilla coverage.

Used to skim reviews at my old job and GB kept appearing. Wasn't too familiar with Jeff since IGN was in a golden era. But one day I read their Red Faction: Guerilla review, turned on the Quick Look of the demo, and within a minute of that I was hooked.

I already knew about Jeff from when he participated on the Gametrailer's Bonus Round with Geoff Keighley, he look like an interesting dude that knew the media really well. But what actually made me get to GB was when the crew did a spoiler video discussion on Bioshock Infinite's ending (which I was kind of obsessed about), after that I was pretty much hook up, and 6 months after that I got a premium subscription.

My brother actually turned me on to the Bombcast and I finally started listening about 2 years ago and then this year for my birthday I treated myself to a premium subscription.