Reactivated my subscription after 2-3 years away - what'd I miss?

Pretty much just as the title says. I've been a member of the site since day one of the beta, and was a premium member for several years starting from when they introduced premium, but have been away for the past 2-3 years, and re-subscribed because I watched and enjoyed some of the recent stuff they've posted on YouTube (the game jam show, the Sega Saturn stream, the M. Dickie wrestling game QL, etc.).

I'm looking for recommendations from fellow duders on some of the best video content since I've been away. I'm not as into long series on one game, instead I'm more interested in one-offs, but I'll listen to all suggestions, be it Quick Look, specific episode or segment of UPF. Back in the day, my favourite series were Random PC Game (still miss Dave), Breaking Brad, and longer streams like the 2011 SNES marathon and the end of Star Wars Galaxies, and the last premium video I remember watching and downloading was the 4th edition of Mario Party Party.

Oh, and while I'm here, any memes or general site stuff that I should be aware of in my absence? Is Brad still in a perpetual state of leaving? Does Jeff still love/hate wrestling? Do Ben and Abby have memes yet? I know about Dabby, but have no idea what their new business podcast is supposed to be.

Thank you for your time.

The best of Giant Bomb videos are really good and should catch you up pretty quickly.

I'd check out Steal My Sunshine if you want to learn more about Abby. She's a compulsive gambler that is both a genius and tragically terrible at Mario Sunshine.

I'd say most of the new stuff has been series based. Bring Your B-Game was a short-lived series that switched games every time, but the games were all pretty boring. Not terrible vids though. The Playdates/Megadates would probably be your best bet:

GBE Playdate: Tender Loving Care is definitely one to check out. 3 parts based on one 90's ass FMV game "about" "mental health"

GBE Megadate (5/12/2017) - Abby's first stream. Birth of Ranch Soda as the most foul entity in the entire Giant Bomb canon.

GBE Megadate (6/30/2017) - Taswell memorial stream. Almost 3.5 hours of drunken mayhem.

GBE Megadate (6/23/2017) - Abby and Vinny stream, birth of Little Orphan Abby/Daddy Vinbucks meme, also the introduction of Abby having, let's say, a low tolerance for horror games.

Also, if you've never seen Demo Derby, you should watch Demo Derby.

P.S. Rorie got a new monitor

Beast in the East for sure.

The Contradiction Quick Look and subsequent Playdates are must watch.

Did you miss Austin completely then? I would also recommend the Life is Strange and Until Dawn playthroughs.

The Holiday Specialtacular 2016 was great.

I'd have to say Contradiction and it's playthrough were amazing.

Beast in the east is also good if you're up for a long run.

Abby has been pretty great so far, any of the megadate/playdate

Game tapes was good but seems to have stopped.

Steal my sunshine is also really great

The last Mario Party Party you watched was 4? Dude, 5 is probably the best one definitely check it out.

Watch the GBeast playthroughs of Phantasmagoria 2 and Tender Loving Care. They're... something else.

You may or may not have seen Metal Gear Scanlon V but you've definitely not seen Metal Gear Scanlon Rising.

All the HITMAN videos.

All of the Murder Island videos.

Contradiction.

You said you don't like long playthroughs but i think some of the best stuff were the playthroughs when austin was still around. Contradiction, Life is strange, until dawn, and phantasmagoria* but not sure if that was in the time frame you were still here? And recent stuff like the shenmue endurance run(may have been free content not sure) and the beast in the east (yakuza 0) are great. The weekly Murder Island streams are pretty great too.

Thanks for the responses, guys. Here are some of my responses to suggestions and questions:

• Contradiction is on the list. I remember when they first posted the QL, but for some reason never watched it. Then a couple of months ago I watched a playthrough of Jesse Cox and Dodger playing it on Cox's YT channel and really enjoyed it. So I know the story, but it'll still be a blast watching them see it all unfold.
• Yeah, I pretty much missed all of Austin Walker. Was there a video of him trying to explain Crusader Kings II to Alex and Vinny, or did I dream that? CKII is maybe my favourite game of the past 5 years.
• I just finished watching the first episode of Steal My Sunshine. Don't really get why they felt the need for the competition, as it led to a lot of setup, but it looks like it'll be fun. Abby is cool, and Vinny's going grey which is upsetting, and I sometimes have a hard time dealing with full-blown obnoxious Dan when he's in heel mode (one of the reasons why I checked out of Mario Party Party after 4) and Alex seemed genuinely quite grumpy. I'll keep watching it, as I did enjoy it.
• I need someone to explain to me why I should watch Murder Island. I've never played PUBG and I'm kinda upset that most of my favourite Twitch streamers have done almost nothing but play that game for months now. I think it's a sweet game, and I'm glad that it's found such an audience, but sometimes a game being really ubiquitous puts me off in a big way (see also: Dark Souls, Overwatch, any of the MOBAs). I try not to be a contrarian asshole, honestly.
• Why isn't Andre the Giant the embiggen icon any more?
• THEY PLAYED PHANTASMAGORIA 2?! Like, years after Dave and Vinny played the first one? I am absolutely watching that.
• Metal Gear Scanlon started when I was still around. I had no interest in it then, and have pretty much no interest in it now. I like Drew, but the whole MGS thing has never done it for me.
• I've seen some Demo Derby. I don't have any PS2 nostalgia (we were a GameCube house, which was a bummer in hindsight), but it is fun watching them go through some of that crazy stuff. I'm just about old enough to remember buying gaming magazines and them coming with demo discs and weird crap like that.
• Do people still do <>? Also, is Leigh Alexander even still in games or does she just do ASMR now?
• Also, what ever happened to Paul Barnett and Carrie?
• And Kessler, while we're on the subject?

Mario Party Party is probably my favorite premium content behind Random PC Game.

I changed my username from believer to Justin!

I don't recall Austin trying to play CKII with GB East but there is a Quick Look of Stellaris.

I have enjoyed watching Steal My Sunshine, but they are pretty bad at the game, Dan is never not a heel, and Alex seems to dislike the game more and more every time (though in this last episode I feel like he said he's warming up to it a little bit? Might be remembering that wrong).

Haven't really watched any Murder Island - I keep meaning to but never get around to it. However, they did do a stream where they tested some new features recently here and it's absolutely worth watching.

I have wondered that myself, probably a licensing issue where some CBSi lawyer said "guys, remove that". But I'm not certain.

My secret shame is that I never watched the Phantasmagoria 1 videos.

Metal Gear Scanlon Rising is something you should watch.

I haven't seen <> in a long time and I have no idea where Leigh Alexander is or what she's doing.

Kessler works for Sony. He seems like he's pretty happy there.

Austin absolutely did do ONE video of CKII with Vinny and Alex - unfortunately this did not turn into a larger series

Catch up with the Best Of videos

For me, Metal Gear Scanlon was my favourite series. If you're going to watch one of them though, I'd recommend either 3 or 4.

Murder Island is great, though some are greater than others - the early ones are a bit dry. Any episode they've decided to 'get spicy' is pretty good.

ALL the HITMANS.

I've been Premium this whole time and I've missed plenty of content too - time poor :(

I'm curious if anyone else feels this way, but I treat Giant bomb almost like a small television channel now. They have SO much content now its almost overwhelming time-wise, and I mean that in the best way possible. Some videos and series you may not like and some I'm sure you will love. I say give everything a sample and see what you like. The quick looks are always solid but they have so many features now I recommend just finding something you like and stick to it. There has never been a better time to be a Giant Bomb subscriber, basically some kind of content out there for everyone.

Brad and Vinny played through Demon Souls (it was great), Brad and Jason played through the back half of Bloodborne (also great). You missed the majority of Patrick/Austins input, I wish I could say the same thing.

Steal My Sunshine. Favourite show on the site right now.

Game tapes and Mario party party. Steal my sunshine isnt that good IMO.

What exactly is the premise of Steal My Sunshine? They steal the right to play the game from one another?

• Hitsmas: Vinny's segment in particular is one of the best things from last year. In general there's been a lot of good Hitman content last year. However, it is so scattered, it's not really a series or anything.
• Mario Party Party: Do you hate yourself? Then how about a party. (This series has the highest highs and lowest lows. I can only recommend Mario Party 1, 2, and 5)
• This Is The Run: There are multiple videos for each game, but they are relatively short (especially in Giant Bomb terms). Right now there's Contra and Soulcalibur.
• FMVinny: There's been some good FMV games on the site, like Contradiction: Spot the Liar! and Tender Loving Care.
• Best of Giant Bomb: Turboman's Best of Giant Bomb is now featured on the site. This is a good way to catch up on some stuff (like there are videos devoted just to the Vive and Oculus launch streams)
• Giant Bomb Makes Mario: There's only a couple of these videos, but they are all great. Or if you prefer some Chinese ripoffs.
• MegaDates: Since you mentioned how you enjoy longer streams, I would suggest checking out some of the MegaDates. I enjoy these in particular: 06/30/2017 and 05/12/2017.
• Of course UPF still happens. Lately I catch UPFs as they are live or don't watch all of them, just because how everyone is 2 hours long. That said...take a look at the one from 10/21/2016.
• Giant Bomb East have done a couple of play throughs I really love. They're older and all that, but I just really loved seeing these guys play Until Dawn and Life is Strange.
• How about some other Quick Looks I like: American Truck Simulator, Casey Powell Lacrosse 16, Rugby Challenge 3, My Summer Car, and Nitroplus Blasterz: Heroines Infinite Duel.
• GOTY: GOTY is great. If you don't have 20 ba-billion hours to get through everything, here is the discussion from last year for Best Game (starting around 1:56:00)
• And...That seems like about enough...

@theoriginalatlas:

For some of your earlier questions:

• Murder Island: I saw you ask about PUBG in another post. It is part tactical shooter, part survival horror (this game can get really tense!), part hijinks. Each run is a little bit different. Sometimes they did instantly; sometimes somebody does something crazy; sometimes they get down to two teams and you are on the edge of your seat waiting to see if they can pull it off. I don't necessarily recommend you watch all 10+ videos on the site, especially since there isn't a story or anything, but I would recommend you watching the new videos as they come out.
• People still "<>". I personally like putting things in the middle, like this:
  • < :plur >
  • < :kishup >
  • < :dabby >
• Kessler works at Sony as a third party relations type person. He apparently does amazing work there. I believe this is his last official appearance on a Giant Bomb thing (He's been around, like backstage at E3, but never as a guest on the live show)
• In terms of memes. Let's see:
  • Alex likes the Minions.
  • Jeff still has touched every random game and consoles that happens to come up during conversations.
  • It sounds like you already know about :dabby
  • People still make "Brad is leaving" sometimes in chat during live shows. (I don't find them funny, and it seems like some mods are tired of it.)
  • Not a meme, but Houseboat is an amazing song.
• And just some general updates, in case you missed them: Jeff is married! Dan is married! (Yes, Dan seriously got married in a Taco Bell) Ben is awesome! Abby is awesome! Austin left to start Waypoint. Drew left to start Cloth Map. Danny left GameSpot to start NoClip. Mary left GameSpot and is now a part of Twitch.

Watching the quick look/ unfinished for the game (basically the first time Vinny showed everyone the game) would explain why this series slowly became a thing

Also, Hitman, Contradiction and Beast in the East. These are essential. Watch the Hitman vids in sequence too

The west coast is getting settled in their office but the east coast guys have been killing it with content. You could literally pick a video at random and get gold. West coast not so much.

@theoriginalatlas: Why you should watch murder island? hmmm, i guess i my main reason is that it puts both east and west coast together again which is always a good time. I think it's less about the game itself and more about their interaction with it, as someone who has yet to play the game I enjoy their streams alot. There is a playdate (i think) with austin playing a game of CK2

Have you seen Kerbal: Project B.E.A.S.T.? Some of the best content they've ever done.

I recommend this one: