Reviews...?

Is it me or does it seem a little slow around these parts for reviews? Out of the 40 games listed on the "new games page" that have been released this month and aren't phone or re-release games, there have only been 4 reviews. 2 by Brad, 1 by Alex, and 1 by Jeff. Does Ryan not review games anymore? Don't think he has written one at all this year. Sorry, if that's been covered. Understandably, many of those games released are not worth covering in any great detail, but God of War, Bit Trip runner 2, MLB The Show, CastleVania? Just thought that for such a busy month, there would be more reviews.

I thought Ryan was doing a God of War: Ascension review? Most of their opinions on those games specifically can be hear via quicklooks and Bombcasts. I don't necessarily think we need a formal review for any of those games that you listed.

They're kind of unofficially shying away from reviews I think. They'll still do them, but that's not their main focus anymore.

I feel like these threads pop up pretty regularly.

My thought is this, reviews, while nice can, and often are replaced by other content to great effect. Between quick looks and the bombcast it's usually pretty easy to figure out how someone feels about a game. Are they as concise? Maybe not, but there are still other places to go if you need your information in score form.

It was never their main focus though

What is the main focus of this site now?

Unprofessionalism... or something to that effect.

Video content, there was like 9 hours of live streams last week.

They are out there, somewhere.

Reviews for major releases still drive traffic, the rest, not so much.

If you want to review everything like IGN or GS then you need a staff as big as they have or a huge freelancer budget.

Polygon, for example, is a similar size to GB on paper, but has more staff in the review dept than all of the gb staff combined - so you would forfeit any video content, you might still get a podcast where they talk about the games they have been playing all week for review, but that is about it.

The rate of reviews seems about consistent with what it's been in the past to me. I don't want to seem like I'm going into auto-staff defence mode, but with the focus of the site being on the personalities and their interactions both with each other and the audience, I think you're likely to just see views on games put across in media where you get a better sense of the people behind the opinions, like videos and podcasts, than in text-based reviews, as you might on other sites. It also seems to be the belief of the editorial team that Quick Looks are better for giving people an immediate idea of games rather than full-length reviews. I do know there are God of War and Castlevania reviews coming though, so there's that.

Marino had a graph showing the number of reviews per year late last year or something like that. It's pretty consistent and so far this year seems no different. They have 11 reviews so far this year. About 1 a week which is par for the course.

it seems like a lot of big sites have traditionally been review focused where they review every game that comes out and that is the main content (besides news/previews) for the readership. i think recently a lot of sites are kind of moving away from this from what i've seen and moving more towards video content/streaming etc. maybe they were influenced by youtube game channels or something.

jeff, brad and alex are the only reviewers on the site anymore.

sure ryan "technically reviews" games, but uh, its always weeks late and pointless.

Is it okay to say that "Giant Bomb is more than the sum of its parts", or is that just utterly stupid and I should be dragged by my feet after a horse in a public street?

I only watch the video content once in a while. Quick Looks used to be consistently funny. And there were Endurance Runs and other shenanigans. Now I just use the forums...

Oh shit here come duders with the horse. *Legging it*

Giant Bomb offers a lot of in-depth discussion on games like through Quick Looks and discussion on the podcasts. While they don't review every game more often than not they discuss all major release in the ways I mentioned earlier.

A lot of their opinions come through in Bombcasts, Quick Looks, TNT's, etc. Reviews have a value and are present, but they do not seem to be the focus 'round these parts.

@funkydupe: I brought my horse with me. Let me introduce you two. :)

Just remember that Quick Looks are informative first and entertaining second. It's not like they spend hours trying to think of half-baked jokes to include in their videos. Funny moments like in Sleeping Dogs Quick Looks are luxuries in the world of video game journalism. (Of course, we still have Vinny saving the day with his improv.)

You do bring up a good point though that sometimes people get bored of watching the videos. There are a lot of folks out there who do not want to sit through an hour-long video to form an opinion of a game and would rather read a review for five minutes. It's also hard to get past the stigma of "written reviews are meant to be professional, and videos aren't."

I don't get why they put up late reviews.

Here's the dirty little secret: They're pretty much paid FT video-game commentators ala Total Biscuit and the like not reviewers. Reviews don't do the traffic they once did and its why usually when you do see a review its of a bigger title so they can be out there with the rest of the sites because it ranks on metacritic and maybe they'll get a click through or two from there.

They've become known for their videos and this is easy and less time consuming for them to do with a greater return on investment, especially what they're doing with the recent trend of 'Live Stream everything' attitude. You get two hits, one from the stream itself and another from the upload of said stream. Apart from Patrick and Alex I'm surprised there's any written content on this site at all anymore.

It would be not in their best interest from a business stand point to stop reviewing games. Yes, Giant Bomb is a business. I dont care, and most fans of this site dont, but for traffic purposes and continued growth of the brand they have to review games.

@miketakon said:

Probably because not everyone out there buys a game on release day. Plenty of people come to a game a week or two after release, to see how it shapes up across the board.

Is it true that only brad, alex, and jeff write reviews now? Did they say this or is this just assumed?

yeah, on a video game site that has reviews, i should have to sift through HOURS of content to get a solid basis for the quality of a game? thats insane.

We need to just get rid of reviews entirely. When have they ever served anyone?

More of an entertainment centric site, and a look at games from a more active (video type) prospective. Along with having more of the featured editorial style content (criticism in a general sense instead of only rating it from a specific title).

Jeff has actually talked a fair amount about it. Like where he sees the role of gaming media in the current environment and where it could go. Kind of interesting, and I wouldn't hold my breath expecting Giant Bomb to jump on being review number 33 of 137 and the like. It is something I prefer due to there being more than sufficient reviews for most games, although it can definitely also be a case where a GB review might be more meaningful due to the writers not being faceless cutouts (not to offend said writers, but for most sites you are not going to be able to name the reviewers).

There are plenty of other sites that offer timely reviews you should check them out. You can find reviews everywhere and metacritic ,makes them super easy to find.

Giant Bomb does something different. Do we really need another site that's dedicated to reviewing everything as quickly as possible? Their reviews don't really add anything to the industry because their reviews are no better or worse than anyone else's. Their podcast and video content allows them to express their personalities and that's what makes the site unique and why people enjoy it. If you don't want to listen to the bombcast or watch the video content why are you even here?

i watch tons of the video content here. i occasionally listen to the bombcast, but not regularly. i dont have time (well i do) but its not something im going to sit at home and just listen to.

and i realize reviews don't really matter, thats not the point. its that giant bomb wants to have its cake and eat it too. they want to be taken seriously by having reviews and "news", while having tons of goofy video content, and i love the video content don't get me wrong.

i just find it kinda lazy that they often have extremely late reviews. skip reviewing games entirely. half the news is just link dumps or copy/pasted from other sites hours or days later than every other site.

if you're not going to do reviews right, if you're not going to do news right. don't do it. im find if they abandon the half ass news and reviews they have, cus frankly they're pointless.

i think the only reason they do reviews at all anymore is so they get review copies of games early.