So why haven't they brought back 'Thursday Night Throwdown' or something similar?

TNT was always a great way to see the Giant Bomb crew play some of the latest multiplayer games and occasionally some classics too, all while interacting with it's users. But for some reason, I forget what, the TNT streams were stopped.

Just seems weird that in this age of easy social interaction that Giant Bomb is mainly just in house multiplayer with the interaction coming through chat. Just curious why the TNT format has been brought back in some form or another?

It's probably too similar to unprofessional Fridays. They might have a lack of interest or lack of time to do weekly multi-player shows as well. And finally, if I remember right back when it ended Jeff said it was always Ryan's thing to do those shows. We see them play some multi-player games every now and then when a big one gets released. They just don't force themselves to on a set schedule.

TNT was tapping into what Twitch/YouTube Gaming/streaming services do 24/7, I enjoy watching other people play; others I guess don't like that kind of Live content. It can vary a lot in quality simply because it isn't planned out as more than 'hang out and watch us play game X for a while'.

I always thought TNT was awkwardly handled in terms of how they could manage cycling people in and out for multiplayer. For as far as multiplayer gaming has come, it's built around playing with a handful of friends. Once you start introducing dozens if not a hundred people in and out of parties, the systems in place start to fall apart and is difficult in managing that in a clean and intuitive way.

@gamerpigeon: One of the answers that comes up to this is that TNT was sort of Ryans thing.

yeah, i recall jeff talking about it. the tl;dr was- that was ryan's baby both in spirit and as a cheerleader- and without him they won't go back to it.

There is that thing about multiplayer games not working properly when they are newly released. Technical issues like servers not working, wait times to enter a game are taking too long or not enough players. I do miss their Scrub League. For me I am not a big fan of spectating multiplayer matches. I would only enjoy if I got to join and participate.

With the Xbox 360 came easy console multiplayer, new really good multiplayer franchises and friends lists they could fill full of fans, it was new and exciting at the time but now everybody has spread across multiple platforms and the crew have their prefered multiplayer games.
Similar to how 2 weeks ago they played some Gears 4 horde mode together, if a multiplayer game comes out they want to put more time into they'll probably invite the community to play for a video or two, but the time has gone for it to be a regular thing.

It was the most boring thing they have done on this website. Well next to the Farmville intern show.

Can't wait for when Dan moves to New York and then we get at most two videos a month from the West crew again for a whole year before someone else joins to put a spark in them.

I liked it cuz I got to play with them quite a few times, but for the most part it's the only stuff i've seen the GB guys do were pretty much the whole cast looks uninterested.

The Dead Island TNT with the crew playing coop among themselves was actually the funniest TNT for me, and I feel like that kind of opportunity doesn't come up that often with the right game, and time slot among everyone. The East vs West Rocket League reminds me of that.

One could use that description for UPF.

The similarity to UPF, the rise of video game streaming services, and the fact it was Ryan's baby probably all contributed to it's demise.

TNT literally died with Ryan, sadly

I wish they'd do a TNT memorial stream yearly but I can understand why they don't.

At the end of the day, old features have to make way for new ones

I certainly did enjoy TNT back when but as said old features make way for the new.

Upon reflection I would probably also say that my two favourite TNT's were Dead Island and Fortune Street so I guess that is as much as anything a reason to not bring it back..

It's because they have wig bowling on Thursdays and don't have the time to do both.

Ohhhh. TNT, like dynamite. Like a bomb.

Oh god dammit, Ryan you brilliant monster.

@gamerpigeon: District A's on the rise!

Those are some of my favorite as well, I enjoyed the Gears 3 Horde one too.

That most recent video of Vinny and Co. playing Gears 4 had shades of TNT in it, and the Us v.s Them kinda slots in too.

@rickrockmann: I have not put two and two together until now. How did I miss this.

Easier, faster and more profitable to just make a random quick look. That is the reason Old Games Show and Ranking of Fighters disappeared as well.

Sources on that? Both those shows have no set schedule and have gone months before another one shows up.

I am sad because I am far more likely to watch Ranking of Fighters or Old Games Show than most of the quick looks.

It was always a cool thing, but considering how peoples interaction online has changed, playing online with someone is less of a pull for me....(personally)

Also I guess the user base is bigger now.

Multiplayer games are usually super boring to watch unless you're really into the game. It makes it worse when it's just random people who probably aren't at a similar skill level.

It could be alright if they did an East vs West thing and kept the random people out of it.

Honestly one of the least entertaining things they do is playing modern multiplayer games in many cases. I loved Jeff's stream, but I def skipped 50% of it due to all the titanfall.

Ryans baby, really? It's not like we're talking about some high concept art here. It was just people sitting on a couch, playing games with online strangers. The real answer is laziness and lack of caring. Most weeks on UPF, besides Drew and Rorie, everyone seems like they would rather be any where else. The excuse is always "Things are crazy around the office right now, maybe we will figure something out later!" It feels like they've been trying to "figure things out" since rejoining CBS.

@corwag: No offense but it sounds like youre trying to call them out on something thats not actually there. Go ahead and point to a recent excuse of "figuring things out" that you're trying to claim they use all the time.

They flat out and honestly said why they are not doing this feature anymore back when they stopped doing it. By ryan's baby, they mean it was a feature he spearheaded, lead, and he was the one who had the greatest interest in it. They are saying there is a lack of interest and reason in continuing the feature without him. There's not some big hidden reason of laziness that you're trying to point out here. Maybe if we rewind to years ago when they were actually getting into the new offices you might have something to talk about, but your comment sounds like someone who is still angry about a time that is long gone.

@corwag: If you think "laziness" is a reason for anything these guys do or don't do then you don't have a solid grasp of who these people are. There are plenty of criticisms one could throw at this site (many of which I trust them to want to hear, they ARE doing this for an audience they'd rather please) but "lazy" is the least accurate.

That was their excuse for like a month. Can you point even one time they said anything like that? TNT wasn't that interesting and was more of a hassle than it was worth.

Multiplayer with random people online doesn't really make for particularly interesting videos. It's probably a good form of community engagement for the handful of people that got into play with them every week but I'd rather see them focus on producing new stuff.

The thing is...TNT was just never actually all that good. On top of being a bit of a hassle to setup and run with all of the friend requests, invites, and so on, it just rarely made for great content. I appreciated the effort to engage with the community, but I think things like UPF are a better use of their time.

I wouldn't mind seeing TNT making a return. I never got to watch it that much but the Burnout Paradise sticks out as one of the better things I've seen on the site. It wouldn't need to be a weekly thing; it could be a once in a while thing. As it is now, there is hardly any chance to play a game with the crew, really only the occasional Jackbox thingamajig.

UPF is just a better version of TNT. It's redundant now.

While I'm sure it was a cool thing for the people that got to play whatever with the guys, it rarely made for good viewing, and all the inviting and player wrangling was kind of a pain.

Most of the stand-out TNTs were when they just all played a game together without the community, like the Dead Island truck-fest or the beauty that was Fortune Street.

I think it'd be cool if they had some semi-regular version of THAT. Apart from the occasional multiplayer segment on UPF or *shudder* Mario Party Party, it's not something they really do that often.

We need a weekly old games show

We dont get often enough videos for The Old Games Show and Encyclopedia Bombastica

Something similar could be hiring Dave Snider, he would be a great replacement for Dan. Many of my favorite old videos feature Dave in one way or another.

Does no one remember the Burnout Paradise Episode

Can't wait for the Vinny X Alex X Dan content.

People have already mentioned Old Games Show, and I miss that as well as Choose Our Own Adventure. I guess at this point they're just too busy to have a second semi regular stream in addition to the one each team already does.

I think, logistically, the problem is that often games at launch are often rather spotty on servers. Also there just isn't a consistent enough roll-out of good multiplayer games to do it every week. On a more site-specific note, as others have mentioned (in both this thread and previous ones asking this question) TNT was very much Ryan's thing - he was the one who organised and championed it, and they didn't want to keep running it without him. It had some incredible episodes but on the whole I think when there's a good enough multiplayer game it gets site time through Quick Looks and UPF.

Also note that they've been playing one of the all-time great multiplayer series for the past year or so with Mario Party Party!

Still perhaps my favourite moment on the site and the thing I bring up when people ask, "What are the all-time essential GB videos?"

I re-watched a large chunk of Building the Farmville not more than a few months ago.

I actually think that is why something like UPF is so attractive. It's well produced and segments. TNTs were great, see Burnout, Shootmania, Starcraft 2, but they were more fun for the stuff that happened around them. The format was OK, but I couldn't see an Overwatch TNT nowadays. As others have pointed out, it's like 90% of Twitch.

So much so I have it stored as a favorite. TNT was off and on good, also liked the Balls of Steel intro music. UPF I've taken more to, though Vinny dancing as a harrier jet in Second Life is more a rarity....

I put it to you that there was more great content in TNT than UPF.

TNT had some really neat episodes where they went online and played with/against members of the community. My favorites are the episodes with fighting games like Mortal Kombat 2011 and Street Fighter 4. Jeff is actually pretty competent with fighters, and there were some good matches in those TNTs. Some cool old-school FPS deathmatches too.

But recent one-off shows with community online multiplayer have been pretty lackluster. The Overwatch show from earlier this year was really bad. It was just an hour and a half of the crew getting completely wrecked. I don't think the crew has as much time and/or desire to become proficient at multiplayer games as they did back in the early years of Giant Bomb. That doesn't stop them from putting on this type of show, but it does make it less fun to watch.

I can't remember where I saw/heard this but IIRC Jeff said something about the feature getting boring to produce/running out of new interesting MP games to play every week.

Again, can't remember if I actually heard this or just felt like I heard this, TNT ended a long time ago.

As stated previously by other people, the most interesting TNTs were the ones where the dudes just played couch co-op/couch multiplayer games. Now we get that stuff out of UPF and other features like Mario Party Party.

Best TNT was the one with Vinny and Will Smith leading it. Thems be the days.