Tam was great on the bombcast

His Twitch streams are great.

Yeah, definitely love to see Tam show up all over the place. He also has quite a bit of content of his own you should check out! He streams on twitch pretty regularly (at least before Elden Ring showed up in his life) and he has a podcast with Lucy, Jacob Dekker (Gamespot Alum) and Zach Ryan (IGN Alum) called Lads on Tour where they go into their backlogs of shame for movies/games that's very fun and everyone already has such a great rapport with each other. This on top of Gamespot's Gamespot After Dark, which typically has some rotating chairs but is a nice shorter games podcast that Tam is on regularly. Sorry I didn't link anything, but I'm on the mobile version...

More Tam on the bombcast please.

They should hire... just kidding. Tam is definitely very enthusiastic about Souls games and it's nice to hear a different perspective now that basically no one on staff is very engaged with that side of gaming.

That’s funny! honestly I ended up fast forwarding through that part as I found it so draining. I appreciated Jeff speaking up for more casual gamers

Giant Bomb and GameSpot are already owned by the same company, Red Ventures.

I found both Tam's discussion of Elden Ring and reviews in general fascinating and will probably give the second half another listen, if not the first part too. I think this is notable because - I've said it before but try not to go on about it too much - I fucking hate everything about SoulsBorne games. Still, Tam was entertaining, enlightening, and fascinating even when the things he was saying about Elden Ring made me think "...and that's exactly why I want nothing to do with it." I think the ability to pull in someone as hostile to the topic as I am is a mark of a great and engaging communicator.

Tam is the best. Nuff said.

I love hearing Tam's perspective and he has a very soothing voice. Always a pleasure to listen to him on the Bombcast.

I could listen to Tam talk Elden Ring all day. Quality takes and smart commentary. Please have Tam on more!

@beingcpm: GBombcast needs more interview content like that. For the life of me in the age of zoom-everything why they can't get a developer interview in the sweet spot between being a shill and just enjoying gaming. I'd love to hear an interview with the Unpacking team. I get it if a company's PR team reaches out it's got alterior motives. So many games hit for so many members of the staff i can't understand for the life of me why they can't leverage that into a good interview and then guest for an entire bombcast. There was a post about award shows a little while ago that doesnt get them. The point of award shows is to humanize the makers of these games. Giantbomb is the only reputable gaming site (sorry Tam i can't get past the ads, but you still get the occasional click). A seat at the bombcast table is like an oval office visit or being invited to tea with the queen. I think some of the 'state-of-giantbomb' posts we get is because we kind of have exhuasted the personalities on this site (though Jan is really coming into his own, starting point guard status after a couple of years on hte bench).

I have yet to listen to a podcast involving Tam that I have not enjoyed immensely

Tam is always great. I was a little dubious of his low key, sleepy vibe at first (it was just the dulcet voice he has all the time I came to realize) but the more I've seen of him, the more I like him. A very intelligent and well spoken professional that also has a likable personality, isn't afraid to express opinions both passionate and geeky, and a good ordering of priorities regarding work, mental health and representation. If he wasn't already in a leadership role at Gamespot, I'd absolutely hope he went permanently on staff here at GB.

Um, I feel like I just wrote that like a letter of recommendation for someones job application. haha.

Tam's cool and all, and I was with him until he went off on people that don't know what it's like to review games. Said something about people not knowing what it's like to work under a deadline. Considering how many jobs need things done under a deadline, with higher stakes than a game review, it was this strange and misplaced outburst. In the middle of a pretty good discussion that went by fast.

He seems like a nice guy with thoughtful thoughts and a lot to say about any given subject. But some of the stuff he says makes it seem like he's in a bubble. Granted, that can be said for a bunch of people that cover games.

@csl316: Aww, it appears that you write reviews. Maybe he wasn't talking about people like you. So are you offended on behalf of other people? Deadlines on creative work is a different kind of beast. The best creators are never satisfied with their work. I think calling out anything that happens on twitter or the internet is, agreed, juvenile. His input is better than the preparation of only making sure your mic works in prepartion for a 3 hour podcast, like some. Like most?

I have nothing personal against Tam, and his Elder Ring discussion was interesting. However, I will never accept the pity party of someone who gets paid to play video games for a living, claiming they have it very hard, because they have to write a review, go to meetings, have a deadline or anything close to it. Compared to someone busting their behinds working a 9 to 5, and that's if they can even find a full time job like that these days, and getting paid peanuts, there is no comparison. I agree that when it comes to long games like Elden Ring, developers should send review copies out sooner. The fact they choose not to is a minor inconvenience and nothing to cry about.

@av_gamer:Throughout history every soul has been living in "these days." I think Tam nailed it. Don't let jealousy blind you. If i had a job and i was forced, in the last year, to play through Far Cry 6, AC Valhalla, Watchdogs, Deathloop, Back for Blood, Predator, Call of Duty Vanguard, Pokemon, Outriders, and RE:Village i could see myself not enjoying myself one bit. (I played none of those games and you can't make me)

How many world renowned chefs do you think get to make their favorite dish while working at a 5-Star Michelin restaurant? How many of them are understudies just waiting for their break? Game reviewers review games for the offchance that something good or great might be there and they get a chance to share that with other passionate people.

Games are lawnmower or grill equivalent at this point. They serve their intended purpose with little nuance. Even those shills making youtube high end car reviews are probably sick of driving at this point. Maybe you get a year with a backup camera or lane assist but at the end of the day they are going to have to parallel park the bitch because that is the nature of the reviews job. No semi driver is itching to get behind the wheel for another quick jaunt from des moines to jefferson city. Driving and unrelease Audi is no different. When those people get the typical fender bender, hit traffic, or fail a state inspection they aren't thinking about how great driving is. They probably hate it.

If you don't think people don't get sick of reviewing things then please point me to your exhaustive movie, gaming, or music review website. Like most passions people pick up, they become ghost towns at some point.

I'm sure people get sick and tired of doing a lot of things over and over again. A person can love pizza, but get tired of eating it if they do so everyday over and over again. That doesn't change the fact Tam's job of playing video games and reviewing them is nothing compared to someone who has to spend their day stocking shelves at a supermarket. Or someone who has to lift heavy furniture for a moving company. Or someone who has to mop the floor at a building and many other examples I can name. And that's not to mention the exploitative jobs out there that hardly pay minimum wage. The fact they have to wake up and be at work on time or get fired. I could go on and on. Sorry, but Tam's complaint to me is no different than a movie star complaining they have to sit in a chair for 4-6 hours waiting for their makeup to be applied for a scene, despite being famous and making millions of dollars. Or a Wall Street shark complaining they only made 5 millions dollars in bonuses last year instead of 50 million dollars. Someone who is only making 25 thousand dollars a year working a blue collar job would laugh at that. Jealously has nothing to do with it. It's called being out of touch with the rest of society. And those people Tam were attacking are right in pointing this out to him on Twitter.

@av_gamer: you may lack something found in the dictionary between the word 'person' and 'perspire.' Hint, it reminds with 'respective.'

@av_gamer: I don't want to derail this positive thread too much but it's kind of weird to me that you're comparing someone having to play a video game until physical exhaustion for work to millionaires.

I think you're grossly overestimating the amount of money a lot of these people make while also underestimating the amount of time they have to spend playing games in order to review them.

@noboners: if you can't see the pain in the eyes of every Angry Joe Youtuber out there then look again. Success is judged by your own metrics. Tam was just trying to express that. For every NBA player there's 1,000 people that are tired of a vast portion of their life being dedicated to a rubber ball filled with x-psi of air with arbitrary rules and relentless training, so they quit.

Gaming is unique, like most entertainment, in that you really can't consume it all, even if you tried. Even the most rabid of coaster fans cannot ride every coaster. Now imagine if you had to ride coasters. Regardless of how well you felt or if it's a clone of a dozen rides you rode before. Now wait in this line have the conversations with the queuers, listen to the safety spiel, talk to your seatmate and enjoy yourself!

Tam found some new joy in Elden Ring. He shared that joy on the pod pretty succintly. He even self-actualized in saying that he knows he's sending his editorial staff into the slaughter when they have to meet embargoes, but he does what he can. He probably only hires people that can empathize with his emptyiness in playing trite open-world trash while still delivering deadline driven and as thoughtuful as possible reviews for rote videogames. The hope is that you will blow it out of the water when something strikes you as amazing. That's not a given.

I wouldn't hire somebody that thinks that they are going to find joy in every gba or DS game that is thrown their way. That resume and cover letter goes in the trash. They've never written for a wage.

Not at all, I'm just saying I don't feel sorry for them or think their work compares to someone working an average job which is a lot more stressful, especially in these modern times. My opinion. You don't have to agree. And like I said, I don't have nothing personal against Tam as I don't know the man. I'm just giving my disagreement to his "you don't know how hard it is for reviewers" commentary.

@av_gamer: I think this opinion of yours really paints a picture that people in these non-review games can't feel the same amount of joy that these reviewers do because their lows are lower and somehow there highs aren't as high. I think the gulf is the same for most things. I think that's why people seek out drugs. Rich or poor.

@sometingbanuble: I've done review stuff in the past, including stuff with major deadlines. I work a much different job now with its own deadlines.

I'm just talking about the specific comment he made. I didn't say anything to him during the review process. I posted on that Bombcast episode, though, saying I like reviews but day one pressure is bad and it sucks. Really in support of him.

Different opinion is fine and all, and I agree with @csl316 that Tam was, IMO, a bit off inferring that the average person doesn't understand the pressure of deadlines in game reviews, because I'd say the average person that has a job very much understands deadlines, regardless of the field.

Anyway, on what you said, yes, your opinion, but in this case, it really is wrong. It's an incredibly stressful job that pays shit almost universally, comes with a shitload of unpaid overtime, its own variation of crunch most of the time, and is both mentally and physically taxing. It's not just "Person X is lucky because they get to play video games all day" and I'm kind of shocked that in 2022 people are still espousing this very uninformed and incorrect opinion, particularly when applied to the major publications.

@sethmode: also, I don't think he meant "the average person". That's kind of misrepresenting what he was saying. He was specifically calling out the kind of assholes who abuse him on twitter for daring to mention that he was exhausted after the review, and refuse to believe that that could even be possible. Those people specifically, he is guessing, probably have no idea what the fuck they are talking about. I would agree.

Listening to someone be passionate and eloquent about a game (or anything, really), even if I'm not personally interested in it, is always fun.

If you play video games for a living, good for you. Staying up for 24 hours to cram isn't good or healthy, whether you're doing it for school, work, or even for fun. Tam sounded like he understood that reviews before a deadline are a form of crunch, and he said several times that reviewing video games for a living is a pretty sweet job.

Still, he seemed like he was out of touch by framing it as if it were special or unique circumstance. It struck me as similar to the many, many times that people at Giant Bomb have talked about "streamers" in a negative way. Or that time Jeff Grubb begged for a free game on Twitter. Just hilariously out of touch with their audience. I'm sorry you couldn't go out this weekend because you had to review a video game. For people who work in jobs where they never get weekends off, that seems like a small price to pay for doing a thing you love.

And despite all those points you made, if you asked a person working brutal hours at a dead end job if they would switch roles for the incredibly stressful job playing video games, reviewing them and meeting deadlines, they would take that job without hesitation. And vise versa, if you asked a video game reviewer to quit his job and work at Walmart or Target instead, he/she would run for the hills. People still have that opinion, because despite whatever hardships a game reviewer or journalist, or Twitch streamers has, its still way better than flipping burgers at McDonald's. That's the point I'm making. I'm sure Tam had a lot of stressful nights finishing up a game and then trying to get the review out on time. Still doesn't compare to the brutal reality of the workforce for many people, especially those struggling just to make ends meet.

I come from a different perspective (a smaller site with less time pressures - but also with a 9-5 job) but a lot of Tam's complaints hit hard for me.

Publishers/Developers rarely communicate with you outside the initial 'here's the game and a press kit'. When Dirt 5 released a pre-release patch broke all previous save files. Luckily I'd finished the campaign but Codemasters were radio silent on their forums and email so I had to figure the problem out myself. The solution? Start from scratch.

That bit of support would be nice. Especially if something goes south before you go to publish. Even when you make developers aware of something crucial (like DLC being unplayably fucked) there's very few avenues for discussion. Very often the PR's won't forward messages on because, at the end of the day, they're just handling the marketing. I can only hold a review back so much before I decide a patch isn't going to hit any time soon.

And embargos are weird. I haven't seen many tight deadlines. Any big publishers tend to give us stuff close to release or just after so we're not under day one pressures. Hell, I've had embargos be weeks away. In Night Under-Birth Late or whatever gave me weeks to play with so I had plenty of time to check out characters, online and get a good feel for the game without any sense of crunch.

Crunch does come but, at our level, it's from sheer volume. We've got five writers, we might get offered 5-8 games a week. Most of them are mercifully short but the writing time on top of that can mount up. Especially if a game is so short there's not a huge discussion to be had. I probably get through 40-50 reviews done a year. Hell, there's 36 reviews written on this PC and I've only had it since July.

Aside from that, I do enjoy playing games I wouldn't normally come into contact with and the creative writing side is nice.

@av_gamer: I think my only issue with your statement is that you're seemingly not thinking that games journalists also have to put up with those same brutal things to make ends meet? They are more like those burger flippers than they are like those millionaires: they do a thankless job that allows people on the internet to speculate on what their lives are like. But you're right, everyone has different opinions and what not. I just feel that yours is being made in bad faith.

I think in general when people say their jobs are hard, we should believe them. All of them. That doesn't mean it can't get worse, we just shouldn't make it a point to tell someone their job isn't hard when they say it is. It's really as simple as that.

Compensation is a completely separate argument. "Making ends meet" shouldn't be an issue in the US, but it is for a lot of people, both those you expect and those you don't. You know who loves it when the burger-flipper and the games journalist are arguing about whose life is harder? The motherfuckers making millions or billions of dollars off both their labor. That's the bigger issue in this argument, if you ask me.

Believe workers. Fuck capitalism. Tam is great.

As somebody who did music reviews for a living super early on in my adult life and had a pretty good run of it (quoted in a New York Times bestseller, referenced on many Wikipedia pages about albums I reviewed) but ultimately burnt out due to changes in lifestyle and, honestly, not really having the hustle to turn it into anything bigger than what it was (which was a job I very much did on the side while washing dishes in kitchens) and then transitioned into bartending and eventually fine dining floor service, in which the money was far greater but the moment to moment pressure was far, far greater...

I'd say the reviewing job was far harder. You could be doing anything you want in life and you've chosen to sit and listen to Chris Brown's Gravity every waking second that you can for a week before writing a 2,000 word essay about it? Can you make it that far without being repetitive, trite, dismissive, or pulling the curtain back on the fact you never wanted to be doing this in the first place? I honestly can't imagine what I'd have done if I'd been given Horizon Forbidden West and just a week to review it, let alone something as hulking as Elden Ring (especially because, in the case of the latter, I'm terrible at playing it!). I'm so glad I got to play that game over the course of two weeks, on my own time, and now that I've finished it whatever I've spewed onto the internet in this forum's threads about it is all I've had to say about it, and I got to say it however I wanted with no expectations from an editor or audience. What freedom!

I'd also say as someone who's done cleaning jobs, both again as a dishwasher in multiple places and for a brief time as a clerical worker, those jobs aren't that bad. You basically get to listen to whatever you want, work at your own pace as long as you're hitting all the right notes and generally just kinda keep to yourself and not have to worry about the social hierarchy of your workplace or what your upward mobility is because it's all right there in the dish pit or cleaning closet. Even at that fine dining restaurant where I was making over 40K a year for the first and only time in my life, I looked at the dishwasher with envy on more than one occasion.

This. The more we fight amongst ourselves about who has a better or worse job, or who doesn't deserve to do what and when and why, the less time is spent looking at the real bad guys, which are the people that put unreasonable pressure on workers in the name of infinite growth by downsizing critical roles and then expecting the remaining people to do the equivalent of 3 jobs for less pay than any one of those jobs is worth. And I'm not even going into an anti-capitalism rant or whatever with that, it's just mathematics. Stress is stress and every job's stresses, no matter what job it is, sucks and doesn't deserve blanket criticism just because that job happens to be perceived as coveted. If someone was clearly being lazy beyond reason, that is one thing, but Tam does not strike me as lazy in the slightest bit. Someone expressing the stress of production under deadlines is totally fair, regardless of the product. Frankly, bitching about your job is a human right in my book. Two people can have different jobs and both bitch about them and not have to make it about who has a shittier job. It's not a competitive concept.

@nodima Yeah, you've summed it up. I wouldn't give my day job up for a more lucrative gaming post. Life as an office pleb has way more going on. Reviewing is static by comparison.

Well, I'm sorry guys, I just can't go there with you on this. We'll just have to agree to disagree. Because I'm actually not trying to speak in bad faith as @noboners suggest. The thread was about Tam and his appearance on the Bombcast and I was commenting on his it sucks to be a reviewer rant. I simply don't see it. Saying a review job is harder than a person forced to work 2 crappy jobs just to make a decent paycheck for the month while hardly getting any sleep most days of the week just don't match up to me. But I'll also accept that like I have my opinion, other have theirs. I'll respect those opinions and leave it at that. Maybe I am underestimating the job, I don't think so, but I could be. Good talk.

For what it's worth, I did find the "I am better at any video game than you are" tangent so wildly flagrant that I laughed out loud in a way I almost never do outside of niche conversations about favorite NBA players between close friends. I don't know Tam that well other than he's clearly very good at these FromSoft games, but now more than ever I wish there were still offices and that Giant Bomb had a show wherein everyone in that building picks their favorite game and challenges Tam to a match in it or some kind of challenge-based speedrun ala Arcade Pit.

I know he's been on that show but I haven't watched any episodes yet - does he always win his matchups?

@nodima: Not when he's against Jeff G, that's for sure.

@av_gamer: you strike me as young

@av_gamer: fair enough. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk. Sorry for the accusation.

@av_gamer: but again, as I mentioned above, that's not what he said. You are arguing about something he did not say. He was calling out the people who were hassling him on twitter who wouldn't believe him that this review was burning him out and he was exhausted. He never said the things you are saying. He was specially going after the type of people who are assholes to him on twitter for talking about how he was burning out.

"Saying a review job is harder than a person forced to work 2 crappy jobs just to make a decent paycheck for the month while hardly getting any sleep most days of the week just don't match up to me." - He never said this

I never said he made that comment, because I did as a comparison to a video game journalist job. And I got what his original statement was. He also talked about the job of reviewing games in general and how hard it is and how people don't understand with the deadlines and everything. Jeff G even chimed in about how he had to review three games and cover a console launch during that same time period in the past when he worked at Gamespot. The thing is, when video game journalist talk like this, many people respond by saying "dude you play video games for a living, its not that serious." I'm saying I agree with those people. And again, I could be wrong, I accept this possibility. I also don't want to beat a dead horse at this point. It's clear a lot of people on here have sympathy for Tam and other game reviewers and that's fine. I'm just one who doesn't. Not because I don't think its an important job, I like game reviews. I wrote some myself many years ago on here as a user. But when comparing it to some of the other jobs you can get out here, if you're lucky to even find a job, things could be worse. That's just how I feel.

@av_gamer: You're totally allowed to feel that way. But when you say

Saying a review job is harder than a person forced to work 2 crappy jobs just to make a decent paycheck for the month while hardly getting any sleep most days of the week just don't match up to me.

you are straight up using the word 'saying' eventhough the sentence was never said. Better would be saying that you don't agree with the idea that having to play videogames for long stretches to hit certain deadlines is a particular tough job in the grand scheme of things.

Nice try, but I wasn't talking about Tam. I was talking about some of the replies and claiming they would choose the crappy jobs over a video game reviewer job. I didn't highlight their post, because that was my ending statement to the whole conversation.

i agree tam was great on bombcast , i never knew of him before this past yr or so cause i don't follow gamestop , but he seems good on stuff i've seen on here. i'll also agree yeah he seemed a bit ehh acting as if ppl don't understand deadlines n crunch in the same way , but even still i can sympathize with having to rush something for work and getting drained n compromising your health for it so i don't think he was rough either , he was mostly complaining about ppl who complain tho n not the average person i feel like. sure they get 'free' games but its not like it doesn't come with its own costs in other ways and how defensive it sounded it clearly shows , it wouldn't be the first time i've hear of how bad crunch in the reviews process is so i kinda agree they should get copies earlier for big games if dev/pubs want reviews out for it , that said i'm sure theres plenty of cases when they don't cause they know they're shipping a bad product too so ehh is what it is. i think the review in process is a smart thing to do ( i know GI has been doing that when need be for years now) , and like others i still think reviews have a place.

It's clear a lot of people on here have sympathy for Tam and other game reviewers and that's fine. I'm just one who doesn't. Not because I don't think its an important job, I like game reviews. I wrote some myself many years ago on here as a user. But when comparing it to some of the other jobs you can get out here, if you're lucky to even find a job, things could be worse. That's just how I feel.

Weird to feel sympathy for burn out and exhaustion in one profession, but not another. Thats really fucked up.

No trying to shame someone for having a different opinion is really fucked up.

And I've been nothing but respectful in my posts. Just say you don't agree with me and leave it at that.

@av_gamer: I'll just say again, opinions can be both ignorant and wrong, and also incredibly insensitive. The latter can be okay, albeit a little rude, but when combined with the first two it just makes a person sound like a jerk, regardless of how civil or respectful they feel they are being in the process.

I guess some people are deserving of sympathy but others are not.