The alternative

Take a trip over to Gamespot or IGN.... Browse around a bit, maybe watch a video. Did you notice the difference between that experience and Giant Bombs'? 
 

• Banner ads freaking everywhere (making load times crazy and fucking up the layout/overview/design)  
• 30 seconds long commercials for fucking cars or anti virus before EVERY video
• Click traps making you have to load the site (and thereby the ads) a thousand times more than is necessary. Check out this fucking guide or this top 25: USELESS
• Weekly podcast with a duration of..... 53:54 (and they don't get a FREE extra hour of shenanigans)

• close the site as a professional site and let it be user run like Anime Vice (though that still costs bandwidth and engineers)
• Let it become ad-based and thereby giving in to all the annoying things mentioned above plus giving up some of their freedom (like the freedom for Vinny to say cunt on air or maybe even for you to say fuck fuckitty fuck fuck fuck in the forums) Ultimately it could lead to a situation where Giant bomb has taken on a major Ubisoft ad campaign with banners and trailers for a specific game everywhere, but end up giving the game (that is bad) a bad review leading to someone getting fired on the grounds of journalistic integrity... Right?
• OR... Do what they are going to do now which lets them keep the freedom to do stupid shit, say cunt, give games fair scores, keep the engineers making awesome stuff like quests and phone apps, not have a fucking intrusive ad policy that rapes my brain every time I want to watch an episode of the endurance run and not having to make features that forces you to click NEXT PAGE for every other sentence

AGREE

Someone who speaks sense, well done sir.
Haters gonna hate, they can suck it.

People think they are given the right to free shit on the internet, the second it's explained that the amount of bandwidth they use up is bleeding a company money, and they need to find a way to make money, people go up in arms. 
 
It's a joke. 
 
In the real world people pay for their news and services.   
 
The amount of content I get from GB in a month is just as much as what I get in a year of the Wall Street Journal (and that's over $100 a year).

Right the fucking cunt on you beautiful bastard. 

I don't hate Giant Bomb for doing this. I just hate the stupid twats who do pay for a subscription.

" I don't hate Giant Bomb for doing this. I just hate the stupid twats who do pay for a subscription. "

Great, now everyone is going to act as a fucking PR dude.

" People think they are given the right to free shit on the internet, the second it's explained that the amount of bandwidth they use up is bleeding a company money, and they need to find a way to make money, people go up in arms.  It's a joke.  In the real world people pay for their news and services.    The amount of content I get from GB in a month is just as much as what I get in a year of the Wall Street Journal (and that's over $100 a year). "

I absolutely agree. I'm sick of people who think that the world owes them everything all the time. If you don't like it, don't subscribe, do something yourself if you think you can do better for free and see if you can survive not getting paid for your work.

You are the maker of sense. I don't mind paying for a service I enjoy.

" @KaosAngel: You mean the internet isn't a magical fairyland where content appears magically for free? I'm shocked!  "

" @Frederik:  Best post I've seen the entire morning, I've been wading through bullshit for hours. Cudos! "

Finally some sign of intelligence and sense. 
 
 Thank you, sir!

The alternative to them having subscriptions is them hiring shitty writers? You're stupid OP.

I support this view on the subject.

Yes someone that knows it costs to make things happen and free can only go so far sub me up! NOW?

HEAR HEAR. This is far and away better than no Giant Bomb

" The alternative to them having subscriptions is them hiring shitty writers? You're stupid OP. "

The real point is that most other very large sites offer a freemium model like this, but the only reason you would ever hand over your cash is because of what you get in return for the subscription (which is usually not that much). I can't speak for every pending-subscriber here, but I suspect that many of us will not be paying because of the goodies we'll get. Rather, we'll be paying because we want to support the site and we feel the value we get in content and community is worth paying for. The goodies are just a little bonus.
 
The way you approach both premium offerings from both types of sites says a lot about the sites and communities.
 
Of course, there are plenty of other great podcasts and gaming sites out there. Many are enthusiast podcasts (like the guys at Noobtoob). Some are professional podcasts by industry guys. Even if they're for the crappy major sites, the discussions on the podcasts can often be quite good.
 
However, I have not found any place elsewhere that offers the all-in-one experience that GiantBomb does. The personalities behind it. The comedy and amusement. The forums. The podcasts. The quicklooks. The general coverage. The database. They are most consistently the best and are unique.
 
You can really enjoy other podcasts and sites without it somehow detracting from Giant Bomb. GiantBomb is probably the only one I'd pay for a subscription to, though. The other sites, while offering something interesting, don't do so thoroughly enough for me to want to pay. As an example, I love the Noobtoob podcasts. They're great fun. I'd gladly toss a $10 their way, but not subscribe. I only watch their show and never participate in their forums. Mobcast is also a great podcast, but I can't stand to read or participate in the never-ending navel gazing on their site (the trendy thing seems to be thirty-page dissertations on sexism in videogames and how male videogame players should feel like pathetic dogs.)
 
Plus, then you throw in the rest of the Whiskey Media content and you have something that starts to be a solid value. I don't participate in anything except Giant Bomb, but if I'm a subscriber, I probably will start checking the other sites out.
 
I love gaming. I love game discussion and content. I love other sites and podcasts and journalists and personalities. I will toss most of those I consume a few bucks here and there as a sign of my grattitude. But when it comes to consistent value for value, Giant Bomb is where it's at (for me) and this is where I will compensate *them* in return with a constant stream of cash ($50/yr or whatever).
 
I also TRULY enjoy the majority of my fellow community members here. If I could, I would send you all $50/yr each, too. I can't, but I would.

I want to give them money...
 
It's just that the price model isn't for me. I don't care for the mobile app (just have a normal cell phone), I probably could do without super hd content ... basically I just want the bombcast and quicklooks and I want to give them money for these fun providing services. 
 
I'd would be perfect for me (student, low on money) if they offered another subscription type for like 20-30$ that only covers the bombcast. I'd be totally willing to pay that and I've seen a lot of people who mentioned this price point and for whom 50$ is just too much (for whatever reason). So GB is missing out on these potential revenues.
 
So I basically would want them to offer a "standard year-membership" (just full bombcast) and a "premium year-membership" (720p videos, mobile app, full bombcast). 

Right, I turned off my AdBlock and went to IGN and Gamespot. Fuck me, that was terrible. Commercials before every video, banners everywhere, articles designed to maximize pageviews, fullscreen commercials and several paywalls. Yeah, I'll pay to help GB avoid turning into shit like that.

" I want to give them money...  It's just that the price model isn't for me. I don't care for the mobile app (just have a normal cell phone), I probably could do without super hd content ... basically I just want the bombcast and quicklooks and I want to give them money for these fun providing services.   I'd would be perfect for me (student, low on money) if they offered another subscription type for like 20-30$ that only covers the bombcast. I'd be totally willing to pay that and I've seen a lot of people who mentioned this price point and for whom 50$ is just too much (for whatever reason). So GB is missing out on these potential revenues.  So I basically would want them to offer a "standard year-membership" (just full bombcast) and a "premium year-membership" (720p videos, mobile app, full bombcast).  "

" I think what most people are bitching about is the fact that they're adding whats free already and tacking half of that onto a paid model. Yes you do get the full thing later on, but thats like saying "oh by you paying you get the privledge to keep the site the way it is now"  I understand they need to make money, even though seams like they're doing okay for themselves as it is as theyve shown all the countless things in thier office and all the trips they've gone on to cover games and how the site has grown to cover other subjects ( tested, comic vice, screened, anime vice) and they've moved into a larger office. So money doesn't seam to be THAT much of a problem.   Some of the items that are offered to you is fine, the bombcast shouldn't be the only thing that's added on that list, sorry half the bombcast. As for paying isn't that big of a deal. That's great, but unless they mention that they'll ship stuff to anywhere other than the US again, its a bit unrewarding for the rest of us.  That being said, I still love what the guys do and this itself doesn't bother me TOO much. "