The Community Spotlight - 07/14/2018

Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight and I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host this week. The last week was rather by the numbers all things considered. Warhammer: Vermintide 2 released for Xbox One and Octopath Traveler has users pining for the good old days. Jeff finally defeated the menace that is Garfield: Saving Arlene. What direction Jeff goes with that video series is anyone's guess. There are plenty of Garfield games, but if he's interested in understanding Eko Software might I recommend The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna. With this all in mind, let's transition to the site related housekeeping!

• Dan was a guest on a recent episode of the DLC podcast! For those that don't know, DLC is a podcast hosted by Jeff Cannata and Christian Spicer.
• Mr. Rorie read a smattering of books and shares his passing thoughts on all he has read recently. Check it out and see if any of the books tickle your fancy.
• If you missed the panel Jeff and Dan did at the Anime Expo, an archive is available on the site! I hope you are all ready to hear them get through the Cell Saga and transition into the Majin Buu Saga.

Community Activities

Giant ROM 5 - The Giant Bomb Game Jam V (By: @zandravandra)

Hey everyone, I know I never place the "Community Activities" at the start of the Spotlight, but I just want you to be aware, IT'S TIME TO JAM! Giant ROM 5, the Giant Bomb community game jam, returns in two weeks! Click the link and learn how you can join the fun!

Giant Bomb Community Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Discord Server (By: @pewpewphil)

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 recently released for Xbox One, and if you picked up that version of the game be aware our community Discord for the game can be found using the link above.

Giant Bomb Galleria

BANNER - Gerstfield and Yodie (By: @kone)

Giant Bomb user kone created some Garfield x Jeff fan art, and I think we can all agree this one is right on the money! Remember to thank them for their work.

Jeff & Dan - Anime Experts (By: @durman667)

DurMan667 took last week's anime-inspired photoshopping madness of Dan and Jeff and created these two awesome works.

Gallery

Clips Of The Week

The Sound of Lasagna (By: @johnymyko)

If you enjoyed Garfield with Gerstmann 07, Giant Bomb user JohnyMyko synched Jeff eating lasagna to "The Sound of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel.

Tweets Of The Week

Best Of Blogs

Fighting Final Fantasy XIII - Episode 1: This Game Has The Worst Introduction In Video Game History! (By: @zombiepie)

Moderator ZombiePie wrote a 4,000+ word blog on why Final Fantasy XIII's first five hours features the WORST first act in video game history. God, why is Hope Estheim such a garbage character?

Moosey's Summer Catch Up! (By: @mooseymcman)

Check out MooseyMcMan's exhaustive blog on their summertime video game fun! Celeste and Beyond: Two Souls are just the tip of the iceberg, so pull up a chair and give it a read!

Tales of Arbitraria 2: Mistakes Were Made (By: @arbitrarywater)

ArbitraryWater writes why Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is still one of the worst things to come from the "Tales Of" franchise. Remember, courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality.

Ranking of Assassin's Creed Part 3: Assassin's Creed Brotherhood (By: @themist997)

TheMist997 continues their "Ranking of Assassin's Creed" blog series with a post about Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood! Give it a read and see how Brotherhood ranks.

Anime Expo 2018 Day 1 / Retro Gaming Around LA (By: @infinitespark)

Giant Bomb user InfiniteSpark had the pleasure of attending Anime Expo 2018! Check out their abbreviated list of what they saw and experienced. You can even ask all about the merchandise they saw.

Saturday Summaries 2018-07-14: The PS3's Not Dead Edition (By: @mento)

Mento explains why they're not done with the PS3 yet, and also delves into more Yakuza 5, Soul Blazer and DoReMi Fantasy for SNES, the windows-based roguelike Kingsway, and Dan's next favorite anime Black Lagoon.

Final Fantasy Friday the XIIIth: Parts Three and Four- The Grand Final-e (By: @thatpinguino)

Moderators thatpinguino and ZombiePie recently finished Final Fantasy XIII and they recorded two podcasts detailing their impressions of chapter four through twelve. In each episode the lament the game's terrible pacing, stale combat, nonsensical story, paper-thin characters, dead world, bland soundtrack, and on and on it goes.

Join The Discussion

What's The Best JRPG Story? (By: @redcream)

It seems like such a simple question, but so far, it has spawned a fervent and active debate on the forums. So the question remains, where do you stand? Will you join team Square Enix or Namco?

What Great Band And Musical Artists Have You Discovered From A Game's Licensed Soundtrack? (By: @frostyryan)

What great band and musical artists have you discovered from a game's licensed soundtrack? Share and discuss your musical discoveries thanks to video games. Based on the thread, Hotline Miami seems to have introduced a ton of users to synthwave.

With Moore's Law Slowing To A Crawl, Is Now The Time To "Future Proof" A Gaming PC? (By: @harbinlights)

With Moore's Law progressing at a snail's pace, is now the time to invest in a custom built gaming PC? Are you expecting any massive leaps in processing technology? Is that even possible?

The Boomsday Project Expansion Coming Soon August 7th (By: @acura_max)

Calling all Hearthstone fans! What are your early impressions of The Boomsday Project expansion? Will it help increase the value of standard, or vice versa? JOIN THE DISCUSSION NOW!

Warframe's Next Big Expansions Reveal & Demo At TennoCon 2018 (By: @rapid)

The Giant Bomb Warframe community welcomes you to discuss the recently announced Fortuna and Railjack expansions! Head on over here to share your positive or negative impressions.

Rainbow Six Siege Combating Toxicity With Bans (By: @moderp)

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege is back in the news and this time it's not about another batch of free DLC. Seems Ubisoft are taking online toxicity seriously and are banning accounts that use abusive language. Join our discussion debating Ubisoft's measures.

Games You're Most Excited About Or Interested In For 2019 (By: @ntm)

Which game set to release in 2019 are you most excited to play? Share and discuss your pick with the rest of the Giant Bomb community over here. This is after all a website "about video games."

MXGP PRO Discussion Thread (By: @seikenfreak)

A new motocross game is out there on the market and it has thus far received a mixed reaction, which leads me to ask you where you stand regarding MXGP PRO. Is it a positive step forward, or an unimpressively bland package?

Lovable Lists

Games That Could (And Should) Get A IIIIth Sequel (By: @audiobusting)

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's unorthodox styling of Roman Numerals got audioBusting wondering if any other games would benefit from an IIIIth sequel.

Fighting Games That Could Get More Love (By: @drjota)

Giant Bomb user DrJota lists four fighting games they think deserve more credit than what they get. Check it out, and think about other games worth including.

NamCompendium: Atari 5200 Ports RANKED (By: @jeffrud)

Did you ever want a "scientific" ranking of Namco's Atari 5200 ports? Anyone? WAIT! Seriously, give this AWESOME list by jeffrud a read and I promise you will not regret it!

Useful User Reviews

• @moonlightmoth's Battletech review details why they think the game manages to toe a careful line between retro and modern design sensibilities.

I so very much hope Jeff does The Garfield Show: Threat of the Space Lasagna. Found the first few minutes on YouTube and the opening is spectacular.

It's a mini-game collection, which I know is shocking for a licensed Wii game. It supports multiple players and the balance board, so there's potential for both some green screen hi-jinks and for it to be Garfield with Gerstmann...and Friends.

I really enjoyed watching Jeff suffer through the two PS2 games. I don't entirely know why. I think it's because Jeff still played them pretty seriously in spite of them being bad; whereas a popular streamer might dick around with them for an hour until the jokes about its quality wear out and that's it. I appreciate the commitment to seeing the game through to conclusion as a person who compulsively feels the need to finish games I've started, even when I don't like them.

Do not watch if you don't want to (potentially) be spoiled for the next Garfield with Gerstmann!

That shirt would join my Gerstfield shirt proudly and instantly.

Just...puttin' that out there. Gerstmann and Friends has been a highlight video series this year, and I don't care HOW it continues, only THAT it continues.

Thank you for highlighting that "Fighting Games That Could Get More Love" list.

Some interesting stuff there, @drjota.

Dan was a guest on a recent episode of the DLC podcast! For those that don't know, DLC is a podcast hosted by Jeff Cannata and Christian Spicer.

Never heard of them, what do they do?

My name in lights~

That Vinny seal is the legitness.

Thanks again for featuring my artwork.

Here's hoping someone sends Jeff a Yoshi/Odie hybrid figurine.

Can't wait to see what comes out of Giant ROM 5! The videos of the Bomb crew going through those games are always really fun.

@kone: I'm thinking a Full Metal Alchemist-esque chimera

@kingxold: Is it pornography? I'm guessing it's pornography.