The Community Spotlight - 12/16/2017

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 END IS NIGH! Giant Bomb's Game of the Year content will start on December 25th. Also, the Giant Bomb staff made their final push to increase the Giant Bomb account's Extra Life total. As it stands, the Giant Bomb account has raised over $266,000 and broken the previous Giant Bomb team record. Great work all around! Without further ado, let's jump into the site related housekeeping!

• As mentioned earlier, the Giant bomb staff made their final push to raise money for Extra Life! If you missed it, remember you can donate until the end of 2017.
• Community voting to crown a Giant Bomb Community Game of the Year has begun!
• ATTENTION! If you experience issues or bugs when trying to participate in the Giant Bomb Community Game Of The Year voting, to report them over here.
• College folks, don’t forget that GameSpot’s looking for a couple of summer interns for 2018. Here's the posting for a design internship; here's the posting for a product manager internship.

2017 GOTY User Created Content

User GOTY Lists

• Best Of 2017 (By: @mormonwarrior)
• Best Of 2017 (By: @armaan8014)
• Best Of 2017 (Haiku Edition)(By: @draugen)
• Best Of 2017 (Pun Edition) (By: @agentoharah)
• Best Games of 2017 (By: @guip1408)
• My Games of 2017 (By: @thefinaltardis)
• Games Of My Year 2017 (By: @cozmicdad)

GOTY Blogs And Threads

Post Your Current User GOTY List (By: @dryker)

However big or small, remember to share and discuss your 2017 GOTY list with the rest of the Giant Bomb community over here.

My Favorite Video Game Music of 2017 (By: @majormitch)

MajorMitch uses his latest blog to annotate his favorite gaming soundtracks from 2017! Read to see where Persona 5 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ranked!

How Many Games You've Finished This Year, So Far?(By: @richardqx)

How many games will you have completed before the end of 2017? Looks like the vast majority of the Giant Bomb community blew me out of the water.

Good Games To Play While Listening To GOTY Podcasts, 2017 Edition (By: @sweep)

What games do you plan on playing while listening to Giant Bomb's 2017 GotY podcasts? Rocket League and Stardew Valley are current community favorites, but my pick would be Stellaris.

Mattallica's Top 10 Games of 2017 (By: @_mattallica)

_Mattallica thought there were plenty of quality games released during 2017, and this blog post shows it.

MezZa's Carefully Crafted Top 10 of 2017 (By: @mezza)

Put more thought and care you would ever expect a person would for a GOTY list. Check it out and see if your favorite games made the cut.

Clips Of The Week

Giant Bomb FGC Tekken Tournament #5 - Part 1/2& Giant Bomb FGC Tekken Tournament #5 - Part 2/2 (By: VectorSpecter)

The Giant Bomb FGC posted an archive of their most recent Tekken 7: Fated Retribution tournament! Check it out, and see who came out on top this time around.

Giant Bomb Galleria

Giant Bomb Game of the Year: A Deliberation Runtime Analysis (By: @landonrobinson)

LandonRobinson created a MASSIVE infographic crunching the numbers on every Giant Bomb GOTY podcast. Check it out, but be warned, it is a BIG infographic.

Tweets Of The Week

Community Activities

6th Annual GB AOTY Poll: "Is Neo Yokio Anime?" Edition (By: @dochaus)

I know it was included in the title as a "joke," but if you vote for Neo Yokio, you are part of the problem.

Best Of Blogs

Silver Scare: Narrative And Factions In Fallout 4& In Plain Sight: Environment and Player Abilities in Hitman (2016) (By: @gamer_152)

Giant Bomb moderator Gamer_152's latest blog wrote about set-up and pay-off, factions, and societal commentary in Fallout 4, and their value. Gamer_152 also delved into Hitman (2016) and extrapolates how it scratched the same itch tabletop RPGs do for him.

Talks About 4K Codecs, HEVC / h.265, AV1 And HDR Mastering (By: @cliffordbanes)

Were you interested in reading a helpful and educational write-up on new codec standards for 4K video players? Giant Bomb user cliffordbanes has you covered, and this blog really is a treat to read.

An Experience Beyond Video Games (By: @blackheronblue)

BlackHeronBlue comments on why The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ended up providing him an experience that transcended beyond games and into real-life.

Mario Kart 8 DX Review (By: @jamesdavis)

JamesDavis spent a great deal of time with Mario Kart 8 DX, and you can read why it has been one of the most pleasurable family-friendly game experiences he has ever had.

My Thoughts on the Game Awards Part 1: General Impressions & My Thoughts On The Game Awards Part 2: The Games (By: @themist997)

TheMist997 uses his latest blogs to share his general impressions of The Game Awards and why he has issues with the show's priorities. Part two assesses the various game announcements and reveals during the show.

All-New Saturday Summaries 2017-12-16: Surplus Awards Edition(By: @mento)

Mento had a few leftover award categories for his upcoming GOTY blog, so he dropped them in his weekly summary blog instead. Also up this week: PS2 GTA games, and a handful of obscure 2017 releases.

Join The Discussions

Do You Think Toad Is Cute? (By: @frostyryan)

UH, this is a poll you can all vote for this Toad poll right now. 200+ Giant Bomb users have voted already so what's there to lose beyond your dignity?

GOTY for Board Game (By: @geralt)

What is your GOTY in the realm of board games? Vote for and discuss your favorite board game or tabletop experience from 2017.

Okami HD On Steam Discussion Thread(By: @jagerxbomb)

Ōkami HD released on Steam this week, and if you have played it, what are your impressions of the PC port? Does it honor a gaming buried treasure?

Josef Fares At The Game Awards Discussion Thread (By: @frostyryan)

What reaction did YOU have to Josef Fares' comments during The Game Awards? Whether it is a warm embrace or hostile rebuke, share over here.

PS4 Holiday Sale, Which Cheap Games Did You Pick Up? (By: @sandrawilf)

There's a PlayStation 4 holiday sale, and if you picked up a game or notice some salacious deal, feel free to share using the thread above.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Xbox Games Preview Discussion Thread (By: @wikitoups)

Internet scuttlebutt seems to think the Xbox One version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is an unplayable mess, but where do you stand?

Lovable Lists

My Console (By: @marino)

Dear Marino,

You win.

Sincerely, ZP

Looking Forward To In 2018 (By: @baka_shinji17)

baka_shinji17 is excited about the games set to release in 2018. See which games he is most excited about on his latest list.

Useful User Reviews

• Read why @bhlaab found The Bureau: XCOM Declassified to be a miserable experience 80% of the time, with a few splashes of brilliance.
• @grizzlybutts' review of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus extrapolates why he felt the game was afflicted by a "sophomore slump" when compared to its predecessor.

Nothing cute about Toad, and that's before you hear his dreadful voice.

Here’s a list I made for next week in which I gave out some awards in various GOTY like categories.

https://www.giantbomb.com/profile/themasterds/lists/the-ancillaries-2017/361253/

TOAD IS CUTE. if you don't think so you are not someone worth my time.

Jan has now been photoshopped by the community, he is truly acclimated to GB.

That's a very good Toad

I made a GotY List and actually wrote some thoughts about each entry

After remembering that Cosmic Star Heroine was released in 2017 I made what will probably be the final update on my 2017 GOTY list unless I think of something else. Maybe I'll write up more than a sentence or two for each game later.

I doubt anyone cares but heres my list.

Because it's dumb to think that anyone would care about my GOTY list, I yet again continued the tradition of not making one.

I'd read it and even comment. Fredrik T. demands it.

Here's my list. Thanks in advance, ZB I kind of rushed blurbs. I didn't reach 10 games for this year, but I feel this year, I had played a lot of new games within a year of their release compared to past years. Maybe I had more time to play games or there were more games that were my cup of tea this year? It was a strange year for me.

Hope everyone who watches anime, come and vote at the GB Anime Duders anime poll of 2017

Here's my Best Of 2017 List.

Finally went and made a list, now time for some end of the year goodness.

Hey, @marino! I've made a couple of lists for your consideration.

Weasel's Games of the Year 2017

Weasel's Anticipated Games of 2018

Weasel's Most Played Old Games in 2017

Thanks, and happy holidays!

I wrote a thing too.