The Community Spotlight 2019.03.16

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! Game, games, and games! They finally seem to be coming out at a reasonable rate. Tom Clancy's The Division 2 properly released this week, and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is right around the corner! Also, you cannot forget about previous releases like Devil May Cry 5 and Anthem which both have fostered community discussion both good and bad. Regardless, we have a lot of site-related housekeeping to review, so let's jump right into it!

• Mr. Rorie is hosting another Premium User Giveaway! Follow the link and drop a comment to be entered into a raffle; non-Premium members will instead have a chance for a free month of Premium.
• The Giant Bombcast is a part of some USA Today competitive podcast bracket. Unfortunately it is losing to "Binge Mode". If you have some time to prevent that from happening, it would be appreciated.
• It took him nearly 11 years, but Marino finally managed to become the first person in Giant Bomb's history to break the 1,000,000 wiki point barrier! Check it out:

Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run IX Announcement Thread

The Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run IX (By: @thatpinguino)

Hey everyone, it's time for Giant Bomb's spring-time community charity fundraiser, the Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run! Use the link above and read what the early plans are for the event. Also, there's still time for you to join the fun!

Rio Starwind’s Community Endurance Run Plans (By: @riostarwind)

Giant Bomb moderator RioStarwind has some ambitious classic video game streaming plans for the Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run this year, and you can read all about them on their latest blog!

I'm Playing Unlimited Saga For The Kids! (By: @jeffrud)

JeffRud, on the other hand, has less than honorable plans for the GBCER. These plans involve a bad RPG, a spinner, and 5 Hour Energy. Help me regret this and raise money for schools!

Pat Baer Joins The Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run! (By: @patbaer)

You heard that right! The Baer Caev will be joining the Giant Bomb Community Endurance Run IX! Not only are they streaming for Pencils of Promise, but $20 donations could possibly win WONDERFUL PRIZES!

Tweets Of The Week

Author's Note:I just want to say the All System Goku animation clip created by is a MUST SEE this week! Seriously, it is amazing stuff!

Giant Bomb Galleria

Author's Note: REMEMBER to support artists however you can!

Banner - Giant Beastcast Fan Art (+Jeff Bakalar) (By: @AlejandroKayArt)

Over on Twitter, AlejandroKayArt had some fun sketching and drawing fan art for the Giant Beastcast hosts, including Jeff Bakalar, this week! Marvel at their amazing works and spread the word if you can.

Gallery

Big Jeffery Artwork (By: @Vmrgan)

Vmrgan's portrait of Big Jeffrey is quite impressive if I do say so myself. I certainly love the detail on the hair and face.

Community Activities

Warframe PC - Giant Bomb Alliance - (UPDATED ON: 2019-3-07) - Operation Buried Debts (By: @rapid)

The Giant Bomb Community PC Alliance for Warframe has a comprehensive update about the new Operation Buried Debts event! Get the details using the link above and enjoy the fun!

Unofficial GB Division 2 Discord Server (By: @grandcurator )

I hate to say this but due to The Division 2 only allowing user to create clans of fifty people our community clan situation is a bit of a mess. If someone wants to create a "Master Thread" which annotates the available and active clans users can join and group them by platform, that would be appreciated. Until then, here's a link to the community Discord for the game.

Best Of Blogs

10 Years On Bayonettea's Intro Still Rips. And Is Surprisingly Restrained (By: @basicallyolly)

It is hard to imagine, but Bayonetta is TEN YEARS OLD! User basicallyolly took the time to look at the game's introduction to articulate why they think it still stands as one of the best in video game history!

The Rise Of Publisher-Exclusive Game Stores And The Effect It Will Have On The Industry (By: @sweep)

Giant Bomb Moderator Sweep welcomes you to join their discussion debating the rise of publisher-exclusive game stores and how these stores impact consumers.

Top 200 Games Of All Time - Part Six! (By: @pixelprinny)

Part six of PixelPrinny's "Top 200 Games of All Time" series up for your reading pleasure! See which games took the #150 to #141 spots and marvel at their AMAZING photoshop skills.

Thirteen Years Later, Empire At War's Mod Community Is STILL The Best Representation Of The Old Star Wars EU (By: @zombiepie)

Petroglyph's Star Wars: Empire at War recently celebrated its thirteenth anniversary, and Moderator ZombiePie used this occasion to look at the game's reverence for the Star Wars Legends timeline and active mod community.

Modern Warfare, Siege, Metro, Left Trigger, Right Trigger (By: @nateandrews)

nateandrews compared FPS games new and old by playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Metro Exodus in the span of a week. Read how they perceived the evolution of the genre on their latest blog.

Let There Be Rock: The Design of Rock Band (By: @gamer_152)

Gamer_152's latest blog provides and exhaustive look at what makes Rock Band tick. How it evolved the rhythm genre, how the instruments come together, and how it tests players.

Saturday Summaries 2019-03-16: Pokepaparazziversary Edition (By: @mento)

Mento's latest periodical addresses the lack of a Pokemon Snap sequel twenty years later, their continuing adventures in Nioh, their brief time with Into the Breach, and some new cross-media reviews.

Join The Discussion

Who Will Win The Streaming Wars? (By: @basicallyolly)

Every console manufacturer seems to be making a harder push into the video game streaming market. Who do you think has the edge now and down the road? I like the one user comment that said ISPs are the real winners if the entire industry goes the streaming route.

Is Destiny 2's Story Getting Worse? (By: @notsosneakyguy)

With the recent batch of expansions, the community remains divided on the state of Destiny 2's story! What say YOU? Did the Black Armory and Joker's Wild events improve or harm the game's worldbuilding?

New Trailer For Battlefield V's Battle Royale Mode (By: @rorie)

The reveal trailer for Battlefield V's Battle Royale mode went up recently! What are YOUR impressions of what has been revealed thus far? Join our community discussion using the link!

Are Sony In Negotiations To Acquire Take-Two? (By: @machofantastico)

The community is practically buzzing about the rumors of Sony buying Take-Two Interactive. What is your gut reaction to the story? Is it an industry changer, or a pipe dream?

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Finally Coming To PC (Steam!) (By: @malarkain)

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is finally coming to PC and Steam! Do you plan to pick the game up when it releases on the PC? Does Halo have a place in the crowded PC FPS market? Use the link above to share your two cents' worth!

Dragon's Dogma Is Getting An Anime (By: @rejizzle)

What's YOUR take on the recently announced Dragon's Dogma Netflix anime series? Are you excited? What direction do you hope they take the series? Will it reach the meteoric heights of the Castlevania series?

Richard Garfield, Designer Of Artifact, Has Left Valve (By: @rorie)

What do you make of Richard Garfield, designer of Artifact, leaving Valve? Does this mean Artifact is dead, or the game will receive the reboot it is in dire need of right now?

Devil May Cry 5 Impressions Sharing Thread (By: @pompouspizza)

Have any of you run Devil May Cry 5 through its paces? Which protagonist is your favorite? How is the ranking system treating you? Is the lack of environmental variety a deal breaker?

Lovable Lists

The Sega Mega Drive's Mega Drivers (By: @mento)

Moderator Mento is doing something every video game historian should check out and support! They are reviewing every developer that released a game on the Genesis/Mega Drive! Give it a read using the link!

Games I've Missed But Want To Play At Some Point (By: @benspyda)

We've all been there before. You had masterful plans to strike dozens of games from your backlog, only to have things fall through. Well, that's exactly the topic at hand on benspyda's list, and you should give it a look and think about your own list.

Useful User Reviews

• @moonlightmoth uses their review of Dead or Alive 6 to details how it is a disappointing cocktail of sex, power, love, and money.
• @nateandrews uses the review of Metro Exodus to explain why the game is best enjoyed if you walk off the beaten path it crafts for you, and totally serviceable if you don't.
• @riostarwind looks back at the new retro style games they enjoyed the most, and identifies how they all feature progression without a focus on being difficult. The Messenger continues that trend.

Wonderful Wikis

EverQuest

It seems only fitting to promote this game's wiki page now that @marino topped 1,000,000 wiki points. You could say that it is the game that started it all!

Fun fact: Marino put so much stuff on this wiki page that it broke the old wiki editor. No one could add anything new to the page for several years!

Thank for the shout out of the GB Div 2 discord! It's pretty bustling so even if you end up in an overflow clan, you can be sure to find a group with some duders.

Loving these portraits. Great work, AlejandroKayArt and Vmrgan.

Went to vote for GB in the bracket. Unfortunately, I think Binge Mode already won. results

Man I'm with you Marino that Alex art is like the most somehow relatable thing.

Love the FBSS/GEB EQ reference!

Congrats on the big M, @marino!

Let's see, I have... 509 points on this old account I no longer have the email address for and 1 point on this account so... Only 999,490 points to go to catch up to you!

;)

Anyone know what happend to die another friday this week?

Thanks for the double shout out! This was my first week of beginning to put my thoughts into writing, let alone letting them out of the bag and onto public forums so the shout out means the world! I hope to keep posting more and more often!

My 2000 wiki points seem non-existent now, lol.