He seems like a decent guy, he just doesn't have an entertaining or charismatic bone in his body, which is a pity for a guy who does video entertainment for a living. Like a lot of gaming journalists he gets tremendously excited when a game with some serious thematic concerns or philosophical elements pops up. These are almost always indie games with minimal gameplay and an artistic style, Sword and Sworcery being the perfect example. The thing is, these games are hardly Dostoevsky, Céline, or Orwell, generally being as shallow, throw-away and superficial as the worst post-modern author or modern artist. I really don't want gaming to go in the direction of being an interactive version of the kinds of art that I hate in other media, and so it unfortunately annoys me when things like that are venerated, meaning more of them will appear.
Comes across as being something of a pseud and a dilletante. Whatever though, it's the mix of personalities that makes this site so good. I know where he's coming from if he reviews a game or discusses it on the podcast. Much better to have that than have a site where no one has any personality at all, and you have no idea of the tastes of the reviewers or what have you.
"Dumb" is the GB crew's favorite word...Patrick's not the only one to use it frequently. Honestly, I don't listen to the podcast/watch the videos for the opinions on games...I'm here for the comedy. I know what games I like, and maybe every so often check out a quick look specifically to decide on a game. However, I specifically come for the laughs, which luckily keep on coming from the staff of this site...
Eh, I don't really care about Patrick's opinion on anything anyways, so it doesn't matter to me. I don't want to get on the "fuck him" bandwagon, because that's a bit too amoral, but I will say that since he's newer to the site, and I've never heard of him before this, it makes it a lot harder to care about his opinions, and I didn't really like at first how it seemed as if he interrupted the others a lot of the time. Overall though, he seems like a nice guy, and the other crew members seem to like him, so I guess that's all that really matters.
Patrick is better than all you haters out there . Patrick has always made everything about GiantBomb better since day 1 . Patrick is AWESOME . :D Thanks again Jeff , for hiring Tricky .
It's been said before, but sometimes I wonder how some people operate in the real world; some people don't get out a whole lot if they genuinely think Patrick is pretentious, elitist, or a hipster. It's apparently impossible to like certain things without being labeled as such. "You like Captain Beefheart? Fuck you, hipster. Like French cinema from the 60's? Fuck you, hipster. You own a Moog? Fuck you, hipster." Unless Patrick is walking around with giant, 80's gym-teacher/pedophile horn-rimmed glasses and a keffiyeh while saying "Kafka-esque" incorrectly, then I cannot take any claims seriously. How is he even a hipster? The hair and physique? Does that mean Vinny is a dumb meathead for bringing the gun-show all day, everyday?
I didn't care about Molyjam and I don't always check out Worth Reading. In fact, half the stuff he talks about are things I'm not interested in, but that could be applied to everyone. I'm not always into Flight Club; I don't give a shit about Trackmania; I don't always care about the b-level game Brad tries to champion even though it's not as great as he wants it to be. But I think Patrick's interests come from a very genuine, sincere place, and he's very excited to share those interests to the world.
It's good. I don't agree with everything he says, but he doesn't hate other games. The only times I had issues with his observations/opinions were when he said that Skyrim should handle the whole demi-god characters that control all the guilds, etc, better (because that's the way the game is supposed to be. It's a sandbox, so if you want to, you can do all of those things, if you want to limit yourself, go right ahead) and when he said that the Witcher 2 needs to hold your hand more (despite constantly talking about modern games holding your hand, and despite the fact that almost every aspect and mechanic of that game is literally spelled out to the player). Beyond those, I haven't cared too much. He's the news guy, and the indie guy. He doesn't need to be super interested in the games you or I like, and diversity is good. He's an interesting personality for the bombcast and quicklooks and he's helping to bring cool stuff to our attention.
But they really need to get Darth Whitta on the podcast sometime, he's awesome.
I don't think he's wrong (most of the time) about what he says, but I find him fairly boring, and he never seems to start a topic, he kinda just sits and waits for the other crew to ask him about what obscure game he's found or what he's been doing.
I believe that Patrick is the resident "obscure games coming out" expert that none of the others are. If that's his job, then pretension might be one of the prerequisites.
I always thought he looked like a bit of a hipster.
Anyway, Patrick has never and still doesn't get on my nerves. I don't really see any truth in what you're talking about, and I never quite got why a lot of people disliked him so much.
While on the subject of Patrick, I've got a side question: How old is he? I thought he was the youngest on the GB crew by a number of years - like in his 20's - but he was talking about being at E3 several times over the past decade, if memory serves.
he started going when he was 13( or something close to that age).
He's a "new" personality to the site, and not everybody is going to like it. But they are allowed to, and to be honest I like to see a hate thread every now and then. The amount of staff fan boys equipped with their eagerness to worship the crew can get pretty nauseating. A lot of people on this site treat the guys like some sort of boy band.
Anyway, I'm on the don't like Patrick side of things. Not to say he's a bad guy, because I'm sure he's not. But I come to this website to be entertained. I started coming here back in 07 because I liked the guys providing the content. I've noticed that I've been coming here less and less over the past year, and I hate to say it, but its because of Patrick. He seems to be in everything, once I hear his voice in a quick look I usually turn it off. Some people may think I'm a douche because of that, but I'm sure all of you have media personalities that you don't like. I'm sure everyone has had an experience with a t.v show where a new character is introduced, and because you don't like that character you stop watching. So what I am saying is that Patrick is my Poochy.
Did I not notice this before? It just seems if it's not a weird game from Japan or doing something different its "stupid and dumb". I kinda cringe when he talks on the bombcast or quicklooks now...
Can you be specific?
Because I have a feeling the games you are taking offence about being called stupid are pretty stupid.
lol i cringe when i see giant bomb users opinions , patrick has 100% more integrity than 99% of you .. im 200% sure of that ... but really even if you dont like the guy .. surely you can ignore him, or at least choose not to react to him if you already have formed an opinion of what hes going to say .. that should be easy.
i dunno .. patrick just seems to be the low hanging fruit that people pick on , because hes the newest member of the site. and therefore you can seperate him in your mind from giantbomb .. i personally dont like ryan and love him on the podcast just hate him on just about every other thing he does , but i cant deny his is an integral part of giantbomb and as such i just resign myself to ignoring him when he starts doing the things i don't like.
I never noticed Patrick being anything other than a pretty cool guy. I mean, they're game critics. You spend all your time reviewing games and tearing them up for a living, it's bound to seem that way.
That being said, I feel like is it just me or does Jeff dis a lot of games that he puts tons of time into. Just for the lols?
I like Patrick, he can get a bit annoying interrupting people on the podcast and I don't care for him on quick looks. I have no opinion of him on endurance runs because I only watched part of the Chrono Trigger. Also, the sites content has been lacking some good old Dave.
did anyone see the thread about the new gaming site polygon.com ? i was looking at all these ppl i dont recognize and thinking .. whoa what a bunch of posers . liek this justin mcelroy guy seems to be just some chucklehead who cant keep a straight face because he finds himself so amusing .. yet he seems to be the fan favourite ... so i understand why patrick may seem wierd .. but ive followed his "carrer" for a while now and when he showed up on giantbomb he was a familiar face (and afro, oh man that thing used to be OUT OF CONTROL).
so i guess im just saying i understand both sides of the story ,, and cant see why one would dwell on it any longer once one realizes how reacitve they are being
I don't think Patrick's ever taken the position that games that aren't odd and from Japan are a waste of time, I've never got that sense from him. He does concern himself with taking deep, sincere, and insightful looks at video games, but I really wish we could get away from the idea that anyone trying to do something vaguely serious with video games is inherently an asshole. If you don't agree with Patrick's opinions or don't like the style of his work then great, the world is better for people having a diversity of opinions, and you are under no obligation to consume any of the content he creates.
However, what I don't think is fair is to say that because he concerns himself with exploring the process of indie development, analysing games reviews and fan reaction to them, looking at the possible advantages and pitfalls of Kickstarter, or covering similar topics, that you get to say he's arrogant or a douchebag. I'm happy that there is someone on the Giant Bomb team filling the role Patrick is and I think it's great to see someone with his enthusiasm and writing ability come to the site.
I didn't like Patrick when he first appeared in BC. However, now I am really happy there are members of Giant Bomb who don't just want to shoot while playing video games, who understand games as an art form and can talk intelligently about it, who can appreciate RPGs with complex combat system and challenging difficulty so Vinny will no longer be alone defending his favorite RPGs as top 10 games of the year. :)
He has enough gaming cred to have a right to say how he feels about games with some trust. Though I do agree that the Bombcast could use some variety with certain gaming discussion.
Wow, so sour. And if defending a journalist I like (because people stay bitching about him. There's a new "I hate Patrick thread every goddamn week.) is considering dick sucking, then fuck it. I’ll cradle the balls… stroke the shaft… work the pipe… and swallow the gravy…I just don't give a fuck really. And yes I fucking love Tropic Thunder.
I agree somewhat. Patrick is kind of annoying sometimes and I feel like he thinks his opinions are fact, but he does have his moments and his residence here has increased my enjoyment of the site.
Also, don't make threads like these. It's a free country and internet, I know, but unless you like to get hurt, you should keep these things to yourself.
People who pick on Patrick and don't say shit about the rest of the Crew are nothing but a bunch of dick riders. Get off the staff nuts, they all have their faults.
It's great if you want to learn about some of the more unique things that are happening in the medium, but it also gives him a general attitude of condesention when talking about a majority of the mainstream stuff.
Whenever he starts going off on one of his uninformed rants I find it's best to just ignore it.
I would call him pationately enthusiastic and not pretentious since I don't think there's no hypocritical about him. I actually like that he goes the extra mile. It outweighs the, almost too, lose nature of some bombcast discussions.
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