Your Life in Giant Bomb

Like everyone on here, the news has genuinely shaken and upset me, and really had me reflect on the time I've had with this site

Although they alluded to it on the Bombcast this week I thought it might be heartening for the staff to know exactly what GB has meant to people on here in their own lives. So, if you'll indulge me...

2005 - at university in Scotland (University of Glasgow) I got fully into On The Spot. It would air at 2am in the UK and I would stay up for it. I believe I was the first person to get Ryan Davis saying "Martin From Glasgee" as opposed to Glasgow when referring to my comments.

2008 - a real tumultuous time in my own life, involving moving from my home town of Glasgow to Edinburgh (1 hr away but having lived in SLC as a kid I know that's nothing to the USA people) and a big breakup, to start teaching really usurped me. It was the same time that Arrow Pointing Down / GB was forming and I felt a strong identity with their whole discombobulated nature. I believe I joined GB as a member in 2008 and my profile picture has never changed... that's me at 22. I was very active on the site in those days, completing quests and the like as it was a rare outlet for me.

2013 - on holiday with my then girlfriend (now wife) as we checked into our hotel in Croatia, I read the article (and I will never forget the name) "Giant Bomb Has Suffered a Profound Loss". Reading about Ryan Davis' passing really upset me - he was a joy to watch, and I remember trying to articulate it to my girlfriend as to why I was upset.

Bizarrely, one of my favourite Bombcast moments is tied to the week after, when Jeff spoke about the 3DS Street pass Rabbit. Both those events are intertwined in my head.

2014 - before I was promoted in my current job, I became a marker for the Scottish exams. During this, I had to stay at a hotel marking English and Media papers. During this time I took part in the famous Bombcast "beef" thread and wrote a screed that was read against Primary / Elementary school teachers. I also extolled that History teachers could *drink*.

I apologise now to Primary / Elementary teachers.

2015 - episode 3 of the Beastcast. I listened to it on my wife and I's first of 4 trips to Tokyo. These were planned as "once in a lifetime" and we were very lucky in that we gained friends who let us use their place as we went on. But that first one was in a tiny room, and I remember rocking back from Akihabara with my first Super Famicom, Mickeys Magical Quest and an unboxed Final Fight as I listened to episode 3 and drank a Strong Zero. I still count many Beastcasts it has been since that date to remember it, every week.

2017 - we owned our own house and Ben and Abby did their first e3. I still have that t shirt with them dabbing on it, and it cracks me up thinking about their absolute bemusement at the whole event.

I should also add at this point that Dan and Austin are both lovely. Austin is particularly someone I still follow as he is so articulate and thoughtful.

2020 - mid lockdown, I remember watching Alex trucking live on my TV. I was building the crib for our (now 9 months old) baby. It was the most cathartic thing I've ever watched, as I struggled with IKEA instructions and the omnipresent dread of putting that thing together and who would be in it.

2021 - here we are. My baby is 9 months old and I wonder what he will do every day.

I feel lucky that I got a couple of emails read this year- one about videogame characters heights, and one about Speedtree, a couple of weeks ago. Everything is in flux. He's this close to crawling. Giant Bomb has changed again. I wonder what the future will bring.

I'm not sure I have the ability to go super deep into the vast effects GB has had in my life, but I am undoubtedly who I am today through GB and the many friends of the site I have been made aware of through them. I definitely softened from my late teens and became both more empathetic and aware of the needs/issues of others. More practically, Austin introduced me to a ton of scholars and people like Michael and Cameron from Ranged Touch. Their GS:ST podcast clued me into sources that played integral roles in earning my Master's in English Literature and completing my thesis over play and game theory. Moreover, a lot of GB, Waypoint, etc. has affected how I teach my students and operate my classrooms in general.

GB has been the main consistent presence in the midst of unexpected layoffs, a few major career changes, seven years of school and receiving my associates, bachelors, and masters degrees as an adult, the death of my father, entering the teaching profession, and so much more.

I think i started viewing Gamespot in 2002/2003, around 13 years old, besides the switch from school to work my life has remained largely the same.

Every time a new GiantBeast podcast would come out I would listen on my phone and jog around this pond at a park. When I got too tired to jog, I would sit under a tree in the shade, and just sit peacefully and listen to the rest of the podcast. I did this from 2015-2018 almost every week during the spring and summer.

I listened to the today's stream on my laptop inside, so afterwards I listened to one from 2018 just for fun. It really brought back a surge of memories, because I remember that time period in my life when it originally published way back then. I did my routine today but it just felt so surreal, taking me back to a place in my past.

I moved away from that area since then, so I have not been to that park in years, but I had a lot of emotional connection to that park due to various time spent their with friends and family. Giant Bomb East has a very parallel timeline in my past. I moved to a that area right when Vinny moved out east, and I moved somewhere else right before lockdown. Giant Bomb East will always be tied to me in a way that it will always remind me of a really positive time in my life.

2008: I graduate from college and immediately move to Korea to work as a teacher. The site went up shortly before I moved there, and in early 2009 I discover the site. I had heard about Jeff's departure from gamespot previously and it was just wondering what had happened to him that made me come here. The Persona 4 endurance run was around episode 20 or so, and I was hooked. I recall coming home very late one night, very very drunk from hanging out with friends, and the Quick Look for "Again" is up, and laughing maniacally at Ryan berating the games name. I also listen to every past bombcast and quick look while grading papers and/or playing Mount and Blade.

2010: I visit Thailand on my way back to the US from two years in Korea, fall in love with someone while vacationing there and decide to stay. We get a small long stay hotel room together and I go job hunting. Around this time, Jonathan Franks demon face celebrity poker is etched into my brain. My girlfriend finds the weird white guy watching weird white guys to be a real weird white guy thing to do.

2013: After 3 years in Thailand, I'm at my wits end professionally encountering corrupt employers and barely have a baht to my name. Then Ryan dies. At the time I was living in on campus housing in Phattalung, Thailand, a tiny agricultural university in a very remote town (compared to the tourist areas, anyways). Ryans Death puts me in a depression, because by then I was so removed from anyone I could see in person that I felt maybe too connected to the guys. I shortly afterwards quit the job, break up with my girlfriend and return to the US.

2014: I go to China for one more year. Destiny comes out and Brad won't talk about anything else. Vinnie moves to New York, Dan comes on, Danswers has the answers. I make more money than I ever had before in my life, but I am deeply unhappy with being in China, having probably burned out on teaching and living abroad the previous year. The last Big Live Live show comes out just before I come back to the US for good in 2015.

2015-2016: I get a question read on the bombcast, I move back to Olympia, WA (my college town and right next to Tumwater, where Nathan lives). I work at a post office for a few months before getting fired and the beastcast kept me company while I sorted the letters. Hitman videos with Brad and Dan get me though the year of unemployment and the election. Ironically, after being unemployed for 9 months, I get a job at the unemployment office, right around the time Dan moved to New York.

2017-2018: Beast in the east runs while I'm moving into an amazing bargain I found: a 2 bed house in the city with a view for $900. I fall in love again after years of short flings from online dating. Pubg becomes a craze and I'm the happiest I've ever been. The site has more staff, all with amazing talent, and adds to my joy with their antics, particularly GBeast.

2019: I lose my job for budget cuts, I lose the house from the landlord selling it, I lose my girlfriend from the first two. I move to Portland, Oregon around the time E3 happens with the Keanu Reeves Cyberpunk reveal. I get a new job, funny enough, doing unemployment again, but for Oregon now. I get my full union representation right around the time Dan leaves the site.

2020: Not much changes, other than suddenly I'm working double shifts every week. But the GB stream of content helps keep me sane through the madness of trying to help as many people as possible that lost their jobs. I was greatly concerned when Abby quit, because I've seen the data, and it's still not really a good time to quit any job if you don't have to and you rely on a steady income.

And that brings us to now, where I'm actually in the best place I've ever been career-wise, hoping to purchase my first house soon-ish, have amassed more savings than ever due to all the overtime I had to do. I should be happy. Actually, until this week, I was happy. Very happy. Until this week.

I guess the point of this long ramble is that I've had an almost daily check in with this crew, specifically these people, for over a decade. I know it's maybe weird that I am so attached to people I don't know and don't know I even exist, but in some ways they have been with me through a hell of a lot of good and bad shit. There was always a goofy video to watch even if I just got dumped. There was always a quicklook to put on after a gathering of live friends. There was always a bombcast to listen to to help me get through work. And they all contained these human beings, whom I have learned to really like and admire. Vinny crying about not feeling worthy on the last beastcast was a moment I felt he was giving voice to my own feelings. I felt directly connected to him. To all of them.

It seems weird, all this. I'm 40. I'm not a kid. If my folks knew I was crying listening to a video game radio show at 40, they would shake their heads wondering how they fucked up. I've been around the block, and I've gotten out there and done some shit, both good and bad. So it seems weird that I'm so attached to these strangers I've never actually met.

But I am, fuck it, I am.

I'm going to miss these people greatly. I know we all are. That's it I guess. I hope this post was in the spirit of the OP's intent. Thanks for listening.

I know the gist of what's going on, but I must be missing something. Haven't checked the podcast in ages. I thought a couple of crew members are leaving. People are acting as if an official statement was made that the site is being taken down. I hear people in comments archiving all videos on hard drives, people packing to abandon ship and find other podcasts, people suspecting doom and gloom that Wow face thumbnails and young 20s will be podcasting, and the site will move strictly to twitch or whatever soup of the week trend. Since when has GB been into that. Jeff took this site from something to all of this on a dream. You all really think he cants manage it with all the help he got from the recent acquisitions, and the ability to hire new staff. That's what you do as a company. The crew will stop by just as always, their not leaving earth. I wish everyone quit with the idea that it's all over cause last I see...the site's still up.

@topcyclist: People are going a bit nuts over three of the oldtimers moving on. Giantbomb will still be here, but it won't be the same. And that's fine, all good things must come to an "end" and change is important.

I've been here since the Arrow Pointing podcast. I didn't engage much with Gamespot before that, but I read about the Kane and Lynch Jeff case back in the day and followed Jeff from there. The site has been a big part of my life, and I used to watch every video and listen to every podcast. But times change, education, jobs, relationships, interests. I still listen to the podcasts, but I only watch the occasional video.
I'll dearly miss the old crew, just like I miss the OGs Ryan, Dave and Drew, but ten-thirteen years is a long time, and we've had our good times.

I wrote a whole thing, but it really boils down to, GB has been there for me in major ways over the last 13 years. From the "Jeffs blog post Gamespot/review of Burnout Paradise" to now, I've _always_ loved what's happening on this site. Excited to see what the next iteration is.

I went from a dirtbag twenty-something working in retail and scrounging by with minimum wage in the summer of 2008, when Giant Bomb made its presence known. Fast forward to today and I'm a dirtbag thirty-something working in a successful medical journal and pocketing a pretty good salary. Was Giant Bomb responsible for my success? Mayhaps.

I hardly ever post on the site, but it feels wrong not to say anything about what Giantbomb - and Brad, Vinny, and Alex in particular - have meant to me over the years. And this seems like the thread to share it.

Discovered the OG Gamespot guys in 2000/2001, wasting time at my first "real" job out of college. Followed Jeff after his ouster from Gamespot, listened to the podcast since the Arrow Pointing Down days, FINALLY subbed so I could watch Metal Gear Scanlon.

13+ years of amazing entertainment is a hell of a run, seeing me from early adulthood into marriage and now middle-aged dadhood. The podcasts were the soundtrack for my commute, and then just as vital to keeping me sane while stuck at home this past year.

Just needed to find a place to say "thanks" to these fine gentleman, and wish them all the best for whatever's next.

I found GB early in its life after it was mentioned by a smaller podcast that I had listened to through college. Oddly enough I was getting tired of their content when they mentioned "[former mod] left us for Giant Bomb." Curious, I listened to one Bombcast and that was it for me. I don't know if I could find the one.

Later I realized that Jeff was that guy that hosted Screensavers a few times.

Introduced my GF-now-wife to GB with the UFP when Alexis asking Drew if he "would like a little more" whiskey.

Ryan died on the night of my first real family get-together with my now wife's family. Gut punch.

2016 - Got married and Lockdown was the first song to play at our reception.

2017 - had a baby and listened to Vinny's Dad-perience closely.

2021 - I'm not going anywhere.

In every medium I'm pretty much a lurker. I've barely posted on the site or chat but I've always felt part of it. I love giantbomb and so many individuals that have made it so amazing!

2010- I heard the name Giantbomb while watching a justintv stream of roomates/friends playing vidja games. Instantly hooked and began listening to the bombcast while working out and watched my first e3 that year.

2011- This entire year I lived in a barn on my uncles property i renovated while on unemployment to survive without rent for a time. Without internet I would periodically haul my entire pc to my friends house to download giant bomb content every once in a while. It really kept me going in those days, watching Thursday night throwdowns and everything else multiple times helped me feel still part of a community.

2013- Got married and was worried for giantbomb when they left whiskey media, and then was devastated when we lost Ryan. He and Vinny were my main boys I enjoyed watching. Although I have on occasion, I rarely have listened to the bombcast since.

Dan joining the crew really brought me back fully into the fold of giantbomb. At first the guy annoyed me but as I kept watching i kept laughing and getting who this guy was. I have fond memories of his late night streams eating taco bell and making mario levels to frustrate Patrick.

2014-2019- An era of giantbomb I would rival the whiskey days with. I was in college here and would either watch consistently or binge everything after being busy for a few months. It was a financial struggle here for me but had these guys to help keep wind in the sails.

2020-2021- The pandemic hit my small business pretty hard and I'm still recovering but happy to be doing what I love. I fell off a lot when Dan left and the pandemic hit and nearly completely stopped watching without Abby. I love this site and will never completely go away tho. I'm excited to see what is next for it and those who have left. <>

I got to GB rather late, via recommendations by Total biscuit (their podcast had TB and inControl pass away, just brutal).

Highlights:

I still revisit the ME3 spoiler pod every year or so.

2015, I graduated but had a tough time finding jobs, the only time I had problem breathing, some sort of panic attack. Mario Parties really helped me through that, especially seeing MPP5 where Dan got his comeuppance.

2016, I finally land a job in Boston, right in time for PAX. Lined up 2 hours early, to get front enough seat that I can see myself in the video. And patted Austin on the shoulder. He was very nice!

2017, I was heartbroken from a relationship, and also pretty poor health while stuck in a basement room for an internship. Beast in the East was the highlight of my week.

2018, I moved to a new job, and got lucky to get in the Microsoft E3 show. Immediately watched the crew's talkover after I got out. I was one of the marks that got in before Jeff B!

2019, started playing e-drums and rockband, following Alex's lead.

2021, finished a job interview on Friday, and immediately rushed to watch the send off stream. Definitely cried. Good luck to Vinny, Alex, Brad. And good luck to next gen GB.

My entire internet existence

1994 - Got Prodigy and Aol. MTV had a show that scrolled internet messages from viewers. Never got featured.

1997 - Went to college where they didnt have broadband in the dorms just in computer labs. Had PS1 Angelfire. MS Dos email. Goldeneye dominatd. Dorm friend got a bunch of us modded ps1s and he was the games broker since he had a cd burner.

1998 - Dorm got broadband

1999 - Saw the Matrix. Same dorm friend got me a Dreamcast with burned games.

2000 - Physics professor required that we posted and replied to questions in his online physics message board. (Huge moment for me). Big Brother premiers on CBS.

2003 - Working big boy job and always have a window toggled to the message board "The Vestibule" on ign.com. Probably accidentally type gamespot instead of gamestop in a search window. Or see any ad somewhere. Content consumption begins.

2004 - 2007 A little bored of PS2 content. Animal Crossing gamecube and DS touch me in a special way. Get my first 360 and PS3. Call of Duty 4 Beta.

2007- 2013 Loving 360. Pissed at PSP, PS3, and Wii for just being trash. Go back to school and quit gaming for a new career path. Monopolize all my internet consumption watching Gamespot videos (since I really didnt have time to play. 50 Cent Blood on the Sand (I more than likely saw Jeff's video review and found a kindred spirit). Youtube get's its act together. Watch Syndicates youtube video of Minecraft on 360. Start the consumption of youtube video. Youtube turns up the ads x 100. Get my first Ipod and discover podcasts. Listened to Beyond from ign.com. Rotate between gametrailers, ign.com, and gamespot on a daily basis. Gerstmangate. Discover Reddit. Buy a Zune. Don't realize a zune doesnt support podcasts. Giantbomb launches.

2014 - Get a used Xbox One for $99 from a pawnshop that i sent in for repair under warrantly. Got an iphone and started having all of my podcasts delivered to me instead of listening through web browser.

2015- 2017 Quit Reddit. Consumed all of giantbombs podcasts while ignoring site. Emails featured once on podcast.

2017 - PUBG comes out and Giantbomb recognizes that games as the game of year. Couldn't agree more and that solidified this site in my heart.

2018-2019 Finish school new job and my biannual "I'm quiting games" commences. Though i still listen to the podcast. I quit listening for a solid 3 months because I was sick of Dan.

2020 - 2021 Pandemic. Subscribed. Consumed every video for every game i ever cared about on giantbomb.com. Started traveling and am able to endure any numbers of hours long drive with a deliberately squirreled away bombcasts and bestcasts. Site closes. Probably quit gaming since outside of Waypoint there's nobody i really have history with or believe. Maybe i'll get into F1. Got to be in work in 45 minute. All the best.