DoctorFaust

Jason Bateman as Mario
Tony Hale as Luigi
Portia de Rossi as Peach
Will Arnett as Bowser
MIchael Cera as Toad
David Cross as Donkey Kong

This is the worst kind of fantasy booking on my part, but I still think there's plenty of free real estate in a video game complement to RedLetterMedia. Because it would require so much industry expertise, and Jeff Gerstmann is literally the most veteran member of games journalism still working in the industry.

With that said, Jeff was pretty clear about the direction of Giant Bomb on the most recent Garage Talk video. For all the (valid) points about lack of transparency, you can tell they've been thinking about how to adapt to everything both within and outside of their control. Because honestly, what else would they have been doing all this time?

So far, my list includes: Cyber Shadow, Persona 5 Strikers, Genesis Noir, Narita Boy, Everhood, Chicory: A Colorful Tale, Scarlet Nexus, and Resident Evil Village.

Some of those certainly won't make the final cut. There are some good games I haven't played or finished yet, and there are still a few 2021 releases with a lot of potential.

Yeah, the past generation started in late 2013 and I have perpetually low expectations for video games, so about a couple dozen titles come to mind. But the one that was both "most surprisingly" and "most good" would be Final Fantasy XIV.

MMOs are one of my least favorite genres by a wide margin, and Square had already left a bad impression with FFXI and the first attempt at FFXIV. It's still not for everybody, but it's very accessible for an MMORPG. What was most surprising about it was how each expansion was better than the last, so I'm talking about the experience of the entire FFXIV evolution rather than just playing A Realm Reborn or Shadowbringers as standalone games. Beyond that, I would say the story and the writing is better than most of the other Final Fantasies.

I'm just glad they finally got the information out there in some official capacity. The combination of tribe mentality and confirmation bias that tends to develop is surely going to be the death of us.

The waters are arguably crowded, but man, am I nonetheless excited for this new and potentially golden age of entertainment.

In retrospect, this seemed inevitable. But yeah, the introductory podcast explains their line of thinking. Glad to see people who bring such unequivocal joy to this world will continue to use their talents do so as long as they're willing. The world kinda needs it right now.

I'm onboard, but man, I can't stop hearing it as "Neck Slander". Sorry, guys.

Ctrl+F "The Duke". Zero results. What?

But seriously, I'm with you for the most part, and thank you for writing this. I'll only say that I found Heisenberg's circumstances to be as interesting as his personality. He resists the mind control but is nonetheless humbled by his powers being weaker than Miranda's. This adds layers of human element to the story that takes it from "This is a crazy biolab" to "This is a crazy biolab run by assholes".

The fact that Heisenberg is one of their strongest, most "successful" mutations so far but also the one most resistant to mind control has some neat implications. (But also so tongue-in-cheek that it rips a hole in the side of their mouth.) Heisenberg creates the grey area in the story. Thematically, because his (albeit power-hungry and, yes, vaguely incel) attempts to get you to join his side show that this game world you've been exploring isn't so black-and-white. Morally, because the way he describes events provides insight into whether you're an omnivorous monster demonstrating your superiority or a gentle angel of death putting countless woe begotten souls out of their misery. There's a real sense of victimization in his language, and nobody asked to have the Cadou put in them. I seem to recall Heisenberg's experiments reanimating the dead rather than transforming the living.

Back to The Duke, though. He's indestructible. He's everywhere. He knows everything. Like, everything. Is he some kind of manifestation of the mutamycete network itself? Or does he just tap into it? All hail The Duke.

So, it finally happened. Thanos snapped, and half of Giant Bomb disappeared. Vinny, Brad, and Alex are leaving. Godspeed all three of them, and also godspeed the future version of Giant Bomb itself. There are already a number of threads that spun up about this news, so I hope this one isn't overkill or in bad taste. But there's a lot of speculation and wishing out loud going around, and I wonder if that creative energy and imagination can't be channelled into some useful food for thought.

Granted, each one of these guys probably already has some idea about what they're going to do next, but maybe they don't. Or maybe this will serve as idea fodder. Or maybe it will help bring a sense of closure and acceptance to just openly discuss this topic. So, what's next? What do you want (not expect) to see from everyone going forward, acknowledging this is all pure fantasy? (Positive vibes only. Swipe left if you're just going to leave a "GB is ded" comment.)

From Giant Bomb, I always got a vibe similar to RedLetterMedia: industry experts who combine their abundance of wisdom and knowledge with comedy to poke fun at things while providing valuable insight to a lay audience and hobbyists alike. Jeff Gerstmann has an encyclopedic knowledge of the video game industry's history, and garage aside, the guy is basically already a museum curator. I know some people dislike "old games" content, but in a world where review scores don't matter anymore, it would be interesting to see a "Best of the Worst" style dunking on bad games with notable guests. (Of course, this would be more than ideal with the participation of Vinny, Brad, and Alex, but literally every idea would be made better by their contributions.) Giant Bomb also already has a homegrown "Ranking Of" style of retrospective, and they've proven that formula can be applied to a variety of media formats. Then again, this may lean too heavily on their current format of shows, if this is indeed something they want to change in the next version.

People are also speculating that Giant Bomb could adopt a format closer to Twitch, elevating independent streamers and content. While there are obvious risks with such an attempt, I could also see it working as more of an incubator for pilot shows, podcasts, and other content centered around teams and groups rather than individuals. Not that the world needs more Steal My Sunshine or Burgle My Bananas, but there aren't a lot of creative game shows based on video games, when you think about it. This also potentially provides Jeff with more of an opportunity to step away from the frontlines, so to speak.

The upside to tying so much of the content around individual personalities is that large portions of the community will continue to follow those personalities and whatever content they'd like to provide. Plenty of people have already said as much, and I'm right there with them, to the extent Brad, Vinny, and Alex want that as well. Vinny's YouTube channel of handyman advice and woodworking streams? Sign me up. Anything showcasing Alex's musical talent or knowledge of film and media? Sold. Brad already has a great tech podcast with a certain Will Smith, and I'm all for any expansion of his perspective as we approach this dark future dominated by NFTs, cryptocurrency, and hardware shortages. Not that I want to stereotype any of them simply based on what they've shared on this site. I'm sure they have a number of other interests, hobbies, and experience!

Again, I don't know if this is the healthiest approach to the recent news, but I'll be damned if these departures don't get a jazz funeral rather than the regular old somber variety. Please feel free to contribute, even if this becomes nothing more than an open source community chest of ideas about video game media.

One moral of the story is that cops have guns and everyone else has cameras, but only one of these groups needs to reflexively point and shoot at the other.

The overwhelming evidence was a key factor, and this is a landmark decision that finally sets a much-needed precedent. If you want meaningful change, then don't let this first domino fall without knocking another one over. Do that enough times, and we might have something more to celebrate than basic decency and completely reasonable expectations of justice.

I jokingly referred to it as a spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio because of the freedom/flow of the open-world traversal backed by a dedicated soundtrack. "Tony Hawk with guns" is also a pretty good analogy.

Anyway, @spacemanspiff00 and @bigsocrates make good points here, and I'll second them for anyone who was thinking about taking a look. Console exclusivity didn't do it any favors at the time, but I played it maybe two years ago and feel like it mostly holds up. Maybe not some of the humor, but it lands more jokes than expected, especially compared to games that go out of their way to try being funny. "Good, dumb fun" would be a pretty solid tagline.