JJGIANT

There is no anger like that emanating from a frustrated MMO player. The moment things hitch up is the moment they realise that there lives are being invested into something that could be shut down at any moment. That freaks people out!

LoL! why are these games coming out on Wii. More importantly, why are they coming out on Wii now??

Civil Rights Movement

Now excuse me for raising something that is perhaps one of the most overly debated and contentious issues in modern video games but hey it's interesting to think about. Bear in mind this issue is probably too excessive for my moderate brain power so if I miss out anything of importance let me know. The first question to answer before thinking about this topic is this, what exactly is art? Now having innedvertantly raised yet another issue for the ages I would like to quickly tackle this question (if that's even possible) from my own viewpoint.

Art is anything labelled as such, art is subjective, art is personal, art is a word with multiple meanings attached, art is an idea separate from physical space, art is seen by the majority as a positive label. When you say the word art what do you think of? Personally my mind immediately goes to painting i.e. art class, snooty men in berets staring thoughtfully at a blank canvas's. However, in the case of video games the word art is used in the descriptive sense, stating that video games have entered the higher echelon of meaning and effect so to be considered alongside other mediums such as literature, painting, film, poetry, photography etc as a high point of human creativity. From my viewpoint art is simply a label, a word placed upon something in order for it to be taken seriously. But who are these people video games need to impress? Do video games need to be art?

Art, as I have already said, is subjective. So to some they are already considered important enough to be labelled that way and for others they are not. Does this mean games should be considered art or not?

My answer, neither. This debate has already happened, inside the head of every person who has ever played a video game. The question "are video games art?" is null and void because the idea of the question itself is wrong. You can't question what is art and isn't art because your own right answer is the right answer. There isn't some art recognition ceremony where some dude with a big beard gets up on stage and scrawls the word "ART" on Mario's arm. Art is anything you feel it is.

I would really like to hear some peoples opinions on this topic, if you have anything you agree or disagree with

The game of finding the nearest bin...

Anything between to slices of anything I would consider a sandwich...

You play as Cupid!!

Quests are a nice diversion but honestly I completely forget they exist usually.

@Melos said:

I mulled over the same observations when I finally went premium. I don't consider myself a "fan" of Jeff, Ryan, etc. because that would mean I put them on a pedestal and worship them, which is the opposite of what they strive for. They're experienced every-men, accessible and frank. People I'm happy to have in my life, people I respect, but ultimately just people. Yet I can't say they are friends since they have no idea who I am. So what do we call this weird space we exist in? I'm not sure there's a precedent for it -- certainly not for me at least.

Giant Bomb is also attractive to me because it's casual entertainment. I can watch five minutes or five hours and pay as much or as little attention as I want to and still have a good experience. TV shows, for example, require a lot of investment. There are commercials to wait through, plot progression that has to be watched from beginning to end during a set period of time, long waits between seasons... Sometimes shows are worth the investment, but still, something like Breaking Bad fills a very different entertainment need than that of Giant Bomb.

Naturally, I'm also a gamer and interested in the raw information provided here. The wiki is cool and crucial to many people in the community, although I don't use it. I like hands-on information, which is why I gravitate to Quick Looks. I can see a game on a system I don't own and know what I am or am not missing. I can discover new games that I would never have naturally found, that can end up being some of the best games I've played. Giant Bomb is an excellent place for that sort of exposure.

So yes, Giant Bomb is what it is because of the personalities in charge. Take them away and everything will fail. However, I don't think they are the only successful element involved.

I almost with I could copy and paste some of these points into my original post, well said.

@Sanryd said:

Yeah Giant Bomb is somewhat of a rarity for me. The only other site that I came close to liking to the degree that I do GB was Destructoid some time ago. The personalities of Jim Sterling, Brad Nicholson, and others were what I enjoyed about the site aside from the news. Their podcast, "Podtoid", was the podcast the Bombcast replaced when I found GB. I even listened to most of the early episodes of "The Electric Hydra", if anyone even knows what that is.

The Bombcast is a weird thing for me. I just love it so damn much... If I have to do something I don't want to do, I throw on the Bombcast and I'm okay with doing it. Hell, I throw it on even with stuff I like doing. Earlier today I was playing Skyrim and put it on during random dungeons and traveling from place to place.

Nice to hear someone else shoves it on randomly!