Well, that was pathetic. Outside of a few amusing moments (listening to Jeff sing Snoop Dogg), I can't help but feel that we were once again duped by Whiskey Media. What was pinned as 7 hours of entertainment turned into a glorified infomercial. An infomercial for what, though? If this was designed to sell the personalities of each website, then it was a spectacular failure.
Don't even get me started on ComicVine. Your idea of entertainment was READING OFF TRIVIA QUESTIONS? Are you kidding me? That's the BEST you could come up with? With that and parading Babs out for all the people who have never seen girls in their entire lives, they really dropped the ball. You had at least a month to prepare something entertaining. A MONTH. A WHOLE MONTH. And that's what you come up with. Christ.
Screened brought little, as well. They came off as MST3K wannabes, something I hate to say about Alex and Matt. I usually find them both very entertaining, but something just felt really off today regarding their segments. It felt forced and contrived.
Tested at least tried to come up with some inventive segments, though nearly all fell flat as well. I love the videos Tested has of taking apart gadgets and looking at the innards, but that just doesn't translate to a live show. The bacon cooking segment came off to me as time filler, and didn't provide anything worthwhile, other than a few chuckles when, like many things during the show, failed miserably.
Giant Bomb felt like they were going through the motions today as well. They spent more time trying to justify paying $50 (for what exactly?) rather than keep your audience, which got this group where they are today, entertained.
And for a company that prides itself as a social media company, there is little to no involvement with the community. It was rarely acknowledged. What's the point of having a chat if you are never going to answer any legitimate questions people may have during the show? I feel like GB has shown nothing but contempt recently towards the people that made this site. Matt Kessler in the chat yesterday resorted to name calling when someone called out the company. For an employee to attack a community member is absolutely unacceptable.
These past 24 hours have been nothing short of a nightmare for the image Whiskey Media now has with the majority of its users. Yeah, a bunch of people bought subscriptions. But those are the die-hards; the only ones who are going to pay because the people are cool. The rest of us? The ones who realize that this subscription is nothing more than a tug at the heartstrings? Well, it ain't happening.
I've turned back on Ad Block Plus, and I have enabled Download Manager for Firefox again. I'll visit this site less and less. And that's a damn shame. I'd been here since March of 2008. I thought this place was different. I was wrong.
I love Giant Bomb. I've followed the current crew since that other website was called videogames.com. Since the full site launched in July of 2008, GB has provided awesome commentary on video games and other crazy stuff the gang is in to. From Endurance Runs, to Quick Looks, to the Bombcast, to freaking Mailbags; any time a new video is posted here, I have to stop what I'm doing and watch the whole thing. It's been really cool watching this little site grow into one of the most influential gaming sites on the internet.
That being said, I worry for the future.
The GB crew several times has harped on companies who overcharge for DLC and content that should be on the disc. Yet, at the same time, they are going to start charging people a monthly fee for a t-shirt and the ability to access the new and improved mobile website. If that's not hypocritical, I don't know what is. I can download movies and trailers by using a Firefox plugin. I can get HD videos from Gametrailers for free. No advertisements? Once again, there's Ad Block plus. Everything they're offering I can already receive, and for the amazing price of free. What exactly am I paying for here?
How is this any different from publishers charging for game modes that are already on the disc? For GB to get on their soapbox to decry the money-grabbing methods of game companies and come right back and do the exact same thing is off-putting and disgusting.
And what about for the people like me who paid for the iPhone App? Are they just going to stop supporting the paid membership when it's not profitable anymore?
I don't get it. It seemed like the Whiskey Media group knew what it was doing. Sadly, I was wrong.
I'm sitting here, about 20 minutes after the press conference ended, and I'm still shocked. Nintendo just convinced the other two consoles to make casual-like games for their platforms, and here comes Nintendo saying, "Dude, FUCK THAT. WE'RE MAKING HARDCORE GAMES AGAIN."
Zelda, Goldeneye, Donkey Kong, Kid Icarus, Kirby, 3DS with a new Metal Gear.
I don't own a Wii, but this press conference finally pushed me to purchase one as soon as possible. I can't even write right now.
I love GiantBomb. I don't post a whole lot on the forum, but I read them often. The four staff, and several other crew members have done a great job making a good site. However, I think there's a big thing missing from making this the website I go to:
CLASSIC REVIEWS.
When someone goes to a site (1UP or IGN), it's nice to have an immediate catalog of thousands of videogame reviews going back to the early 90s. Now, I know GB has only been around for 15 months. I understand that it would literally be impossible to get GB to review every game on the site. But, there are times that I think about buying an older game (I had a hankering for Dues Ex: Invisible War), and it would be cool to see how the crew thinks about that game.
I would propose a system of having the crew go back to 2001, find the top 5 selling games each year and write a 100 word review on each one. They don't have to play the whole game again. It would look something like this:
Halo: Combat Evolved
The game that started it all. It might look dated (it DID come out 8 years ago), but the combat still feels great. The game that launched a billion dollar franchise still has that addictive multiplayer experience, and looking back, it revolutionized the FPS on consoles. The combat, story, and visuals ushered in a quality challenger to the FPS King of the time, Half Life. Play it. 4 REALZ.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
People forget just how revolutionary MGS 2 was. I remember seeing the E3 footage, and not believeing my eyes. Yes, there were some questionable plot choices (EE? COME ON!), game play annoyances, and many a fans are still mad about Raiden. All in all, the whole package of MGS2 was incredible. For the time, MGS2 did things people thought impossible for games, especially in their storytelling. A must play for any serious player.
Maybe this is stupid. Hell, it probably is. But, I trust GB's opinion more than almost any other site, and would love to have the game reviews I read here, and here alone.
Well, I just finished the Movie Network, and I must say, wow. If anyone hasn't seen the movie, it's basically about a sturggling TV station with an anchor that used to draw great ratings, but had now fallen into last place among the nightly news broadcasts.
Told he had 2 weeks left on his job, he decides to say that on his last broadcast, he would "blow his brains" out on live TV.
But something crazy happens. Instead of taking this man off the nightly news, they keep him on there, due to all the public interest the incident received. His ratings double the first day after the incident.
The network realizes they have a hit on their hands. And things get out of hand.
I won't ruin it for anyone else, but as an aspiring journalist, I found the whole thing fascinating. Although greatly exaggerated, it's not that far off from how the networks act, in the grand scheme of things. It relates a lot to Britney Spears, in my opinion. She's basically killing herself in front of our eyes, and instead of trying to help her, the networks just showcase her downfall into insanity.
I can't believe I just compared Britney to one of the best films of all time.
Very excited about the opportunity that Giantbomb could do with gaming websites. Plus, we get Jeff back, which makes me very happy. Time to edit some stuff!!
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