@dasakamov: Guess you never watched Bombin' the AM eh? Or the episode of Jar Time when Jeff said they once considered offering to employ him?
I'll echo a lot of the other people in here who think it's pretty shitty of them to not at least mention it. They'll spend entire segments talking about dumb shit someone mildly relevant said on Twitter (as long as it's not one of their friends) but when one of the most influential figures in the games press (and yes, YouTube is part of that now, whether you like it or not) passes away after continuing to work, despite having terminal cancer? Silence. Just like when they refused to cover Kingdom Come: Deliverance, a game they "weren't interested in", despite it being right up several of their alleys. Anyone with half a brain knows that wasn't why. Developers all over the industry who never knew him were posting about him and how sorry they were to hear of his passing. Hell, even Patrick Klepek, who distanced himself from TB because of political disagreements retweeted the news of his passing. They don't really have an excuse, beyond editorial cowardice.
I've been a viewer of Giant Bomb since day one and until recently, had been a Premium member since the day memberships started. But this place and the personalities on it feel more and more like they're just going through the motions, going out of their way to not say anything controversial or offend any of their "friends" in the wider games press, who are always on the prowl for the next target to tear apart for being "problematic." Compared to even a couple of years ago and especially, the time when Ryan was still with us, this place is a shadow of what made it amazing.
I really hoped their silence on TB wouldn't happen. I frankly thought it would but I was so hoping they'd prove me wrong. I'm probably going to write a post on my blog at some point going into greater detail but honestly, after this, I think I'm done here. I've barely watched any videos in months (hence why I cancelled my Premium) and the podcasts have just become boring and clearly with things like this, the passion is gone and this is just a job to them.
It's their site, they can run it how they want and I'll never say otherwise. But yeah, I'm thinking this place isn't for me any more and judging from how the amount of comments on everything is a fraction of what it used to be, I have a feeling I'm not the only one.
Due respect but a 20 minute video talking about everything except the game people are here to learn about doesn't seem like the best respect of the developers or the viewer's time.
I am one of the few people who thought Limbo was great but that Inside was one of the most overrated games since Gone Home. Despite the massive changes and clear umm...inspiration by those other titles, this frankly looks far more interesting to me than Inside did. Probably will pick it up on sale down the road.
EDIT: Vinny reached out to me via PM and I clearly misattributed intent to what he said. Probably because I was at the dog park at the time and not paying as close attention as I should have been. While I still stand by the majority of the points I made in the (remaining unedited) post below, I thought Vinny was demanding an apology from PewDiePie that he wasn't. He just thought the non-apology apology he did give was pretty weak, which I completely agree with. Cheers Vinny.
I can't stand PewDiePie. I can't stand his persona, I can't stand his content and it drives me nuts that YouTube channels like mine that aren't based around acting like an idiot struggle to find traction while he makes millions a year. And I especially can't stand how much of an edgelord he tries to be when his audience is primarily young kids.
All that said, I was dumbstruck to hear Vinnie and many others demanding an apology from him because they found his jokes offensive. PewDiePie owes you nothing, especially since you aren't even part of his audience. His jokes were stupid and offensive yes but offence is taken, not given. If you don't like his jokes (and if it wasn't obvious by now, I don't either), don't watch his stuff, call him an idiot for making them, even celebrate Disney/Maker dumping him (which I agree, they have every right to do, though it's odd how they didn't give a shit until the Wall Street Journal did) but he doesn't owe anyone an apology.
He's being torn apart in the press right now, not because he did appreciable harm to the world but because increasingly irrelevant, outrage-hungry, clickbait hacks love an opportunity to tear down someone more successful than them. Partially out of jealousy but mostly because it's easy traffic. This is a guy that despite his tasteless humour, has raised literally millions of dollars for various charities over the years, far more than anyone else on YouTube and certainly in the press. Funny how there were very few articles in the press about that prior to this or that it gets completely overshadowed by some tasteless humour. Shows a lot about the true motivations here.
Like I said, I don't like the guy's persona, his content or how popular he is. But there's a lot of content in this world I don't like and the last thing I think I'm entitled to from those who make it is an apology. That something offends you doesn't mean you're owed or entitled to anything.
Well, I won't get into an argument with you about Fish but I will just say that your perception of him does not at all accurately reflect what he's actually done. Watch him in Indie Game: The Movie if you don't believe me. That's a tame version of his anger issues.
Regardless, we clearly don't see eye to eye on this and that's fine. I wanted to say my peace in the off chance one of the guys reads it and I've done that. You don't agree and that's cool.
@amyggen: What I'm saying is that if they want to make it about Luckey's politics, that's their choice. I don't agree with it but it's theirs to make. But (at least initially, no so much later), they twist themselves inside out to find excuses why this isn't just about his politics, talking about missed pre-orders and the lawsuit from ZeniMax, things you can't pin on one man. And ZeniMax has a long history of to put it mildly, shady business dealings.
I don't disagree that Luckey was a dick in how he responded to some criticisms. But again, if you're going to take a developer's attitude into account when judging their products, SuperHyperCube was made at least in part by Phil Fish and I'm assuming you've seen that man's attitude towards fans and customers, especially during the development of Fez. Toxic is the most polite word I'd use to describe it.
I think products should be judged on their own merits, not the personalities of the people who created them. I bring up Fish in this argument to point out a frankly, pretty gaping double standard.
I should also point out once again that I have no interest in defending Luckey as a person or Oculus as a company. I own no VR headsets and have no plans to buy one for a long time.
It's kind of a bummer to listen to the guys twisting themselves in knots to try and say that Palmer Luckey being on the Hottest Mess list totally has nothing to do with his politics you guys! Don't get me wrong, I deplore the man's politics and think what he did was utterly idiotic but at least have the chutzpah to straight up come out and say it if that's what you mean, not trying to wrap it in a blanket of delayed pre-orders and a lawsuit from a known scummy company like ZeniMax Media.
I'll tell you what, if the actions of a product's creator are fair game when judging their creations, I hope SuperHyperCube doesn't win anything because Phil Fish is a pretty deplorable person, one who this site has given a platform to (or vouched for as Alex said) many times as well. For that matter, Donald Trump's brother is on the Board of Directions of ZeniMax Media, parent of Bethesda, id, Arkane, MachineGames and more and greatly profits from the success of that company. I hope no Bethesda games are up for awards because purchasing them means you're putting money into the pocket of one of Donald Trump's biggest supporters.
I'm being facetious of course but I hope you see what I mean. Either we should separate creator from creation or not. You don't get to pick and choose.
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