Giant Bombcast 612: Two Two Tacos

WOO!!!

God dammit, Ben

YIP!

honored to be on the pod

Aftershow not a real podcast? It's the realest podcast

Pretty good bit, it just being silent after the song. Would have liked a real podcast.

Changed my mind and gave a listen during schoolwork and it was a very entertaining podcast. I'm sad there wasn't the cross coast one, and hopeful there is some video content for the end of the year stuff as I generally don't listen to the goty podcasts.

DJ Ben on the ones and twos!

Hope the GotY preparations are going well, y'all! Very excited for the cross-coast content, I've already started listening to some old end-of-year podcasts.

@zoofame: there will be a full room bombcast next week, no?

Aw. The (normal) podcasts during their GotY prep time are usually the best. Shame we aren't getting one of those this week.

The last game I played until the sun came up was... Kingdom Hearts II.

I regret nothing and everything.

@zoofame: @jstaunton: I thought they were usually in town for two weeks? But we also usually got two Bombcasts with all (or most) of them, and they already bucked that trend.

I'm pretty sure they're trying to cut it down to a week for Vinny et. al's sake.

Another day, another out of touch discussion on Death Stranding. GOTY will be a struggle.

Brads love for aimless meandering video games in the last few years makes me think he might love Shenmue 3?

@ironham: You mean the game with a User Score of 5.1 on Metacritic? I haven't played it, so I have no personal opinion on it, but to act like there is some set hive-mind opinion of that game is pretty laughable. I can't recall a game that has an almost split down the middle amount of like and hate as Death Stranding in recent memory. And please don't bring up Keighley's "hey did you know I'm friends with Kojima" awards where the almost universally praised and one of the best reviewed games of the year, Three Houses, got one nomination versus Death Stranding's 9 was it? Now if you want to talk out of touch, there you go.

No Beast on the Bomb is a total bummer

@jasperkazai: @zorak: putting east up in hotel rooms for multiple weeks is a pretty spendy event for the budget, although the year end content is probably one of the most popular things aside from E3.

Thanks for the heads-up about voice mails. I'll just fast forward through those. I know saying "no offense" doesn't really help but...cringe city, y'all.

Love the jacket, @janman! Rocking the same one :)

No allstar cast is legit lame.

No compromise. Shit has been a yearly highlight since the advent of BEAST and I will not stand for a lack of it.

I legit texted a friend today about how excited I was for the allstar podcast. Nope. Unacceptable.

This sucks. I'd rather have days cut from the GOTY podcasts than have a prerecorded show while everyone is on the same coast.

You guys are insanely ill-informed on credit scores.

2 weeks away especially at this time of year is tough. Cutting it to one makes sense.

in what is without question the worst week of my entire life with my father dying suddenly, thank you guys for giving my mind something else to distract itself with in the spare minutes I have between everything that goes with that kind of thing.

I don't know how often you guys see the comments, but a personal thank you to each and every one of the GB crew, east and west, for the levity and extra effort to have something this week. It's so far the only thing that has given me a sense of 'normalcy' and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it.

Enjoy the time with your families guys.

Say what you will about Death Stranding (and I have), but it still has the sexiest cans of energy drinks in video games period.

While I completely understand the need to minimize the amount of time away from family, etc. for the east crew, I can't help feeling disappointed with this approach. Surely, a better alternative exists than to pre-record Q&A episodes for both podcasts? It just doesn't seem a good use of anyone's time, especially when the after show exists.

@knoxt: Condolences about your father. Hang in there duder!

@knoxt: I'm so sorry for your loss.

@knoxt: Condolences! It must be especially hard this time of year.

Oh man....no video this week?

Man I vaguely remember back when I was a kid, there was an old Japanese games/toy store in Burlingame with a big ol' Wing Gundum painting on the window. Kind of weird hearing from Jeff that he also went to that town for games lol

Brad, you are correct. It was Miak, well Milk but you know Ernest he got the spelling of Milk wrong.

@cav829: I dunno man, I'd rather play Death Stranding than Fire Emblem, doesn't mean I'm out of touch with reality or the gaming market, just means I like a different thing.

I miss the big East/West crossover episode during GOTY week, but I happy everyone made the decision to not kill themselves over recording a normal podcast in the midst of recording dozens of hours of podcasts and videos.

I love when i type up a few paragraphs, then get an error and lose all of it when I hit the go back button. Not the first time its happened here. Probably wasn't worth reading.

My ISP, BlueRidge just upped everyone who had the 100mbps package to 250mbps, and removed data caps! No additional monthly fee. The phrase "due to changes in the way people are using the internet" in the notification email stuck out to me. So its not entirely a USA problem, more of a greedy ISP one. I know I'm in the minority, being someone who loves their ISP, but thought this was worth mentioning.

I remember being Scared Stupid by that Ernest Halloween movie as a kid.

the sentiment around Death Stranding on this site is such a bummer to me :(

If you're bummed out by GB crew's reception of Death Stranding and surface-layer discourse, I highly recommend checking out Tim Rogers on Kotaku and TheSphereHunter's videos covering the game. It's one of the most rewarding games to think about and discuss this gen, imo. Far from my favorite game this year but probably the most interesting to think about and exciting to discuss.

The game reminds me of Demon's Souls and how GB crew thought it was an absolute joke. Gamespot also gave that game a 9. That game took a while to get a cult fanbase and I think Death Stranding will take even longer. The game just isn't for most game players: For instance, the first time you meet the main villain he's making fun of most game players (mocking you for wanting more action, tired of the grind of playing, etc.)

There is a bizarre subtext to the game that Kojima hates gaming culture and the demand for violence/action in games. So it makes perfect sense people would HATE it since he's directly targetting them.

Oh. please. Are we just swallowing Kojima's nonsense about people being too impatient for Death Stranding, now?

If you've actually bothered to listen to Alex and Vinny talking about the game, their problem is not with the game play. Their problem is that Kojima's writing is about as nuanced as a clown at a county fair.

That sounds fun!

@knoxt: I am really sorry to what happened to and your family and much condolences, not sure if I am able to help you in anything, but all I can say is stay strong and spend as much time with your family. You need each other!

Hope you have a lovely holiday my friend!

@frytup said:

But people are too impatient for it and that's fine. RTS games don't work for me. Not every game needs to be for everyone. I honestly had fun with Death Stranding from the start and wouldn't encourage anyone to keep playing if they don't feel the same.

Kojima's dialog is bizarre and outright terrible at times, but it does have a Lynchian meta quality in this game. It does have nuance though in how it handles its critique of climate change, war, and parenting. It's a game that isn't afraid to ask and answer "what is the purpose of living" in Kojima's own perspective and I appreciate the hell out of that. It really goes for it and not everyone will be on board. Kojima pours a lot of himself into the game; it has a lot of heart and soul, as a result. It's among the few games that impacted me emotionally and made me think about life, which is something only games like The Witness and The Talos Principle have done for me.

Patrick and Austin are the only GB/former-GB staff I can see potentially gelling with the game, so I'd be curious to hear their thoughts.

My girlfriend and I were at a Pinballz arcade here in Austin about a year ago, and with her being a bit younger than me (30/25) I was showing her around the older arcade cabinet section which at the time included NFL Blitz. She asked about us playing it, and I had an immediate response of "I'm not sure about this, what if Jeff Gerstmann pops up to challenge me and just fucks me up in front of everyone?" Her being a GB fan as well it was a nice inside joke, until the guy at the cabinet next to us (can't remember what it was) laughed, looked over and gave a nod in solidarity as a duder. That was my mutual GB fan interaction, but unfortunately it didn't lead to us having a goofball clan of GB friends here.

It's difficult to square you acknowledging that not every game is for everyone while simultaneously accusing people who don't like Death Stranding of impatience and Giant Bomb staff of engaging in "surface level discourse".

Alex explains quite eloquently why he thinks the game's writing is anything but deep, and I have to say I mostly agree with him. If you found nuance there, great, but I think you're taking it a bit too personally that other people aren't finding the same thing.

@frytup:

Like Vinny said, it's a game about logistics. You need to enjoy looking at a map, plotting routes (and alternative routes), pack based around objectives/climate/threats/terrain, and constantly think about traversal. These things require patience and aren't enjoyable for most.

I say "surface level discourse" because the way they reduce the gameplay to being intended to not be fun may be true to their experience but is unlikely the dev's intent -- not to mention some of us find it fun (ironically, I hated the action/boss fights that I see others say are highlights)! Then reducing the story as just social media bad and never changes is just ... too hard to get into.

Like others have commented, not mad at GB crew for not enjoying it just kind of disappointed. At the end of the day, they tried to get into it and I'm okay with our taste not aligning. I come here to laugh, get news, and see games in action and get that on a weekly basis.

Regarding beat 'em ups being called conveyer belt games, the Capcom Beat 'Em Up Bundle was called Capcom Belt Action Collection in Japan. Was the first time I ever heard of the term myself.