Giant Bombcast 07/01/2014

Yes

Welcome guys! Don't fuck up!

You sound like somebody who deserves to be boiled.

@slay3r1583: Ah, crud, I knew it sounded weird. I don't know where I came up with Ivan Mike. That's just stupid. But see, it's probably (definitely) the better game, but Uniracers was like, unicycles without riders. Where did all the riders go? Did they become sentient and enslave/extinguish the human race?

It's Uniracers' deep and mysterious backstory that keeps me coming back.

@paulunga: Ha, yeah, it's my 10th grade yearbook picture. I forgot to cut my hair over the summer and I didn't even realize I had accidentally grown a full-fledged afro until I got to school and everyone flipped out. I totally forgot it was picture day when I picked out that shirt. A lot of pretty serendipitous things happened to make that dumb, dumb picture possible.

Welcome Dan and Jason, can't wait to listen to the podcast.

@ballskin said:

Just to throw this out there, I saw a fact a while ago that of the approximately 10,500 firefighters in New York, 37 are women. Out of the 46,000 New York taxi drivers, 170 are women. That is some sexist bullshit right there. Go get pissed about that as well please.

@nation764: The problems in Firefighter culture is a story for another day. And Taxis? Hmm... Why wouldn't a woman want to drive around strangers all day in a small box... Hmm... Tough one.

@alyssia: @nation764: Take it to the new thread, guys. I mean, it's locked right now, but it'll be open again soon enough.

You guys FUCKING disgust me.

Why would you not boil hot dogs?

Dan is a really funny dude I'm glad he's on board and Jason seems really cool too, heres looking forward to both of them and the future of Giant Bomb!

It's badlands. Sorry!

WHAT?! I think I knew this and forgot. All is well with the world!

Good start! I'm excited for more people talking about a more diverse set of video games!

Jason gets immediate props for mentioning and still playing SF4. EVO next week!

So...did I miss anything?

Welcome to GB, new duders! Nice to hear some new voices on the cast.

I love Jason's enthusiasm for Legend of Korra. You've already won my heart dude.

Look I've got nothing against a good bonfire hotdog, or bbq'd hotdog, a basic pan-searing, or even a quick microwaved hotdog when you just don't have the time.

But boiling a hotdog is legit, son. Don't even fuck around with this, the hot dog industry as you know it will CRUMBLE. Let it be known however, that sausages do not follow these same rules.

I'm going to take this farther and say that people who eat hot dogs deserve to be eaten...because they are super gross. However! Sausages, bratwursts, kielbasas, etc. are pretty tasty.

@beard_of_zeus: Surely we can all co-exist happily in this world where a hotdog can be enjoyed at a campfire just as much as a fine bratwurst on a barbecue.

(I'm enjoying this hot dog conversation way more than some of the other shitty negative crap in this thread)

Regarding the DIGITAL SPORTS player name thing, most of the players already have their names known by viewers. It's displayed on the International front page for crying out loud. Sure, getting rid of their player name and forcing them to use their real names rather than an alias is a pain in the ass for viewers, casters and likely a brand new person to the scene.

You can guarantee that someone will mix up Zhengzheng Yao(IGN: Yao and Zhang Zhicheng(IGN: LaNm). Why not just let them use their aliases? Its a neat cross language ID that most folks who play games are totally comfortable with.

International starts next week, very excited to watch all of it. Hope Jeff goes down a deep TI4 hole too.

Here is the finest speed running video of all time.

I have a dream that one day...hot dog lovers and bratwurst lovers will be able to sit down together at the picnic table of brotherhood and sisterhood. IS TODAY THAT DAY???

(and yes I am way into the goofiness, it is the VERY SOUL of giant bomb dot com!!!)

clearly hot dogs are meant to be sous-vide'd or however the hell you spell it.

I didn't know Dan Ryckert started working here, that's awesome. I often go to Game Informer, and I never heard anything about his departure from there... While it's unfortunate since I felt he fit in well there, this is still awesome. I don't know the other guy, he seems cool though. Oh, and why are people getting angry, or whatever's going on? I find that weird.

Welcome to Dan and Jason. You guys seem okay.

Listening to the podcast and having INDIS flashbacks. Welcome Jason!

QUIT COOKING SHIT IN PLASTIC, YOU ALL ARE GOING TO GET CANCER

@midjet: I won't say that there aren't good reasons to use aliases but I agree that from the perspective of trying to make it less of an in-club only kind of fanbase real names and real people are what get a broad market interested. Human drama saved the UFC by giving faces and names to root for and using fake names doesn't seem to help in that regard.

OH HAI DAN

Listen more importantly, Chameleon Twist doesn't just have speedruns, IT WAS RUN AT SGDQ THIS YEAR. The runner also gives a shoutout to all the Chameleon Twist speedrunners out there....

If this does not prove that it is the greatest of events, nothing can.

Huh.

The new guys seem pretty cool. Sure it would be nice to have more diversity, but I think these guys will do a great job.

One problem though for me is that they kinda sound exactly the same to me lol. Not trying to be offensive, but I really couldn't tell them apart. I'll probably get used to them and then be able to tell, but that's from my first time hearing them lol

Haha, I actually thought the entire original GB cast sounded the same when I first started listening. Unfamiliar voices can blend together even when in reality they're wildly different!

@brendan: I think there's plenty of real human drama, even if you're just calling something by their Alias. Everyone knows who Dendi is, even if not everyone knows his real name is Danil Ishutin. I highly suggest watching Free to Play to see the type of human drama that is there. I don't think using their real names really adds any abstraction to the human behind it.

There's also this weird notion of wanting to make pro gaming available to everyone, but I'm not sure I can get behind that. What might we lose by turning a pro scene like Dota 2 into something that can be broadcast on TV, easy to understand by a layman and turning away from the players and community that got it to where it is today? (See the CGS for a real worst case scenario)

In any case, if Valve is to be taken at their word the International is an event for the players and not primarily and advertising strategy for the game or even for the company. If there were a company that I would take at their word it would be Valve. Especially after all the stuff they've put into the game to enable these competitions at a questionable return on investment.

As far as the Vita talk goes, I have noticed that lately at my local Best Buy the Vita section has suddenly been out of the system and accessories. Mostly in the last two months or so, when before the same stuff was there every time I went into the store.

Jeff and Dan make fun of Korra/Avatar, but they watch wrestling on a regular basis...

Dan Ryckert: Senior butttumblr.tumblr Editor

That's a relief, Giantbomb was starting to look like a sad place in the recent month, and Jeff's optimism was starting to look a bit hollow. But I'm already beginning to like Dan, so maybe things will turn out all right after all. I'd love to see Cara Ellison work for the site, but I guess it wasn't in the cards; it's Jeff's call, he knows best.

100G: New Blood

@brendan: I don't really understand the 'need' to make eSports mainstream or into a 'broad market'. If it is ever going to be mainstream, it will become so naturally. Perhaps at that time you look into using real names - though I think there are other problems to tackle before going mainstream like professionalism and attitude from many players - but there's no need to do it artificially before you get to that point.

However, the prizes you get for competing in The International are way above many 'real' and established sports out there - so although eSports isn't 'mainstream', it certainly isn't struggling to make money.

As for human drama - that comes from the human interaction. It doesn't matter if I know someone as 'Iceiceice' or 'Daryl', I get to support that player through watching them stream on Twitch or seeing them during interviews or in behind the scenes stuff from Lan events. Human drama is in Dota aplenty (and I'm sure LoL and CSGO and others too) - if anything it's in it too much and sometimes it overshadows the game! These aren't faceless people just because they use a 'handle' rather than a real name.

On a personal note one of the things I dislike about making Dota or esports in general 'mainstream' is that a lot of the presentation of real sports suck. Largely, they're just cliche's and flashy graphics over actual substance and interesting analysis - especially in the US. This is especially bad in immensely complicated games like Dota and LoL. It's not like football where you can generally understand 90% of it just by looking at it. I like the homespun and intimate feel you get from eSports in it's current state - sometimes it's not 'professionally' presented but it can be actually genuinely interesting or enthralling.

To non-fans of the Bending shows, I can see how it might seem silly. They don't realize how much character depth and honest great storytelling goes on in those shows. On the surface level, to folks who don't know better, it's another anime show about another group of kids with inexplicable powers and blah blah blah.

Fans know better of course. ;)

Tags are just a part of the appeal of esports. Competitors and their fans both like 'em.

Plus, If I worked my ass off becoming one of the best players in the world at a certain game, you'd better call me by my tag. I don't care if you think Donkeyballers.mp3 sounds retarded.