Giant Bombcast 504: Tell Kent's Wife Where the Stuff Is

Welcome to Earth!

I'm ready for this!

Love me some Will Smith but was hoping for some early impressions on AssCred:Origin and Wolfenstein 2.

Parents just don't understand!

WOO!!

Maybe its just that Ben only thinks he hates capitalism, when really he loves it.

No video again?

@orelha1: Jason is still out. Per Twitter, he has a pretty severe foot injury.

Was that a random Playstation sound at 41:27?

Do they talk about the GAFocalypse?

@fongghoul: Yep. Also Naughty Dog sexual harassment thing.

I chuckled when Ben mentioned future Marth.

The era of the reset is almost here.

The IO Rises

Why does Brad seem so dismissive of South Park the show? Some seasons are stronger than others, even Matt and Trey would admit that, but even their lows or failures are more entertaining/interesting than most other shows on television.

"The '7's must be good"

1987: Contra, Street Fighter I, Zelda 2, Metal Gear, Punch Out, Zelda 1 US release, Castlevania II, Mega Man, Final Fantasy, Dungeon Master, Phantasy Star, Police Quest, Driller, MIDI Maze

1977: Zork, Combat, Space Wars

1967: Crown Soccer Special, Periscope, Basketball and Baseball written in Basic

"Cartman's rampant anti-Semitism..." Are we really doing this? Come on, man. Since when does being a good person mean you have to be humorless? Why would you ever let the worst people in society decide what is or isn't funny?

It's because South Park's 'ideology' is vehemently against giving a shit about anything. It's politically nihilistic. You see a lot of talk in right wing spaces about how South Park "taught [them] how to reason."

It essentially taught a huge swath of young people that caring about things other than your own personal interests is inherently uncool and suspect.

I fully agree with Brad here.

Interesting to hear the praise for the character specific storyline stuff in Wolfenstein : TNO.

I played that game a few weeks ago and thought it was going to be a big deal. Especially since the game tells you that you're playing ' .... 's timeline' afterwards and throughout the game from then on. Chose for the young guy, and apart from 1 or 2 mentions of my choice during the game, it didn't feel like the game really cared about me choosing for him. He wasn't even a main NPC within your crew. Caroline,Anya Klaus & Max all were more important to the story. A bit underwhelming.

I saw Artosis stream some broodwar with a Tobii eyetracker. It kinda looks like there's water moving around on the screen. It seemed fairly adjustable in regards to size, colour and transparancy of the visual effect and doesn't appear laggy at all. That said, even his audience was kinda done with it after a game. I can see it mostly being interesting if you're trying to become good at a game and changing your habits, while checking feedback through the eyetracker. But that's going to be a fairly niche audience.

I remember seeing an episode of that Adult Swim stream when they had some big weekly marathon thing going. It was good backup noise, i enjoyed it.

isn’t cartman usually framed as the villian, or at least as that terrible friend/coworker/family memeber that’s just in the group? and no one in the show likes him? and don’t things typically blow up in his face? almost as if all the hyperbolically terrible things he says and does aren’t meant to be seen as ok? i’m not caught up on the most recent two seasons, but...cartman purposefully gives another character aids at some point out of spite...i don’t think anything written for him is ever meant to be seen as something positive or to represent anything to aspire to. i would think having an already established character like that to punish for their horrible views would be more welcome in the current climate

@onemanarmyy: The decision of who you save at the beginning of TNO also determines another NPC that you get in the safe house. If you save Fergus, you get Tekla, who is basically a female personification of Nikola Tesla. If you save Wyatt, you get J, who is pretty much Jimi Hendrix.

I'd agree that these characters end up being more interesting than Fergus or Wyatt. The choice itself is a pretty great moment in itself though, it's pretty radical for a game to force you to make a decision like that so early on.

@uninvincible: aha. i didn't realize that. J has 2 good scenes as well.

Yeah i did like the choice itself. I just thought it was going to entail a lot more than it turned out to be. Especially when the game makes such a big point of letting the player know that he's playing "wyatt's timeline"

@jimmyjones324: Cartman is the "bad guy" of the series, and always has been. The things he says are funny because they're outrageous and not meant to be taken seriously. The only way you can take offense is to ignore that context.

I also don't like the implication that creators have some sort of "responsibility" to make their content fit a particular sociopolitical worldview. That's flat-out nonsense, and the "argument" for it only ever gets as far as "in today's climate..." which is about as compelling as "because I said so."

So I say again: Stop dictating what people can and can't say based on the words and actions of the worst of our society. I don't care what neo-Nazis or white supremacists like. I don't care if they're too stupid to understand that Cartman is evil, just like I don't care if Richard Spencer likes apples. I won't stop liking Cartman over that, just as I won't stop liking apples.

It would be great if someone on any of these tech-valley gaming podcasts would ever even ONCE take the opposite position. Unfortunately, that's saved for the comments section. Because "diversity" doesn't apply to ideas, apparently.

Oh yeah love me some Will Smith

Longcaaaaast hell yeah

Will Smith is always a delight!

@paugerot: That's not true. They're libertarian, so they oppose political standpoints on all sides.

When South Park introduced P.C. Principal, the Giant Bomb staff (especially Alex) complained about the quality of the writing, while it was actually one of the most inventive and creatively different seasons. They didn't like it because it just happened to make fun of political correctness and the modern 'PC culture'.

I love Giant Bomb, I think Alex is a great guy and I agree with the staff nine times out of ten, but when someone disagrees with their 'politically correct'-stance, they get extreme and flat out claim it's wrong because *insert emotional reasons*. Ironically, this is the entire point of the PC Principal character; if you're politically incorrect or perform a 'micro-aggression', he'll PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE DAMNIT! It's the same form of mental extremism as seen with the very conservative crowd that's against gay marriage "because it's just wrong".

Also, that particular season of South Park makes a case for the danger of politically correct thinking; that level of naivety combined with modern marketing tools can lead to some dangerous situations. I think it's a fascinating season with soms great jokes as well.

If you want a good reason why political correctness is necessary if you want to maintain freedom of speech, google 'political correctness John Cleese'. Great video.

Again, I love Giant Bomb, I'm a premium member and I watch tons of their content, but the way they write off 'politically incorrect behavior' bugs me. It's short sighted and not well thought out at all.

@jodokus_k: Well said, and I'm with you on most of your post (I didn't think the PC principal season was very funny). South park makes fun of everyone, no matter their religion, creed, politics, or race. GB just seems to have gotten so pc that anything society deems offensive (which may as well be everything) is just indefensible to them, even if it's a joke. I'll say that Jeff and Dan (maybe Rorie) seem relatively unscathed by it, and also just because I disagree with them vehemently on political correctness it doesn't mean that I dislike them. Quite the opposite.

"Equal opportunity offenders" are not equal opportunity. That's the point. And in the current political climate, with a Nazi-loving white nationalist in the white house, South Park's "make fun of everyone and lol jews" style of comedy is tone deaf idiocy, not to mention entirely cowardly and pathetic.

Fuck that show.

@depecheload: different strokes I guess

@paugerot: Well, first of all that doesn't seem to be Brad's problem with it; he mentions Cartman's "rampant anti-Semitism" as being problematic, as if South Park will raise (or has raised) a generation of alt-right monsters. Which is complete nonsense. Cartman is the "bad guy" of the show, and what makes him funny is that he earnestly holds ridiculous beliefs. And don't tell me "some people don't get that," because it's made obvious that Cartman is in the wrong, that he's the antagonist, and that the crap he believes is bunk.

I also completely disagree with your discription of the show's "ideology." The show is not politically nihilistic. This comes up, particularly from the left, because the show makes fun of zealots on their side, too. That doesn't mean they don't have beliefs or don't think you should care about things, it just means that you can take those beliefs too far, and they spend a lot of time poking fun at those people.

And in any case, the idea that because the mainstream media is giving coverage to white nationalists (who have always been around) somehow means shows like South Park shouldn't exist, or should change their tone, is condemnable.

@jodokus_k: I agree completely.

A cautionary warning against the High Hell praise.

I wouldn't recommend it for people who are a fan of being able to:

• rebind controls without a byzantine launching ritual.
• have those rebinded controls be saved.

WELCOME 2 NAS-VEMBER, YALL.

@gerff_jestmann: I have known a lot of dumber-than-average individuals at various levels of schooling who just think Cartman is the Gregory House or Rick Sanchez of the show, who is an asshole but says "what people are thinking but too afraid to say" or something to that effect. There is certainly a segment of the population that Cartman's anti Semitic comments have emboldened, I'd wager.

South Park never grew up with its original audience. It doesn't offend me, it's just not funny. Still making catholic priest jokes after, what, a decade?

Just a point regarding the Destiny 2 sales, even accounting for digital they're estimated at 40% below the first game, well over 50% in other territories we have stats for (not just the UK, also other European countries and Japan) and are clearly down heavily. It just speaks to how highly that first game sold in the US. I also doubt it is the highest selling game of the year worldwide based on what we know (basically, Destiny 1 sold 6.3 million worldwide first month, and both BotW and Wildlands have done over 5, so it's unlikely to have overtaken them).

Really it being the highest selling game of the year in the US just makes me worry about most games.

@bisonhero: Oh well? I mean, what does it even mean to "embolden" a bigot? And you're really saying we should change our behavior based on the worst segments of our society?

I guess women shouldn't wear short skirts then, seeing as how it emboldens sexists to call them awful names. Right?

See how crazy that sounds?

Sorry if I this question seems odd but was there an aftershow and if yes where is it available?

@ThatOneDudeNick i’m not sure about that, as i remember, the early seasons were mostly built around the shock value of seeing little cartoon kids say obscenities and seeing how gruesome kenny would die each episode, but they grew the show into a social commentary vehicle over time. it’s still wrapped in immature vulgarity, and neither being offended by it or thinking it’s funny is of course a valid response, but i think it might be a bit dismissive to say it never grew. as far as the catholic priests jokes go, the topic of sexual harassment is probably more revelant right now than ever.

@Gerff_Jestmann exactly, if cartman were rewarded for his behavior and presented as a “good guy”, it would cast all of those lines and scenarios in a completely different light

I work in state government. Sexual harassment not only occurs here—and often—but is most often swept under the rug. There is very much a “shut up or suffer the consequences” atmosphere.

I think, and political pundits agree, Trump is pretty much a certified brilliant politician. It can be easy to lose sight of but he had a commanding lead in Republican voter polls all the way back in 2015 and he held that better than any politician in modern times. That included strong support from Nazis and white nationalists.

Sorry if this is making the discussion too political. If so mods feel free to delete my comment.

Man the hot takes about communism/capitalism are just the worst.

Look at history. Communism did nobody any good.

I understand why you might think that comparison seems appropriate, since on a very surface level both examples are about people reaching a mistaken conclusion.

But let me be clear. My hope that Parker and Stone are cognizant of the intended and unintended impact Cartman has had on a generation of youth due to the reach their show has is not equivalent to the victim blaming that individual women endure on a daily basis thanks to the way societies around the world objectify women.

TV shows and other works shouldn't be barred from including bigoted characters, but making a bigot the star of your work is something that shouldn't be done lightly, and requires a deft touch. The proportion with which their bigoted views are tolerated/vilified/acknowledged/ignored/mocked can shape the perception of that character and people's perception of those views, and South Park has had its ups and downs with how much it glorifies or vilifies Eric Cartman.