Giant Bombcast 540: Sailor Bruno Mars

Is that Hamburgler Cesaro in disguise?

I can't believe they read my dumb-ass hoodie email, and it somehow became part of the deck for this week's show.

What can I say, I grew up with a Genesis - my love for Sonic runs deep... or at least it used to.

It's from back when McDonalds tried and failed to make the Hamburgler fuckable.

... Haven't they used this image before?

WOO!

Idk, but Sexy Hamburglar debuted May of 2015, so it has to have been in the last 3 years if so.

I love the addition of the topic being discussed in the corner. More than once i've struggled to figure out what game they're discussing because the beginning involved multiple people talking over each other or just being too lazy to skip around trying to find the start of the conversation. Really helps when listening to the bombcast in the background while working or playing games.

wonder if jeff and dan would like fooly cooly season 2. Wish they watched it first then season 1 second to see if the hate for season 2 is nostalgia...like incredibles 2 or avatar show 2.

@gravyghost: So are you gonna wear that hoodie?

Anarchy in McDonalds

It's almost as if Smash is a game for babies

Incredibles 2 is good guys

anyone interested?

As someone who's pretty heavily into GW2 and saw the drama go down firsthand, that was a very nuanced take on the issue that I haven't seen from many other outlets. Kudos, guys.

Also, to address Jeff's point and to give a little more context: This is absolutely not an indication of GW2 dying or the developers desperately trying to placate the players in some sort of last-ditch attempt to remain relevant. The game is healthier than ever, barring some really esoteric things like the in-game economy being wonky.

I think it's important to note that ArenaNet has, historically, been super involved in the community and welcoming of feedback. It's a large part of their public image and they're always hanging around in the subreddit doing AMAs and responding to random things (in fact Peter Fries, the guy who was fired in this event, was almost universally loved within the community because of this.) The guy who posted the initial feedback, Deroir, is essentially an official ambassador that works with ArenaNet to help foster community - this is a large part of why a lot of people were so upset, they felt that an attack (perceived or otherwise) on him was an attack on the community at large. His comments also weren't entirely random, the Twitter thread that Jessica Price posted was in effect a continuation of some answers she gave during an official AMA earlier that day. Whether or not his comments were particularly valuable or insightful is debatable, but he was absolutely engaging from a position of good faith.

That's pretty much the Guild Wars 2 side of things, at least as I'm aware. Then of course the Goobers saw an opportunity to use this event to push their own agenda and shit really started popping off. I'm absolutely not condoning any of that bullshit.

Personally, I've got conflicting feelings. Given their history and the public image they're trying to foster, I absolutely do not blame ArenaNet for taking the actions they did. But in doing so, they also (whether they know it or not) emboldened the assholes who piled on for more nefarious reasons. Do developers have an ethical obligation to act against their own self-interest in order to mediate these sorts of larger, industry-wide issues? If doing the "right" thing means potentially enabling bad things to happen down the line, is it still the right thing? I don't know, I'm not a developer or part of any sort of marginalized group.

Is it me or does the framerate not look 60...?

@gravyghost: I now say you should totally wear it. If your date asks about the hoodie then have them listen to the segment on the bombast!

It takes 6 months to paint half the golden gate bridge, 6 months for the other half. So once the crew is done painting the full bridge it is time to start over again. The gate is painted so much because of the salty air that would rust the metal incredibly fast if left unattended. There is an old History Channel's Modern Marvels episode on the bridge which is worth a watch

mcdonalds.lol

@vicious17: Load to unpack here but calling her a bitch for her comment is way out of line. TB was often praised for his cynical behaviour and made a brand out of it. He did hurt a lot of people that way and he still kept his status in the gaming industry. There’s kind of an hypocrisy in defending TB’s usual abrasiveness and acting like Price is out of line.

I didn’t say anything when he died, if you have nothing good to say shut up and all, but he would’ve been the first to agree that someone doesn’t become immune to criticism when they die (hell all “cynical” people would agree there). Price comments were in poor taste, but they were super tame compared to some stuff he and others men did in the video games industry. Most of them kept their job. Also she didn’t lose her job because of those comments anyway.

And she was wrong, people are still using his persona to hurt devs, still to this day.

Oh hey, Jason mentioned Acen. Yeah, the Dealer Hall there is 50% of the reason to go. The other 50% is half The excellent panels and 25% the crazy parties. (The raves are covered under parties)

Oh snap that t-shirt!

22:52

Damn, Jeff with those topical hits!

@fear_the_booboo: He had cancer. Probably that was the main reason why he kept his status (and that he was more concerned about fighting it than internet drama in his last years)

Jesus effin CHRIST you guys are quick.

Since you guys seem to not have all the facts or are unsure of all the details the person Jessica Price responded to was Deroir a well known content creator for GW2 (who is also an NPC within the game). She derided him and called him an "asshat" and dressed him down publicly after he was very civil in his statement. Ms. Price is a public spokesperson an has repeatedly taken this tone with players and the community ("Sure, dude. Now get out of my fucking feed with your assumptions and your entitlement to my time." - J. Price responding to another community member Inks civil comment).

Anyone who works in a service business can tell you that we all wanna talk shit on the customers from time to time, however it is understood; for the most part, you are an extension of the business in public speaking venues. Being extremely toxic to a very well known and liked community member in a public setting is 100% grounds for termination let alone having a history of it. I think the narrative that Ms. Price's firing was unwarranted is a faulty one, as this kind of public PR issue has historically proven to be the fastest ticket to the unemployment line if a story gets legs. My two cents anyway.

Dude I think this may be the last time I even bother reading comments lol

A developer is not a PR person and she was on her personal twitter account. This is why unionization is needed, to stop companies from abuses like these. Any other take is pretty much bootlicking nonsense high on some weird fantasy perpetrated by "the customer is always right" bullshit.

Lets not pretend that people had not lost their jobs for less by using their social media accounts

V6

Come on, guys.

@soundlug: I really don't understand what your point is. No one should get fired for responding rudely on social media on their own time and while not being a representative of the company. Caving in like this to a hate mob is just going to make developers discuss their issues publicly even less for fear of getting harassed by a few bored redditors.

ArenaNet is just a chickenshit company run by cowards, and they've just ruined any chance that their developers will interact with the community through anything that isn't official PR channels. Which, ironically, is what they're saying they want to protect.

There's a Bigfoot game on the NES. It's really bad. The top down racing is okay at best, but the sidescrolling is bad. The controls are hitting A and B back and forth as fast as possible while also shifting gears. https://www.giantbomb.com/bigfoot/3030-7302/

@dstopia: She was a employee... she was a representative whatever she was PR or not.

Yeah, in principle this is exactly the same scenario as that Subnautica thing from a while back. I'm sure there are others too but I'm not a big social media person.

She can say it was her personal account all she wants, but in the end it was a public account in which she listed her affiliation with ArenaNet, and was publicly talking about the work that she does for ArenaNet. She said something that her employer deemed a risk to their brand, and was fired. We've been doing this song and dance for years now, it seems incredibly disingenuous to suddenly use the "people shouldn't be fired for saying things on social media" defense when, by and large, the same people decrying this were cheering those other firings.

I mean that's just blatantly untrue, there's been dozens of posts by ArenaNet employees in the subreddit since this went down, none of them relating to this incident at all. Mike O'Brien even released a statement saying that they're going to continue being involved in the community, and this incident has basically blown over everywhere that isn't mainstream outlets playing catch-up.

i dunno- i'd like to echo that arenanet is 1000% in the wrong in this instance, and they deserve all the negativity that's coming their way as a result of their poor decision.

buuut i also think arenanet's response is 1000% typical. i've worked too many shitty jobs with too many shitty bosses to not know that your employer is not your friend- and push comes to shove- you are replaceable, always. the larger the group, the more this is true. it's a cynical view for sure- but it's based in experience. and it's an exceptionally rare employer that will go to bat for you over the consumer.

which is also why collective bargaining is so damn important, you're right. but so long as your employer can publicly view your social media- speaking your mind (no matter how justified) will always be a professional liability.

it triple sucks, but it's the way BUSINESS functions. without collective bargaining, the employer retains the ultimate power.

Not me, but someone definitely registered it lol

http://www.mcdonalds.lol

Jeff you are now safe.

I bet the youtube comments for this bombcast are more toxic than usual because of this Areanet fiasco.

LEEEESSSAAAAAA WOOOOOOO

What do you expect when they just pull all their news from Polygon? An unbiased well written report? Lol

Jessica Price deserved to get fired, she posted a sexist response about "manfeels". Flip the gender roles (A man posting sexist attacks at women) and the firing would make sense.

I can't understand why Price's firing is so controversial.

On a public Twitter account, clearly labeled "ArenaNet narrative team", she ridiculed a member of the community who's also an ArenaNet partner, stated clearly that she didn't value his (exceedingly polite) feedback on the game because he's not a developer, then said she would actively ignore this kind of feedback in the future. All in a very rude, abrasive manner while she kept piling on and he kept apologizing (for no reason).

She works at an MMO developer. Games that critically depend on community involvement. That's just a terrible lapse in judgement however you slice it.

Women are treated pretty badly in the games industry and that's terrible. But this is not one of those cases. Men have been fired for way less (remember Adam Orth?)

Ben... please stop shouting into the microphone...

thanks....

I see every issue is a black and white affair now. Maybe from some of her past history she could have not said some of the things she did and handled things more professionally (though her frustration was pretty warranted). But they also shouldn't have kowtowed so hard to the screaming internet cesspool and made an example of her, so to speak. That's going to set a shit precedent right there. Though I think the biggest mistake of all in the end will be me even touching this clusterfuck of a "discussion" with a 10ft pole. *sighs* Tuesdays!

@mittens: Try explaining to a Google engineer how he/she could be doing his/her job better. There will be a high chance you'll be ridiculed, and the engineer won't be fired.

Gamers really do expect developers to bend their knees to them regardless of their stupidity, eh?

Overwatch is Anime, fight me, Brad.

Mortal Kombat isn't a real fighting game tbh.