Giant Bombcast Game of the Year 2008 Edition

w00t!  Listening right now.

Whoa, its up early. Yay! Listening now.

3PM eastern time?  Awesome!  162 minutes long? That is a BEAST of a podcast!

Yay! and boo for me never being first to post...i know its petty, but dude, just once! JJOR64 seems to have the market cornered.

Rated M for British, you're fuckin' right!

I deliberately didn't check what game won Game of the Year, so i didn't know what game you finally picked, and that was well worth it!

My day is brightened.  Thank you!

alright can't wait to listen... can't believe its almost 3 hours long.  

could be yelling and screaming in this one..

I love that line in Left 4 Dead where Bill says he was never prepared for a Zombie Apocalypse, and Zoey goes 'Game over, man! Game over'! And Louis laughs. That's GREAT.

After listening, sounds like it was very hard to choose between MGS 4 and GTA 4.

Hurray for prerecorded goodness!!! Lol.

It was great that you guy's put this out to show us all the work, arguments, and disagreeing that goes into choosing a Game of the Year.

Thanks to the Giant Bomb staff and cheers to a great 2009!

BTW...You guys managed to make insinuations to Saved By the Bell AND Duck Tails in the beginning...I think my year is complete. Lol.

aw man, its not up on itunes yet, ill check back soon!

also, 3 hour podcast!? awesome!

also, you guys should totally throw in the uncut version of this podcast, constant profanities and all!

edit: wait, yes it is up.my bad

SWEET!!
keep up the good work you guys,
09 will not be the year of the xbox,it will not be the year of the PS3,
it will be the year of the bomb,GIANTBOMB.
cant wait to see whats in store.

This was a really interesting idea for a podcast. Thanks for letting us inside your heads during this debate. I'm not sure I agree with the final decision, but I can appreciate how much thought went into it.

Awesome show!

After listening to this, I have changed my Game of the Year from MGS4 to GTAIV too.

Haw haw, opening the podcast with a Saved By The Bell reference, I love this podcast.
Just began listening to it, but have to give y'all props for that.

Ah man I have to stop listening now because you're talking about the Metal Gear story. Damnit I'll buy a PS3 eventually and I'll play that game. Ah well, guess I can't listen to this podcast until then.

Best podcast ever

there might be a few amazing moments that everyone who plays MGS4 experiences, but with GTA IV everyone who plays it has their own set of amazing moments that are unique to them. some of which will be in the "piece of shit" multiplayer, which is more than I can say for MGS4.

I'd still chose MGS4 over GTA4 any day, but that was an epic battle of discussions and arguments.

Wow. Every other game site should clue readers in on their deliberations for Game of the Year like you guys did with this podcast. Maybe then we wouldn't see as many people dismissing so many sites' picks because they picked GTA IV.

This was seriously, very epic, especially since I didn't glance at the GOTY winner beforehand.

Now I wanna go play GTA IV again, as well as get a PS3 for MGS4.

*Podcast spoilers throughout this comment* There was a point during the podcast where I was sure you guys were heavily leaning towards MGS3, if not already at choosing it; then there was a break, and Brad came back sounding almost brainwashed. I suppose I understand, since a decision had to be made, and only one of you was endorsing the game as the one true GOTY before the deliberations, but it seemed like there was an odd concession there where there should have perhaps been more argument.

I suppose things could have gone on forever otherwise, but at the same time, there was that one point where you guys were talking about MGS3 exclusively. It seemed like you had nearly made your decision at that point.

At any rate, if I were to really sit down and think about the earlier parts of this year, I would probably pick GTA IV as my  GOTY as well. It was a huge game with an excellent narrative, top notch writing, and significant, meaningful choices to make. And in a year with plenty of "choice" games out there, the choices in GTA were among the most impactful and touching moments. The tonal change alone was a huge risk for Rockstar, although I suppose they felt rightfully safe knowing they would probably not lose any sales based off the name of the series alone.

I'm surprised at the lack of deliberation over some of the other games, though. There should at least have been a moment where you all explained exactly why each of the other games was ruled out (there was one moment, but it was bascially just glazing over the idea and not explaining). Although, anybody who has been listening to the podcasts will know exactly what your problems were with those games, anyway.

Jeff, when you say easy, did you actually play on Big Boss or Big Boss Extreme?

I find it amusing that Vinnie, the DragonBall Z fan, complains about MGS having some characters seemingly come back from the dead........... Golden Balls Vinnie, no one ever stays dead in DBZ.... point made.

I can understand why you guys went with GTA, personally I've never cared for GTA but out of all of them this is the only one that I have felt compelled to play because of the new direction it has taken with a true story that has meaning instead of the mindless insanity that preceeded it.

At any rate, so ends a great year and long live GB in 09!

just so you don't have to replay GTA 4 i killed dwayne ( because i have no heart and he annoyed the fuck out of me ). you were better off killing playboy x. you got the money and then he pretty much tells you to never talk to him again.

Seems like a big part of that podcast was spent listening to Brad whine and complain like a spoiled 10 year old child.  I thought he was going to cry a few times.  Man up, seriously - there are more things at stake beyond how something makes you feel with a gamepad in your hands. 

I'm glad Giant Bomb went with GTA IV - I've never been a fan of the series before but the trailers drew me in with hints of the amazing story and atmosphere.  Easily one the best games of all time.

Dude! I actually kinda head-bob dance to the break-time music in these and laugh while doing (No I'm not GAY ok lol). lol...
Nothing over the top, but I love the break-time music these guys made, it's simplistic but that's the beauty of it.

Oh! and something I've noticed in the past few review's is it's pretty much Brad's theme music. I mean, you just know that this music is obviously coming when brad says: "should we take a break?"

Boo, it's prerecorded. That means that you won't have got my email question :(

I absolutely love that break music. Do not change it! EVER!

Also, nice podcast

you guys need to offer that giant bomb champion logo as a t shirt or hoodie that would kick ass... also looking forword to this podcast its going to be total bad ass

That was a good show; it had 2 breaks! I love that music so much.

Heehee. That logo for game of the year is awesome.

GTA IV as predicted. No keyborard! :'(

If you ever want to play MGS4, don't listen to the podcast. They pretty much talk about the entire plot, spoilers and all.

banjo stinks dude, still don't see what anyone likes about it. 

As awesome as the debate was, I couldn't help but feel that there was a fundamental flaw behind this. Why do you HAVE to choose one game that the entire site claims as the best game of the year? From what I've gathered, MGS4 and GTAIV are both amazing games, they just suit people's personal tastes differently.

that was a healthy debate. good stuff. 

162 minute podcast to decide the fate of 2 games. THAT will probably never happen again.

For me personally, i would have made GTA 4 and MGS 4 joint winners.

I loved Moira in Fallout 3! She was so cute ^^ Her optimism is refreshing when everything else is filled with doom and gloom. She is the one I would want on my deathbed. When I'm lying with my legs blown off and my organs outside my stomach I want her there to tell how everything will be alright. I love her...

I thoroughly enjoyed that gents, even if I sided with Brad and MGS4 on this one.

Where's the Worst Game Of The Year podcast?

Alright, first off, I'm a Metal Gear Fanboy. Everything Kojima produces I sink my teeth in with an appetite, so for Metal Gear to my personal Game of the year is a no-brainer, and I'm happy that the experience is not wasted on the uninitiated, as was testamonied in your podcast about the decision. However, I must say that I am a bit dissappointed in the discussion overall. Not only because nit-picking was way off balance between the two main comptetitors (because frankly, GTA IV has alot of issues with both it's story and the city itself), but also because Dead Space barely got discussed.
You said yourselfs, there is nothing that the developers could have done to make it a better game, which is true. In fact, Dead space to me is the best designed game this year, and maybe even one of the best designed games ever. And that holds true from the core game mechanic and the innovative pussles to the brilliantly designed HUD and the way the story is conveied.
I remember you calling it a "one trick pony", even though that is quickly followed up by a multitude of different creative things you do in the game. However, when you think about it, isn't GTA IV kind of the same, gameplaywise? Each mission has a structure of drive, shoot, drive, shoot. Then drive drive, then shoot shoot, then shoot drive. Yet, it is most of the critics baby, and has won countless goty awards in magazines all over the world. And the story makes no sense towards the end. Why the hell does Nico need all this money? There's nothing to spend it on. And why the hell would rockstar put in a mechanic that forces you to do dull repetitive chores (dates) to be able to have a few benefits you should be able to utilize regardless of your friendship percentage.
I guess my question is, how come the game which noone in a room could find a flaw in not more thoroughly discussed in the decision of GOTY.

Also, Metal Gear RULEZ!!!

Great podcast - Ive just ordered Banjo Kazooi - Nuts n Bolts which I probably wouldnt have done before listening to this.

A great first year for Giant Bomb. Its com a long way in a short time. Your efforts are appreciated guys.

I really enjoyed this. I was sitting here almost shouting "LISTEN TO BRAD DAMMNIT!" even though I knew GTAIV already won. MGS4 is my GOTY, I do agree that the game should have ended when he pulled the trigger though.

Holy deliberations Batman.

You know it's been a good year when you hear a discussion like this. Gaming FTW.

You can die in that microwave tunnel :(