Giant Bombcast Giant Bomb's GOTY 2011 Deliberations: Day Three

I don't like Baird because he's portrayed as "the smart one" and yet he never really comes across as particularly intelligent. He just mentions technical/scientific things a bit more than the other Gears, like the audience is expected to say "Oh he knows about the science, he must be smart!"

I love how quickly Killzone/Resistance gets dropped from the best use of 3 list and yet Gears of War is put automatically on the list followed by a 3 minute discussion.

The Baird hate was vicious. I get it, though.

@Gyrfal said:

Anybody feel like everybody forgot that Deus Ex came out this year?

Yeah dude, it seems like they have not mentioned it once so far.

I was actually getting upset at how hung up on Rayman they were. It's a good looking 2D platformer but it's seriously the odd man out among the other titles. I get the nostalgia thing but c'mon guys. I think there should be a separate category for Best Looking Sidescroller game or something. They could shove in all the titles like Rayman, Limbo, Trine, Bionic Commando ReArmed etc. Also it's weird how they have these discussions with games some of them haven't played. Comments like Patrick saying something along the lines of "I'd drop Dead Space 2 over Rayman in terms of graphics, but I haven't played Dead Space 2 so I don't have a connection to it.." are like what going on here guys.

Still fun Bombcast. The coffins ARE pretty small.

I think the best Graphics category needs to decide whether it is best graphics or best artstyle/asthetics because they are different things. Rayman has no place on a best graphics list but it does on the latter. Also on best graphics I don't see how you can put Rage aside, whatever you think of the game the graphic techniques are amazing - its the best looking game I have ever played on a console. The level of detail makes it looks next-generation.

"But their coffins are so small" I genuinely laughed aloud at that comment, so close to the bone!

And the art category was screaming for Dark Souls to at least be mentioned, it such a well realised world. The art and the creature design is absolutely fantastic and the locations range from the grim to the sublime. The first time you reach Anor Londo really drove that home for me.

@leebmx said:

I think the best Graphics category needs to decide whether it is best graphics or best artstyle/asthetics because they are different things. Rayman has no place on a best graphics list but it does on the latter. Also on best graphics I don't see how you can put Rage aside, whatever you think of the game the graphic techniques are amazing - its the best looking game I have ever played on a console. The level of detail makes it looks next-generation.

Did you even listen to the podcast ? They had that exact conversation and explained that's why it's called "Best-Looking Game" not "Best Graphics".

Alice: Madness returns not getting a mention however was the real crime here, that game is overwhelmingly gorgeous.

@xDot said:

@leebmx said:

I think the best Graphics category needs to decide whether it is best graphics or best artstyle/asthetics because they are different things. Rayman has no place on a best graphics list but it does on the latter. Also on best graphics I don't see how you can put Rage aside, whatever you think of the game the graphic techniques are amazing - its the best looking game I have ever played on a console. The level of detail makes it looks next-generation.

Did you even listen to the podcast ? They had that exact conversation and explained that's why it's called "Best-Looking Game" not "Best Graphics".

Alice: Madness returns not getting a mention however was the real crime here, that game is overwhelmingly gorgeous.

I must have missed that bit while I was concentrating on my doodling - they just seemed to be talking about best graphics all the time. Although I have just got top the end and hearing the awards read out I hear it is call "Best Looking Game" which explains their choices much better. Will pay more attention next time.

I still think they should split Graphics & Aesthetics into separate categories as they both are worthy of recognition - "Best Looking" is a bit too vague. And I still think Rage warranted more praise than it got - that game was revolutionary for the detail it showed while still running at 60fps.

I've not played Alice but the videos I have seen do look good.

In case you haven't seen much of TW2 (and are wondering why it won) you should watch this.

"If they keep this up, they're going to wriggety-wreck the Bioware name." -Brad Shoemaker

@Superfriend said:

@mortal_sb said:

honorable mention for best visuals: el shaddai.

No. No way in hell. That sort of game happens when you design a game without any art direction. Judging from the bits I saw from it, they even went without any sort of direction whatsoever. I know visuals are a matter of taste.. but in this case: Just because it looks different doesn´t mean it looks good.

Having just gotten El Shaddai and sat down with it for several hours (finished the first 5 chapters) I love the art and think it deserves mentioning, but not worthy of being top 3.

@Junpei said:

@Superfriend said:

@mortal_sb said:

honorable mention for best visuals: el shaddai.

No. No way in hell. That sort of game happens when you design a game without any art direction. Judging from the bits I saw from it, they even went without any sort of direction whatsoever. I know visuals are a matter of taste.. but in this case: Just because it looks different doesn´t mean it looks good.

Having just gotten El Shaddai and sat down with it for several hours (finished the first 5 chapters) I love the art and think it deserves mentioning, but not worthy of being top 3.

mentioning would've been enough, but it feels like the crew just FORGOT that the game even exists! they did the ql ex and you NEVER heard from it again.

I'm SHOCKED that MK got snubbed, almost right out of the gate, considering it was one of the best Fighting games to come out this year.

@Marokai said:

@mutha3 said:

@Duffyside: I'm more getting tired of "Everything is awesome, but nobody is happy"

N-no....no....A lot of the big sequels this year were creatively bankrupt and lazy. They're letting developers off to easily.

Couldn't agree more. Not holding games to a continuously higher standard is how developers like Activision sucker people into buying Call of Duty year after year. It's the logical extension of what is essentially a trap argument. Sure, I can admit on some purely objective level that the level of quality in the Call of Duty games, from 2007 to 2011, have been excellent. But it's not going anywhere.

People would be retarded to expect video game reviewers to judge games in a vacuum. Arkham City and Uncharted 3 may very well be as good as or better games than their predecessors, but that doesn't stop them from being 97.5% just like their predecessors. Dismissing that fatigue as "well everyone is just snobbish and entitled" is beyond intellectually lazy. Making games of the same quality over and over again doesn't stop them from being excellent games, obviously, but it shouldn't be surprising that people would get tired of them, especially in a generation this old.

I think in cases like Uncharted and Arkham it is snobbery

Arkham City is a better game than Arkham City, the city itself is fun to be in, more tools, more combat options, the core of Batman, was pretty much perfected, so what room was there to make? Uncharted gets knocked because Uncharted 2 was just SO mindblowing. I just think people held those games to such high standards, that these games were never gonna match those highs.

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. The Giant Bomb guys are glossing over Uncharted 3 because it's a PS3 game. At this point it's no secret that they hold the PS3 with disdain and favour the 360, it's plainly obvious from their coverage.

@mortal_sb: Did anyone of them play the entire thing at all though?

But Baird is my favorite character. DAMN YOU GIANTBOMB, DAMN YOU!

@edgefusion said:

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. The Giant Bomb guys are glossing over Uncharted 3 because it's a PS3 game. At this point it's no secret that they hold the PS3 with disdain and favour the 360, it's plainly obvious from their coverage.

Can't you trolls at least come up with some new topics?

If you are indeed just unaware this argument has bin debunked so many times i cant even recall how many.

@edgefusion said:

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. The Giant Bomb guys are glossing over Uncharted 3 because it's a PS3 game. At this point it's no secret that they hold the PS3 with disdain and favour the 360, it's plainly obvious from their coverage.

okay you are apparently a big trolling fan-boy. you need to go away or think before you write.

uncharted 3 was great but not as good as uc2, and ofc they prefer the Xbox since they are americans and the xbox is the most successful so for games that are multi plat they usually go with the Xbox. i don't blame them.

i personally like the ps3 more then the Xbox

@Sjupp said:

@mortal_sb: Did anyone of them play the entire thing at all though?

i don't know! that's what's bothering me. it just vanished completely from their radar.

@OneManX said:

@Marokai said:

I think in cases like Uncharted and Arkham it is snobbery

Arkham City is a better game than Arkham City

HOLY SHIT that's deep man

Godamn it! All this talk of Saints Row: The Third made me insane, so I bought it. This better be a good game!

I would have called Skyrim the best looking game of the year, but whatever. I'm glad The Witcher won.

also, I don't necessarily agree with the sequels thing. I prefer Brad's idea about annualized sequels. because Skyrim is the fifth in that series, and it's fucking awesome, and Legend of Zelda continues to be good. as does Saints Row. there are too many exceptions to the rule. and like, Portal 2, Dark Souls, The Witcher 2, Rayman Origins... gah

Wow, the "Goodies" would be an awesome award. Get in touch with John Goodman, guys.

@Grillbar said:

@edgefusion said:

I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. The Giant Bomb guys are glossing over Uncharted 3 because it's a PS3 game. At this point it's no secret that they hold the PS3 with disdain and favour the 360, it's plainly obvious from their coverage.

okay you are apparently a big trolling fan-boy. you need to go away or think before you write.

uncharted 3 was great but not as good as uc2, and ofc they prefer the Xbox since they are americans and the xbox is the most successful so for games that are multi plat they usually go with the Xbox. i don't blame them.

i personally like the ps3 more then the Xbox

Well, first off you have to remember that Uncharted 2 was in fact their GOTY for 2009, narrowly beating out Arkham Asylum. Also, I wouldn't go so far as to accuse their nationality as the reason why they prefer the xbox version of games. Truthfully, they themselves have said that they play the xbox version more in their videos (such as quicklooks) because it is simply easier to catch and record video that way.

@Milkman said:

The first angry outburst of GOTY deliberations 2011 goes to Jeff. Looking forward to the rest of the podcasts and many more "what the fuck are you even talking abouts."

Man, I figured I was the only one who noticed that. He seemed genuinely frustrated towards that part of the podcast, and when Ryan played it off by laughing, I felt genuinely shocked at that moment of uncivil discourse amongst seemingly such great friends.

IT BURNS!!!! No recognition of Gears of War 3. Not even negative which is worse. I don't mean it should be anything, but even a "What about gears 3?" "naawww" would have been better than no mention at all. Especailly up against Uncharted 3, Rage, Batman and Dead Space 2. Lots of games were mentioned and Gears 3 did not even spark in peoples minds to even say "Oh what about Gears..." IT BURNSES! I'm super curious now as to why it wasn't even mentioned to be marked off. I just want to know why. Was it a jack of all trades visually?

LIIIIIIIIVELY.