Awesome! I only caught the last 10 minutes of the stream.
EDIT: I'm in favour of letting YouTube have HD. I don't subscribe for access to HD, though it's a very nice perk, and it sounds like many other subscribers feel the same. If one of the reasons you're putting video onto YouTube is to sell GiantBomb on people, you should be as presentable as possible, and that means HD video. Numerous other game-related YouTube channels offer HD, why not GiantBomb?
No skin off my nose giving out free HD on YouTube. I mean, it doesn't drain Whiskey's bandwith and I can't imagine any subscriber being petty enough to object to the idea.
I'm all for bringing new people to Giant Bomb. If that means free HD, then do it! I won't be offended in the least. Non premium members are people too.
Yeah if you guys are going to compete on the youtubes with dudes like totalbiscuit and yogscast you gotta bring the hd vids. Just won't work otherwise.
Was just recently a free user for a brief period and video quality was atrocious. However, quality content and some enjoyable exclusives were a bigger driver in my renewal. Keep Giantbomb awesome for everyone and let youtube users see higher quality vids.
I definitely think that YouTube viewers would be more inclined to watch longer-style videos with HD. There's so much other stuff out there game coverage-wise in HD, and it's very easy for them to just say forget it and watch something else. The random, funny stuff like this radio show is why I got the premium membership.
Youtube's compression stuff has always made me mad the few times I've tried to mess with it.
I think free 720p is a good idea. I don't think it's that that gets subscribers. I recently converted a friend (my toaster's in the mail, right?) just with how awesome the Lantern Run videos are. (P.S. more co-op multiplayer please. It's always good.)
If it's easy for them, they should do HD. But it seems like a hassle. Youtube is slow as fuck for uploading, and I don't want them having a computer busy uploading HD to youtube for people unwilling to support the site when they could just throw up the low res versions much quicker.
Make the YouTube videos HD at the highest bit-rate possible.
I subscribed a year ago for HD video, downloads, and the mobile site (well, and the Bombcast scare ;) and I resubscribed this year for all of that plus of the daily subscriber stuff which turned out to be a whole lot better than I thought it would be.
I have zero problems with everyone getting HD if it will help Whiskey get bigger and more successful, which is most certainly will.
This is where we vote, right? Give em the HD. Just remember that you offered to at least think about that calendar in exchange. I'd buy the fuck out of a calendar, especially if it had the game release dates on it.
If you its easy for you guys to upload it it would be better to make all your videos on youtube 720P, if a random person comes into the site and sees crappy videos he/she might not stick around.
I love HD videos but I subscribe for the CONTENT. Jar Time/Rambling Rory/Vinny making cables/Random PC game etc are way more important to me than HD. Also if a random new person sees the way videos looks on youtube 360p on a decent sized monitor they might just dismiss the site.
Frankly unless it's a quick look, I usually just keep the audio running and listen to whatever's happening. Obvious exceptions are the crazy feature videos, i.e. cable making and Joust repair.
I subscribe for the exclusive features. HD is a (usually) a given in this day and age. Let our peasant brethren bask in the HD glory. We aren't Lannisters!
I watch the videos on the low setting anyway (to save bandwidth) so I don't really have an issue with HD being available for everyone. I don't think I've even used the HD setting since I subscribed.
The nice thing for me is that while this site is blocked at my workplace, Youtube is not. I've gotten more use out of Youtube in the last couple of weeks than the entire rest of the time Youtube has been out.
Give HD to everyone, it's not why I pay my subscription. I want GB to grow, and become more popular and not having HD is a turn off for youtube people. Not only that but the non paying members would really appreciate it.
I'd prefer 720p was a subscriber feature. But I do think youtube videos should be 480p (or whatever resolution that youtube says is 480p), was surprised when I accidentally played a youtube video and it was 360p even if thats what's on the site, their compression makes it crap. Or upload to a video service that has better compression. I prefer vimeo over youtube anyday.
I don't feel as though my subscription will be worth any less if you guys let people watch 720p videos over YouTube. HD videos and the ability to download them were always the last reasons I maintained a subscription to this site and the loss of it won't change my intention to pick up a second year when the time comes. The situation has changed and I understand that, so I won't take it as some weird "betrayal" if you let the masses access 720p non-subscriber videos. I've always come here for the unique content the staff provides and I got a subscription to get even more of that. So long as that remains the case, I have no problems.
I was for user subscriptions/donations from the very beginning of GB - when Jeff explicitly said, he does not want our money.
Now, with the somewhat success of this model, the difficulty to maintain the balance is more visible than ever. The Bombcast fiasco was a early warning shot. But the video streaming costs must be pretty insane for them. Amazon's Service is cheap, but not THAT cheap.
I still believe, there are 3 different kind of users:
- those, who won't subscribe - either cannot or don't want to afford it.
- those who want to support GB without demanding anything extra from them (older, wealthy, working Duders - like me)
- and those, who want - no, DEMAND - something worth for their buck. They don't see the Exabytes of video content they are getting for free already. They want something special and in their irrational attitude (sorry, that's how I see it) they c o u n t, if it's worth their money.
That's the economy.
Only time will tell, if they will lose free users. In the end, WM cannot compete with the IGNs and Gamespots when it comes to infrastructure and big money. GB was never a one-stop-shop for all things video game. Not for me. The main business decision - in the worst economy, ever since they started this site - still is:
1. growing users
2. maintaining users
Even a video game website with big corporate money behind it, like Gamespot, is pushing towards YouTube. It is reaching out to new audiences. It is a clever business move. It is still interesting to see, how many users they will lose, and how many more (new) users they will gain via YouTube.
Video:
Having said that, I am still not convinced, why their video quality is meh. Google/YouTube is providing partner programs and actively seeking business partners. GB/WM could "partner up" (if both sides see it fit) - especially the new youtube.com/live thing could profit from it. They would have to share the revenue from this, but would expose themselves to a potentially bigger audience. Keeping their content close to themselves is a way having more control.
I don't know what their real business end game is. The YouTube Partner Program is just a suggestion. I don't know if Dave, in the podcast, refers to such an account, or if they are just regular Pro users on YouTube, why they don't see it working for them, right now.
Concerning compression stuff: I repeat myself a g a i n. Find a guy who's fluent in Linux and try out ffmpeg! You can easily experiement, manipulate on the fly, even work professionally with o n e line of code (or write your own script) what and how the A/V output will look like. It is not yet common in professional environments, since most media companies rather buy dedicated boxes, deciding it's cheaper to buy 10.000 dollar boxes, instead hiring an IT guy who knows his stuff (or giving your senior guys the time to learn the stuff themselves - instead stretching them thin, doing time consuming trivial stuff.
Website:
I could live without the Wiki Part and without them 'reviewing' games - Game reviews are a thing that is creating clicks, and I don't know their analytics/numbers - but I could live without that part completely. Old school reviews - it's a thing from the past, IMHO.
If it was my decision to make - if I'd be the NFL owner of the GB team - I would let Jeff, Ryan, Brad and Vinny do 3-4 Quick Looks a week and a podcast. That's it! (Drew and Patrick stay)
They still live under this idea, that they have to be a full fledged video game website - competing with IGN, Gamespot, etc etc etc... - but those sites have big money behind them. I cannot see GB en par with these sites, business/ads/staff/revenue wise (in this economy, in which they started - insanely enough - and amazingly succeeded to the degree they did). But I am not an expert. They know their business way better than me assuming things. Covering too many games will break their back. Feeding the 'Daily Beast' will break their neck. They have to play the risk game and say: "that's it for today - come back tomorrow, watch the old stuff, or go to the forums". Quality over quantity. Internet Celeb Personality versus random game blogger #1233. Choose your battle and win it.
Concerning the Wiki: I personally don't care. I think it is flawed for what it wants to do. I get it, that it can create traffic and keep people busy on the site or lure new users to visit. If I want written information about a game, I go to Wikipedia or mobygames.
Forums:
The Achilles Heel! After making a comment trying to follow and catch up on the conversation is impossible! This is the legacy of the wrong forum-software that got them started. Hell! In the 1980s you already had better Forum/Comment Systems!! The saddest part - they all know it. But at this point, they are afraid to change it. They might not even know how to do it and the possibility that the migration might break is like 99,999% or even higher. It still is ridiculous. I would suggest, starting a NEW forum from scratch - and keep the forum account separate from the whiskey-media subscriber account (Security!).
End Game:
These are just random thoughts by one user. I don't know the infrastructure nor the business game they are playing. I wrote this comment, because I want them to be successful. Call it "constructive criticism". Sorry for the length (and typos/grammar - English: my 4th lingo).
Nah. HD videos were never really what I subscribed for in the first place. Feel free to put them on youtube, especially if it stops the whining from the peasants non subscribers.
Even as a current (and probably future) subscriber I think everyone should get HD on youtube. I understand why you use youtube for non-subscribers 360p just doesnt do it.
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