The Giant Beastcast: Episode 71

@chaser324: to each their own of course. I thought Rivals was a much more fun racing game personally. I guess I never caught the Burnout bug - Paradise just feels clunky and slow to me and the world kind of another boring city. But hey if you like it then you like it.

What sucks the most about the Palmer thing is that it hurts all of the people who worked on or bought a Rift. All of the hyperbole about not supporting the Rift doesn't hurt Lucky at all (He already sold the company and is silly rich).

I saved up for a Rift after years of being excited about VR and am pretty much locked into their ecosystem now. And the product is good and I've been enjoying the games. Now I have to worry about not being able to play new games because the young rich asshole founder did something stupid in his own free time. Now, I'd rather slit my own wrists than vote Trump, but I'm still going to get the Touch and buy games. I like the tech and industry and can tell the difference between the figurehead and the company.

By all means hate Palmer, just don't burn down the city he built to get to him. People still live there.

@dougfunk15: So if he supported a white supremacist group directly you would be fine with it?

@dougfunk15: that was a leading question, and I apologize. You can form your own opinion. Here's an example of the people he threw in https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/08/29/the-alt-right-explained-in-its-own-words/

@nta_luciana said:

No, it just means you may be putting them in an uncomfortable position every time you try and engage with them. Some people are aware of their poor social skills, but are OK with it. Others, maybe like you, are not and want to change. It will vary from person to person so I can't tell you what they want.

Don't presume everything to be code. I can only speak for myself, but I say what I mean. Let them know that they can tell you if you're putting undue pressure on them, so that way you won't have to guess.

Edge of Tomorrow is the best video game movie (that was never a video game to begin with).

Luckey did nothing wrong. I hope he can continue to use his money to fund more meme magic and make the world a more fun place to live in. Glad he didn't cave in his statement, hopefully that means he'll stick to his guns.

I know it's a foreign movie so it might not get as much attention but Takashi Miike's "Ace Attorney" gets overlooked a lot, probably the only video game movie I've actually enjoyed.

To those who come to the Beastcast, the Bombcast, and Giant Bomb to escape from politics and the brutalities of the real world:

There is no escape.

In seriousness, people want to have their cake and eat it, too. They want Giant Bomb to be personality-driven. They want to know what the guys' lives are like. What their tastes are. What they get up to out of the office. What their opinions are on everything from where to put your wallet to what kind of foreign candy is best. They want to listen to them on their commute into work. How they pronounce certain words. If a staff member streamed themselves sleeping, there would be a chatroom full of viewers all night long. Sometimes, they even want to hear their opinions on death, sadness, and loneliness. But as soon as a staff member has something to say about current events, the fingers go into the ears.

You can't have it both ways. If you want the staff members to be themselves, this is part of that. If you want the staff to discuss the news, this is part of that. The staff are not newscasters, telling you what happened. You came here to hear their thoughts on what they are talking about. That's the entire premise of this website. You can't select what part of a person you want to know, and (when it comes to the news) what part of the world you want to hear about. It's a Sisyphean effort anywhere you go, and in the context of this website, is actually somewhat selfish.

Agreed. Whether or not he supports Trump or any other conservative candidate is here nor there. While I don't agree with their views, anyone is well within their right to support any candidate they want.

What Palmer did was financially enable an overtly toxic group, with professed motivations to bring that toxicity to a wider audience, and possible ties to, say, certain subreddits and internet communities with unapologetic white-supremacist, anti-semitic, etc ties. At a certain point I don't believe overt bigotry should be sanctioned as a respectable political opinion.

If I were a developer, I would certainly be upset to know that my product - my art - may be indirectly funding a hate group through this man's affiliations.

This is far better put (and more civil) than what I was planning on writing.

I'm mad about that last email. I'm a premium user and I listen to the ads anyway because often they're great anyway. I never thought the callbacks were anything other than natural conversation. Don't change anything.

In regards to the anti-social guy with his PC building problem... Are there not websites in the states where you can have a PC built for you? I don't want to go anywhere near building one myself. I use sites where you basically have a list of components and you can pick and choose what you want and they build it for you, install the OS and all that jazz. From what I can tell from basic research it's also not crazy more expensive than if you sourced the parts and built it yourself?

Edit: To be clear I live in the UK hence why I'm not giving a link to any site because they'd be of no use to someone whom I assume lives in the US.

hmm, it's weird, I started disliking palmer when he was on stage with the weird bird game demo going YEAH YEAH GET SOME to his employees

makes me think he's like Chipp Mccapp the douchey child country singer from Parks and Rec

@cementface9: You're right, when have white supremacists ever threatened or harmed anyone?

Even if we suppose that they are "trolls" that are doing this ironically "for the lulz," what these people believe individually is of little importance. The important thing is the effect that they as a collective are having. At a certain point, "joking" antisemitism/misogyny/racism has the exact same effect as the real thing, regardless of intent.

And as a former 4chan kid, I can GUARANTEE that their claims of detached irony are a smokescreen.

@nta_luciana: I can't speak to your situation in particular, but as someone who has been on both sides of this, I can tell you... nothing conclusive. You're just as likely to trigger an anxiety attack by reaching out to someone like that. Even trying to establish boundaries like "tell me if I'm making you uncomfortable" is a boundary-crossing act in itself that assumes some intimacy between you and that person, so you can't expect them to be sending you coded messages or anything. All you can really know is the responses you get.

I will say this, though- friendship is necessarily a two way street. Even being bad at it, I've always put time and effort towards relationships I wanted to grow and avoided ones I didn't. If you're reaching out and they're just not reciprocating, coming at them from a different angle isn't the correction you should make.

@dreiszen: Hmm... She recently said she was my friend, but considering her responses are pretty short and direct, it doesn't feel like it, sometimes.

Speaking up towards the end of the segment about the sponsored segments, I have found myself as a premium subscriber to listen to the non-premium podcast due to the hilarity of them. I have fell out of my chair at some of the sponsors and have even got a pair of undies out of it. Either way, I don't really hear the bit of sponsor overlap if it happens.

@alistercat: This is kind of what I figured and it's some combination of sad and scary to me. Like... Even if it isn't, it feels like it has to be because of me. *I* must have done something wrong. The idea that I can do everything within my power to try to earn her trust, to be available, to try so hard to be a friend... and none of that ultimately means shit? That... don't make me feel good. And then to see her on Twitter be all "I'm so lonely" when I'm jumping up and down waving my arms saying "I'm right here!" It's frustrating.

So Luckey gave 2 contradicting statements and some game devs. decide to make assumptions and ditch Oculus?
That is some meme magic.

To the guy that doesn't want help building his PC because he's a social recluse. I think you're a terrible person. I hate who you are, and your existence annoys me.

So that means I wouldn't want to hang out with you after helping you build your PC. If you want help, you can Skype with me and I'll walk you through it, then go our separate ways.

@nta_luciana: There's important context here that I'm not getting. There's a world of difference between this person introducing you as a friend to someone else and answering "yes" when you ask. You don't have to divulge those details if you don't want, but you seem willing to share and this is a topic I'm curious about.

I'm also kind of reluctant to reply to your comments to others on this issue, but I feel the need to assure you that it's not a personal failure that someone doesn't want to hang out with you. Some people you just won't be compatible with, and in those cases it's best to move on. Getting too caught up in making someone like you after a perceived rejection can cause you to apply unwanted persistence that ultimately pushes them further away, and can become a vicious cycle if you let it.

I'm glad the Beast Boys found out about Naruto's son Bort. So glad.

@tuxfool: I'd also add Sarkisian into the mix as well. I think she was the smoke before the fire. Before then, I avoided politics like the plague! Games, and games media were an escape for me. And, in a sense, they fought my battles for me. Against the puritanical right.

Ah! So that's why I felt so uncomfortable! lol.

EDIT: I posted this when it was only showing me one page of comments, so I apologize if I missed something relevant to my first reply.

It's an image Michel Ancel posted on his Instagram that almost everyone believed to be teasing Beyond Good & Evil 2.

Either that or a very child-friendly Metal Gear Solid V spinoff.

Revolver Piglet

I think you're being way too harsh to Alex here. He understood where the guy was coming from and just wanted to stress they were just jokes.

Honestly I think the guy's complaints were a little extreme; I never got the intention that the ad name drops in podcasts were anything more than goofs, which is what they were.

@alex: I THINK his post was referring to your "just let us riff, man" response to the ads complaint. That's the impression I got, which is why I made this post.

This comment should just be pinned to all content on this site through November. The plug your ears and scream until it stops reaction to political discussion is often what leads to dumb, poorly thought out ideas like donating $10,000 to "shitposting" because of the "lols".

I feel bad that Vinny even had to address that last email. I mean, it's that guy's money and he can do whatever he wants but really? He would un-subscribe because of his conspiracy theory? Maybe I'm missing something. If a site I liked using asks me to white list it on ad-block I have zero problems doing it, and that's generic zero-personality ad banners that we're talking about, these are ads where the duder's put a new spin or take to them every week.

And isn't it kind of ironic that you like them enough to subscribe to them to support them but the idea of them trying to generate revenue through ad placements throughout the podcast -- which as Vinny says is not true, but let's say it is for a hypothetical here -- would drive you to stop supporting them? I guess I can understand on some level that you think that they "sold out" and will at that point cease to become the duders that you've come to love but couldn't the same have been said for when they started the subscription model back in the day?

I don't want any of that actually, and the site can still be personality-driven without those things. I primarily visit GB for two reasons: (a) their blend of comedy and video game coverage was, and still is, unique in an otherwise bland industry; (b) the subscription model eliminates the need for the "top 5 things you NEED to know" style of journalism that now permeates 99.9% of the internet.

I have no interest in the political musings of the GB crew—regardless of where they stand—even though I usually agree with them. If you want politics, pseudo-intellectualism, and self-importance infused with your gaming coverage, go to Vice.

Vinny mentioned PC part picker to the person who wanted to build a PC.

I'd also recommend Logical Increments

Since no one posts on the premium podcast forum I'll post here in support of those who say that Palmer should not be reported on. He has a right to send money where ever he wants to and none of us should worry about it. He gave what was for him a quarter to a group whose ideas about new advertising methods he liked. I doubt he looked into a subreddit the group was affiliated with. I mean I am computer literate but I never go to reddit and never plan to. It isn't a part of every day life (thank god). As for gamergate it was about the portrayal of women in video games. Now I don't find looking at the beautiful human form terrible and I don't agree that scantily clad armor in video games is this terrible thing. Loving a beautiful woman for being beautiful is NOT sexist. Certainly it does not mean that is all women are worth. I would like any woman I marry to be smart hard working and beautiful. It has morphed into a catch all liberal/communist/socialist thing which is sad. But it has a much more direct video game connection than this did. Honestly I wish neither had been reported on here, but I am one that believes video game reviews should stick to if the game is good and fun to play and that the kind of using video game criticism as social criticism that Austin loved is wrong. Obviously thus I am an idiot.

I wouldn't say "wrong", but definitely not everyone's cup of tea.

I appreciate your candor, and I hope you don't get harassed too badly by the regulars.

@eastbound4: One of the amazing things about modern technology, and the fact most of their content is pre-recorded, is there is never a situation where you have to listen to anything they say. Just fast forward past it if you're not interested. You are not stuck in a room with these people with no way out. This is not exclusive to political or controversial subjects either, it can also include games you don't care about or off-topic subjects like wrestling.

You don't have to like or want to listen to that kind of discussion, but they should have every right to discuss it if they wish. Trying to stifle the subjects they are allowed to talk about simply because you only want happy fun times all the time just seems like a shitty thing to do.

I appreciate Vinny's hard stance against all shitposting. The idea that some people are getting paid to shitpost professionally upsets me greatly and I'll never forgive Palmer for that. If only I knew what exactly Nimble America's "shitposting" entails, but also maybe its better that I don't know.

Also as someone who is unfamiliar with the subreddit can someone quote a post they are saying is racist? I have found what many people consider racist (like enforcing immigration laws) I do not.

@nta_luciana said:

That sounds like there's more going on. Something that you can't fix. Teenagers do it more than adults but posting on social media to get attention is rampant. If you take it seriously it can appear as scary desperation, but it's more than likely a call for attention. She likely wants just more than attention from one person and you can't turn her life around by yourself. Don't blame yourself.

The Vinny baruto laughter was the most addictive I've heard in awhile. I don't have a clue who naruto or baruto are, but man, I laughed like a bastard about it for a good 30 seconds. Also, in Horizon 3 you don't have to pay for the groove music pass to stream your own music. You just setup a onedrive account, upload your music to it, it appears in the groove music app (assuming all your microsoft apps are linked to the same account), and you create a playlist with it. The playlist is then automatically displayed in Horizon 3 (in the audio setup) and you can select it. I set it up last night and was listening to a mix of the Drive OST and Furi OST within half an hour, it's pretty neat. You only have to pay for the music pass if you want to stream the groove service music.

@zaldar: I agree so much with most of what you said, specially in the last half, that I feel like I should hug you or something.

Oh man a PYST reference.

Written by Peter Bergman of the Firesign Theatre and starring John Goodman.

@zaldar: I just hit crazy gamer bingo! Thanks!

@zaldar: Your last sentence summed it up.

I don't like hearing about the giantbombs thoughts on politics. I'm from Australia and just despise hearing about it. So much of American politics is just so awful.

But its their show and site. I don't begrudge their thoughts. And I like the cast talking honestly about anything and everything.

Takashi Miike (director of Audition and 13 Assassins among many, many other things) did an adaptation of Ace Attorney a while back that was pretty crazy. I remember enjoying it, but i was extremely drunk at the time so I could be completely wrong...

@zaldar: You're entitled to your opinion, but personally, I hope the Beastcast (and the Bombcast) continues to talk about what they want, to report on what they want, and to share their opinions undeterred by criticism that certain things "shouldn't be reported on," or that there is a way to do videogame criticism that is "wrong"

Like, dog, it's their website. Your opinion about their views is noted, and everyone is welcome to share it in the comments. But doing what they want, the way they want it, is the entire appeal of Giant Bomb, and in my opinion, not sharing their worldview is a silly reason to want to fuck with that.