The HotSpot - Episode 363

First!!?! Quick someone bring back site achievements!!😭

Yesssss

after last episode. this became one my favorite feature

the talk of the industry and dealings

I'm 40 years old and I endorse this feature.

We need a Sushi X now more than ever.

This is absolutely my favourite new/old feature on the site.

As a premium sub since day one (so glad that Jimmy Pardo style paywall never happened, thankfully, because it sucked), I ABSOLUTELY care that they haven't done sponsored bullshit. I don't care that selling out and #hashtagad is the new normal. Giant Bomb has the personality driven content of influencers, but with the journalistic sense of integrity and ethics that they brought over from the Gamespot days. They're literally a dying breed.

As someone who "only" listened to the hotspot as part of a best of compilation roughly 11 years ago this type of content still really gets me.

Anyone know how long it normally takes for the video to be playable?

@danbobomb: My bad - figured it out. Doh.

You guys all gave up writing reviews and that style of game coverage years ago, yet think its so interesting to talk about over and over?

I love you guys getting together but holy shit please talk about something besides irrelevant old games reviewing.

The Hotspot was not a podcast of naval gazing about games media/games reviews when it was a great podcast.

I don't mean to rain on the positivity a lot of people have for getting the Hotspot back together but what they've chosen to do with it is so up its own ass and the same discussions about game reviews that Jeff has had for years and years now, and at this point the site writes 1 review a year for the last like 3 or so.

Who cares. you guys don't write reviews or cover games like that and I, as a big consumer of games and games media, hardly have glanced at a review outside of RPS for years now.

@stephen_von_cloud: I disagree

If you guys want to talk about something else, that's cool. But I personally am super interested in the history of this stuff and it's hard to find reputable information about this stuff. Long live the Hot Spot! Also, I give a shit! I always appreciate the lines you guys draw with "engagements" and it's one of the reasons i'm a proud subscriber.

Shits are given about where the lines are drawn, how many?

I have not counted.

I guess counting the subscriptions would be the closest you could get to an answer.

OMG! That cymbal was so loud!

I'm old. I lived through this. I like hearing about old video game stuff... and transformers.

Man I really miss the moment the newest EGM showed up in my mailbox. It was always so exciting!

This has been the best thing during the lockdown. I could listen to these guys talk shop for days. Honestly I'm so happy anytime one of these comes up. Please keep them coming.

@stephen_von_cloud: there are hours upon hours of them talking about other topics added to this site every single week. Maybe this feature just isn’t for you. Others clearly enjoy it.

@stephen_von_cloud: You honestly sound like you were drunk when you wrote this. Why are you so upset? How is discussing their past experiences in the industry "up its own ass?" You've made it clear you're not interested, but a lot of people very much are interested, so maybe just skip this one?

Man, I just adore this new podcast. Please keep it up!

The Fantastic Four hoodie is dope <3 <3 <3

Oh man, I can't believe they brought back The Big Bazinga Theory

Hey, I super give a shit that you guys draw the line on what you advertise. I have so much respect for GB for doing that for so long, it's a major reason why I subbed. Whenever I see #ad in a Youtube video or a review I instantly know it is not something I want to pay attention to.

I give a shit!

Love this stuff!

Would LOVE a Jeff and Brad Mistercast!

Could listen to you guys talk about emulation for DAYS!

I'm very much enjoying this show. I also added a year to my subscription, just so that Vinny can get a new chair! (Vinny if you're reading this, I'm only joking :) I upped my subscription for different reason, but a new chair would do wonders for your back! Ring-Fit helps too)

subbed just for this new podcast hope you guys keep doing it.

New highlight of the site!

Vinny Constervella, I appreciate your hard work when everything goes to hell!

I love them talking about the past of the industry. It may be my favorite serious topic they discuss.

Thank you for doing ads how you do, gang. I do appreciate it.

YES YES YES

The affable British gentleman solving a sudoku that Brad mentioned near the end I think is this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKf9aUIxdb4

It's fantastic if you have any interest in sudoku puzzles.

This podcast is like the last dance for GameSpot. Of course Jeff is the MJ of the industry.

The revived HotSpot alone is worth the price of the premium subscription for me. I appreciate it's not for everyone but I love the inside baseball approach they've taken with this.

They do keep dancing around the last days of Jeff's tenure at Gamespot though. I hope they get to that eventually. I can't be the only who just wants to hear Jeff go in. I know they have spoken about it to some extent in the past after CNET bought Giant Bomb and the non-disclosure agreement was cancelled, but I am here for the real minutiae. I want to hear every sordid detail. I want to know all about Henk!

@stephen_von_cloud: Take the energy and feeling that you spent writing this, and do literally anything else.

Love the Hotspot! Thanks guys!

And so begins the start of taking conversations that would normally be part of the two podcasts and putting them behind paywalls.

@crimsonjester: I can't say I see the problem. How would these conversations happen on either of the two standard podcasts? They're not reducing the length of the normal podcasts, they rarely do deep delves into the history of Gamespot or Giant Bomb on the podcasts, and when they do, you don't have the same combination of east and west coast personalities so the conversations aren't the same anyway. Seems to me this is just bonus content, that they weren't doing before, so don't see the issue with it being premium.

Read the room dude.

Man, this was a really really good one. This feature is fucking awesome.

It also directly addressed at the end, almost all of my long form-now-edited-to-nothing speculative questions about the sale promotions and GB as far as making money being unclear as to where it comes from, how CBS is involved, ads and otherwise. Almost 1:1 answered questions from thursday's beastcast's comment I made.....and then essentially edit-erased out of fear I might be doing damage by asking about that stuff, or worrying others, or myself too much about where the site is, or where it's going and why the promotion for premium is so present. Because it IS important, and clarifying how and why for me along with the context of the past and present and future, I feel super confident and happy I still follow this site and subscribe for this stuff, not just game reviews, which was never why I came here in the first place.

For me as a GB fan since...before GB really, being in the know now feels like you guys value us in an honest and open way that not even like PBS or NPR can message as well haha.. You guys could choose to hold those cards to your chest and not say SHIT, but, I have no idea if you saw my post while it was up- I assume nobody reads anything I say usually, but it FELT like you saw what I was asking and as the kids probably don't actually say anymore 'ya let a brother know', and 'keeping it real' with us/me is EXACTLY why I asked that, because I care, because you guys care. Which, while a literal single person in the comments wants to be a bummer about, is pretty fucking cool it seems to most of all of the rest of us. Not that it needs another pass, as Vinny clearly outlined this was a 'wrap up discussion' in his own words- but I'm glad this segment was exactly what it was.

I've supported the site's subscription model for as long as it has been around, and the site since year one, and makes me happy to do so. Especially knowing it actually means something important, and not just some repeat message of thanks for support, but like, breaking it all down and evaluating the landscape and how to navigate personal and business landscape changes, while remaining absolutely honest, and open to your fans and long time community, as Jeff said are 'savvy' to video games and aren't looking for youtubee or streaming-age new-age mess with coverage and sponsorships and all that.

To me this aspect of how the site works, which is to say, how you guys, the crew I am a fan of, work these things out- is valuable, and cool to hear about; simultaneously explaining the' then-to-now' shifts in....the world, media, games, and I actually really do remember ALL of it as an outside viewer of gamespot era and prior, because hell I'm about the same age and had the same interests growing up, hungry for game content that actually gave a shit about the games, and the fun of them- but having you guys piece it together for us with this format and in depth conversation was just awesome. Thank you guys, please just keep doing you and I can promise if anything I have more incentive to support this site with this kind of open-book feature providing answers to questions I had, ( and then chickened out and deleted because I was actually unsure as to where things stood, and didn't want to look insane for asking about it). But this stuff to me is as important as the features you have done and do on a weekly basis, and it's just nice to have some 'real talk' about it all.

Really appreciate all you guys do, and this feature especially, uuuuuhhhhh to pull an Alex, 'hit the spot?'

This comment is also, way, way too goddamn long, and will likely go unread as that is my assumption- but maybe not, no idea if you guys had planned on talking about all this prior to my comment, but it feels like I too was heard and all my questions and concerns are put to rights, and- yeah. Thanks guys, GB forever

@stephen_von_cloud: Yeah you might have some issues or problem that has nothing to do with this feature, man. I dunno why you're attacking them for this feature and what they discussed, for sake of just discussing it no less. Just don't tune into the feature. They don't have to change the feature because it is what it is, and you have a problem with them taking a second to reflect, and clarify a lot of things for people who...by the number of positive responses you even acknowledge, are happy and appreciative to hear about.

Your criticism isn't even sensible or in line with the tone of any of what they were on about, or how they even said it. There wasn't any air of superiority or masturbatory nature to anything in here- Seriously, if anything I found this to be incredibly forthcoming and humble, articulated in ways you won't find probably anywhere else, because nowhere else really is like Giantbomb, which is a large chunk of what is very humbly and in good-nature'd tone talked about in this feature. And thanking us for support along with explanations on a range of things, including where the site is, and why it is the way it is, which I personally had a very nervous time asking about in a comment, for the exact kind of comments like the one you made.

Really, for ten years of weekly content you could go watch- you think it's up their own ass to devote ONE feature they decide to impromptu revive in harsher than anyone in the world really expected a landscape, and decide to soldier on and provide content-as-usual for free no less? If premium includes things like inside-knowledge, this would be it man.

They do what they think is going to be good for people who may not know this stuff, or do know some of it, but not nearly all of what's been going on with the plans and changes around format and site. and for the community, this kind of clarity is something few media sites have anywhere near as long, and personal a connection with the fans, who make it possible, when we've been around for as long as the site has, or longer. It's not just waxing nostalgia, it's framing up where it all stands now, and why GB is trying what it tries, often successfully, on good faith in their audience without second guessing being honest with us,, and answering, at least in my case questions I had that can't be addressed in a bombcast email.

or, TLDR; very fucking rude, there are ways of saying things that express what you think that don't involve being an a-hole.

Listening to Jeff break down their old review structure and it's almost identical to how a good scientific paper is constructed (the abstract of a paper breaking everything down the gist of things is the exact same as how Jeff describes the "At a glance" top portion of a review)

AHAHAHAHA

That EGM dish!

The Ultimate Jeff Story!

Listened to the Commando C64 music and immediately recognized it was Hubbard who made my alltime favorite OST for Master of Magic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm5Hjsm5NZ4

This is exactly why I have followed you guys for so long. There is a level of trust that I don't get at many other sites. It feels like you guys have very little in the way of a hidden agenda and the information you give is as unbiased as I can hope for.

was on the old 2007 gamespot site while listening and stumbled on this gem. Crazy how these literal same conversations are, word-for-word, still relevant.