PAX East 2018: The Giant Bomb Panel

Happy decade Duders!

We got a hot mic! It's Big Jeffrey, drop'em!

It was a great panel to be at, be sure to stick around for the Q&A, which I never thought I would say about a Giant Bomb panel Q&A. It was actually genuinely great this year!

edit: also lol look at Abby wielding the sword and shield I brought to pax

Woooo that audio.

I'm 8 minutes in. I've been following since the first year of GB (not the gamespot days). Love you guys. Thanks for the entertainment!

Some great insight in this. I really enjoyed it.

Hey Vinny I like Molly too

I love listening to the crew reminisce about the early days.

Ryan’s interruptions during the Persona 4 Endurance Run are still some of my favorite GB moments.

Abby is killing it. Thanks for being great Abby!

How do i get some of that vinny gold?

Glad they brought up the ForHims thing on the panel. People on reddit have been losing their minds over these advertisements and it is pretty funny.

@captaininvictus: Yah surprisingly a good mix of questions without any cringe at all.

I was so excited when I finally got broadband internet and could actually catch On the Spot, live.

a lot of people in the room left as soon as Q&A started too

I want to say this has been better year over year - also they simply take fewer Q&A questions, it seems.

Do not mistake the tepid applause for a Giant Bomb gameshow at this panel for the actual demand for the idea. I'm not resubbing after my current year lapses, but I would for a gameshow.

This was so great.

I mean Q&A is still a terrible idea, but Jeff seems to have some morbid fascination with it as evidenced by the call in show.

@andrewevans: being in the audience for the Panel, I’ll say that the applause was louder than it came through on the video

That's me

Awww Abby acknowledging the GOTY reactions makes me sad

@bezieh: I'm not super active here. Did Abby get threatened or something?

That gift is amazing. Good questions this year, loved the panel!

I can't believe I'm saying this, but maybe we should just skip Extra Life for once and instead raise money for that gaming show in the studio of The Price Is Right...

I know it's horrible, but come on... we can totally get it done.

I was going to ask for a second opinion. Thanks for delivering.

@angelus604: goty was BS. Abby was unfairly shit on, the dating sim series hasn't been seen in awhile. Jus saying, there's some BS comments round these parts.

Hearing Ryan yell things on the Persona 4 endurance run from his desk... :(

@angelus604: I don't recall anything that severe, but the comments quickly went from constructive criticism to actively complaining and making fun of her about her input for the Best Game category.

She's young and it was her first GOTY deliberations. I think GB East accidentally put a lot of pressure on her about the deliberations and how she needed to play a lot more games, despite her being a producer and not an editor. Just a stray observation but it felt like she had to be a Personality in front of the camera a lot quicker than Drew, Jason, or Jan ever did. Drew eventually joined GOTY stuff, but he always played the few games he was interested in (like Halo and flight sims) and that was it.

I think people didn't get just how scatterbrained the staff were by the end of the week by doing 25 hours of podcasting.

Oh god, PAX East happened?

That was a great panel. It's always fascinating to hear the crew reflect on the past like that.

This. *sniff* And the one he sat in on.

I was actually super proud for her. I read nary a comment, but I thought she stood strong among the rest of the staff during the deliberations. Dream Daddy probably wouldn't have made in on the top ten without her.

Oh wow, this was a great panel!

There was a certain magic that came from having everyone in the vicinity of the recording area. Ryan walking out of the Jurassic: The Hunted quick look after "What the Foxtrot" is still one of my favorite GB moments.

My 2 cents re: the Abby issue: I love GB. Been following the GB dudes for nearly 20 years. But the GOTY stuff is getting really, really dumb. Making it into this contentious, boring, dozens-of-hours thing where they argue about stupid shit and try to make lists is just something that really should go into the dustbin, or be re-shaped into what it was years and years ago which was something that was an important feature, but not this soulcrushing thing that expects everyone to have played 500 games or whatever. I mean, way back, GOTY was maybe a couple of hours of discussions and stuff and it had a fun energy. In 2017, it was this ludicrous slog of, what, 30 hours or something?? just to rehash rants and arguments and other nonsense that had already had it's time in the spotlight during the dozens and dozens of hours of podcasting that already took place through the year. There's few times I've ever been, like, mad at the GB folks, but I felt the way they dropped Abby into that meatgrinder bullshit was just not cool. Like, the GOTY specter came up CONSTANTLY...she never got a chance to breathe doing anything without someone kinda being like "Oh, well...you better save that for GOTY discussions" and when she talked about she sounded almost terrified of the whole process. I really, really think the GOTY shit needs to either go away or just go back to being something really simple. Like I said, I love GB, but this "GOTY needs to be this week-long non-stop Crossfire discussion" thing really kills my gaming enthusiasm around that time of year and it feels like something shittier websites would do.

@bezieh: Why? When Abby first joined, I was very excited because her personality seemed to mesh well with the crew. But her "performance" let's say for a lack of a better term, was pretty off putting in the final episode of last years GOTY and people responded to it.

I think it was a good learning experience and should lead to more productive conversations in any upcoming content. I still very much enjoy her on the show, and everyone makes mistakes, but like I said, she could use the criticism as a means to learn and come back stronger.

As long as people remember the golden rule Giant Bomb was built on, which was, don't be a jerk. If you have criticism, make sure it's constructive.

Great panel! Def enjoyed seeing those guys reminiscing on years past!

People in the comments still talking about GOTY almost 5 months after is just silly.

In my experience this is the case across panels at PAX, probably partly because of the risky business of potential cringe, but also because with the main part of the show over it's a nice socially acceptable chance to line up for the next panel.

As for this Abby thing, it's amazing how the YouTube comments for even this video are still harping on about 30 minutes of the Game of the Year discussion four months ago. If they're such big fans they'd know that weird filibusters about personal picks happen every year and are a normal part of the process.

Fun show, guys.

Abby's comment on that panel serves as a great reminder that despite differing preferences for video games there are real people behind the microphones and those GOTY podcasts are for fun and entertainment, not for affirming one's video game life choices.

I will find Vinny's gold if it's the last thing I ever do.

@dragooncody: well were on a forum dedicated to discussion of video games so it’s not surprising that people can get really passionate about this stuff. It’s a shame that some of that passion can turn a little toxic at times.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY GB DUDERS! WE HAD A LOT OF FUN AND TEARS...AND WE WANT MORE! (yes, the caps is necessary!) May this site live forever! Love you all!

@stanleypain:

Totally agree. I think it's fun having the last day being a mega gauntlet, especially if the differences in opinions calls for it. The problem this time around was that EVERY category was treated like a huge battle and it just made everything repetitive. I think everyone felt the pressure to have an opinion on stuff, especially Abby, and it came out feeling forced.

I think Abby is great, she is by far one of the best things that's happened to GB in years. The GOTY discussions were terrible this year and it was because of the format, not because of any one person's "performance".

I haven't watched one of these panels in years, but man this is the most engaged I've been watching GB content in a while. Love hearing about their industry experiences and reflections.

Now I really want another episode of Game Tapes to spark some more of those topics.

Happy 10 years Giant Bomb! Love you guys.

All of you guys, especially Abby, are tremendous. Thanks to everyone involved.

I was at the first PAX East and met Jeff on the floor. I said let's do something cool in a pic and he said, "Why don't you punch me in the face". 50 bucks a year for life.