What do you want Giant Bomb to be?

To be honest for me, I'll still listen to the podcasts intermittently but I'm moving on - I've been following the site since the Arrow Pointing Down days (well, really from before that at Gamespot). GB has been a huge part of my adult routine and life. I understand the pandemic completely shook things up - I understand the business moves to have a more solid platform but I'm not enjoying what it being produced at the moment (with the exception really of Borne to Run and Guilty Treasures).

The personalities are massive for me. For me, personally, GBeast was my preferred podcast for quite some time and really, Nextlander are doing more of what I enjoy in a way that I enjoy it. I loved Bakalar's contributions to the Beastcast but the dynamic between him, Vinny, Alex and Dan (and Abby) is what I really liked.

Danny does phenomenal stuff - which is why I also support Noclip and Shift F1 - so I get my O'Dwyer fix there.

Unless things dramatically shift I won't re-up my sub at the end of the year. I get that they can't just return to the old GB, but the old GB is what I liked. They're doing new stuff and this is not me criticising that - but it's just not what's clicking for me really.

I'll keep it simple.

I don't want Giant Bomb going the way of G4TV's website, because that's seems to be what is slowly happening. Like G4, Giant Bomb is slowly losing its identity and becoming a run of the mile variety site. The passion, soul, and "hey I can hang out with these guys" feel of the website is gone and becoming an empty shell like a lot of other so called video game sites that ultimately failed and ended up either getting shut down and replaced, or becoming something so different, nobody who matters cares anymore. I don't think all the new shows are bad, but it doesn't have the Giant Bomb feel. The only one that still does is GrubbSnax, and that's because Jeff Grubb personality fits in well, but at the same time, I don't think it should be a premium feature just having some guy tell the news and answer questions. Albummer is nothing that is relatable to Giant Bomb. Don't get me wrong. The problem isn't the subject matter of trashing bad music artist or a bad album an artist made. Alex Navarro could've done the same type of show and it would be a big hit. But again, Alex has history here, those guys don't and they don't make a good fit for the website. No disrespect, but they come off as suits to me, IMO.

I'm going to make a bold prediction, the moment this website gives someone like Ninja a platform, is the moment GB is dead forever. And sadly, I see that coming, because that is the direction this site is going.

I understand Jeff G did what he believed he had to do to support his growing family, but sadly it brings a irony that I won't get into fully... I'll just say Kane & Lynch Dead Men ultimately won.

And I won't get into the subject of diversity. That to me is a pointless argument that won't result in much change if any.

Edit: Also Guilty Treasures, that's a GB type of show, but like I said in another thread, I don't think we will see much episodes of it.

Do we really need another thread of dramatics where people say for the nth time they're not happy and are moving on? This is just the same thread that's been repeated for weeks now and frankly have the same people.

Honestly, just a return to the studio :(

Shows like Steal my Sunshine, Demo Derby etc

@fugoy: Personally I had hopes this one would be more proactive.

I'll try and keep this as short and concise as I can to save becoming a voice lost in the void. But when they announced they would be getting contractors I was hoping for a lot of curated edited gaming content. Pure and simple, 20 minute video essays or other fun content pertaining to video games in some way, ala Guilty Treasures/Hot Takeouts (have yet to watch this but this sounds like the exact thing I want). That coinciding with regular GB video stuff, Quick Looks, UPF, Endurance Run-style show. I had thought about channels like Game Maker's Toolkit, New Frame Plus, Super Eyepatch Wolf and their style of content being the direction GB would go in, and maybe trying to involve some staff members to be in the shows. Grubbsnax also adds more journalism to the site which I really enjoy. Also, I'd like the contractors to be more involved with the GB staff, similar to how Danny is, or how Jeff Grubb was a guest for a podcast. Feels more like a cohesive website that way.

I'm not against another long form podcast-type show here or there, and I'm not against them delving into non gaming related content, but I have a limited amount of time in my week to be listening to some podcasts and if the topic isn't that interesting to me or there is a barrier of entry, the personalities on the podcast aren't going to sway me to watch/listen more. The first shows they announced here made me really happy and I loved all 3 of them, and that was the direction I was expecting.

Essentially: This staff making shows with contractors about video games in an edited and focussed format, along side the weekly UPF, Bombcast and Quick Looks.

Giant Bomb's core identity was friends gathering to talk about video games, playing video games together, goofing on random stuff, and interacting with the audience. There is also the element of high-quality production values compared to what was posted to YouTube at the time (2008-2010).

Since even before the pandemic, around the time Dan left, all of these things began to plummet in quality.

Gathering to Talk about Video Games: Bombcast and event streams continue to exist, the latter being my favorite thing the site does now (and only thing I watched since reboot, in entirety). More on Bombcast production quality below. I do miss the random videos of talking about a major announcement or thing, the day of. This is maybe something that is lost in a streaming world, where they aren't in the office and pull each other aside to make a video. This can still happen online as an impromptu, hey let's react to this thing or talk about this thing.

Playing Video Games Together: This is one I just don't understand what happened to the site. Even before pandemic, they started gravitating toward more and more solo streams which I will never, ever watch. With no one to bounce jokes or questions off, it feels lifeless and boring. I know others may watch but I'm probably not alone. It's also been disappointing to see so many more obscure games not get coverage or no more fun retro streams that were always the highlight for me, from random SNES streams to Tender Loving Care playthrough. It feels like a typical gaming site now: New Doom, let's get a video out, get those views, and get out.

Goofing on Random Stuff: The thing that pulled me into Giant Bomb were the early videos of them goofing in the office, making fun of Leisure Suit Larry, and other random stuff that was so far removed from any other site. This felt like an area of pure passion and creativity as it never followed any rhyme or reason. This may sound harsh but this element is the most indicative of current Giant Bomb as there is a real lack of that passion and creativity. Maybe you can't force it but at least try? UPF gives some room for this stuff but even that has become formulaic and often drags, unlike watching Matt Kessler eat rotten fish for 15 minutes or whatever. That was part of the fun of GB, you never knew what you're going to get that week. I don't think I would have been obsessed with checking the site every hour, every day without this element. This is also why having funny people (Ben) is better than having game experts though nice when you get both with Austin.

Interacting with the Audience: This has died completely. I guess things were never the same after 2013-2014. Part of this is due to how good Ryan was at handling this. The other part is not having interns to help out. And then there is the whole GG affair and how that may have created more distance than ever between media and fans. I don't think it has to be that way. I watch MinnMax all the time now and it's great when they read a genuinely funny comment from chat and everyone laughs. It's also nice when I can ask Dan a question on stream and he actually responds. Moderation is always a pain point but it's crucial to build and support community these days. I love all the GB memes and the site wouldn't be the same without the community and comments.

Production Quality: I like Jan and Jason as co-hosts and people but something was seriously lost with Drew and Vinny going to East. I don't know why but the mic levels are always off and now with streaming it's almost always painful to listen to. Literally any random stream I watch on Twitch is better. It's like Jason or Rorie will talk and all of asudden my ears are blown out. It really eats into the enjoyment and I discovered it makes it that much easier to skip a video. I NEVER missed a bombcast since the start of the site and then suddenly around the reboot I stopped and once you stop it's very easy to just never come back. Having tech issues like this or videos not playing right make this so much easier to happen.

I fundamentally disagree with the direction of the site. When they announced the reboot, I figured: "Cool. New blood is what the site needs!" It's like I'm ready for the next season of NBA and my favorite team is making trades and getting rookies. Then the season starts and instead it's like "Actually, we didn't really get anybody new and now we're going to play Baseball instead and, uh, hopefully that works out?"

I guess that translates to hire new young funny people like Ben and Austin that bring a new perspective to the site. Have everything still revolve around a core crew and videogames (Albummer, good or bad, has no place in this regard). If that really isn't enough to keep the site afloat, then shut it down or go full cynical business mode and chase that MCU, NFT, Fortnite money because if it's just about money at the end of the day why compromise? This weird middle ground seems like it's neither going to lead to success -- the weird thing is if something like Voidburger blew up, what would even keep it around -- or keep old school fans happy.

Passion, chemistry, production value and output is everything. Get back to those all working how they used to and then say, "Yeah, this model just doesn't work anymore". And if you can't bring those things yourself, then start hiring. I said it before but now in the current state it seriously pisses me off they didn't hire people like Leo Vadar or Super Bunny Hop. You can just imagine how much energy, passion, and comedy they'd bring the current state of the site. The thing is, there are still so many other people out there like that.

I write because I care about the site and it's been one of the few consistent sources of joy in my life since 2008. Regardless where it goes, I'll always sub, always follow the original crew, and show them love for all the awesome things they done. If this were a band, I'd be like "Good on you for making some of my favorite albums. I won't be let down by anything going forward and would even accept a half-hearted reunion tour". Nobody can stay at their peak forever, but as an organization, GB has the benefit of bringing new people to keep things alive.

I'm just going to echo what a lot of people have been saying on here: I've been here since 2011 and GB has always been one of my main sources of both information about video games and entertainment in watching the crew play those games. I don't feel like I'm getting much of that anymore. There's a lot of games the guys have mentioned on the Bombcast for which there is no video on the site that I'm aware of. I'm not interested in the non-gaming shows that have filled the gap. That's not a knock on any of those new shows, I'm sure they're cool and people worked hard on them, it just isn't for me.

I'm going to Twitch more and more for what GB used to provide, which makes me kind of sad because I much prefer GB but it is what it is. For now, I'm keeping my sub for Borne to Run, UPF, Guilty Treasures, and the back-catalog but for the first time since I joined I've considered canceling it.

I don't think everything on the site has to be for me, I'm just hoping they get back to what they were doing with games AND have all this other stuff.

@slag absolutely hit the nail on the head. Communication has been GB's weakness forever, and this year's changes have put a huge, intense spotlight on the issue. I like a lot of the new shows, and I don't need everything to be games focused. But the communication is very poor and needs to improve.

I've really been enjoying both the new GB stuff and Nextlander, but the Nextlander crew does an incredible job of communicating what their plans are every week. It's really a night and day difference.

The whole premise of Giant Bomb and maybe i'm wrong about this, was that video games are fun, let's have fun with video games.
I feel like the direction for it came from The Hotspot, dudes in a room talking, mostly about video games but shooting the breeze as well, i don't have grand expectations for shows and regular planned content i just want dudes hanging out having fun, and really for me that's Quick Looks, or it used to be.
Much like a child would be excited about showing something to a friend that's what Quick Looks are, and by extension UPF which is just QL+, that's why solo QL's don't do much for me i'll watch for a few minutes to see what the game is like but without banter it might as well be a gameplay trailer.
The Bombcast is still The Hotspot and i love that, dudes chatting with topics to cover but plenty of room for tangents, that's what the site has always been about, and that's "what i want Giant Bomb to be".
GB is its crew, the friends we followed from Gamespot, and we made new friends along the way but i'll be honest i just don't vibe with many of the people making the new shows, Danny's been amazing as always and i can't believe it took this long to come up with Guilty Treasures, there were no roadblocks preventing them doing features like that before, but Danny's position as an "outsider" does lend it a nice documentary feel.
I often wonder what i'd do in their position and it's nothing noteworthy, i'd want to show everyone my favourite games, movies, music, convince the others why they're the best :P, getting into arguments about it, trying genres i don't usually play with help from staff or chat, i like comparing old and new so that's an idea for a feature, just hanging out and doing stuff with games, that's what i want.

I've written in the past that the site desperately needs some sort of overhead announcement panel that isn't just the schedule. Along with the complete lack of communication and interaction with the site users, there isn't even a very clear system of delivering often crucial info. It is really bad when important announcements regarding the site have to be found by someone on ResetEra linking you to Jeff's Tumblr or transcribing parts of his Mixlr drives. It also hurts the site that when things are delayed, moved, or cancelled you often have no idea until you check the schedule at the time of the premiere to see it's just no longer there. That sort of communication needs to be front and center on the website and as has been said on all other social media channels.

But honestly these are things I've wanted, have suggested and asked for from past GB and at this point it's hard to imagine they will suddenly get implemented. Why would they start listening now? Especially as the site seems to be shifting focus with Jeff being a lot more hands off. Who knows maybe thats a good thing? Jeff likes to communicate but on his terms and thats not always great for everyone else.

For the life of me, I will never understand how they are so bad at communicating things to the audience. Is it really that difficult to post articles explaining things or conveying information? I shouldn't have to listen to every podcast or follow Jeff or Rorie or whoever on multiple other platforms to know what is happening.

while the topic of communication current feels a bit off topic for what you want the site to be at first glance i think its 100% valid to say you want them to be more communicative. i can't help but feel the same way ,sometimes you just randomly see a stream saying live , sometimes you find things cause you lurk in here or a discord at random when your grumpy, but almost never does it seem like anything is actually posted on the front page in an article and the schedule is only 50/50. even that axiom verge 2 stream last week just flat out started early which while great for jeff i'm sure ppl planned to jump in at the start. even if they don't have concrete times for things tho trasparency of going on/plans are always nice. vinny isn't here anymore but i really respected his hey this the the plan for the week that he was doing in the forums for a while, and it seems like they have been taking that type of thing with them to nextlander which is nice since imo their biggest weakness is just not having their own site/hub. GB obviously has alot of options for these things and i can't understand why it doesn't get used...theres a whole words section so seriously.

I want GB to be a group of friendly/funny people having fun discussing what their interested in, whether that's Games, Movies, DBZ, or Power Rangers.

Genuinely for me it's content by the team, I know there isn't a ton of people left at GB to be making loads of content, but for me the Golden Age of GB was around 2014-2017~. While I loved Ryan and Patrick, and that era will always remain special, they were more a website about video games as in they actually focused on reviews and editorial work.

Once Dan and Jason joined, it felt like a whole new era began that was truly special, yes they were still playing video games but it was always a fun spin on things. Features like Project BEAST, Demo Derby, Game Tapes, Steal My Sunshine, Mario Party Party, etc. It was us getting to watch people we really enjoyed watching just have fun(and not fun) together.

I have nothing against the Two Mins crew, but I personally have ZERO interest in their content cause it's missing anything that I look for in GB content, either it's about video games or it's not but it involves the crew that I like talking about something else. If I'm being completely honestly Void Burger's video has been the only piece of content I've enjoyed so far, it's about video game adjacent and it's being positive about it's subject, where as Albummer is negative for the most part (even if they have positive things to say, the whole point of the show is still that the album is bad.)

What I want out of GB is kinda gone and no one's really providing it anymore, not even NXL (Don't get me wrong I love what they're doing and I proudly supported them) but no one really can 'til the world has a new normal and we can get people back into Studios to make that content again. I loved Jeff and Brad's knowledge and their perspective on the world of games in those specific eras, that's why Game Tapes and Demo Derby were my favorite features. They did one post-lockdown Game Tapes, so I don't see why they haven't done more of it. Besides of Bombcast and Relaxed Friday, the main crew have barely done anything features wise since the NXL crew left.

I don't have a problem with features not focused on games, but I wanna hear it from the people I already know I like. If I DO end up liking stuff that Two Mins or Void Burger does, beside these one off features I'm not going to get more of their content from GB, I'm gonna end up following their YouTubes instead.

here to echo what many have already said; i want GB to be whatever the content producers want it to be. i'll either like it or i won't, and will support it or i won't. but i really cannot stand an audience that feels like they have influence over the creative control of content simply because they paid the entrance fee for it.

I always read the Argument: "I want them to do whatever they want"/"I will support them no matter what they do!" / "Why do people think they can demand shows only because they pay".

Like Seriously? Am i missing something here?

Focus on fun ways to look at video games and also return to the studio. I know it's still a pandemic, but I work in entertainment and you can safely work together with the right precautions..we do it for our own shows that are way more involved than Giant Bomb, Hollywood does it...plenty of other podcast/shows do it. Maybe they aren't comfortable with that or Red Ventures...but it's hurting the product and unfortunately that's what this is to paying customers.

There's so much cool things they could be doing with video games that I would love and old shows that would be amazing to bring back like Demo Derby.

I've enjoyed the game-adjacent stuff. The garage talks, grubbsnax, hot takeouts, Jeff playing through Super Mario Bros. Special. Honestly I don't need to know about every little game that's coming out anymore.

I'd say I've liked maybe half of the new stuff (podcasts, shows) which feels about right, I would rather like some stuff and dislike the rest than force the site to churn out pablum. I'm excited to see some experimentation, honestly.

Edit: to be more explicit, I guess more stuff like Grubbsnax or maybe deep dives into specific weird little niche areas - I feel like they could for sure do a show that's just FPGA/MAME/emulation discussion, for example

I've seen a lot of people posting "I want the site to be what it used to be" not just in this thread today but over the years. People are nostalgic, fair enough. But what the site used to be has been a lot of things to a lot of different people. The site for the last few years has been predominantly about liveshows with very little written content. Before that it was Dan playing games with his dad. Before that it was articles from Patrick and Austin. We've had interns making videos, we've had plenty of guest writers (hey remember Brad Nicholson?), we've had crossovers with Tested and ComicVine, we had field trips with Drew, behind the scenes engineer interviews, Ryan talking about movies, and Jeff sorting through a garage of what I maintain is fucking junk that he should just set on fire and be done with. To some people this website is about PAX panels, to some it's about Jeff playing old arcade games. To a (surprisingly persistent) group this website is and always has been about the wiki. Back in the day it was about Endurance Runs and quick looks, and before that it was barely even a website it was just a couple of dudes in the basement drinking rum and talking about having a website. To me personally the site was a small community of people hanging out in an IRC channel and sharing shit in an EpicPM. The only constant has been the podcast, everything else has been fluid and reactive and experimental and dynamic - so when people say "I want the site to be what it used to be" I honestly don't know what they're talking about, and considering the amount of people in here unironically writing "I want this to be a website about videogames" it seems like they don't know either.

I'm unsure, but Giant Bomb featuring more people/groups (regardless of whether I like them or not, because some of the new shows are definitely things to avoid) who already have an accessible, often zero cost, presence elsewhere is not for me. I understand Red Ventures methods and approach, I understand Jeff B is trying to get things in order with seasonal hires (/I know there's a more accurate term), and I get that it'll be a case of whether GB makes money on a level which satisfies the company who bought them but there's no simple answer in the present. There's no significant enough reason to be around the site as much as I used to be.

The weekly Giant Bomb podcast is still nice, I will always like Jeff G's retro stuff, and I think very highly of the remaining core staff alongside Jeff G...but as much as I like VoidBurger, Danny, Dan Ryckert, Tamoor etc, they all have better, more formalized, well presented projects/websites/streams/documentaries elsewhere that offer more than what they are offering to Giant Bomb as a light entertainment website. That is not a criticism of the individuals, it's a criticism of the direction of the site, staff can only do what they've been asked to do after all.

I guess I'd like a Giant Bomb which has more analysis of non-new games/consoles (to use some of the staff's knowledge in a more formal way), less general streaming + chatter, fully produced/non-stream based reviews for current games, permanent hires who will be around for a few years to meld with a team, and a less scattergun and laboured approach to the series/ideas they have on the site.

That and GB needs ongoing, clearly worded, non-fluff, weekly/monthly updates that are uploaded on this website, to be pinned, and shared across their social media accounts and email list. If the site is about to hit an upswing, most people wouldn't hear about it from anything but word of mouth, and word of mouth isn't always going to hit the right ears. Giant Bomb has always had issues with this, and it's bizarre that there's no sign of it improving.

• On-site studio interactions
• Quick Looks with a core GB team
• Gaming related shows (Demo Derby, Load our Last Save, Guilty Treasures etc. - preferably with a core GB team)
• ER-type content (Borne to Run is solid but, from my perspective, they chose one of the least interesting, overplayed game series)

Of the new stuff I basically only consider Guilty Treasures premium-worthy. That's not enough to justify my subscription any longer. Grubbsnax, Bak 2 Skool and Very Online are ok, mainly due to cool guests, but not too exciting either.

I hope the site becomes something I can enjoy again but chances seem slim. And that's fine. In fact it might be smarter to go for a new, different audience like they are doing now. Time will tell.

My answer is simply around hiring more full time editors and seeing what happens.

Abby brought a lot to the table between the types of games she played in general, but particularly The Sims, Nancy Drew, and some of the horror games simply would not have happened if it weren’t for her. Mario Party and a bunch of other stuff wouldn’t have happened without Dan. Without Jan, there would be less Pokémon stuff. And on and on.

I can’t remember if I actually said this anywhere, so I’ll mention this now. Giant Bomb should have back filled positions they had as they went. Dan, Abby, Ben, Vinny, Brad, and Alex all left since January 2020. Jeff made a comment at some point saying “Can you imagine trying to onboard somebody new in the middle of all this?” As somebody who started a new job in COVID, during a company merger, yeah it’s weird, but it can be done.

The existential crisis this site has been going through would have been significantly lessened if they backfilled just Dan and Abby’s positions. For what this site is, a handful of people have a massive impact in terms of the output and what games get the spotlight. Seeing Vinny, Alex, and Brad leave would have been a shock, but having five editors / producers instead of three in the aftermath would have softened the blow.

I like it when they watch anime, ride rollercoasters, play table top games, watch movies, and talk about wrestling. Most of the side stuff in recent memory I liked, so I don’t want to give the impression that I only want video games on this site. I’m also not too precious about seeing the continuation of X show or anything.

We just need more people. I’ll check out just about anything and I don’t necessarily have have a wishlist in terms of premium shows I want. I think diversity would help liven things up. In this site’s history. There has only been two people on staff who have been younger than me. So many people started their careers at Gamespot within a 5 or so year time period. There’s been only one woman and two people of color on staff. Similar with the shows, I don’t have a shortlist of people I want to join Giant Bomb permanently. (A couple of years ago I did, but that ship sailed and in hindsight doing that fan booking, or whatever you want to call it, is kinda weird)

I felt like I said a lot about the state of things, while also saying nothing. I haven’t watched all of the new stuff, but I will say I’m enjoying a lot of it. That said I would like more structure over time, instead of having a constant rotation of shows or people, but that all gets back to having more consistent voices on the site. I guess I don’t really see a way of stabilizing things without hiring people soon-ish (which Jeff acknowledged they need to hire more people, so I know they are aware of that also).

I’ll start with what I don’t want: content like Lockdown 2020 (especially the March-August type of content, but also the second “half” kind). At the time they happened, I enjoyed the full playthroughs of Bloodborne, Astroneer, Maneater, and others; I don’t think I’d want to watch those now. My time for VOD is very limited, and I would prefer shorter, edited content. Rambling, hours-long streams is the kind of content I could (and choose not to) get on Twitch.

What I do want is simply not possible until the COVID-19 vaccine is available for young children. Even fully vaxxed, someone like Jeff G can transmit the virus from a studio to his daughter at home. That’s where I’m at as someone with a young kid, and seeing people say stuff like “they’re fully vaxxed, what’s the issue???” gives me a headache. Once the in-studio staff can be certain they’re protecting their families (which is and should be the highest priority right now), I want to see them back together in person. Guilty Treasures and that Steam Deck look are my favorite content since March 2020 because of the same-space interactions the crew has been able to have. It has such an incredibly different vibe that the Zoom meeting format (as people have called it) will simply never be able to replicate.

Lastly: more core staff! Especially in the Bay Area to increase in-studio interaction (when it’s safe). But that doesn’t have to wait, and would help the site get back to pre-taped Quick Looks and other content that sure seems to be universally missed.

A group of familiar faces talking about things they are passionate about and like. That's why I didn't enjoy Albummer, there are enough people online talking about things they dislike. Sure Giant Bomb has had it's share of that in the past, but it never felt like the driving motivation behind a show.

@sweep: You mean this is part of an endless cycle of things changing and evolving as time marches on and we must all decide if the current iteration is for us or not?

Naw man, you're wrong, best Pokemon Gen was Gold/Silver, Cell saga was the best part of Dragon Ball Z, and GB was only good in the basement/no the other basement.

@sweep said:

All I know is that it doesn't really matter at this point what the people are referring to with "I want the site to be what it used to be" - none of the things you list up are being catered to anyway, so it definitely isn't what it used to be. Not even remotely at this point. If you'd think away the podcast, you might as well rebrand the site. Might help a few users to move on and make it clear that it's no longer Giant Bomb. Cause, it isn't, irregardless as to which Giant Bomb from the past you associate it with.

To be honest, thank god they have the moderators and Rorie. Huge amount of respect, because without you there would be literally no communication whatsoever. Literally, nada. The forums would be full of spam threads and frustrated users venting and the comment section would be a big mess as well. So, bless you all, really.

I'd like some more chatting with developers, which should feasibly be easier in the work-from-home situation. Gameplay-focused, structured shows may need to wait for a studio but I imagine the guys could come up with a simple framework for streaming. A simple framework goes a long way. Abby just playing the Sims wouldn't interest me; add a bit of structure (the goal being killing Sims) and I'm interested. Brad playing Hitman was fun; add a bit of competion and you've got one of the best shows of the last year and a half.

@eccentrix: Yeah, some of the best GB moments for me were those lightning in a bottle gameplay moments where things just went sideways.

Better.

Deus Ex Endurance run

The personalities and the games is why I'm here and will continue to subscribe. I trust in the crew, even as it changes and deals with the struggles we all face everyday. I may not love every piece of new content however, I've been here before and they have never disappointed me. Pancakes my duders. Pancakes.

I still enjoy the podcast enjoy, especially now that Danny and Jeff Bakalar are part of it. But pretty much everything else doesn't interest me. I've never subscribed to premium, but I've seen a lot of highlights for those videos and still want to subscibe at some point. I miss their creative ideas for series like 13 Deadly Sims and Steal My Sunshine. Their holiday videos were always really entertaining until last year with Hitsmas being a highlight. I guess I just miss all that. Mostly I think I just miss Vinny and Dan lol

Well, firstly I guess you're welcome :)

My point was more that Giant Bomb has never been limited to one thing. This website has always been about embracing change and it's identity has evolved multiple times over the years already. You say we're not about any of the things we used to be, but I'd argue the ethos of the site has always been: We're going to do whatever the fuck we want. Right now options are pretty limited because of the pandemic, but I feel like we're still holding true to that, whether it be in the form of Jeff B playing pinball or Jeff G doing his press debriefings, or Jeff still cleaning out his garage of garbage. The only constant is that everything changes.

"Garage of Garbage" would be a pretty great band name.

TL;DR - video game-playing streams and videos done by the actual GB crew, not outside freelancers. In the current situation, this means hiring new people to get the staff numbers back up. Less shows that are basically more podcasts, because those are boring as hell. Oh, and while we're wishing here - bring back the true (pre-2015) GOTY skits!

EDIT: Well, now that Jeff offhandedly mentioned that the drive for his move took hours, I guess a back-to-the-studio future is out of the question now...

I have not liked any of the new shows that much yet. My main problem with them is that they're (mostly) not done by the crew. I know the crew is short-staffed these days, but as people have said here and elsewhere, we don't know if they're even going through the motions to fill positions, or if it will ever happen. We're not entitled to know the inner workings of the company, sure, but some tidbit of information would be nice. One reason why I don't feel the need to try to get into any of these shows is because they're not sticking around. Most of them are going to be like 10-episode runs or thereabouts, and then end. I personally don't see the point of getting to "know" these people if they're not going to be here for long, especially when I'm not terribly interested in the content to begin with. Watch a video of Jeff, Brad, Ben, and Jan joke on and rank 80s songs? Sure, I'm not that into the topic, but I know who the guys are and don't mind hearing them riff on stuff. Watch a video of 5 people you've never heard of and will only be on the site temporarily dunk on a bad album? Doesn't have the same appeal.

A lot of people seem to not have liked the Lockdown 2020 stint of GB. Personally, I quite enjoyed it. I didn't love it, and it certainly didn't fill the void of them being unable to be in person with each other, but having multiple streams from different crew members each day was awesome. Watching a Jan stream? Catch Jason later. Here's Jeff with his old game shit. Now Vinny and Brad are playing Astroneer together. Ben streaming Fallout at like 8 or 9pm my time was wild, and I liked it. I understand why that schedule was untenable in the long run for salaried corporate employees, but it was fun while it lasted. In my opinion.

On that note, Nextlander would seem perfect for me. But, my problem there is that their streams start at like 1-2pm and end around 3:30-4. That's basically the worst time possible for me; I only manage to catch the last 30 minutes or less. I know they have VODs, but (and this is a personal problem) I can't find the capacity to care for a stream VOD. I like catching them live, but if I don't, then it's more or less dead to me. It's just how I am. I'm the same with GB's streamed stuff. It's why GBeast was great for me - their streams always started between 3:30 and 4. Absolutely perfect.

I dunno, whatever they want it to be.

I will echo the other people saying that permanent personalities that we can get to know, as viewed through the lens of their gaming tastes and habits is, for me, the core of what makes this site special.

Obviously there are plenty of things happening right now that make this a difficult 'problem' to rectify, but as Jeff reiterated on the last (for now?) Garage Talk, he wants to staff up for editorial whenever possible. Whatever that means in this crazy topsy-turvy existence.

My hope is that we will get to a place where there is plenty of regular content featuring multiple site staff playing games together (in the style of Quick Looks, Playdates, etc.) on top of whatever silly one-off shows they want to do. That would seem like the perfect mix of content types, including things both familiar and fresh.

Familiar formats with fresh faces, or fresh formats with familiar faces. I like the sound of both of those combos the most.

But the underlying thing has always been, a website about video games where it's the core duders just having fun. You mention so many things (most of it still just being game related with core members), but even when it's not there is still always the core of gaming content coming from the main duders. Sure they've experimented with random stuff, had different people, tried out unique things, but the base (for 13 years) has never changed. You could expect to come to Giantbomb week after week and find the majority of stuff, being from the crew where they had fun playing games. I think that's what most people are getting at and honestly I don't know what people are talking about when they seem to basically ignore this. Absolutely if you want to defend the direction it's going and enjoy it, by all means do, that's awesome, but understand that it is a noticeable shift.

It's like going to your favorite restaurant where you know the chef and staff. Maybe it changes from Italian, to Mexican, to Chinese, but it's a restaurant run by you're friend. Now it'd be like showing up and it's a hardware store run by your friend and the staff has changed. Yes Giantbomb has always, changed, adjusted, shifted, but there has always been an underlying core and well, that seems to be vanishing rapidly. And that's why a lot of people (myself included) are bummed.

I'm one of the people that's canceled my subscription and frankly I'm super bummed about it. Been here since Arrow pointing down, been premium since the first week they offered it. Heck this website has helped me out more during bad times than most people in my life. I'll always be grateful for all the entertainment they've giving me and I'm not pissed or angry, but honestly bummed to see this direction. I hope it works out for them and wish them all the best. Zero spite or malice, but after 13 years it still stings seeing it turn like this.

I like the traditional game website experience but with the Duders personalities being at the core, expanded with more staff (I know, the old site). I really liked (and still do) reading game reviews, and I liked reading theirs. If I missed a bunch I liked being able to sit down for two hours and roll through several Quicklooks. I did like when the site changed and shows that Abby, Rickert, Vinny came up with a lot too! I liked that high-budget stuff like GOTY skit videos and travel shows. A lot of that content came around throughout the years as other content faded because the size of the site couldn't possibly do it all at once.

My favourite time in the site's history (and therefore what my favourite theoretical "future" of the site would look like) would look like what I thought the site was turning into in the Whiskey media days. We know it never panned out hence the first sale to CBSi and we got great stuff with a maintained relative smaller staff for years afterward, albeit instead of a lot of the great stuff I like above. I also know in retrospect the content was punching above its weight and the staff were working overly hard to make it all happen, so the site would have had to expand staff even to maintain what it was doing.

I know my theoretical favourite future of the site isn't possible because (this is my uneducated opinion) it probably relies on the original pie-in-the-sky hopes for the Wikis impact on the sites financials. People using Google to look up info for games drives huge traffic, hence Wikia, IGN's stuff, etc. I'm guessing subscriptions for core users, Wiki to drive large ad revenue in to allow the site to expand in scope. Instead it's had to mostly change in scope, although to be fair the site's staff did expand a bit under CBSi.

Since written reviews and Quick Looks have gone the way of the dodo, other than if there's a show that catches my interest (I still often skip through those a bit) I mostly interact with the site through the podcast which I'm fine with. So I guess since my favourite future of the site relies on a past that never came to be I don't really mind that they're doing this stuff now, because I still get the podcast anyway.

I think most of all I'd like to see consistent long-term content.

Like, I know that tonight, come hell or high water, Bombcast #699 will air.
It's something I can cling to and look forward to every week.
I know Fridays has some form of 'Unprofessional' show, which is cool too.

In all honesty though I'm mainly looking for content created by the remaining 'main crew'.

Last but not least, I'm forever hopeful that Rorie gets a permanent chair on the Bombcast.

When talking about the evolution of game reviewing and coverage, Jeff Gerstmann often mentions the point he realised that certain games (WOW in particular) couldn't adequately be covered by Gamespot or similar publications. Because they were so frequently updated and the resources required to cover such games adequately would be prohibitive at something like Gamespot. And that specialist hyperniche sites/blogs/etc that covered only WOW or a narrow genre of MMO showed up to fill that gap.

I don't know what I want Giantbomb to be, but I know what I don't want it to be. And what I don't want it to be is that sort of hyperniche site for big publisher console sellers and xbox gamepass.

The less time spent telling 27-42 year olds that everything they assume is correct about videogames, the better.

A group of people playing games together.

Project B. E. A. S. T.

Beast in the East

Endurance runs

The exquisite corps

Metal gear scanlon

A few quick looks strewn between. In so far as I'm aware nothing really needed changing prior to the changes. That said, most of the people involved in the content I've enjoyed most have moved on, those who haven't don't seem to enjoy making such content.

I don't care if they talk about games, and I don't care what they do shows about, but here's what I want (that probably will never happen at this point):

1. More Jeff Gerstmann that isn't Jeff relegated to some dark corner of the site doing his thing by himself.

2. Less Jeff Bakalar. Like, a LOT less. I'm so tired of him being everywhere, all of the time, constantly.

3. The Business Dave Top 10 as a show

4. For the love of Christ get rid of Albummer.

5. Engagement with the members of the site. I think that's one huge thing that makes Giant Bomb seem out of step, with content creators elsewhere directly engagin with and requesting feedback from the people who pay them, ala Patreon. It'll never happen because this website isn't a patreon but wow I prefer that model to whatever the hell the Red Ventures (and prior CBSi) model is/was.

Useable by free members

I can't give specifics as to what I think they should/need to do, cause I have no idea how to run a successful website, let alone how to cultivate a community, but I can articulate what I want from Giant Bomb, as that's always been pretty simple: A core team of editors and producers that have great chemistry and are engaging and entertaining on camera. What doesn't do it for me is a constantly rotating roster of contractors putting out video essays or podcasts. I don't know these people (besides some of the gamespot folks, but if I wanted gamespot, I'd visit gamespot) nor do I really care what they think of a Weezer album, or the Super Mario Bros. movie.

It's not even an issue of not having enough gaming related content, I'm well served by the entire internet in that regard. I've never had an issue in the past with GB going off on long ass non-gaming related tangents, because I liked the staff, and wanted to hear them talk about their passions and follow their interests. Also it usually made for some really funny anecdotes.

The GB of yore is long gone, no question. Nothing lasts forever, and GB had a great run up until now, and while I'm not at all satisfied with the site outside of the Bombcast, which I think is the best its been in a couple years, I think the site is going through some painful changes and look at the current output more as a stopgap until they have a clearer vision for the site in place.

My truly favorite part of GB history, the part I'm actually nostalgic for, would be the time when they used to do elaborate Game of the Year production work.

Ther was a short while where I thought, "I think I might make a go of getting into the game coverage business," and upon watching one of those GoTY productions, the slickness with which it was produced specifically (Not the acting or writing), made me think, "I'd never make something this good," and so I abandoned the notion. Looking back, I understand why they stopped; the amount of work that was going into creating products of that quality was grinding and not sustainable. But it did stand out to me as a moment where I thought, "Wow GB is truly special, and no one even comes close to what they do." We're so far from that now.

But the truth of the matter is, I don't want or expect that from GB anymore. All I really want is a site about video games at its core, with a staff of people who know eachother and interact on the topic of video games.

The internet is so full of other content, and I came to GB because it was filling an entertainment niche for me about video games in a way that no single twitch streamer ever could. Since Covid, things have shifted more and more to the level of what different twitch streamers do, and to the point now where I don't see much difference between what you see on twitch and what you see on GB as far as game coverage. Reality is, a lot of twitch streamers are doing more ambitious things, and more overall coverage with many fewer people.

And so I understand a need to pivot, but what I want is a pivot back to doing what made GB special; high quality content, with a group of people interacting, with unique voices and personalities. What does it boil down to? Honestly, not something I'm sure GB has in it anymore:

-A renewed focus on video game content, and a pivot away from exterior internet content unless it's being driven by the interests of core staff members

-Consistent production work (Nothing extravagant, just an organized and repeatable process for high quality streams/videos)

-Investment in core staff, with an aim to bring a range of diverse and interesting perspectives (GB has always been at its best when new hires brought new energy and interests; Austin, Abby, Ben, Dan), especially over farming out content on topics other than video games, with people with no previously affiliation with the site.

That said, I've more or less come to terms with the new direction of the site not being the above. If GB wants to be a Max Fun competitor, and their staff are excited about that idea, I wish them the best of luck. For me, it's the true end of an era, and unfortunately leaves me looking for a new way to consume video game coverage (Which for now has been following Abby on and Nextlander on Twitch).

Probably echoing a lot of what's been said, but I don't know how the staff will get feedback otherwise, outside of traditional metrics like views and downloads.

What brought me to Giant Bomb and kept me through all its iterations were the personalities. Thanks to their history in games, I understood that Jeff, Ryan, Brad, Vinny, and Alex had unique voices and enough history that I could use that to understand their positions on games and allow it to influence me as I see fit. For example - I'm not as bothered by frame rate issues as Jeff, so if he knocked a game severely for that but had otherwise complimentary things to say, I was pretty sure I'd have a good time with it. This carried over to their non-game discussions - these weren't friends, but people who I felt like I knew a bit about their like and dislikes, pet peeves, etc. So when it came to energy drinks, movies, and the various esoterica that came up in podcasts or on videos, I had the background and was entertained by the digression.

This continued as the site added people - staff and friends of the site. I trusted the core people at Giant Bomb that whoever they brought on - Patrick, Austin, Abby, Ben, Danny, Merry, etc - that they were going to be worth listening to and entertaining. I feel like they were right far more than they were wrong.

One place where I see a shift is that the ancillary things were always ancillary. Alt-F1 and All Systems Goku were non-gaming passion projects that you could take or leave. Personally, I got so into F1 I'm still a patron of Shift-F1; I listened to All Systems Goku because I found the Jeff and Dan dynamic interesting as they experienced something for the first time and reacted to it even though I couldn't give a shit less about anime or Dragon Ball Z. I had years of being entertained by them under my belt, so going on this side path with them felt natural, and I felt like I could punch out at any time because the core of playing and talking about games and other unrelated bullshit would still be there on the Bomb/Beastcasts, Quick Looks, live streams, and yes, shows as they went in that direction.

I'm going to use Albummer as my example because it's the show that has resonated with me the least, although I'm happy it has people who like it. I don't know who these people are apart from a brief into from Jeff B - this isn't a huge problem, but it's more like someone saying "I think you would like this thing" than how people were introduced previously, interacting with the people I know so I can get a feel for them on those terms. Again, not a deal breaker. The little bit of the first episode I listened to was just this group of people who I didn't know just shitting on Weezer and Rivers Cuomo, two things I can agree deserve a fair bit of shitting upon. But when Jeff G, or Ryan, or Alex, or Patrick shit on a game or movie they saw, I know where they were coming from. Half the fun of hearing Jeff slam a game is knowing he has the industry experience and 20 goddam years of criticism history behind him that, to me, he's coming from a place of well experienced knowledge. Jeff LIKES games. I don't know where the Albummer cast is coming from apart from "we don't like this and are going to make jokes that entertain ourselves about it." There's a meanspiritidness to the show that, combined with the lack of personality familiarity, means this isn't for me.

And that brings me to my second point - the focus on new (mostly premium) shows is a concern. I understand saying you want "a website about video games" isn't particularly helpful, so let me go back to what I said earlier - games were always the core. Quick Looks of new games that the staff (again, people whose tastes and preferences I understood) wanted to look at, revisiting old games in solo, group, or even game show format where conversation could be loose and meandering, and a combination of the two in UPF. I think the staff has done and did an absolutely PHENOMENAL job of trying to keep that energy going during the pandemic when a lot of those things became infinitely harder, are to be commended for it, and I want to acknowledge that getting back to "that" is a hell of along ways away, if its even possible at all. But the focus on new these new shows is bringing what used to be tangential to (what I saw as) the Giant Bomb experience front at center at the expense of the core of games coverage and opinions.

I like Tamoor and Lucy and Jeff Grubb. I like them a lot! But I felt like I had to go out of my way on GiantBomb.com to figure out what the hell The Ascent was as I was seeing a lot of things elsewhere about it being "polarizing" or "great' or "nearly playable." When there's a game with that kind of divided reception, I'd go to the Quick Look or see if it was played on UPF. I have no idea how or if the site is going to look at Humankind, Psychonauts 2, Road 76, or 12 Minutes. These are all games I'm interested in and want to know how they're being received by the people who I've trusted on games for 13+ years. I don't need someone telling me Kevin Federline's album is bad, or people I like explaining memes instead of this kind of coverage. And that's what it feels like we're seeing now.

I caught some of Jeff G's garage talk last night, and I'm heartened that he mentioned staffing up or ramping up editorial. I guess the TL;DR is - I want Giant Bomb to be first an independent voice of games criticism, evaluation, and news and information with the freedom to explore their weird side interests, run by a crew of people I feel like I understand and can trust.

I like listening to the crew shoot the shit about almost anything. I barely even have time to devote to video games anymore, but I still come back here because I like the GB folks and I like the ways they connect with each other.

So, for me, the topic they're discussing matters very little. I just like it when 3 or more of them sit down and pour over a subject, be that a video game, a meme, an album, whatever. It's single-person streams that don't work as well for me, but I'll still put on a Garage Talk or similar for background noise and to see what weird shit Jeff can pull out of his proverbial hat.

But ultimately, just like Nextlander, GB is just a group of people that I enjoy spending virtual time with; I want them to succeed at whatever they do and I want them to be happy while they do it. I'm blessed enough to be able to support them financially, and so that's what I'll do for as long as GB is out here doing its thing in a way that the crew looks/sounds like it is enjoying.

Maybe I'm just an easy lick. But there are far worse folks to be a lick for than Gerstmann, Bakalar, et al.