xenocrat

I will reiterate my request for a light mode. I get it, Giant Bomb wants to be Netflix for video games - but the written word still exists and is very much a part of this site: comments, forums, reviews (yes, I still read reviews).

What the lack of a light mode achieves is a reduction in my engagement with the Giant Bomb, because it hurts to look at it for more than a few minutes. Sucks to be me, I guess, an old person with bad eyes. But the old people with bad eyes are often the ones with plenty of disposable income to splurge on premium. Perhaps something for the powers that be to consider.

I need a light/dark mode switch. White text on dark grey is fine for a few incidental elements and site navigation, but for big blocks of body text in comments, wiki articles, and the forum, it makes for a very uncomfortable reading experience.

I really miss those.

And what a shame that is.

I might not love a great review I disagree with, but I can respect it.

It's not impossible to do an audio review/discussion that achieves everything I think a good written review can do, but it's unlikely because it is pushing against the essence of the format.

@humanity: Any good reviewer acts as the second person in the room and preempts the "but..." without it having to be said. When I look at the score for a review and say "Well, of course they did!" it's either a failing on the reviewer's part or on my part. When I read a good review, I feel that all the buts are rebutted, and whether I agree or not I don't feel that there are questions left unaddressed. That's part and parcel of writing a good review. It's much more than just writing down one's spoken words. It's really hard to do, often not achieved, but no less worth trying for just because it is hard to do well.

Isn't that just an argument for choosing the right reviewer?

I like written reviews. It's far from a perfect metric, but a written review implies a depth of thought and a succinctness of expression that I find lacking in most verbal reviews or discussions. I wonder if there might be a split of opinion here between people who treat rambling conversations as audio wallpaper vs. those that consider them a waste of precious time. Mostly I find myself in the latter camp.

Many (but not all) of the links in the site's videos menu have a href like this:

https://www.giantbomb.com:80/shows/beast-in-the-east/

This screws up the page load if the links are clicked because, quite understandably, your servers aren't keen to serve secure pages over port 80. Viewing in Firefox 58.0.2, macOS 10.11.6, with AdBlock and Ghostery.

I've been playing it this week. I've been taking my time with it but I think I'm nearing the end now. It's solid and definitely worth playing if you like a metroidvania. I think I've put 8 hours into it with lots of exploring and not too much dying, but the achievements indicate it could be mainlined under 2 hours.

The traversal feels nice, not fiddly, and it's very satisfying to ping-pong through a room and avoid all the enemies. Overall I'd say it leans more toward exploration than combat, but it still offers a decent level of challenge. The pixel art won't convert any haters, but I think the art in Dandara is well-executed and very pleasing to the eye. Good music.

Cannon Fodder. I must do a replay one of these days. I remember it being a little masterpiece.

I've seen a few comments regarding the uproar this year's deliberations have caused, stating that the awards are intended as a celebration of the year in gaming. I think that's an admirable idea but it's not the direction things are heading in, especially now there are more voices at the table.

Only two games I care about were mentioned at all this year, and in both instances one or more people in the room took a shit on the game for 60 seconds and then it was cut from the list. That is not a celebration. I was actually relieved that my other favourites of 2017 were ignored because I dreaded what would be said about them if they were mentioned.

I thought the individual staff lists, and especially the guest lists, did a far better job of celebrating the year in gaming. I'm not quite so needy as to require constant validation of my likes, but I'll admit it gave me a little thrill to see Phil Fish mention Echo, Rami Ismail mention Hellblade, and for Rorie to give Horizon his number 1 spot. This surely is a more positive direction to move in. Perhaps each of the staff and a few guests could sit down in the studio to discuss shared favourites and get into the nerdy details of what made them great, almost similar in tone to the Witness chat with Jonathan Blow.