Hello and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight and I ZombiePie, am very patriotically happy to be your host as we look back at the staff and site-related news and best user-created works from the previous week! While the game news wasn't exactly great, what with the industry still reeling from Sony's plans to cease physical disc production AND Xbox laying off thousands, it was a fun but chill week over on Giant Bomb
To make things easier for everyone, Chuck has gone ahead and merged all of the individual threads reporting missing videos and merged them into a single thread where all future missing video reports should be sent to.
For those of you that happen to be wrestling fans, you should definitely tun into the 07/16/226 Dump Truck @ 10 AM PT as it will have Big E Ewen as a guest! And speaking of upcoming Giant Bomb things to look forward to, don't forget that Grubb, Mike, and Jan will be attending the Mysterium 2026 Myst Fan Event and will have a panel from 4:30 to 5:30 pm on July 25th! Hotel rooms are fully booked but standard registration is still open until July 20th!
By popular demand, Dan posted pictures of the notes they took while playing Space Ace for Blight Club and... they are predictably nigh unreadable:
Speaking of Space Ace, Colin Hemphill has updated Blight Club Unauthorized to have an INCREDIBLE Space Ace page with all of the stats and information about Dan's time playing the game you could imagine.
Finally, in honor of the passing of Bonnie Tyler recently, I would like to join the gaming community in thanking her for her long and high-rewarding musical career as well as being the source to the single greatest needle drop in video game history.
Fan Art
That's My Bad Boy Of Games Media +
Bakalar As A Ghostbuster (By: jea_rum)
jea_rum once again has a couple of Giant Bomb themed artworks for you to enjoy this week. First, with Mike needing to take up Game Mess duties this week with Bakalar, jea_rum decided to make the two a movie poster that perfectly captures their group energy.
Likewise, it's been a while since jea_rum had fun with their ATHF art style at the expense of the Giant Bomb staff, but this week dusted off the template and imagined Bakalar as a Ghostbuster! The look is honestly uncanny.
Don't forget that jea_rum accepts commissions over on ko-fi and if you have ever wanted to re-imagine a Giant Bomb moment or have a DnD character you'd like to see drawn as you always imagined them, jea come heavily recommended!
Dan x Space Ace Coffee Art (By: sir5000)
It's been a while since sir5000 graced us with a Giant Bomb themed coffee art, but considering how monumental of a feat it was that Dan vanquished their SNES Space Ace foe, they decided to make a proper tribute for them!
Videos
Mike Versus Holes: Holes Win (By: firehair12000)
Mike has a bit of a reputation of being one of the better Giant Bomb staffers when it comes to recognizing patterns and memorizing them, but they have had their fair share of lapses in that. As this hilarious video from Christian Marsham shows, Mike is even prone to making the same mistake twice!
Community Articles
Quake At 30 (By: ford_dent)
Quake isn't just old; it's 30. As you mull over that fact, consider giving ford_dent's write-up about this sobering anniversary which looks at the game's legacy and how far they and games in general have gone in three decades of time.
Game OVA Reversal: Episode 1—Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished +
Indie Game of the Week 475: Harmony's Odyssey (By: Mento)
Mento is back with another couple of fun reads on the site and the first marks a return of them looking at when video games and anime crossover with a fun look at Ys I: Ancient Ys Vanished and its long-forgotten OVA adaption. Were you even aware Ys had an OVA? Well, learn all about it!
Likewise, Mento has another edition of their "Indie Game of the Week" series and this time looks at Harmony's Odyssey! Did this cozy and charming 3D fantasy adventure puzzle game impress them? Read to find out!
SuperHarman’s June Journal (By: superharman)
It might be the second week of July, but superharman wasn't able to get around to their monthly wrap-up article about June until recently. Nonetheless, if you want to see which games they played and enjoyed as well as the movies and anime they saw last month you can read over their highly entertaining write-up.
DEMO-lition Derby: A Review Of The Demos For Culdcept The First, Pixel Washer, Hack '95, & About Fishing (By: ZombiePie)
After missing last week, ZombiePie makes a return to article publishing on the site and debuts a new weekly feature where they play and review modern game demos. This week looks at Culdcept The First, Pixel Washer, Hack '95, and About Fishing and if you want to suggest a demo, they're open to suggestions!
Forum Posts Worth Checking Out
Announcements
Giant Bomb Premium YouTube Memberships... Are Here (By: Chuck)
As mentioned earlier, YouTube Memberships are here and you can get the early details on what is locked behind them and how they can enhance your Giant Bomb experience. As Chuck lays out in the article, if you already have Giant Bomb Premium and are enjoying Premium features on the site, this might not be for you, but for those of you that have been asking for a YouTube Membership option, read all about it!
General Discussion
Xbox Announced Its Road Map (By: laughingman)
It's by far the biggest piece of gaming news of the week, but Xbox and its CEO Asha Sharma have laid out a new road map for the division which starts with reducing staff by 3,200. What has your reaction to the news been and do you think a spin-off or partial Xbox sale is in the future?
The GB Album Club 116 - Lodger by David Bowie (By: unclejam23)
The Giant Bomb Album of the Week Club is BACK and better than ever! To kick off the latest season of this music club, the group is listening to Lodger by David Bowie! Is this another Bowie classic? Also, if you are interested in joining the group and want to have an album pick, drop a comment in the thread.
SGDQ 2026 - Fun Run Callouts (By: munnyshh)
Have any of you been watching SGDQ 2026? Are there any streams or playthroughs that have already aired that you strongly recommend? Are there any streams you can't wait to watch and have you contributed to the organization's charity efforts?
Obsidian Is Making A New Fallout (By: chocobodude3)
This feels like the absolute worst way to learn this, but a report from Jason Schreier suggests that Obsidian is working on a game set in the Fallout universe. It also sounds like a small team is still working on Avowed 2, but this news is causing a real whirlwind of emotions for CRPG fans.
Dead Gaming Franchises You'd Like Revived (By: papa_shin)
Speaking of game franchises getting revived, 2026 has seen a steady flow of remakes and remasters, much like 2025. So... which games or game franchises are you still waiting to see a revival of? Share and discuss your pick(s)
Language Complaints; Or, I'm Old And I Don't Like This (By: laughingman)
During our lifetime we have seen people switch from calling people "customers" to calling them "consumers." Is this a positive switch or semantics change that empowers businesses? Share your thoughts in the thread linked above.
The Crew Motorfest Announced For The Nintendo Switch 2 (By: gtxforza)
The Crew Motorfest is coming to the Switch 2! Do you plan to pick up this port of the game when it releases? Do you expect to see more PS5 and Xbox Series X/S racing games release on the Switch 2 in the future?
Suggestions & Bug Box
Reporting Missing Videos on Site (By: trace17)
If you noticed a video is missing on the Giant Bomb site, site lead Chuck has consolidated multiple reports and topics into a single thread for you to report missing videos! Thus far, it seems like Chuck and postmandan are caught up on the requests, but if you know of anything missing, they are on the case quick!
"No Active YouTube Membership Found" During YouTube Membership Free Trial [IN-PROGRESS] (By: lord_canti)
Chuck is trying to investigate a single report of a user being told "No Active YouTube Membership Found" during their free trial. If any of you decvided to take the plunge on YouTube Memberships and encountered this issue, please drop a comment in the thread linked above.
Unable To Download Giant Bombcast Audio [COMPLETELY RESOLVED] (By: bludgeoner86)
There was a lone report by a user that they couldn't download Giant Bombcast audio, even the free audio. Chuck indicated that the issue was due to a 403 being served from the site's podcast syndicator, spreaker, and that the issue should be resolved. If you want details on what possibly happened, check this thread out.
Tier Lists
MajorMitch's Nintendo Franchise Tier List (By: MajorMitch)
MajorMitch pushed Giant Bomb's tier list feature to its limit by making a Nintendo franchises tier list where they ranked every Nintendo-owned series from best to worst! Don't forget that Giant Bomb Premium uses can have a go at their template and make their own version of this tier list!
Tales of Tier List (By: chocobodude3)
chocobodude3 was recently able to wrap up their time with a few Tales of games so they went ahead and edited their previous Tales of tier list. This is a fun reminder to the rest of you that if and when you edit your tier lists, drop a comment on the Spotlight to remind me and I'll be happy to re-showcase it.