Hello everyone and welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight and I, ZombiePie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the site and staff-related news and best user-created works from the previous week!
So, Mike and company had a blast on their road trip and at the Myst fan convention! If you missed either here are some handy links to the YouTube postings of the videos:
- The Great Giant Bomb Road Trip (Day 1)
- BONUS Game Mess Mornings LIVE(-ish) from The Great Giant Bomb Road Trip!
- LIVE at MysteriumCon! | The Trial of Daddy Atrus
And if you're asking about the photo from MysteriumCon that I used for the promo this week, it came from Phil Salvador. If you're reading this, thanks for taking such an incredible picture and feel free to drop a comment if you have a Giant Bomb account!
A user chimed in on the Giant Bomb Discord about how, upon creating an account, they were assigned what appeared to be a placeholder username that they did not type or submit. To anyone who is new, if that happened to you, when you tried to sign up you attempted to claim a username that is either disallowed or already taken according to our database. If your present placeholder username is something you wish to change, please send an email to [email protected] and Chuck is more than happy to review alternative usernames that might be better. This also applies to any of you that wish to change your username in general.
Last week I couldn't help but get excited about "Giant Bomb's Games That Made History!" This is something that Chuck made this after tinkering with the site and wiki for a bit and you should definitely give it a read when you have the time and fill out which games from this timeline you have and have even completed. Chuck plans to have a new update with even more games on this page by Monday. So, if you have any "pitches" for what you think should absolutely be included, use this thread!
On the 30th, the site hosted a Premium Discord Town Hall. The archive of this town hall is now up for premium users to listen to on the site. If you want to learn about how things are working behind the scenes and what the priorities are for Giant Bomb moving forward, give this a listen when you have some time!
Finally, this being a relatively quiet week seems like reason enough to remind everyone that TECHSev on the Giant Bomb Discord has been busy working on turning Dan's Space Ace Blight Club into an actual FMV/QTE video game. The current beta version of the game is available to play and test on their website and you can ping them on the Discord or send them a DM if you encounter any bugs. They hope to keep the Giant Bomb community updated soon.
Fan Art
Cyberdillo x Giant Bomb Music Video (By: Anya)
Anya on the Giant Bomb Discord dropped this music video featuring Dan and Jan and if you haven't seen it, give it a watch! And as always, you can catch more works of AWESOME user-created works the minute they drop by joining the Discord!
Good Faces Twitter Account Picked A Picture of Jeff Gerstmann (By: GBDudersFeed)
I have long-suspected the Good Faces bot is run by someone who watches or enjoys Giant Bomb. I know they followed my Twitter account back in the pre-Musk days of Twitter. Nonetheless, their recent decision to use an old photo of Jeff Gerstmann for one of their posts all but confirms their Giant Bomb fandom if you ask me.
If the author of that account is out there, feel free to drop a comment.
Giant Bomb Clip of the Week
Grooverdillos (By: bizit)
Transcript
Mike: We're back in the trees of mystery
Grubb: Heh heh huh...
Mike: Missed those redwoods. At least there haven't been any keys in this level yet.
Music riff begins playing loudly
Dan: I AM INTO THIS!
(Classic) Giant Bomb Clip of the Week
Giant Bomb - Steal My Sunshine Episode 10 Highlight: The Mystery of the Intangible Block (By: Chloe Furlong)
With the announcement of Super Mario Sunshine being the Switch 2's latest GameCube release, I thought I would throw things back with the clip of the week to one of the most iconic moments in Giant Bomb history: when Dan possibly clipped through a block and died during Save My Sunshine.
Transcript
Alex: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT WAAAAAAS THAAAAAAAT?!
Abby & Vinny laughing in the background
Dan: Okay, what the fuck just happened there?
Community Articles
The Problem With Palworld (By: linksocarina)
Now that Palworld is officially out, linksocarina thinks it is time once again to discuss the laundry list of grievances that were directed at the game when its Beta first launched. Is the game a plagiarism and should its full release be welcomed? Hear what they have to say.
DEMO-lition Derby: A Review Of The Demos For Cozy Game Restoration, Fugaz, and Entropy (By: ZombiePie)
ZombiePie has yet another one of their "DEMO-lition Derby" features and this time they discuss the ins and outs of Cozy Game Restoration, Fugaz, and Entropy. If any of those games have been in your radar or you want to know why they have set off the "Morrorwind is the Best Elder Scrolls" alarm, give their article a read.
Indie Game of the Week 478: Cavern of Dreams +
Mento's Month: July '26 (By: Mento)
The latest edition of Mento's "Indie Game of the Week" checks out and reviews Cavern of Dreams! Is there more to this game than its N64-inspired visuals and retro platformer gameplay worth writing home about? Read to find out!
Likewise, Mento also shares all of the retro and modern games they played in July they may not have covered before as well as the anime they have been watching recently. If you want to learn about their topical thoughts about Stellar Blade, give that a read.
SuperHarman’s July Journal (By: superharman)
The end of a month means Superharman is back with an exhaustive write-up that reviews all of the games and movies they enjoyed and didn't enjoy the previous month! If you're interested in reading about their gaming and viewing highs and lows, click the link above!
What's The Greatest Video Game: Diet Go Go And Others (By: imunbeatable801)
Diet Go Go and a couple of other arcade games are the topic of this edition of imunbeatable801's "What's the Greatest Video Game" feature on on the site! See if any of the arcade games they checked out are worth tracking down or even topics for the arcade challenge group on the forums.
Forum Posts Worth Checking Out
Wiki
Big Changes (Positive) To The Wiki! (By: Chuck)
As mentioned earlier, Chuck deployed a major update to the wiki recently. This update hopefully has fixed some of the formatting and display issues on older wiki pages and should set things up for a smoother future. If you want to read all about what has been done and how you can help, give the following post a read.
General Discussion
The GB Album Club 119 - la esquina + violenta by Çantamarta (By: unclejam23)
This edition of the Giant Bomb Album of the Week Club is listening to la esquina + violenta by Çantamarta! If any of you are unfamiliar with this work and are interesting in checking out something that mixes Caribbean and Spanish music together, click the link above!
Your Favorite Menu Themes From Video Game Franchises/Intellectual Properties That You Really Missed? (By: gtxforza)
What are your favorite menu or title themes in video game history? Is there a specific bop or banger that is still in your Spotify playlist? If you ask me, every now and again I find myself chilling out to the Virgil menu theme to OG Mass Effect.
Top Blight Club Moments...? (By: swiftoid)
We have had a lot of seasons of Blight Club on Giant Bomb, but what are the moments from the series that still stick with you or even live rent free in your head? Is there a recent moment or sequence that you think punches with some of the classic ones?
My Complicated Feelings About Mini-maps (By: laughingman)
A good mini-map is a lifesaver, but a bad one can be a constant annoyance. In a post-Ubisoft or Breath of the Wild world, are you starting to feel like minipags are getting too cluttered? Also, do any of you have an issue when a mini-map is too useful?
The Most Important Video Games in History Suggestion Box (By: rejizzle)
A while back you may recall the new Giant Bomb site feature Chuck dropped called "The Most Important Video Games in History." Now we have a thread where users are sending their pitches of what should be included in any future updates to the feature. Is there a game that fits the timeline that you really think needs to be included?
Arcade Challenge Game Club: Vs Super Mario Bros (By: imunbeatable801)
This is the FINAL CALL for people to submit their scores for the Vs Super Mario Bros community Arcade Challenge Club! Very soon, the group will be moving to a new game, but you're always free to share any cool scores or hot tips after the fact.
What Are You Playing/Finishing/Abandoning This Week (July 26, 2026 Edition)? (By: laughingman)
It's crazy to think but July is officially behind us! So, with that in mind, what were you able to play and wrap up before the end of the month and do you plan to pick up a new game at the start of August? Share your answers in the thread above!
Suggestions & Bug Box
Issues on Chrome [Resolved/Update Posted] (By: gyratyne)
As mentioned earlier, Chuck has deployed a site update/change that hopefully resolved the issues with Chrome not playing nice with the site. If you're using Chrome and still are experiencing issues, please drop a comment in the thread above and be as specific as possible with your Chrome version and OS.
How User Game Reviews Are Listed [More Input About User Reviews Appreciated](By: pauljeremiah)
As pauljeremiah points out in this thread, if you publish reviews on the site, the current system doesn't list the game the review is for on your account. Is this something that bothers you if you write and publish reviews? More input would be greatly appreciated.
Lists/Tier Lists
Ace Combats (That I've Played) (By: onimushroom)
onimushroom decided to make a tier list for the Ace Combat franchise on Giant Bomb! Here's how they ranked the games series and if you have Premium, don't forget that you can make a copy of their tier list and then do your own rankings!
Video Game Bear Tier List (By: mocbucket62)
mocbucket62 has made a good attempt at making what they consider the DEFINITIVE tier list of video game bears! Here's a hint of what they consider the bestest and most top tier bears in all of gaming and remember, if you have Giant Bomb Premium, you can use their template for your own list.
User Reviews
pauljeremiah's review of Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced discusses the ins and outs of the Resynched version of the game and why they think most of the changes were a net positive in modernizing what they consider a high point in the series.
linksocarina has been going back and restoring old reviews they published on Giant Bomb back on the old site. The reviews they restored last week that are a real blast from the past are:
If any of you reading this decides to do the same, keep me posted as I am more than happy to include you in a future edition of the Community Spotlight.