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!
The last week was a quieter one for the Giant Bomb staff, with Friday being a day off due to the site honoring and respecting Juneteenth, but some BIG THINGS are being planned for the future! First, Giant Bomb announced that from June 22nd to the 26th, the site will be doing Fishin' Week! Whether it be fishing minigames in JRPGs or arcade fishers like Sega Bass Fishing, the week should be an absolute delight for those of you that enjoy fishing mixed with your video game content.
As mentioned last week, we have some BIG NEWS about the site and its staff! Jan, Jeff, and Mike will be attending the annual Myst fan convention, Mysterium, in Portland Oregon! Hotel booking at the location has already closed, but that doesn't mean you can't plan to attend the event while housed on an outside hotel.
If you have Giant Bomb Premium AND have Discord, you have have until the 23rd to decide who you think should be Blighted next.
With Grubb posting a review for Beetle Adventure Racing for the N64, Marino had to update their thorough spreadsheet chronicling every single review that has been published on Giant Bomb.
If you were not able to load all of the newly published Endurance Run videos, especially those for the current Bully Endurance Run, you should be good. Likewise, Chuck did a massive rewrite of the site's authentication/SSO mgmt. This should help a lot of users that had odd individual issues and was a ton of work.
If you noticed the premium podcast feed had ads this week the issue has been fixed but you likely still need to refresh your podcast app. Chuck may need to push a new version of the feed out even if that pisses off Pocket Casts and Podcast Addict.
Finally, it's hard not to mention Gerstmann making Canadian news after wrapping up their feature where they played every single NES game. It's been a multi-year-long feature of his and all things considered, huge props to him!
Fan Art
New Dan Face Just Dropped (By: ogto & anya)
As friend of the site ogto pointed out on bsky, Dan made a new silly face while playing Space Ace that seems RIPE for memes! It's not the easiest Giant Bomb staff meme image to use, but anya over on the Giant Bomb Discord managed to find a way to mix Dan's reaction to Radiohead's album font to make a hilarious album cover for "The Blights."
Mike Meme - Part 3 (By: Dan & Various Participants)
Last week I promised I would FINALLY wrap up the Mike Spider-Man memes and while I planned to keep my promise, that's just not going to happen, yet again, due to how many images are still coming out related to the original image Dan shared three weeks ago.
No problem! If I still haven't gotten to your creation, you'll likely be up next week! To say this meme struck a cord is an understatement at this point.
Community Articles
Ranking of Halos That Aren't Combat Evolved (By: csl316)
csl316 made a list version of this feature on top of an article version, but I much prefer the article. With the remaster of Combat Evolved back in the zeitgeist, they went ahead and looked back at every mainline game in the series that wasn't the first game and ranked them based on their story and gameplay merits.
Indie Game of the Week 472: Dangeresque: The Roomisode Triungulate +
64 in 64: Episode 51—Plats All, Folks! Part Three (By: Mento)
As is always the case, Mento is back with TWO articles this week! The first looks at Dangeresque: The Roomisode Triungulate as part of their "Indie Game of the Week" feature. Is this adventure game more than just a fun little goof for Homestar Runner fans? Their write-up answers that and many other important questions.
Likewise, Mento also has a new entry in their 64 in 64 feature where they play two N64 games for just 64 minutes. The games this time around are Looney Tunes: Taz Express and Doraemon 2: Nobita to Hikari no Shinden! If you're interested to see how either plays or controls, give that article a scan when you can!
So Let's Talk About Kanji (By: radjoshcon)
As many have already pointed out, it seems like Persona 4 Revival is bound to re-ignite Kanji and Naoto discourse for a whole new generation of Persona fans. Is there a good way to avoid this being completely miserable? Giant Bomb user radjoshcon thinks so, but only if Atlus does one or two specific things.
What's The Greatest Video Game: AITD (GBC) & Alleyway (By: imunbeatable801)
For this week's edition of their "What's the Greatest Video Game" feature on the site, has TWO portable games for your enjoyment! The first is the GameBoy Color port of Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare and the other other is Alleyway for the original GameBoy. Are either a "good time?" Well, read to find out!
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 Negotiating To Close Or Spin Off Compulsion, Ninja Theory, And Double Fine (By: bigsocrates)
So... the news coming from Xbox is A LOT. It sounds like multiple studios are being closed and there will be projects canned and people laid off across the whole division. What do you think of the recent studio closures and are we ever see new hardware from Big Green?
Sony Issues Corporate Statement On How AI Will "Evolve The PlayStation Experience" (By: ZombiePie)
As if Sony couldn't just let Microsoft be the only big hardware manufacturer trip over rakes, a new document to the SEC and shareholders revealed Sony plans to ramp up their support of generative AI in game development. You can get the details and share your thoughts in the thread linked above.
Bobby Prince Passing Away Got To Me A Little (By: bigsocrates)
The Giant Bomb community joins the rest of the gaming world in mourning the passing of Bobby Prince, the composer behind Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Doom II, and Duke Nukem 3D. Given how much those games have provided us with "classic" Giant Bomb moments and streams, please share your regards in the thread above if you can.
Arcade Challenge Game Club: 1982 Popeye (By: imunbeatable801)
Here's a fun community activity for people on the forums! imunbeatable801 will be occasionally posting "Arcade Challenge Game Club" posts on the forums where users are encouraged to share the highest possible scores they can get on a selected arcade game. To start things off, the club will be playing Popeye (1982)!
What Are The Worst Endings You Have Experienced In Games [SPOILER WARNING!] (By: chocobodude3)
It's a discussion topic that has cropped up before, but what are the most foul or disappointing video game endings you have ever encountered? What made it so bad and how could it have been salvaged?
Modern Games Don't Know What To Do With Sidequest Rewards (By: bigsocrates)
Why do so many AAA and open-world games have side quests that feel so pointless? What is the "secret sauce" they are missing that makes the side quests in other games so good? Is it just a matter of rewards as the thread author suggests?
What RPG's Are You Looking Forward To The Most That Was Revealed This June (By: chocobodude3)
RPGs faired fairly well during SGF/Not-E3 2026, so, which role-playing games caught your interest the most? Any of you excited for FE: Fortune's Weave or Persona 4 Revival? Do any of you have a modicum of confidence that Persona 6 will come out before we are in diapers?
Premium-Only
WHO WILL BE BLIGHTED? (PREMIUM BLIGHT) (By: chucktowski)
I mentioned in the introduction that a new PREMIUM ONLY edition of Blight Club is being planned and part of that plan is to allow Giant Bomb Premium users the chance to vote on who gets blighted during this series. As you can see above, Jerf is leading the voting, but anything can happen if more votes come in! If you have Premium and want to see a specific staffer get the Blight Club treatment, drop a comment and vote!
9 Lives Appreciation Thread (By: figmentspace)
For those of you with Giant Bomb Premium, we have an appreciation thread for Chuck's "9 Lives of Mister Mistofelees" feature on the site! If you are a fan of their feature and the tomfoolery they have been up to on Skyrim, drop a comment over here!
Premium Content Suggestions (By: adamthephantump)
Now that premium features really seem to be hitting their stride, what is your "dream feature?" Is there a game you think is a perfect fit for the Giant Bomb staff you'd like to see them do a deep dive into? If so, share away in this discussion thread!
Grubbsnax Question Thread (By: jeffgrubb)
For those of you with Premium subs, you can head on over to the Premium-Only board and possibly get a question answered during Grubbsnax if you write and post it in this thread. Huge props to Grubb for taking the time to engage with the forums to whip up some community engagement!
Suggestions & Bug Box
Seeing Ads With Premium! [Responded & Possible Fix Deployed] (By: thecakester)
As mentioned during the introduction, Chuck has been tinkering around with a lot of moving parts to try and make it less likely for ads to pop up on the Premium podcast feeds. However, postmandan has a workaround that might be worth noting if you're still having issues. As they point out in the thread linked above, you can mitigate this problem by navigating to your profile page then returning home as sometimes, reloading won’t get rid of the video ads.
Also, if Chuck's most recent deploy hasn't made this issue better, please drop a comment in this thread to indicate as much.
Site (Twitch) Chat Auto Scroll Randomly (?) Stops [Responded] (By: bonez)
Some users have noted that when using Twitch either on their site or via the site chat, without fail the Twitch chat auto scroll will randomly stop and they will need to click the "new message" button to get it to return to auto scrolling.
While Chuck and everyone would like to solve this issue, as postmandan points out, this is unfortunately a long-running issue or bug with Twitch that has no solution.
Tier Lists
GREGS BY NAME COOLNESS (By: splodge)
Some more tier list-making tomfoolery coming from splodge worth checking out and this time they made a tier list about "GREGS BY NAME COOLNESS." At the very least, you can't disagree with their S-tier!
DK92's Bond Game Campaign Tier List (By: thedrumkid92)
When judged entirely by their single-player campaigns, which James Bod games rank high and which ones rank low? That's the question at the heart of thedrumkid92's latest list which was inspired by their recent completion of 007 First Light/
And before you ask, no, they do not think GoldenEye has stood the test of time.
Lists
DONT CRY FOR ME (By: splodge)
And the shitpost lists from splodge were not just limited to tier lists. They also made this HILARIOUS one-off goof using a traditional list on the site as well.
Ranking Of Halos That Aren't Combat Evolved (By: csl316)
csl316 authored a list on Giant Bomb titled "Ranking of Halos that aren't Combat Evolved!" They started things off with a SPICY take on what they think is the "worst" Halo game but regardless, if you have anything to add, consider making your own list on the site.
A Double Date In The First Half Of Twenty Twenty-Six (By: infantpipoc)
With them increasingly struggling to maintain their interest in games, Giant Bomb user infantpipoc decided to review and rank the 4 games from 2026 they have played thus far from best to worst.
Blight Club Games Wish List (By: chocobodude3)
chocobodude3 made a "Blight Club games wish list" on the site and you can give it a read by clicking the link above! Also, consider making your own when you can! At some point Dan has to beat Space Ace, riiiiiiiiiight?
First Person Dungeon Crawler RPGs (By: chucktowski)
Chuck decided to exhaustively review and annotate every single first person dungeon crawler RPG they could think of in what they hope is a definitive list of games that fit the genre. Learn what their ground rules are and feel free to suggest any games you think are missing.