Unprofessional Fridays: 04/28/2017

5:20 - 12:00

lmao I've done laser eye surgery, it's so easy compared to what these dudes are freaking out about XD

I remember John Smedlet teasing H1Z1 saying it would please SWG fans..... then they announced it and NOPE!

Glad it was the core team, but wish they played more games in the time

Conversely I can't understand how people still have such an appetite for them.

To me they're the movie equivalent of Assassin's Creed releases.

Next week looking packed,nice.

I've seen my friends playing it hundreds of times and it took me until Jeff said the name of the game one hour into this video to realise it's King of the Kill and not King of the Hill.

Are you David Jaffe?...lighten up man

Because a lot of them are shallow and trying too hard to appeal to their target audience.

I remember Thor being a particularly bad offender. Guardians of the Galaxy and Logan seem to be the biggest standouts from Marvel in years.

Like... Your killing other Ghost Recon operatives?! No.. the Clance would not have been ok with that.

@eccentrix: Still better than me. I thought he was making a joke until I read your comment.

It's probably worth mentioning about the eye pressure thing that only the old school shit shoots air in to your eye in a way you notice it, if you go to a proper eye doctor you won't even know they took the reading before they say "alright done" because their machinery is better

1,2,3... 4,5,6... 7,8,9... 10,11,12... Ladybuuuugs, at the ladybug pic-nic.

Annnnnnnd I'm old.

I remember watching some H1Z1 preview stream and I think they drove and crashed into absolutely nothing iirc.

Is unfocused camera at the start of UPF like a running gag the chat is doing? Because there was literally no change. :D

Can't tell what's more hostile: H1Z1 players trying to kill Brad, or all the children in these comments.

@fake_empire h1z1 used to be kind of a DayZ clone, survival zombie stuff, before it went all Battle Royale on us

I'm sad that I agree on the first half of this comment. These days I find myself fast forwarding some of the games being played on UPF only to find that I'm skipping all the way to the end. Don't kn ow about TNT because that was Ryan's thing mainly (RIP Ryan).

I'm not sure what happened but something changed in the environment or the dynamic? I hope they get some new blood in there soon (though I do understand the whole hiring process).

Maybe this whole thing would be solved if they move into the basement!

Kamiko and Hyper Light Drifter are completely different games in all but the most superficial of ways.

I joined the site in summer 2014, so just when Vinny left to NY, therefore I had a lot of UPFs to view on my backlog. Most of them are great and that kinda lifted my expectations whenever a new friday and UPF arrived. There even was a time where I didn't watch this show for a few weeks, because I became to expect more, I sadly can't remember when it happened, but it just one day clicked with me what the show was and what it is. It might have been someone (Brad?) saying that this show became to be because Vinny wanted to play Castlevania Lord of Shadows. The show has been my favorite, the one I avoided and the one I want to see every week. It might seem pretty silly, but "let's just hang out, relax and play some games we might not otherwise see" - works for me. Just saying this because I really like the show.

@fracture said:

Marvel movies are symbolic of the entire tired state of Hollywood; movies are increasingly hyper-budget studio pieces slapped together by committee and tweaked to be palatable to the largest possible audience so that studios can make their billion dollar profits.

I liked Marvel studios movies (not to be confused with FOX or Sony) up until the first Avengers movie, because at least the shared universe was a novel idea. Since then, the concept has been thoroughly and fully tapped. Marvel movies shift genres and tones, but they are all very, very similar, and follow a predictable formula. There's next to no creativity in them; these movies are not interesting on anything other than a surface level, they exist to entertain, they are the cinematic equivalent of buttery popcorn. They're good enough to entertain you while you're at the theater, but I personally cannot imagine ever watching them after release. Have you honestly ever sat at home and said, "boy, I'd like to pop in Thor: the Dark World"? They're totally unremarkable movies, and I have no further desire to watch any of them. I've seen about 7 of these movies and I, for the life of me, could not tell you a single memorable scene or moment outside of, say, the first Iron Man.

Marvel annoys be especially because its model has proven so successful that other studios are falling hand over foot to copy it. Now we have a DC Cinematic Universe (WB), a Star Wars cinematic universe (Disney), a Kaiju Cinematic Universe (Legend), an X-Men cinematic universe (FOX), a thankfully dead Spiderman cinematic universe (SONY), an attempted Ghostbusters cinematic universe (SONY), a potential 21 Jumpstree/Men in Black cinematic universe, and a fucking Frankenstein/Wolfman/Dracula Universal monsters cinematic universe (Universal). In the case of Disney, WB, FOX, and Legend, you've got cinematic universes planned out until well into the next decade. It doesn't end there; studios are looking into the asset books to find literally anything they can mine, any property they own that hasn't been completely dried and withered away already. This style of filmmaking is bland. These movies have absolutely no lasting value. Despite everything I've said about Marvel, their movies are the best of this motley bunch; the rest of these franchises represent the absolute nadir of artistic ingenuity.

Big budget Hollywood is so risk averse that these types of projects are all that they are willing to do. Say goodbye to new franchises, new movies, new ideas and characters, movies that explore difficult themes or concepts, or movies that challenge a wide audience. Those features will be relegated to the sub $30m indie circuit.

This isn't Marvel's fault, but the continued box office success of those films enable this behavior, and until the current system collapses (don't hold your breath) I hope you're ready for nothing but comic book movies, monster movies, nostalgia bait, bad comedies, and Star Wars for the foreseeable future. That might sound good for you, but personally I'd like to see big budget movies that aren't the same regurgitated franchises directed by yes-men plucked from TV shows.

@thefantasticfillip: Well said.

Dogs are for saps. Birds are rad.

@fracture: because they are so focus tested that almost all of them are dull; out of all the Marvel movies, only two are good movies at their core, Gaurdians and Logan. It's the same reason why the newest Star Wars fils are complete trash, they taken no chances, it's just action scene followed by action scene with little to no character development. The stories are terrible.

Most of the comments I see seem to be about the format, although I could be projecting because that's how I feel. I'm actually fine with the number of people; Jeff, Brad, Jason and Rorie. That's 4 for the west and east only has 3; it's cool if they hire more, but I'm not one of those people hotly anticipating it.

Personally, I came to GB because of the Podcasts, stayed for the QLs, and signed up for Premium because the ERs and other full playthroughs like Metal Gear Scanlon. The UPF let's play 3 or 4 games for 20 to 30 mins each having done little to no pre work beforehand style shows hold almost no appeal for me. I wasn't around for the TNT days, but perhaps that is something I would have liked more, if they focused on one or two games a show.

That's just my opinion though. I don't expect every show to be for me and I don't want to convey anything other than constructive criticism, because I really do enjoy the site as a whole.

@xenocrat: i dream of one day having the capability of owning a hyacinth macaw (and cuddling the hell outta it)

Jason rocking the GTA3 protagonist look, I like it

The jackbox issue is not really an issue. Almost everyone has an internet bundle with their phone subscription these days and the data it (games in general) would use is neglectable.

I would like to apologize for my comments. I was rude and out of line.

I am deeply sorry if I offended anyone. It won't happen again.

When's the follow up to Mario Party Party i.e. Mario Kart Karty?

I like the positive turn in opinion on the Marvel movies now that Dan's gone

Jeff has obviously been very busy behind the scenes recently, it will be interesting to see what happens. Dan was a huge loss for the West Coast and UPF has really suffered, in my opinion. Hopefully Jeff can pull it around with some new faces and ideas.

I think criticism is good, and yours was better than some of the stuff that followed. Your points were valid. Just ... present them constructively is all. These guys read it and respond to it and are more receptive to their audience than most, and you can make a difference with good feedback. But they're people with feelings and shit too. There's a way to voice displeasure in a way that's beneficial to everyone.

Ehh I've been around here since 2010 and there have always been people annoyed at Brad when he plays games. Hell I remember when one user sent an email to the bombcast probably 5+ years ago when he asked Ryan if he hated Brad because he seemed particularly hostile at brad playing games (he used to be a lot worse on camera a while back) so Ryan had to clarify that he did not hate him but it was just a bad trend of him berating him when they are filming a live show/quicklook (and subsequently us not being able to see how they interact behind the scences).

I'm not saying it's excusable cuz I love my Bradley, I'm just puttin in my experience.

Several people already corrected you on this, but Giant Bomb is one of the websites and communities where it is pretty much understood (and accepted) that people like whatever they tend to like and tend to dislike whatever they tend to dislike. There is not a problem with a person if they do or do not like something. Look at Jeff's love for Skylanders and disdain for Mario Kart - many probably disagree with that, but they don't need to post it in the comments section every time Jeff is mentioned that Skylanders is bad just because he likes it.

I think people who enjoy the Halo series are missing out on better games since I am a fan of the Quake and Unreal franchise which had better gameplay/maps/community but I don't need to post "I don't understand why people like Halo". I also can't see the appeal or enjoyment of the Guardian of the Galaxy movies and hearing about it drives me crazy, but I don't need to ask that question because I understand people like what they like.

You are on the internet - it is a better conversation than people simply saying "X is trash, Y is superior". People have opinions but just to help you with your argument I don't think there is a single good Marvel movie that I would consider watching again except for Logan which is actually in my top 10 movies of all time and there is potential for the company to make better movies that appeal TO ME (not to you, or others). I like Andromeda far more than the other Mass Effect games, and actually got irritated hearing all the hate on Giant Bomb (of all the accepting places) which has actually transformed this community more into the "X is trash" ever since they started ragging on that game. I didn't need to remind people who hated that game how absolutely dreadful Dragon Age 2 (or ME 3) was because I understand people like what they like.

Going back to the Marvel movies I grew up on comic books and I thought I would absolutely adore the MCU. I liked Iron Man but I would never consider seeing it again. It was a fun movie theater movie but I've never thought I need to or want to watch it again. I also liked Ant Man but every single other one of them was boring. I fell asleep during Avengers 1 & 2 in the theaters (2 just goes and goes and feels like a 4 hour movie), considered walking out of Deadpool and I also turned off most of the Captain America movies halfway through. I guess you can not understand that but for some people there are better things to do than watch 2-3 hours of action scenes.

@wynnduffy: oh yeah logan was mostly great, if a little oppressive in tone...

@xenocrat: I swear to god that water temple level they were running around is LITERALLY the same as the East area in HLD. Like, same assets... almost to a scandalous point that shocks me because no one else has said anything yet.

@steveurkel: Essay-posting about "People like what they like and don't what they don't" is such a waste of time.

Thank you for the great Steam tip Brad, I've used it for 10 years and couldn't figure out a way to avoid the news sections shown for games.

@kishinfoulux: I vote for Brad celebration instead, we'll make a new party with floats.

Those 3 minutes were such a waste of my life. Thanks for proving a point about what has meaning to some people (writing their opinion), such as you did in this instance. Your comment was a waste of time just as much as the other guys saying he doesn't get why people don't like a thing. He didn't understand and needed someone to tell him since he was inviting discussion. Don't be "that guy".

Do not read the comments. Why haven't I learned this yet? Do not read the comments.

What's wrong with birds? Do American birds randomly attack people.

Everyday I wake up, is filled with "old guy noises" like the start of this vid.

I need glasses to stop myself from blinding myself. Welding is a dangerous drug.

It can very much feel like the lack of knowledge about certain things during Quicklooks and UPF games is due to apathy. I feel shitty for singling Brad out, but him launching H1Z1 to "see where these Battle Royale games started" really typifies this sort of attitude since this has been a popular mod since Arma 2. My intention in writing this is not to simply complain or specifically put Brad down, but he does seem to pretty consistently exhibit this behavior. Let me once again reiterate, I feel shitty for continuing the parade of negativity; one of my favorite moments in Giant Bomb history is his Mile High Club achievement in Call of Duty 4.

After reading a few of these comments I was immediately reminded of their recent reddit AMA. Here's Vinny's breakdown of the various tasks at Giant Bomb where he states that they rarely go into a game cold;

"Quick Look: 2-3 Hour game prep time. 1 hour recording time. 15-20 minute editing/processing time. 30-45 minute export time. 10 minute uploading and page generation time.

Beastcast: 2 Hour prep time. 2-3 Hour recording time. 45-60 minute editing/processing time. 10-15 minute export time. 30 minute uploading and page generation time.

Live Show: 0-2 Hour game prep time. 0-30 minute studio prep time. 2 hour recording time. 15-20 minute editing/processing time. 1 hour export time. 10 minute uploading and page generation time."

And he continued;

"Sure. There's downloading or installing the actual game. Then playing it far along enough to see if it's going to be worth QLing. Occasionally, we play things from scratch, but very rarely are we not restarting. I could probably count on two hands the times we've just gone in cold into something, at least in recent memory."

Unless I'm missinterpretting things here this struck me as waaaaaay not the case based on the amount of knowledge shown during a lot of Quicklooks and, in particular, UPF's.