ABOUT A BOMB:
Welcome to the sixteenth NeoGAF thread for GIANT BOMB; the best video game website in the 21st century, soldier.
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Giant Bomb is a website ostensibly about video games. Once described by the site's Editor-In-Chief as "insightful but funny video game coverage", GB is that and so much more, covering all angles of the video game industry and community - whether you're looking for considered, intelligent discussion about the nature of games development, or just a bunch of guys sitting on a sofa making fun of a ridiculous simulator from the depths of Steam Early access, there's something for you here.
Giant Bomb is well into its seventh year of existence and counting. Since its humble beginnings in a Sausalito basement, with just 4 duders and a surprisingly resourceful "t-shirt guy", the site has blown up in a big way, now taking over the entirety of the United States (by which I mean San Francisco and New York City). The sky's the limit when it comes to the insanity at Giant Bomb.
You may also find discussion in this thread about Giant Bomb's sister (or is that mother?) site, Gamespot; and occurrences from friends of Giant Bomb, such as Dave Lang, John Drake and Samantha Kalman. But obviously Giant Bomb Dot Com remains the topic of the day.
THE BOMB SQUAD:
Jeff Gerstmann
Age: 40
Nationality: German?
Location: Petaluma
Aliases: Dr. Tracksuit, Big Jeffrey, The Rap Man
Abilities: Impervious to pre-release hype, unnatural comedic timing, powerful enough to launch his enemies into the sun, encyclopaedic knowledge of video games
Enemies: Iggy Azalea, Kid Rock, KoRn, Nintendo, Dave Lang. Chipotle, Wrestling, Sakura Clicker
Favourite game: Yoshi's Wooly World
Brad Shoemaker
Age: 35
Nationality: English
Location: San Francisco
Aliases: rudds, Bradx0r, XXXShoenoscoper420blazeitupXXX
Abilities: Can hear an uninformed forum post from over 50 kilometres away; voice of an angel;
Enemies: Arch-viles, NeoGAF, the basic human need for sleep, Dota 2
Favourite game: League of Legends and Destiny
Vinny Caravella
Age: 70 (post-Max)
Nationality: Sicilian
Location: New York
Aliases: The Italian Stallion, mindcavity, A wizard, Robo-Vinny
Abilities: Can destroy any aircraft in a matter of minutes; incredible violent energy can be summoned for use in open worlds; is a robot
Enemies: Pop-ups, dudes with sunglasses, the Y button, Adele
Favourite game: Bot Colony
Alex Navarro
Age: Alex is eternal
Nationality: Spanish
Location: New York
Aliases: The Wolf, Minion, not the fitness model
Abilities: Ability to keep his facial hair mostly unchanged through 3 different decades, loves Minions more than any other person on this earth
Enemies: Bad video games, Jeff Gerstmann, Dan Ryckert, haters of Minions
Favourite game: Big Rigs, any game that runs at 60fps
Drew Scanlon
Age: 21 forever
Nationality: Russian/North Korean
Location: Bay Area
Aliases: Comrade Scanlonski, funkify, Michael C. Hall
Abilities: Impeccable posture; expert archer; speaks over 50 languages; can infiltrate enemy territory; mastery over vehicles; can survive the rabies virus
Enemies: CBSi HR. That's pretty much it.
Favourite game: LEGO Island
Matt Rorie
Age:22
Nationality: Canadian
Location: Bay Area
Aliases: Matt Rorie
Abilities: Can talk to dogs
Enemies: Cats, Ian, the office vending machine
Favorite game: Alpha Protocol
D.
Age: 31
Nationality: From the South
Location: Bay Area
Aliases: Dan Ryckert
Abilities: Can do a superkick, beat the shit out of Mike Tyson, being better than Xavier Woods at Double Dash
Enemies: Monster Hunter, Alex Navarro. John T. Drake, Joe Juba, crabs
Favorite game: Everybody's Gone To The Rapture
Jason Oestreicher
Age: 49
Nationality: ¯_(?)_/¯
Location: Bay Area
Aliases: A-Striker
Abilities: Can produce the DMX Goomba any time he wants, Monster Hunting, fighting (in real life and in video games), can turn into human salt when playing video games against Dan Ryckert
Enemies: Dan Ryckert
Favorite game: The Legend Of Korra By Platinum Games
Austin Walker
Age: 30?
Nationality: Canadian
Location: Canada
Aliases: Dr. Walker
Abilities: Is probably smarter than you
Enemies: Ignorance
Favorite game: Fantasy Life
RECURRING GUESTS FROM THE CBSi FAMILY IN WEEKLY CONTENT:
Danny O'Dwyer
Age: 29
Nationality: Welsh
Location: San Francisco
Aliases: Danny Boy, Daniel, Beef O'Brady, The Notorious D.O.D.
Abilities: Really good at swearing, hosting
Enemies: A sun tan
Favorite game: Every game involving pigeon sex
Jeff Bakalar
Age: 30-something
Nationality: New Jerseyian
Location: New Jersey
Aliases: Jeff Don't Call It A Comebackalar, Jeff Quackalar, Jeff Laidbackalar, Jeff Slackalar, Jeff spektakalar, Jeff Stackalar
Abilities: Being everywhere at CBSi
Enemies: Twitter
Favorite game: NHL 15
HERE'S WHAT'S BLOWING UP RIGHT NOW:
Video:
Quick Look - The guys jump into a new release and give it a whirl for about 40 minutes or so. Unedited, no bullshit - your Giant Bomb meat 'n' potatoes.
Unfinished - Basically Quick Looks of unreleased games. It can be games in Early Access, or other forms of pre-release builds of games.
Unprofessional Friday (Premium) - Premium member exclusive show. Just 2 hours of whatever nonsense the crew feel like showing off. Giant Bomb at its most chaotic.
Demo Derby (Premium) - Dan, Drew and Jeff look at old Demo Discs across multiple platforms in this feature. Some times we get to see demos of good old classic games and other times we get to see demos of the worst games ever made.
Metal Gear Scanlon (Premium) - Drew is on a mission to play through all numbered MGS games as he has never played them before. Local MGS nut Dan Ryckert tries to help/troll Drew throughout the playthrough.
VinnyVania (Premium) - Vinny is playing through every console 2D Castlevania game, and maybe some more?
Ranking of Fighters - Jeff and Jason play different fighting games and rank them in a VERY SCIENTIFIC WAY. Right now Samurai Shodown 2 is the best fighting game of all time. This show is part of the rotating schedule of live shows every Wednesday.
Breaking Brad (Premium) - Brad plays particularly difficult games and challenges in games. Will he conquer it, or will it break him?
GBE Playdate - Vinny, Alex and Austin play 2-ish hours of a game, either as a one-off thing or as a series for one particular game.
Mario Party Party (Premium) - The Gang play 50 fucking turns of every single numbered Mario Party game. NOBODY WINS.
The Old Games Show - Jeff, Brad and other staff members play old games and talk about them. This show is part of the rotating schedule of live shows every Wednesday.
US vs. Them - GBWest takes on GBEast in this feature where a team from the east coast play against a team from the west coast in competitive multiplayer games. This show is part of the rotating schedule of live shows every Wednesday.
Encyclopedia Bombastica - Quick Looks for older games, basically. Generally comes with more of an "in the know" feel.
Giant Bomb Mailbag - The crew opens mailbags from the community. Don't just send them your trash, put some effort into it!
Jar Time (Premium) - Jeff answers questions from the community into a microphone.
Unplugged (Premium) - The gang plays various DnD games, and Avalon.
Podcast:
The Giant Bombcast - Up every Tuesday, with an accompanying thread popping up here on GAF near enough on the dot.
The Giant Beastcast - Giant Bomb's second flagship podcast, with Vinny, Alex and Austin as regulars and JEFF SPEKTAKULAR in the rotating fourth chair. Like with the Bombcast, every episode gets its own thread here on GAF.
Giant Bomb Presents - Previously Interview Dumptruck. It's the podcast feed where they can post whatever doesn't fit in the other podcasts. It's probably still gonna be mainly the GB crew interviewing a wide range of people from the industry and gaming community, and posting the mostly raw audio straight to the site.
Danswers (Premium) - Danny & Dan with a wide array of guests discuss and danswer the listeners' personal questions.
Alt+F1 (Premium) - Drew and Danny discuss F1 and a lot of random shit.
The Powerbombcast (Premium) - Alex, Jeff, Dan, Giancarlo Varanini and guests discuss the latest happenings in the world of professional wrestling.
EXPLOSIVELY USEFUL INFO:
Twitter, and GAF User Names
Brad: @bradshoemaker, rudds
Jeff: @jeffgerstmann, MonsterDunk
Vinny: @VinnyCaravella, bionicpuppy
Drew: @drewscanlon, N/A
Alex: @alex_navarro, N/A
Rorie: @frailgesture, N/A
Jason: @unastrike N/A
Dan: @DanRyckert, DanRyckert
Austin: @austin_walker, WreckTheLaw
OFFICIALLY UNOFFICIAL WEBSITES:
QLCrew: Giant Bomb Video Playlist (THE best way to search for GB videos, with lots of options)
Click here to see my list of (some of) the best premium content to watch or listen to
The Giant Bomb Unarchived Youtube Channel - If any content involving Giant Bomb members or "friends of the site" isn't archived on the site, you'll find it here - big thanks to fellow GAF members alr1ght and Zaph for keeping this channel updated!
TurboMan/xpantherx's Youtube channel with fantastic "Best Of" Giant Bomb videos
A site with 4+ hours of highlights of every year of The Giant Bombcast, going back to 2008
Thanks to Aurahack for the beautiful Ryan Davis portrait.
(Rest in peace, Ryan.)
