An email I sent to Giantbomb

[Badfinger]

I don't know what the "shitstorm around his hiring" is, but I did feel a bit dissapointed when I first met Dan on GiantBomb. It's just another fat old dude here to talk about wrestling and the PlayStation 1.

 

Dan is a fat, old guy? You are making me feel fat, and old.

 

I think Dan is a big, dumb, idiot, but I also believe that he has completely revitalized the content GB SF is producing. They announced they were going to play MGS, and Dan was like "We're going to play all the MGS games" and everyone did the audio version of staring and shaking their head but they've made like 20 Metal Gear Scanlon videos. They do the "Jeff gets to be his wise ass self" longform with Mario Party schadenfreude. The Demo Derby is a legitimately new take on their content.

 

As weird as it is to say though, I think there need to be more than 4 voices on the Bombcast. Brad isn't as willing to go hog wild as Ryan was as the host, and Drew filling the space of Brad is less dynamic in a conversational sense because he has less directive by the nature of his job to play all kinds of video games. The thing about Jeff being the one who always has wacky antics to talk about is that he's EXTREMELY self-aware of how the world probably sees him.

 

Also Vinny. Hey, Small Business Owner...

[Reyturner]

Brad reminds me too much of myself when I'm trying to keep up in a conversation with people who are funnier and sharper than I am. He's also way too self deprecating when he's talking about the things he likes (ie dota/esports). He has an area of expertise he can share, just friggin own it man.

Yeah, when I hear that from him I think that he doesn't understand how in a just universe Maddy Myers would be there instead.

I once read an interview with Maddy Myers purely because the photo of her at the top was so interesting. Look at that photo. That is a photo of someone who is loving life.

Word. Listen to her on the Isometric Podcast!

[CollegeBaby]

Eh. Dan coming to Giant Bomb and the controversy around it is pretty much the reason I stopped listening to Bombcast and started listening to Isometric. Maybe I'd still be listening to it if Ryan and Vinny were still around, but I think over the years I have grown tired of their company culture of talking about wrestling and fast food for 3 hours as if it was the peak of Western civilization, and Dan is just the bete noire of that. I wish there was a podcast with just Drew, Brad and Rorie being nerds without Dan and Jeff shitting on them all the time.

[sucks2Bme]

I have been trying to get into the Bombcast the past two months or so. Never listened to the old ones. 

Just a quick observation/question - 

are they always so negative on games, or is it because most AAA titles released around now have had problems?

It seems like even if they mention or talk about a game they like, they backtrack and say "well, its ok, Its decent. It has its problems too." 

I just feel that they feel every game has problems, and it gives it an overall negative impression. E.g. after listening to Idle Thumbstars, I want to play the games they like and talk about. After listening to Bombcast, I don't feel like playing any Video game, ever.

[tegan]

You should absolutely listen to the old ones.

 

[JonCole]

At some point I can see them releasing a "Dan Reacts" series like that YouTube channel thing -

 

[Badfinger]

I have been trying to get into the Bombcast the past two months or so. Never listened to the old ones. 

Just a quick observation/question - 

are they always so negative on games, or is it because most AAA titles released around now have had problems?

It seems like even if they mention or talk about a game they like, they backtrack and say "well, its ok, Its decent. It has its problems too." 

I just feel that they feel every game has problems, and it gives it an overall negative impression. E.g. after listening to Idle Thumbstars, I want to play the games they like and talk about. After listening to Bombcast, I don't feel like playing any video game, ever.

 

Nope, they haven't been. Believe it or not, there have been years when big releases weren't buggy garbage or boring retreads!

 

You should definitely listen to the old ones.

 

[sucks2Bme]

Nope, they haven't been. Believe it or not, there have been years when big releases weren't buggy garbage or boring retreads!

 

You should definitely listen to the old ones.

 

 

Yea, I thought this was the case! I shall Delorian into the past episodes. Also, that clip was good, thanks! 

[twmac]

Wow, I went on holiday and didn't check this for awhile.

 

To be honest, I don't feel the same as many of his detractors and the post was meant as a light hearted dig at him but I am now starting to realise that some of his goofiness can come over as deeply offensive. The lines about him encouraging hard work is now more obviously offensive when I put it into context of what a slacker he was/is.

 

I never thought that this post would spawn these responses but I am definitely re-evaluating some of my own reactions to Dan with those posts in mind.

 

That said, still like the guy and I still think that the new Bombcasts are good (but lacking the previous enthusiasm from before - can you blame them)

[Dewar]

I like the Brad-run Bombcasts. It felt like Jeff was losing some of his interest in it and he's picked up the ball in a major way. Ryckert-wise, he's playing the heel really well, to the point I can't tell how much of it is an act, how much is real life, and how much was an act but slowly started to become his real life. In general, I enjoy his role in things, as his dismissal of various games allows the other staff to get into some really cool details without just sounding like a group of yes-men, all agreeing with each other. Jeff does the same thing sometimes (Yoshi for instance) but not quite with the flair that Dan does.

 

He's still an idiot though.

[miffy495]

I also just like having someone at Giant Bomb who is as much of an unashamed Nintendo fanboy as I am.

[BadHat]

He is 100% the Karl Pilkington of the Bombcast.

[Danielle]

 

I watched this entire thing, while eating lunch.

 

I have this severe phobia of vomiting (I actually have panic attacks associated with it), so watching something like this or The LA Beast holds a bizarre, morbid fascination for me. It's like watching a horror movie!

[Professor Video Games]

It's like watching a horror movie!

 

Dan Ryckert in a nutshell.

[Griddlelol]

The beard, the pants, the attitude. He's just Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Suddenly I love Ryckert.

[JonCole]

On a recent podcast, Dan said that Danny going to his house for Thanksgiving was part of a "cultural exchange", meaning that in a year's time he and perhaps his dad will be going home to Ireland with Danny. When asked, "Does your dad even have a passport?" Dan of course responded "probably not". I can't wait.

 

I watched this entire thing, while eating lunch.

 

I have this severe phobia of vomiting (I actually have panic attacks associated with it), so watching something like this or The LA Beast holds a bizarre, morbid fascination for me. It's like watching a horror movie!

 

If you... enjoy the horror show, Dan bet his sisters one Thanksgiving over a game of bowling where the loser had to do the milk gallon challenge. It is disgusting glorious disgusting -

 

[dibs]

The beard, the pants, the attitude. He's just Charlie from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Suddenly I love Ryckert.

 

Oh, another fictional character I can't stand:/

 

 

And did i not say this was heading for Jackass. Two vids above trying to make people vomit. They are so close to starting to hit each other in the crotch.

[Bjorn]

And did i not say this was heading for Jackass. Two vids above trying to make people vomit. They are so close to starting to hit each other in the crotch.

 

I'd watch that.

[Badfinger]

I am SO MAD at Brad Shoemaker.right now. There are times when I like Brad's absolutely stubbornheadedness, because I find he and I often align. I was fully behind Alex this year. Destiny doesn't deserve to be a Top 10 game because no matter how much you liked running back through the skinner box, there is no world where that deserves to be rewarded (plus Reaper of Souls, a better version of what Destiny was trying, got thrown unceremoniously into the garbage).

 

 

 

I'm so sad about Patrick. I wondered if his GOTY video maybe was hitting a little close to home.

[Mawd]

Remember BadFinger they can't change the top ten list in your heart.

[tegan]

I am SO MAD at Brad Shoemaker.right now. There are times when I like Brad's absolutely stubbornheadedness, because I find he and I often align. I was fully behind Alex this year. Destiny doesn't deserve to be a Top 10 game because no matter how much you liked running back through the skinner box, there is no world where that deserves to be rewarded (plus Reaper of Souls, a better version of what Destiny was trying, got thrown unceremoniously into the garbage).

 

I like the guy, but Brad has gradually become a parody of himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I'm really, really gonna miss Patrick. He was the secret best duder and I just know a bunch of assholes on the internet are gonna consider this a "victory" for some bullshit cause.

[tegan]

[gavku]

Yeah bummer about Patrick he and Vinny are probably the only reasons I still check some giantbomb content. I cant last through bombcasts any more, but some quicklooks ( depending on who's doing it ) and the occasional interview is all I really get from there nowadays....

 

Sure Patrick will be fine in whatever he decides to do

[GraysonEvans]

Ya with patrick gone I have no reason to look at Gaintbomb

 

I love a lot of the other editors but Dan is the absolute worst and it over shadows everything I love about the site.

[Badfinger]

I like the guy, but Brad has gradually become a parody of himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I'm really, really gonna miss Patrick. He was the secret best duder and I just know a bunch of assholes on the internet are gonna consider this a "victory" for some bullshit cause.

 

 

In many ways, that is me. I played SO much League of Legends in 2012/2013. For whatever reason, I haven't played that much this year. But even if it released those years, it's not a GOTY candidate in perpetuity. And fatally flawed games don't get honorable mention, especially when games of a similar type were objectively better.

 

No one does the never give an inch thing like Brad does. I wish Alex had fought him HARDER on that point, because so rarely am I in complete lockstep with him, as much as I like him.

 

I've been listening to old Best Of bombcasts, kinda want to go listen to old GOTY discussions, but man Ryan was such a good host. The thing in 2015 I'm looking forward to from GB is a whole year of Vinny and Alex actually Doing Stuff. They never really got rolling properly last year.