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Well, I'm not ascribing anything, just pointing out that they're not always on top of shit as fast as they should be.

 

Basically all the big gaming websites were slow to react to GamerGate, though, so I'm not singling out Giant Bomb by any means.

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Again, I'm not saying that every person has to make a personal statement in every media work they create on every social issue. I'm saying that Giant Bomb is a media company, albeit one framed around individual personalities, that purports to cover the culture and content of gaming as a medium, and I don't see anything wrong with it feeling weird to people, including me, that they were and are eager to cover all sorts of "gaming culture" stuff, but not when that stuff crosses an arbitrary line into "politics" that usually means dealing with issues that deviate from the straight white male experience. It doesn't seem unreasonable, especially when the GB community is quick to let huge torrents of bile flow about anything related to "social justice" or "identity politics." It's clearly a dynamic that enables toxicity in that community.

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37 minutes ago, YoThatLimp said:

 

Yeah, that was dumb, but your ascribing a scope to the Giant Bombcast that it was never meant to adhere to; you are putting it on a pedal to justify tearing it down.

 

It's like saying "Idle Thumbs never really addressed the lack of representation for People of Color in gaming" which would be absurd because the politics and leanings of the hosts are pretty apparent and the show was mainly following a fairly simple scope: what they were playing and what off-beat popculture they found interesting. 

I mean, they did talk about it (Progresscast Twelve, at the very least), but in any case no, it wouldn't be absurd. If they were conspicuously avoiding any discussion of hot-button issues in games, that would be a bone to pick with Idle Thumbs. They don't conspicuously avoid discussing hot-button issues in games, though. I don't listen to enough Giant Bomb to know if their avoidance is conspicuous, but other people in the thread are suggesting as much, and it's something I've heard fairly often, so I would imagine they have a point.

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This is why Dan is ruining the Beastcast. ):

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There was a firestorm of harassment of two women a few months before gamergate, when Giant Bomb hired Dan Ryckert. What got them attacked was saying that a major, personality driven games culture site hiring yet another white guy was, at the very least, predictable. One of those harassed women left games writing entirely as a result. GB spoke out against that relativity quickly but the response was of the "This isn't us" kind. Primarily to mean "our community is better than this" but I harbor suspicions that there was also a little "this isn't our fault, don't do this in our name". Also, they never really, publicly, discussed the criticism those women leveled at them.

 

That was what made their slow response to GG notable to me. It seemed like their major takeaway from their own (in comparison to GG) mini harassment campaign wasn't "we know what this is, we have a responsibility to come out against this" but "we don't want to be involved". That they were against the concept of targeted harassment as a rule but also didn't really take the substance of the criticism that got those women harassed seriously. The arm twisting that was involved in getting the bombers as a whole to consider Palmer Lucky a hotter mess for games than No Man's Sky in the latest end of the year deliberations made me think there's still ways for them to go.

 

This is just my own, probably uncharitable, take. Also, for individual bombers, this wasn't the case. I also think they had diversity in mind when they hired Austin Walker (though he made it a real easy call since Austin is the best guy they ever had after Ryan Davis).

 

Edit: this isn't a response to the question "why is Dan ruining the Beastcast?" Tho, I do think it contributes to why he's called out in the title of this thread. Him saying 2014 was the best year of his life without a ounce of self-awareness was a little galling.

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3 hours ago, YoThatLimp said:

I think that is a weird thing to lay at the feet of a podcast that got it start reviewing energy drinks and talking about games they are playing.

 

2 hours ago, YoThatLimp said:

 

Yeah, that was dumb, but your ascribing a scope to the Giant Bombcast that it was never meant to adhere to; you are putting it on a pedal to justify tearing it down.

 

It's like saying "Idle Thumbs never really addressed the lack of representation for People of Color in gaming" which would be absurd because the politics and leanings of the hosts are pretty apparent and the show was mainly following a fairly simple scope: what they were playing and what off-beat popculture they found interesting. 

 

I don't comment much in this thread, because I am in no way a Giant Bomb regular in any capacity to be able to speak to their content.

 

But, I do want to point something out about this for context.  GB got their start as the gaming wing of a new media conglomerate, and within a few years was acquired by CBS to be part of their web content arm.  I don't know what their actual reach/listenership is, but it's big.  They're consistently the top or one of the top shows in iTunes for not just video games, but games and hobbies period.  They're part of a huge media company.  I don't think people are looking to hold a few guys who review energy drinks and play games to a really high standard, I think they're looking to hold one of the industry leaders (in video game coverage) who has the backing of a massive corporation to a higher standard. 

I think this is really important to bring up since a couple of loose comparisons to the Thumbs have been made.  I know they might feel the same, but they aren't.  This isn't an apples to oranges comparison, it's an apples to race car comparison.  The Thumbs, and virtually all of the casts they host, are still primarily hobbies they do that hopefully pay for themselves.  There's, I'm guessing, some professional benefit for them.  It gives them individually a higher profile and it gives the projects they work on a higher profile.  But I doubt very much that's why they do it, it's just a side benefit.  But if the Thumbs were part of a half a billion dollar parent company and leveraging their position for access to devs, pubs and hardware makers, there would be a much different discussion about their place in the video game podcast world.   Conversely, if GB was a a collection of a few dudes who made this stuff as a hobby, I don't think analyzing their actions and role in the video game world would be nearly as interesting. 

tldr: The size, scope and place of GB makes their decisions regarding "political" content and events worth talking about in a way that is significantly different than something like the Thumbs. 

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Austin's presence and influence on the Beastcast was strong and has continued to echo for quite a while since his departure. The latest episode where they specifically call out PewDiePie and firmly state that it's wrong and it wasn't funny and etc. was good and true.

 

But Dan's presence is worrying. It's notable. His influence is one of "I'm a wacky guy because I'm so weird" and I hope they continue to fight that urge and continue to confront issues like PewDiePie and others from here on out.

 

I stopped listening to the Bombcast a while ago because of Dan.

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Oh my god, the Beastcast's CheatEngine PSA this week had me dying laughing while I washed the dishes just now. So good.

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8 hours ago, designiana said:

Chris and Jake are on the Bombcast this week! :tup:

 

It's really great, actually. There's more Breath of the Wild discussion, and a little bit of talk about Flinthook and Nier: Automata, but then Jake and Chris take the floor and talk about Full Throttle for a while. I know that this has probably been said before, but I would absolutely love to hear a game by game retrospective from the Thumbs crew on the classic Lucasarts games. They were a fixture of my (and many others!) childhoods, and every time Jake or Chris let themselves talk about those games on a podcast, it's fascinating stuff. I'm sure there are other podcasts that cover this, but it'd be near to hear about the various Lucasarts games from people who have developed modern story-driven adventure experiences. 

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I still can't believe that Dan won a Taco Bell contest to have his wedding in the Las Vegas Taco Bell cantina.  This feels like one of those things that makes me realize I'm in the Matrix.

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11 hours ago, RubixsQube said:

 

It's really great, actually. There's more Breath of the Wild discussion, and a little bit of talk about Flinthook and Nier: Automata, but then Jake and Chris take the floor and talk about Full Throttle for a while. I know that this has probably been said before, but I would absolutely love to hear a game by game retrospective from the Thumbs crew on the classic Lucasarts games. They were a fixture of my (and many others!) childhoods, and every time Jake or Chris let themselves talk about those games on a podcast, it's fascinating stuff. I'm sure there are other podcasts that cover this, but it'd be near to hear about the various Lucasarts games from people who have developed modern story-driven adventure experiences. 

 

Yes yes yes yes yes, I would really love that. Their conversation while playing Full Throttle on Twitch was great, I would love to hear their thoughts on the rest of the catalogue.

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11 hours ago, RubixsQube said:

 

It's really great, actually. There's more Breath of the Wild discussion, and a little bit of talk about Flinthook and Nier: Automata, but then Jake and Chris take the floor and talk about Full Throttle for a while. I know that this has probably been said before, but I would absolutely love to hear a game by game retrospective from the Thumbs crew on the classic Lucasarts games. They were a fixture of my (and many others!) childhoods, and every time Jake or Chris let themselves talk about those games on a podcast, it's fascinating stuff. I'm sure there are other podcasts that cover this, but it'd be near to hear about the various Lucasarts games from people who have developed modern story-driven adventure experiences. 

 

Yes! I loved that they took over the podcast in most discussions lol, which isn't too hard with a Brad + Jason combo and a lack of news. The Full Throttle talk was really, really cool; I've been catching up on all the Lucasarts remasters lately and I'm suuuper excited to play it. I recently finished Grim Fandango for the first time and going back to the Thumbs' old discussions about it made me appreciate that game even more.

 

I hope people's general dismissal of more Zelda talk early on (the chat was particularly insufferable) won't turn them away from the entire episode!

 

(Also! Jake's wish may have been granted: Sources: Nintendo to launch SNES mini this year Major factor for NES mini discontinuation.)

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3 hours ago, SecretAsianMan said:

I still can't believe that Dan won a Taco Bell contest to have his wedding in the Las Vegas Taco Bell cantina.  This feels like one of those things that makes me realize I'm in the Matrix.

I'd have been more surprised if he hadn't won, honestly.

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1 hour ago, designiana said:

 

Yeah, it was really funny to hear his skepticism over this exact product one day before this news. 

 

Also, this podcast could just be a satellite Idle Thumbs episodes. They talk about: the robot apocalypse, Jeff Goldblum, the weird laughter sound effect from Independence Day that the virus makes on the alien spacecraft, The Xbox naming convention, Chris uses the phrase "it's a disaster," and Jake uses the word garbage (both in his classic way of referring to himself, and ALSO as a bonus referring to actual garbage). 

 

I think it's also really interesting to hear Jake and Chris talk about Firewatch, since they made a point of not bringing it up on their own podcasts for fear of being perceived as self serving (I guess?). I suppose I could just replay the game with the commentary if I wanted more of that, though. 

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That was great. I was totally expecting that one-v-one DayZ stream between Sean and Olly to come up during the Battlegrounds discussion at the end, especially since that game kind of started as a DayZ mod.

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Looking at the Bombcast's comments really bummed me out. They seemed so negative on just about everything. I thought the episode was a little awkward, but also I think Chris and Jake bailed them out. I can't imagine them getting as much out of this news week without Thumbs around. 

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people who listen to bombcast expect grumpy old men being grumpy, so that's not too surprising

 

either that or (and this is probably more likely) the intense negative bent to bombcast just makes the comments inherently negative, and this is just a continuation of that trend?

 

(i am hyperbolizing, but jeff drives me nuts sometimes)

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Weird, which comments are bumming you out? Maybe they've been removed already, as I only really see positive comments atm?

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Looked through the comments, seems like most of the averse reactions are 1) zelda talk and 2) Chris saying soft "G" gifs. I'm personally not tired of people talking about Zelda. I listen to like half a dozen gaming podcasts and if they all talked about Zelda I'd be fine with it, but I understand. Frankly it was more like an Idle Thumbs episode where Brad brought a news sheet and a list of topics than a Bombcast. Keep circulating the soft "G" gifs, too.

 

Love this comment though.

 

Quote

obviously you have not played the real game of the year Persona 5 - you know a game with actually interesting systems and that little thing called STORY and CHARACTER that games used to be about rather than just pure mechanical systems. Bleh. I really do not understand the love for Nintendo at all. Give me playstation and Sega all the way.

Michael Moore is such an idiot and the story here simply proves it more. And wow does my movie taste disagree with the thumbs here. I do not like the idea of changing a book in a movie at all. Give me the book not some strange incorrect interpretation (like Dumbeldore as a dirty hippy) in a movie. How crazy liberal Hollywood is going to mess up Wrinkle in Time gives me nightmares.

 

Hello I am 17 AND A HALF years old and I'm here to share my opinions.

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1 hour ago, Badfinger said:

Hello I am 17 AND A HALF years old and I'm here to share my opinions.

 

"I hate liberals and love A Wrinkle in Time! Life is so unfair!"

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44 minutes ago, Badfinger said:

Looked through the comments, seems like most of the averse reactions are 1) zelda talk and 2) Chris saying soft "G" gifs. I'm personally not tired of people talking about Zelda. I listen to like half a dozen gaming podcasts and if they all talked about Zelda I'd be fine with it, but I understand. Frankly it was more like an Idle Thumbs episode where Brad brought a news sheet and a list of topics than a Bombcast. Keep circulating the soft "G" gifs, too.

 

Love this comment though.

 

 

Hello I am 17 AND A HALF years old and I'm here to share my opinions.

 

I don't pride myself on self-control, but I am proud that today I had almost prepared a whole angry rebuttal to that comment, before I realized there's no way I would ever engage this person in real life and I'd be a waste of time to do it online either. 

It just seemed like there was a weird sub-backlash going on against the Thumbs, how they talked more in-depth about games and whatnot. It felt like a weird meeting of 'New Games Journalism' types and the old school, long after that sort of thing was a thing. 

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I really liked hearing the discussion on the episode about film adaptations, especially since we are in a kind of weird moment where almost all very popular films are adapted from some other source. It's weird to me how many people just want a page-for-page, slavish adaptation of something that they've read just put onto the screen. The real joy of literature is that a good book (to me) is something that uses the written language to convey an experience that couldn't be done in the same way as film (I think that films can do the same thing, and show something that would be very difficult to write). I personally don't find the Harry Potter book series to be very good (which is not a super popular opinion, and I recognize that), and so when it came to the films, the ones that I felt were most successful (see: Prisoner of Azkaban) where the ones where they were able to play a little looser, and adapt the these overly complicated, fussy books into a more emotional and magical filmic world. And I guess I don't understand the argument on the other side? Do people just wanted to be rewarded for reading something carefully, and so they can recognize characters and lines? Like, what is SeventeenAndAHalfYearOld really afraid of when it comes to an adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time? I think that people must just consider books to be like very ornate, wordy film scripts.

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2 hours ago, Badfinger said:

Looked through the comments, seems like most of the averse reactions are 1) zelda talk and 2) Chris saying soft "G" gifs. I'm personally not tired of people talking about Zelda. I listen to like half a dozen gaming podcasts and if they all talked about Zelda I'd be fine with it, but I understand. Frankly it was more like an Idle Thumbs episode where Brad brought a news sheet and a list of topics than a Bombcast. Keep circulating the soft "G" gifs, too.

 

Love this comment though.

 

 

Hello I am 17 AND A HALF years old and I'm here to share my opinions.

 

Such a "good" comment hah.

 

Also, never Jiffs. 

 

I really liked hearing the discussion on the episode about film adaptations, especially since we are in a kind of weird moment where almost all very popular films are adapted from some other source. It's weird to me how many people just want a page-for-page, slavish adaptation of something that they've read just put onto the screen. The real joy of literature is that a good book (to me) is something that uses the written language to convey an experience that couldn't be done in the same way as film (I think that films can do the same thing, and show something that would be very difficult to write). I personally don't find the Harry Potter book series to be very good (which is not a super popular opinion, and I recognize that), and so when it came to the films, the ones that I felt were most successful (see: Prisoner of Azkaban) where the ones where they were able to play a little looser, and adapt the these overly complicated, fussy books into a more emotional and magical filmic world. And I guess I don't understand the argument on the other side? Do people just wanted to be rewarded for reading something carefully, and so they can recognize characters and lines? Like, what is SeventeenAndAHalfYearOld really afraid of when it comes to an adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time? I think that people must just consider books to be like very ornate, wordy film scripts.

 

So, if we are being honest - my knee jerk reaction is to want something as close to the original as possible. It is literally just "Hey I like that thing, make that thing!". When I think about it though I know that is totally dumb, and I think you (and Jake) are right - it's totaly boring.

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23 minutes ago, YoThatLimp said:

my knee jerk reaction is to want something as close to the original as possible. It is literally just "Hey I like that thing, make that thing!"

 

I don't know if I understand this, can you describe this feeling a little bit more? Like, not as a way of me trying to prove a point, but mostly because I want to understand the origin of this reaction, as a lot of people feel similarly. 

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