Giant Bomb isn’t going back to the couch…ever

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Brute

Brute

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I can't find a GAF thread on this but it was discussed on their most recent Bombcast.

Surely this is the end now? The quality of their 'content' is really bad now. Jan is still streaming from in front of his refrigerator, Jeff still hates everything, Voidburger is more annoying than Abby and Jason doesn't speak.

Giant Bomb was at its best when two or three of the dudes dusted off a Sega Genesis and jumped on the couch to actually play video games.

Now it's just Jeff Bakalar trying to force content on them that they don't actually want to make.
 
I really hate to trash Giant Bomb out of respect for what they once were. I moved away from home when I was like 22 and worked night shifts in a new city and had barely any friends. The original GB crew kept me company during those first difficult years and I'll forever be grateful.

But idk what the point of it is now. I know the last wave with Ben, Dan, and Abby etc had some haters, but i still enjoyed it and Vinny and Brad were still there to glue everything together. But there wasn't a deep bench, and Jeff isn't enough to keep me interested with the people left.

Frankly I think the only reason Giant Bomb is still around is because Jeff has a wife and 2 kids now and needs the security of a job with benefits from a big corporation. I don't begrudge him that at all, I'm a new dad myself. But the content just isn't there.
 
Amory said:
I really hate to trash Giant Bomb out of respect for what they once were. I moved away from home when I was like 22 and worked night shifts in a new city and had barely any friends. The original GB crew kept me company during those first difficult years and I'll forever be grateful.

But idk what the point of it is now. I know the last wave with Ben, Dan, and Abby etc had some haters, but i still enjoyed it and Vinny and Brad were still there to glue everything together. But there wasn't a deep bench, and Jeff isn't enough to keep me interested with the people left.

Frankly I think the only reason Giant Bomb is still around is because Jeff has a wife and 2 kids now and needs the security of a job with benefits from a big corporation. I don't begrudge him that at all, I'm a new dad myself. But the content just isn't there.
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Yeah I'm with you. They kept me company when I was going through a dark time in my life.

I don't even recognise the site anymore. Who is it even for? They don't cover video games.
 
I thought Jeff should have gone the solo streaming route a long time ago. The last time I tuned into GiantBomb, their great idea for the site was outsourcing content which seems like the antithesis of why people visited the site in the first place (collaborative, personality driven content). Independent content creators had long caught up to GiantBomb's production values when they were still "on the couch" and they've fallen farther behind since being work at home. No idea how Nextlanders is doing, but Dan even surpassed them doing streaming as a side project.
 
bender said:
I thought Jeff should have gone the solo streaming route a long time ago. The last time I tuned into GiantBomb, their great idea for the site was outsourcing content which seems like the antithesis of why people visited the site in the first place (collaborative, personality driven content). Independent content creators had long caught up to GiantBomb's production values when they were still "on the couch" and they've fallen farther behind since being work at home. No idea how Nextlanders is doing, but Dan even surpassed them doing streaming as a side project.
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Nextlander is pretty good. It's basically old Giant Bomb. A few friends sitting around playing video games, laughing, chatting, shooting the shit.

Jeff Bakalar's vision for Giant Bomb will be it's downfall I suspect. Some of their new shows are really bad.
 
It's really sad to see what's happened to that site. For those that say Nextlander is old GB - no, not really. There was something special with all the guys involved with it. Something so organic, so real, so much fun that is so obviously gone right now. It's a bummer but I rather focus on the fact they created so much at the time and congratulate them for absolutely nailing it when so many were in the pockets of the video game corps.
 
Majima Everywhere System said:
Jan is good leave him be.
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Yeah, that means im done too. Ill still watch jeff. But the appeal of giant bomb was them togeather, going to shows togeather, sitting on the couch togeather. Im not interested in modern giant bomb or next lander without that. They are a great group, a lot of talent and personality, but im not interested anymore
 
I hope they figure themselves out soon. It was good there for a bit, then they brought Ben back and I took a some time away. Then they said he was leaving and I jumped back in. After giving the new girl a listen, I discovered she is Abby 2.0 with a tho for Silent Hill. How frustrating.
 
Brute said:
Yep. They'll all stream from their homes like they have been doing for the last year or so. No more Giant Bomb from the office/studio.
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The thread title is somewhat incorrect if this happens to be the case. Usually when somebody is "on the couch" it's referring to them being at home. The GiantBomb staff are working from the comfort of their homes, so technically they are on the couch.
 
AlteredForms said:
The thread title is somewhat incorrect if this happens to be the case. Usually when somebody is "on the couch" it's referring to them being at home. The GiantBomb staff are working from the comfort of their homes, so technically they are on the couch.
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Their studio setup often featured a couch.
 
ya the couch was also part of the GB lore so the title is perfectly fine the way it is.

Brad is kind of the sucker for staying in SF this whole time. I listened to a few nextlander podcasts it feels pretty pointless its the beastcast but somehow more boring.

whiskey media giantbomb was god tier looking back, even Patrick was funny before becoming a complete chode.
 
I don't know what that means and I don't think I care.
What's Giant Bomb?
 
I stopped listening to them when everything became remote podcasting. Sure the show was bad when Rykert left, but the final blow was the lockdown. It sounded like they all gave up and I didn't need negativity when I was traveling during a pandemic.
 
AJUMP23 said:
Bakalar should just go to Nextlander. Or back to CNET.
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Nextlander is arguably even worse. I do feel for Bakalar tho. He clearly doesn't wanna be there.


AlteredForms said:
The thread title is somewhat incorrect if this happens to be the case. Usually when somebody is "on the couch" it's referring to them being at home. The GiantBomb staff are working from the comfort of their homes, so technically they are on the couch.
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Eh I still listen weekly. Gerstmann always gonna drop some retro gear news for me, Bakalar can be kinda funny in his gruff east coast way, I think Jan's enthusiasm is endearing, Jason…doesn't talk much and for as annoying as her enthusiasm and reliance on the f word is, the new girl at least is really into gaming and doesn't sound lost in any conversation
 
Bakalar could probably be a decent youtuber streamer on his own terms. Everybody else is wearing dead man's shoes.
 
Coolwhhip said:
I never got the appeal of that bitter fat dude.
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sure-jeff-gerstmann.gif

Say what you will about modern gb, but jeff rules. That guy made videos about him cleaning his garage entertaining. Alot of talented people have made up gb over the years, even if the modern iteration isnt for me, they work hard to put out content. Also, no need to bring anyones weight into this, thats kind of shitty.
 
All good things come to an end. Giant Bomb was the GOAT gaming podcast IMO back in their heyday and no one can ever take that away from them.

And I really like Nextlander. I hope they can turn that into something more resembling old school GB as the pandemic winds to a close and people are able to more easily get back to a normal way of doing these kinds of productions.
 
BadBurger said:
All good things come to an end. Giant Bomb was the GOAT gaming podcast IMO back in their heyday and no one can ever take that away from them.

And I really like Nextlander. I hope they can turn that into something more resembling old school GB as the pandemic winds to a close and people are able to more easily get back to a normal way of doing these kinds of productions.
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Im optomistic too, though i think these guys alll live far enough from eachother that virtual
Is the future from now on, it sucks, but it is what it is.
 
DarksydeBender said:
Is it? Bummer. I guess it's not terrible surprising as you'd need Vinny to carry the personality load with how somber Alex can be and milquetoast Brad often comes of as.
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Biggest gripe for me is how they're always a week or two behind in terms of games they play or discuss. They're never on top of things.
 
Coolwhhip said:
I never got the appeal of that bitter fat dude.
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Giant Bomb basically came about because he had the balls to tell the big wigs at Gamespot to fuck off when they wanted him to alter a review to keep a sponsor happy.

Dude played Mario 3 on a roller coaster with Ryckert.

He knows more about cool retro game shit without going into total dweeb shit than anyone I listen to

Maybe he comes off as curmudgeonly sometimes about new shit, but a lot of new shit just sucks, so he's not wrong. And he's pretty funny in his grumpy old man way.

Anyway, Gerstmann is alright by me.

Oh I also think the voicemail show is pretty damn gold most times
 
It's a shame what has become of GB, but it's not all that surprising. Splitting up the crew, every hire after Dan being a total miss, and one corporate buyout after another just took the life out of the site.
 
Thaedolus said:
Giant Bomb basically came about because he had the balls to tell the big wigs at Gamespot to fuck off when they wanted him to alter a review to keep a sponsor happy.

Dude played Mario 3 on a roller coaster with Ryckert.

He knows more about cool retro game shit without going into total dweeb shit than anyone I listen to

Maybe he comes off as curmudgeonly sometimes about new shit, but a lot of new shit just sucks, so he's not wrong. And he's pretty funny in his grumpy old man way.

Anyway, Gerstmann is alright by me.

Oh I also think the voicemail show is pretty damn gold most times
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Agree with this. Jeff is a cool guy and he will know deep down that GB is terrible now. I think he's just going through the motions with it all - and who can blame him, he's got two kids now, a wife, a new house. He's collecting the pay check and getting on with his life.

The site is a shit show now. It's not even about games half of the time.
 
After years of faithful listening, I stopped listening to GB last year. In fact, the only gaming podcast I still listen to is Jaffe's. That scene needs some fresh blood and some new ideas. Kyle Bowman is still great, but he's YouTube only now.
 
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