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[funkystudent]

There was a bunch of smoke around the idea that Ken wanted to bail from 2K and go indie.

Maybe this is how they keep him around.

If I was 2K and had to pick between letting Ken go and Irrational contusing as a zombie studio because odds are Ken would take key talent with him OR giving Ken what he wants and getting rid of the infinite money pit that was the 5 year dev cycle of that team I know what way I might lean

 

[Xanathus]

Heh, Patrick has moved on from doing solo Quick Looks to solo Bombin the AM.

 

[razgriz417]

Heh, Patrick has moved on from doing solo Quick Looks to solo Bombin the AM.

 

[chubigans]

Heh, Patrick has moved on from doing solo Quick Looks to solo Bombin the AM.

I know most were joking earlier but...I wonder if Patrick has given any thought on breaking off from GB to go at it alone and reap the ad revenue for himself. YouTube would be his platform like many other streamers/YT personalities. I dunno.

 

[Zaph]

There was a bunch of smoke around the idea that Ken wanted to bail from 2K and go indie.

Maybe this is how they keep him around.

If I was 2K and had to pick between letting Ken go and Irrational contusing as a zombie studio because odds are Ken would take key talent with him OR giving Ken what he wants and getting rid of the infinite money pit that was the 5 year dev cycle of that team I know what way I might lean

Absolutely. And even if Ken was eager to make another massive game with Irrational, I can't imagine Take-Two funding it without a lot of caveats and control.

If you want a 100+ studio of industry vets, and a 5 year dev cycle, I think Take-Two would want Fallout and Elder Scrolls numbers in return.

I know most were joking earlier but...I wonder if Patrick has given any thought on breaking off from GB to go at it alone and reap the ad revenue for himself. YouTube would be his platform like many other streamers/YT personalities. I dunno.

Would take him years to make even close to his CBSi paycheck from Youtube/Twitch income.

 

[W1SSY]

I really would love for Unplugged: Pathfinder to come back. That was probably my favorite subscriber feature they had going.

 

[razgriz417]

Gaf got a shout out to look out for disgruntled dev stories from irrational

 

[MiniBossBattle]

Lol shoutouts to Fatbabies. It was a terrible/wonderful site about development beef.

 

[Infinite Justice]

Patrick bringing the content once again.

Hopefully this happens more often when some big news breaks out

 

[John Rabbit]

I know most were joking earlier but...I wonder if Patrick has given any thought on breaking off from GB to go at it alone and reap the ad revenue for himself. YouTube would be his platform like many other streamers/YT personalities. I dunno.

yeah but he gets to have the flexibility of a YT/streamer with the stability of a corporate employee. sounds pretty baller.

 

[Alo81]

watching the souls stream i was sure brad was going to hit a wall at some point, like the skellingtons or the mindflayers or flamelurker, but it just never happened.

he seemed to luck his way through the traps in 1-1 and then with the skelly punch technique he just discovered out of nowhere he destroyed 4-1. its like he's some kind of demon's souls savant.

any thoughts on what will finally pose more of a challenge? 5-2 is pretty annoying but soul arrow should make it ok. 4-2 and 3-2 shouldn't be too much trouble either. the only thing i can think of is

Spoiler

those two gargoyle bosses in 4-2 and the black phantoms in 1-4

but maybe you can just soul arrow them too.

I think the last boss will be a bitch for him.

He's super focused on magic and the last boss isn't very weak to it.

 

[NightmareTrigger]

I really would love for Unplugged: Pathfinder to come back. That was probably my favorite subscriber feature they had going.

It is. Rorie said it would be back once they hired another guy.

 

[popo]

I know most were joking earlier but...I wonder if Patrick has given any thought on breaking off from GB to go at it alone and reap the ad revenue for himself. YouTube would be his platform like many other streamers/YT personalities. I dunno.

Only maybe the top 10 percent earn a decent living out of that sort of thing and even then, you really have to team up with a content channel so you are not really going solo. You also have to foot all the bills yourself too. It is why not that many youtubers are at PAX, GDC, E3, Tokyo, etc.

 

[razgriz417]

more breaking news streams are great, I just really hope we don't see a ton of closures in the near future :/

 

[demidar]

It is. Rorie said it would be back once they hired another guy.

I hope his job title is "Professional Dungeon Master".

 

[Kelas]

I hope his job title is "Professional Dungeon Master".

<---- They already have one of those.

 

[Prodigal]

Looks like a Strider quick look is gonna be on the site in a little less than hour

 

[FStop7]

I know the old, ironic joke is to say "GIANT BOMB SHOULD HIRE XXXX" whenever someone leaves their job.

But with 100% dead seriousness... they should hire Shawn Elliott if it's in any way feasible.

 

[Chuck]

I know the old, ironic joke is to say "GIANT BOMB SHOULD HIRE XXXX" whenever someone leaves their job.

But with 100% dead seriousness... they should hire Shawn Elliott if it's in any way feasible.

I don't think GB would pay what Shawn was getting at IG. Also he's in Boston.

Also I don't think he'd fit in very well...

 

[funkystudent]

I know the old, ironic joke is to say "GIANT BOMB SHOULD HIRE XXXX" whenever someone leaves their job.

But with 100% dead seriousness... they should hire Shawn Elliott if it's in any way feasible.

I think he is going to stay on the other side for a while and get some more games under his belt.


Someone said in the other thread that going to Sledgehammer and churning out COD games would be a huge step down for IG employees but I bet a lot of them would jump at the chance to be credited on a game every year or 2 instead of 1 every 6.

 

[noobasuar]

Yeah I don't really feel like Shawn would fit in that well....Jeff Green would be a better fit.

And speaking of Jeff green he should quit pretending he has a job already and start something up with Shawn and Robert Ashley.

 

[BigAT]

For a website that's hired essentially one person to the core team in the last five years, some people sure like to think that anyone and everyone is joining Giant Bomb.

 

[Nihilistic Monk]

Kudos to Navarro this morning for not letting Levine off with an easy ride for essentially binning 95% of his studio. He brought up some great points and kept steering the discussion towards how this is going to be rough going for a lot of their employees.

Appreciate Patrick might be "fascinated" by what will come next for Levine with now he has a smaller team, but I'm very glad Alex kept reeling it back to the fact that this has devastated a big chunk of people. Maybe I'm turning into an old curmudgeon, but to me the story is that a shit-ton of people have lost their job with no real notice or safety net. Not what Levines next project will be.

The whole Irrational news today has left a real sour taste in my mouth.

 

[John Rabbit]

Kudos to Navarro this morning for not letting Levine off with an easy ride for essentially binning 95% of his studio. He brought up some great points and kept steering the discussion towards how this is going to be rough going for a lot of their employees.

Appreciate Patrick might be "fascinated" by what will come next for Levine with now he has a smaller team, but I'm very glad Alex kept reeling it back to the fact that this has devastated a big chunk of people. Maybe I'm turning into an old curmudgeon, but to me the story is that a shit-ton of people have lost their job with no real notice or safety net. Not what Levines next project will be.

The whole Irrational news today has left a real sour taste in my mouth.

do we actually know that Irrational employees found out with the rest of us? surely they were given an advance warning.

 

[Fox318]

Giant Bomb should hire Pauly Shore

 

[xxracerxx]

do we actually know that Irrational employees found out with the rest of us? surely they were given an advance warning.

Companies don't always let employees know in advance. At my last job they cut 75% of us without notice one morning.

 

[Samyy]

Companies don't always let employees know in advance. At my last job they cut 75% of us without notice one morning.

Errr well in Canada at least that sounds fairly illegal...
Unless they had cause...

 

[Nihilistic Monk]

do we actually know that Irrational employees found out with the rest of us? surely they were given an advance warning.

Hard to say. On the GB stream they say it appears that they were given no notice. From the tweets from people like Shawn Elliot and others now saying that they need a job, plus the fact that employees still "have access to the studio for a period of time to say their goodbyes and put together their portfolios" it sure reads that way to me.

Can't imagine 200-ish people all being told they are binned not suddenly looking for other positions and then that news leaking out before the Levine statement in all honesty.

Companies don't always let employees know in advance. At my last job they cut 75% of us without notice one morning.

Not in game dev myself, but a chap I work with was once. He worked for a Dev that took them all out to the pub for lunch as "a treat". When they got back after lunch the doors were padlocked because they'd gone bust & the administrators had seized the offices.

 

[Zaph]

When dealing with a couple hundred employees, the news is usually divulged privately and publicly within the same hour. No point waiting much longer than that as it'll most definitely get leaked.

 

[Brashnir]

Giant Bomb should hire Pauly Shore

I'm pretty sure CBSi has a strict "No Weezing the Juice" policy in the <br> room.

 

[DTKT]

Kudos to Navarro this morning for not letting Levine off with an easy ride for essentially binning 95% of his studio. He brought up some great points and kept steering the discussion towards how this is going to be rough going for a lot of their employees.

Appreciate Patrick might be "fascinated" by what will come next for Levine with now he has a smaller team, but I'm very glad Alex kept reeling it back to the fact that this has devastated a big chunk of people. Maybe I'm turning into an old curmudgeon, but to me the story is that a shit-ton of people have lost their job with no real notice or safety net. Not what Levines next project will be.

The whole Irrational news today has left a real sour taste in my mouth.

That's mostly my perspective on it. There is really no way to sugar coat it. I hope this isn't just a case of Levine going "I want to make smaller games! Fire everyone but you 10 or so awesome guys can stay". How awkward is that going to be.

I wonder if 2K gave him a choice. You either scale down or we erase Irrational.

 

[derFeef]

That podcast is going to be interesting.

 

[brianmcdoogle]

I know most were joking earlier but...I wonder if Patrick has given any thought on breaking off from GB to go at it alone and reap the ad revenue for himself. YouTube would be his platform like many other streamers/YT personalities. I dunno.

Patrick has felt like a YouTube streamer for a while. I'm not trying to bag on Patrick, but I really hate how cheap all of his videos look and sound. I feel that the quality of these videos, and I'll even include the Encyclopedia Bombasticas and JAR videos (remember when Patrick had his version of these?), kind of drag down the site.

 

[Lunzio]

That podcast is going to be interesting.

I imagine there might be a slight avoidance of being critical of Levine's perceived choice on the bombcast because they are kind of close to him.

I was happy to see Alex take what I perceived to be the well-read stance on the issue!

 

[SteveWinwood]

Here are my predictions for this weeks QLs:

Strider QL: Jeff and Brad [fake edit: got posted in the middle of this and I'm already wrong]
PVZ Garden Warfare: Jeff and Vinny [Will be terrible, and they'll constantly ask why this exists]
DKC TF: Jeff and Brad [Jeff will hate it]
EDF 2025: Brad and Vinny [Vinny will try to bug the game out as hard as possible]
Girls Like Robots: Brad and Vinny [They will spend most of their time talking about Layton and Drew will have to chime in with some of the puzzle answers to help them, will also only be like 15 mins long]
Banished: Vinny and Drew [Will be like an hour long and consist of Vinny trying to break Drew's village]
Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip to Japan~ : Brad, Vinny, and Jeff [Much laughs will be had]

I predict getting none of this right.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Patrick has felt like a YouTube streamer for a while. I'm not trying to bag on Patrick, but I really hate how cheap all of his videos look and sound. I feel that the quality of these videos, and I'll even include the Encyclopedia Bombasticas and JAR videos (remember when Patrick had his version of these?), kind of drag down the site.

Yeah, even just ditching the headphones and getting a lapel mic or cropping the mic out of frame would go a long way. We can save color balance for next year.

 

[sixghost]

Patrick has felt like a YouTube streamer for a while. I'm not trying to bag on Patrick, but I really hate how cheap all of his videos look and sound. I feel that the quality of these videos, and I'll even include the Encyclopedia Bombasticas and JAR videos (remember when Patrick had his version of these?), kind of drag down the site.

He probably should have edited out the 5 or 10 minutes where Alex dropped from the Skype call in that Irrational thing. I guess that's why they don't use Skype for the podcast.

Kudos to Navarro this morning for not letting Levine off with an easy ride for essentially binning 95% of his studio. He brought up some great points and kept steering the discussion towards how this is going to be rough going for a lot of their employees.

Appreciate Patrick might be "fascinated" by what will come next for Levine with now he has a smaller team, but I'm very glad Alex kept reeling it back to the fact that this has devastated a big chunk of people. Maybe I'm turning into an old curmudgeon, but to me the story is that a shit-ton of people have lost their job with no real notice or safety net. Not what Levines next project will be.

The whole Irrational news today has left a real sour taste in my mouth.

It doesn't seem like there's enough info out the to place blame on anyone. Maybe he was told that 2K wasn't interested in funding another 40 million dollar+ game unless it was another Bioshock game. Should he be forced to work on games which he doesn't want to make so that the studio continues to exist?

 

[Fox318]

Patrick has felt like a YouTube streamer for a while. I'm not trying to bag on Patrick, but I really hate how cheap all of his videos look and sound. I feel that the quality of these videos, and I'll even include the Encyclopedia Bombasticas and JAR videos (remember when Patrick had his version of these?), kind of drag down the site.

He could get a green screen and some solid lighting too.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Giantbomb needs a RealWorld style confessional booth where crew members just can just go give there .02cents on things.

 

[Zaph]

Patrick has felt like a YouTube streamer for a while. I'm not trying to bag on Patrick, but I really hate how cheap all of his videos look and sound. I feel that the quality of these videos, and I'll even include the Encyclopedia Bombasticas and JAR videos (remember when Patrick had his version of these?), kind of drag down the site.

Yup.

And because so much of the good, 'professional', couch footage is sub-only, their Youtube channel makes Giant Bomb look like every other low rent Youtube outfit.

Youtube is a massive source of potential memberships, they need to care more about it.

A small backdrop, even lighting and a lavalier would go a long way considering Patrick makes up so much of the non-member content.

 

[Megasoum]

Kudos to Navarro this morning for not letting Levine off with an easy ride for essentially binning 95% of his studio. He brought up some great points and kept steering the discussion towards how this is going to be rough going for a lot of their employees.

Appreciate Patrick might be "fascinated" by what will come next for Levine with now he has a smaller team, but I'm very glad Alex kept reeling it back to the fact that this has devastated a big chunk of people. Maybe I'm turning into an old curmudgeon, but to me the story is that a shit-ton of people have lost their job with no real notice or safety net. Not what Levines next project will be.

The whole Irrational news today has left a real sour taste in my mouth.

I'm not exactly suprised that Patrick would see that news as a positive for the great "indy" experience that will come out of it ignoring the fact that this "game god" just fired 100+ to get what he wants.

 

[Fox318]

Giantbomb needs a RealWorld style confessional booth where crew members just can just go give there .02cents on things.

I just hope that Giantbomb continues. It feels like with the purchase they wanted just the engineering team because of Wikia's success and they had to take the giantbomb site along with it.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

A small backdrop, even lighting and a lavalier would go a long way considering Patrick makes up so much of the non-member content.

Thats all it needs. We should make a kit for patrick with some giant foldable pieces of foam board, a couple of lights and an earpiece or directional mic so he can be without headphones and still hear the call.

 

[hamchan]

I know most were joking earlier but...I wonder if Patrick has given any thought on breaking off from GB to go at it alone and reap the ad revenue for himself. YouTube would be his platform like many other streamers/YT personalities. I dunno.

Dropping a great, secure job at GB to join the league of YouTubers sounds like the worst idea ever.

 

[mnz]

So you pretty much want the Divekick studio for Patrick.

I think he hasn't moved into his own place yet, maybe he'll change it up by then.

 

[Patrick Klepek]

It's not going to happen overnight, but I have plans for everything you guys are talking about. (Except the leaving for YouTube part.)

 

[OdysseusVA]

It's not going to happen overnight, but I have plans for everything you guys are talking about. (Except the leaving for YouTube part.)

Real World confessional booth?!

 

[Danielsan]

Glad to see that Brad enjoyed The Last Of Us: Left Behind. Nice review.

http://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/the-last-of-us-left-behind-review/1900-623/

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Judging by the whitebalance Giantbomb East is the cool side of the pillow. No doubt.

 

[Megasoum]

Glad to see that Brad enjoyed The Last Of Us: Left Behind. Nice review.

http://www.giantbomb.com/reviews/the-last-of-us-left-behind-review/1900-623/

I really need to play that...I bought it and it's even downloaded but I didn't take the time to do it yet.... Also the fact that I got the end spoiled by a douche on facebook and by a thread here on gaf that doesn't have anything to do with LoU...anyway.