• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Giant Bomb X | Built-In Automatic Death Thing For Secret People

B

Bacon

Member
The Dutch Slayer said:
OK THAT is why I could not find the thread anymore !!! :O:O

NO WAY why did it move over :(:(.

Now all future GB gaf threads will die off a slow dead just like every other topic that goes to community :(
Click to expand...

Community threads are great! It's where I spend most of my time on gaf.

The only community threads that die are those that are devoted to single player games that people eventually move on from/all avenues of conversation are exhausted.
 
M

Myggen

Member
NumberThree said:
Thank god for premium. Rock, Paper, Shotgun also started a subscription service a while back, it seems to be the only way to survive if you want to keep your site from becoming just an advertising platform.
Click to expand...

The display ad model is a vicious circle of death for sites: People started using adblock to get rid of ads, because of that sites began accepting more intrusive ads to get more revenue from less views, so more people started using adblock and so on. As I said in that GB thread, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot more in-video ads from both more traditional sites and Youtube personalities ("this video was sponsored by...").

But yeah I agree, GB was ahead of its time with the subscription model and I'm glad they did it.

edit: Interesting that a site like RPS is trying a subscription model out. On one side I can see it working because it's a niche site with a dedicated audience, but on the other side I'm always sceptical when sites who aren't personality-driven go this route.
 
T

The Dutch Slayer

Member
SickWheelchairCombos said:
Subscribe, muthafucka!
Click to expand...
I have never used that on gaf just use this:

bU86PJ1.jpg
 
T

The Dutch Slayer

Member
SlowRevolution said:
man, patrick's articles have been so sloppy lately.
Click to expand...
Yeah I think so too, pretty short witch is fine, but just really that creative or interesting.
If possible at all he should really dig into a story and just go with it for a longer time or do stuff like first Season of the walking dead.

I know that is very hard because this industry is pretty much locked up but still now he knows some people who will talk by now right pat? :O

Maybe its just because review season is full on and between now and January its just not possible but that makes me a little sad, because I like reading Pat his stuff when its good.
 
N

NumberThree

Member
Myggen said:
edit: Interesting that a site like RPS is trying a subscription model out. On one side I can see it working because it's a niche site with a dedicated audience, but on the other side I'm always sceptical when sites who aren't personality-driven go this route.
Click to expand...

I'd say RPS is fairly personality driven, even if it's not as obvious as a site that produces video content. It helps that they write articles like this and this.
 
T

tchocky

Member
The Dutch Slayer said:
Yeah I think so too, pretty short witch is fine, but just really that creative or interesting.
If possible at all he should really dig into a story and just go with it for a longer time or do stuff like first Season of the walking dead.

I know that is very hard because this industry is pretty much locked up but still now he knows some people who will talk by now right pat? :O

Maybe its just because review season is full on and between now and January its just not possible but that makes me a little sad, because I like reading Pat his stuff when its good.
Click to expand...

I wonder if he's working on some more in-depth pieces that are taking a long time hem et with that speed runner that he said would be content eventually, he has taken a few trips in the last month or so I know this week is a friends wedding but he went to Seattle a few weeks ago and I don't think he mentioned a reason of course it could just be personal life but lots of devs in that area he could have done something with. He has said on tumblr that the hiring of Dan/Jason have allowed him to do things he is interested in without the pressure of making sure their is content on the site every day and he has always wanted to do more in-depth pieces but has said they take longer to come together.
 
D

daydream

Banned
SlowRevolution said:
man, patrick's articles have been so sloppy lately.
Click to expand...

The 'Evolution of Death' one is certainly bad. Poor and extremely incomplete choice of examples, lack of direction/hypothesis, severe leaps in logic and argument, etc. I'm just not sure what Patrick is going for with his writing. Maybe it's supposed to be closer to a quick blog post? The title of the article has been in the schedule for a few days, though.

It's a shame, really. I love Patrick on videos, whether it's with the crew or solo, but every time I check out his written stuff, I'm.. baffled.

The Dutch Slayer said:
Yeah I think so too, pretty short witch is fine, but just really that creative or interesting.
If possible at all he should really dig into a story and just go with it for a longer time or do stuff like first Season of the walking dead..
Click to expand...

Agreed. It seems to me he is trying to inch closer to games criticism, away from news reporting and investigative reporting. Or at least a mix of both. I think he should stick to the latter (two), though.
 
M

Myggen

Member
TharpDaddy said:
Both Jeff and Brad have been playing a lot of Sunset Overdrive. I hope they're allowed to give impressions on the podcast.
Click to expand...

Brad said on Twitter that he's working on a review right now (didn't say which game), so I'm guessing he's gonna review it. The game isn't out before the 28th though, so I bet they can't talk about it yet.
 
T

TharpDaddy

Member
Myggen said:
Brad said on Twitter that he's working on a review right now (didn't say which game), so I'm guessing he's gonna review it. The game isn't out before the 28th though, so I bet they can't talk about it yet.
Click to expand...

I've been hearing that Microsoft is being surprisingly lenient about stuff. The first 2 hours can be streamed and people are allowed to give critical impressions if they so desire. So they might have some restrictions on what they can talk about, but we might get some light impressions.
 
M

Myggen

Member
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
random tangentially related comment: Tim Turi, the guy who plays the games on the Game Informer super replays, is the best. He absolutely makes these things. He plays games in a way that people around here would absolutely kill for (patiently), he likes games that are a little rough around the edges from a usability standpoint (not exactly something GB is known for) and he's genuinely hilarious (but his jokes are rarely picked up and ran with).

Tim Turi for new GB hire / every quick look.
 
B

Bacon

Member
Rez said:
random tangentially related comment: Tim Turi, the guy who plays the games on the Game Informer super replays, is the best. He absolutely makes these things. He plays games in a way that people around here would absolutely kill for (patiently), he likes games that are a little rough around the edges from a usability standpoint (not exactly something GB is known for) and he's genuinely hilarious (but his jokes are rarely picked up and ran with).

Tim Turi for new GB hire / every quick look.
Click to expand...

New gbeast hire confirmed?
 
M

Myggen

Member
Another Jeff response about journalism ethics in a GB thread, if anyone's interested. The first quote is the post he responded to, the second is his response.

@jeff: I just want to know why some games writers seem to find the idea of disclosure so unacceptable. One of the reasons I really trust this site is because you have taken the stance that disclosure is the best way to handle things that might look shady. But then we get people like Leigh Alexander who argue that its 100% fine to give undisclosed amounts of money to indie developers on Patreon. You said that you don't think there is a problem with Patreon contributions if there is disclosure, but it seems like when this idea is mentioned to some of these other people, they throw their arms up and get incredulous because how dare you think they are corrupt! Which is sad, because the real idea behind disclosure is preventing that kind of thing in the first place. I don't think a lot of people seem to understand that even the appearance of corruption is something you want to avoid, even if you are 100% on the up and up.
Click to expand...
I think this is the tricky part. Generally, I agree with you, disclosure is a great thing that heads-off a lot of potential problems. In a lot of ways, by the way we're video-focused and fairly open with our business, the site itself almost serves as one big piece of disclosure. But at some point you have to question the relevance of a thing and decide if that matters one way or the other.

"Subscribing" to a game maker on Patreon isn't that far off from subscribing to an MMO. Or buying a game with your own money. That's something I've done plenty of times over my career, but does it matter? In some cases, the opposite should matter, shouldn't it? Think about this:

A lifetime subscription to Star Trek Online was $300 at launch. What's worse? If I pay for that out of pocket or if the company making the game provides me with something valued at $300 for free? Does it make a difference if I then get reimbursed by my company for that purchase, since it may have been purchased for coverage purposes? In many ways, buying everything and not accepting anything for free is actually the more "noble" approach. But it's also unrealistic and there's sort of a basic understanding that, by and large, we receive product for review for free.

In this case, by the way, I paid for it out of my own pocket and didn't make my company eat the cost for my own stupidity.

Here's a more insidious example: There are people out there who work in the video game industry and produce products that we cover who pay for their own subscription to our site. I wouldn't be shocked if some of them were reimbursed by their company for the expense. Now, I don't dig through the user logs and I don't know how many or, in most cases, who those people are. But they are literally paying us money for our service. Is that bad? Should there be a note on every page that says "someone who pays us might have made this game, we don't actually know?"

The key is to figure out the line and stick to it. What do you disclose and when? Why do you do it? Why do you not do it? I think every publication (though, in your case, the person you're talking about is a freelancer, I think) needs to decide that for itself. Over-disclosure makes the whole process useless. If I go see a game at an event and happen to eat one of their crappy sandwiches while I'm there, is that relevant? Or do you trust that I, as a professional, can handle the weighty task of reviewing a video game without letting that sandwich get in my way?

Personally, I don't think paying for a game developer's Patreon is very different from buying a game and covering it. It doesn't immediately seem like a thing that MUST be disclosed. At some point the rules need to apply equally to both Activision and the one-person developer making small games in a basement.

One more thing on the "appearance of corruption." You're not wrong, it's something that's worth avoiding. But at some point, it becomes easy to take that too far in a way that no one actually cares about. For example, back at GameSpot we spent a lot of time going over reviews in an effort to make them "bulletproof" to most of the typical forms of message board criticism. We didn't want people to come back and shout about being on the take or how we prefer one console to the other, or whatever else they were yelling about back then. Despite our best efforts, people shouted anyway. When ambiguities in the text no longer existed and gave people easy (yet false) arguments, they simply made them up and started inventing conspiracies. At some point, it was no longer worth spending the extra time in an attempt to shut those knuckleheads down when they were just going to invent crap anyway. Meanwhile our closest competition did all sorts of stuff that made us cringe constantly. And no one in the audience actually cared about it. The people griping about our coverage weren't out there trying to make the media better or searching for corruption. They were just fanboys, angry about a review score. At some point you have to write those people off and carry on, knowing that they'll always be there to make up some wild nonsense about how you do your job. You can disclose all you want, but people like that aren't interested in facts.
Click to expand...
 
M

Myggen

Member
SickWheelchairCombos said:
When do Jeff and Vinny start to use stat moves? They're avoiding Tarukaja like the plague
Click to expand...

Just go with the flow, don't focus on how they play. I remember people almost having strokes in the comment section during that ER because they wanted them TO PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They get where they need to go.
 
M

Myggen

Member
Curufinwe said:
Our closest competition... How ignteresting.

Thanks for posting Jeff's post.
Click to expand...

Hah, yeah it's pretty clear that that's a jab at IGN.

It has been really interesting to follow Jeff's posts on the forum today. He has spent a lot of his career thinking about this stuff, so it's not surprising that he has some good answers. I especially like his Patreon stance. It's also fascinating to see how many people actually expect the games media to follow stricter ethics rules than the New York Times.
 
C

Curufinwe

Member
Myggen said:
Just go with the flow, don't focus on how they play. I remember people almost having strokes in the comment section during that ER because they wanted them TO PLAY THE RIGHT WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They get where they need to go.
Click to expand...

There was a little more urgency back then because it seemed possible they were to going to ignore/be confused by enough stuff in the game that they would actually get stuck. I remember being frustrated by how long it took them to follow the widespread advice to buy TaP sodas, and then when they finally bought them Vinny tried to use them in battle instead of between battles.

But it all worked out in the end so anyone watching it now doesn't need to worry. I think the worst missed opportunity was them not finishing Kanji's S.Link.
 
P

popo

Member
What the hell happened in the gb forum thread about Jeff's letter?

Brianna Wu is on the first page thanking GB for addressing the issue and by the end of the thread - it is now locked for good - she is totally slating them: rehashing the Tomb Raider GOTY nonsense, complaining that they don't sell t-shirts in women's sizes, accusing them of wrecking careers and asking how Jeff sleeps at night.

e.g.

Look, if my company did something that cost someone their career, you'd better believe I'd reach out to them. Privately, publicly. They only delivered a statement after she'd chosen to leave the industry. I'm not trying to be dramatic, but I don't understand how Jeff Gerstmann sleeps at night. I can only guess that he doesn't care.
Click to expand...

I am slowly working back through the thread trying to see what caused her change her stance but it is long and hard going.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Prime Video Orders Animated Video Game Anthology Series ‘Secret Level’ From ‘Love, Death & Robots’ Creator
News
11
649
blastprocessor replied
Giantbomb gives their opinion on diversity in the gaming industry
Drama Community Cringe 2 3 4 5 6
271
23K
kapshin replied
GTA 3 (Dreamcast "Super Early Version" vs PlayStation 2) - Gameplay Comparison
Retro Trailer Indie 2 3
111
11K
saintjules replied
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition – Coming March 20th, 2025 (Nintendo Switch)
News 5 6 7 8 9
428
13K
Shifty1897 replied
Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil and Death Stranding IoS ports have bombed
Sales-Age Platform 2
67
4K
Gamer_By_Proxy replied
Top Bottom