Welcome to the latest edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight! I, @zombiepie, am once again honored to be your host as we look back at the site-related news and best community creations from the previous week.
Unfortunately, this week saw Giant Bomb’s original programming needing to be delayed or rescheduled because of more people coming down with illnesses following PAX West 2024. Everyone is making a recovery and the staff hope to be back to the normal grind soon, but many thanks to the well wishes to Grubb and Mike in particular for you all.
Friendly reminder that friend of the site, Drew Scanlon did their yearly charity streaming fundraiser with Vinny for Bike MS last weekend, a charity that funds treatment and research for multiple sclerosis. Drew raised over $30,000, and they are still taking donations for those that missed the streams, and you can catch the VODs on their YouTube account.
However, the biggest update this week stems from the RSS feed and premium podcast feed. @turboshawn spent days looking at and working on the issue and discovered that Giant Bomb’s video host was having issues earlier this week, so he couldn’t post the episode page to the site at all. It’s up now, and the premium version of the podcast should be available as well. For those of you that noticed that yesterday’s Dumptruck premium was yesterday’s GMM, the problem has been resolved as well.
Now, for those of you that use PocketCasts, things have continued to be up and down, but here’s what Shawn is advising. If you have sudden issues first go to this page https://www.giantbomb.com/feeds/ and click “RSS” to the right of “Giant Bombcast (Premium)” (in a desktop browser, sometimes mobile redirects it to an app). Look for the text in the first couple “paragraphs” of “Most of the usual crew was out this week, so guest host Tam brings in Shawn, Niki, and Mike” (you can just search with CTRL+F). If it’s there, the RSS feed is working properly for you and it’s a Pocket Casts thing (maybe re-submit it at https://pocketcasts.com/submit/).
Luckily, we recently confirmed that the Premium version of the Bombcast rolled out to Pocket Casts, but you’ll have to re-download the new version of the RSS feed. If you are still having issues with your feed, the issue is likely on Pocket Cast’s end heard but their customer support tends to be pretty good about manually fixing things on their end if you reach out.
Finally, we are coming up to the end of Giant Bomb’s 16th Anniversary video shorts. This week Jeff Grubb shared his favorite Giant Bomb moment from his tenure, and there’s one more video coming up soon.
Tweets
I think at some point in the last few months, @JeffGrubb mentioned “Glen Powell Skibidi Toilet” so I made this but forgot about it until now.
Maybe the sequel to Twisters should be called Swirlies. pic.twitter.com/HNm1FDezNT— Pickle Giraffe (@Pickle_Giraffe) September 12, 2024
Gallery
Blightbots Club (By: @jearum)
Astro Bot seems to be all the rage this week and rightfully so. Taking a note from the game, jearum decided to make two 3D robot renders inspired by the game featuring Grubb and Mike.
Gallery
I Believe In Tolkoto (By: @CreakyLegs)
Have you been enjoying the latest edition of Blight Club with Mike playing the Wii port of Alone in the Dark? Over on Twitter, CreakyLegs sure has and the series has even caused them to make this mock campaign poster for Mike!
Activities
The GB Album Club 070 – Pokémon 25: The Album by Various Artists (Cycle Finale!) (By: @unclejam23)
This is definitely news that Jan is bound to enjoy, but the latest Giant Bomb Album of the Week pick is Pokémon 25: The Album! Have any of you given any of these tracks a listen? How about the entire album? Join the fun NOW!
Spirit Of The North Is The 19th Game Of UUGPGC Year 3! Finish By September 23! Mark All Spoilers! (By: @bigsocrates)
Spirit of the North by Infuse Studio LLC is the latest pick for the Giant Bomb Game Pass Game Club! Have any of you checked out this single-player adventure game set in a fantastical take of Iceland? If so, join the discussion over here!
Videos
RURAL ENGLAND – (Season 4 Episode 1.5) – An Animated Giant Bomb Blight Club Series (By: Pickle Giraffe)
Pickle_Giraffe has a bit of an interstitial episode this week for their Animated Giant Bomb Blight Club feature, but with a fun Niki appearance, I think you’ll find this to be a worthy edition nonetheless!
Blogs
Game OVA Season 3: Episode 3 — Ushio to Tora +
Indie Game of the Week 387: The Darkside Detective (By: @mento)
Moderator Mento is back to discuss another anime/OVA that led to retro video games you may have forgotten about! This week, they watched Ushio to Tora and even played its two video game adaptations! Read all about it!
Additionally, Mento examined The Darkside Detective with the latest edition of their “Indie Game of the Week” feature! Is there more to this pixel art point and click adventure game than nostalgia? Read to find out!
Summer Is Over But Why Is The PC Gaming Show CONTINUALLY The Worst Thing? And Why Are They Doing Two Shows Per Year Now? (By: @zombiepie)
The PC Gaming Show recently celebrated its tenth anniversary and PC Gamer this week revealed that they plan to host a Winter version of their conference in December. Moderator ZombiePie discusses why they aren’t happy with the prospect of it happening more than once a year, and speculates on why that’s the case.
Lo-Fi Plays VIII: Six Obscure Indie Gems (By: @gamer_152)
Moderator Gamer_152 did a grab-bag blog wherein they discuss and review six obscure indie video game gems. If you are interested in playing some odd ball games that are still a blast, this is the blog for you!
I Finished Astro Bot. I Really Liked It But I Think Minute For Minute Astro’s Playroom Is Better. (By: @bigsocrates)
bigsocrates has been playing Astro Bot and has been enjoying it but shares why they think they enjoy Astro’s Playroom slightly more. Read all about why they feel that way in their latest blog!
Giant Bomb Postman Collection (By: @danotech)
Here’s a fun thing for all of you to explore, danotech recently played around with the Giant Bomb API and created a Giant Bomb Postman public collection. If you want something that documents every single API endpoint, with set ups of all the query params with descriptions, and included example requests/responses; this blog is definitely up your alley!
Columbia’s Dystopia (By: @pauljeremiah)
I missed this blog last week, but pauljeremiah penned an essay about BioShock Infinite and discussed its depictions and notions of what shape dsytopia might take.
Discussion Threads
PlayStation 5 Pro Will Cost $700 (By: @av_gamer)
Well… there’s no dancing around the news, the PlayStation 5 Pro will cost $699.99, £699.99, €799.99, and ¥119,980. Sony is also selling the disc drive separately. Are you still interested at this price?
Jason Schreier Says That The “Entire Staff” Of Annapurna Interactive Has Resigned (By: @bigsocrates)
The recent news surrounding Annapurna Interactive is definitely shocking. Do any of you have gut reactions to what has been reported? Get a handy rundown of the news about the mass resignations and share what you think happens next.
Frostpunk 2 Hype Thread (By: @atheistpreacher)
Frostpunk 2 is coming out next week! Are there any Frostpunk fans in the Giant Bomb community that can’t wait to play the sequel? Did any of you follow the preview coverage of the game?
Xbox Is Laying Off Another 650 People (By: @bigsocrates)
650 employees have been laid off from the Xbox Game Studios division. Phil Spencer later clarified that no games have been cancelled and there were no studio closures, but the FTC has renewed its criticism of Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard, Inc..
The Crew 2 And The Crew Motorfest Are Both Confirmed To Have An Offline Patch (By: @gtxforza)
It appears that a lifeline is coming to The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest! Ubisoft has recently announced that both games will have offline modes that allow players to continue enjoying the games!
25 Years Ago The Dreamcast Had Arguably The Greatest Launch Library In History And Quickly Died, While Being Awesome (By: @bigsocrates)
The Sega Dreamcast is now over twenty-five-years-old! Are there any of you out there that have played a game on the Dreamcast? What are your favorite games on the platform?
Lists
Top 25 Astro Bot Snubs (By: @marino)
Moderator Marino found Astro Bot to be an incredible game and it is likely bound to be his 2024 GOTY. However, they couldn’t help but notice a few missed opportunities for the game to provide even more PlayStation-based fan service. Here are the top 25(ish) Sony-published characters he wished were represented.
Best Of 1997 (By: @lelcar)
1997 is considered one of the best years in video game history. Whether it be Final Fantasy VII, SOTN, GoldenEye, or many other titles, the year was PACKED! user Lelcar tried to make a GOTY list for the year and you can join them!
Reviews
@geimers‘ American Gladiators review shares why they think the game not only deserves its reputation as one of the worst games ever made but also that it might be one of the most mean-spirited games to ever grace the hobby.
Wiki Page Of The Week
If you wanted to know what some of the more obscure references and cameos in Astro Bot represent or come from, then our wiki page for the game is for you!
@marino has done an AMAZING job listing all 173 cameo bots you can find and lists them with the cheeky names the devs gave them along with their actual names and what franchise they’re from.
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