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.
Great news everyone! The lifetime premium subscriptions that people bought when tickets to Giant Bomb’s Summer Game Fest live panel were available should be LIVE! If you scroll to your avatar on the upper right hand part of the screen and then click “Billing,” if you bought the lifetime subscription, your subscription should be changed. Either the expiration date on your premium sub is 2099 or 2199.
That’s not to say things are working perfectly for everyone and if you bought a lifetime premium subscription and your subscription is not showing a new modified expiration date, please send an email to [email protected] OR head over to the Giant Bomb Discord and drop a comment in the “Site-Tech-Issues” section. The Discord is also where you should be able to reap the benefits of a premium-only chat channel, and if the system isn’t linking you to that feel free to chime in that you need help.
The site is also continuing with its 16th anniversary celebrations with a series of staff and guest YouTube shorts in which people share their favorite Giant Bomb moments throughout the ages. So far, Dan, Danny O’Dwyer, and Bailey Meyers have shared their favorite memories and you can expect more shorts on the Giant Bomb YouTube account in the coming weeks!
Finally, it’s been a while since I reminded everyone about how to get social media posts promoting the best community stuff, so I thought I would end the intro with that this week. You can find me sharing threads, lists, reviews, blogs, and community-created works of art on Twitter/X, Bluesky, and Cohost. If any of you would like to see me take up a different or new social media platform to keep you posted, feel free to let me know. For now, if you use any of these platforms, please consider following me.
Tweets
Galleria
Giant Bomb Discord Mike Minotti Bike Memes (By: @referendaPanda, @theMaximumYeti, CHUCKLENUGGETS, and Greg Pivo)
Also, the link here sends you to the official Giant Bomb Discord! If you haven’t already joined, please do so and you will be able to see works of art like these ones the moment they come out!
Gallery
Bike Minotti x E.T. (By: @jearum)
A while back, you may recall jearum making a photoshop goodie in which Jeff Grubb was E.T. as Elliot’s bicycle begins to ride into the sky. With Mike now being in a position to top that bike, they made these two excellent works.
Gallery
Keep Rollin’ Rollin’ Rollin’ (By: @marino)
Marino couldn’t help but join the Bike Minotti photoshopping fun as well and had him coming down the ramp at WrestleMania XIX as maybe the most legendary motocyclist wrestler of all-time, Biker Taker!
Bike Minotti Being A Menace In Video Games (By: KONE)
What would a staff-related meme be without that staff member photoshopped into some video games! The first sees Mike impressing Jessie in Final fantasy VII Remake and the other sees a more nostalgic twist with him in Wave Race 64.
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Bike Minotti Throughout Real-Life & Historical Video Game Moments – A Thread (By: @PurplesnickNick)
Over on Twitter/X, PurplesnickNick decided to
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Other Twitter Creations At Mike’s Expense (By: @KinguAmoz, @LoungerLoun1, @JeffDunhamBlaze, @nickseifert, @Bulbastroyed43, @AntiMacro, and @BungleNoMore)
And here’s all of the other Twitter responses to the Mike Minotti on a bike image. As I have already said, there’s no way I got everything and if I missed promoting your artwork or photoshop, please drop a link to it in the comments section and I promise to promote it next week. Also, please consider clicking the linked usernames as most direct you to the social media accounts that made these fun images. As I try to remind people, support artists however you can!
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Activities
The GB Album Club 063 – To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar (By: @unclejam23)
To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar is the latest pick of the Giant Bomb Album of the Week Club! Kendrick is currently taking a victory lap for winning the biggest rap battle ever, but what do you think about this album? Is it GOAT tier?
Unsanctioned Unofficial Game Pass Game Club Voting Thread For Cycle Starting July 15 2024 +
Bluey: The Videogame Is The 14th Game Of UUGPGC Year 3! Finish By July 15. Mark Spoilers (By: @bigsocrates)
It is time for another round of voting for the Game Pass Game Club! The nominees for this round are included below and remember, you can VOTE FOR TWO you want the group to play next! Also suggest future nominees.
Don’t forget that Bluey: The Videogame is the latest pick for the Giant Bomb Game Pass Game Club! Do any of you out there watch the show? Does the game represent the source material well or is it a shameless cash grab?
Video
noclip ON – An Animated Giant Bomb Blight Club Series (S.3 Ep.7.5) (By: Pickle Giraffe)
Let’s give a huge round of applause to Pickle_Giraffe this week as they not only managed to make TWO videos on Twitter/X super-imposing Mike into iconic motocycle movie scnes, but they also published a new episode of their Blight Club Animated series!
Blogs
Cold Steel – Several Hundred Hours of Nothing at All (By: @sparky_buzzsaw)
Sparky_Buzzsaw, finally finished The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (i.e., Trails of Cold Steel IV) and while there’s a lot they liked about it, there’s a lot that annoyed the Hell out of them. In particular, they were not a fan of Rean Schwarzer.
The Game Pass Price Increase Is Here, And The Same Week MS Advertises “You Don’t Need An Xbox To Play Xbox” (By: @zombiepie)
Console Game Pass is on the way out and PC/Xbox Game Pass and Ultimate are getting more expensive. What does Microsoft do next and how should consumers react? Moderator ZombiePie writes about it and you can join their discussion.
All PS1 Games In Order: Part 032 (By: @borgmaster)
borgmaster is back with another nostalgic trip down memory lane with the PlayStation. This week, they discuss and assess Adidas Power Soccer, Beyond the Beyond, The Final Round, and The King of Fighters ’95! Do any of these games ring a bell?
Reload Ramblings (By: @mooseymcman)
Friend of the site, MooseyMcMan, finally completed Persona 3 Reload and penned an epic essay and review on why the world and characters fell more alive than ever before, even if the game sometimes got on their nerves. Read more and join their conversation!
Mega Archive CD: Part X: From Alshark to Prize Fighter +
Indie Game of the Week 378: Inmost (By: @mento)
Moderator Mento has another tour through a bunch of Sega CD games! This week, they covered titles that released on the platform on November and December of 1993! Read all about the games and how they have spruced up their wiki pages!
Likewise, for the latest edition of their “Indie Game of the Week” series they checked out Inmost by Lithuanian studio Hidden Layer Games! Read about why they think this 2D pixel art puzzle-platformer has more than a heaping pinch of Eric Chahi in it.
The “Live App” Constant UI Change Era Is Hell On Old People +
Trying Zenless Zone Zero Reminded Me That Gacha Mechanics Are Only For Whales. Promoting These Games Is Sleazy. (By: @bigsocrates)
Have you had to help an older relative learn how to use an app for something as basic as customer service? bigsocrates penned an essay about their fears of the seniors in their life staying current with UI/app updates.
Additionally, bigsocrates isn’t normally a huge gacha fan, but gave Zenless Zone Zero a shot after it got some positive buzz on the internet. However, read why they cannot help but worry about its gacha hooks being an afterthought in reviews.
Field Report V: Halo Infinite Two And A Half Years In (By: @gamer_152)
Is Halo Infinite in a death spiral? Moderator Gamer_152 explains on their latest blog on why it feels that way and how the state of Firefight and 343 clearly extricating itself of the game speaks of its incredibly depressing year.
Learning To “Learn” … Kinda Sucks (By: @narficacid)
People are rightfully excited about the Capcom Collection, but narficacid shares on the forums why they can’t help but be a little pessimistic considering that era of fighting game tutorials put them and many others at a skill deficit.
Discussion Threads
The International Olympic Committee Is Going To Do An eSports Olympics But With The Help Of Saudi Arabia (By: @zombiepie)
The International Olympic Committee is doing an eSports Olympics after rumors of such an event have been swirling for years. However, the IOC is working with the Saudi Arabian government. Review the news and discuss it.
SGDQ Raises $2.5M For MSF, Reaching Lifetime Total Of $51M! Any Fav Runs? (By: @manburger)
SGDQ 2024 is OVER and it raised $2.5M for MSF! Share your favorite SGDQ moments on the forums by clicking the link! Peanut Butter the dog playing Ken Griffey Jr Baseball is clearly the #1 moment, but what are the other highlights?
Xbox Has Unequivocally Won One Part Of The Hardware Wars: ~60% Of Game Controllers On Steam Are Xbox (By: @zombiepie)
A new Steam survey indicated unequivocally that Xbox is winning at least one part of the hardware wars. A lot of people are using Xbox controllers to play PC games. Do the result surprise you?
Planet Coaster 2 Announced! For 2024!!! (By: @allthedinos)
CHIEF BEFF IS BACK BAYBEE! Planet Coaster 2 has been announced and you can check out discuss the reveal trailer! What are some features and quality-of-life improvements you would like to see in this game? Share them here!
Hideki Kamiya & Ikumi Nakamura discuss Bayonetta And Okami In Video Doc (By: @pauljeremiah)
A recent documentary just dropped that features Hideki Kamiya and Ikumi Nakamura and in it they discuss topics such as Bayonetta and Ōkami! Catch the video and feel free to share the stories that you found most surprising.
Embracer Has Shut Down Piranha Bytes (By: @bigsocrates)
Embracer has shuttered Piranha Bytes. What do you think this means for the other smaller studios at Embracer? Join the discussion about it. Also, pour out a Jäegermeister for one of the certified kings of eurojank!
Reviews
@sbc515‘s retro game reviews are BACK! To start things off, they decided to briefly look at Fighting Force 2 on the Dreamcast and assess how its genre change might have killed what could have been a trilogy.
Wiki Of The Week
Dead Rising is getting the remaster treatment, so let’s try and get to the bottom of why people might be interested in the return of franchise by throwing things back to the game that started it all!
That said, if they change the convicts on the jeep to make them less shitty and annoying, where the only viable strategy isn’t to hide in the trees and hope for the AI to get stuck, then they have fucked up.
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