The Community Spotlight 2024.11.30

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 the best community creations from the previous week.

For those of you in the United States that celebrate, I hope you had a very relaxed and bountiful Thanksgiving holiday. For everyone else, I hope as we near the end of the year you continue to find yourself in good health and spirits. November 30th, by the way, is my birthday.

When it comes to the site, many people have shared that in light of the RSS feed issues, that they are not able to download premium versions of podcasts from the site directly. Unfortunately, with Jan still out, the premium audio download links are not available. Again, until the source for the issues with the RSS feed are found and rectified, there’s only so much Shawn and Jan can do.

In better news, I can confirm that old videos now save playback progress on the site! For videos that work, whether they be premium or free, if you hit pause and walk away or close the tab the video was on, your progress should be where you last left it.

If you are reading this the day it is published or during Cyber Monday, be aware that the Giant Bomb Store is having a massive sale of goods and merchandise! All the way until 12/02/2024, you can save 10% on all Giant Bomb Store orders that are more than $10! There is also a batch of new goods in the store to mull over connected with the Winter holidays!

Gallery

Finally, in case you missed it last we we have some solid details about Giant Bomb’s plans for covering The Game Awards this year!

On Wednesday, December 11, which is the night BEFORE The Game Awards, the Giant Bomb team will gather for a special edition of GB @ Nite Live! This stream will be hosted by Jeff Grubb and will feature an in-person rotation of guests and staff that discuss a variety of topics including the upcoming awards show.

Then, on December 12, Giant Bomb will be collaborating with the team at GameSpot to do a live pre-show event on at 2:30pm PT. This 2-hour show is an official partnership between Fandom and The Game Awards, which will be called “GameSpot’s Countdown to The Game Awards“. The crew will be outside the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles doing interviews, predictions, and “man on the street” segments.

Tweets

Art

Bakalar, Dan, and Mike: Friends Forever (By: @kone)

Kone has been having a field day with Bakalar and the photo he shared a while back showing him playing an original NES.

Gallery

Video

KONGSEQUENCES – (Season 5 Episode 3) – An Animated Giant Bomb Blight Club Series (By: Pickle Giraffe)

Pickle_Giraffe is back with a new entry in their animated series looking at Lucy’s time with Skull Island: Rise of Kong and this one is filled to the brim with hilarious references! Give the video a watch and see how many you can identify.

Activities

We Love Katamari Reroll Is The 24th Game Of UUGPGC Year 3! Finish By December 2! +

Unsanctioned Unofficial Game Pass Game Club Voting Thread For Cycle Starting December 2 2024 (By: @bigsocrates)

The latest edition of the Giant Bomb Game Pass Game Club is all about We Love Katamari Reroll! Is this a great jumping in point for Katamari newcomers? Share away on the forums!

There’s a new round of voting for the Community Game Pass Game Club! What do you want to play with the community as we round off 2024? Vote for TWO games from the list you can see to the right!

Blogs

Some Fairly Unorganized Thoughts On The Fantasy Setting Of Metaphor: ReFantazio (By: @atheistpreacher)

AtheistPreacher finished Metaphor: ReFantazio and wrote a blog in which they conveyed their unorganized thoughts about what they liked and disliked. If you also have finished the game, give their write-up a read and see if you agree or disagree with their final takeaways.

Hasbro Seems Destined To Be A “Hottest Mess” Award Winner In 2025 Or 2026 (By: @zombiepie)

The CEO of Hasbro recently did an interview where they said they want the company to focus on play. Moderator ZombiePie looks at why Hasbro’s strategy might have the makings of a hot mess by 2025 or 2026 and also why Elon Musk won’t actually be buying D&D from Hasbro anytime soon.

Indie Game of the Week 398: Pepper Grinder (By: @mento)

Mento has a new edition of their “Indie Game of the Week” series and this episode looks at the drill-based 2D action adventure game, Pepper Grinder! Read why they think it never wears out its welcome, even when it ramps up its difficulty!

Another Year Almost Done, Another Year To Be Thankful For Amico (By: @bigsocrates)

While most were enjoying a Thanksgiving meal with family and friends, bigsocrates was up to their usual antics and wrote up a new blog looking at where the Intellivision Amico stands and where some of the Amico exclusives have ended up.

What’s the Greatest Video Game: Stitch (By: @imunbeatable80)

imunbeatable80 has a new edition of their “What’s the Greatest Video” feature and this one looks at the indie jigsaw puzzle game, Stitch! Does this stitching-themed puzzle game have legs? Read their blog to find out what they think.

Golden Age: An Analysis of Civilization VI: Rise and Fall (By: @gamer_152)

Moderator Gamer_152 has another blog looking at the state of Sid Meier’s Civilization VI and this time looks at the Rise and Fall expansion! Whether it be its new governors system or loyalty mechanic, check out their complete rundown on the forums!

All PS1 Games In Order: Part 033 (By: @borgmaster)

After an extended hiatus, borgmaster is back with a blog looking at every single PS1 game in chronological NA release order! How many of you even remember games like Project: Horned Owl or Strike Point? Share away if either game rings a bell and give it a read if you want to learn more about some retro games.

Discussion Thread

Amazon Dropped More Trailers For Its Completely Unhinged TV Series Based On Mega Man, Pac-Man, Concord, And More (By: @zombiepie)

Amazon just dropped a trailer for its TV episode for Mega Man and another for a Warhammer 40,000 short film as part of their Secret Level anthology series! If you haven’t seen either trailer, catch them in the thread above and share if you are excited! Are you sold or concerned? It sure looks unhinged if you ask me!

Shuhei Yoshida Is Leaving Sony Interactive In 2025 (By: @zombiepie)

Hey, we have a thread in which everyone is encouraged to share your favorite memories of Shuhei Yoshida as a long-standing veteran at Sony! With a career spanning more than thirty years, everyone must have a least one favorite moment with the legend. Also, many thanks to him for the memories!

The Atlantic Did A Damning Report That AI Is ABSOLUTELY Already Being Trained On Thousands Of Movie Scripts (By: @zombiepie)

The Atlantic published a report about hundreds of thousands of film and TV scripts being used to train AI systems. Is there any way for us to push back against the rise of AI especially when the companies that support it embrace such wildly unethical business practices?

Here We Go Again: FTC Opens A Probe Into Microsoft On… You Guessed It, Antitrust Violations In Tech & Cloud Computing (By: @zombiepie)

Here we go again. The FTC has opened a probe into Microsoft over, you guessed it, anti-trust violations over its business practices. Get a summary of what is already know and share with the community how you’d like things to go.

Reviews

@danryback is back with their bad retro game review feature! To start this season, they played and reviewed Shaq Fu on the Genesis. Is it as bad as its reputation suggests? They say: “Yes; absolutely!”

Wiki Of The Week

Shuhei Yoshida

To mark Yoshida announcing that he will be leaving Sony in 2025, let’s give his person page some props! Did you know he has over 100 game credits to his name thanks to his over 30-year career at Sony? Get a comprehensive list of the games he worked on during his tenure leading team big blue.