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Giant Bomb #25 | A Fun Time with Friends

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F

FStop7

Banned
Data West said:
also this thing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1w3tMfdtT0
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CzOMrnMWgAEpfDn
 
S

Schopenhauerian

Member
Schopenhauerian said:
Steven Poole is a pretty interesting writer... Incidentally, he had an interesting perspective on MGSV & Kojima. Curious what folks here might think: https://thepointmag.com/2015/criticism/metal-gear-solid-v
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mnz said:
Hey, just wanted to say that I've read the piece...
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Thanks! Was interested to hear feedback on it.
mnz said:
But the whole selling point of MGS being the antithesis of everything else in the medium is weak... I think he's too focused on a few military shooters, when he should be comparing the gameplay to other stealth games like Splinter Cell, Thief or Dishonored and its tone to Japanese games in general...
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I would just note that in this piece, Poole is concerned to a large extent with "sheer cultural reach" and thus what he calls the “blockbuster end” of the videogames medium (as well as blockbuster film and television), within which he claims that Kojima's work stands out, by virtue of the fact that it contains a specific kind of “bitter pill” that is actually not one of its selling points, and is actually not so readily identifiable within those other games (once one accounts for both “scripted rhetoric” as well as “dynamic procedure”):
...Such joyous bathos has long distinguished the work of the Japanese video-game director Hideo Kojima, whose games have sold upwards of 36 million copies to date... In their dynamic procedure as well as their scripted rhetoric, Kojima’s games are stealthily anti-war war games. In contrast to the fairground bullet-shower of the billion-grossing Call of Duty series (the equivalent in war-themed video games of Michael Bay movies).... On the other hand, it may help to lure some of the video-game audience into a critical engagement with issues that most games take unthinkingly for granted. Come for the breasts and guns; stay for the deconstruction of the global struggle against extremism. That is, at least, one way to sweeten the bitter pill of philosophy... MGSV reportedly cost $80 million to develop, and such investments need to pay. (The game grossed more than twice that on its first day.) As any artist must be who works at the blockbuster end of his medium, Kojima is loyal to the perceived commercial and demographic requirements of the form, while reserving the right to extend its parameters in surprising ways...  It is, first and foremost, a hugely enjoyable video game, and many players might not even notice the ambient satirical allusions. That might be a shame; but if the game were no fun to play, its politics would reach no one at all because no one would play it... The Phantom Pain’s dusty, shrubby Afghanistan is so gorgeous and hyper-cinematic in its visual presentation... marks the point at which a dissident video game can in many respects match the visual fidelity of TV and cinema filmmaking that is essentially propagandistic in its narrative endorsement of national-security ideology... Not only are video games setting the agenda of military fiction’s mise-en-scène, however; they are also where, increasingly, the voices questioning national-security ideology are to be found. Kojima may cut a lonely figure at the blockbuster end of video games, but a modern movement of serious, critical indie games is in full bloom... In a still-young medium whose most successful products are deeply conservative, he insists that video games can and should convey critical arguments about international relations and jus in bello. In this sense—in terms of his sheer cultural reach, and the ability of his gleefully odd games to sweeten the bitter pill of philosophy—Hideo Kojima is not just one of the great video-game designers of our times, he is arguably one of our most important political artists...
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mnz said:
Where Kojima usually falls flat for me is the consequences of his setups. Ok, the Cuban base is basically Guantanamo and the Red Army in Afghanistan is used to show parallels to current conflicts. But then what? The conclusions to his games are based on personal relationships, intrigues and power plots, not those events. He doesn't actually say all that much about it.... So all in all it does a good job of highlighting that video games can have something to say on topics like that and more people should know, but i think "we" have always known that....
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Poole does highlight certain ways in which what MGS 'says' (what it contains) can be considered more sophisticated, accurate, and/or trenchant (even "electrifying", as Poole puts it in one section, or simply more inviting of "critical engagement" in another) when compared with specific, widely known, widely viewed, widely respected 'blockbuster' products within film and television (he cites examples that he claims are either “deeply conservative” or “essentially propagandistic in [their] narrative endorsement of national-security ideology”); but certainly, YMMV.
 
S

SomberOwl

Member
popo said:
2 and brotherhood are great but have not aged well. How have you played Rogue and not Black Flag?
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Didn't get into the AC series until after Black Flag. Rogue came out the year after BF and the same year as Unity so I just haven't gone back and played any of the ones before I got into the series.
 
T

Tubobutts

Member
I wonder what kind of tier bonuses a Giant Bomb patreon would have. A members shirt and an exclusive discord where you can be a jerk to Brad?
 
J

Jintor

Member
did that new sim tower-esque game end up being any good

i think it was maybe called highrise or something? i don't even remember.
 
O

oti

Banned
ThanksVision said:
if gb jumped to patreon how much do you think they would they make a month jw
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Sounds like a bad decision to me. People would start to be really nitpicky about their pledge. I also don't like the idea of people telling them "do more [insert #content format here] or else I'll lower my pledge". Sounds like a fast pass to burnout to me.

The current model is good enough to pay for a month and to get through all of the #content in half a day while the yearly subscription is a leap of faith but also a way to just pay them and help them to stay afloat.

I wish there was a way to give them more feedback though. If they were on Patreon I'm sure they'd be more responsive.
 
T

ThanksVision

Member
I wasnt suggesting that the bombing boys should actually switch to patron, more curious as to how many premium subscribers they have or how successful they would be on a platform like patron relative to the others on that site in which I'm familiar. I feel like I have no perspective on how big or small of an entity GB is
 
O

oti

Banned
ThanksVision said:
I wasnt suggesting that the bombing boys should actually switch to patron, more curious as to how many premium subscribers they have or how successful they would be on a platform like patron relative to the others on that site in which I'm familiar. I feel like I have no perspective on how big or small of an entity GB is
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That's actually a very interesting question. But I'm sure being compared to other outlets that easily isn't something they'd actually want. And they are part of a huge corporation after all.
 
S

Stairouais

Member
The last mailbag made me think: I've been binging these youtube videos where people eat military rations (don't ask, I don't know why I'm doing this).

One of the chanel I've been binging is this guy that eats sometimes really old and sometimes new rations. It's hypnotic as fuck and it puts me to sleep almost instantly.
I've watched almost all of his videos, without ever seeing the guy. He never shows his face. Why would it matter anyway?

Well, because of course he kinda looks like Drew.
 
B

Basileus777

Member
Stairouais said:
The last mailbag made me think: I've been binging this youtube videos where people eat military rations (don't ask, I don't know why I'm doing this).

One of the chanel I've been binging is this guy that eats sometimes really old and sometimes new rations. It's hypnotic as fuck and it puts me to sleep almost instantly.
I've watched almost all of his videos, without ever seeing the guy. He never shows his face. Why would it matter anyway?

Well, because of course he kinda looks like Drew.
Click to expand...
I believe they call this ASMR.
 
S

stump sock

Member
Stairouais said:
The last mailbag made me think: I've been binging this youtube videos where people eat military rations (don't ask, I don't know why I'm doing this).

One of the chanel I've been binging is this guy that eats sometimes really old and sometimes new rations. It's hypnotic as fuck and it puts me to sleep almost instantly.
I've watched almost all of his videos, without ever seeing the guy. He never shows his face. Why would it matter anyway?

Well, because of course he kinda looks like Drew.
Click to expand...

i've been following him since he had like 4 videos on the channel. it's one of my favorite things in the world.
 
P

popo

Member
SomberOwl said:
Didn't get into the AC series until after Black Flag. Rogue came out the year after BF and the same year as Unity so I just haven't gone back and played any of the ones before I got into the series.
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nah it is just that Rogue is considered very similar to Black Flag - only inferior in every way. A shameless cash in to reuse the engine and an awful lot of the assets.
 
N

neshcom

Banned
Jintor said:
did that new sim tower-esque game end up being any good

i think it was maybe called highrise or something? i don't even remember.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Project Highrise came out. It's fine, though it kind of has that Cities: Skylines thing where progression is pretty linear. With the spatial challenge of the tower and time for construction, it makes the early game tough if you're trying to plan for long-term design.
 
B

BreezyLimbo

Banned
Stairouais said:
The last mailbag made me think: I've been binging these youtube videos where people eat military rations (don't ask, I don't know why I'm doing this).

One of the chanel I've been binging is this guy that eats sometimes really old and sometimes new rations. It's hypnotic as fuck and it puts me to sleep almost instantly.
I've watched almost all of his videos, without ever seeing the guy. He never shows his face. Why would it matter anyway?

Well, because of course he kinda looks like Drew.
Click to expand...

Holy shit drew with a mustache(he even has the same mannerisms as drew)

He gets so excited to find out the thing has 6 tablets

him and drew should collaborate
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
ThanksVision said:
I wasnt suggesting that the bombing boys should actually switch to patron, more curious as to how many premium subscribers they have or how successful they would be on a platform like patron relative to the others on that site in which I'm familiar. I feel like I have no perspective on how big or small of an entity GB is
Click to expand...

If they are a profitable company 90% on the backs of premium subscriptions that's at minimum what, $40,000 a month to just cover everyone's salaries if the guys are only making $50k a year, which I can't imagine

They have to be doing pretty well
 
H

Human Trashcan

Banned
The Technomancer said:
If they are a profitable company 90% on the backs of premium subscriptions that's at minimum what, $40,000 a month to just cover everyone's salaries if the guys are only making $50k a year, which I can't imagine

They have to be doing pretty well
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Is that 90% figure legit? I can't imagine subs account for 90% of all the duders' salaries and the other operating costs, or even 50%.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Human Trashcan said:
Is that 90% figure legit? I can't imagine subs account for 90% of all the duders' salaries and the other operating costs, or even 50%.
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No I pulled it out of my ass but where else would they get revenue? Store merchandise? Their YouTube vids don't tend to get more than a few tens of thousands of views, I doubt they make any money off of those.

EDIT: Podcast ads right, okay no idea how much those make. 60%, 80%, some figure that would indicate a lot of subscribers
 
H

Human Trashcan

Banned
Antiwhippy said:
Kinda off topic, but when did watchmojo become a thing?

Like people keep linking me to their shit and i keep wondering who are these people? Why should i care about their top 10 stuff?
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I think it's been around for a long time, it's just the kind of list-generating content farm that youtube's algorithm really likes. The actual content of the lists is about as lowest common denominator type stuff as possible, never going very deeply into anything. The youtube version of buzzfeed, but blander.
 
B

BreezyLimbo

Banned
The Technomancer said:
No I pulled it out of my ass but where else would they get revenue? Store merchandise? Their YouTube vids don't tend to get more than a few tens of thousands of views, I doubt they make any money off of those.

EDIT: Podcast ads right, okay no idea how much those make. 60%, 80%, some figure that would indicate a lot of subscribers
Click to expand...

Don't they also get paid by CBS and are technically under their umbrella?
 
B

BreezyLimbo

Banned
The Technomancer said:
Sure but if they're not bringing in more money then they cost CBS would only keep them around as what, some kind of brand portfolio asset?
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I don't think they've ever spoken about their deal with CBS.

They definitely are one of a kind, in that they're a video gaming site with a consistent revenue through subscriptions. I figure CBS will find them valuable even if they DIDN'T do subs because they have ad deals through the podcast and on the website, and I imagine the traffic they get isn't anything to scoff at.
 
E

EdReedFan20

Member
Human Trashcan said:
I think it's been around for a long time, it's just the kind of list-generating content farm that youtube's algorithm really likes. The actual content of the lists is about as lowest common denominator type stuff as possible, never going very deeply into anything. The youtube version of buzzfeed, but blander.
Click to expand...

I really like Facts. It's like an Irish version of Buzzfeed. My favorite ones are when they check out American stuff (especially foods) for the first time. It's always so fun to see their reactions. I also love the videos where they watch and try to decode American sports. The baseball video they had them watch happened to be the 2014 World Series (SF Giants/KC Royals). Ironically enough, that was the same World Series match-up that helped Danny O'Dwyer (who we all know is Irish) "get" baseball (according to a Tweet of his after one of the games in the series).
 
B

broncobuster

Banned
While I'm glad GBWest gets Demo Derby, we almost had Vinny on them. Not that we get regular Demo Derby episodes or anything.

Brad or Jason sitting in as the third seat? Or the new hire
 
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