Giant Bomb Bomb-All

SallyNasty wrote:

Are you satisfied with the premium membership? Would you recommend it?

Memberships are only $35 right now. There are only about 1100 left.

I'm happy with my membership but your enjoyment is entirely based on whether you like the personalities of the people on the site. Most of the premium content is random video stuff with them. The recent one was when Dave and Vinnie would play random old PC games. The HD video is nice too.

I don't watch TV anymore. I watch Giant Bomb.

Speedhuntr wrote:

I don't watch TV anymore. I watch Giant Bomb.

I watch Giant Bomb on my TV.

They sell out already?

Looks like it. Dang.

Try here: https://auth.whiskeymedia.com/turkey/

Turn you sound down.

I only use Giant Bomb for their quick looks (watch them on my TV via Roku) and the video quality is good enough IMO. I looked at their page that lists the things you get for being a "premium" member, and I don't see anything I really want.

- HD videos (as I said, the standard quality is good enough for me to watch quick looks)

- Exclusive Content (not really interested in the podcast (live or otherwise) or watching dudes play old games)

- Better Browsing Experience (I rarely use their website, and I have Adblock installed, so I already don't see any ads)

- $15 Towards Our Store (not interested in yet another black t-shirt, but it does day "put that money towards a subscription for others". Does it have to be used for someone else's subscription? Can I not apply it towards renewing my own subscription for the following year?)

The only reason I would have to buy a premium membership is to support an independent video game website, which I respect. Being on the "outside" looking in, I'm not convinced it's worth the $35 discounted price. Anyone care to try to enable me?

From a pure "what do I get for my money" value standpoint, I don't think it would really be worth it to me either. I like Giant Bomb for the Bombcast and the Quick Looks. The former I get without paying, the latter I don't mind in SD, or at least, the HD upgrade isn't worth $50 (now $35) to me.

I am a paid member, though. I think of it as a donation. If they want to give me a little something for my donation, like PBS sending me a tote bag worth a tenth of what I "paid" for it, then that's fine, but not strictly necessary as far as I'm concerned.

I do wish there were some kind of lower tier; I'd be happier paying $20 a year than $50 and forgoing most of the "benefits". In fact, I'd let my paid subscription lapse, with the vague plan of re-upping in another year, for an average of $25/year. At $35, I bit again though. What can I say, they got me. (-:

I can sort of see why they make $50 the minimum, though. As I understand the freemium model, the barrier to getting people to pay is getting them to pull out their credit card at all. Once you've done that, you're better off asking for more rather than less, because the biggest hurdle is done with. So if the price point they've set is working out for them, I can't complain too much. After all, I always have the option of not paying at all if I so choose.

hbi2k wrote:

I can sort of see why they make $50 the minimum, though. As I understand the freemium model, the barrier to getting people to pay is getting them to pull out their credit card at all. Once you've done that, you're better off asking for more rather than less, because the biggest hurdle is done with.

When I read that, I think to myself "yeah, but the lower the cost, the more likely I am to pull out my credit card (read: use Paypal)."

That may hold true for you and me, but as I understand it, in a purely mathematical "what's the optimal way to get the most possible money out of an audience who aren't compelled to pay anything at all?" sense, it doesn't necessarily hold true for the population at large.

There's also the "perception of value" thing to consider I suppose. The same reason that when a game releases at anything less than the full $60, people assume it's bargain-bin shovelware, there may be people who see an asking price of $50/year and subconsciously assume that it must be worth more than a site like GWJ that straight-up calls its donations "donations" and doesn't put a floor on them.

Or maybe GWJ people are just more philanthropic than Giant Bomb people and get more of an adrenaline rush from "donating" than "subscribing." (-:

They've had The End of Star Wars: Galaxies on the schedule for like six months and it's finally coming up on Thursday. I really want to see what they do because the thing they did when the Matrix MMO ended was kind of amazing.

Currently selling yearly memberships for $35. Over 1,000 left at this point.

One of the reasons I love this time of the year is what Giant Bomb does with GOTY. I'm saving all of the episodes and going on an extended hike around some islands. Should be fun

I imagine it staves off a lot of "What do you mean your GOTY for [platform] is [game x]? [game y] is clearly far more deserving!" style Female Doggoing when the listeners know that at least one staff member fought HARD for [game y]. It's definitely a lot more interesting listening to the discussion than just reading a bog-standard Top 10 list or whatever.

The presentation for the GOTY stuff is fabulous. Be sure to look up the Quick Look they do for the laser gun game to get the reference.

Latrine wrote:

The presentation for the GOTY stuff is fabulous. Be sure to look up the Quick Look they do for the laser gun game to get the reference.

Eh?

Blind_Evil wrote:
Latrine wrote:

The presentation for the GOTY stuff is fabulous. Be sure to look up the Quick Look they do for the laser gun game to get the reference.

Eh?

Ryan's Top 10 video has him dressed up as a character from a Wild West light-gun game. It's referencing the Wavy Tube Man Chronicles DLC for The Gunstringer for Kinect. (which will be in that video anyway).

Speedhuntr wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:
Latrine wrote:

The presentation for the GOTY stuff is fabulous. Be sure to look up the Quick Look they do for the laser gun game to get the reference.

Eh?

Ryan's Top 10 video has him dressed up as a character from a Wild West light-gun game. It's referencing the Wavy Tube Man Chronicles DLC for The Gunstringer for Kinect. (which will be in that video anyway).

That one was obvious, but I don't see how it applies to the last couple. Especially Jeff's.

Anyway, looking forward to the big GOTY debate on Friday. It's looking to me like it'll be Jeff and Ryan arguing for Saints Row 3, Brad and Patrick for Skyrim, and Vinny being the deciding voice. As far as I know he hasn't beaten either game, but has played more SR3.

Brad was quite smitten with SR3 but it ended up at #10 on his GotY list, behind LA Noire and many others (9, to be exact :p).

Actually I was thinking of this one: http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-...

(Which Wavy Tube Man Chronicles is probably also a reference to.)

Latrine wrote:

Actually I was thinking of this one: http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-...

(Which Wavy Tube Man Chronicles is probably also a reference to.)

Oh right. I guess that makes sense, too.

I was wondering if Vinny was going to make a push for the Witcher 2 actually.

Grubber788 wrote:

I was wondering if Vinny was going to make a push for the Witcher 2 actually.

I wouldn't think so, he didn't seem *that* hot on it. Even if he did, it's 2 on 2 on 1.

Blind_Evil wrote:

It's looking to me like it'll be Jeff and Ryan arguing for Saints Row 3, Brad and Patrick for Skyrim, and Vinny being the deciding voice.

Grubber788 wrote:

I was wondering if Vinny was going to make a push for the Witcher 2 actually.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Even if he did, it's 2 on 2 on 1.

They posted Alex's Top 10 video today (Portal 2 is his #1 game), so wouldn't he also be included in their GotY discussion as well? If so, it could end up being 2 vs 2 vs 2. I could easily see it being a battle between Saints Row 3, Skyrim and Portal 2.

And not that it makes any difference at all, but I'll be pulling for SR3, as it was easily the most fun I had this year in gaming.

The GOTY is determined by the long ass podcast that they divvy up over every day of this week, and those five are the dudes in the room.

SR3 is a step back from 2, IMO. I like the spirit of 3, the idea that more is always better, but 2 felt fresher, never forced. I haven't been surprised half as many times in 3 as in 2.

Edit: Vinny, Ryan, and Jeff all list SR3 as #1 in their individual top 10's. That pretty much seals the deal.

Oh god. They seem to have decided they wanted a full top ten list for the site, rather than just a single game of the year and some runners up. The podcast today is 4 hours long, presumably as a result of this. Madness!

Blind_Evil wrote:

Edit: Vinny, Ryan, and Jeff all list SR3 as #1 in their individual top 10's. That pretty much seals the deal.

It'll be interesting to listen to the podcast to see how Skyrim beat it out after seeing the individual lists.

I really love the guest lists they put up. The Giant Bomb guys are great, but being a small group of dudes with mostly similar tastes, there are a lot of good games that get overlooked or or simply don't meet the interests of the guys on the crew.

I'm really surprised with how many guest lists have Saints Row The Third high on their list. I guess I shouldn't be, having recently been sucked into the madness myself, but I didn't think it would get as much traction as it has with the developer community.

iaintgotnopants wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

Edit: Vinny, Ryan, and Jeff all list SR3 as #1 in their individual top 10's. That pretty much seals the deal.

It'll be interesting to listen to the podcast to see how Skyrim beat it out after seeing the individual lists.

Oi, spoilers!

But yeah. I'm at 1:20 right now. Think I'm gonna stick it on my phone and go outside for a while.

I smell hipster influence...

Edit: We have a traitor in the midsts!

That sounds misleading. I prefer Skyrim to Saints Row 3.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Edit: We have a traitor in the midsts!

Just finished listening to the podcast, and now I know exactly what you meant.

With SR3 being the #1 game on the personal top 10 lists for 3 of the 5 members of the podcast, it seemed like a lock. But when it came down to two games, one of those people (who said SR3 was #1) complained about there not being enough content in SR3, even though he played it for "almost 30 hours." To make his traitorous ways worse, he sided with Skyrim in the debate even though he has not played the game at all. I call shenanigans.

That said, it seems that only 3 people on the podcast had actually played both SR3 and Skyrim, and 2 of those 3 people had Skyrim as #1 on their personal top 10 list. So by that reasoning, I can see why Skyrim won the debate.

I would also expect that if these 5 people are going to decide which game receives the Giant Bomb GotY award, then all 5 of them have the responsibility to play the games that they know will be in the running for the top spot, and Skyrim is an obvious game that fits that classification. I'm not saying they each needed to have played 50+ hours or finish the main quest line, but they should've at least played it long enough to be able to make a fair judgment during the debate. What's worse is that the game that they ranked as #6 overall (The Witcher 2) was apparently played by only one person (maybe two) on this podcast.

FWIW, I finished SR3 (put in over 50 hours), and I'm currently 20+ hours into Skyrim and really enjoying it so far. That said, I can tell that when all is said and done, I will still prefer SR3 over Skyrim. If Skyrim had not been discounted during the current Steam sale, there is a good chance I would currently be playing through SR3 a second time.