The Community Spotlight 2024.07.27

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!

If you attended San Diego Comic-Con, hopefully you were able to attend the Giant Bomb x GameSpot x Fandom panel or were able to attend the Fandom after-party that had Dragon Age: The Veilguard. If not, maybe you’ll be able to watch some Comic-Con-based stuff on the site in the coming weeks.

When it comes to bugs, things were not so exciting. Jan was out to attend the Comic Con panel with Lucy, Tam, and Shawn, who is now the person in charge of solving issues with the premium podcast feeds, was on vacation. So, it will not be until next week before the premium feed gets a poke to make it cooperate.

Also, friendly reminder to those of you attempting to buy premium merchandise, you need to sign in on Giant Bomb and then sign in separately there on the store store. There are some of you that use different emails for the store and the site and if that’s the case, you might not be able to see your merch discount or the new premium-only t-shirt. In that case, just create a new Giant Bomb store account with an e-mail that matches your Giant Bomb account and if they line-up, you should be fine. If that is still not working, send an email to [email protected] or head on over to the Giant Bomb Discord to ask for help.

Likewise, there are some of you still not getting your lifetime premium subscriptions after buying one during Giant Bomb @ Nite. @dtoast is the person in charge of that now, and as long as you include your Giant Bomb username in your email to [email protected], he should be able to resolve the issue.

However, the biggest news this week stems from the new “2024 Giant Bomb Summer Collection” up for sale in the site store! Whether it be a Giant Bomb towel with most of your current Giant Bomb staff on it, flip flops, or a retro bucket hat; there’s something for everyone to enjoy with this batch of Giant Bomb merchandise! You also have the option to buy the new non-apparel Summer items in a bundle for a discount or to buy the one or two items you like a la carte.

• Summer 2024 Bundle – $79.99
• Summer 2024 Bucket Hat – $34.99
• 2024 Summer Slides Footwear – $34.99
• Summer 2024 Polo – $45.00
• Summer 2024 Towel – $49.99

Google News Tweets

Google News Galleria

Giant Bomb x Summer Blockbusters (By: @Pickle_Giraffe)

Not contained by the medium of video, Pickle_Giraffe also made some hilarious movie posters that combined some of the Giant Bomb staff with summer blockbuster movie posters! If you have any suggestions for additional posters, feel free to share!

Grubb 3.66 (By: @AntiMacro)

There are times when I wish I could say something on the internet and the creative powers of the Giant Bomb community would make them happen. Alas, I am not as powerful as Mike or Grubb.

Google News Video

Sun Spoon – An Animated Giant Bomb Blight Club Series (S.3 Ep.8) (By: Pickle Giraffe)

Even if this is a lighter edition of the Giant Bomb Community Spotlight, we still have Pickle Giraffe with a new Animated Giant Bomb video to make it all worth it. Trust me, you are not going to go more than twenty seconds before you laugh this time.

Google News Activities

The Case Of The Golden Idol Is The 15th game Of UUGPGC Year 3! Finish By July 29. Mark All Spoilers+

Unsanctioned Unofficial Game Pass Game Club Voting Thread for Cycle Starting July 29 2024 (By: @bigsocrates)

The latest pick for the Game Pass Game Club is The Case of the Golden Idol by developer Color Gray Games! Do you have any non-spoiler thoughts about its puzzle design or mystery? If so, join the discussion NOW!

Also, it is time once again to vote for TWO GAMES for the next edition of the Game Pass Game Club! A list of the nominees is provided below and if you have suggestions feel free to share them as well in the linked thread!

The GB Album Club 064 – Symphony No. 3, Op. 36 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs) by Henryk Górecki (By: @unclejam23)

The Album of the Week club is taking a week off which allows those of you that missed their discussion on classical music last week another chance. The Symphony of Sorrowful Songs has an incredibly interesting backstory to it that you can learn by clicking the link above.

Google News Blogs

Interview With A Former Fuuki Developer About Their Work On Zero One And Other Titles (By: @bowl-of-lentils)

Bowl-of_Lentils did some incredible video game journalism this week! They recently had the opportunity to speak with a former Fuuki employee about their time making Zero One SP and other titles at the company. With their permission, they made a summary of what they told them in a blog post.

All 3DO Games (Kinda) In Order: 1994 (Part 10) (By: @borgmaster)

borgmaster has another blog where they look at every NA 3DO game in chronological release order! This episode looks at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon, Putt-Putt’s Fun Pack, Quarantine, and Real Pinball!

64 in 64: Episode 44 + Indie Game of the Week 380: Lost Ruins (By: @mento)

For this edition of their “64 in 64” feature, Mento played Worms Armageddon and The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction! Do either of these N64 hold up all that well and show their best stuff in an hour? Read to find out!

Mento also played another 2D pixel art action platformer for their “Indie Game of the Week” feature and this time the game in question was Lost Ruins! Does this indie game do anything to stand out in a highly crowded field? Read to find out.

DOOM 2016 Begins A Renaissance + DOOM Eternal Demands You Dance (By: @ford_dent)

Ford_Dent’s efforts to play every entry of the Doom series with a blog looking at Doom (2016). Not only do they think it is a highlight in the series, but is it time to call it one of the best video game franchise reboots?

Ford_Dent continued their Doom special feature with a look at Doom Eternal and relays why they take the controversial stance in believing Eternal is BETTER than Doom (2016)! Give their thesis a read and share why you agree or disagree.

Google News Discussion Threads

What’s The Best Pinball Song Ever? (By: @sombre)

What is your favorite pinball music and/or audio? Is Black Knight 2000 still the pinball music GOAT or do you like other pinball machines like Banzai Run or Swords of Fury more? What about licensed games like Addams Family or TNG?

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown Ferrari Roster Trailer (By: @gtxforza)

Is this the year Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown actually comes out? That’s the question that continues to dodge the game after it has been beset with delay after delay. In a move to try an assuage some of those concerns, its dev team released a new trailer that showcases the licensed Ferraris the game has.

The Metal Thread (By: @vordus)

It’s an old thread, sure, but Gojira made a surprise appearance during the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics, and became the first true metal band to grace a sporting event like that. Did you see the performance? What did you think?

Metal Gear Scanlon Seasons 1 Through 5 Discussion Thread And Memorable Clips (By: @xrayzwei)

It has been a couple weeks since Metal Gear Scanlon got republished on YouTube in the form of massive, multi-day, videos, but this thread welcomes you to share if you have finished any of these beastly videos and if there were any moments that stuck out to you.

Also, fun fact about these videos, and this is something that @turboshawn talked about during the Zenless Zone Zero stream from a while back, but this video was a fun experiment to try something different. The videos are all lossless and basically the source files from the original recordings stitched together. Shawn then used FFmpeg to put it together and making this did not take that long. The upload took some time, but overall it was quicker than you’d think and its the closest everyone has been to the original files.

Google News Lists

Redeemed Villains (By: @jacobproper1)

JacobProper1 has a new list concept that needs YOUR HELP when it comes to suggestions or additional examples! This time they are trying to think of video game characters that started out as villains but have since come around to be more helpful or kind with their actions.

Google News Reviews

@danryback‘s Mortal Kombat Advance review lays out their claim on why they think this is the worst version of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 to ever hit store shelves.

On a more positive note, @danryback also decided to replay Street Fighter II’: Champion Edition on the Genesis. Read why they think it is one of the best console ports of SF2

@pauljeremiah is back publishing reviews and starts things off with a review of Tetris Effect! Click the link below to read why he thinks the game is more than just a colorful new take on the game of Tetris.

@pauljeremiah also published a review for Nex Machina: Death Machine! I have to be honest, I knew absolutely nothing about this game until I read this review. I guess that’s one of the benefits of having user reviews on the site!

Google News Wikis Of The Week

Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Some recent work has been done to tidy up and better format the wiki page for Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and as you can see, the page looks and reads much better. It’s always been an underrated wiki page, and hopefully you’ll give it a read thanks to my suggestion.

Evo 2024

@marino went to Evo for the first time and, if you know him at all, you know he came back with a ton of photos. So, if you wanna see what it’s like to be at Evo, check out the photo gallery to see everything from the arena to the massive arcade and from all the expo hall’s booths to the sea of pools stations.