Bits & bytes for April 2025
Tune
Thoughts
I don't know when, but many years ago I felt like I was spelunking into a world that I would truly come to admire over the years. And I was right. Not just the videogame enjoyment part; but the culture and world around it. Online video was starting to come of age, and we were awash with GameSpot, 1up and other publications pushing weekly periodical episodes that outshone any TV studios ability to capture the moment.
Lots of drama ensued in the years to come. I'll never forgive the execs who shuttered 1up.
GiantBomb, though, was always there. Filled with its own drama over the years; particularly as it was bought and sold around to larger publications under the guise of "stability." I was a subscriber for years. I have a pile in my wardrobe of GB t-shirts, and various other bits of swag around the house (a very large mug being one notable example).
I regularly dip back into old videos. The ones with the crew on a couch of a Friday, just shooting the breeze. Or the old GB@Nite videos from E3. Ones with Dave Lang and crew remind me of such fun times.
Compared to todays gaming stream offerings, it's obvious to me that the quality has dropped. We traded camaraderie with friends hanging out on couches with solo incel-adjacent dudes shouting into microphones as they play PC games alone with 13 year old filled lobbies, trying to find the 'meta' in pay-to-win games. A couch cools the room. A bunch of mates makes the room warm.
GB has no basically shut down as it's new parent company has decided to go down some insane route of making the wiki the source of truth for game guides, fuelled by AI. Trading in personality-driven fun approaches to an industry that's meant to bring joy to some cold hearted bullshit that no one would ever pay for, nor click an ad on.
Some of the blame for this collapse falls onto those who held the keys to the car. Including the beloved Gerstmann, who traded independence for the perceived safety net of a giant publishing house; who would never understand the appeal of GB and swallow the margin whole. The promise of financial security, maybe even a payday buy-out obviously would appeal. But I doubt the payoff was ever remotely worth the misery that followed. Misery that followed for years.
I think the death of GB is the final death knell that's been coming for a while. We'll always have the archives, and no doubt some patreon-powered spinoffs are due.
But still. As I get to be older, have kids of my own and introduce them to emulated old school hardware to kick start their lives in this world, I can't help but reminisce on what they'll miss out on. The idea that their engagement with the culture and community of games is some jacked up prick on his own in a room shouting at a COD lobby is sad.
Currently playing
- Gran Turismo 7
- Root Bear