The Community Spotlight 2024.11.09

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.

This year, man. Remember when we all started 2024 hopeful that it would at least decrease the amount of crap that it would drop on us? Well, here we are. For those nervous and concerned about what 2025 will likely have in store for us given the recent election results in the United States, I can't say much to alleviate your concerns other than to say this. Giant Bomb remains a site that welcomes all who come here seeking a safe place to speak about games and other topics. If you are reading this, we love you; we care for you; we know you are scared. This home only is taken away from you when you attempt to demean others or the people who attempt to entertain on Giant Bomb. This community is capable of doing so much good, that much I know.

As we will review shortly, Giant Bomb's Extra Life 2024 event went amazingly well. However, as many of you know, Jan experienced a medical emergency and had to cancel their Silent Jan streaming plans. Jan is safe, but still recovering. He remains committed to streaming for Extra Life on a different date that he hopes to share in the near future.

One quick note about Extra Life. A lot of people are finding out they can use a program to get their workplace to match their donations. If your employer's charity portal uses Benevity, there's a chance it will accept Extra Life as a valid charity for matching! You do need to upload receipts into this program but you can easily find these on your Extra Life account or in your email.

As others have said, if you work for a for-profit company that has these charity matching benefits, please use them! It is literally free money for people who need it most. Pugtato got their workplace to match up to a certain point their $4,500 donation.

There is some final bad news I need to part you with before we jump into the proper Community Spotlight. For those of you that noticed that the Premium Bombcast is not downloading to your RSS Feed, you are not alone. The unfortunate reality is that the backend is completely FUBAR and there's no immediate solution. The best the site and team can do at this point is to allow everyone to at least download the episode from the site and add it manually to your podcast app.

Extra Life 2024

To everyone who streamed during Extra Life's Game Day event, you played a massive role in helping Extra Life raise $9.5 million so far. For that, I and everyone at Giant Bomb thanks you. Dan was able to raise $45,320 during his event and the Giant Bomb 2024 Extra Life team overall was able to raise over $80,000!

We still have several community members and staff that plan to host streams after Game Day, so continue to check out the Team Page to find people that might still need your help! Also, here are some handy links and pages to people who plan to stream in the future with dates and times to better assist you in tuning in to their streams! Likewise, if you want to relive any of Dan's Giant bomb Midwest Extra Life stream, a link to the VOD is included below as well!

• Giant Bomb Midwest Extra Life 2024 (FULL STREAM)
• Future Giant Bomb Extra Life Streamer - Jacob McCourt on November 20th, 8 PM
• Future Giant Bomb Extra Life Streamer - ArbitraryWater on November 9th & 10th
• Future Giant Bomb Extra Life Streamer - RioStarwind on 10th 2PM-2AM EST
• Future Giant Bomb Extra Life Streamer - SubpixelTeam on Nov 9th at noon eastern
• Future Giant Bomb Extra Life Streamer - Jake Lester on November 9th

Tweets

Videos

Best Of Giant Bomb 212.5 - Fan-made Series Of Mid To Late-2021 Highlights (By: @gbgapbridger)

If you are in need of a Giant Bomb-related pick me up, gbgapbridger wrapped up their video series compiling the best Giant Bomb stream and video moments from 2021! Give it a watch and send them some love!

Art

My Fanart Of Bingo Poppidoppolous, Who Was Featured In The Giant Bomb Bombathon Part 1 (By: @gbgapbridger)

After wrapping up their video series compiling the funniest moments of Giant Bomb in 2021, they decided to make some "fan art" in honor of Bakalar and Bingo Poppidoppolous' Pinball-Golf Paradise!

Team Kayla In Costume (By: @Pickle_Giraffe)

Dan's sister, Kayla, experienced their fair share of donation incentive-based misery, and the highlight was when she needed to play Ninjabread Man while wearing an inflatable gingerbread man costume.

At Least Jan Is Still A Hot Dog(By: @kone)

In hopes of getting Jan's spirits up after he posted a picture of themself in the ER, Kone decided to have some fun with Jan's picture.

Poop City Slamma Jamma (By: @SickMitch)

I don't know what you all are talking about. I think Mike looks really good with this moustache.

Activities

Still Wakes The Deep Is The 23rd Game Of UUGPGC Year 3! Finish By November 18! Mark All Spoilers! +

Resident Evil 2 REmake Is The 22nd Game Of UUGPGC Year 3! Finish By November 4! SPOILERS OPEN!(By: @bigsocrates)

Hey, everyone! Still Wakes the Deep by The Chinese Room is the latest pick for the community Game Pass Game Club! Have any of you played this game before? Join the discussion now!

Speaking of the Giant Bomb Game Pass Game Club, they just opened their discussion for Resident Evil 2 (2019) to spoilers and story debates! Also, do you rank it as a top 5 in the series?

Blogs

Hottest Mess 2024: Part 2 (By: @allthedinos)

Fuck 2024. Seriously, fuck this year. Nonetheless, ALLTheDinos has annotated the worst moments and biggest and hottest messes associated with the gaming industry this year. Give it a read and share what you think they missed.

Mega Archive CD: Part XI: From Racing Aces to Mad Dog McCree+

Indie Game of the Week 395: Prodigal (By: @mento)

Mento has another blog providing a fun look through the games on the Sega CD! If you want to learn more about such hit titles like Racing Aces or Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck, give it a read!

Also, Mento's latest "Indie Game of the Week" feature tackles Prodigal by developer Colorgrave! Discover why they were charmed by its 8-bit aesthetic but ended up frustrated by its narrative choices.

Is Hyrule Worth Saving When The Real World Is In So Much Trouble? (By: @bigsocrates)

How does one play a video game about saving a country or world falling into chaos when that is a real-world concern on their mind? That's been a struggle for bigsocrates as they talk about their time with The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and why they are struggling to buy into it right now.

Discussion Threads

With Backwards Compatibility AND Online Account Carry Over, The Next Generation Is A Layup For the Switch 2, Right? (By: @zombiepie)

The Nintendo Next Gaming System (i.e., Switch 2), already has complete backwards compatibility and will also guarantee Nintendo Switch Online account carry over. As weird as console generations have become these days, is the next one basically a layup for Nintendo?

This American Election Day All Americans Should Vote Their Video Game Conscience (By: @bigsocrates)

So... how are you avoiding post-election anxiety? What are your safe places and what are you doing to prepare for the future? This thread has been a place for people to relay their deflation and despondence, and has avoided any conflicts which we hope continues.

Did Older Games Or Shows For Younger Audiences In The Past Assume We Could Just... Keep Up? (By: @topcyclist)

Topcyclist ended up watching a bunch of cartoons form their childhood as well as playing games they remember enjoying when they were younger. However, they started to wonder, did all of these old games and shows expect kids to follow every single storyline? What do you think?

The Latest Endnote To The Amico Is That Tommy Tallarico Is Apparently Trying To Become A Pro Backgammon Player (By: @zombiepie)

Here's an odd one. It appears that Tommy Tallarico has pivoted his career to play Backgammon professionally. He's currently a Division II player and has already won a series of tournaments convincingly and if you want to learn all about the situation, check out this thread.

Lists

Best Mech Games (By: @razorblade79)

razorblade79 recently published a list of what they consider the "Best Mech Games." Here's a hint of some of the games that graced their list and feel free to consider making your own!

Best of 2023 (By: @brainzelda)

We are nearing that time of the year when we all need to write Game of the Year lists. However, in getting ready for their 2023 GOTY list, brainzelda realized they never made a 2023 one. It's a realization I think we can all relate to in some way or form.

Wiki Of The Week

Zelda

Zelda has gone from being a comatose damsel in distress (Zelda II) to an active participant in the final battle against Ganon (Wind Waker).

With The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, she is finally the star, and saying it has been a long time coming is an understatement. Also, if any of you are interested in updating this page to include some of her more recent depictions, that would be greatly appreciated.

Love that introduction, ZombiePie.

Thank you for keeping Giant Bomb a safe space for everyone except Tommy Tallarico.

Just want to add my own thanks. Though I am more of a lurker than an engager with most websites/communities, Giant Bomb is one of the few that I am willing to come out of hiding in from time time du in large part because of the fact that the GB staff and those who spend time here on the site do in fact seem to be open-minded and accepting (even when arguing with each other about various videogame issues). Best wishes to Jan as well!

Cheers. Thank you! Well said.

Thanks, ZombiePie. Despite everything, I'm still happy to be part of this community.

Hear hear! I also wanted to say: Thank you, ZP. And props to the community for keeping on keeping on. Hope y'all are doing well.

Thanks again ZombiePie, I'm glad to have completed the 212.5 series!

And thank you @snen for Bingo Poppidoppolous, always keeping watch.