The Community Spotlight 2025.01.18

by Marino – Brad Lynch on January 18, 2025This Spotlight is not a threat to national security.

Hello and 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!

First off, thank you so much to every single person that has shown up and supported Giant Bomb’s efforts to raise money to help fire fighting and humanitarian efforts in Southern California currently impacted by wildfires. The Giant Bomb LA Wildfire Relief Tiltify has completely smashed it fundraising goal of $6,000. If you haven’t donated and would like to, feel free to do so if and when you can.

The site will also continue to host guests and friends on the Giant Bomb chat after hours and its normal programming when possible, so keep on the lookout for surprise streams on the site! If you missed Grubb, Niki, Shawn, Mike and Dan having fun playing Bowser’s Fury, you can give that a watch on YouTube.

So… spambots. The site has been hit pretty hard in the recent weeks by them and trust me, it’s incredibly frustrating. Waking up in the morning only to see that there are 11 pages of spam on the forums isn’t fun for you, and trust me, it isn’t fun for the site moderation team because we have been manually deleting most of it. We are in communication with Dtoast/Dylan who has been very vocal in supporting us that this is a pressing issue that requires immediate counter-measures. Everything has been logged in a ticket and they will be in an extensive meeting this week with Fandom higher ups. Until I have more information, feel free to share any ideas for limiting the impacts in the comments.

Unfortunately, I have no updates about the state of Giant Bomb Infinite. I know this news is incredibly frustrating, so, let’s review some of the backstory to Infinite. The feature was made over a single weekend by a single engineer, (y’all remember Will, right?), after Jeff Gerstmann proposed it as a possible feature to keep engagement while there weren’t livestreams running. Since day one, Infinite has been “creaky” and Rorie joined me on the Giant Bomb Discord in talking about how the site was getting bug reports and support tickets within day two or three of it going live. Infinite has been a sick puppy for a very long time and it is going to take some real work to get up and running again. It’s not going to be an impossible task, but what first appeared to be a simple hard refresh is starting to look like a critical break that has been a long time coming. None of that is to suggest you shouldn’t be upset or disappointed that you no longer have Infinite playing in the background or helping you relive “classic” Giant Bomb moments.

Tweetsjust a random appreciation tweet for the entire @GiantBomb crew for no reason in particular. what a great crew of games media that cares about what they do and the space they occupy. good stuff 🤙

— Liana Ruppert (@DirtyEffinHippy) January 17, 2025 ArtT2 x Dan Photoshop (By: @jearum)

Everyone already seems to be enjoying the latest edition of Blight Club in which Dan struggles with Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines! jearum had some fun doing this quick photoshop featuring a fun moment from Terminator 2 at Dan’s expense.

MidNotti Movie Poster (By: Pickle_giraffe)

Pickle_Giraffe is having a blast making artwork inspired by podcast moments with the Giant Bomb staff and this “MidNotti” movie poster is one sign of that. Also, don’t forget to catch Pickle_Giraffe’s Bluesky account, included in the link above, where they also played audio over this poster for additional humor.

VideoMUSHY FUTURE – (Season 6 PREMIERE) – An Animated Giant Bomb Blight Club Series (By: Pickle_Giraffe)

The Animated Blight Club series by Pickle_Giraffe continues with the ‘Mushy Future’ of Terminator 3 for the PS2! The start of Dan’s month of torture by Alex is finally here and Pickle_Giraffe has a new entry in their always hilarious feature.

ActivitiesThe GB Album Club 075 – Black Elvis / Lost in Space by Kool Keith (By: @unclejam23)

Is this worthy of being called a classic? When it comes to Kool Keith, do you enjoy his mixtapes, EPs, or studio albums more? Also, do you enjoy regular-ass Kool Keith or one of his wackier personalities or personas more? Both of those questions are at the heart of the Album Club’s discussion of Black Elvis / Lost in Space by Kool Keith!

Dungeons Of Hinterberg Is The First Game of UUGPGC Year 4! Finish By February 1! Mark All Spoilers! (By: @bigsocrates)

Just a friendly reminder that the community Game Pass Game Club is going monthly moving forward and the first game it will be tackling in 2025 is Dungeons of Hinterberg! Have any of you checked out this dungeon delving indie gem from last year?

Blogs2024’s Best of the Rest (By: @ford_dent)

Which games almost made your GOTY list but not quite?Ford_Dent decided to look back at the games they played and experienced during 2024 and reviews their highest moments regardless if they game came out in 2024 or not. Did you also have some fun with retro gaming in 2024?

2024: Ranking the Rest (By: @majormitch)

majormitch played a lot of good games throughout 2024. So much so, there were a handful of games they enjoyed that just missed their GOTY 2024 list. Here’s a blog on Giant Bomb about some of them and feel free to use their idea if you feel like cool games didn’t make your GOTY list as well!

Dragon Age Veilguard’s Director Has Left EA. The Real Problem With The Game: It Wasn’t For Anyone. (By: @bigsocrates)

Do you want to see muskets with your high fantasy fiction? bigsocrates reflects on the news surrounding the director of Dragon Age: The Veilguard leaving BioWare. Does this speak to how we look at games in long-running series? Is it another case study on how poorly we treat the figures behind the games we enjoy

Go! Go! GOTY! 2024: Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn +

Indie Game of the Week 403: Solar Ash (By: @mento)

Mento continues to tick away at their 2024 gaming backlog to see how many games reasonably could make their GOTY 2024 list. This week they played and ranked Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn! Did they enjoy the game’s mix of gunpowder technology with high fantasy? Read to find out!

Likewise, Mento also covered Solar Ash for the latest edition of their “Indie Game of the Week” feature! With Hyper Light Breaker right around the corner as it enters into Early Access, is this a hidden gem from developer Heart Machine?

Coin Return: The Personal Experience in Arcade Paradise (By: @gamer_152)

This game is way more than vibes and Gamer_152 articles why. Arcade Paradise allows players to manage your father’s old laundromat in hopes of turning it into a full-on arcade. Read Gamer_152’s blog on why it “is not just a stock room of synthlight kiosks.” It’s a blog so good the game’s publisher even Tweeted about it!

Discussion ThreadsWhich Games You’re Expecting To See On The Nintendo Direct April 2025? (By: @gtxforza)

It’s officially official! So, magnets! the Switch 2 is officially official and that means it is time to speculate what everyone thinks will be available on it at launch? If you have seen the reveal trailer for the new console, you probably know that the version of Mario Kart shown during it wasn’t Mario Kart 8!

The 2024 Community GOTY Results (By: @marino)

In case you missed it last week, Marino posted the results of the community voting for GOTY 2024! Not only can you see which game took the top award, but you can also see what other games the community enjoyed that maybe weren’t mentioned during Giant Bomb’s normal GOTY 2024 coverage!

What’s Going On With GB Infinite? (By: @sunblazzer)

What was Ubisoft’s biggest mess in 2024? YOU DECIDE!I did mention that I didn’t have any major positive updates about Giant Bomb Infinite this week. However, something you can do to hopefully encourage more resources be dedicated to bringing it back is by dropping a comment here that it is a valued feature you really want to return and soon.

BONUS: Hottest Ubisoft Mess of 2024 – Community’s Choice (By: @allthedinos)

Ubisoft won the community voting for “Hottest Mess of 2024” on Giant Bomb, but that raises an important question: What was the biggest and hottest Ubisoft-based mess of 2024? Was it XDefiant, Skull & Bones, NFT nonsense, or something else?

ListsCHUCKLENUGGET’S GOTY TIME MACHINE (By: @chucklenuggets)

What would your GOTY list of every single year of gaming history look like? Though GOTY fever seems to be behind us, CHUCKLENUGGETS decided to look back at every year video games have existed and pick what they think is the best game from that year.

2024 Faves (By: @extintor)

extintor only has five games on their GOTY 2024 list on Giant Bomb but it still has some surprises! Also, don’t forget to make your own GOTY list if you haven’t!

Best Games of 2024 (By: @adrenaline)

Adrenaline also finally got around to listing their ten favorite games from 2024! Give it a read by clicking the link above and don’t ever think it’s “too late” to make a GOTY 2024 list.

ReviewsIs there any reason to play the original RE4 these days? @pauljeremiah’s Resident Evil 4 review revisits the original game on its first platform, the GameCube. Is there any reason to play the revolutionary horror game? Read to find out!

@knightleon’s Ryse: Son of Rome review shares why they don’t think the game warrants its reputation of being a dud. If you disagree, see where they are coming from on their review.

Wiki Of The WeekSuper Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island

Where do you stand on the love/hate spectrum for this game?2025 will mark some notable gaming anniversaries I plan to honor using the “Wiki of the Week” section of the Spotlight. This week it’s time for me to remind you all that you are getting old because Yoshi’s Island will be turning 30 this year! It might be the bane of some people’s existence, but there’s no doubting that it has a dedicated following and our wiki page for the game is absolutely stellar!