THE REAL GAME OF THE YEAR: Finale!

WE HAVE ASSEMBLED IN PERSON to discuss some more categories like "Please Stop", "Most Disappointing", "Best Moment/Sequence", and to crown the real GAME OF THE YEAR!
#gameoftheyear #goty2023 #giantbomb

[@JeffreyGrubb]

God, I remember this

[@mrwabit]

Remember remembering it?

[@PirateOfTheWastes]

Good times

[@BayleafMoon]

Really loved what Tamoor said about his brother, as someone who no longer lives with my family it definitely hit home how we connect through entertainment

[@howdydutt1e]

Yeah, it’s crazy. You live most of your life with someone and then go out into the world without them. Crazy

[@JGoshay]

Yeah, that part was beautiful. I really felt for the guy.

[@juan355]

this was a blast y'all! pls do more live events/streams like this, here's to another year of GB!!!

[@ArthurAugustyn]

I've been following Giant Bomb since Arrow Pointing Down and I just want to say how insane it is Giant Bomb went from being in a months-long uproar over Dan's entire schtick (when he was first hired) to the website's defining personality being the embodiment of his love for video games, wrestling, and ridiculous spectacles.

[@Peoke]

What was the "months-long uproar"? 🤔

[@ArthurAugustyn]

@@Peoke there was a rolling outrage over his schtick of playing up his opinions for effect. “How could they hire a guy who doesn’t like JRPGs!!!” And etc. It was dumb.

[@wintermute8315]

I mean, plenty of GB listeners just had to tolerate him for years, not months. He was a steamroller with annoying opinions, and the only thing I can say for him now is that he's mellowed or grown up a bit. But he's always been an annoying man child.

[@Vub.]

Early era Giant Bomb was greatest gaming content on the internet.

[@ArthurAugustyn]

@@Vub. I’ve been relistening to Bombcast 2010-2014 and it’s healing me

[@ThomasKonan]

I had an amazing time at this and would gladly fly again for another Giant Bomb show! I went to TGA too and this was so much more fun. Truly the real GOTY.

[@joel5956]

"Kirby, but he's consumed RoboMitch" might be the greatest cake theme of all time.

[@marXmon]

I've been waiting for this to pop up. Thanks guys! One of the reasons I have to get through the year.

[@arisozerah]

Huge love to Tam. I miss my brother too.

[@hemogoblin6789]

Peak Giant Bomb. Liked the bit with "Chris" too, that was good

[@Kclack]

Jesus, those cheers for Mike - will he ever come down?

[@Kotka1986]

That was a damn good Game of the Year, well done.

[@Mclearmountain]

Good job entire Giant Bomb crew. We love you.

[@IlSevenlI]

The real game of the year are the friends we made along the way

[@iBorgNinja]

Love you Tam. Love you GB. Good show.

[@dcraig814]

I enjoyed the heck out of this. Kudos to the whole Giant Bomb crew for an amazing year.

[@MissAshley42]

From the moment this live show was announced, I hoped there would be a Mike Minotti song sing-a-along. Thank you!

[@BananasAintCheap]

I was only listening to this without video when it was live, that cake is more nightmarish than I anticipated

[@SatanicBoomBoomHead]

What a treat. Awesome job!

[@wards-daveyclan6768]

The Giant Bomb crew are the best. Really loved the format. Felt bad for Tam near the end. I do wish Mitch’s (admittedly awesome) cake had taken the shape of a giant apple, but you can’t win ‘em all.

[@LukeExists]

Ben Starr rules and this is fantastic! Thanks GB! Y'all rule!

[@derekgarcia3069]

That was fantastic!

[@ThisIsMrBenShow]

This seems like a fun live show, but a rushed through GOTY show to not go over time

[@sapphic_sleeper]

I love Giant Bomb. Hope y'all can take the show on the road and hit Washington DC or something ❤️

[@echasketchers2092]

this is fun and all but I'm not crazy about the live format for GOTY stuff.

[@Samfoote]

Yeah, remember when they used to have a group of people taking it seriously and making well reasoned arguments

[@noshow]

I was there, 10,000 years ago.

[@Thisisdell]

I love this Era of Giant Bomb but I miss the old game of the year.

[@Lomner]

Hell yeah! The right game won GOTY Great job to everyone on the team who got the show together!

[@darkguardian50]

what? I'm pretty sure BG3 didn't win this one. Kidding aside the top 3 games were the top 3 games. I don't agree with the order, honestly I think both AW2 and BG3 are far better than Zelda, but those three games specifically stand head and shoulders above the rest

[@dozilla77]

​@@darkguardian50 agreed. BG3 objectively redefined the genre and had Call of Duty bros playing a CRPG...that's absolutely insane. Zelda is a great game but derivative of BotW and certainly didn't move the needle in it's genre like BG3 did. The Nintendo bubble is a real thing but most would agree with our stance at the end of the day and why it's winning more everywhere. Also, BG3 does have a bias against it with gamers who are Console players and have zero frame of reference to a PC franchise like this and the history of these games.

[@AREAlhero]

@@dozilla77BG3 quite literally did not redefine the genre. It is a bog standard CRPG, Planetscape defined the genre two decades ago and is still a better example of it, and BG3 is mechanically the same game as Divinity: Original Sin II. You cannot make the claim that TotK is derivative and then praise BG3, that's just pure hypocrisy.

[@dozilla77]

@@AREAlhero LOL, your first sentence just had me belly laughing. You clearly have no clue what you're talking about. There is zero game in the history of RPG's that allow for player class fantasy and choice that matters like BG3 and it's not even in the same universe. To dismiss this fact and handwave it shows your ignorance. The jump from BotW to TotK is derivative by comparison to BG3 and all other RPG's ever made.

[@AREAlhero]

@@dozilla77 t's so evident that your parents are each other's siblings lmao. And that you know literally nothing about the genre. It literally all stems from the first game to do that, D&D. You don't get points in the innovation department for just making digital D&D when that already exists. "it's not even in the same universe" is peak lack of comprehension, bravo. I said "mechanically the same" that means sharing all the same fundamental building blocks and mechanics as Divinity: Original Sin II. Which is extremely apparent to anyone who actually knows their shit about the RPG genre. Your mother/aunt must be so disappointed in you, for shame dude

[@hpalpha7323]

I'm still playing tears of the kingdom, it's extremely rare for me to have enough money to buy a new game but this was def a great investment

[@CaptainFram]

The cake is a hall of fame Nu-Bomb moment oh my god

[@byVoto]

This was a great watch! Well done to everyone involved at GB

[@stephenpaul2637]

Great show!

[@Mick_Chicken]

Wow the culmination of everything with Mike and Dan and Grubb. That was hilarious but also very sweet for Mike lol.

[@siphillis]

I really thought "Alan Wake II" was gonna take it for a second there. Unreal game from an unreal year.

[@Evan_Campbell]

Hell yeah! Well done everyone!

[@alexanderchilton911]

Zelda at least deserved some GOTY awards, so nice to see it get its flowers

[@adamwalters4918]

Loved the show! Well done GB.

[@onikaze8445]

missed opportunity to do a Last Supper style pose with everyone Ala M.A.S.H. (the movie)

[@listofromantics]

Personally, I would have preferred an independent like Remedy or Larian to win, as their financial futures are far less assured than ANY Nintendo first-party game (and we know TOTK is going to sell 10's of millions of copies over its VERY LONG tail), and the same, sadly, can't be said for any other game, from anyone else (besides GTA and CoD). Congrats on the event, GB. Y'all have worked insanely hard to make the best of a very turbulent time, a time of uncertainty and transition, and to forge a new identity for yourself, separate from the VERY LONG shadow cast by Giant Bomb's legacy. And a belated "Happy Birthday!" to Mitch.

[@definer0]

Well they weren’t voting for least secure financial future, otherwise The Day Before would win lol

[@ja_pan978]

Larian is a massive AAA studio flush with a tencent investment.

[@paradigmdream]

holy shit that cake is incredible

[@duckypresents]

Unless i missed it being announced if k bought tickets I'd have been super annoyed that the actual GOTY debate wss just some points tabulating

[@gt0783]

Well this was incredible, hopefully I can make a trip to one of these some day. Who knew game of the year could actually be fun?

[@eN1X]

The Gimmick thing was a WORK!!!!

[@peterolofsson9871]

Wait what... where is The Giant Bomb crew? I've been gone like two years?

[@bobbrossify]

Fired.

[@peterolofsson9871]

@@bobbrossify that's fucking insane

[@Ddarke11]

I'll happily taking more talking characters than fucking mute characters.

[@MissouriMatt54]

Thank you for the video.

[@takeshikitano3]

Really happy the live show worked out so well, and I definitely love the math for ranking the final games! Still cannot stand that "shoot" lingo at all, please stop using it.

[@Alcoholikaust]

This is great good job everyone

[@jebus9001]

Dan being a good sport and throwing in a wrestling phrase just to let everyone see the pieing

[@jebus9001]

I posted this just before he swapped in the double.

[@definer0]

Where’s the Lies of P love from Jan gone? 😨 Anyway looks like everyone had a lot of fun

[@rogerbabin8175]

The lack of screen interactivity during the first couple things really took away from the experience I find. The feeling of this being 'rushed' was always present which hurt things as well. That said, I really enjoyed the simple math based approach to the top 10 mostly because we got to hear everyone's personalized lists. Big fan of this current GB crew though. Keep up the good work :)

[@chazpedersen13]

So glad Gerstmann’s gone. That guy was way to full of himself

[@siamesegiant]

I think it would have been a much better story if either Alan Wake or BG3 had won, given the travails of Remedy over the years, and the meteoric rise of Larian, but sometimes the corporate monster puts out a good game, and Tears of the Kingdom is one of those.

[@tehkyle5k]

Would love to see a mini GB tour if that's possible. Come to the south! There's dozens of us down here!

[@Uhcip]

I don't think that's even a top3 moment for AC6

[@youtubechannel-to4me]

I just came back to giant bomb after a few years off, who are these people? where is jeff, brad, vinnie ?

[@cmpltNOOb]

Jeff G wanted to do something new, he's on Patreon. Vinny, Brad, and Alex didn't want to be under the eye of another corporate entity, so they are also on Patreon doing Nextlander.

[@echasketchers2092]

Jeff Gerstmann show is GOATed highly recommend

[@Luuuuurve]

Who even are these people?

[@Samfoote]

Legit

[@Ajunk0]

The love for Alan Wake 2 must be an industry thing, because I don't get it. Extremely tedious gameplay, really bad bosses, exploration takes forever, very on-rails, combat is just as bad as AW1. Whereas everyone looks forward to shooting zombies in RE4, nobody looks forward to combat in AW2. They somehow made shooting zombies not fun, and the looting honestly isn't fun either. The game really only exists for the story, which is more references and vibes than actual substance. Alan Wake's constant sputtering narration is so grating, and it's so full of itself. I think the only way someone can love this game is if they go into it already believing it is a brilliant masterpiece, and that the gameplay is worth overlooking.

[@Spockability]

Ive been pretty checked out from giant bomb for the last year or so since folks started leaving and I didn't have time to follow everything... so what the eff is going on?

[@cmpltNOOb]

Jeff G wanted to do something new, he's on Patreon. Vinny, Brad, and Alex didn't want to be under the eye of another corporate entity, so they are also on Patreon doing Nextlander. GB is still here doing its thing along with a few Gamespot, Fandom, and other fun folks who show up fairly frequently.

[@Spockability]

@@cmpltNOOb yeah I went with nextlander and Jeff G. This is just a wild live show that's pretty neat. I was surprised to see it

[@razzlejazzled]

@@Spockability It took the new crew a bit of time to settle in, IIRC part of that was because shortly after they were all hired GB got sold again. But this group has good chemistry, and seem to be hitting their stride. Would also recommend checking out the GB at night shows from the TGAs or from Summer Game Fest this year. Grubb had very big shoes to fill on that as the new host, and by all accounts he has done an excellent job. Great mix of serious conversations about the industry and unhinged chaos.

[@Spockability]

@@razzlejazzled very cool. I'll have to make time for GB in my life again

[@vedicardi]

tam

[@Akuu820]

Good. It was a travesty that PUBG beat Breath of the Wild in 2017.

[@farristhewheel]

What an embarrassing decision

[@GellrockWarfiend]

Do you not remember how much they played that game that year? That was like every UPF game forever, of course it was their game of the year.

[@Akuu820]

@@GellrockWarfiend Yeah but in hindsight who cares about pubg anymore? BOTW remains an all time great.

[@Matthias1190]

I’m miss the kings. live in peace.

[@bobbrossify]

Jesus GB is dead.

[@VolPett]

Getting old sucks.

[@kel0040]

Hogwarts Legacy biggest selling game of the year 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@hwer1253]

Another group afraid to mention Hogwarts Legacy. Shameful. I’m glad I unsubscribed.

[@leevus_t8357]

Because it's not that good. Doesn't come close to any games in their top 5 lists.

[@gho5trun3r68]

The problem with Hogwarts Legacy is that it's a very good open world RPG... in 2010. But everything it's done has been done before and then some. So if it's your first time playing that kind of game, then Hogwarts Legacy is great. But for those that have been playing that genre a lot, it's kind of just fine. Doesn't crack the top 20 though.

[@hiredsword]

No one's afraid to mention it, it's just not worth mentioning.

[@archiemisc]

Then why are you still here?

[@echasketchers2092]

lol