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press-x-tojason · 3 years

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Giant Bomb is dead, and I care way less than I thought I would. Probably because 83% of the people who I ever cared about had already left or died, or were already relegated to reduced content roles.

Honestly, though, the writing’s been on the wall for a bit. They haven’t had anything worthy of paying for premium in several years, and, even though they’ve had well over a year to figure out a plan for the COVID era, they maybe made it a month with their plans to have a series of streams daily. I actually managed to forget I followed them on Twitch at all, for about 4 months, because they only streamed the podcasts and the occasional former Harmonix employee (who was literally paid to make content with their games while employed at Giant Bomb, which was funny because he blocked me on Twitter for making a post, addressing no one, back in 2014, which was asking about the legitimacy of the leaked list of “games “””””journalists”””””” who had taken money from publishers for positive reviews, a list which included him and multiple then-coworkers. I didn’t follow him, he didn’t follow me. He was manually searching the keywords, because he was, and is, a prick.) solo Rock Band stream in the last 8 months or so. Even when Jeff would manage to do one of his 20 streams from home a year, it would be on his own channel. There was just no content. And they’re surprised their “pay for our unique premium content!” model failed. They always “feigned” anger at Dan for “making” them do the Mario Party Parties, and literally never promoted his and Drew’s Metal Gear series after the first game... but I bet that, when only those, UPF, and the ad-free versions of the podcasts were premium features, those two series were keeping them afloat. Well, that and the remaining goodwill they miraculously managed to hold onto for a few years after Ryan died. Shit, I follow several people who are GB staff-adjacent, and... I can’t think of the last time they mentioned anything that happened on-site. Even the people who’ve been directly supporting them for over 10 years were out.

But yeah, the site is super dead. They pretended in the announcements like they’re going to make a go of it still, but... you’ve got like 4 content people left, and the only one people give a shit about is Jeff. You just saw 3/4 of the side of the site that was still trying these past several months jump ship in a 3 month span. One of those was, by nearly any definition, a founding member. Of which you had already lost one, and are losing another from the main side. Jeff’s been way less active until the last week or two, probably because he heard they were leaving and was like “oops, should probably check on the ship that’s been sinking for years!” Then you have Jason “The Human Mumble” Oestricher, the charisma vacuum, whose legitimate public-facing reaction to first hearing that all but one of his GB predecessors were going to be gone. was, and I quote, “Hoo Boy.” Ben and Jan are the definition of “fine”. They would have been great, as they are today, as secondary members 8-10 years ago. But carry the site, they cannot. They’re down to, what, 5 named members now? It hasn’t been that dire since the beginning of 2009, before they hired Drew, when they hadn’t even started the P4 endurance run. You know, that surprise massive, internet-changing thing that essentially popularized the Let’s Play concept, loosening its definition and making it something that could be as personality-driven as game-driven, made simply to give them something to put on the website, beyond the rare review and, slightly later, quick look. This kinda illustrates the problem with modern Giant Bomb. When they were figuring shit out, flying by the seats of their pants, they came up with great shit, and they gave enough of a shit to make it happen. 0.000% chance they do a 10 hour Thanksgiving Kinect stream if the Kinect was new today. 0.000% chance the core members would have done an endurance run in the last 10 years if CT and Shenmue (which I haven’t watched) weren’t driven by the younger members. And you could see it in the fact that they never made a real, true mobile app. The number one thing that would have made them indispensable this past decade, an app to integrate premium features, the podcast, their video player, etc. all in one place in a mobile-friendly package, that could sync with the website... and they never even raised the idea publicly. I wonder how much of the innovation was the group think-tank of the first 5 years. Beyond Dan’s couple major contributions, I don’t think they added a single new type of content after 2012, which... still means the last 6.5 years lacked any semblance of innovation. I guess that’s a big part of why I fell off tremendously quickly after late 2014. There was just nothing new, and believe me, I was looking. I wanted reasons to stay watching. I supported them with my dollar. I believed in those brave early days. And I went back yesterday to watch the DP endurance run from VJ again. I still miss that rapport. And really, that hurt, too. Vinny moving back east, less than a year after Ryan passed... short term, it was fine. You had more people than ever to cover the gaps. But the spark was gone. The chemistry made the site. When I think of Giant Bomb, I still think of Jeff, Vinny, and Ryan, first and foremost. Those early podcasts, the NintenDownloads, the crazy tangents that everyone could seamlessly follow up on(well, except Brad, because he essentially slept through most of the podcasts, unless he was talking about the thing he did that week), the weird high-concept GOTY stuff... it wasn’t perfect, but you were entertained. You laughed. You were engaged. It never felt like you were watching them working, even though you could see the work they put in. It felt like, when they released something, you were experiencing a group of legitimate friends doing what they wanted to do anyways.(And boy have I seen enough groups do everything they can to NOT be enjoying doing that, and break up as a result due to hating the jobs that they chose to do).

Part of me would love to make it as simple as “Ryan died, and so did the original spirit”, and... to a degree, it’s true. If you go back to any retrospective they’ve done about the founding of the site, or the podcast they recorded after Ryan passed, you can’t help but recognize that Giant Bomb never happens if these core members don’t all quit their jobs, led by Ryan, because they respect their boss/manager, Jeff, and know he’s doing the right things(for them, for the reader/viewer, etc.) ahead of what GameSpot management wants him to do. Jeff could have been left in the wilderness, trying find a spot elsewhere, with the rumor going around between executives that Jeff wasn’t going to help them promote anything, essentially killing their revenue. He would have been done in terms of getting employed by a major site. But Ryan first, and soon after, Vinny and Brad, gave up their jobs to make this fledgling little project go. As much as the ERs brought me in and gave the impression that Jeff and Vinny were the long-standing duo, no, it was Ryan who was Jeff’s partner in crime. And, 8 years later, I can comfortably say... Giant Bomb never recovered from losing him.

But it was so much more. Everything that set them apart slowly went away, in time. I don’t think they’ve posted reviews for games in consecutive MONTHS since 2017; 2018 at the latest. They have done one Endurance Run in 9 years. They have not had a meaningful live event in 6 years. Unprofessional Fridays were more formulaic and lesser in volume and frequency after the major players started moving east. The lack of coordination between coasts killed the camaraderie, to the point that I think one of the last 5 true gameplay crossovers was their series of 2016-2017 PUBG shitfests. I remember when Vinny starting GBEast was supposed to be the start of a new era of content, and... it was, but not in a positive way, like it sounded. When half of each side seemed to constantly have no interest in making anything, nothing got made. But I guess that’s what happens when your second in command in one of your headquarters is just a former marketing grunt with an attitude problem, and the guy with the biggest ego on the team is the one who refuses to move to join either side, and just pushes out the most self-important drivel as a header to what were literally just copy-pasted articles from other sites every week while sitting at his desk, dreaming of the days Gawker would pay him to plagiarize political drivel instead, because that’s what really gets the soulless clicks. One of your founding members becomes depressed due to losing his two closest work friends, one for real, one to a 3000 mile separation, within a year, while the other one who is left virtually stopped playing anything but DOTA 2 for 2 years. Suddenly your most prominent personalities are the 2 new guys(one the aforementioned charisma vacuum, the other a walking mark) and your previously-mostly-off-camera producer who is best known to the wider Internet for... blinking. So, yeah, lifeless. And NOW, all you’ve got is old melancholy dad, charisma vacuum dad, and the two ADHD kids whose defining trait is that they choose to exclusively refer to their partners as “my partner” in voices that make it sound like they are embarrassed to have partners, while also talking more about what their partners are doing than what they do. It’s confounding.

But yeah, TL:DR: RIP zombie Giant Bomb. Glad you’re finally getting taken behind the shed. It took 3 years too long, minimum.

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hittveu · 7 years

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Josh Files verteidigt Titel vor Halder und Van der Linde – Luca Engstler Rookiemeister

Starkes Feld: 58 Piloten aus 13 Nationen auf sechs Automarken

Beeindruckende Zahlen: 14 Rennen, 233 Runden, mehr als 912 Rennkilometer

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München. Spannung , Action, heiße Rad-an-Rad-Duelle, mehr als 40 Fahrzeuge von sechs Marken und ein hochkarätiges Fahrerfeld mit 58 Piloten – mit einem Rekordstarterfeld hat die ADAC TCR Germany am Hockenheimring ihre zweite Saison beendet, und die 14 Rennen haben alles geboten, was Tourenwagenfans lieben. Josh Files (26, Großbritannien, Target Competition) hat auch der zweiten Saison in seinem Honda Civic TCR seinen Stempel aufgedrückt und seinen Titel erfolgreich verteidigt. Wie schon 2016 gewann der Brite sechs Rennen und hat die Zahl seiner Siege nach zwei Jahren ADAC TCR Germany, in denen er 24 der insgesamt 28 Rennen beendete, auf ein Dutzend hochgeschraubt.

Zweiter der Gesamtwertung wurde Seat-Pilot Mike Halder (21, Meßkirch, Wolf Power Racing). Der Förderpilot der ADAC Stiftung Sport punktete nicht nur konstant, sondern begeisterte mit seinen forschen Angriffen. Halder landete sechsmal auf dem Podium, muss sein großes Ziel, den ersten Sieg in der ADAC TCR Germany, allerdings auf die Saison 2018 verschieben. In der zweiten Saisonhälfte sorgten auch die beiden Audi RS3 LMS-Piloten Sheldon van der Linde (18, Südafrika, AC Mayen e.V. im ADAC) und Niels Langeveld (29, Niederlande, Racing One), die die Ränge drei und vier der Gesamtwertung belegten, für viel Schwung.

Senkrechtstarter der Saison 2017 war Luca Engstler (17, Wiggensbach, Liqui Moly Team Engstler), der im VW Golf GTI TCR die Nachwuchswertung dominierte und als Sieger der Honda Rookie Challenge einen Honda Civic als Prämie mit nach Hause nehmen durfte.

Zahlen und Fakten zur zweiten Saison der ADAC TCR Germany 2017

Bei den sieben Rennwochenenden mit 14 Läufen gingen 58 Fahrer aus 13 Nationen mindestens einmal an den Start. Deutsche Fahrer stellten dabei mit 18 Piloten die größte Fraktion. Dahinter folgen die Schweiz mit 12 Piloten vor den Niederlanden (8) und Österreich (6). Drei Fahrer kommen aus Finnland, je zwei aus Großbritannien, Italien und Dänemark. Je ein Pilot kam aus Polen, Portugal, Südafrika, Schweden und den USA.

Zum Einsatz kamen der Honda Civic TCR, der Seat Leon TCR, der Opel Astra TCR, der VW Golf GTI TCR, der Audi RS3 LMS und – zuletzt beim Saisonfinale auf dem Hockenheimring – der Alfa Romeo Giulietta TCR.

Die 56 Piloten und zwei Pilotinnen fuhren für 20 Teams aus sechs Nationen. Die meisten Teams kommen aus Deutschland (8). Hinzu kamen vier Teams aus der Schweiz sowie je zwei aus Österreich, Finnland, den Niederlanden und Italien.

Mit Jasmin Preisig (25, Schweiz, Lubner Motorsport) und Gosia Rdest (24, Polen, Target Competition) saßen zwei junge Damen am Steuer der rund 350 PS starken Tourenwagen. Preisig fuhr am Red Bull Ring erstmals in die Punkte, Rdest durfte sich im ersten Rennen von Zandvoort als Sechste über 26 Punkte freuen.

Jüngster Pilot im diesjährigen Teilnehmerfeld war Max Hesse (16, Wernau, Aust Motorsport). Der 16 Jahre alte Förderpilot der ADAC Stiftung Sport war damit noch einmal 16 Monate jünger als Luca Engstler und Simon Reicher (17, Österreich, Certainty Racing). Nach “Ursinho” (53, Schweiz, Wolf Power-Racing) waren Kai Jordan (48, Wolfsburg, Racing One) und Martin Niedertscheider (48, Österreich, Niederscheider Motorsport) mit 48 Jahren die ältesten Piloten. Das Durchschnittsalter aller 2017 gestarteten Piloten betrug mit Stand des letzten Saisonrennens 27,9 Jahre.

Acht Fahrer teilten die Siege unter sich auf: Josh Files gewann sechsmal. Zweimal stand Niels Langeveld ganz oben auf dem Podium. Florian Thoma (21, Schweiz, Liqui Moly Team Engstler), Moritz Oestreich (25, Fulda, Honda Team ADAC Sachsen), Jason Wolfe (22, USA, Liqui Moly Team Engstler) Antti Buri (28, Finnland, LMS Racing), Sheldon van der Linde (18, Südafrika, AC Mayen e.V. im ADAC) und Hari Proczyk (41, Österreich, HP Racing) gelang je ein Rennsieg.

Insgesamt durften sich 17 Fahrer über Podestplatzierungen freuen. Neunmal – und damit am häufigsten – stand Files auf dem Siegerpodium. Sechsmal schaffte es Halder aufs Podium, je viermal Langeveld und van der Linde.

Die Pole Position im ersten Rennen nahmen als Sieger des Qualifying folgende Piloten ein: Zweimal war Hari Proczyk Schnellster im Qualifying, je einmal führten Kris Richard (22, Schweiz, Target Competiton), Dino Calcum (27, Bochum, Schläppi Race-Tec), Niels Langeveld, Mike Halder und Luca Engstler als Schnellste der Qualifikation das Feld in die erste Runde. Über den Reverse-Grid nahmen Files (2x), Florian Thoma, Robin Brezina (18, Dauchingen, Aust Motorsport), Lukas Niedertscheider (21, Österreich, Niedertscheider Motorsport), Niels Langeveld und Max Hofer (18, Österreich, AC Mayen e.V. im ADAC) ein Rennen von der Pole Position in Angriff.

Start-Ziel-Siege gelangen Florian Thoma in Oschersleben (Rennen 2), Niels Langeveld in Zandvoort (Rennen 8), Josh Files am Sachsenring (Rennen 2) und Hari Proczyk am Hockenheimring (Rennen 1).

Bei den Führungsrunden hatte Josh Files die Nase vorn, der das Fahrerfeld in insgesamt 98 Runden auf der ersten Position anführte. Niels Langeveld (33), Florian Thoma (28), Moritz Oestrich (23), Sheldon van der Linde (21) und Antti Buri (14) rangieren ebenfalls im zweistelligen Bereich. Auf neun Rundenführungen brachte es Hari Proczyk, auf vier Mike Halder und auf drei Steve Kirsch (38, Chemnitz, Honda Team ADAC Sachsen).

Je zwei Führungswechsel gab es im zweiten Rennen am Nürburgring (Buri-Kirsch-Buri) sowie im letzten Saisonrennen am Hockenheimring (Files-Oestreich-Files). Je einen Führungswechsel gab es im zweiten Rennen im Rahmen des ADAC TCR Race Weekend in Oschersleben (Thoma, Langeveld) und im ersten Rennen in Zandvoort (Halder, Langeveld).

Beim engsten Zieleinlauf hatte Jason Wolfe im ersten Rennen in Zandvoort nur 0,269 Sekunden Vorsprung auf den Zweitplatzierten Rik Breukers (19, Niederlande, Bas Koeten Racing). Mit dem größten Vorsprung eines Rennsiegers gewann Sheldon van der Linde im ersten Rennen am Sachsenring, als er auf Hari Proczyk 5.371 Sekunden herausfuhr.

233 Runden spulten die Piloten in den 14 Saisonrennen auf Reifen von Exklusiv-Partner Hankook ab. Das entspricht einer Gesamtrenndistanz von 912,891 Kilometern.

Die höchste Durchschnittsgeschwindigkeit in einer Rennrunde gelang Opel-Pilot Dino Calcum, der im zweiten Rennen am Red Bull Ring einen durchschnittlichen Speed von 159,0 km/h erzielte. Je zweimal fuhren Files, Langeveld, Halder und van der Linde die schnellsten Rennrunden. Florian Thoma, Max Hofer, Sandro Kaibach (20, Bad Waldsee, Aust Motorsport), Hari Proczyk und Steve Kirsch gelang einmal die schnellste Rennrunde. Quelle: ADAC Motorsport

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Zahlen und Fakten: Saisonbilanz der ADAC TCR Germany 2017 Josh Files verteidigt Titel vor Halder und Van der Linde - Luca Engstler Rookiemeister Starkes Feld: 58 Piloten aus 13 Nationen auf sechs Automarken…

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