#wkovarik

[blazehedgehog]

What do you think Drew leaving Giantbomb? Also, what is your opinion on Brad Shoemaker?

Giantbomb really needs to hire people sooner rather than later at this point.

I make a point here on my tumblr to speak my thoughts even if it’s not necessarily always a good idea to do so. I try not to censor myself too much when I respond to people, even though I am aware that maybe some day those people will read the things I have to say and maybe think negatively of me.

But, uh, hm. Giantbomb… kind of sucks now? Or at the very least, GB West does. Vinny splintering off to go to New York has really illuminated who there I like and don’t like and why I don’t like them.

I can’t remember the last time I listened to an entire Original Recipe Bombcast. Jeff’s opinions are continents away from where mine lie, and he can be a cynical, often bitter and jaded man. I don’t hate him, but he can be very frustrating to listen to sometimes. 

(The most pronounced and recent example is the Berserk: Band of the Hawk quicklook; I understand it’s not a very good game, but Jeff wasn’t even doing very good schadenfreude, he was just being annoying.)

Losing Drew really sucks, because he always seemed to be doing some very interesting things that broke away from the usual GiantBomb echo chamber of fighting games, wrestling, and stuff that’s “so dumb it’s good.” His trips to North Korea and the things he did with Patrick Klepek surrounding EVE Online are some of GiantBomb’s most interesting pieces of content, full stop. The GiantBomb Flight Club was also a must-watch whenever it would come up. He was often a very good straight man for Vinny.

I think it’s safe to say Drew will leave GiantBomb a changed man. I think he found himself, at least part of himself, while working at GiantBomb. He became something. Heck, he became someone.

Losing Drew means the echo chamber just gets louder.

I have nothing against Brad. He’s a bit sleepy, he’s too self-conscious, and he seems to lack the drive to fight for his opinions in the way Jeff does. Jeff is a very aggressive man. Brad seems to roll over a lot. He’s also very forgetful, but then, I suppose most of the people who work at GiantBomb seem to be very forgetful. I feel like a lot of the most incorrect answers to questions at GiantBomb often seem to involve Brad going “that sounds right” when it’s definitely not.

But he seems like an alright dude. He lets the comments people have about his ability to play games get to him way too much. But I also remember the absolute joy of the Mile High Club achievement. Gosh, what a great thing.

[blazehedgehog]

What do you think about Tanabe's comments about the future of Paper Mario?

It’s very complex. I respect what he’s saying – Tanabe acknowledges that Mario is not his character, and therefore, when Shigeru Miyamoto tells him to jump, Tanabe’s response is obviously “How high?”

(Actually, it’s far more polite than that, but the point is, he wants to honor Miyamoto, because Mario belongs to him)

But on some level, I think it’s also silly, because there are masses of fans out there who are not happy with the direction that Paper Mario is going. By honoring Miyamoto’s request, he is essentially undoing what people love about that series.

And it’s not easy. I imagine he sees it as a challenge, to try and succeed in spite of what could be considered a handicap, but there is no denying that it is a handicap. I wonder if he has considered the fact that maybe, in complying with Miyamoto’s request, could he be negatively impacting how people view Miyamoto? If Miyamoto wants to take away a defining aspect of Paper Mario that fans of the series have come to expect and rely on, even if Mario is Miyamoto’s creation, that’s going to make him look bad in the subset of people who like Paper Mario as it was.

Isn’t that, in itself, a kind of disrespect?