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 and foremost, hopefully you enjoyed Giant Bomb’s GOLF WEEK theme! In case you are still crazy for golf, know that there’s new Golf Week Merch on the Giant Bomb Store!
- Giant Bomb Golf Cap – $29.00
- Giant Bomb Golf Shirt – $38.00
Wondering why the t-shirt is a bit pricier than normal? Well, it’s not a t-shirt. Giant Bomb partnered with Sport-Tek to make sure this tee had the company’s PosiCharge material to make it an actual golfware appropriate collared shirt! Also, don’t forget that all merch sales are now going towards supporting the site. Regardless, here are some SNAZZY pictures of Mike posing in the new merch!
And the Giant Bomb positivity train isn’t stopping! We finally have a date and time for the Giant Bombathon! The in-person streaming extravaganza will start on Monday, October 27th at around 2:00 PM PDT. Remember, this is a 24-hour stream so if you are at work when it starts, you should have a chance to join the fun while it’s happening eventually. Also, don’t forget that this is going to feature Grubb, Bakalar, Dan, Jan, Mike, as well as Chuck and Shawn on top of plenty of guests!
Again, the impetus for the Bombathon is to drive up Premium Subs as well as support for Giant Bomb’s team now that the site is in its final steps towards independence. If you want to help, you can re-up your premium subscription, consider gifting one to a friend or encourage your gaming peeps to make accounts on the site so you can send them a gift sub, or drop donations on Giant Bomb’s Ko-Fi page!
If you are reading this when it first publishes, friend of the site Tamoor is streaming for Medical Aid for Palestinians. You can catch their stream and charity efforts over on their Twitch account.
Finally, let’s talk about that account transfer opt-in reminder that everyone got that has some people on edge. First, if you already opted into the site migration you’re fine and don’t need to do anything. This email was blanket sent to everyone that has their email listed in the database to make sure everyone that wants to join Giant Bomb in its next steps is aware of what they need to do. If you really want to check to see if you’re all squared away click this link. If after clicking this link, you get immediately re-directed to the homepage, that means there’s nothing you need to do. You’ll only see a disclaimer with a button to click if you haven’t already opted into the account transfer process.
And I harped on this point before, but it’s worth repeating. If you personally know anyone that has ever posted or used Giant Bomb, please reach out to them about keeping their accounts alive. If they say they’ve moved on, that’s okay, but we really want everyone that has any personal connection to their usernames to retain them and that can only happen if they log into Giant Bomb and click the button to join the site in its transition to something new.
Related, but if you are in the Beta site, you can use it and not the present site to renew your premium subs and if you are still having issues logging into the beta and have premium, DM chucktowski your email/username on Discord.
Art
Golf Week Coffee Art (By: @sir5000)
You all enjoyed sir5000’s coffee art last week, so here’s a snapshot of something they made in honor of Giant Bomb’s Golf Week! The inclusion of the green turf was an excellent decision if I do say so myself.
Jeff Bakalar Meal (By: Jess Jeverage)
For those of you aware of the “Jesse Plemons Meal” meme, Jess Jeverage over on Bluesky decided to have their way with the meme except it’s a picture of Jeff Bakalar and includes what they think Bakalar would order at Wendy’s! The “I get it sometimes” is absolutely the best part!
Mikey Shack + Transparent Mike In Golf T-Shirt For Meme Purposes (By: SoulScreme)
With Mike posing for the camera to showcase off the site’s new Golf Week merchandise, that can only mean one thing: MEMES!
Many thanks to SoulScreme for starting the Mike Wolf Week memes on a bang with this hilarious work of photoshopping goodness and if you want to join the fun, I included a transparent version of Mike in Golf Week merch for your pleasure.
Bluesky
https://bsky.app/profile/thisismylandro.bsky.social/post/3m2kdrzqi4c2n
https://bsky.app/profile/tamoorh.com/post/3m2mr2udass26
https://bsky.app/profile/bansheeneet.bsky.social/post/3m2rytkord227
https://bsky.app/profile/qwarq.io/post/3m2mpveemxc2i
https://bsky.app/profile/adam-parker.bsky.social/post/3m2p6t46rt22u
Activities
The GB Album Club 099 – Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol (By: @unclejam23)
The Giant Bomb Album of the Week Club is doing another CLASSIC by listening to Turn on the Bright Lights by Interpol! Are any of you fans of Interpol? If so, how does this stack to the rest of their works? Is it an all-timer like many consider it to be?
Creatures Of Ava Is The 10th Game Of UUGPGC Year 4. Finish By November 1. Mark All Spoilers. (By: @bigsocrates)
Creatures of Ava by Inverge Studios and Chibig is this month’s pick for the Giant Bomb Game of the Month Club! Join the fun and share your thoughts of the game by clicking the link above!
Also, this is the final call to join the Game of the Month Club to discuss discussion for Herdling by Okomotive but be warned that SPOILERS ARE OPENED! For those that joined the group with this game, what did you think of its conclusion? Share your final impressions now.
Blogs
The Quest For The Worst Adventure Game Puzzle: Mike, The 11th Hour Is So Much Worse Than The 7th Guest [Part 1] (By: @zombiepie)
Inspired by Mike Minotti’s trek through the game, Giant Bomb moderator ZombiePie decided to boot up and play the game’s sequel, The 11th Hour. They write why it’s so much worse than The 7th Guest. So, so much worse than The 7th Guest.
Tuesdays* of Terror: The 7th Guest +
Indie Game of the Week 440: The Vagrant (By: @mento)
Also inspired by Mike’s adventures with the game, moderator Mento decided to play and grade every puzzle in The 7th Guest! Which puzzles did they really struggle with and how did they feel about the chess puzzles? Give it a read to help you get into the spooky spirit.
Cyberspace: The Many Tribulations of Virtual Reality (By: @gamer_152)
What’s the absolute state of VR gaming in the year of our Lord, 2025? Does the future look promising? Giant Bomb moderator Gamer_152 tries to answer those two questions while they also try to navigate the smoke and mirrors of the current VR landscape!
AtheistPreacher’s Media Digest, October 2025 (By: @atheistpreacher)
Man, you all really enjoy talking shop about visual novels, don’t you? AthiestPreacher’s blog getting into the nitty gritty about Zero Escape: The Nonary Games was one of the most discussed blogs we have had on the site in a while, so, I’m happily including it a second time to get some much-needed and warranted attention.
Discussion Threads
This Discord Leak/Breach Sure Feels Like A Reminder Of How Flawed Online ID Rules Are (By: @zombiepie)
The Discord leak/breach rocked a lot of people this week, so much so, many are questioning if the Age Verification Laws in the UK and elsewhere are bound to result in an endless stream of hacks or security vulnerabilities in the future. What do you think?
Do I Start With Ghost Of Tsushima Director’s Cut Before Ghost Of Yotei? (By: @monkeyking1969)
For those of you playing Ghost of Yōtei, is it recommended that people play Ghost of Tsushima first? Is it a necessary experience to fully appreciate or enjoy Yōtei? Is the tutorial or gameplay on-ramp in Yōtei sufficient for newcomers.
Modern Podcasts Having The Ads Baked Into The Show (By: @heraldfighter64)
What’s your overall impression of the current state of podcast ads and advertising? Are baked-in ads hurting your ability to enjoy podcasts? Are there any alternatives to help support podcast creators? Share away in this thread.
It Speaks Volumes That Microsoft Had To AGAIN Issue A Statement They Aren’t Entirely Ditching Console Hardware (By: @zombiepie)
It sure speaks volumes that Xbox once again had to clarify that it wasn’t ditching hardware, but even then, how low is your confidence in them? As Grubb brought up during Game Mess Mornings, how married to Xbox and Game Pass do you actually think Microsoft’s leadership is?
Hades II Full Release Discussion Thread (By: @gyratyne)
What’s everyone’s impressions of the full release version of Hades II? Did you enjoy the new mechanics? How much of a difference is it to the first game? Is the complete story good and what do you make of Melinoë as the new lead?
Lists
Pyrokinetics (By: @jacobproper1)
Once again, JacobProper1 is working on a new “catch all” list and needs YOUR HELP! Right now they are working on creating a list of every character that would count as a pyrokineticist. see who they have thus far and drop a comment if you can think of more examples!
Retro Revival (By: @thecollectorx)
Games that honor or revive 80s or 90s properties are all the rage now so thecollectorx tried to think of the best examples as well as upcoming releases with this new list. Also, when did the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles get “hip” or “cool” again? Did I miss something?
User Reviews
@djcube‘s Star Wars: The Clone Wars was written due to the game’s mythical status within the emulation crowd for being one of the hardest GameCube games to emulate, but they found a completely solid and fun vehicle combat game people shouldn’t overlook.
@djcube also decided to check out Shrek Extra Large, the platforming game that ties into the first movie but hilariously doesn’t follow the story or events of the film at all. Is there anything to the game worth checking out besides the novelty? Read to find out!
Wiki Of The Week
October 7th marked the 22nd anniversary of the North American release of Viewtiful Joe! If you want a snapshot of why this stylish action game is so beloved by those that have played it, you should give Giant Bomb’s exhaustive and AMAZING wiki page for the game a read!
