So GB just announced their new crew. Jan, Jason, Jeff Bakalar and Jess are all sticking around. Jeff Grubb, Tamoor Hussain, Lucy James and Matt Rory (who I had always considered sort of GB-adjacent) are now part of the "core crew". And the big reveal is...the full-time return of Dan Ryckert! Say what you will about the importance of Jeff Gerstmann to the institution that is Giant Bomb, but it sure doesn't look like they're planning on packing it in any time soon. That said, the world of games journalism is a very unstable one, so this could all go up in smoke tomorrow and I wouldn't be that surprised.
Honestly, this is a pretty solid crew. It also doesn't really feel like Giant Bomb at this point, without any of the founding members around. Call this the GB cinematic universe, I guess? I'll check out some of their stuff, and I certainly hope that it will be fun to watch. I've really enjoyed Jan, Jeff B and Dan's contributions in the past, and the rest I'm mostly kind of neutral on. Tamoor sometimes rubs me the wrong way, since I find he makes a lot of declarative statements that are presented as truths and I often don't agree with them. But I'll give them a chance and see if the next iteration of the Giant Bombcast can fill the whole in my heart that has existed since Dan and Abby left the Beastcast.
Just in general, the last few years have really shaken up my favorite gaming podcasts quite a bit. Austin's departure from Waypoint Radio was pretty huge, the disappearance of the Beastcast followed by the arrival of Nextlander, and now this almost-complete reworking of the Giant Bombcast, probably the show that I've listened to for the longest of all. I'm a little bummed, because none of the new iterations work for me quite as well as the old ones did. My dream Waypoint line up is Austin, Rob, Patrick and Natalie, and the Vinnie/Alex/Dan/Abby era of the Beastcast is probably my favorite podcast of all time. Nextlander hasn't really clicked with me so far, as 2/3 of the cast is pretty low-energy and it just feels a little staid for my tastes. I have more podcasts to listen to than before, but none of them is quite as good as it used to be. Nextlander just announced a new monthly podcast that's supposed to bring in big names from the golden era of the Beastcast, but it's at a Patreon tier that'll run me $16cdn per month and that honestly seems like a lot to pay for one episode of a show.