The Nextlander Podcast

I was very sad to hear that these guys were leaving Giant Bomb, but Nextlander has been great from the start and I’m grateful that they have been able to keep talking about games on the internet. Alex, Brad, and Vinny come across as some of the most thoughtful and engaging voices in games media.

Truly miss the original bombcast and the beast cast but this is the closest thing to it. The current bombcast lacks teeth and the Jeff gertsman show is just too long and too singular. If you’re like me you will like Nextlander

TL,DR: Long time listener just tired of the constant negativity and cynicism that has progressively crept its way into the show more and more since its inception. Like many other followers, I have listened to Vinny, Brad and Alex since the inception of/their respective involvements with Giant Bomb. After they, along with Jeff Gerstmann, left to start their own companies, I immediately followed their new projects. I truly believe that the show started strong and remains strong when the trio sticks to talking about video games. The knowledge of the industry gained over years of experience can be very valuable from the standpoint of a consumer who needs to make more thrifty decisions when it comes to a limited gaming budget. However, as I have seen others mention in recent reviews, it has become extremely tiring to start the podcast each week listening to each of the three venting about how horrible the current state of the world is and the toll that it is taking on them. These are three late 40, early 50 something men that are supposed to be running a podcast about video games. I really don’t want this to come off as a personal attack but, man, we all have our own problems and struggles. Personally, I come to YOU three for a little bit of an escape from those problems each week. It may be that I am more sensitive to it now, but it seems that this type of negative and cynical talk has become more and more frequent over the years. In fact, Vinny complaining about subscribing to too many services run by “tech oligarchs” in this week’s episode pushed me to write this novel of a review. You guys are literally funded by Patreon, ad agencies and run monetized YouTube AND Twitch channels. Does the hypocrisy need to be pointed out? The world isn’t all doom and gloom, I promise you. I don’t know if the creators or anyone else really reads these reviews but please consider doing your venting before pressing record. I don’t know how much more I can continue to listen to, especially with four years of Trump just ramping up. In hopes that one of the three actually does read this, I truly write this as an honest critique with no malice intended. I will continue listening for the next month or so in hopes that something changes but, like Vinny, I am subscribed to far too many services. Unfortunately my belt tightening will begin with cancelling my Patreon subscription for the time being.

They're fun and insightful when talking about games, but when they start complaining about the world, it’s uncomfortable to listen to. They’re wealthy and privileged, yet constantly harp on how bad everything is, which feels disconnected from reality. I can’t help but feel secondhand embarrassment every time they go on about it.