Daily Archives: February 9, 2016

Gametrailers.com is done

Games

For as long as I’ve used the internet, I’ve pretty much had one favorite gaming site that I’d check out everyday. When the website goes, I’m forced to move on. The first one I can remember is N64HQ.com. That was in the early internet days. Had great content run by a cool guy and it went under around the time the Nintendo 64 was put out to pasture. This was when IGN (probably my #2 spot) and gamespot.com hit the scene as well and got massive. I stopped going to IGN along time ago because it got too big and diluted.

Then there was 1up.com. Loved that place because I felt like I knew the entire staff that worked there. They had similar tastes to me, I liked the content they put out and it was updated all the time with great written and video content. Then, around 2011 (iirc) they were closed and the band split up. From there, I moved to Gametrailers.

Until yesterday, everything about 1up.com can be applied to GT. Great staff whose personality made the site. Updated all the time with a lot of funny and original content. While I didn’t personally know the crew, I felt like I Internet Knew them. That counts for a lot.

Half way through 2014 GT was bought by Defy Media and a huge chunk of GT was laid off. The remaining group held on and kept things going strong. Brandon Jones started GT in 2002 and has seen it to the end. Defy closed the site yesterday. Brandon had to tell his friends that they were all fired.

If you followed the site for any amount of time, you could tell the site was struggling (the video player was garbage which is ridiculous for a video site) and viewership was down, but the guys (and girl) made due.  The shuttering still feels very abrupt and shocking to me. I’m sorry to see these guys lose their jobs, GT closing down is a loss to the industry.

Brandon and Ian are great editors and a testament to the craft. Thank you to both of them as well as Daniel, Kyle, Brad, Ben, Don, Michael and Elise (she got out early to join The Know on YouTube) for all of your hard work. It’s been greatly appreciated.

I’m hoping Jones can rally the troops and get something going on YouTube.

Shameless S6E05

TV

Refugees

The episode opens with Frank ripping out the copper pipes of the house. How great is that? The man has won and there is no way to stay in the house, so prep to find a new place begins…only for the sheriff to show up and kick them out. This causes a minor Gallagher reunion.

Ian and Lip patch things up, Carl and Nick poke around for their own place with negative results. Debbie and Fiona are at least on speaking terms (“I’m still a Gallagher”) but Fiona still doesn’t know about Debbie and Frank’s in progress family replacement plan, The big surprise for Frank is that he’s found a person he can’t corrupt into a final voyage. Tyler’s wife (I don’t think her first name has been said and I can’t remember their last name) has done it all, so Frank’s go to debauchery tactics don’t work. He’s amazingly charming though and manages to show her around to start getting her affairs in order while Debbie tries to seduce Tyler (they think she’s 18). Frank is a great team member when he gets someone to work with.

Special shout out to Ever Carradine, the actress playing Tyler’s wife. William H. Macy is a brilliant actor, as just about every scene he’s in proves. They keep finding (props to the casting department) phenomenal actresses for him to play against and she goes toe to toe with him. The material isn’t easy and Macy as Frank sets a high bar. I give the award to best scenes this episode to these two.

Kevin works on his guilt issues about Yanis which leads to a gaggle of child refugees coming to live with him and V. Fiona focuses on getting a place for her and Liam to crash (cue dumb fight with Sean) and keeps delaying her abortion. “You didn’t think I was having second thoughts, do you?” Yes, we do, Fiona.

Good to see someone forcing Ian to grow up some. He’s been a tornado for some time and it’s exciting to see someone new check his shit at the door (and whoa, Tony shows up after a few years telling Ian “Your sister turned me gay.”) Speaking of blasts from the past, Amanda drops in on Lip and his dumb ass can’t see the fire in her eyes right from the start. Letting her into his room leads to the end of Mrs. Robinson. Not sure what the under over is of him ever seeing her again.

“Hello?” Chuckie! I’d like to say it’s messed up that everyone forgot about him, but I did after 50 minutes so I can’t hold it against them after the day they had.

Next week: NSFW

Black Sails S3E03

TV

A lot of floating around in episode 3.

On Nassau, Max works toward converting the treasure and gets informed about the incoming trouble. This forces the rallying of the pirates to show a united front. Big stand out for this section was Max and Anne’s talk in the cave. Beautiful silhouette shot of Anne for her last line before she leaves.

Blackbeard makes a wise power move with results soon to come (meaning next week). I dig his time talking with Vane. Interesting history gives them interesting dialog. They work on screen together really well.

As Eleanor and her new “teammates” get closer to Nassau she discovers that Woodes has agreed to an accelerated takeover timetable from his financiers. The pressure is on more than she thought and when they reach Nassau, Eleanor proves her worth once more by sending out Hornigold as the messenger. Looks like Nassau loses a major foothold right out of the gate.

The horrors of being adrift at the mercy of mother nature with Flint. Fantastic makeup work sold the crews desperate shape. This episode covers 3 weeks and the look on John Silver’s face at the end of it really shows. Another awesome scene with just Flint and Silver and a killer last shot buttons up the episode. All hell might break loose on all fronts in episode 4.