Fucking Kotaku

[Strangelove]

http://kotaku.com/5872608/hello-im-kotakus-new-editor+in+chief

 

Says here Joel is also leaving.

[deanb]

Maybe good news after all (Shame McWhertor left. A double Brian leaving would have done wonders for kotaku)

[Chewblaha]

I can understand why most people here (Dean of all) would be happy that Crecente left, but I actually enjoyed the guy. I'm also still peeved about McWhertor leaving, as he was my favorite editor behind Owen.

[Strangelove]

I liked McWhertor too.

 

I dont personally have anything against Crecente, hes likable enough. But the decisions hes makes or stands behind have been pretty retarded.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Well, he's likable on the face of things as far as the general tone of his writing, but we've all seen some of the asinine decisions he's made and the sour attitude that follows in the aftermath. Being likable doesn't mean you should be a writer. Also, his writing is bad. Like, Stephanie Meyer/high school essay/back of cereal box bad. It's choppy and sophomoric and hard to read. As much as other sites like RPS can go overboard with the navel-gazing stuff sometimes, their higher standards as far as sentence structure, logic, syntax, and the like make those kinds of sites far more desirable and readable in my opinion.

[fuchikoma]

I liked Crecente too. I rarely agreed with his opinions, but it was like he was hardcore into casual-focused games and that made it interesting to read his POV. Not just another cookie cutter gamer site by gamers for gamers. He was a bit childish early on, but really mellowed after a few years running the site.

 

Joel on the other hand... is the reason I left the site in more ways than one. I have nothing to say about him that isn't scathing through and through. Before that, I never had any serious issues with the staff there, though I remember Kirk has written an article or two that just made me shake my head.

[MasterDex]

I didn't have too much of a problem with Crecente. Where I did it was really in his duties as the boss but I can understand some of his decisions in that role. Luke and I never really saw eye to eye but I think we had a mutual understanding that I'd bash his articles and he'd tell me to go fuck myself (in much kinder words) and leave it at that. Joel is the reason I left Kotaku and the reason I had no desire to return but if he's going to, it might prompt me to create a new account. If I said anymore about him, It'd just be obscenities so I'll stop at that.

 

I have to agree with Dean though. Crecente and Joel leaving can only be a good thing in my mind.

 

I'm all for a good "Golden Years" of Kotaku kind of site rising to popularity...so if the right people leave the right places and make the right site with the right... you get the point.

 

Not sure who those right people would be, but basically, I get my news from real-life friends and you guys, and I don't feel like I'm missing out by not visiting a gaming page regularly. (That said, the last 8 months of my life have been crazy, busy and crazy-busy. Maybe in a year or two if things are calm, I'll want a few more sites to visit regularly.)

 

*cough*http://pressxordie.com*cough*

Edited January 3, 2012 by MasterDex

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

http://kotaku.com/5872606/

 

I heard about this through a RT lewieP did of someone else. It piqued my interest and..turns out Crecente is leaving Kotaku. Shame that the past year he's been replaced by Joel Johnson or it might have meant fun times ahead.

 

In related (for all we know extremely related) news the McElroy brothers and someone else left Joystiq about a week ago. Personally I'm of the feeling they're aiming for a video game version of The Verge. (a stie set up late last year by a bunch of folks who left Joystiqs sister site Engadget)

 

LOL @ the featured comment. Oh man.

 

Anyways, Totilo at the helm? Kotaku has a chance!

[TCP]

I'm confused. Was Brian the editor in chief up until recently or did Joel replace him a year ago and Brian stayed on?

[deanb]

Brian was always Editor in Chief. Joel joined in a newly made position of "Editorial Director" above EiC. Basically steering Kotaku and what it posted n such. Which I've a feeling is why he's being dumped upon Jaloponik, rescue a possibly sinking ship (I've no idea on Jaloponiks status mind)

[Mr. GOH!]

I like Joel as an editor; as a writer and a commenter-interactor, he's alienating. But I loved a lot of the articles he brought to Kotaku on gender and it's problematic place in nerd culture. I think a Kotaku/io9 examination of such would be pretty interesting.

 

But Crecente, oh Crecente! Not my favorite guy. My interest is certainly piqued by the curious total lack of information regarding Crecente's future. That makes me think somebody, somewhere, got fucked by the deal. Part of me wonders if Crecente moved to NY from CO earlier in 2011 only to be fired by Denton at the end of the year. Perhaps Crecente is in talks about a new job, but can't disclose anything because nothing has been finalized. Bottom line: it has me wondering.

Edited January 4, 2012 by Mr. GOH!

[deanb]

I wouldn't be surprised if Crecentes departure is tied up with the Joystiq staff leavings a week ago. The timing is certainly close. However I know on the Joystiq end AOL is apparently terrible with its writers, hence the mass leaving of Engadget last year. Doesn't help that Joel RT'd the Verge(founded post-Engadget) EiC about on "wonder what he'll get up to next!".

[TCP]

Looks like you were right, Dean. http://subcathoin.tumblr.com/post/15296563118/the-next-big-thing

 

The Next Big Thing

 

Yesterday I said goodbye to Kotaku. Today I say hello to the next big thing: Vox Games.

I’m teaming up with an amazing group of talented writers and editors over at Vox Media to help create something that we all think will be exciting and new. And no, Vox Games isn’t the final name, just a placeholder.

The folks already behind this new endeavor include Chris Grant, Justin McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Arthur Gies (all of Joystiq), former editor in chief of The Escapist Russ Pitts, MTV News gaming journalist Russ Frushtick and Chris Plante, whose work has appeared on The Daily, IFC, AV Cluband Edge.

We will be building our new site off of the amazing tech already in place over on The Verge. Take a second to go check out the site if you haven’t yet. The tech behind The Verge was one of the key reasons I decided to team up with Vox Media. It’s obvious that this tech can be used to create something entirely new, without borders, without the limitations of traditional blog formats. That’s vastly appealing to me.

The team I will be working with in the future is another big reason I decided to sign up. This is a list of some of the most talented gaming writers on the Internet. When I was building Kotaku from 10,000 to 5.5 million I felt it was incredibly important to hire a diverse cross-section of writers. Each new hire, I believed and still believe, added not just another warm body to the mix, but also a new facet, and new perception to Kotaku. Looking at this amazing group of new co-workers I’m delighted to see that philosophy already bubbling to life at Vox Games. These are folks who come with a talent for writing, but also for video production, for radio. They are talented gamers with eclectic backgrounds and interesting insights. That we have the time and financial backing to work together to create something tested and different before officially launching, can’t be understated.

What does that mean? It means that we can also sit down and talk about the best and worst of our experiences. We can listen to you and to other communities as we all work together to build a bold new media experiment for video game writing and journalism.

I left a place I loved, a place filled with writers and editors I deeply respect, to do this. But I didn’t leave Kotaku to create Kotaku. Why bother? That’s already done. I left to try something new, something exciting and hopefully something that can deliver an experience everyone will love diving into as much as we love creating it.

What’s next? Next we begin the process of creating this new, wonderful thing. As we work behind the scenes our stories will start appearing on The Verge. I’ll also continue to write my weekly internationally syndicated column for Tribune-McClatchy. The wire service was kind enough to renew my contract after I announced my departure from Kotaku.

I hope you like what we do and I hope you help us make something we can all love.

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

It’s obvious that this tech can be used to create something entirely new, without borders, without the limitations of traditional blog formats. That’s vastly appealing to me.

In other words, the site is cluttered like the front page of a newspaper rather than sensible like a chronological blog.

[Luftwaffles]

Sounds like Giantbomb with worse journalists, IMO.

[deanb]

Yeah while I like what The Verge write it has a front page that has surpassed Gawker Media in terribleness. There is a reason why the traditional blog format won out. Why RSS feeds come in the same blog type format. Why books go in order of chapters. Why facebook is laid out the same way. Google searches, etc etc.

 

At this least this new site lumps people all in one place I can actively ignore.

[HoonDynasty]

I'm so glad that Joel Johnson's been shown the door out of another Gawker blog. Unfortunately, they let him into Jalopnik. Hopefully they'll shift him to Jezebel by the end of the year before recognizing he's absolutely useless as a human being or a doorstop.

 

I've had issues with Kotaku's journalistic quality and truthfulness for much of the past year, but I stopped reading after Johnson took over and destarred me for calling him out on bad writing and fact checking during the PSN outage debacle. Internet people almost never rub me the wrong way, but there's something about that blubbering manchild that just makes me want to stuff him in a locker. I stopped reading Gizmodo for the same reasons, and I won't visit either site for any reason, unless I absolutely have to (like when people here link stuff back). I don't think I've missed much the past 8 months, though.

 

Hopefully with Totilo taking the helm for real, Kotaku can get away a bit from the tabloid trash tone of its parent company and get back to reasonably well-written and informative articles that aren't lifted off somebody else's back. That said, I still read a couple GM blogs, io9 and Jalopnik and think they're great. io9's staff are professional and still can write snarkily informative stuff, and Jalopnik's just fun with a great community.

 

I really hope Jalopnik doesn't give Johnson much pull there, because it's my favorite car blog and he ruins everything he touches. So long as we can get away with trash talking him in Oppo, we'll be ok, capisce?

[WTF]

While I don't really care about gaming website writers per se, the cut and paste article feels a bit like the formation of a new high school club or an MMO guild more than a new organisation or sub-organisation...

Maybe it's just me.

[Thursday Next]

So basically, everyone I ever disliked at Kotaku has left? MIght even consider making a reappearance there... Unlikely though.

[DocSeuss]

I think I might be the greatest person alive right now.

 

It started last night. I really like Serious Sam, so I wrote a blog post about it. Then, I posted it on #Speakup, because I figured it might actually make for a nice Speakup post. Well, it got picked up.

 

If the core idea of Dark Souls is that it's a game that is incredibly hard and requires a player to truly think about the experience/learn from the experience to survive, as everyone I've asked about the game says it is, then Serious Sam is just as worthy for consideration, because that's what the series has always been about.

 

Here's the thing: I was getting sleepy, so I apparently didn't communicate very well: I don't hate Dark Souls and I don't think it's a bad game. I just don't think it's particularly special for what it's done, because there are other games, like STALKER, that have done the "dead world/amazing difficulty/great atmosphere/learn to be a better player" thing better. I took people to task for praising it as a unique experience, because it's one I've experienced before. It's a great experience, but not a unique one. Serious Sam, I think, is one of those games.

 

Apparently, that led to this.

 

Yeah. Apparently, I trolled a Kotaku writer by accident.

 

Awesome.

 

The sad thing was, I bet Kotaku won't let me write a counter-article about why it's not special.

[Faiblesse Des Sens]

You didn't talk about Dark Souls smooth gameplay... which STALKER doesn't have. Though for atmosphere/difficulty I agree.

[RockyRan]

Crecente AND Johnson left? That's easily the best thing to happen to that site in years.

[TheRevanchist]

The site is already feeling different. The open threads and TAY posts were not up today (and open thread has been disappearing from the landscape for the last month). A lot more of the quick, small note posts are prevalent. I like this change more than any I have seen over the last year.

[Hot Heart]

Apparently, that led to this.

 

Yeah. Apparently, I trolled a Kotaku writer by accident.

No, that's a repost from elsewhere. I remember reading that before.

 

EDIT: Ah, I'd seen it on RPS's 'Sunday Papers'. Not to say you couldn't have inspired the repost but chances are it's been doing the rounds.

Edited January 10, 2012 by Hot Heart

[P4: Gritty Reboot]

Stumbled across an older K article on RAGE. Interesting read in hindsight.

 

http://kotaku.com/5826646/rage-is-the-id-software-comeback-ive-been-waiting-for