I Am Breaking Up With You Kotaku

Oh! You forgot the post about us, you know, breaking the news that Grand Theft Auto IV leaked onto the internet. Perhaps you missed that while writing your rant.

Guess we're just in different places right now.

I went through the same breakup thing with Joystiq and Destructoid, which seemed like they were targeted at a...let's say "younger" audience. I still read Kotaku, but thanks to Google Reader I can just J-key past the next stuff I'm not interested in. If you're serious about leaving, though, Wired's Game|Life blog is a decent alternative. It's far less comprehensive, but it covers most of the "big" stories.

@bashcraft, dude, _of_course_ that was a great story. (though wouldn't it be more surprising if GTAIV _didn't_leak online?) The problem isn't the signal. It's the noise.

and I'm sure for a lot of people it's not even problem. I just can't deal anymore.

Lev, you can easily parse Kotaku in different ways to suit your finicky taste. Try:

http://kotaku.com/tag/not:gta-iv
http://kotaku.com/tag/feature/
http://kotaku.com/tag/review/
http://kotaku.com/tag/clips/
http://kotaku.com/tag/original/

www.destructoid.com

Just because YOU don't live in Europe doesn't mean Kotaku should stop posting stories from there. I live in the UK and I check Kotaku regularly; I don't know what I'd do if they were to cut international coverage. And what's wrong with posts about cool VG crafts? And little notes between editors? I think it gives the site some character, makes the editors seem more human.

(If you want to see what real "noise" is, check GoNintendo. For example, the other day I saw a post on there stating that Shrek: Ogres and Dronkeys had recieved a price drop on Play-Asia.com)

I think you have it all wrong...Kotaku is the number one gaming news sight out there. They may have completely random posts on some things and their "internal" e-mails to each other, but isn't that part of the sites personality? Kotaku has news before any of the other websites do, that is what puts it ahead of all others, so Lev is it jealousy that caused you to write this blog post? I mean, lets face it, gaming news isn't exactly pouring out from the sources every minute, so if Kotaku wants to post whatever they want to have a new article every 30 minutes, thats more hits for them and a better way to run their business. When all the "Fanboy" sights or Joystiq update 3 or 4 times a day, you lose interest. Kotaku keeps it very fresh and gives insight into things you would probably never come across or hear about unless you r a troll...keep up the good work Kotaku!!

So you either have nothing to write about today or you want to get your traffic up by writing about Kotaku. Your Alexa ranking of 14,009 should increase because of this...congrats I suppose.

Your complaint is the reason I founded http://BusyGamerNews.com

I'm an ex-journalist myself, and for years I've crawled dozens of game sites daily trying to keep up. I realized that many of my peers didn't have the time or passion level to keep up with every little tidbit, screenshot, European release date, etc. But they still wanted to be in the loop enough to survive a watercooler conversation with their younger coworkers who didn't have wives, kids and/or their level of job commitment.

So I write up only the most crucial or interesting news and (very) occasional reviews in a fast-read format that's more common for business newsletters. Now and then I will go on a lengthy rant about a busy gamer advocacy issue, such as the DRM/downloadable content transfer issue on the Xbox 360 or how the Wii UI could have benefited from better IA and usability. But it's the exception, not the rule. (And 9 times out of 10, sites like Kotaku ignore these topics.)

Take a look and let me know what you think. Pardon the dust: I have a list of hundreds of improvements I need to complete (and I'm still cleaning up after a template change late last year).

I've been doing this since 2003 and I do have a small but devoted following. It's hard to get the word out to the people who would enjoy such a site - I don't have an ad budget (and, truth be told, haven't made a dime on the site yet). And the people who would read it are, well, too busy to find it.

-=Gamewatcher

These days Kotaku bugs the hell out of me. The site started out as a solid place to get news, and over the years they seem to get stuff out quicker than any other site. However, the sheer amount of unrelated posts has risen quite a bit, and now it seems like for every legit post there are five or six about Ashcraft's son making a DS or anime, neither of which really have no place on a GAMING blog. Why not just make a bloody personal blog so fans can keep up with the latest happenings of some four year old, and Kotaku sticks to posting real news? Besides the also rampant grammatical errors and misspellings that seem to be plaguing the site, another huge problem is how subjective things can get. While it was always there in the past, recently it has become to the point where I just don't even read certain stories by certain writers. What the hell happened to this site?

Wow, I didn't realize that the entire world began and ended with the United States. And here I thought there were gamers in other countries! To hell with them! The Internet should be owned by America apparently and deal only with America-related topics.

Thank you for enlightening us all! From now on, I'm going to get all my up-to-the-minute gaming news from a reliable source... like Time.

As an Australian, I'm glad Time Magazine's writers continue to maintain the popular opinion that Americans are all ego-centric and totally unawares that there's a world outside your own borders.

Well Lev, I can understand your point. Here's my take on Kotaku...

I started visiting Kotaku in Fall of 2005 and I now check the site several times a day. I got hooked, mainly because there was a lot going on throughout the day. Sites like Gamespot and 1up just didn't have as much activity (or news) on their main page.

The main thing that draws me to Kotaku are the stories that focus on "what's going on in the world of gaming now?". I consider that a broad topic. Stories ranging from Okami on the Wii, to the EA/Take-Two story, to the next "There is no cake" sensation. Granted that their isn't much focus on the review of games (compared to sites like 1up), but no worries. Kotaku is what Kotaku does.

As for the multi-regional coverage, I'm glad to see a games site paying attention to news outside of the U.S. The gaming industry isn't just centered on the American audience, it's a global market, and changes/innovations/etc. in one area of the world can have impact elsewhere.

I hope this doesn't sound like a freakish fanboy rant (I’m not bashing you. You're entitled to your opinion), but I guess it all comes back to what you want in your news.

Lev Grossman,

I appreciate your point of view. And I wish not to depreciate it. Moving forward:

I LOOOOOVES me some Kotaku!! It's because of them, that I found your blog today. And because I registered to comment, rest assured that I'll be coming back every so often. But I digress...

Kotaku is and has been my main fount of information related to the gaming world, in general. I gleam more news from their editorial staff than I do from various podcasts and other news sites. The latter serve only as supplements to the former, Kotaku.

Throw in the fact (already mentioned above) that their staff interject their own personality and personification through their "inside" e-mails, and that they UPDATE throughout the weekend are some of the reasons why I visit Kotaku.com... more than twice a day. They're second only to my email.

Cheers!

Very truly yours,

SpencerG

Lev, you complete idiot. This stupid blog post just shows how little you know about gaming.

The average Kotaku visitor frequents the site not because they cater to his, and only his (or her) needs, you complete tool. We visit the site because, despite the amount of posts we may choose to ignore, there simply is no better site for gaming news.

How can someone who is being published on TIME's web site be so stupid? On behalf of all Kotaku readers I apologize that the web site doesn't cater to, and only to, you.

You obtuse piece of crap. I can't believe you have an outlet for your garbage on a site this reputable and I have to rely on free blogspot accounts. Do us all a favor, don't patronize the entire gaming world (read, planet Earth) anymore, because you have no "write" (get it?) maintaining any type of geek blog based on this pathetic post. Especially since apparently you're a "book critic." Do your frigging homework, you're just as bad as the fox news idiots who make up their own gaming criticisms just because, and then quietly apologize in an email to one single person.

Well, if people wised up and started using more and more other sites in conjunction with one another, perhaps Kotaku's popularity would diminish and thus go back to being what it was a few years ago. At this point I ignore almost anything Ashcraft and Luke write save for the main point of the post if I have a particular interest in the topic, but otherwise the rest of the editors seem a lot more capable than those two. I think Owen was a nice addition, and perhaps some more new people would fix some of the current issues the site has.

As for covering international gaming news, I think it is obviously an important thing for many gamers, even if they don't live outside of the US. And that's fine, as I myself live in Japan at the moment and enjoy being able to keep up with both regions. However, posting meaningless stuff like ero-games or weekly sales for stuff here in Japan is useful to no one and just clutters the main page up. The non-related posts have just taken too much space up, and you have to scroll through the last few pages every other day or so to get the "real" news that matters. I still don't get the point of the day/night note... Are we supposed to truly care about what these editors are doing in their everyday lives to the point where they just post the daily minutia of being a human being in society?

@kpugs: wow, thanks for making all the rest of us kotaku visitors look bad. was any of that fanboyish rant really necessary?

I think people are starting to forget what the word blog means. Lev, I've been reading your blog for a while now, but the reason is not because of what news you give me, but because I like reading about what you find interesting. That's the purpose of a blog.
If I was going to get news specific to gaming, I would head to Gamespot (or used to before their editorial staff problems). They summarize the news each day into 5 succinct categories on the main page, and you can get more info by heading to the top page of a specific console page. This is news. It's simple, opinion free and limited to a few stories a day.
A personal touch to gaming journalism is what Kotaku does best. They cover the whole industry - not just the US - and provide deeper insight into the inner workings of game development. Of course there are lots of so-called "off-topic" articles, but remember, it is a blog after all. To put it another way, maybe it's about time you start posting only news. I'm not interested in what you have to say; I just need a summary of what happened today in the nerd world, sans commentary.
Not quite as interesting, is it?

Your ignorance on news concerning other regions of the world than your beloved US of A is simply pathetic.
And YOU want to be taken serious by your readers? Someone who obviously has not yet understood that videogaming is a global business with lots of international dependencies? Better luck next time, dude...
I guess from now on nobody gives a damn where you read your news anyway.

Seriously? Wow. At least make sure there's no ways to easily work around the issues you have with the site, as mentioned by a previous poster in the form of the tags.

Kotaku is 16 kinds of awesome, with a new kind of awesome discovered at least once a week. Don't bash something because it has too many words on the screen for you.

funny and ironic. Its this kind of American centric idea that made me stop reading TIME.

Le Sigh, I can't say that I am a site long fan of Kotaku, but for about a year I have visited it numerous times a day some days there is nothing but crap but always something amusing. I can say something for your post Lev, if you had a banhammer this would have been your Troll post to weed out those commentors who can't speak in whole sentences and proper....crap how do you spell grammer, is it gramor. Forget it...anywho maybe you should introduce Ban Thursday.

PS: Don't be pissed that Mini-Bash is so kewl its not ur fault a four year old has a larger following then you.

Play Magazine is the best (American) game mag for personal reviews of games. EGM is the best traditional mag --- they're a lot better than they were in the 90s.

For websites, gaygamer.net and eurogamer.net are some of the better written ones I've seen. The best news and commentary really comes from fans, though, such as in forums -- not necessarily neogaf, which tends to permanently ban anyone with an outspoken personality who is not David Jaffe, but little known forums and websites -- a nice forum for instance is the one at www.whipassgaming.com, even though they kicked me when i insulted them, and only about six or seven people post there, but that's the kind of example I mean.

Gonintendo.com is excellent for Nintendo-only news.

I like to read the customer reviews at Amazon and the amateur reviews at Gamefaqs. Unfortunately as the web has progressed it seems like websites have become fewer and fewer as competition and advertising gets the best of then. Honestly, the only place you REALLY need for "game news" and opinions if YouTube. People upload videos of games months before they even come out in their native country.

http://www.gametab.com/ might be good.

I don't really have a problem with the current game news sites like Destructoid and Kotaku, though. Or Joystiq. They all seem similar to me.

N4g.com seems fine, too.

I think video games were better when they weren't so mature and serious, and so blogs and gaming news sites should reflect that. They don't, though. They're always talking about how video games should aspire to be art when the graphics in GTA: Vice City are just as beautiful as the ones in Shadow of the Colossus.

On the one hand, complaining about the quality of free (I assume it's free; never read it) content is acting kind of spoiled. Just don't visit the site.

On the other hand, welcome to the internet (thanks DARPA [and Al Gore]), where anyone's opinion can be typed, blogged, and viewed for all eternity (or until the server crashes), no matter whether it's thoughtful, relevant, or remotely coherent. (No offense to this blog's author(s)). If Mr. Grossman wants to complain about anything at all in his allotted space, who is anyone to (see above) complain about the quality of the free content? Just don't visit the site.

For those of you who resent Americans for their American-centric view . . . just what views do you hold? I'm going out on a limb and assuming that given a choice, you care a whole lot more about your own local news versus American news. If you're more upset that in trolling the internet for specific-interest stories, you find a lot of things written from the American POV, then I suggest you start providing your own non-American POV and start your own site.

Kotaku is the most annoying game site ever. First you have "Bashcraft" who constantly needs to remind everyone that he lives in Japan and knows everything about it. Then you have their stupid night and day notes to each other. For some reason they assume that everyone cares what they do at home and about their wife and kids, and even what freakin' toothpaste they use. And due to the fact that they ban anyone who criticizes them in their comments, you have nothing but a bunch of sycophants who encourage them to do it even more, leaving them with giant egos.

Then they post a whole list of "Kotaku originals" to try and prove that they don't just get their stories from elsewhere. But then you read those articles and it's nothing but a paragraph linking to an article someone else actually took time to write.

Then Brian Crecente tries to write an actual orginal feature article and it's so long winded and terrible that he actually has to write another summary version of it as another new post. Then they get mad at anyone who questions the newsworthiness of their content and say "this is not a news site". But their tagline is "Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers". That sounds like the description of a NEWS SITE!

I have been going to other sites instead of kotaku for quite some time and I haven't missed a single thing other than a bunch of garbage I would never want to read...game-related cakes, their terrible contests, and how mini-bash questions the wonders of the world.

I think it's kind of funny that everyone is taking Lev's comments that he doesn't care about game sales in Australia as meaning he doesn't care about anything that happens outside of the United States. He works for freaking TIME, people! It's practically a prerequisite for working there to hate America. He just doesn't want to see all the articles that he views as fluff. GG folks.

Also, you can just look at bashcraft's first comment there to see how big his ego is. Wow, you put a post on your site when someone sent you a tip. GTA IV was pirated, nobody saw that coming.

Yeah, you are in different places right now, surprised you didn't mention you were in Japan, bashcraft. I'm surprised you then didn't tell us what your kid said today, then then link us to a game cake. You are a serious journalist! But it's not a news site, right?

I use Error Macro because he aggregates news bits without much commentary or sensationalism.

http://www.errormacro.com/

Best video game news web log out there.

I've never noticed anything annoying about Kotaku. When I was sending a lot of annoying mass emails to websites like 1up, Destructoid and Kotaku all at once, Kotaku was the only to send back a response (correcting me on something) while Destructoid put me on block. I think Destructoid's response was the most rational, though, so I respect their site more than Kotaku now.

This article says that industry people sneak around on forums like NeoGAF:

http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3167513

but there's always been a fairly close connection between "the industry" and the players in the game world, because they would communicate with customers through BBS and chat rooms years ago.

I don't know what there is that's so worth keeping a secret about in the game industry today. There's only about eight or nine basic gameplay types (racing, shooting, maze, etc) and almost all of the characters and situations in video games are based on movie, comic book and science fiction tropes. Most of the originality has already occurred, years ago, in the formative years before there was a desire to keep secrets and keep the audience/players at bay (in front of the curtain). Plus these days when there are only a few games a year coming out, why do you need a news source at all?

I've been recently catching up on PLaystation2 because I never bought one or really played it in the past 9 years. I went to the top websites and looked at Amazon ListMania lists and then made up my own lists of which games to get then I ordered them all at once through half.com and ebay. Some people would have spent ten years reading magazines and news websites ,but I saved time.

Lev: Your post was worth it just to piss off the fanboys. You get props.

Lev, this is great! What drama! This is what being a nerd is all about. Star Trek vs. Star Wars! D&D vs. AD&D vs. AD&D v2! Marvel vs. DC! Nintendo vs. Sony! HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray! Kotaku vs. Nerd World!

Only geeks can get so passionate about such things. Other people just have sports and politics. How do they survive on such trivial wedge issues?

GRAB YOUR PITCHFORKS BOYS! We're chasing after someone who's different from us!