Kotaku, a question [ December 10th, 2008 ] Posted in » PC

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Is it me, or has anyone else noticed that the number of posts on Kotaku’s pages seem to be decreasing at an alarming rate.  I’ve noticed this pattern over the last couple of weeks.  But before I said anything, and potentially looked like an idiot (or is that more of an idiot?) I wanted to make sure.  And now I am. 

Kotaku, as with all Gawker Network, sites use “more” button you have to click to read the rest of the article.  Can we all just agree this is a stupid idea?  The main reason for having a design like that is to track what articles are “viewed”.  It certainly doesn’t help the reader any by having to click a link 1 paragraph into a story.  Especially when Kotaku stories are very short to begin with. 

Gawker Network recently announced it was cutting back staff, despite making a profit.  They sited “troubling economic times” as the reason.  So who did they cut?  They cut employees from The Consummerist - a website devoted to helping people with financial issues.  So their most (socially) important website they cut when it’s “needed” most.

And that’s exactly what worries me - Kotaku, and the rest of the Gawker Network, are making a lot of “bottom line” decisions instead of thinking of the consumer.  I think companies should be allowed to do whatever they want in order to make money.  But as a consumer, and as one of their customers, I don’t like the direction they are going.  I’ve left websites (Eurogamer) and stores (I’m looking at you Circuit City) because of poor value/customer experience.  Kotaku is no different.  I find myself going there less and less, and I don’t even bother to check out Gizmodo anymore (for the same reasons as listed above).

Kotaku, while a little heavy on the nerd snark at times has always had valuable news.  But if I have to click additional links to read something, and sift through more advertisements with less content, then I’ll just find another place to read about games. 

I suspect any day now they’ll just have one post, and it will be a link to an advertiser. 

   

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Diablo: a donut shaped universe?

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Here’s an interesting video from the original Diablo that I forgot about. If you look closely at the guy laying on the floor after Diablo “dissolves” you can see that he did the same thing you end up doing – cramming the soul stone into his head.  Which makes me wonder, why would you do it in the first place if that’s what you saw?

Do you do it because you think you are stronger? Or do you do it because you feel there’s no other choice? Or is the soul stone possessing you already, and thereby forcing you to do it?

It raises some interesting questions about just how many times a warrior has “saved” the world from evil, only to become that evil himself.

I wonder if they will address any of it in Diablo 3.

       

October 9th, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Diablo 3

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There are important moments in history. The Revolutionary War. The first man on the moon. And the development of Diablo 3.

Diablo has been part of my gaming make up for as long as I can remember. In fact, I can’t even recall when I first started playing some iteration of it. As far as I know, I’ve always been playing.

Last week Blizzard began teasing the world with a “major announcement” on June 29th. There was a lot of speculation. Some thought it was another StarCraft game, others wondered if it had something to do with Warcraft, and even a few (myself included) wondered if it might be a sequel to Lost Vikings. Kotaku even made fun of people who thought it was going to be Diablo 3.

Fortunately Blizzard finally announced Diablo 3. After years of rumors, denials, and more rumors, we get to start counting down to its release. It’s too early to have any idea if Diablo 3 will be any good. But it’s made by Blizzard and they always seem to release good stuff.

But as a busy gamer, this poses a challenge for me. I find myself consumed with thoughts of a game that probably won’t be released until 2010 at the earliest. That’s a long time to wait and think about what might be.

Do I have the stamina for that? More importantly do I have the patience for that?

I suppose only time will tell. One can only hope that someone will have built a time machine by then…

 

is it time to play yet?

July 1st, 2008 | 2 Comments

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