Cara Ellison Posts Last Entry In The "Embed With" Series

Friend of the site Cara Ellison posted the latest entry in her fantastic globe spanning series Embed With, titled EMBED WITH… MARIGOLD BARTLETT AND CHRISTY DENA, and announced it would be the last entry in the series. Embed With was a staple series in Patrick's Worth Reading weekly feature and did an excellent job highlighting the lives and work of game developers from across the globe.

Before you start that rumour mill going about Cara joining Giant Bomb, which a ton of people speculated about when the GBEast job posting was posted, it seems like Cara is starting to do more fictional writing instead of gonzo journalism.

Though she won't be leaving writing about video games altogether....

Personally I loved the Embed With series and would savour reading each entry, taking long breaks in between reading bits and pieces of it not because it couldn't keep my interest but because I loved each article so much I didn't want them to end. Very sad to see the series end, but excited to see what else she gets up to in video games (her S.EXE column over at Rock Paper Shotgun is really good too!)

*crosses fingers hoping this is ending cos she's the new hire*

Unlikely, but I'd be ecstatic if it's true.

EDIT: Lost your getting-ahead-of-the-rumourmill part in the middle. I say if Dan can white Airforce Gator while at the site, Cara can do some short story writing :P

That was an excellent series she did, sad to see that is the last one. Best of luck to her in her future endeavors.

I would also be ecstatic if it were true.

I'd also be pumped if she got involved with GB, however unlikely that may be.

She's a kick-ass lady though, I hope she gets to do another cool thing in the future!

I would put money on her going to GB. Just got a feeling.

It's a shame to see such a great series come to a close, but it was never going to be something that one person could continue doing indefinitely. I'm amazed she made it an entire year; it seems like the kind of project that would burn most people out after a couple of months.

Anyway, I'm super curious to see what she ends up doing next. If only there were a personality-based games website that placed a premium on forming connections with developers, liked to present content humorously, and were actively looking for someone to hire.

@conmulligan: If only

Cara Ellison to WWE confirmed

For people going on about Cara to GB again, unless she already has some connection to the US I don't know about, there's absolutely no chance given how hard it is to get a visa. GB wouldn't be able to justify it to CBSi, and it's a lengthy process with no certain outcome. People are setting themselves up for disappointment if they believe there's more than a 1% chance, and even that is probably generous. I would love to be wrong, but it's not happening.

Hire Cara for GBeast!

@amyggen: I knew Danny O'Dwyer was a figment of my imagination.

@bobdobbsjr: It took Danny forever to get transferred from GameSpot UK to GameSpot US.

@ejc93: But, it did happen. So, it can happen. CBS is a large international company, the paper work and time involved may be a consideration, but it is not large problem for this type of company.

Danny is a different case entirely because he had already worked for the UK arm of a US company for 2-3 years, which makes it easier to get approved. It's by no means guaranteed that you'll get a visa for a journalism job, even after going through the whole approval process. Secondly, it's easier for GS to make the case for CBSi that they should bother with the cost and uncertainty of doing the paperwork when someone has worked for the company for a couple of years; I can't imagine GB justifying for CBSi to eat that cost when there's always so many available games journalists on the American market. Danny has talked about what a hassle it was and how long it took to convince first CBSi and then the American government, double that with Cara.

It's just not realistic at all.

I kinda figure if she thought she had a realistic shot at this job, she'd not be starting this other career. The little I've read of her twitter, she seems discouraged of late with her prospects in VG journalism. I can't blame her one bit for feeling that way if she does.

I can't speak about what's right for GB or who is right for this particular position but I do know this, Cara Ellison is a dang good journalist. It is extremely tragic in my opinion that a writer of her caliber hasn't been picked up by any outlets.The fact she doesn't have a full-time salaried position somewhere despite producing what she has and trying for as long as she has, is absolutely mind boggling to me.

But to be fair you look around and there just doesn't seem to be any jobs for anybody. Joystiq just being the latest example.

Game Journalism is in a sorry way these days.

Sounds like Cara will be joining GB to help Dan write Air Force Gator 3.

@slag: Sorry, here in Games Journalism™, we're looking for white guys wearing flannel who can scream obscenities while playing Super Smash Bros. You don't seem to meet any of these requirements so please enjoy your job of writing 5,0000 words a week for a salary worse than the average McDonalds employee.

@slag: As I said earlier, when talking about Cara getting a job in the US you have to take into account that she's not a citizen and what that entails in terms of getting a visa etc. It's a huge, huge barrier of entry if you want to work in the US.

I can't say I'd be especially heartbroken if Cara wasn't the new hire. I've never liked her writing style nor have I ever found her all that engaging as a personality.

I'm not really a fan of Cara, just haven't really been into her personality when she's shown up on Giant Bomb streams and just haven't been that interested in her writing. If she winds up with a job at Giant Bomb, good for her, but I kind of wish people would stop lobbying for it. >.> But hey, that's just my personal preference.

Oh man I completely forgot about this series. Going to have to binge read all of it soon. It's really unfortunate that this seems like her winding down from games journalism and interesting editorial as the field will be far lesser for her absence that being said that interactive short story of hers from a little while back was pretty good so hopefully she can be successful there.

>Makes thread about Cara's series ending, pleads not to start rumours about her joining Giant Bomb

>All the comments are about whether or not Cara will join Giant Bomb

Hopefully her fictional endeavor turns out to be her simply writing porny fan fiction about her and various super heroes.

@devoureroftime said:

>Makes thread about Cara's series ending, pleads not to start rumours about her joining Giant Bomb

>All the comments are about whether or not Cara will join Giant Bomb

Dude, come on. It's like starting a thread about local events in southern Japan on august 6th 1945, but telling people not to discuss the bomb over Hiroshima.

Speaking of the bomb, I'd say Vinny and Alex really needs a third like Cara Ellison. I feel they have very little chemistry, and could do with a go-between. We know Alex works well with her, and Vinny can make it work with nearly anyone.

A 'Brad is leaving?' thread if ever I saw one.

I would legitimately enjoy a recurring blog just complaining about how Notch is a shitty roommate.

The Embed With series has been absolutely fucking fantastic--easily the best long-form games writing I've seen in a long, long time. Cara's writing is so goddamn good it would be a tragedy to see her leave video games writing entirely (her short fiction is actually pretty damn good too). I'm definitely gonna be picking up the collected Embed With book when it comes out.