Kotaku sold out a long time ago dude, not because of ads, just because of sucking. They have no integrity, just like Gamespot, G4, IGN and Gametrailers (to name a few)
The quality of a lot of Kotaku articles has been ass lately. The only reason they remain on my news feed is for breaking news, and there hasn't been a lot of that either as of late.
@JasonR86: 1. Just because an ads entertaining doesn't mean it's not an ad. What appears in the post in question is an ad. Even Mike Fahey (who wrote the article) refers to them as "Kristen Schaal's web ads." Arguing otherwise is a waste of time.
2. The whole point of a review is that it's unbiased. If a publisher is trying to strong-arm a reviewer into giving a game a positive review that's not a symbiotic relationship. Kane and Lynch mean anything to you? The press shouldn't be dependent on publishers for their info. Thats an inherently flawed system. You don't need a review copy of a game in order to be able to review it. I as understand it, this is why Giant Bomb does so many live streams the day of release.
1) He's referring to where the outtakes came from. These are outtakes from a web-ad that was already made. These outtakes in and of themselves are not advertising the Xperia. You still haven't told me how that video is any more of an ad then the trailers I see posted on Giantbomb daily.
2) I used reviews as an example of when journalism can become an ad. A preview is different. Reread my post. This isn't a response to anything I said. EDIT: Ok, I see where you got the impression from what I said about reviews. When I said a positive review could be considered an ad. This is because a positive review pushes forward sales for that product. But that is different then a publisher strong-arming a reviewer. And, as I mentioned, I don't consider a positive review an ad in my own opinion. I made that comment referring to the strictest sense of the definition of the word 'advertisement'.
I still looked at Kotaku here and there for a little while but now that even there mobile site changed format I just stopped completely. The articles were not worth reading anymore and bizarre topics seem to always be headlines instead of news. For news I typically check Game Informer, IGN, and occasionally Joystiq when I'm feeling pun'ny. As Giant Bomb's news reporting gets more and more timely (in no small part to Patrick thank you) I could see myself weening off checking other sites.
I still go there out of habit, but I'm pretty disgusted by the banner ad that covers up content when you first go to the site. That's goddamn disgusting.
Dont really care if they sell out or not. They get more news faster than anyone else in a way thats super easy to digest, and thats all I really use them for.
Dont really care if they sell out or not. They get more news faster than anyone else in a way thats super easy to digest, and thats all I really use them for.
My issue with Kotaku has been the same issue I've had with game journalism to begin with: ego.
You ever been to a Gamestop, or worked at one? Ever noticed the the employees act? Their ego is overblown. They have a 7 dollar an hour job, but because its related to video games, they act like they are the gods of gaming.
That ego carries over to journalism too. Just like you have the pompous elite movie or music critics, video game journalism is flooded with the same tools. Because they are reporting on an art form they respect, and have become a voice of expertise on it, their heads get filled of their own overblown self-worth.
There are some things I don't like about Kotaku but to say that every other article is an advert is a huge exaggeration. They have their own gratuitous advertising and they'll report on video game ad campaigns (like the Kristen Schaal one) but their articles are mainly just articles.
Everyone sells out these days with the exception of this site which is why I happily give some money to the people behind it doing hard work keeping this ship floating.
I stopped going to Kotaku when their redesign got in the way of me reading their content. However I was subscribed to their RSS feed for a long time (the full article one, which was difficult enough to find after they decided that much like web design they clearly knew how RSS feeds should work better than 99% of the Internet). No more though, they've completely lost the focus they used to have which is why I would visit the site. Now instead of getting extremely fast reporting of emerging games related news every other post is some poorly written, link-bait opinion piece, something completely irrelevant like a movie review or a post bordering on softcore porn.
Never mind advertising, their just isn't enough worthwhile content.
Kotaku has always been shit. I subscribed to their RSS feed for a bit, but they were pumping out 50+ stories a day and very few had anything to do with games. It was just a bunch of half-assed shit and photos of cosplayers. I quickly deleted the feed. That was a couple years ago.
I have no other way to put it but the "attitude" that Kotaku has had the past few years has finally turned me off. 1up was also one of my staples but since the last site overhaul it is an absolute mess. I was a part of both of those communities and have been following giant bomb for awhile, I like it here and I think i'll stay.
I haven't been to Kotaku in a long time. It's constant updating was great when I had a job with internet and there was a lot of downtime. A couple of people have mentioned Gamesradar. I used to frequent the crap out of that site! I still like their writing, but the ads can be annoying. Anyway, I still listen to their podcast even if they do have a tendency to use the same sound effects every week.
The mainstays are often the best ones. Edit: I'm referring to the effects. Actually, the story Brett told about LA Noire yesterday, where he drove over a cliff on top of an unsuspecting pedestrian, that shit had me laughing so hard I couldn't open my eyes for like a minute straight. Also, Kotaku sucks balls and caters too much to weeaboos. That's my piece.
Yeah, their stories are usually great. I do like a lot of the reoccurring ones such as the count down, Wikiparez, and Bret-Bot.
I really like the comedic effects, like the whistle and drum.
Kotaku sucks for a lot of reasons. All their stories are just youtube videos and cosplay photos, I hope GiantBomb always sticks to covering ONLY the things people actually give a shit about.
EDIT-- GamesRadar on the other hand is THE GREATEST!!!!!!! I don't know how we got on that topic.
Kotaku hasn't sold out. It is owned by Gawker and Gawker has ALWAYS been out to make money. Go read any profile on N.Denton and you will see exactly what the Gawker model is and it has nothing to do with journalism. What is really driving people nuts is the new layout that makes ads impossible to avoid and thwarts things like AdBlock extensions which would leave most people blissfully unaware of exactly how many ads are on Kotaku.
As for Kotaku writers... everyone likes different styles and different games. By the byline I can tell exactly which articles I am going to skip. This isn't new to me because even 2-3 years ago there were writers on Kotaku that I disliked which no longer work for the publication. Amazing writers have worked at Kotaku (Luke Smith) and amazing writers still work at Kotaku (Totilo).
If you do not get that Kotaku and many other sites are all run by management that have a money making agenda that might not always sit well with their own editors and writers then you are supremely foolish. If you never liked Kotaku's brand of writing in the first place? Fine. If you think it has magically changed and become more advertisement oriented in recent days? You are nuts.
The first was the rapid torrid of crap, with a half paragraph of text that doesn't always explain whatever the video content they decided to substitute for writing is about. Also, the way they handle revisions of the articles annoys me. Petty, maybe.
Second is the web site redesign. It is horrid and every third or fourth article crashes my chrome tab. I have tried on OS X and Windows 7 and either get a sluggish browser or crashed tab. I have a six core AMD Desktop and it also doesn't like it, which concerns me. I used to do backend site design and front end layouts and I have played with a bunch of that stuff, I do appreciate trying to innovate and the complexity of getting it all going right. The keyword is RIGHT.
And finally, and the main freaking reason, I live in Australia and quite often a link to a story redirects me to the Australian site. While the Australian site doesn't have the redesign, good, the link I used that redirects me there breaks and sends me to the front page with the relevant story nowhere in site. Sometimes it doesn't, sometimes little tricks I have found on Google bypass it, but too often a link is broken for me.
And if you really don't want me to visit and read your site, I won't. Simple fix.
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