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Have Kotaku pulled a Digg with their resign? It's so bad

How are you supposed to navigate the headlines if you don't have a scroll wheel? It seems like tapping the up and down arrows tries to load every single article you tap over...

This is the worst site design I've used since amateur Geocities.
 
BiggNife said:
He's incredibly pretentious and he spends 20,000 words explaining something in the most convoluted way possible when he could have easily made his point in less than a thousand. I honestly find his articles painful to read because they often lack a cohesive point and he spends way too much time talking about how awesome he is.

And that's just the Kotaku articles. His actual website is even worse, but since we're getting off topic here that's another story for another day.
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Then, let me tie both on-topic and off-topic together with the statement, "Things need not be solely utilitarian."
 
wow this design is used on all their sites now. Deadspin/gizmodo. Well there is 2 less websites i have to check for news. That design is HORRIBLE. you cant find anything
 
What sites do gaffers approve of for daily gaming news? I never knew kotaku was considered garbage, but I trust gaf -- so that must mean there are better sources out there.

also, agreed -- the redesign is terrible!
 
YakiSOBA said:
What sites do gaffers approve of for daily gaming news? I never knew kotaku was considered garbage, but I trust gaf -- so that must mean there are better sources out there.

also, agreed -- the redesign is terrible!
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I feel terrible admitting it, but I kind of want to know the reason too. I kind of get annoyed at Kotaku's opinions at times, but they are an opinion site no? I don't read it enough to know if they get facts wrong. As a blog I want opinions, but I do have a problem with screwing with the facts. Hell Giantbomb is all about opinion and I love it for that.

I will agree that sometimes Kotaku posts stories related in no way to videogames, and that is pretty weird.

I'm sure I'm ignorant and someone will explain why they are so terrible and I'm blind for not seeing it.

EDIT: What does everyone think of Destructoid?
 
Hm... certainly can't say the new look is as convenient as it used to be. Not sure how I feel about it yet, but will give it a week or two to see if it settles in.
 
YakiSOBA said:
What sites do gaffers approve of for daily gaming news? I never knew kotaku was considered garbage, but I trust gaf -- so that must mean there are better sources out there.
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Joystiq is a good substitute.

Cartman86 said:
EDIT: What does everyone think of Destructoid?
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Hate it. I think Jim Sterling is a douche.
 
wtf... the "views/comments" popup blocks the headline stories when you hover over the right....and you have to hover over it to scroll the damn list!!!!
 
Neuromancer said:
Joystiq is a good substitute.
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Remember when Joystiq used to be banned? It's odd now considering the level of praise it's gotten in this thread as a good gaming news blog. Joystiq has had some terrible articles but so has every other blog ever.

GAF is practically my go to gaming news website now. (Well, actually it has been for a while.)
 
Seda said:
Remember when Joystiq used to be banned? It's odd now considering the level of praise it's gotten in this thread as a good gaming news blog.
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Yeah I do remember and I'm glad it got lifted.

I don't care for their snark/humor but they're still better than just about everything else.
 
Joystiq is far more tolerable than Kotaku in terms of snarkiness/misleading headlines/click-whoring. For Japanese gaming news andriasang is amazing, unfortunately they don't cover US stuff.
 
Game magazines died to game websites. Game websites died to game blogs. Game blogs died to game podcasts. Love live game podcasts.

It's weird to see so many gaming blogs fall into the exact same trap that gaming websites fell into. I mean hell, the whole reason for the "blog uprising" was because typical websites had far too many clicks to access actual content. Blogs felt personal while websites felt corporate. It's always baffling to me to see someone or something not realize what their strengths are, and entirely go against it.

Anyways, to those wondering what "good" blogs there are out there, the answer is there aren't any. Rock Paper Shotgun comes very close, but even then, I'd rather just listen to a RPS podcast. Grab your news from GAF and your 'professional' opinion pieces through podcasts. That's the best way to stay current.
 
Gravijah said:
Are game podcasts that popular? Always see 'em as being rather niche.
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johnsmith said:
Podcasts definitely aren't killing blogs.
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I was being more facetious with that last comment, but I definitely think blogs are the very least dying, and its largely because of the rise of better forums and podcasts.

Gaming podcasts certainly aren't niche at any rate, thanks largely to the fact that in general podcasts are insanely popular forms of media. I wish I had numbers to back my argument up, but I will suggest that GiantBomb's explosive popularity is largely thanks to its podcast.
 
I think the thing that could kill game blogs is just a good forum. Between GAF and Reddit I haven't visited a game blog in months besides to see what changed. I was able to replace Kotaku with GAF a long time ago and Joystiq recently. I realized I didn't need to spend so much time reading about games and when I did, I'd rather read a discussion than one person's opinion.
 
Late to the topic but as someone who only accesses Gawker sites through via their RSS feeds I much prefer their redesign. Overall I think it looks good.

If I cared at all about browsing around the site from within the site itself, maybe I'd run into some problems it seems others are having. But my interaction consists of clicking on a link in my RSS reader, reading an article, and closing the tab. For this purpose the redesign is visually a HUGE step up over their previous abortion of a design.

If I could get rid of the navigation bar on the right and comments, it would be perfect.
 
I used to bounce through the articles a couple times a day, scrolling quickly through the posts. I won't be going there anymore. Can't stand the new design.
 
I see Gizmodo got owned too.


Assume that means fleshbot, deadspin , jezebel , io9 , jalopnik , and lifehacker are all gonna get bitten by the bug


edit: fawk I'm too late
 
SatelliteOfLove said:
It's definately some complicated tricks they pull to get the ads shown.
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I didn't see any ads (adblock plus). Literally all I saw was a header image and a box. The rest of the page was complete whitespace. :D
 
Sadly, I used to use Kotaku a lot. I liked their old review format. After they butchered the way they review, and now with this redesign, I'm going to need a new site for gaming news. Help me with suggestions, anything.
 
VGChampion said:
I think the thing that could kill game blogs is just a good forum. Between GAF and Reddit I haven't visited a game blog in months besides to see what changed. I was able to replace Kotaku with GAF a long time ago and Joystiq recently. I realized I didn't need to spend so much time reading about games and when I did, I'd rather read a discussion than one person's opinion.
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What do you find on reddit that isn't on GAF first? The gaming section is so PC niche/nostalgia heavy it's not really useful for much.
 
RdN said:
Cliffy B just posted on his Twitter:



HAHAHA, I agree.
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Zing!

Tycho from Penny Arcade is not a fan either.

The new Gawker template is Satanic. If I pulled up the source code, and I'm not going to, but if I did, it would be the devil's face.
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http://twitter.com/#!/TychoBrahe/status/34701745892364288

I just went back to a couple of their sites out of some twitching reptilian instinct, regretted it. Get off my quickbar. Fucking mutants.
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http://twitter.com/#!/TychoBrahe/status/34707950085873665
 
Cartman86 said:
I feel terrible admitting it, but I kind of want to know the reason too. I kind of get annoyed at Kotaku's opinions at times, but they are an opinion site no? I don't read it enough to know if they get facts wrong. As a blog I want opinions, but I do have a problem with screwing with the facts. Hell Giantbomb is all about opinion and I love it for that.

I will agree that sometimes Kotaku posts stories related in no way to videogames, and that is pretty weird.

I'm sure I'm ignorant and someone will explain why they are so terrible and I'm blind for not seeing it.

EDIT: What does everyone think of Destructoid?
Click to expand...

Only when it suits them. When there's egg on their face, they're a blog. Otherwise, they're a legitimate video game journalism publication.
 
It's awful. I can't stand to read them or any other Gawker media sites now. Why isn't there an option to use the old format?
 
I navigated for a bit on Gawker and, surprise, it's NOT the end of the world. It has a nice idea but it just needs polishing. Number one, add a scroll bar to the right side or make it static and rely on the bottom button to see older news. I also noticed that the top headliner (with the article date and number of comments) moves only on the left side; it should stay in place like on Twitter. And that's basically it. Once again, NeoGAF is afraid of change, complains about something they're new to, etc.
 
I tried to keep an open mind, tried using the blog view, tried not complaining just because something "changed" --- I'm throwing in the towel. The blog view doesn't show the most recent articles, the entire site feels slower, the right article bar occassionally loads.

Gawker sites are having a tough few months. 1st their ego and poor security led to the exposure of their member's emails and passwords to hackers all over the world and now this.

To keep this on topic let's compare the downfall of Kotaku to popular video game franchises :)
 
JaseC said:
Only when it suits them. When there's egg on their face, they're a blog. Otherwise, they're a legitimate video game journalism publication.
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Exactly why I don't like Kotaku. They seem to pull that shit way more than the other blog. I know Denton is all about driving up page views, but Kotaku takes it to another level. Like "Talk Amongst Yourselves" thing. Why does it exists? Seems like they made it up so Tortilo would have something to do in the office every day. "We don't have a proper forum so you can come in this blog post and post whatever you want!". Gee thanks.
 
Then and Now

AOL Blogs >>>> Gawker Blogs in both design and content.


At least as far as Joystiq vs LOLtaku and Engadget vs Gizmodo.
 
Going to us.kotaku.com and clicking on any of the stories just takes me to the front page of kotaku.com.au now.... wasn't like that yesterday.

Of course if I go to kotaku.com it just takes me to kotaku.com.au I want to go to the US site, not the AU site... :\
 
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