N'Gai Croal Leaving Newsweek and Games Journalism

[Ninja Kn1ght]

http://kotaku.com/5163638/ngai-croal-leaves-newsweek-and-game-journalism

Friday will be his last day. It seems that like many before him, he's moving more into the creative side of the industry.

I want to do something more creative than when you are on the journalism side of things," he said. "I think it's going to be a combination of things, I'm still in the process of figuring that out. There is some interest in me consulting on games, that's something I'm interested in as well.

"I wont be doing pre-release coverage of games the way I was for Level Up and Newsweek because that can be a conflict of interest," he said.

But he is keeping his Edge column.

I know Croal has been a divisive figure at times and while I certainly don't always agree with him, he brought a pretty unique style to his coverage of the industry that might be missed. Thoughts?

 

[h3ro]

Narrative.

 

[pakkit]

Best of luck to him. He had some controversial opinions and got people thinking, which, in the end, is one of the goals of journalism.

 

[Haunted]

Useless announcement before we know where he's going.

 

[Cat in the Hat]

He is too good for gaming culture, good luck on important stuff Ngai.

 

[Tobor]

Is it really a good time to be quitting a cushy job?

Good luck to him.

 

[Grecco]

Another journalist joining development.

Hope he can do a 4 guys 1 up before being an official developer.

 

[TunaLover]

I will miss that guy, he always was able to pull a collateral thinking about the industry (unlike most journalist). Whatever he works now I wish the most luck =)

 

[Splash Wave]

He was/is one of the only worthwhile writers in the industry. Oh well.

 

[Raging Spaniard]

Hey good for him, Im sure hell be around.

 

[Link]

Is it really a good time to be quitting a cushy job?

Good luck to him.

I'm guessing he has something lined up already.

 

[Dead Man Typing]

Creative consultant for RE6?

 

[McBradders]

He was/is one of the only worthwhile writers in the industry. Oh well.

Pretty much, but after practically months of no updates on his blog I figured something was up.

Sad to see him go, to be honest, even if his writing was divisive it was always at least thought provoking.

Keep coming to GAF N'gai, you're awesome. How awesome? So awesome.

 

[Flavius]

My thoughts are: best of luck, N'Gai!

He managed to carve a niche for himself and like you said, he had a unique perspective. While I don't believe that always showed in his podcast contributions, it definitely showed in his writing.

Good guy. Smart guy. Looking forward to seeing what he does next, whatever that might be.

 

[McBacon]

EGO... trip

 

[SecretBonusPoint]

Maybe he's off to start his Up-Porting company and technology. The idea of this guy as a consultant to any company scares the hell out of me.

 

[BrokenSymmetry]

The well-known game journalist took a buyout from the magazine publisher and plans to move more toward the development side of gaming.

Croal says that he believes there is a stratification that's going on in the video games industry. That developers concentrate too much on an audience of 12 to 24 year olds who have plenty of time on their hands to play, but forget that the older audience has less time to play.

That's something he thinks he can help with.

Which developer would be most helped with N'Gai's insights?

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

He was/is one of the only worthwhile writers in the industry. Oh well.

.

 

[TunaMarshmallow]

He was/is one of the only worthwhile writers in the industry. Oh well.

100% true.

(As long as you're into half-decently written, pretentious crap.)

 

[ymmv]

I think there's a 16 year old out of work games journalist who sees this as an opportunity to get back into action. :lol

 

[LiK]

good luck dude!

 

[Madman]

A guy that has been playing games for a shorter period of time then probably everyone here may be becoming a games consultant? Whoever hired/is going to hire him must be very confident.

 

[shuri]

It's hard to take gaming journalists seriously when they all leave their jobs to work for the companies they used to review titles. Do you honestly ever expect them to ask hard questions or give truthful reviews? Nope, they wouldnt want to burn any future bridges.

Imagine the lolz if the topgear guys or whatever suddenly announced they were hired to work for a certain car company.

also: NARRATIVE

 

[SnakeXs]

Wii -> Next Gen up porting consultant.

 

[McBacon]

I will miss your gigantic JPGs of Rodin's "The Thinker", they're so pretentious that you have to love them.

 

[neojubei]

Wow Best of Luck N'Gai.

 

[Y2Kev]

Good luck dude. Announce where you are going on 1up yours.

 

[ChoklitReign]

Kotaku got unbanned? Nice. Shame I never read enough of his columns.

 

[Vinci]

My thoughts are: best of luck, N'Gai!

He managed to carve a niche for himself and like you said, he had a unique perspective. While I don't believe that always showed in his podcast contributions, it definitely showed in his writing.

Good guy. Smart guy. Looking forward to seeing what he does next, whatever that might be.

This post basically matches my perspective on N'Gai and his work. Wishing him the best of luck.

 

[AstroLad]

jesus i can't believe n'gai is already graduating. it feels like he was a freshman just yesterday

 

[levious]

jesus i can't believe n'gai is already graduating. it feels like he was a freshman just yesterday

the Dreamcast generation is coming of age?

 

[captscience]

A guy that has been playing games for a shorter period of time then probably everyone here may be becoming a games consultant? Whoever hired/is going to hire him must be very confident.

It could be argued that's exactly the perspective a company may find desirable.

 

[Barrett2]

I will miss that guy, he always was able to pull a collateral thinking about the industry (unlike most journalist). Whatever he works now I wish the most luck =)

Wut?


Lets keep this in perspective, people. HE THOUGHT THE CLUB WAS A GREAT GAME.

 

[Meier]

Hope he can do a 4 guys 1 up

I have zero interest in podcasts, but that's a pretty clever title.

 

[Stumpokapow]

The op is pretty selective--read the actual article.

NewsWeek did an across-the-board buyout package offer. He took it.

 

[thaOwner]

Wut?


Lets keep this in perspective, people. HE THOUGHT THE CLUB WAS A GREAT GAME.

Damn him for having stated his opinon because it's different from mine.

Spoiler

am i doing this right ?

 

[Madman]

It could be argued that's exactly the perspective a company may find desirable.

I see where you are coming from. It's possible he could be brought in for that, but I just don't see what exactly qualifies him for the job. Being a consultant just seems like an odd switch to make for a Newsweek games journalist.

 

[Grecco]

Wut?


Lets keep this in perspective, people. HE THOUGHT THE CLUB WAS A GREAT GAME.

Have you played it? its actually pretty good.

If you want to laugh at his comments, a better one was on how he thought Endwar would revolutionize RTS and do a Halo like impact on consoles. But hey nobody is perfect.

 

[Quasar]

It looks like professional games journalism is done.

I guess all we need is an RSS feed of press releases and NPD numbers.

 

[Septimus]

I think there's a 16 year old out of work games journalist who sees this as an opportunity to get back into action. :lol

:lol :lol Just thinking of that thread is making me almost burst out laughing here.

 

[Returners]

I will remember him as the guy who got J. Allard to wear dreadlocks.

 

[Tieno]

I will miss your gigantic JPGs of Rodin's "The Thinker", they're so pretentious that you have to love them.

jesus christ :lol

 

[bryehn]

It looks like professional games journalism is done.

I guess all we need is an RSS feed of press releases and NPD numbers.

Well there's still Kohler and Totilo at least...

 

[3rdman]

LOL My biggest knock against him is the constant use of the phrase "At the end of the day..." Man that shit drove me crazy in the podcasts.

 

[prettyvacant77]

I think there's a 16 year old out of work games journalist who sees this as an opportunity to get back into action. :lol

:lol :lol :lol :lol

I was reading that thread yesterday, absolute gold :lol

 

[RadarScope1]

The elitism on this board never fails to astonish. If you haven't been playing games for 25 years and don't have 5000 ROMs on your hard drive then it seems you're not a 'real' gamer and your opinions count for nothing. But hey, this is NeoGAF, dude.

Like his work or not (I certainly do) Croal has raised the bar for writing about games. If you follow his twitter feed you know he's concerned about the future of print/big media and rightly so. I left the newspaper industry for greener pastures two years ago and haven't regretted it. As big as you might think Newsweek is, no one is immune to the shit going down right now and he's probably leaving at the right time.

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

He will forever be known for his asinine "develop for Wii, and port-UP stupid" commentary. So I assume he'll be getting into Wii development?

 

[Tetsuo9]

Good for him, I really liked his articles and enjoyed his podcast appearances. Best of luck to him .

 

[kylej]

Well I guess that leaves Totilo as the only one whose prose is enjoyable to those of us above a 3rd grade reading level. No more Shawn Elliot or N'Gai....

Thankfully I'm sure 1UP or IGN is working on a new "Top 10 Hottest Video Game Babes" feature so all is not lost.

 

[Flavius]

It looks like professional games journalism is done.

I guess all we need is an RSS feed of press releases and NPD numbers.

Nah, I don't believe that at all.

Matter of fact, I think the revolution is about to begin. Money's been left on the table. Some smart peeps are bound to come around and pick it up.