CoG Editorial: MTV's Stephen Totilo Goes to Kotaku

[AgtFox]

We didn't make this a news item yesterday, but I'm sure many of you heard that MTV's Stephen Totilo is leaving his post (http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/04/20/the-end-of-my-run-mtv-multiplayers-next-step/) and moving in (http://kotaku.com/5217031/games-journalist-quits-job-for-more-games-journalism) as Deputy Managing Editor over at Kotaku on May 1st. Many of you also probably know that some of the founders are not very fond of certain individuals over at that site.

With that in mind, I think that Totilo going to Kotaku can only be a good thing. I respect Totilo quite a bit since he has been a strong voice in gaming journalism and he is now moving into a site that, to me, is not well known for their journalistic integrity. He has guest edited Kotaku before when Crecente was on vacation and he did an excellent job then.

Going further into the possibilities, some of us have started talking that maybe this is the beginning of Crecente's exit from Kotaku or stepping back from the limelight. Totilo is based in New York where Gawker (who owns Kotaku) also happens to be headquartered. It's hard to believe that Totilo would move into a Deputy position with little to no authority or future upgrades after having carte blanche at MTV. Maybe Crecente is looking into moving toward television with his constant appearances on various shows over the past year? It's just something to think about.

Bottom line is I hope Totilo's addition will give Kotaku more journalistic integrity. I honestly think he is a perfect fit to take the site into the future of gaming journalism and leave the puff pieces that Kotaku thrives on for hits behind. Your thoughts?

[Sandman]

You have a job at MTV, a big international tv network where you are a part of their gaming news blog and you leave it for some small web blog with questionable integrity? I just don't get that.

[DoctorFinger]

Say what you want about Kotaku, they're not small in any way.

[Telefrog]

You have a job at MTV, a big international tv network where you are a part of their gaming news blog and you leave it for some small web blog with questionable integrity? I just don't get that.

Money, money, money. :D

[Sandman]

Say what you want about Kotaku, they're not small in any way.

When compared to MTV they are.

[AgtFox]

Money, money, money. :D
Actually, it is questionable whether this is a step or down in terms of money. MTV is a large company and I'm pretty sure Stephen was well paid there.

[Telefrog]

Actually, it is questionable whether this is a step or down in terms of money. MTV is a large company and I'm pretty sure Stephen was well paid there.

Oh, I'm sure there's other reasons as well. He'll be an editor now as well.

[AgtFox]

Oh, I'm sure there's other reasons as well. He'll be an editor now as well.
But...he was an editor before. He ran the whole MTV Multiplayer section. He had people under him as well until one was recently let go.

[Telefrog]

But...he was an editor before. He ran the whole MTV Multiplayer section.

I know. Sorry. Bad joke regarding the idea that Kotaku must pay more to Deputy Managing Editors than MTV did to their main man. I mean, he's taking a postional downgrade as you pointed out, so I figured money has to be the only other logical reason for the change.

I failed the internet humor course. :(

[AgtFox]

Well, it's not the only other logical course. There's two others that I can think of off the top of my head:

1. My thinking that Crecente may be on his way out, putting Totilo at the head of Kotaku.

2. MTV Multiplayer is dissolving even though Totilo says on his post that there are plans for keeping it going that he will unveil. Maybe there is a merging between MTV Multiplayer and Kotaku. It's not out of the realm of possibility since Kotaku has supposedly been on the sales block.

[Sandman]

Well, it's not the only other logical course. There's two others that I can think of off the top of my head:

1. My thinking that Crecente may be on his way out, putting Totilo at the head of Kotaku.

2. MTV Multiplayer is dissolving even though Totilo says on his post that there are plans for keeping it going that he will unveil. Maybe there is a merging between MTV Multiplayer and Kotaku. It's not out of the realm of possibility since Kotaku has supposedly been on the sales block.

I'm gonna go with reason #3 : Sexual favors.

[Slack3r78]

Say what you want about Kotaku, they're not small in any way.
A good friend of mine works for one of their other sites. Gawker's not a bad company to work for from what I know of the job.

[agentgray]

I'll be honest. I get most of my quick-hit, immediate news at Kotaku. I'll see something posted there almost 1-2 days later here. I'm not complaining or defending, just observing. (My favorites are whats in the PSN for the week after they've been released.)

The catch? I steer clear away from Kotaku's user base and commentors and happily partake in the discussion here.

[AgtFox]

I'll be honest. I get most of my quick-hit, immediate news at Kotaku. I'll see something posted there almost 1-2 days later here. I'm not complaining or defending, just observing. (My favorites are whats in the PSN for the week after they've been released.)

The catch? I steer clear away from Kotaku's user base and commentors and happily partake in the discussion here.
That is part of the reason we instituted our users being able to submit news. We don't care if the news you find came from Kotaku or any other site as long as you source it. We realize that as a group many of us are at our full-time jobs during the "gaming news" time, so we hope our community can help out in that effort. Would be awesome for this to be a full-time job for all of us, but it doesn't pay the bills...heh.

If you're looking for another immediate news site and one I consider to be of higher integrity than Kotaku, go to Joystiq. Joystiq is an example of a site that created a really good re-skinning of the site whereas Kotaku and Gawker's overall re-skin didn't excite me much.

And thanks for partaking in discussion here. We're happy we have such an intelligent community that enjoys talking with each other.

[Wraith]

I browse Kotaku somewhat frequently. (And Jalopnik and Gizmodo.) Yes, there is a fair amount of "noise," but they do get a lot of news, sometimes breaking it first, before it reaches the other game news blogs. And lots of blogs have comments sections full of noisy idiots; like agentgray, I usually stop at the end of the article and don't wade into that swamp.

I haven't really payed any attention to Totilo personally, but I like what I've seen of MTV Multiplayer. Hopefully this is a net gain for Kotaku and they get a level or two in Professionalism.

[Karak]

I must have missed all the problems with Kotaku. What exactly has the issue been with the site? Is it more than has been with basically most sites that have run for a long time. Shit happens, I guess is what I am saying, and I am not sure of whatever...horrible thing they did.

[AgtFox]

There are problems both public and private from my own perspective. The public ones I can talk about. My big problem with Kotaku is that the staff is paid via the number thousands of hits (I believe that is the current term) their stories get. This leads to them creating a lot of stories that push way beyond journalism in order to get thousands of hits.

Just go to their search box at the top and type in female anatomy related words and you will see plenty of news that has tens of thousands of hits because it is based around sexual subjects, something you most likely would not see here at CoG.

There has also been factual inaccuracies in many of their special features that I e-mail them about and never hear anything back or see any change in the feature. If you're going to spout facts, at least check them first. They are a very public website out there and they are spreading some misinformation from time to time.

Those are just two of the public problems I personally have with them, there are a variety of private ones as well, both encountered and heard.

[Zanzibar]

I must have missed all the problems with Kotaku. What exactly has the issue been with the site? Is it more than has been with basically most sites that have run for a long time. Shit happens, I guess is what I am saying, and I am not sure of whatever...horrible thing they did.

I think they got suckered by some fake news once or twice upon a time, and there already were people who hated them because their fanbase is terrible, so then the hate became legitimized.

EDIT: OBJECTION - Hearsay. Removed.

There may be more, but that's all I knew about. I visit there somewhat regularly for the news updates, but yeah, any discussion happens here.

[Karak]

Above you state that people can take their data from Kotaku, isn't that wrong if their information is wrong/inaccurate? I was wondering about that.
Anyway thanks for the data, having lived through many a drama I guess none of that surprises me or bothers me. But it makes sense that the closer you are to something the more angry it can make you.
Long live the COG

[AgtFox]

Didn't help that Phil over at Evil Avatar hated them most of all, to a point where he put a word filter on kotaku. God, what a child.
Can't speak for him, but I don't believe Phil was the one that disliked them most of all. I think the Kotaku word ban was earlier than me being a staffperson, so I'm not sure who put the ban on the word. It may not have been Phil in this case.

[Slack3r78]

There are problems both public and private from my own perspective. The public ones I can talk about. My big problem with Kotaku is that the staff is paid via the number thousands of hits (I believe that is the current term) their stories get. This leads to them creating a lot of stories that push way beyond journalism in order to get thousands of hits.
Gawker dumped the pay-for-hits model at least 6 months ago.

[DoctorFinger]

While they've improved in recent times, Kotaku used to be terrible when it came to attributing stories to other sites. I personally had at least 2 stories from the EvAv days which they glommed onto where they refused to link back to us or even admit that the story didn't originate with them.

[J Arcane]

Brian Crecente is a sexist muckraking douchebag, and a version of that site without him may actually start to resemble being respectable again.

[AgtFox]

Above you state that people can take their data from Kotaku, isn't that wrong if their information is wrong/inaccurate? I was wondering about that.
I'd rather the news source come from somewhere other than Kotaku, but we don't disown Kotaku as a source. If a piece of news is submitted one of the admins/mods will look at it and oftentimes we will add and edit things as well as check on the validity of the news.

I didn't mean to portray in my previous post that Kotaku's news is full of misinformation. In most, if not all, cases their news items are spot on because they get it from press releases or on-site experience. I was more talking about their Features (the items that have the Feature graphic on them). Some of them are really good, but I have noticed some factual errors here and there on a few.

[AgtFox]

Gawker dumped the pay-for-hits model at least 6 months ago.
What is the model now? And thanks for letting me know, still doesn't make up for the other public and private problems though with Kotaku.

[Zanzibar]

Can't speak for him, but I don't believe Phil was the one that disliked them most of all. I think the Kotaku word ban was earlier than me being a staffperson, so I'm not sure who put the ban on the word. It may not have been Phil in this case.

Fair enuff, edited original post. :)

[DoctorFinger]

One other fact to ponder. Kotaku and Joystiq both run under essentially the same model with comparable numbers. Yet there's way more animus towards Kotaku than towards Joystiq. If the dislike was just "we hate the big guys", then the attitudes towards both should be the same.

[alienmastermind]

I make comics. :)

But, I have little or no knowledge of these web-dealings. I had no idea about the pay for clicks thing. That's...special.

I like CoG, and since the comic is part of the Network because of its start over on PiRi, I'm loyal to the CoG. The few times I've been to EvAv, for news (sic) or opinion on games, I've found the commentary to be 90% snark, 5% gristle, and 5% news.

Par Example: Fallout's last 2 DLC outings were 'lackluster'.

Uh, I feel I got what I paid for with Operation:Anchorage. It was fun for the little time it required of me. And it wasn't too expensive.

Haven't played the Pitt yet, but have heard good things now that it's, you know, playable.

I don't know, guys. Douchebaggery abounds on the intarwebs. Whatchagonnado?

AM

[Deadend]

Cool shit, Kotaku may in fact now have CONTENT and not just news blurbs. I like Totilo as he writes proper fucking articles as he is a journalist, not a guy seeing how many hits and posts they can get up in a day.

[Slack3r78]

What is the model now? And thanks for letting me know, still doesn't make up for the other public and private problems though with Kotaku.
So far as I know, they're paid straight salary now. I had discussed it briefly with my friend when they made the change, but I obviously didn't pry too much as to the details of it.

[AgtFox]

So far as I know, they're paid straight salary now. I had discussed it briefly with my friend when they made the change, but I obviously didn't pry too much as to the details of it.
It does somewhat explain the lessening number of female anatomy topics.

[Hotcod]

I read site but i take it for what it is. They have full time staff and are likely to get news up before cog dose and it's just an easy part of my web browsing routine. But the point is if there's anything worth talking about i'll come talk about it here :)

[Orca]

I must have missed all the problems with Kotaku. What exactly has the issue been with the site? Is it more than has been with basically most sites that have run for a long time. Shit happens, I guess is what I am saying, and I am not sure of whatever...horrible thing they did.

The latest thing is their coverage of the SF IV DLC. They used a translation from a Japanese site and somehow interpreted the release date as the price, claiming it would be $25 I think.

When the mistake was brought to their attention, they edited the story and also edited or deleted user comments. Now I think the story actually has an [update] tag on it and they've admitted they were wrong.

But that wasn't their first impulse, and that's ridiculous.

[Disgustipated]

Crecente is a massive douche, and needs to go back under his rock and die there.

[theman]

This post is very strange... Kotaku has all the news. You guys don't, yet you're criticizing them for what exactly?

[Shrinn]

This post is very strange... Kotaku has all the news. You guys don't, yet you're criticizing them for what exactly?

For exactly what they say they are. Shady practices and a bad past. People have even said that they're cleaning up. It's not like we're jealous that we can't keep up with a full employed work force. It's just that they do some weird, shady stuff.

[bapenguin]

This post is very strange... Kotaku has all the news. You guys don't, yet you're criticizing them for what exactly?

Regurgitating press releases, creating constant stories about sex/girls/boobs/etc to drive hits, sensational headlines as well as all those annoying "love letters" they send back and forth.

[Cactaur]

I stopped reading kotaku when it became apparent their mantra was "First!" rather than "Factual". The comment system signal to noise also became untenable.

Plus the business model at the time where they'd post what they ate and other snippets of home life to get hits. The business model might have changed, but to pimp your family life for extra cash... Fair enough to put extra food on the table I suppose, but I don't necessarily have to support that with page views.

[Doogie2K]

I don't really mind the transitional letters from one editor to another. It's just the stuff that isn't news, along with the Gawker-wide bullshit (ironic comment elitism, extra unnecessary layer of sarcasm) that's annoying.

You think Totilo might change the tone of Kotaku a little, along with some of their less savory practices?

[AgtFox]

I don't really mind the transitional letters from one editor to another. It's just the stuff that isn't news, along with the Gawker-wide bullshit (ironic comment elitism, extra unnecessary layer of sarcasm) that's annoying.

You think Totilo might change the tone of Kotaku a little, along with some of their less savory practices?
It depends how much power he is given. Remember, I am going on the idea that this is the beginning of Crecente's exit from the site. If my idea were true then Totilo would be in charge. As he stands now as Deputy Managing Editor he could still be in control of day-to-day stuff and Crecente still makes the "tough decisions" or however one would term those kinds of things. We really don't know though, pure conjecture.

[Philonious]

Good for Kotaku and hopefully good for Tolito. Despite his interesting work at MTV he probably will get MUCH more exposure at Kotaku than he ever did at MTV. Hopefully all gamers win as a consequence of this move.

[H.Bogard]

If you're looking for another immediate news site and one I consider to be of higher integrity than Kotaku, go to Joystiq. Joystiq is an example of a site that created a really good re-skinning of the site whereas Kotaku and Gawker's overall re-skin didn't excite me much.


Oddly enough, I've always found Joystiq to be far worse than Kotaku.

They've got the whole Magic PC attitude going on at times too... heh.

Edit: Guess I'll add my post from the other thread here. God this is confusing :

I have no problems with Kotaku. That site and shacknews are the only gaming news RSS feeds I keep these days.

I know its a horrible thing to say but as long as I'm getting all the news in one place as quick as its happening, I couldn't care any less about source attribution or titty-focused posts (like the DoA ones in the past).

Although Shacknews, to me, is definitely the quickest and most up-to-date site out there.

[Rock Bandit]

I think you guys are missing the real draw to leave MTV for Kotaku, as Managing Deputy Editor he gets to comb Crecente's hair thrice weekly. That'd get me to leave my job.

That shit is luxurious.

[Wraith]

Why Kotaku? (http://kotaku.com/5240968/why-kotaku) (Kotaku)People asked me why I came here. Was it the fortune? The fame? The groupies?

I told people who asked that I came to Kotaku because I respect the strong journalistic core of Kotaku. That's the part some people don't see because they're distracted by some of Kotaku's other colorful qualities. I like it all, but I confess that what I can bring best is more journalism. The more of that that we can do well, the better, I say. As long as someone else writes some funny posts.

When my switch to Kotaku was announced, I was stormed with replies. Some people were happy, like the guy who said he already reads the site 24 hours a day and now needs to read it 48 hours a day. (I told him to buy two computers and run both simultaneously like he was managing multiple World of Warcraft accounts.)

On the other hand, a couple of people told me they wouldn't follow me here, saying they think Kotaku only "serves the straight white male gamers and no one else."

I think we're all best served to listen to each other and figure out how we can improve.

[Orca]

Kotaku has a journalistic core? Seriously?

[AgtFox]

I will say there has been some journalism going on at Kotaku ever since Owen Good was added on, so I guess that is what Stephen is talking about. With Stephen's addition I expect more journalism from Kotaku versus the regular "throw news at the wall and see if it sticks" posting.

I still say he's there to take over for Crecente and make Kotaku that much more enticing for a company to come and buy it from Gawker for a good amount of money.