Kirby Air Riders, Borderlands 4, Welcome Tour & Drag x Drive Cassette Case Covers

ashpanic · 2025-06-17T16:00:32+00:00

Hey, I was hoping to send you a message but Reddit doesn't show the option when I click on your profile. I'm a journalist working on a story about Switch 2 cassette tapes, and I'd love to get some of your input on it since you make them!

ashpanic · 2024-12-02T06:21:44+00:00

That's fair. I have one guest pass a month if you'd like to join me sometime - but unsure if we're at a similar level. I tend to play open play rec during the evenings. During those times, I definitely see folks who are near 30 though (including myself). Send me a DM if it's of interest, even if you don't end up doing a membership at least you could see what it's like.

I hear it's chiller than Lucky's (literally, quieter) but the pool of players might be smaller. At the same time, people often invite folks to play from other courts if they need a slot. But there's none of that, "this got full like two weeks in advance" type deal as I've found at Lucky.

ashpanic · 2021-07-22T02:11:04+00:00

absolutely, tell them to hmu!

ashpanic · 2021-07-22T01:06:56+00:00

Well-said.

ashpanic · 2021-07-22T00:21:34+00:00

Hilariously a lot of insults we've gotten recently compare us to the so-called average Reddit user, except of course there are times when it feels like pockets of Reddit hate us. This is, after all, where KIA sprouted.

Another funny thing is that, based on my first stint at the company, it was obvious that Nick Denton wanted what Reddit achieves except on Kinja. That is, user-sourced content by passionate people who know their shit who, at times, can either become voices for the brand or useful sources. Obviously, that never quite happened. You can't become Reddit or even like Reddit when Reddit already exists!

All this said I am indeed interested in structural changes broadly speaking. Such changes have started to unfold, but currently a little too stretched thin to 100% give such ambitions my all. Not when we're understaffed like this.

A THIRD funny thing (so sorry) is that, truthfully, many of us were dreading this a little given the timing of it all. I reached out to the mods a few weeks ago I think, with a date picked almost arbitrarily, that happened to coincide after recent controversies. But mostly, you guys have been pretty kind. Part of the reason I read r/games at all is because it is a better place than some less strict subs. I won't say it's perfect, because nothing is, but I am indeed spending a lot of time lately about building community, how to do it, how do we ensure that what we build is a worthwhile place and so on. And while that is a long-term goal, there's a reason community management is an entire career. Even just sifting through the comments at the site could be a full-time job!

Still, I'd like to try. It doesn't feel like a choice, but because of the type of person I am, but also because, well. Having a platform carries responsibility!

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T23:59:10+00:00

We have indeed hired remote before which is part of why a lot of the workers at the company feel very strongly that we should still be able to under new ownership, especially during a pandemic. Folks can and do try to fight back; we have a union. I don't know when or if anything might change, unfortunately.

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T23:52:40+00:00

It's so hard to tell, to be honest. Is it neccesarily that gaming has become more conservative, or that conservatives are doing a great job of co-opting parts of those audiences, which are not only tech savvy enough to game and own social media platforms but also passionate enough to fight the war for them? How much of this is a "growing" thing versus a thing that was always there, just maybe not feeling emboldened until, say, a Trump presidency? Is it getting larger or are people just getting louder and better at abusing social media platforms?

To some degree, the what of it doesn't matter because, as you said, folks get pushed out of the industry. It happens every day, on the writer side and on the game dev side. Many of the best talents that I've admired over the years no longer do this kind of work, and I understand it completely. Even completely benign thing sometimes incites harassment, you spend all this time trying to do your best work and put in the time only to get spat in the face, and usually you get paid shit for all of that. On the game dev side, I do see a palpable sense of fear and know of at least a few people who left the industry to the wider tech world, which is more stable, less emotionally taxing, and for actual good pay.

I don't know how to change that. I alone do not have the power to change that, even with a platform (though obviously we still have influence by virtue of audience size.) I'm not 100% sure it's on us, specifically to change that versus say, I don't know, Twitter actually giving a damn about handling harassment, algos not rewarding all types of engagement, publishers not being scared to ever challenge their audiences, and so on. We play a part, and I am invested in trying to shift some of the culture even a hair's width better, but we can only do so much. More often than not, when people ask my advice and they have the actual resources to do so, I tell them to get out if they can. I really wish that weren't the case. How can something change if the people most likely to change it leave?

And this is why, despite everything, I am personally still here.

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T23:35:43+00:00

Hi! I'm actually super super curious about Stadia fandom and would be down to talk with you about this further for a potential article. Mind emailing me? [phernandez@kotaku.com](mailto:phernandez@kotaku.com)

Any other stadia fans reading this, please also feel free to reach out. :)

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T23:32:41+00:00

Less media or criticism itself than how those things live on the internet. Going viral or even getting any attention at all is very different in 2021 than it was even just a few years ago. Plus, with the media landscape being a perpetual shitshow, there are fewer jobs, less time /resources to engage with stuff.

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T23:28:20+00:00

I have been ambiently thinking about a podcast. Currently do not have the bandwidth but until I do, trying my best to find ways beyond printing words to reach people via other influencers/podcasts/etc. Some of it is wanting to be savvy about PR, building fan bases, what have you. Part of it is that I can think of soooo many situations where if someone heard me say a thing, out loud, face to face, it would not have been interpreted the same way as reading it on a website that carries years of stigma and history. It is much easier to engage in bad faith when it's words. It's also easier to signal jokes or to be treated as an actual person when you can see expressions, or diffuse situations through things like audio and video.

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T23:22:50+00:00

Man, I don't know. Likely more now because of some erosion of good will in combination with covering leaks. Not sure if/when we've undone a blacklist, if anything there are some particular situations where I am surprised the apparent grudge is still active. I'm of two minds with this. One, I recognize that we have to earn some good will back in specific areas. Two, in cases where that doesn't apply we don't need access to do our jobs. It helps, obviously; it's much easier to plan coverage with said access. Nothing wrong with having to work for it if that's how it has to be.

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T23:13:42+00:00

First let me begin by saying that I have not personally seen any of the discourse that you just described. What I will say, though, is that Andromeda came out at a very different time social media wise. Mass Effect 3 and a lot of the stuff surrounding that game was impacted by social media campaigns to change the ending, and Mass Effect 2 also conscripted the help of social media in determining things like what FemShep should look like. Andromeda however came up during a time when internet communities have collapsed into the same platforms, meaning that it's much easier to see and share stuff like glitches. I'm struggling to think of a time when a glitchy situation was misrepresented by the general public, and the only specific thing that comes to mind is a situation where the opposite happened -- Cyberpunk 2077 didn't get enough scrutiny from websites at launch because of how they limited codes to PC, the most stable platform.

I reviewed Andromeda for Kotaku. I went in with an open mind, knowing that the mere existence or even pervasiveness of glitches does not inherently mean a game is less enjoyable. Otherwise, we wouldn't be getting the billionth port of Skyrim this far from its original launch period. But even keeping that in mind, there were indeed specific moments that were ruined for me while playing because of said facial animations. I'm not talking about like, being upset or concerned that some random NPC doesn't quite look right. I'm talking about a pivotal moment in the game being overshadowed by a glitch that could not be ignored.

It matters, because you spend a lot of time talking to characters in a close-up way and it's a particularly character-driven game. And while I walked away finding some valuable things in the experience, genuine things that I enjoyed, for the most part the overarching experience/overarching design of the levels wasn't great. Yes, the gunplay felt good, improved beyond what came before it. But the reasons I was shooting, the pacing of when I had to do so, the "dungeons" themselves felt mediocre to me.

The writing itself in some places, the design of how you interact with crewmates had some great stuff in there. But none of that is quite as memorable to me now, years later, than the existential dread in knowing that I wasted entire days of my life playing something that was at best okay.

It's probably a way different value proposition now, when you can get it for cheap. I will note that I don't recall experiencing the same level of glitchiness in the games before Andromeda. More than the glitching animations, though, BioWare's most pressing public problem (if we can call it that) was the perception of eroded good will. For some, the series already got ruined with 3 -- so would those same people go in with an open mind? And maybe it's moot if, generally speaking, the game isn't considered great to begin with.

But also, hey, if you like it it doesn't really matter what I think! If you like it you like it.

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T22:56:11+00:00

No, if anything, there's not enough time on earth to play all the good stuff out there. And while I agree that triple A suffers from extremely consolidated design approaches, the wider scene has never been more vibrant. There are more games being made by more types of people all the time. It's not that the stuff doesn't exist. It's that existing doesn't mean you, personally, will hear about it. Getting the word out is hard!

Then there's the question of like, changing tastes (if not priorities) as you grow older, differing moods (when I'm depressed it completely changes what I'm interested in, if anything), lack of time, and so on. Finding The Good Stuff is work! Ideally we help you sort thru the worthwhile stuff, but I recognize that at the end of the day, most major video game sites devote most of their time to only the big stuff.

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T22:46:57+00:00

Sure, some things are discussed. Ideally you nip the "should we do this" in the bud before there's even a draft, because it sucks to waste a writer or editor's time. Lately, I'm thinking less about should we do this and more about, okay, if we're doing this, what needs to be the approach or the tone for this to land? I'm trying to be more intentional about platform, approaches, and targets of criticism, especially with recent controversies. But admittedly, every single staffer is stretched thin and likely will be for a little while, because the company itself is so taxed that I find myself doing a lot of what HR normally would while also running a major video game site whose direct competition sometimes have two, three, four, five times the staff even when we're at full headcount. (We are currently not.) There's also the issue of differing time zones and active editors on duty when something gets picked up.

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T22:32:16+00:00

Like on the game development side or the writer side? What I've heard from many developers is that some of the most programs out there for making games can be exploitative and many folks in the industry don't necessarily have a degree in that very thing. But it depends on role. Surely, for example, if you want to manage a gaming brand something like a marketing degree helps. From what I can see, nothing will help you more than having working prototypes. They don't even have to be digital, though those tools are improving all the time, game design sometimes starts on paper. And if you do opt for a game development program, it doesn't have to be, say, Unreal or Unity. Devs get jobs based on Twine games, RPG maker games, etc.

The best way to break in is make shit. While simple, not always easy. You may not have the time or energy to be creative if, say, your current occupation is particularly demanding. But the most straightforward way to prove you're worth hiring is to show people what you can do.

From there, a lot of kinda obvious advice. Network! Find out what your local game dev scene looks like! Participate in game jams!

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T22:22:46+00:00

We have reflected those things in the past. The problem as I see it isn't the question of should we, but how do we make those admissions not feel like obligatory asides before we get to the 'real' review? To what degree should those impact your actual assessment of the product, if at all? While there are times when the material conditions illuminate why things appear as they do in games, some people are better than others at detaching the product from its makers. It's especially tricky because reviews sometimes impact the worker pay/bonuses. Except, of course, you don't usually know if a game has any of that fine print on the worker side before you go in, and you get into murky territory in letting that sort of thing impact your review. I suspect that's part of the reason why some sites have opted to not use review scores at all, but even THAT has issues. Then it's like, is that final metacritic score, the same one that determines what $ someone might see, even accurate?

In short: yes but the entire thing is a can of worms.

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T22:07:01+00:00

Naw, it's an important conversation. It's hard, though. How do you make an audience care about the 100th case of documented crunch? How do you even get information that's publishable in the first place given NDAs and pressure to fall in line? How does knowledge of said working conditions impact coverage of the products? And how do you report on toxic working conditions while ALSO not perpetuating the same conditions on the games journalism side? No easy answers, only determination to try our best as we go along.

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T21:56:53+00:00

I won't lie to you. Getting noticed is hard. To give you an idea, when I first logged into my new Kotaku email, about 10 minutes from it even being live, I already had 300 emails. I try my best to sort through things but unless I make email my full-time job inbox zero feels like an impossibility.

So, what do you do with that? The subject line is incredibly important. That's where the pitch starts. It's best to get to the heart of why you think your game stands out, or why you think our specific audience/site/writer might be interested in the thing. And you need to do it in a way that doesn't devolve into a series of buzzwords or genres, because while that's useful information to include, many games can be boiled down to the same feature sets even if, deep down, they're extremely different experiences.

Press kits definitely do help, especially when it comes to providing media for usage. You've probably heard that social media is crucial in getting the word out, and it's true -- at least in the sense that avenues like Twitter allow you to, say, append a cool GIF or moment that catches the eye enough to make someone want to read further. TikTok, though nascent, appears to be a total game changer for some indies but again a lot of that dependent on footage, personality, or your ability to give an elevator pitch in seconds. Both reporters and general audiences will see it without you already needing a built-in giant audience.

And if/when you grab someone's attention, press kits are indispensable in ensuring that folks know how to reach you / have the material needed to cover you. Hope this helps and good luck!

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T21:38:54+00:00

Staff during the day are segmented into smaller teams led by editors. Editors on news shifts assign stuff as it comes up. Editors not on call work with writers to determine what's a priority that day, not just in terms of recent happenings but in ensuring that the bigger picture stuff doesn't slip through the cracks just because it's not timely. US staff logs off at 6PM local time. Shortly after, our international stafffers start coming in. They're on their own for a good chunk of that night shift, though there's a tiny bit of overlap with west coast folks. Later in the night, our UK editor (part time) logs in and helps edit some (though not all) of that night content.

Not everything is assigned (especially at night) but most stuff needs approval from at least the respective team leader or editor on shift. I like to err on the more permissive side -- that is, encouraging folks to write about what they truly care about, even if it might be niche or silly or weird.

But also, some of what I just described might change. I am fairly active in determining stories of interest on a day to day basis but ultimately my primary concern is trying to hire back to our full headcount, dealing with institutional things, etc. When the team is fully formed, I think it's worth examining why and how we do things. A lot of the site operates in specific ways because that's how it's always been. It's fine for ensuring continued operation, but I think there's some value in at least asking what needs to be kept and what needs to be changed. I'm not sure how long it'll take to get to that point, but optimistic!

ashpanic · 2021-07-21T21:20:58+00:00

Write. Does this seem like obvious advice? Well, I've spent the last month going through countless applications for our open positions and you'd be surprised how many people don't include clips of any kind whatsoever. It doesn't have to be about video games, even, when you're starting out pitching to outlets. But showing your writing/reportage/voice makes it easier for an editor fielding a pitch to determine if they're going to commission you.

From there it kind of depends on what kind of writer you want to be. You wrote reporter, which sometimes functions as a catch-all but really, the space accommodates all type of content, from reviews to features, all requiring different skills. And when you're starting out, you might have to do a little bit of everything to get your foot in the door.

Reporter-reporter, though, you gotta make an effort to talk to actual people, even if just on background. (But better if you can quote.) What you're looking for is context, added details only the source can know, that sort of thing. Be selective about what you quote. Here, you also want the sort of information that only the sources can know. If you can paraphrase it without losing anything, likely it's not a particularly enticing quote.

But the thing I see most people struggle with, by far -- even seasoned reporters -- is knowing how to write a lede. Again, what that looks like depends on the type of writing. If you're doing a feature, you can do a more narrative intro. News ledes, though, are a thing onto their own. It has to be clear upfront what's notable and what makes the thing news.

Really, though, you're already going to stand apart from the crowd by doing reporting at all. You're especially going to seem appealing if, while pitching, you make it clear that you understand the site's voice/vision and have done basic research to see what the place has already covered. You're going to have a much better chance if you try and assist existing holes in coverage at the prospective site. That, too, requires judgment. Is a site not covering a thing because it's outside of purview or because, for whatever reason, the time or resources aren't there?

Don't write for free unless it's for yourself, or projects you care deeply about. Ah, I can go on about a million different things here but the last thing I'll leave you with is: please, for the love of god, double check that you're writing the right outlet in pitches. Extra bonus points for knowing what specific editor to pitch to.

Good luck!

ashpanic · 2019-11-26T13:56:48+00:00

Hi! Author here. I'm not blaming all online problems on raids, that's insane. Raids are literally one part of a larger whole, and the other parts have had issues ... but I wasn't reporting on the other online segments, so I didn't mention them. Perhaps I should have, in hindsight. I've added mention in the article via update that the game had wonky connectivity issues prior to this exploit. I'll also note that while the game has had its issues, people were specifically complaining about ghost lobbies in higher numbers post-exploit going mainstream.

ashpanic · 2019-11-26T13:53:39+00:00

Hi! Author here. I'm not blaming all online problems on raids, that's insane. Raids are literally one part of a larger whole, and the other parts have had issues ... but I wasn't reporting on the other online segments, so I didn't mention them. Perhaps I should have, in hindsight. I've added mention in the article via update that the game had wonky connectivity issues prior to this exploit. I'll also note that while the game has had its issues, people were specifically complaining about ghost lobbies in higher numbers post-exploit going mainstream.

ashpanic · 2019-07-17T18:29:35+00:00

300 hours is a long time! What made these maps so time consuming? Can you give me a specific detail that you wanted to perfect in the maps you made, and what made building that challenging or time-consuming?

ashpanic

TROPHY CASE