christopher-grant
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This is a goodbye post
Two thousand, two hundred and thirty three days ago, I wrote my first post on Joystiq. Just days before, I was still employed as a carpenter while writing video game reviews for an alternative newsweekly in Philadelphia. My first weekend with the site was marked by the launch of the Xbox 360 and the import of the "next generation" moniker wasn't lost on me. Realizing the scale of the opportunity I had, I started working full-time as a freelancer for what was then a bustling Weblogs, Inc. Six months later, at just $5 a post, I had exhausted my savings and made a plea to become a full-time AOL employee. Option B was to return to carpentry. Finding out I would be hired as Joystiq's first salaried editor easily ranked as one of the greatest moments in my life, and still does. But I'll be leaving Joystiq, effective the end of the month. In my six plus years at the site, I've found myself surrounded by some of the most talented and dedicated writers covering an industry full of talented and creative developers. More scrappy startup than corporate outlet, Joystiq has been defined by the commitment of its team more than any other factor; this team lives at Joystiq, with equal parts wit, enthusiasm, and caffeine. It's been thrilling, humbling, and exhausting; a truly formative experience for me. But like all formative experiences, this one has come to an end. Joystiq has always evolved – the integration of the Fanboy sites (Ultrastiq) or our 2010 redesign (Futurestiq) – and it will move forward under the guidance of a veteran team led by the singularly talented Ludwig Kietzmann replacing me as editor-in-chief. Now it faces another evolutionary phase, marked by my absence, and I'm no less confident in the team's ability to address that challenge. After all, the boss always changes into a different form. I want to thank Joystiq's original editor, Vlad Cole, for offering me the position in the first place. I want to thank the original Weblogs Inc. team including Jason Calacanis, Brad Hill, Barb Dybwad, Brian Alvey, and others, along with the original Engadget team, including Ryan Block, Peter Rojas, and current Editorial Director Josh Fruhlinger. While it might not have seemed like much at the time, these people offered me an opportunity that changed my life with the kind of permanence and indelibility usually reserved for tragedy or parenthood. I couldn't be more thankful. And lastly, I'd like to thank everyone reading this site. Video game media is changing and has been changing for as long as I can remember and there's one simple reason for that: the readers. Weaned on innovation and excellence, video game players are practically bred to be the most critical, passionate, and invested audience imaginable. There is no harsher critic or stronger supporter and that investment will continue to lead to great things. And that's where I'm going. To discover the next generation again, and see what other opportunities are available. You can follow me on Twitter (@chrisgrant) to find out more but, until then, I can promise you the latest, breaking news on what I'm having for lunch.
Stanford machinima panel recap
Thursday's WoW machinima event at Stanford showcased the winners of the World of Warcraft Summer Movie Contest. Following the screening of the best videos, Daniel Kayser of GameTrailers.com hosted a panel discussion with a few Stanford professors and other machinima luminaries. Also, Joystiq's Christopher Grant sat on the panel.For an hour, Kayser led the group through questions about the state of machinima, its history, and its future. In general, the participants anticipated a bright, creative future for machinima, but they were uncertain how the art would change once corporations tried to exploit the style.Matteo Bittanti, from Stanford's Humanities Lab, commented on the continuing shift of machinima from in-jokes to a general artistic tool; many of the contest winners relied on WoW jokes, but the grand prize short, The Edge of Remorse, bore no direct relation to WoW as a game. Bittanti anticipated that the balance would continue to even out, with more machinima stories unrelated to games able to find a broader audience.Machinima's practical definition was another topic. Ezra Ferguson of Rufus Cubed Productions said that a feature-length machinima production is inevitable, especially as the game tools continue to evolve to show facial emotions and better acting. Animation director and one of the night's winners, Jun Falkenstein questioned the point at which those machinima tool updates would change the technique into a standard animated movie. Are the rough edges in machinima part of its definition?Henry Lowood, Curator of Stanford's History of Science and Technology Collections, also stressed that accessibility and rapid production are the root of machinima. He mentioned French Democracy, a story created with The Movies that responded almost immediately to last year's riots around Paris. He said that this method of quick reaction is "a power we really have never had before."Will machinima become regular-old animation once the results mirror other computer animation tools? Are accessibility and quick response the real root of the style?
Chris Grant co-host on Gaming Steve podcast
Joystiq's very own Christopher Grant is not only posting from the 2006 Game Developers Conference, he's also starring in a podcast.Okay, so technically he's just co-hosting an episode of an ongoing podcast with Gaming Steve, but you can't miss this opportunity to hear Chris's laid-back, sweetly smooth voice. (There are reports that Chris also sounds somewhat like a stoner, but we wouldn't be able to tell you what those kind of people sound like anyway, so what can we say?)As for the podcast itself, Chris and Steve go into the events of the last day, enthusiastically sharing about Microsoft's bloggers breakfast with Peter Moore (inset), Phil Harrison's PS3 keynote, what the new Battlestar Galactica might have to do with games, and everything else that they saw in San Jose. And, hey, maybe if we're lucky, we'll get another guest Joystiqer co-hosting with Steve today. More from GDC as we get it...See also: Direct download link for the podcast in question [55 minute-long MP3] Gaming Steve's "Day 3" report on GDC 2006 [where we got the pic] Joystiq @ GDC: In the beginning... [w/a little bloggers breakfast info] GDC: The PS3 keynote blow by blow
