The Guide: Transcendental Blues

Welcome to The Guide, an editorial feature in which former Xbox 360 Fanboy lead Richard Mitchell looks at issues important to Xbox fans. The opinions expressed here belong to the author and don't necessarily reflect those of Joystiq, Weblogs Inc. or its affiliates.

Change, as a rule, is difficult. The past week and a half has proven that fairly handily. After just over three years of existence, Xbox 360 Fanboy has become Joystiq Xbox. Overall, I feel like the transition went very well, with most technical issues resolved quickly and efficiently (for which I have the excellent Justin Glow to thank). That said, it's apparent that not everyone is thrilled with the change, and so I figured it would be appropriate to address that in this, the first edition of The Guide.

First and foremost, I want to stress that the transition from X3F to Joystiq Xbox was the best decision for growing our website. While it does mean the appearance of cross-posted stories, it frees up an enormous amount of manpower to cover even more stories in a timely manner. Some have complained that it's annoying to see the same stories here as are found on Joystiq, but there's a simple reason for it. Plain and simple: We were dedicating far too much time to rewriting stories that were already posted elsewhere on the network.

Scan through our old posts and you'll notice tons of [Via Joystiq] entries added to the bottom of each post (and plenty of [Via X3F] entries on Joystiq too). Every one of those posts represents a post that could have been written about something else, or followup reporting that we simply didn't have time to do. Sure, it might mean that Xbox diehards might have to read the words 'Playstation' or 'PSN' occasionally, but I honestly feel that the advantages we've gained far outweigh the disadvantages. That's something that might not be apparent right now, but it's already paying dividends in the overall quantity of coverage that the Joystiq network is pumping out -- and the speed at which it's doing so.

Regarding concerns that the X3F community is going out the window, there are a few things in which to take comfort. First of all, all the community features aren't going anywhere and we'll be doing our best to add more (like this column, for example). I've also seen complaints that now we're suddenly denigrating the Xbox just so that we can 'fit in' with the Joystiq crowd. It's important to note that we've never given Microsoft a free pass on any of its products. The Xbox 360 fails too much. The WiFi Adapter costs one hundred frakking dollars. Those things suck, and we've always said as much.

The name Xbox 360 Fanboy always implied that we elevated Microsoft's console like some perfect ivory idol, sneering at all other consoles as inferior and worthless. That was a perception I knew I had to change. In the two and a half years that I served as Lead for X3F, I fought hard against the negative connotations of "fanboy" and I vowed to "take it back." As I laid out in our mission statement long ago, "Xbox 360 Fanboy is here to prove that fanboys aren't blind devotees, but passionate players." I think we've accomplished that, and none of us plan to stop now.