Joystiq
Encyclopedia
Joystiq is a video gaming blog
founded in June 2004 that has since become one of the most successful sites within the Weblogs, Inc.
(WIN) family of weblogs. It is the centerpiece of WIN's own network of video gaming blogs, which also includes a blog dealing specifically with the popular MMORPG
World of Warcraft
.
was seeking to add a blog to its repertoire for the sole purpose of covering news related to video games, as evidenced by the now-defunct The Video Games Weblog, founded 2004-02-27. On March 12, WIN CEO Jason Calacanis
announced two spinoff projects: The Unofficial Playstation 3 Weblog and The Unofficial Xbox 2, both of which are now similarly retired, though they would set a precedent for the launching of Joystiq's Fanboy blogs in 2005. However, none of these three initial weblogs were ever aggressively marketed, and The Video Games Weblog made its final post on May 18, 2005, amassing 175 blog entries in total (a rather scant amount by Weblogs, Inc. standards). All three blogs are now listed as "On Hiatus/Retired" in the Weblogs, Inc. directory. As an interesting bit of trivia, David Touve, the primary contributor to these early blogs, would later act as Joystiq's features editor for a short time in late 2005 before resigning due to the birth of his child.
, formally introduced Joystiq to the masses, positioning the blog as an extension to Engadget's Gaming subdomain. However, being a separate and wholly video game-related entity, Joystiq allowed for much more in-depth analysis of the video game industry than the primarily consumer electronics-oriented Engadget. While Joystiq had featured content as early as April 2, the blog is not officially considered to have been launched until Rojas's public revelation on Engadget on Wednesday, June 16, 2004.
Since then, Joystiq has experienced continuous steady growth and consistently ranks in the top 40 blogs on the internet according to Technorati.
On November 21, 2005, coinciding with the North American launch of the Xbox 360
, Joystiq welcomed its first spinoff project: Xbox 360 Fanboy, a blog devoted solely to the in-depth coverage of its namesake hardware. For the next three weeks this trend would continue, with PSP Fanboy launching on November 28, WoW Insider on December 6, and DS Fanboy on December 12. On February 15, 2006, a sixth blog was introduced: Revolution Fanboy, (which was later renamed to Nintendo Wii Fanboy), while March 29 heralded the arrival of PS3 Fanboy, completing Joystiq's trifecta of specialized next-gen coverage. While some have criticized the practice of splintering off Joystiq's primary areas of expertise as nothing more than a thinly-veiled bid to increase traffic, Jason Calacanis has justified these actions by asserting that as Joystiq grows so too does its potential audience, and thus separate blogs are necessary to fulfill these specialized niches.
On January 26, 2006, Joystiq coined the phrase "DS phat": a nickname for the old-style Nintendo DS
that helps differentiate between the old DS and the new DS lite. The usage of the word "phat" is a reference to both the DS' chunky design and Nintendo's intentional misspelling of the word "light" in the DS lite.
On January 27, 2009, the Fanboy sites were rebranded and integrated directly into the main Joystiq site. DS and Wii Fanboy were merged into Joystiq Nintendo, as were PSP and PS3 Fanboy merged into Joystiq PlayStation, and Xbox 360 Fanboy became Joystiq Xbox. The new sites now share console-specific posts from Joystiq as well as continue to feature their own specialized articles.
Historically, Joystiq's primary competitor and pseudo-rival has been Gawker Media
's video gaming blog Kotaku
. However, this is due in no small part to the rivalry between WIN CEO Jason Calacanis and Nick Denton
, the founder of Gawker Media, as this relationship holds true for a number of blogs residing in each camp, including Autoblog
and Jalopnik
, as well as Engadget
and Gizmodo
.
, Stephen Totilo, Rocco Botte
, Tom Chick
and Shawn Andrich but they stopped doing them. The show stopped due to a lack of variety, and in its wake a new show started, The Joystiq Show.
, Gizmodo
, and its ubiquitous sibling Engadget
. Joystiq has, however, been included in a number of listings of outstanding weblogs, including Forbes.com's Best of the Web and the Feedster 500.
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
founded in June 2004 that has since become one of the most successful sites within the Weblogs, Inc.
Weblogs, Inc.
Weblogs, Inc. is a blog network of about 90 blogs, covering a variety of subjects, from computers and gaming . Roughly half of these blogs are regularly updated and maintained. Weblogs, Inc. was founded in September 2003.-History:...
(WIN) family of weblogs. It is the centerpiece of WIN's own network of video gaming blogs, which also includes a blog dealing specifically with the popular MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
.
Predecessors
As of early 2004, Weblogs, Inc.Weblogs, Inc.
Weblogs, Inc. is a blog network of about 90 blogs, covering a variety of subjects, from computers and gaming . Roughly half of these blogs are regularly updated and maintained. Weblogs, Inc. was founded in September 2003.-History:...
was seeking to add a blog to its repertoire for the sole purpose of covering news related to video games, as evidenced by the now-defunct The Video Games Weblog, founded 2004-02-27. On March 12, WIN CEO Jason Calacanis
Jason Calacanis
Jason McCabe Calacanis is an American Internet entrepreneur and blogger. His first company was part of the dot-com era in New York, and his second venture, Weblogs, Inc., capitalized on the growth of blogs before being sold to AOL....
announced two spinoff projects: The Unofficial Playstation 3 Weblog and The Unofficial Xbox 2, both of which are now similarly retired, though they would set a precedent for the launching of Joystiq's Fanboy blogs in 2005. However, none of these three initial weblogs were ever aggressively marketed, and The Video Games Weblog made its final post on May 18, 2005, amassing 175 blog entries in total (a rather scant amount by Weblogs, Inc. standards). All three blogs are now listed as "On Hiatus/Retired" in the Weblogs, Inc. directory. As an interesting bit of trivia, David Touve, the primary contributor to these early blogs, would later act as Joystiq's features editor for a short time in late 2005 before resigning due to the birth of his child.
Formation
Later that year, following 2004's Electronic Entertainment Expo, Peter Rojas, the founder of and lead contributor to WIN's flagship blog EngadgetEngadget
Engadget is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. Though on appearance Engadget functions much like a blog and may be defined as such, much of its editorial content takes the form of an online magazine...
, formally introduced Joystiq to the masses, positioning the blog as an extension to Engadget's Gaming subdomain. However, being a separate and wholly video game-related entity, Joystiq allowed for much more in-depth analysis of the video game industry than the primarily consumer electronics-oriented Engadget. While Joystiq had featured content as early as April 2, the blog is not officially considered to have been launched until Rojas's public revelation on Engadget on Wednesday, June 16, 2004.
Since then, Joystiq has experienced continuous steady growth and consistently ranks in the top 40 blogs on the internet according to Technorati.
Current trends
The first major shakeup in Joystiq's history occurred in June 2005, when senior editor Ben Zackheim, after being offered a position at America Online's Games division, announced his resignation due to a conflict of interest. He was succeeded by Vladimir Cole, a blogger who had been hired February 2005 and who held the position of Editor-in-Chief until February 2007, when current editor Christopher Grant took over after Cole took a job with Microsoft's Xbox division. Weblogs, Inc. was acquired in October 2005 by America Online.On November 21, 2005, coinciding with the North American launch of the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, Joystiq welcomed its first spinoff project: Xbox 360 Fanboy, a blog devoted solely to the in-depth coverage of its namesake hardware. For the next three weeks this trend would continue, with PSP Fanboy launching on November 28, WoW Insider on December 6, and DS Fanboy on December 12. On February 15, 2006, a sixth blog was introduced: Revolution Fanboy, (which was later renamed to Nintendo Wii Fanboy), while March 29 heralded the arrival of PS3 Fanboy, completing Joystiq's trifecta of specialized next-gen coverage. While some have criticized the practice of splintering off Joystiq's primary areas of expertise as nothing more than a thinly-veiled bid to increase traffic, Jason Calacanis has justified these actions by asserting that as Joystiq grows so too does its potential audience, and thus separate blogs are necessary to fulfill these specialized niches.
On January 26, 2006, Joystiq coined the phrase "DS phat": a nickname for the old-style Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
that helps differentiate between the old DS and the new DS lite. The usage of the word "phat" is a reference to both the DS' chunky design and Nintendo's intentional misspelling of the word "light" in the DS lite.
On January 27, 2009, the Fanboy sites were rebranded and integrated directly into the main Joystiq site. DS and Wii Fanboy were merged into Joystiq Nintendo, as were PSP and PS3 Fanboy merged into Joystiq PlayStation, and Xbox 360 Fanboy became Joystiq Xbox. The new sites now share console-specific posts from Joystiq as well as continue to feature their own specialized articles.
Historically, Joystiq's primary competitor and pseudo-rival has been Gawker Media
Gawker Media
Gawker Media is an American online media company and blog network, founded and owned by Nick Denton based in New York City. It is considered to be one of the most visible and successful blog-oriented media companies. , it is the parent company for 11 different weblogs: Gawker.com, Fleshbot,...
's video gaming blog Kotaku
Kotaku
Kotaku is a video games-focused blog. It is part of Gawker Media's "Gawker" network of sites, which also includes Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker, io9 and Jezebel. Named to CNET News' Blog 100, Kotaku is consistently listed in the top 40 of Technorati's Top 100...
. However, this is due in no small part to the rivalry between WIN CEO Jason Calacanis and Nick Denton
Nick Denton
Nick Denton, born August 24, 1966, is a British journalist and internet entrepreneur, the founder and proprietor of the blog collective Gawker Media, and the managing editor of the New York-based Gawker.com...
, the founder of Gawker Media, as this relationship holds true for a number of blogs residing in each camp, including Autoblog
Autoblog
Autoblog is a neologism and misnomer used to describe a particular type of website which uses software designed to automatically add content in a blog format. The owner of an autoblog is generally referred to as an autoblogger. Engaging in this practice is called autoblogging.Autoblogging does...
and Jalopnik
Jalopnik
Jalopnik is a Weblog covering cars, car culture, and the automotive industry. Owned and operated by Gawker Media since 2004, Jalopnik emphasizes irreverent humor....
, as well as Engadget
Engadget
Engadget is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. Though on appearance Engadget functions much like a blog and may be defined as such, much of its editorial content takes the form of an online magazine...
and Gizmodo
Gizmodo
Gizmodo is a technology weblog about consumer electronics. It is part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton and is known for its up-to-date coverage of the technology industry, along with topics as broad as design; architecture; space and science....
.
Editors
Since its inception, Joystiq has had a number of bloggers who now contribute both to the main website and to its spunoff sibling blogs. Among them are Christopher Grant, Joystiq's Editor in Chief, Managing Editor James Ransom-Wiley, Senior Editor Ludwig Kietzmann, East Coast Editor Andrew Yoon, West Coast Editor Randy Nelson, Review Editor Justin "Hoops" McElroy, and Contributing Editors Alexander Sliwinski, Ben Gilbert, David Hinkle, Griffin McElroy, JC Fletcher, Mike Schramm, and Richard Mitchell. Additionally, Joystiq has a number of contributors, including Game Politics' Dennis McCauly ("The Political Game"), Bonnie Ruberg ("Playing Dirty") and Scott Jon Siegel ("Off the Grid").Podcast
The Joystiq podcast, which has quickly become one of the more popular gaming podcasts on iTunes, was hosted by Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin "Hoops" McElroy. The three would discuss various gaming-related news stories. Segments include, 'What Have you Been Playing?', 'Brush With Fame', 'The Big Three', 'The Do It Line!' and 'Reader Mail'. Various podcasts have included guests from other gaming websites such as CheapyD, Chris RemoShacknews
Shacknews, commonly referred to as "The Shack", is a website offering news, features, editorial content, and forums relating to computer games and console games. Shacknews and its sister site, FileShack, are currently owned by GameFly...
, Stephen Totilo, Rocco Botte
Mega64
Mega64 is a low-budget series of comedy skits centered on video games.-Premise:In the not too distant future, a sinister scientist named Dr. Poque creates the most powerful video game console ever assembled...
, Tom Chick
Tom Chick
Tom W. Chick is an American television and movie actor, and independent journalist. His most prominent TV roles were as Oscar's lover Gil in the US version of The Office, and the hard-hitting reporter Gordon in The West Wing. As a writer, Tom has contributed to many current and past video game...
and Shawn Andrich but they stopped doing them. The show stopped due to a lack of variety, and in its wake a new show started, The Joystiq Show.
Awards
While Joystiq has been nominated for several awards in the category of technology-related weblogs, it has consistently been overshadowed in this regard by blogs representing a far wider spectrum of technology, including SlashdotSlashdot
Slashdot is a technology-related news website owned by Geeknet, Inc. The site, which bills itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", features user-submitted and ‑evaluated current affairs news stories about science- and technology-related topics. Each story has a comments section...
, Gizmodo
Gizmodo
Gizmodo is a technology weblog about consumer electronics. It is part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton and is known for its up-to-date coverage of the technology industry, along with topics as broad as design; architecture; space and science....
, and its ubiquitous sibling Engadget
Engadget
Engadget is a multilingual technology blog network with daily coverage of gadgets and consumer electronics. Though on appearance Engadget functions much like a blog and may be defined as such, much of its editorial content takes the form of an online magazine...
. Joystiq has, however, been included in a number of listings of outstanding weblogs, including Forbes.com's Best of the Web and the Feedster 500.