Frog
Full Member
Posts: 7,250
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Post by Frog on May 22, 2024 20:36:24 GMT
I like Ian, I think he makes good videos but not often ones I want to watch.
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Post by simple on May 22, 2024 20:52:50 GMT
The team with him, Aoife, Chiodini, and Bratterz was pretty good as they each had their own niche and some chemistry but the video content felt like an afterthought for a long time. Now its almost like its only still going because no one higher up has realised it still exists.
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Post by Zuluhero on May 22, 2024 22:26:23 GMT
I met Ian once (like nearly 10 years ago now) and he is a nice guy too, surprised he's still there tbh.
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MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,833
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on May 22, 2024 22:43:07 GMT
Absolutely gutted about Alice Bell. I barely even play PC games, but RPS is pretty much the only gaming site I regularly visit these days, because the reviews have WORDS in them. Well-written words!
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Lizard
Junior Member
I love ploughmans
Posts: 4,472
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Post by Lizard on May 22, 2024 23:17:34 GMT
Honestly think I should go back to buying Edge/Retro Gamer too. My local library has an app called Libby which allows you to read books and magazines for free. Works brilliantly with a tablet. I get Retro Gamer, Edge, New Scientist, National Geographic, PC Gamer etc for free, plus loads of back issues. I don't understand how it works financially, seems too good to be true. |
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MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,833
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on May 22, 2024 23:27:11 GMT
Yeah, Libby Overdrive is great. My library has other, imo better options too, but I don't know how available they are outside of Australia.
As for how it works, it depends on the pricing model. But Libby works by your library paying a yearly subscription for a pre-determined package of eBooks/eAudio/magazines, which they can add ad hoc things to if they like. And they get that selection for library users to borrow, with that proviso that only a certain number of people can be using the licence for a thing (say, a PC Gamer issue) at the same time.
tl;dr everyone should use libraries more. You get free stuff, and they really need your support.
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 23, 2024 1:45:25 GMT
Libby / Overdrive etc... never work here, because Japan is so prehistoric in terms of tech. Which was made doubly weird when Rakuten bought them for a few years. Though I think they've now sold them again.
I'd love to use my library more, but the local one has almost no English books (except baby ones, which I did appreciate at the time), and the central one with the English books is miles away. If only some kind of technology existed that allowed us to get electronic versions of library books without needing to travel all the way there...
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nazo
Junior Member
Posts: 1,294
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Post by nazo on May 23, 2024 7:16:15 GMT
You can get Edge through Prime Reading, not sure if you get the latest one.
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Post by zisssou on May 23, 2024 8:06:13 GMT
From what I can tell, it's mainly Ian Highton pretending anyone else in the world still has a VR headset. I guess he tries his best. It's probably hard when I doubt most people who visit the site now are not into that kind of thing. I feel like EG skews older in its demographic and the kids just aren't interested in what they have to offer.Probably true that. Unfortunately the days of sitting on the web chatting shit about games has moved to Twitch/Discord/TikTok etc. Unless you're on PushSquare/NintendoLife, which seems to attract the kidzzz. |
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Post by Bill in the rain on May 23, 2024 8:22:55 GMT
Now I don't know if I should read more RPS in the hope of helping them, or boycott RPS in protest. Sigh.
Dunno if it's true, but someone in the comments said that they got rid of all the people outside the UK. I'd assumed Alice was in the UK, but honestly I have no idea. I hope the reason wasn't a lack of employment protection laws.
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Post by LockeTribal on May 23, 2024 8:31:44 GMT
Alice Bell is based on Ireland now (from listening to the podcast). I think she mentioned it in the interview she did with Aftermath something along the lines of "not everyone who was laid off lives outside the UK but everyone who lives outside the UK got laid off".
I would say it's a cost cutting exercise as technically if you are employing people living and working in another country you should be running your payroll there too.
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MolarAm🔵
Full Member
Bad at games
Posts: 6,833
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Post by MolarAm🔵 on May 23, 2024 8:37:53 GMT
I feel like IGN could probably afford it.
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Post by Jambowayoh on May 23, 2024 8:45:02 GMT
Alice Bell is based on Ireland now (from listening to the podcast). I think she mentioned it in the interview she did with Aftermath something along the lines of "not everyone who was laid off lives outside the UK but everyone who lives outside the UK got laid off". I would say it's a cost cutting exercise as technically if you are employing people living and working in another country you should be running your payroll there too. What? So not even an option to say maybe move to the UK, even though I imagine the job is most likely WFH. |
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Post by LockeTribal on May 23, 2024 9:42:12 GMT
Don't get me wrong it's entirely shitty and fairly unreasonable but I was just trying to imagine the reasoning behind the lay offs. There are a number of options IGN could have taken here apart from getting rid of people straight off the bat but gotta improve those bottom lines baby.
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Post by Jambowayoh on May 23, 2024 9:44:40 GMT
Tinfoil hat says you cut off the head and the rest fall in line.
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Tomo
Junior Member
Posts: 3,451
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Post by Tomo on May 23, 2024 17:37:07 GMT
I notice RPS has only put out 3 or 4 articles for the last couple of days :/
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Post by Jambowayoh on May 23, 2024 17:41:43 GMT
I notice RPS has only put out 3 or 4 articles for the last couple of days :/ I guess it's hard to have a direction when you're deputy editor has been given the unceremonious boot. |
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minimatt
Junior Member
hyper mediocrity
Posts: 1,670
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Post by minimatt on May 30, 2024 10:21:23 GMT
rps newsdesk this morning:
"Today we have more Meetings with the new RPS overseers. As such, there will again be fewer of those precious "articles" you lot are so crazy about, but we'll do our best to squeeze in the odd 20,000 word post about, I don't know, curtain aesthetics in Dragon Age. James showed up to yesterday's presentation wearing a suit of graphics cards, like an Optimus Prime that can run Crysis. I regret that I took no pictures."
i hope they survive but the way they've been treated so far doesn't exactly scream "we love our new purchase and are going to invest and grow"
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Post by simple on May 30, 2024 13:57:34 GMT
They definitely seem to be behaving like folk who know their days are numbered.
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Post by baihu1983 on May 30, 2024 14:01:51 GMT
A few recently purchased sites went down earlier but now seem to be back up.
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Tomo
Junior Member
Posts: 3,451
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Post by Tomo on May 30, 2024 18:25:12 GMT
What is the RPS newsdesk? Something for supporters?
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minimatt
Junior Member
hyper mediocrity
Posts: 1,670
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Post by minimatt on May 31, 2024 1:28:28 GMT
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Post by Vandelay on May 31, 2024 7:41:28 GMT
When did Katherine Castle leave RPS? Just noticed she posted the announcements from last nights State of Play. Probably a sensible switch, as Katherine always seemed to have an interest in console games (probably more so than PC), but checking RPS's About Us seems no one replaced her as Editor-in-chief. Alice was actually the most senior member of staff.
Does sound like this will be the final days of RPS. Hopefully, they will merge the staff over to Eurogamer and bulk out the PC section there.
Interestingly, listening to Digital Foundry podcast from earlier in the week and they seemed mostly positive about the change (albeit, obviously gutted about the layoffs). Sounded like Reedpop didn't really give a shit about them and didn't really know anything about gaming in general.
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Post by skalpadda on May 31, 2024 8:05:18 GMT
This sucks. While I don't read RPS as much as I used to it's still my first stop for wordy-thinks about particular games I'm interested in. IGN becoming their evil overlord feels like sacrilege. The complete antithesis of what made the site special as a place, where the writers are allowed to have an actual personality and write about what actually interests them.
And firing Alice? That's a crime against humanity.
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Tomo
Junior Member
Posts: 3,451
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Post by Tomo on May 31, 2024 8:43:22 GMT
Katherine stepped aside earlier this year if memory serves correctly. I think Graham might've taken the reins again? At least on another interim basis, and that was without the IGN news.
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Tomo
Junior Member
Posts: 3,451
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Post by Tomo on May 31, 2024 8:48:20 GMT
There are still veteran PC gaming writers knocking around at RPS: Graham, Brendan, Sin to some extent. I was reading John Walker's tweets about all of this. Some interesting nuggets in their about the sale to GN a while back. I think he's gone the Patreon route, but I always got the impression he wasn't super successful in it. Wonder if he and the aforementioned could come up with a new site if RPS gets canned. Or maybe even buy back the brand?!
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minimatt
Junior Member
hyper mediocrity
Posts: 1,670
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Post by minimatt on May 31, 2024 11:50:39 GMT
yeah Katherine moved across to Eurogamer as their managing editor. Graham - Katherine's predecessor - has long been higher up in reedpop but used to frequent overnight posts on rps for the love of it/to keep his hand in; he's been filling in Katherine's role while they looked for replacement, presumably alongside Alice as dep ed.
Graham's not been seen since the sale, reading between lines, I suspect he's in part of reedpop which wasn't sold, rather than sold & then sacked. So RPS now without editor, stand-in editor, and deputy editor.
Re the original folks, I think I remember the sale to GN being described as "enough to pay off the mortgage", ie enough to remove a lot of worries but not enough to do nothing for the rest of time. John's Buried Treasure personal project alongside freelance bylines at kotaku & elsewhere, Jim (fucking lethal Bad Company player back in the day) now making some good 7/10 games at Big Robot, Kieran is big in comics & Marvel, and Alec's been writing for games a long while (total Warhammer etc)
Aftermath is one site that might take up the mantle - Nathan Grayson (ex rps), Gita Jackson (ex kotaku), Luke Plunkett (seen bylines everywhere) & one other I've forgotten
I remember all this yet I've lost approximately 17 angle grinder wrenches this year alone
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Tomo
Junior Member
Posts: 3,451
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Post by Tomo on May 31, 2024 11:59:46 GMT
Oh nice, did not know about Aftermath. Will definitely be reading that.
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Tomo
Junior Member
Posts: 3,451
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Post by Tomo on May 31, 2024 17:30:53 GMT
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Post by simple on May 31, 2024 22:40:09 GMT
Oh Ian. He seems like a lovely guy and I enjoy his work but VR ain’t happening
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