Not 100% official but AOL is reported that they will be shutting down Joystiq, which also means Massively, the MMO news side site.
Now some weren't happy about Massively for some reason but they always treated CoH well and had extensive coverage of our protests and attempts of saving our game.
I for one would be sad if they are shut down.
Not surprising, AOL is in talks to be bought by Verizon which means shaving off dead weight. And frankly, trying to moderate and operate a community of angry video game nerds is not very profitable compared to their IM biz, the couple million people still using AOL dialup, and their internet advertising and branding arms.
It's official. Massively's last day is February 3rd. If anyone wants to reminiscence.
http://massively.joystiq.com/2015/01/30/massively-that-was/
Tremendously saddened and upset about this, but I guess it makes a twisted kind of sense. Those guys and gals rose above the industry's worst problems, and it showed. They covered stories that other sites were too terrified to cover because of advertisers. AOL, the corporation that provides their budget, surely was not going to let them get away with that forever.
And yes, they were very good to us. They gave us more attention than any other news site, period, before and after the shutdown. The overwhelming majority of that attention was positive. There were some people who didn't bother to read the positive, and then tore into them for the occasional negative opinion or inconvenient fact. If those people truly want to live in a world where the profession cannot be honest, where it bows to its almighty advertisers and corporate overlords, well today they are one step closer.
I hope Massively's team stays together and strikes out on their own. I know, don't we always hope for that scenario, but it looks like they are seriously kicking the idea around.
Quote from: Captain Electric on January 30, 2015, 11:03:41 PM
And yes, they were very good to us. They gave us more attention than any other news site, period, before and after the shutdown. The overwhelming majority of that attention was positive.
That. I'm going to miss having those guys around to cover gaming news.
Aw, I enjoyed visiting Massively from time to time and reading their articles (heck, it's been my go-to site when it comes to MMOs for awhile). The Game Archaeologist was my favorite regular column, always an interesting read about very old MMOs. The soundtrack column was another favorite, gotta' appreciate games' great music.
wow insider is shutting down also. enjoyed all of the sites very much.
Quote from: beveri8469 on February 01, 2015, 02:24:29 AM
wow insider is shutting down also. enjoyed all of the sites very much.
Well Joystiq, WoWInsider and Massively are a package deal. WoWInsider to isolate WoW articles from Joystiq and Massively to cover all other MMOs.
But honest opinions, less hype, and a lack of click bate eyecandy doesn't drive page views. PA said it the best.
(https://images.weserv.nl/?url=art.penny-arcade.com%2Fphotos%2Fi-rsZ2sXC%2F0%2F1050x10000%2Fi-rsZ2sXC-1050x10000.jpg)
Yeah, pretty much that right now... why host honest journalism when it's cheaper and more profitable to pander?
Before massively I did most of my reading on mmorpg.com and even after finding massively I most just read CoX articles on it.
Their new name is Massively Overpowered (hehe!) and their new home page should be up soon. http://www.massivelyop.com/
Their new twitter is: https://twitter.com/massivelyop
Massively is dead. Long live Massively! 8)
...Annnnnnd the MassivelyOP Kickstarter is up!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nbrianna/massively-overpowered
The kickstarter was fully funded in under two days! Woo hoo! Massively Overpowered begins tomorrow if I saw that right! It will be incomplete at first, and will likely improve over time, but the full team plans on reporting on the news, with streams, columns and all starting tomorrow.
http://massivelyop.net/
Quote from: FatherXmas on February 01, 2015, 06:02:02 PMWell Joystiq, WoWInsider and Massively are a package deal. WoWInsider to isolate WoW articles from Joystiq and Massively to cover all other MMOs.
Some of Joystick has moved over to Engadget, with the breakout of Joystiq X Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/gaming), at least on a temporary basis.
Quote from: srmalloy on February 09, 2015, 05:04:32 PM
Some of Joystick has moved over to Engadget, with the breakout of Joystiq X Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/gaming), at least on a temporary basis.
Good to hear.
Quote from: srmalloy on February 09, 2015, 05:04:32 PM
Some of Joystick has moved over to Engadget, with the breakout of Joystiq X Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/gaming), at least on a temporary basis.
Rumor has it they only retained two people, and the readers aren't crazy about it, but I really only read Massively.
I'm so glad that Massively OP is back at any rate! Even their so-called "interim site" looks better than their old AOL one. ;)
Quote from: Surelle on February 11, 2015, 10:32:00 PM
Rumor has it they only retained two people, and the readers aren't crazy about it, but I really only read Massively.
I'm so glad that Massively OP is back at any rate! Even their so-called "interim site" looks better than their old AOL one. ;)
that's what it looked like to me in the blog post, that basically two guys who had once upon a time worked for Joystiq had basically seized the name.
I think supporting their Kickstarter was a great use of $5.
CoX takes the second and third places in today's article on pet classes:
http://massivelyop.net/2015/02/13/perfect-ten-my-favorite-mmo-pet-classes/#more-280