I woke this morning to find Kotaku at a crossroads, one peopled with a mob. It seems there's a decision to be made: Do we want Kotaku to be represented by the chatter of a thousand voices, people trying to be heard over one another, many not stopping to think before they talk. Or do we want to cull the crowd, reduce the noise so our many intelligent readers can still be heard over the roar and those who speak take the time to think, to read before doing so.

It's disheartening to think that it has come to this, that unless we're talking about the relatively safe topics of consoles and their direct by-products there can't be intelligent discourse on Kotaku. And I don't understand how we've arrived here.

Sponsors Thanks

Busy week! So busy! The busiest. Man, we need to sit down, max and relax. Anyone got some strawberry milk we can sip? Yep, our Sponsors do. And for that, we thank them. This week, Kotaku was brought to you by Ace Combat, Coors Light, Netgear, New York Times Travel, Unscrew America, and Vista. Now, back to that strawberry milk.

Interested in advertising with Kotaku? Click here to find out more.

Welcome readers to the new face of Kotaku, a site rededicated to the minute coverage of all things Game Cake. It was a long time coming, but over the years we've noticed that while sites like GameSpot, IGN and 1Up voluminously cover the video game industry, little time is spent on that sweetest of tangents, the artful Game Cake.

No more will we waste your time by detailing the movements of game company CEOs, revealing early the secrets of consoles and developers alike, instead we will work to push Game Caking to the frosty heights it so richly deserves.

Expect in the weeks, months, years to come detailed secrets on the people behind the cakes you know and love, tips on how to prepare your own Game Cakes and nuanced features on the inner machinations of some of bakings greatest.

As always we will strive to stay in front of the pack, covering the game cake industry as both an outsider. Some might argue that all Game Cakes need is a cold glass of milk, but we at Kaketaku knows it needs some hard-nosed journalism.... too.

Kaketaku

Announcement time! That's right, Hyper Multi-Tap is changing its format. Up until, say, last Friday, the only reward those commenters nominated for Multi-Tap got was a happy feeling. Ditto for those kind enough to nominate them! But, we'd like to do more. You know, repay you for making brilliant comments and nominating them as well. So! Here's what we are going to do: Award a Kotaku Star (see above) to those commenters who make Multi-Tap, plus one to those who nominate. Keep in mind, that we are only doing seven comments for Galactic Multi-Tap. (Hopefully, the best ones!) What happens to those who repeatedly nominate or make it into Multi-Tap? They won't get extra Kotaku Stars, but rather, a warm place in our cold, bitter hearts.

Galactic Multi-Tap launches this Friday.

Every year newspapers and alt papers around the country print mammoth guides to their community to highlight the best places to eat, hang-out, drink, go shopping and what have you.

This year I was surprised to find that (Denver) Westword's 25th Annual Best of edition included a special category just for Kotaku, complimenting both video games and our site in the entry:

Best Worldwide Resource for Video Games (2008)
www.kotaku.com
Video games are quickly ascending to a place of cultural dominance, joining movies and music in terms of earning power and cultural cachet. One of the biggest and best websites covering this transformation is Denver-based www.kotaku.com, which includes live coverage of key events, such as the recent Game Developers Conference, and original features on nearly every important thing in gaming. Managing editor Brian Crecente, a longtime veteran of the Rocky Mountain News, runs the megablog, continuing a tradition of delivering top-notch coverage.

Woo-hoo time to break out the cake and champagne. OK, maybe just Twinkies and punch.

Best Worldwide Resource for Video Games (2008) [Westword]

The tech Easter Bunnies have been secretly hard at work this week, rolling out today Star Commenting.

You may have already noticed the stars that have begun appearing next to posts by certain commenters. This is a way for readers to quickly scan the comments on a page and stop at comments that are likely to be of high quality. Commenters get star status when they have a large number of followers. We can also reward especially elucidating commenters with a gold star. It's so elementary school, I love it!

Now we need to come out with the opposite of a star. Oh right we already have that, it's called the ban hammer.

Hate Your Weekends? Love your Kotaku?

It's weekend number two sans-Flynn and we're still in search of a Weekend Editor.

If you're interested in giving up your weekends for a chance to run things at Kotaku Towers when almost no other writers are around, then look no further. We're looking for a solid writer who also has excellent news judgment and a love of the video game bizarre.

If you're genuinely interested, have the time, the patience and the skill, then drop me an email with a run down of your experience, some writing samples and a convincing argument why I should hire you. Keep in mind that I'll probably be getting a lot of these and I'm extraordinarily picky, so you better make it good.

:)

Personally, I think Kotaku is at least 99.9 percent gold. I'd like to think we are, in fact filler free. I do know for a fact that all of Kotaku writers, myself included, only post the stuff they find interesting. But the fact is we do a crapload of posts in a given day. A fact I'm sure you are well aware of if you're a Kotaku regular. Not only do we post a story every 20 minutes on the site during the day, we have our night crew who slave away on the site while the sun is in the other hemisphere.

Keeping up for some can be quite a drag. So we created the day and night notes. Not only does this allow Ash and I to communicate with one another, but it gives us both a chance to point out some of the best stories of our shift.

But that still might not be what you're looking for. So here's another solution, the master list to all of our tagged RSS feeds. That's right every single tag we use on the site, from 1080p to Zune, has its one RSS feed. Go hog wild, but don't come complaining to me when you miss a feature on Objectivism on BioShock or us breaking the news that Peter Moore quit Microsoft.

RSS Feeds Master List [Kotaku]

Last Call For PSP2 Concepts!

We just wanted to send out a notice that today is the last day to submit your PSP2 concept designs for the first ever, last ever, official Unofficial Kotaku PSP2 Design Challenge. We've actually received some decent designs—but believe it or not—we've received some real crap, too. Just so you know, the whole "5-year-old sketches a PSP2" bit has been done (pictured here). So, those looking to get in an entry before the deadline should realize that the joke has been made, we actually laughed and now we can all carry on with our lives.

Thanks Timothy!

Hey You Got Your Video In My Comments

Sexy! Now you can post video clips in your comments. Unfortunately, this only works with Youtube links (and I despise Youtube), but it's still pretty neat and has great potential for abuse. To make it work just drop the link into your comment and a patented blend of pixie dust and virgin blood will turn it into a playable clip. We're still in beta so make sure to point out when it doesn't work... in comments.

Alice and Corey Find a Pretty Posey

Kotaku is not, typically, a place of personal announcements, but I've long been a big fan of both Alice Taylor and Corey Doctorow's work. In fact, Alice still irregularly contributed to Kotaku. So I think it's fair to show off their latest endeavor: Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow, born 9 pounds, six ounces at home in a pool in London. Now to convince Alice to write some more bits for us in her "free time". That free time thing always cracks me up. Congrats guys!

Hello World [Wonderland]

I just found out that Kotaku has been nominated for a 2008 Bloggie for best topical weblog. Previous winners include BookSlut, PostSecret and The Leaky Cauldron. Not only has a gaming site never been nominated in this category, I believe this is the first time that a gaming site has been nominated for any Bloggie. Kinda cool.

If you're interested in voting for us hit up the site by tonight, when voting closes. I probably should have mentioned this before. And yes, we're up against cute cats.

Bloggies