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.

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

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]

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.

Just a little heads up to those of you who read Digg and Kotaku and maybe have seen the "Kotaku steals photos" story floating around out there. Here's the full story.

The owner of a site we linked to a few months back, also using a cropped version of their pic, emailed me yesterday to let me know we had used his pictures without his permission or authorization.

I sent the info on to HQ and then headed out to spend the rest of the day setting up for our Child's Play fund raiser in Denver. Hours into the fund raiser, the emails starting rolling in pointing out the story that, I can only assume, the site owner had written, saying we had stolen his images.

This morning I got a hold of the site owner and we were able to resolve the issue. Now back to nursing my Child's Play fund raiser hang over.

This isn't news. This isn't about gaming... not really.

After three weeks of Australian-flavored vacationing I'm back, well at least in mind I'm back. I'm actually still here in Australia for another couple of weeks, hanging out with my in-laws on the Central Coast, north of Sydney.

It's been a fun, and fruitful vacation. I managed to finally take up surfing, taking lessons from a surfer just south of Surfers Paradise. Never mind that he had to tow me out past the breakers the second day of lessons because I was shot, I still managed to catch some big waves, something I've always wanted to do.

Commenting Borked

No, we don't hate you. But apparently the Ghost in the Kotaku Machine does. Over the past week or so the servers apparently gained some form of sentience and become the Kotaku Kollective, arbitrarily banning commenters on its own. Perhaps this new gaming hive mind has a greater plan in store for us, one that mere editors and writers can't fathom. But have no worries—as we speak, gritty techs are working their way through the needless maze of saw blades, flame throwers and pit falls to get to the center of the servers and "fix" the rebel bug. So, if you've been banned after one or no comments recently, and that comment wasn't something like "not news", there's a good chance that it was Steve (That's what I've decided to call our server.) and he's being dealt with.

Not only did the kind folks over at PC Magazine list us, along with IGN and 1UP, as the "best in breed" for classic gaming sites this year, but they went on to include us in their 100 favorite blogs.

Eric Griffith writes in the entry for classic blog that:

Gawker's entry in the world of console gaming blogs is everything a gaming blog should be: tenacious, passionate, and full of rumors. It's not afraid to take on the big guys, as demonstrated by a well-publicized falling out with Sony earlier this year over a published rumor. But that's where the site excels, keeping gamers instantly up to date on the latest news about their favorites titles and platforms for couch-sitting. Kotaku's apt motto: "Don't get a life just yet."

While Whitney Reynolds writes for the favorite blogs entry that:

There are plenty of video-gaming blogs out there, but few are better than Kotaku. This blog has every bit of industry news and rumor you could want, and occasionally mixes things up with pictures of nerds dressed up like Link and cakes shaped like Master Chief.

OK, I guess I can't fire Fahey now.

Our 100 Favorite Blogs [PC Mag]

Perhaps you noticed, perhaps you read it in last night's day note, either way I'm sure you've come to discover that Kotaku has a slightly new look.

The biggest difference is that spiffy new image dealio we have up at the top of the page, though our designers have also made a number of other slight adjustments. Let me break it down for you:

We're Looking for a Few Good Interns

Slickererer Look for Kotaku

The Kotaku Shirt Has Arrived

Cha-cha-cha-changes

How to Comment on Kotaku

Sony Blackballs Kotaku (UPDATED)

HowTo Get Commenting Access and Not Lose it