Korova Got Milk

May 2011? Thats when they filed? Two months before release? And without due diligence. Ouch. There is trademark lawyer somewhere frantically dialing his errors and omissions insurance carrier.

I say change the name. Trenched is a pretty bad name anyway.

@jiltedbyjoystiq

Maybe they can do a Joystiq Show about how f'd up this process has been: interviews with staff followed by panels of their rivals laughing their asses off through tears of embarrassment.

@jiltedbyjoystiq

My sentiments exactly. This is probably the worst handled redesign/product introduction I can remember and I subscribed to Harvard Business Review for a while. First they announce the end of old shows without any explanation. Then they cobble together an inconsistent explanation. Then they dump a poorly conceived and poorly executed replacement on us. And finally add insult to injury.

There doesn't seem to have been any plan. They either winged it or there is so much rivalry, infighting and passive aggressive backstabbing within Joystiq that they can't even manage their public face. If the plan was to stir up controversy and ire (which is a high stakes marketing tactic that often works on teens and young adults), I really hope it's pays off because step one certainly is a success.

This might become a classic case study for business school.

@(Unverified)

Joystiq needs that recapcha thing to ward off the cheap spambots.

Oh and I got women's shoes on sale for amazing prices.

@Reigh

This is how I pitch

@Chareth Cutestory

I'll take the foie gras, but not every week. I'll get the bread and cheese weekly though. It was really nice bread and yummy cheese. And now I have only foie gras. No champagne even! F8k.

You are right that if the complaint was that not enough people are listening, this may not be the more "popular" format. Maybe it will evolve into the more important "must listen" format. I really thing they just didnt want to do the old thing anymore, even though people loved it. I just dont understand the disconnect.

@Korova Pamplona

All that being said, this is not the format for a frequent show, but for an extraordinary one. Unless you have Oprah-like skills and pull in the game industry where you can attract marque interviews.

I figured this out, its the format of the Sunday morning political shows: Interview a newsmaker, have a panel of commentators afterwards. Its Joystiq's Meet the (Enthusiast) Press. Its a bit too serious and belies the name of the site. Politics is usually serious, games are usually not.

@Red Son Rising

Hmm. I am glad to hear about Rock of Ages, although the point could have been conveyed easily through the old format and would have been more authoritative: I played it, I liked it, its like Braid - slightly high brow. Done. An interview with a PR guy is not insight, its advertisement and feels like it. The panel is similar to old format and I liked it, but they just arent as funny together.

It just feels like the whole format change was driven by the fact that they did not want to do it anymore, so they are trying to invent a format that the talent will get excited about. Sort of like when Hollywood stars do theater and indie films. OK do it on the side, but dont forget who butters your bread. The side stuff is rarely more popular that the Hollywood stuff.

Maybe they are simply looking to reinvent radio? Good luck.

Better. I can sort of see the light for this format. I am glad Joystiq is sticking with its guns even though the freshman effort got tarred and feathered. Two structural challenges I see are content balance and humor among ad hoc panels.

Deeper content that is more interesting is a challenge worthy of the best journalists and I think Joystiq is up to par. I liked Ludwig's interview. I like Richard's relaxed style. Chris can pull it off too, but Richard has more training and therefore sounds more natural (paradox I know).

There is less opportunity for just riffing in the new format. Interviewed insiders rarely laugh at their work and ad hoc journo panels dont gel together right away. You gotta stick the joy back in there somewhere. Go!

Still love you guys, the show is beta. Keep making it beta and beta.

@Gaddes

I dont remember as many gamers bashing the change of webdesign for the site. It was cool and everyone pretty much praised it. This is not just conservatism. This is actual criticism.

But we are all big boys. I hope they experiment with the format and let different staffers try different things with the show. I cant imagine Joystiq doing much worse that 001.

Keep up the effort champs!