Ryan Block » Joystiq http://ryanblock.com Editor and technology critic in the midst of founding a new web startup: gdgt. Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:38:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Joystiq turns four! http://ryanblock.com/2008/06/joystiq-turns-four/ http://ryanblock.com/2008/06/joystiq-turns-four/#comments Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:02:46 +0000 Ryan Block http://www.ryanblock.com/?p=889 Hard to believe Joystiq is four years old today! I remember the old days with Pete and Ben Zackheim (who’s actually still in the AOL Games family), working to get it off the ground, helping fill in stories for Joystiq between posts on Engadget. Four bits of Joystiq trivia:

  • Joystiq’s first E3 (Engadget’s second) is where we all brainstormed with Cat Schwartz on the infamous DS vs. PSP video.
  • The following E3, former co-editor Vlad Cole (now at Microsoft) was writing a book on all-Pizza diets. This, of course, meant Engadget and Joystiq editors all wound up eating basically only pizza. Not sure I’ve ever lost the weight.
  • James Ransom-Wiley has been with Joystiq since early July 2004, making him the longest-tenured editor there. Go James!
  • Contrary to popular belief, Kotaku actually started in October of 2004, seemingly as a response to Joystiq.

My favorite trade show of the year is usually E3 — partly because it means we get to regroup with Joystiq and do it up together. Looking forward to that next month, and happy birthday Joystiq!

Bonus trivia: Last E3 myself, Chris, and Pete were all ticketed for jaywalking — at a crosswalk. For some reason my ticket was withdrawn, but Pete and Chris still had to pay theirs. Pics or it didn’t happen, right? Here you go.

]]> http://ryanblock.com/2008/06/joystiq-turns-four/feed/ 2 Portal: game of the year. Blocks: protagonist of the century. http://ryanblock.com/2008/01/portal-game-of-the-year-blocks-protagonist-of-the-century/ http://ryanblock.com/2008/01/portal-game-of-the-year-blocks-protagonist-of-the-century/#comments Tue, 01 Jan 2008 18:15:01 +0000 Ryan Block http://www.ryanblock.com/2008/01/portal-game-of-the-year-blocks-protagonist-of-the-century/ Portal: cake and companion cubeAs a Block, you’ve no idea the amount of joy it brings me to see the humble cube finally get its comeuppance. Not only does Portal make stars of the simple and six-sided, but now Joystiq has shown its proper appreciation by awarding it Game of the Year. It had some stiff competition from such Ryan-faves as COD4, Bioshock, and especially Rock Band, but is it any wonder Portal is my new favorite game?

-Ryan “Veronica’s Weighted Companion Cube” Block

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