Voodoo extreme is done

[peacedog]

@stusser

BitchX?

I’m pretty sure that’s correct.

BitchX. . . good times.

[stusser]

I remember BitchX/gaminginsider as being really well-written and pointed, but infrequently updated and focused primarily on ionstorm. Fatbabies and flamethrower were industry-wide and around for much longer.

“More heat than light.”

[Aleck]

@CLWheeljack

I seem to recall that before it covered computer games or anything like that, that Happy Puppy started out with stuff like solitaire and bridge and checkers. I remember being disappointed when I found out what kind of “games” they covered.

I remember when Happy Puppy was just a good place to download the latest shareware and demos, and there was virtually no editorial content. Now get off my goddamn lawn!

[peacedog]

@stusser

I remember BitchX/gaminginsider as being really well-written and pointed, but infrequently updated and focused primarily on ionstorm. Fatbabies and flamethrower were industry-wide and around for much longer.

“More heat than light.”

I want to say that it was BitchX that had a rather fabulous rant about Doppleganger and Todd Porter I believe it was. I remember repeated mentions of Todd Porter’s suit. Absolutely Ionstorm focused though.

[stusser]

Todd Porter, the former CEO and former male stripper.

Edit: You ninja-edited!

[peacedog]

@stusser

Todd Porter, the former CEO and former male stripper.

Edit: You ninja-edited!

I had a long hard talk with myself and decided I should go look this one the hell up.

Also, are you kidding on the male stripper front, or is there (1) something I don’t know (something AWESOME) or (2) a great story I missed/am forgetting?

[stusser]

You never read the greatest piece of gaming journalism of the 20th century?

[peacedog]

@stusser

You never read the greatest piece of gaming journalism of the 20th century?

@"The greatest piece of gaming journalism of the 20th century"

Like many of the men who run software game design companies, Porter is a self-taught programmer who worked his way through a half-dozen companies before striking out on his own. Born in Chicago, Porter set out to enter the seminary, attending tiny Central College in Pella, Iowa, for three years before dropping out to work in the software industry. According to testimony from a deposition, he also worked for a while as a male stripper. (He danced under the name “Preacher Boy.”)

Shit.

I just. . .

Well. . .

Shit.

That’s fucking awesome. Todd Porter was a skanky male stripper. That’s sensational.

I have never read this article but parts of it are familiar; clearly I digested some regurgiated material from it at various times. This part, however, is brand spanking new. Pardon the phrase.

[Telefrog]

@peacedog

I have never read this article but parts of it are familiar; clearly I digested some regurgiated material from it at various times. This part, however, is brand spanking new. Pardon the phrase.

Wow. Enjoy the ride. This article was the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back on their studio. Amazing stuff.

[Mark_Asher]

@peacedog

I’m pretty sure that’s correct.

BitchX. . . good times.

Yeah, thanks. That was a great gossip site but it really wasn’t around for too long. I bet she made no more than 20 or so updates to it.

[stusser]

Yeah, she just disappeared one day.

That Stormy Weather article was a real lightning-rod for distilled schadenfreude. It would not be surpassed until MSNBC started airing To Catch a Predator five years later.

[peacedog]

Also, can we please refer to BitchX as “she”, or was it ever confirmed it was in fact a female? I thought the prevailing opinion is that BitchX was a current/One time Ion staffer, and male.

[Major_Malphunktion]

@John Reynolds

I stopped hitting VE when Billy was cut loose from the site.

This. I stopped going to my old quake days sites all about the same time. Blues, EA and Voodoo. In the old days there seemed to actually be news, now it is well, press releases.

And get off my lawn.

[Volksy]

Damn, I had never read that piece either. There’s a good bit I’d read about elsewhere at the time or after Daikatana came out, but that article really provided a lot of new stuff, and really painted the picture of how fucked up Ion Storm was long before it completely imploded.

[DeepT]

@RickH

I miss Fatbabies.

Now that was a choice site. I loved reading the updates. EA must have cheered the day that site died. I think the only other site that was even close to generating that much hate was Dr. Twister although that was limited to MMOs mostly.

[Reed]

@Major Malphunktion

This. I stopped going to my old quake days sites all about the same time. Blues, EA and Voodoo. In the old days there seemed to actually be news, now it is well, press releases.

And get off my lawn.

I’m not sure about that… I seem to recall most of the content being PR, screenshots (nudies @ VE), demos and people calling them CTRL-C/CTRL-V sites even back then.

One thing that seems to be different is that headlines and such are more misleading and attention grabbing. I saw that changing over the course of running GameTab (which was primarily based on news headlines). As RSS was getting bigger, headlines became more click focused.

Also, Blues/Shack/VE/Redwood’s all had a figurehead and voice (Blue, Steve, Billy, Redwood). Which seems to be rare now - at least w/ the big sites.

@Volksy

Damn, I had never read that piece either. There’s a good bit I’d read about elsewhere at the time or after Daikatana came out, but that article really provided a lot of new stuff, and really painted the picture of how fucked up Ion Storm was long before it completely imploded.

Yeah, that was an epic article when it came out. One of the most memorable ever, IMO.

[SuperJay]

That Ion Storm article was awesome, just finished reading all 9 pages. That is some crazy shit that went on around Daikatana. (Which bombed when it was finally released IIRC - right?)

And holy shit, HappyPuppy, I haven’t thought of that site in years.

[peacedog]

@SuperJay

That Ion Storm article was awesome, just finished reading all 9 pages. That is some crazy shit that went on around Daikatana. (Which bombed when it was finally released IIRC - right?)

Daikatana did better on release than I expected. Mind you, it bombed. It’s just that the minority of the hobbyist crowd that enjoyed it was bigger than I expected it was going to be. It had a lot of technical problems, IIRC, and the AI companions weren’t all they were cracked up to be.

[CLWheeljack]

@peacedog

Daikatana did better on release than I expected. Mind you, it bombed. It’s just that the minority of the hobbyist crowd that enjoyed it was bigger than I expected it was going to be. It had a lot of technical problems, IIRC, and the AI companions weren’t all they were cracked up to be.

Well, you couldn’t very well leave without your buddy Superfly, now could you?

[chet]

@DeepT

Now that was a choice site. I loved reading the updates. EA must have cheered the day that site died. I think the only other site that was even close to generating that much hate was Dr. Twister although that was limited to MMOs mostly.

The FB guys have long since left the industry.

I still own the domain.

Every so often someone says they want to do something with it but they never do…