Destructoid
Encyclopedia
Destructoid is an independent video game-focused blog
based in San Francisco
, California
that was founded in March 2006. It has since grown into one of the most widely read video game sites on the Internet, reaching more than 3 million unique visitors per month. It is part of the Modern Method network, which also features the film-oriented site Flixist, anime-oriented Japanator, and collectible toy-focused Tomopop.
The stunt helped Destructoid become recognized as a top player in the emerging "enthusiast gaming press" movement of the early 2000s. Despite criticisms, the site continued to gain popularity by posting next-gen console rumors and leaks following E3. Some months later, Yanier was the first to break the news of Jack Thompson's disbarment, a lawyer who had notoriously fought the gaming industry for years. This story, which was widely syndicated, would cement Destructoid as a serious news source.
Destructoid competes with mainstream gaming news outlets, posting an average of 50 stories a day. It was among the first to break stories like the Wii controller's final design, the PlayStation 3's launch pricepoint, Halo 3's release date, and others. Its original editorial work would also gain mainstream syndication including the popular web show "Hey Ash Whatcha Playin'?", now syndicated on GameTrailers. Other popular works can be found on social bookmarking sites like the satirical Ten Golden Rules of Online Gaming, its Guides on Recognizing Gamers, and its ironic praise for the critically shunned Super Mario Brothers movie.
franchise, effectively singing almost non-stop for twelve hours. The event was broadcast live online for the duration of the event.
In 2009, Niero, and well-known Destructoid editors, continued the gaming marathon tradition on October 17–18 for cancer awareness. They managed to raise more than their last marathon with a grand total of $4,835.60 for Extra Life children's hospital in Texas.
In 2010, Destructoid HQ hosted a 24-hour gaming marathon for Extra Life. Community members raised over $6,000 for Children's Miracle hospitals in Texas. Destructoid has also partnered with Revision 3 to build a clean water well in Africa through the Charity Water organization.
In 2011, Destructoid hosted another marathon for Extra Life, raising $6909.16 for Children's Miracle hospitals.
in 2007. They were again nominated in 2009 in the same category.
In 2007, it was announced that Hudson Entertainment, the American branch of Hudson Soft
had teamed up with Destructoid to develop and introduce a playable character based on Destructoid's mascot, Mr. Destructoid, into its successful Xbox Live Arcade
game Bomberman Live
. Mr. Destructoid later appeared in Bomberman Ultra
, the PlayStation 3 port of Bomberman Live. Mr. Destructoid's head is available as an unlockable helmet in PixelJAM
's game Dino Run
, by entering the password "totinos" in the cheats menu. This was included as an in-joke, because that particular brand of pizza was a favorite of one of the editors, and he in turn was a friend of the game's developers. The code was revealed in one chapter of the Podtoid podcast.
In 2008, Destructoid's mascot was also included in the platform game
Eternity's Child
, but was later removed after a scathing review of the game on the web site. Mr. Destructoid also appeared in Agent MOO: Maximum Overkill on XBLA along with Ron Workman, Destructoid's former community manager.
In 2010, it was announced that Mr. Destructoid would be appearing in the upcoming XBLA
release of Raskulls
. Later that year it was discovered that Chapter 2-18 in Super Meat Boy
is called Destructoid. The game was acclaimed by many of the editors, taking Destructoid's Game Of The Show at the Penny Arcade Expo
earlier in July. Mr. Destructoid also appears in the flash game Pirates vs. Ninjas, by Bardo Entertainment.
In 2011, Mr. Destructoid appeared as a non-playable character in BiteJacker, a game created by the Bytejacker show on the iPhone as a VIP Character. Your score increases the longer that he remains on screen. In July Destructoid's reviews editor, Jim Sterling, became a playable character in The Blocks Cometh. Later that month Mr. Destructoid would appear in Twisted Pixel's Ms. Splosion Man as a destroyable villain during challenge mode, and again as a ball-swallowing fixture in Zen Studio's Pinball FX as part of the Ms. Splosion Man pinball table. On August 1 Mr. Destructoid became a playable character in Arcade Jumper on iOS.. The remake of the classic arcade game Burgertime also features Mr. Destructoid as a playable character.
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
based in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
that was founded in March 2006. It has since grown into one of the most widely read video game sites on the Internet, reaching more than 3 million unique visitors per month. It is part of the Modern Method network, which also features the film-oriented site Flixist, anime-oriented Japanator, and collectible toy-focused Tomopop.
History
Destructoid began as a Wordpress blog as a means to secure the founder press credentials for the press-only E3 Expo. After being rejected, Yanier began writing original editorials and drawing cartoons which were picked up by established gaming blogs like Joystiq and Kotaku, which it is most often compared to. In 2007 the site relaunched with user blogs, forums, and a large team of contributors—many whom are still employed with the company.Notoriety
The site quickly gained mixed notoriety on NeoGAF and GamePolitics after E3 when Yanier appeared at the press conference dressed as Mr. Destructoid to hand out promotional flyers, calling to question whether games journalism was taking itself too seriously or not seriously enough.The stunt helped Destructoid become recognized as a top player in the emerging "enthusiast gaming press" movement of the early 2000s. Despite criticisms, the site continued to gain popularity by posting next-gen console rumors and leaks following E3. Some months later, Yanier was the first to break the news of Jack Thompson's disbarment, a lawyer who had notoriously fought the gaming industry for years. This story, which was widely syndicated, would cement Destructoid as a serious news source.
Destructoid competes with mainstream gaming news outlets, posting an average of 50 stories a day. It was among the first to break stories like the Wii controller's final design, the PlayStation 3's launch pricepoint, Halo 3's release date, and others. Its original editorial work would also gain mainstream syndication including the popular web show "Hey Ash Whatcha Playin'?", now syndicated on GameTrailers. Other popular works can be found on social bookmarking sites like the satirical Ten Golden Rules of Online Gaming, its Guides on Recognizing Gamers, and its ironic praise for the critically shunned Super Mario Brothers movie.
Features
Destructoid is split up into six main sections: the Homepage where editors post daily news and reviews, the Community Blogs where users can post virtually anything they feel is of importance to the community and those with similar interests, the Videos which consist of original skits and trailers, the Forums where people can go to chat regularly, the Buy/Sell where community members trade games, and the Fight where members can play games against each other.Managing staff
- Yanier Gonzalez (Niero) - Founder, CEO
- Dale North - Editor-in-Chief
- Jim Sterling - Reviews Editor
- Hamza Aziz - Communications Director
- Conrad Zimmerman - News Editor
- Chad Concelmo - Features Editor
- Jordan Devore - PC Editor
Charitable work
In 2008, Jim Sterling, a Destructoid editor, took part in a sponsored gaming marathon raising money for young cancer patients. Raising $3,000 for the charity, Sterling and friend John Kershaw played a selection of games from the SingStarSingStar
SingStar is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. 23 English-language instalments of the series have been released for the PlayStation 2, and six versions for the PlayStation 3 have been released...
franchise, effectively singing almost non-stop for twelve hours. The event was broadcast live online for the duration of the event.
In 2009, Niero, and well-known Destructoid editors, continued the gaming marathon tradition on October 17–18 for cancer awareness. They managed to raise more than their last marathon with a grand total of $4,835.60 for Extra Life children's hospital in Texas.
In 2010, Destructoid HQ hosted a 24-hour gaming marathon for Extra Life. Community members raised over $6,000 for Children's Miracle hospitals in Texas. Destructoid has also partnered with Revision 3 to build a clean water well in Africa through the Charity Water organization.
In 2011, Destructoid hosted another marathon for Extra Life, raising $6909.16 for Children's Miracle hospitals.
Awards
Destructoid has been nominated for several awards in video game coverage. The site was nominated for the inaugural Games Media Awards in 2007 under the “Non-Commercial Website or Blog” category. Destructoid was also selected as an Official Webby Honoree in the Games-Related category of the 11th Annual Webby AwardsWebby Awards
A Webby Award is an international award presented annually by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences for excellence on the Internet with categories in websites, interactive advertising, online film and video, and mobile....
in 2007. They were again nominated in 2009 in the same category.
Videos
Destructoid produces the thrice-weekly, in-studio video game news show Destructoid on Revision 3, daily live video streams like Backlog and MASH TacticS on Justin.tv, and semi-regular video skits like Hey Ash Watcha Playin, The Jimquisition, Storm's Adventures, and others on YouTube.Review scores
The gaming press as a whole has been widely criticized by the industry and enthusiasts in awarding average games with a seven. Destructoid claims to utilize a full ten point review system, where average games are scored with a 5. In response, Destructoid's reviews editor has published various ironic articles such as How To Respond To A Video Game Review and the 100% Objective Review of Final Fantasy XIII. Despite this however the site's average review has been far above average, at 72%. The site acknowledged its higher than average scores in their 2011 reviews guide, citing high total averages because the site refuses to review "shovelware". The average score of competing publications are also 72% (Joystiq) and 69% (IGN) on Metacritic.Presence in video games
The site's mascot, Mr. Destructoid, has appeared in various console, mobile, and PC video games.In 2007, it was announced that Hudson Entertainment, the American branch of Hudson Soft
Hudson Soft
, formally known as , is a majority-owned subsidiary of Konami Corporation is a Japanese electronic entertainment publisher headquartered in the Midtown Tower in Tokyo Midtown, Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with an additional office in the Hudson Building in Sapporo. It was founded on May 18, 1973...
had teamed up with Destructoid to develop and introduce a playable character based on Destructoid's mascot, Mr. Destructoid, into its successful Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
game Bomberman Live
Bomberman Live
Bomberman Live is a downloadable video game for the Xbox Live Arcade, developed by Backbone Entertainment. Live is an original version of the classic game Bomberman, an arcade-style maze-based video game originally developed by Hudson Soft. The game was officially announced on May 16, 2007 and...
. Mr. Destructoid later appeared in Bomberman Ultra
Bomberman Ultra
Bomberman Ultra is a downloadable video game for PlayStation Network that was released on June 11, 2009 in the United States. It is the third in a trilogy of downloadable Bomberman titles, after Bomberman Live for Xbox Live Arcade and Bomberman Blast for WiiWare.Bomberman Ultra gives players the...
, the PlayStation 3 port of Bomberman Live. Mr. Destructoid's head is available as an unlockable helmet in PixelJAM
PixelJAM Games
PixelJam Games is an independent video game studio. One of their games, Gamma Bros., was nominated for "Best Web Browser Game" at the 2007 Independent Games Festival.-Games:...
's game Dino Run
Dino Run
Dino Run is an independent Flash game created by PixelJAM and XGen Studios, in which the player steers a dinosaur through increasingly dangerous side-scrolling landscapes to escape an impending wall of doom. The game uses simple pixel art and 8-bit sound to replicate the style of 1980s arcade games...
, by entering the password "totinos" in the cheats menu. This was included as an in-joke, because that particular brand of pizza was a favorite of one of the editors, and he in turn was a friend of the game's developers. The code was revealed in one chapter of the Podtoid podcast.
In 2008, Destructoid's mascot was also included in the platform game
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
Eternity's Child
Eternity's Child
Eternity's Child is a side-scrolling platform game based on a fairy tale created by Luc Bernard. It was originally published on Steam. The game will next be published by British retro games publisher Alten8, for Wii via WiiWare. It was released by Luc Bernard and Silver Sphere Studios on Steam...
, but was later removed after a scathing review of the game on the web site. Mr. Destructoid also appeared in Agent MOO: Maximum Overkill on XBLA along with Ron Workman, Destructoid's former community manager.
In 2010, it was announced that Mr. Destructoid would be appearing in the upcoming XBLA
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
release of Raskulls
Raskulls
Raskulls is an action platform game video game independently developed by Halfbrick and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade. It was released on December 29, 2010. In Raskulls players must navigate through platform-based levels filled with blocks of varying...
. Later that year it was discovered that Chapter 2-18 in Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy
Super Meat Boy is an independent video game designed by Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes and developed by Team Meat. It is the successor to McMillen and Jonathan McEntee's October 2008 flash game Meat Boy. Super Meat Boy was released on the Xbox 360 through Xbox Live Arcade in October 2010, on...
is called Destructoid. The game was acclaimed by many of the editors, taking Destructoid's Game Of The Show at the Penny Arcade Expo
Penny Arcade Expo
The Penny Arcade Expo is a semi-annual gamer festival held in Seattle and Boston. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcade webcomic, because they wanted to attend a show that gave equal attention to console gamers, computer gamers, and tabletop...
earlier in July. Mr. Destructoid also appears in the flash game Pirates vs. Ninjas, by Bardo Entertainment.
In 2011, Mr. Destructoid appeared as a non-playable character in BiteJacker, a game created by the Bytejacker show on the iPhone as a VIP Character. Your score increases the longer that he remains on screen. In July Destructoid's reviews editor, Jim Sterling, became a playable character in The Blocks Cometh. Later that month Mr. Destructoid would appear in Twisted Pixel's Ms. Splosion Man as a destroyable villain during challenge mode, and again as a ball-swallowing fixture in Zen Studio's Pinball FX as part of the Ms. Splosion Man pinball table. On August 1 Mr. Destructoid became a playable character in Arcade Jumper on iOS.. The remake of the classic arcade game Burgertime also features Mr. Destructoid as a playable character.