Destructoid

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**Destructoid**

URL	http://www.destructoid.com/
Type of site	computer and video game blog
Owner	Destructoid LLC
Created by	Yanier Gonzalez
Launched	March 2006
Current status	Active

Destructoid is a multi-author video gaming blog and forum founded in March 2006, which can be best described as an independent version of Gawker Media's Kotaku and AOL's Joystiq, authored by video game hobbyists. Destructoid is best known for its coverage of the Jack Thompson v. Rockstar trial in Miami that attempted to block the sale of Bully, its hiring of ex-Joystiq writer Robert Summa, their unusual homemade robot mascot helmet, and for promoting the Nerdcore subculture in gaming. The editorial team also publishes a weekly video game podcast known as Podtoid, available on iTunes.

A quotation explaining the purpose of the blog from their about page:

In short, Destructoid is here to entertain, inform, connect people, give the average gamer a strong voice, and collectively influence the industry -- for the love and bullshit-free longevity of our all time favorite hobby.^[1]

1 History
2 Financial
3 Trivia
4 Features
5 Readership
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] History

Destructoid was started as a social engineering plot to get into the video game conference E3 by Yanier Gonzalez and Franco Sabri of Doubleviking on March 27, 2006. The two formed a fictitious company and wrote articles in hopes of being syndicated by larger gaming blogs Joystiq and Kotaku to obtain the published media credentials required. They succeeded and were invited to E3 in May 2006. The site's growing readership prompted Yanier to turn the joke into an online community. Franco left the company shortly thereafter.

To attract new readers, Yanier arrived at the E3 press conference wearing a metal helmet to the an ESA-hosted press conference, a crude but similar version of their logo made out of air conditioner ducts and auto parts. The stunt at sparked both positive press and controversy. GamePolitics picked up the story and ultimately created a divided camp between "serious journalists" and "bloggers", stirring debates on which behavior is most appropriate for a video games conference. While it certainly alienated some, it largely cemented a readership for Destructoid.

Destructoid's second notable stunt was immediately hiring a highly criticized fired Joystiq writer Robert Summa. This boosted Destructoid's profile in both the gaming and blogging communities, as Summa posted on Destructoid the reasons for his firing from Joystiq.[1]

The reasons for his dismissal related to the hype he generated about a "huge" wii announcement (Which turned out to be nothing more than a note on manufacturing). Since his dismissal (and subsequent tenure with Destructoid) Robert Summa has taken a strong Anti-Nintendo stance, decrying the company as "too childish" and "unable to compete". This has led to accusations of bias, as many people point out that Nintendo is in fact the most successful videogame company in the world right now and they are largely responsible for broadening the market and reaching out to a new, older demographic.

[edit] Financial

Destructoid LLC is a self-funded company through a limited-liability partnership between Yanier Gonzalez and Thomas Lackner, founder of ElephantBlog, the site's publishing platform. Daily content is published by contributors from more than thirty people from the United States and Canada. The free site earns revenue from advertising and sponsorships.

[edit] Trivia

The company's mascot is the Destructoid robot, derived from the Smoking Robot, a popular battery-operated toy manufactured in Japan in the 1950s. The helmet is a one-of-a-kind creation comprised of air conditioner ducts, kitchenware, a bicycle helmet, and auto parts. It weighs roughly twenty pounds and is reportedly very uncomfortable.

Other Notes: Destructoid has been featured on G4's Attack of the Show "Blog Watch" section. Destructoid was also the original source of the video showing PS2 games running on the Xbox 360 by using Windows Media Center Edition, which became a wide-spread story on all large gaming news sites.

On April 1st, 2007, Destructoid completely changed their main page, changing it's appearance to an advertisement for a fictional hair salon, owned and operated by Kotaku's Brian Crecente. The site was meant as a humorous April Fool's joke, to which the self-advertised Kotaku editor comically wrote about on said blog.

[edit] Features

Destructoid is a custom blog powered by Elephant on a cluster of FreeBSD web servers. The site allows its members to publish their own blogs within the site, place comments on each other's stories, send private messages to each other, and use the same member information in a PHPBB powered forum. Popular stories appear on the right hand side of the page, regardless if they are written by Destructoid's own editorial team or by random anonymous contributors of the site.

[edit] Readership

Destructoid's readership is similar to GameDaily, Gamasutra, and Gamepro. As of February 23, 2007, Destructoid is ranked 642 on Technorati, and 4,800 on Alexa. The site also publishes a podcast called Podtoid and their editors appear regularly on Attack of the Show. ^[2]