Vox Media Week: Polygon
Polygon is an exciting and innovative gaming publication, focusing on more than just news and updates. This well-rounded and thorough outlet focuses on the entire ecosystem, from fans to creators. Learn more about Polygon and what’s next for gaming below!
Polygon was built to cover more than the newest gaming releases: it is about the people who make them, their cultural impact, the fans who love them and the history that preceded them. Polygon eschews the product-focused perspective that most gaming outlets have clung to for the past 30 years. We love games, but what we’re really obsessed with are the people who make them and love them. It’s a new approach to games journalism that puts people before products, and it’s all presented with style and presentation made to delight the reader while never talking down to them.
Gaming is at a really unprecedented time where the industry is ever so slowly being ceded to smaller developers, as massive art and animation studios continue to layoff and downsize. Seeing this we realized that the next decade of the industry wouldn’t just be a story written by annualized franchises and gargantuan publishers but by the independent developer disrupting the whole system. We’re moving into a more humane age of gaming, maybe even the age of the auteur, and an outlet that doesn’t embrace that risks losing the plot entirely.
We’re going to continue to find new ways to tell stories, especially with regards to our video offerings. We’ll also be embracing video in our reviews department, trying to find a way to present video reviews in a compelling way that hasn’t been done before. And we’ll continue to expand our staff, increasing the range and depth of the stories we’re able to tell.
What are you looking forward to in gaming in 2013?
By all external signs, this will be the year we see the eighth generation of game console, which very well could be the last console generation, at least in the cyclical way we’ve come to think about it. As ever, we’ll see developers’ creativity sparked by the new tech, and watch as they try to test its limits. On the other end of the spectrum, you’ve got online social gaming, mobile gaming and an indie-friendly PC game distribution that makes for as welcoming a climate as has ever existed for independent developers and small teams looking to create something outside the norm. It looks to be a year of sweeping change, and we’re thrilled to watch it unfold and tell those stories to our readers.
Vox Media Week: SB Nation
SB Nation offers a unique and effective style of sports journalism. It represents a new era of reporting, in which the fans shape all aspects of the news. Learn more about the publication and its inspiring communities, and check out some (of the many!) great SB Nation feeds in our new Vox Media collection.
SB Nation is the fastest growing independent sports media property. We bring together web native editorial talent with deep topical sports expertise, highly engaged communities of fans, and a powerful technology platform crafted specifically for a digital-first media organization. The result is smart and intelligent coverage and conversation that is fan-authentic, social and fun.
SB Nation was born through the passion of a frustrated sports fan who used to be a print reporter. SB Nation’s founder Tyler Bleszinski felt like no traditional media outlet was covering his team the way he wanted, which was with a passionate, authoritative voice that would also remain true to journalistic principles. So he decided to do it himself, combining professional quality and fan perspective. From that first site, SB Nation has grown into a collection of over 300 team- and sport-centric sites and communities that form the core of the fastest growing independent national sports media brand, SBNation.com. All of SB Nation’s sites are powered by Vox Media’s proprietary publishing platform, called Chorus, which empowers both writers and communities to best express themselves in the digital medium. This marriage of web-native editorial talent, highly engaged communities, and advanced publishing technology has become SB Nation’s “secret sauce,” if you will.
Why do you think sports draws such a passionate community?
We firmly believe that sports objectivity is a myth. We’ve always been forthcoming about the fact that we’re relentlessly passionate about the teams and sports we cover. Across the SB Nation network you’ll find that our writers live and breathe sports 24/7/365. Our communities capture that passion and foster conversation about the topics that fans care about. This network was created by fans for fans and that remains core to our editorial principles.
It’s not just the community-driven reporting but it’s the fact that our communities are having real impact on players, teams and organizations. Our SF Giants site McCovey Chronicles suggested (very strongly) that the Giants marketing department create a snow globe based on Marco Scutaro’s Shawshank-like pose last year, and lo and behold, the Giants listened and created the item. It will be a giveaway this year. Our Brooklyn Nets site Nets Daily recently held a Brook Lopez appreciation night working to get him to the All Star game this year. That became a news item around that team. The sites are empowering a team’s fanbase that would’ve likely been silent without these outlets. It’s happening through social media too. For example, our Boston Bruins site Stanley Cup of Chowder tweeted at Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference after the lockout ended suggesting his Twitter joke about planting trees come true. Ference replied back and is now donating 50 planted trees for every goal teammate Tyler Seguin scores. Our communities have a real impact on teams, players and the sports they cover in a way that simply has never happened before, and we believe that will only continue to increase as our communities continue to grow.
Vox Media Week: The Verge
The Verge is about tech and culture, people and trends, news and insights. It’s a publication on the forefront of innovation—in content, community, and style. Learn more about its history, motivations, and what trends to watch in 2013.
Our tagline is that The Verge covers the intersection of technology, art, science, and culture. That’s a huge set of things, and it allows us to cover pretty much anything we think is interesting. And as technology culture becomes the dominant culture, we’ve found ourselves doing everything from movie reviews to news about the latest iPhone to interviews with senators about privacy legislation. Turns out we think a lot of things are interesting.
The Verge runs on Chorus, our own in-house publishing platform built from the ground up — our developers work closely with our editors to build new features and experiences constantly. Our incredible feature layouts are a good example of that collaboration, as are other custom tools like StoryStreams, which help us organize stories that take place over weeks, months, and even years. We’re also heavily focused on video production, and we have an incredible video team that’s always pushing the boundaries of what you can do with video on the web. They’re making little documentaries alongside our reporting, basically.
The living room is set to be a major battleground this year. In some ways it’s one of the last unconquered frontiers in the home, and all of the major players – companies that people interact with every day – are vying for control.
This Week On Pulse: Vox Media Spotlight, SXSW, & More
If you read The Verge, Polygon, or SB Nation, you’re already familiar with Vox Media. You already know that this top-notch publisher focuses on high quality content, thriving communities, and unique experiences. We’re showcasing the Vox team this week for a special publisher spotlight—so don’t miss a week of interviews, riveting reads, and in-depth insight into this media master.
We’ve also added a special Vox Media Collection, featuring some of our favorite feeds—The Verge Video, SB Nation NBA, Polygon, and more.
What else do we have up our sleeves this week?
We’re gearing up for one of the biggest events of the year: SXSW, the annual tech/culture/music/film gathering in Austin, TX. We’ll be reporting from the trenches, tracking the latest in innovation from Interactive to Music.
To prepare (or live vicariously) for the next two weeks of SX festivities, check out our special SXSW 2013 feed, as well as the Official SXSW Blog, both in What’s New now.
On behalf of SXSW, we’re also focusing on technology and innovation this week. Check out The Daily Beast (Science & Technology, Entertainment), Mashable, PandoDaily, and 99u for some inspirational, practical news and insights. Turn your ideas into the Next Big Thing.
And for the practical traveler: don’t miss The Austinot for a local perspective on Austin living, dining, and entertainment. Stay tuned for all of our updates as we follow the conference’s hottest trends, tech, tunes, and more.
Source Spotlight: Moviefone
Whether you’re reeling from awards season or getting pumped for summer flicks, check out Moviefone. Not only can you get tickets to your next favorite film, you can read up on the action before you even get your popcorn. We spoke to Moviefone’s Editor-In-Chief Tim Hayne about the Oscars, keeping content fresh, and what movies to get excited about this year.
