Well, I guess it had to happen at some point. Believe me, I love writing about Nintendo, and if you've followed my work on Nintendojo.com you've seen me go from being a contributing writer to the Editor-in-Chief across my 11 years of working for the site. I don't plan on stopping any time soon, either. However, I frequently get the itch to talk beyond the world of Nintendo, and Nintendojo simply isn't the place for me to do it. I play on every major games console, I've been dipping my toes into PC gaming, and I love retro systems of all kinds. I have so much I want to delve into across the entire spectrum of gaming, and I feel like now is perhaps one of the most important tipping points for the industry. As AI becomes more pervasive throughout the creative process, and as the industry becomes more and more decentralized, this is a period of both great opportunity and immense turmoil. AAA releases have as much chance of crapping out as a project from a hobbyist developer does of becoming the next Minecraft. Perhaps more importantly, as gaming journalism becomes more centralized (in stark contrast with the development side of things), I think it's imperative that voices not under the direct influence and purview of large corporate ovelords is integral to keeping things honest.
Beyond that, however, I also love comic books. If you've seen our Comics Club (formerly Comics Scope) features on Nintendojo, you know that I've been chomping at the bit to in some way talk comics more. Believe me, I've thought about ways to sneakily get comic book coverage in there—Spider-Man appears in games on Nintendo consoles, so I should be able to cover Spidey comics on the site! And then reason kicks in and I realize that's probably too self-serving, so I don't. Here, however, I can, and I will, be discussing comics. And let's be clear, American comic books are in a precarious position. Despite what pundits would have you believe, manga might be doing well, but that doesn't mean Marvel and DC are. The big two are the cornerstone of the American comic book market, one that is centered around superheroes, and right now the average American kid is reading One Piece and not The Avengers. This is disastrous for the longterm viability of the floppy comic book, and I hope that by writing about what I'm seeing will help to bring more people into comic book shops and get drive interest up.
At the same time, just like I try to do on Nintendojo, I'm also hoping to be as honest as I can about what is going right and wrong, both in video games and comic books. If all we get are articles of glowing praise for Latest Consumer Product, not only does the whole endeavor become soulless, but that means garbage is allowed to be passed off as quality, which does a huge disservice to you, the paying customer. Because that's what you and I are: consumers. There's artistry within the creation of games and comics, but these are also products that people pay their hard-earned money to access. Right now, I feel like a lot of the mainstream media covering games and comics is more concerned with their access than being fair in their coverage. The hope is that Bits & Bytes can offer a nice, fresh alternative for everyday fans.
So, that's the plan! Welcome. And look forward to coverage of video games, comic books (including manga), and pop culture in general.
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