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AusGAF 5/5 - Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy, a rental at best

V

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
reptilescorpio said:
Time to expand the VOOK family out to the far reaches of gaming?

I can see RockPaperVook being a perfect local substitute to RPS.
Click to expand...

I'll see how I go with my new version of my site first, but it could quite easily be expanded to multiple platforms, the current one couldn't.

I don't know that many non-Nintendo fans who would be crazy enough to help out on the site though, plus I've bad mouthed Choc's boss one too many times to get anything from them.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I've never quite understood who the audience for local gaming sites is. I say this with a certain amount of respect for what you guys do, don't get me wrong, but I just don't get it. What's the hook? It's like the bigger sites but without the network of industry contacts and access? I feel like community sites like GAF and bigger sites kind of make them a bit redundant.
 
C

Choc

Banned
i've always found palgn an interesting proposition to deal with from the other side of the fence


they are both an au and europe site and have people based in both areas.

It's very hard with minimal budgets available to support non 100% au sites
 
V

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
Rez said:
I've never quite understood who the audience for local gaming sites is. I say this with a certain amount of respect for what you guys do, don't get me wrong, but I just don't get it. What's the hook? It's like the bigger sites but without the network of industry contacts and access? I feel like community sites like GAF and bigger sites kind of make them a bit redundant.
Click to expand...

I can't speak for others but with my site;

  • You don't get Australian Nintendo news anywhere else as good, I'm talking about release dates for local games, local promotion, bargains, giveaways and all things like that. All the big sites don't cover all the small inane crap that the diehard fans (our audience) want to read about. Who else is giving away 3 copies of The Last Story later this week?
  • We have a active working relationship with Nintendo Australia, in the early years Nintendo wouldn't even acknowledge our existence they didn't deal with online. Now they do and we can go to them for information and even they come to us.
  • Then there is our wider audience, Mums and Dads who want info about games for their kids, grandparents even and of course when we're quick off the mark I tend to get a lot of the Japanese news up as quick as even sites like Andraisang.
  • I have plenty of industry contacts in the context of Australian Nintendo news. This is how I can break stories like the Ocarina thing last year and other small nuggets of information.
  • We import a lot of things, buy a lot of merchandise that a lot of people are interested in, I make videos about things and people watch. For example I had a DSi for 9 months before it was released in Australia, I made videos about it, all the DSi Ware games that were out. The big sites did one big unboxing video and forgot about it, fans were interested in it.
  • We have a active community and forums, a Facebook community and I have over 800 followers on Twitter. Vooks isn't just a website, we play games with each other, hang out in real life with each other.
  • I'd like to think that over the years I've made a difference in bringing Nintendo news to fans in Australia, it used to be fucking hard to find out anything about Nintendo here unless Nintendo announced, now we have it much easier.

Oh and when you have the boss of Nintendo Australia pull you aside as an event and say thanks for doing a great job, we all read the site all the time. That's some humbling stuff.

And that's why I do my website, that's the hook.

PS Vooks has been entirely run off my own back for 11 years, only now has some advertising been able pay for some of the expenses. The flights to LA, Japan, Sydney and Melbourne multiple times per year? That's all me. I do it for love. Crazy as that sounds.
 
R

reptilescorpio

Member
Rez said:
I've never quite understood who the audience for local gaming sites is. I say this with a certain amount of respect for what you guys do, don't get me wrong, but I just don't get it. What's the hook? It's like the bigger sites but without the network of industry contacts and access? I feel like community sites like GAF and bigger sites kind of make them a bit redundant.
Click to expand...

It is hard to find well written reviews and features from most sites. GAF fills the void fairly well but sometimes it would be nice to read some stuff that caters more to us as Australians. I've read a few of Vooks and Jintors reviews and enjoyed them. Less PR regurgitation and more reading between the lines on how it will affect me as an Australian gamer is always welcome. That was the main reason I visited PALGN a few years ago before losing interest.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
VOOK said:
I can't speak for others but with my site;

  • You don't get Australian Nintendo news anywhere else as good, I'm talking about release dates for local games, local promotion, bargains, giveaways and all things like that. All the big sites don't cover all the small inane crap that the diehard fans (our audience) want to read about. Who else is giving away 3 copies of The Last Story later this week?
  • We have a active working relationship with Nintendo Australia, in the early years Nintendo wouldn't even acknowledge our existence they didn't deal with online. Now they do and we can go to them for information and even they come to us.
  • Then there is our wider audience, Mums and Dads who want info about games for their kids, grandparents even and of course when we're quick off the mark I tend to get a lot of the Japanese news up as quick as even sites like Andraisang.
  • I have plenty of industry contacts in the context of Australian Nintendo news. This is how I can break stories like the Ocarina thing last year and other small nuggets of information.
  • We import a lot of things, buy a lot of merchandise that a lot of people are interested in, I make videos about things and people watch. For example I had a DSi for 9 months before it was released in Australia, I made videos about it, all the DSi Ware games that were out. The big sites did one big unboxing video and forgot about it, fans were interested in it.
  • We have a active community and forums, a Facebook community and I have over 800 followers on Twitter. Vooks isn't just a website, we play games with each other, hang out in real life with each other.
  • I'd like to think that over the years I've made a difference in bringing Nintendo news to fans in Australia, it used to be fucking hard to find out anything about Nintendo here unless Nintendo announced, now we have it much easier.

Oh and when you have the boss of Nintendo Australia pull you aside as an event and say thanks for doing a great job, we all read the site all the time. That's some humbling stuff.

And that's why I do my website, that's the hook.

PS Vooks has been entirely run off my own back for 11 years, only now has some advertising been able pay for some of the expenses. The flights to LA, Japan, Sydney and Melbourne multiple times per year? That's all me. I do it for love. Crazy as that sounds.
Click to expand...

I respect that. Good on you.
 
B

Box of Bunnies

Banned
Rez said:
What's the hook?
Click to expand...

For me, it was about centralised local news and community. Places like IGN didn't really have dedicated Australian sectors when I first got into it so local sites were better for local news, and having local communities makes it easier to co-ordinate online games (though subcommunities like AusGAF cover that to some degree now).

Been out of the local site loop for most of the last couple of years though. The place I wrote for has been dying a slow death and a horribad redesign some time back didn't really help.
 
C

Choc

Banned
when you are competing with massive corporations in the US with massive budgets (IGN and Gamespot)

you are fucked

you need a niche

vook fills a niche
 
L

legend166

Member
Ugh, today sucks. Spent the last two hours at a petrol station in Willoughby with my sister and brother trying to fix my mum's card (sister was driving it).

It just won't start. Tried jump starting, tried swapping out batteries. Checked the fuses. Nothing.

Now we've got to join the NRMA. Ugh.
 
V

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
Fredescu said:
android.vooks.net!
Click to expand...

I know you're joking, but...

I've thought of covering iOS/Android before however theres way too many sites out there at the moment that do to good of a job for me to bother.

Also the niche of Australian Apple or Android fan? What the fuck would I report? It would just turn into a Firemint, Halfbrick etc handjob fest everday. (As upposed to a Nintendo one hey-o).

Box of Bunnies said:
For me, it was about centralised local news and community. Places like IGN didn't really have dedicated Australian sectors when I first got into it so local sites were better for local news, and having local communities makes it easier to co-ordinate online games (though subcommunities like AusGAF cover that to some degree now).

Been out of the local site loop for most of the last couple of years though. The place I wrote for has been dying a slow death and a horribad redesign some time back didn't really help.
Click to expand...

Kotaku AU is big local site at the moment, Serrels and Tracey do awesome job. IMO.

Choc said:
when you are competing with massive corporations in the US with massive budgets (IGN and Gamespot)

you are fucked

you need a niche

vook fills a niche
Click to expand...

Yup and with most publishers ignoring Nintendo this generation you don't get any of the fancy promo stuff or competitions or pre order bonuses that often. Wii U might change that.

We don't get HUGE numbers, we do well and much better than some - but our readers and our community get what they want when they visit.
 
J

Jintor

Member
commanderdeek said:
I know jint irl too! Kind of.

Incidentally, a good friend of mine has also just been approved but he says he prefers to lurk and judge silently.
Click to expand...

If you're not adverse to it, scary internet people that we are, we should grab lunch sometime.

I'll introduce you to my other internet friends from AusPAX
 
J

Jintor

Member
midonnay said:
wow, the federal court has really fucked up Telstra and the sporting codes

http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/optus-wins-landmark-web-broadcast-rights-case-20120201-1qsqi.html
Click to expand...

It's some badass legal trickery involving the difference between broadcast content and on-demand streaming content, I think. I'll have to read the full thing.

Choc, wasn't the ALRC report due this month?

Kotaku AU is big local site at the moment, Serrels and Tracey do awesome job. IMO.
Click to expand...

I hope to god their designer puts in some kind of user-based filtering mechanism. All the great journalism gets buried in the fucking nonsensical shit reposted from KotakuUS. It's all either bite-sized relevant-for-a-day content, cosplay posts or all kinds of total bullshit that just drowns out the ace jobs that the team is doing. The 'features' tag is a great help but the stuff that's actually relevant to Aussies keeps getting buried.
 
C

Choc

Banned
Jintor said:
It's some badass legal trickery involving the difference between broadcast content and on-demand streaming content, I think. I'll have to read the full thing.

Choc, wasn't the ALRC report due this month?
Click to expand...

i believe so

will be interesting to see what Roxon does
 
B

Box of Bunnies

Banned
VOOK said:
Kotaku AU is big local site at the moment, Serrels and Tracey do awesome job. IMO.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've seen a bit of that from here. Serrels was doing the Nintendo mag last time I was really into it I think.

Tried to get a bit more involved towards the end of last year but the horrid new design of our site put an extra barrier between the content and community that hadn't been there before. Not like I was writing much mind, and none of it was really any good.
 
D

DarthHomer

Member
Rez said:
I've never quite understood who the audience for local gaming sites is. I say this with a certain amount of respect for what you guys do, don't get me wrong, but I just don't get it. What's the hook? It's like the bigger sites but without the network of industry contacts and access? I feel like community sites like GAF and bigger sites kind of make them a bit redundant.
Click to expand...

I think the hook, as weird as it sounds, is that it's coming from an Australian perspective. People like hearing a familiar voice and love knowing that the work they're watching/hearing/reading was born out of Melbourne or Sydney or Brisbane or whatever. We might not beat the US or UK in terms of news or preview coverage, but I think we make up for that with a lot of great feature and specialty pieces.
 
C

Choc

Banned
DarthHomer said:
I think the hook, as weird as it sounds, is that it's coming from an Australian perspective. People like hearing a familiar voice and love knowing that the work they're watching/hearing/reading was born out of Melbourne or Sydney or Brisbane or whatever. We might not beat the US or UK in terms of news or preview coverage, but I think we make up for that with a lot of great feature and specialty pieces.
Click to expand...

and 90% of our magazines (patty's aside) are full of content written by UK writers and the only local staff is the editor, no team
 
B

BananaArnie

Member
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
GUESS WHOS GOT TWO ARROWS AND ISNT A JR ANYMORE
<< THIS GUY
WOOOOOOO
 
B

BananaArnie

Member
^^^^^^^^
who-gives-a-shit-harrison-ford.gif


BRING IT MODS
 
V

VOOK

We don't know why he keeps buying PAL, either.
Box of Bunnies said:
Yeah, I've seen a bit of that from here. Serrels was doing the Nintendo mag last time I was really into it I think.

Tried to get a bit more involved towards the end of last year but the horrid new design of our site put an extra barrier between the content and community that hadn't been there before. Not like I was writing much mind, and none of it was really any good.
Click to expand...

Yup but at Kotaku AU he's really excelled.

That's the main problem with Vooks at the moment, it's just too hard to do articles quickly or complicated articles without spending tons of time, we've got no drafting, pending, sticking or delayed articles or anything like that. So if we write something we've got to be there to put it up.

I've seen you stuff before, it's pretty good dude, have to start somewhere. My early work is terrible (and still up on Vooks to this day).
 
J

Jintor

Member
Timetable isn't looking toooooooooooo bad right now. Clustered my tutorials near the end of the week so Monday/Tuesday deadline days can go uninterupted. For some reason my Remedies Lecture is full though, which is bizarre, because they only offer one of them and it's a compulsary unit.
 
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