Thursday, October 18, 2007

I quit



Leaving RTL II

After eight years in their newsroom, I have handed in my notice at the private German television station RTL II. As of November, I will become technology editor with the public sector station 3sat, based in Mainz, Hesse.

I usually do not post personal matters, but this is the single most important change in my professional life so far. It will also greatly affect this blog, as I will no longer be dealing with general daily news and current affairs. Instead, I will be exclusively focussing on technology-related topics, particularly IT, multimedia and computer and videogames.

I will work for their weekly technology show called ´Neues´. If you do speak German, you should check it out. It is a great program and airs on 3sat as well as ZDF and the ZDF-Infokanal.

Leaving Cologne

This will involve me leaving Cologne behind and moving to Frankfurt. Below is the flyer for my farewell party. Just so you understand the title, ´Alaaf´ is a salute used in the Cologne carnival. It rhymes with the word ´half´.

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

Looking back

As a technology editor, I will no longer deal with videogames only on the side. So this change will undoubtedly have a positive impact on my blog. Since this blog is nearing my 500th post, isn´t this a good time to look back at this blog´s various achievements?

I revealed that Wii would be significantly underpowered compared to the competition. I revealed that ´Zelda: Twilight Princess´ would use Wiimote functionality, rather than being merely a Gamecube game playable on Wii. In fact, Shigeru Miyamoto told me exclusively and in person.

I was also first to interview Pablo Belmonte, creator of the ´Nintendo On´ video. And I brought you the first developer comments regarding the Wii - by Peter Molyneux and Yuji Naka, no less.

And, of course, I ousted numerous fakers (like Seriousgamer007 and Kenton Bailey) and I played ´Red Steel´ before almost every other game journalist. I even told you the name before it went public by linking to this image.

I told you more than two months in advance that Rockstar´s ´Table Tennis´ was coming to Wii and my long-time readers knew about a ´Star Wars´ game featuring lightsaber action more than a year before it was finally announced. Finally, I recently revealed that the Wii´s friend codes will be game-specific.

Looking forward

What is more: I had a real blast writing all this stuff for you and I greatly appreciate all of you good people coming here. I apologize for the recent lack of updates, but both looking for a new job and moving to Frankfurt has kept me tremendously busy. Things will get back to normal over the next few weeks. And, as a technology editor, I am sure that I will be able to post even more exclusives than I have been able to so far.

36 comments:

Arafat Medini said...

Ich bin ein grosser 3sat und Neues Fan, selbst aus dem fernen Japan guck ich mir per ZDF Mediathek 3sat an, also gib dein Bestes Falafelkid und Herzlichen Glückwunsch :)

Anonymous said...

Andreas, it was a great time with you and your blog. Since the beginning, more than two years ago, I was with you. You guided us all through the infamous N-Game/NintendoON and the coming of Revolution/Wii.

Surely, some will now leave and some will stay(me) to look what this blog will become.

Thank you for all your work!
Alles Gute für deine weitere Arbeit und Zukunft!
Patrick

Anonymous said...

Ich sehe schon seit längerer zeit regelmäßig Neues und Kulturzeit auf 3sat, und freue mich daher sehr, dich dort jetzt zu sehen. Vor allem weil ich auf RTL2 nur selten dich oder Beiträge von dir sehen konnte, da ich diesen Sender nun doch etwas selten schaue.
Ich bin auch Leser der ersten Stunde und werde wohl auch weiterhin Leser bleiben.
Alles Gute weiterhin!

Tadashi Oshima said...

Na, da muss ich aber mal ins Programmheft schauen.
Ich neige leider dazu, wöchentliche Sendungen zu verpassen :(
Viel Spass bei 3sat.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations and good luck. I've enjoyed this blog for the past 2+ years and look forward to all the great new information you're sure to share with everyone.

Anonymous said...

goodbye tittensender...hello 3sat
;))))))

Anonymous said...

congrats on the new job, falafelkid. you definately deserve the bump.

it's been a helluva ride. thanks for everything. we've all been fortunate to have you around to help sort out the bullshit.

so this means you won't be writing about nintendo anymore? :~(

-"superfan" tactics.

M. Ferreira said...

I wish you the best, Falafel. As a reader since '05, I've appreciated your many insights into the industry. :)

I look forward to future updates... once you settle in, of course. ;) Congrats and good luck at 3sat.

Anonymous said...

Good luck, I've read most of your articles over the years and the inside information posts were always my favorites. I hope to see more soon :)

Anonymous said...

hey! how about thanking IALS for once.......for keeping this otherwise lame stale ;)) blog entertaining over the yeasrs

WTF???

show some love!

grandmaster biatch and the tactics gang!


you should be thankful!

- THE IRRELEVANT ANNOYING LAUGHING STOCK


;)))))))))))))))))))))

Anonymous said...

Well going to miss ya bro. Thx for all the good times and good luck at your new job.

Shoxware Games said...

Hui, Frankfurt... die einzige Stadt in Deutschland / Europa mit einer "echten" Skyline. Na dann viel Spaß und erfolg in MaInhattan :-)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your time over the years!

Anonymous said...

good luck in ur new job, i'd do a haka 4 you but its cooler in person.

Jason said...

Congrats, Fal. Hope to see more exclusives and more insight into things.

Anonymous said...

I always had this site on my favourites; and you sure did seem to have some first-hand exclusive news! Good luck

Anonymous said...

Tja Andreas,
so können die Dinge
laufen! :-) Hoffe, dass
du Spaß an deinem neuen
Job hast, obwohl die guten
alten (oder wohl doch eher
"neuen") Games nun aus dei-
nem Alltag verschwinden
dürften!

Auf der anderen Seite stelle
ich mir deine neue Aufgabe
sehr attraktiv vor, zumal
mir besagte Sendung immer
recht gut gefallen hat.
Dann wird sie ja bald noch
besser! ;-)

Wünsche dir ´ne tolle Zeit
und bleib den Games (und
diesem Blog) treu!

Gruß
Raphael

Anonymous said...

That`s a great new job, i guess! I´m also a big fan of 3Sat (only good tv station besides arte) and "Neues". I hope you get a chance to take over a job as a host the next time one of the girls get pregnant...
It´s nice to know, that someone reports about games, who really knows what he´s talking about :)
I wish you good luck and a lot of fun with your new job (and this blog)!!!

Anonymous said...

OMG SUPER MARIO GALAXY is so genius I can't believe how genius mario galaxy
is actually

and NIIIIIGHTS

And OKAAAAMI

AND METROOOIIIIID

AND ELEBIIIITS


UNFASSBAR...UNBELIEVABLE.....ABSOLUTLY MIND BOGGLING


-IALS
;))))))))))

Anonymous said...

as of today IALS is a (proud) Wii owner........yes he acquired one at last..with elebits..

it was a tuff tuff decision though......

they had a 360 special offer with 4 additional games and an extra controller
included for 349 Euros.....no brainer!!!!...not to mention the 40 gigabyte Playstation with a blue ray player for 400 bucks!

damn it!!!!!WWAAAAAAAAAAA

I'm so stupid how could I possibly choose a wii with Elebits over a true next generation systems with true HD software..OMG...I'm so hoplessly dumb!!!

Nintendo has pulled a fast one on IALS with their gimmick controller idea!!!!

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

I did not withstand the temptation!!!

I'm angry! I need an angry Whopper!!!!

;(((((((((((((((

Wii and Elebits over Bioshock, Halo3, Motostorm, The Darkness, Virtual fighter, Gears Of War, etc etc etc etc

ouch

-IALS

Anonymous said...

I guess its the power of mario and metroid and okami and nights that made me buy a wii and not 360 or playstation 3

-IALS

Anonymous said...

The difference between HALO and METROID PRIME
I have finally figured that Metroid is more for intelligent people and Halo more for not so intelligent ones because:

In Halo you run from point A to B while your only objective consists of killing everything thats in your way, period

In Metroid Prime on the other hand....

Well, in Metroid you run from point A to B while your objectives consist of exploring your environment, using it to your advantage, solving environmental puzzlez, transforming into a ball , shooting enemies and encountering larger than life bosses, all that in a vividly designed alien world that ouzes with atmosphere, unparalelled artistic vision, gusto, flare, sophistication, subtle elegance which aesthetically is so beyond Halo that it makes you wonder how one would consider halo the better looking game

Metroid Prime is simply too rich too deep too great for their tiny minds to handle.. thats why they prefer Master Chief....and thats why they hate Metroid

-IALS

Metaldave said...

Great news my friend! I'm really happy that you are truly moving forward. I can't wait for more speculation and news.

Anonymous said...

@ IALS
Congrats for getting a Wii!
But why did you buy Elebits? Was it extremly cheap or something?
However, is it good?

RGB said...

Superuser, why would you even care about that halfwit?

He still continues and preach his bs. He isnt worth the time.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on the new job and the new focus Falafelkid! I have to say, you maintained your integrity through the entire slog of the internet (despite your penchant for dragging Augmented Reality back from the dead again and again :P), and it's really amazing as a Nintendo fan to look back and realize that you gave us tons of breaking news.

~Carmine "Cai" M. Red
Kairon@aol.com

Anonymous said...

.....superuser check the mag64.de review if you want to learn more about elebits

......grandmaster b still remember what that b stands for in your name? ...never mind tho... b is b

......Falafel pack mal wieder den Irrelevant Annoying Laughing Stock aus


.....cube boy I need all capitals...I CARRRRRNT WAIT ;)))


....IALS stop talking so much buooooh ummmmm...nothing..

;)))

-IALS

Anonymous said...

Ssx Blur is quite good actually.

the graphics are vibrant...the sound is nice.....it's fun...the controlls need some getting used to but after a while they become second nature....maneveuring through motion simply feels great...its so intuitive and natural...very refreshing.....you dont get that anywhere else people....motion is the next big thing....Nintendo is on the money.....they nailed it....the motion controlls are a stroke of genius....playing is believing...nuff said

-IALS

Anonymous said...

im with grandmaster. aint it amazing how he can have a conversation with himself?

Anonymous said...

@IALS
If you haven't done it already, try to set the controls in SSX Blur completely to motion sensing. I found it annoying to have to use the analog stick for the last bits of movement. It's much easier that way imo.

Anonymous said...

Best of luck! This blogs been great over the past couple of years. Keep up the good work :)

Anonymous said...

I wish you the best Fal,
i have been an avid fan/reader of your blog, not once did you fail to impress me with your intellect and most importantly with your journalist integrity intact.

Thanks

Rafael N
VA< USA

Anonymous said...

It's been a long road. As soon as we hear rumors about a new system, you should be out speculating. I have never seen someone work so hard just to get a little info on the market. I also believe that you have excellent opinions, Falafel, I hope you live on and enjoy. I'll miss you and I hope you come back to blog. I'll post links to anyone looking for a good speculator if you ever come back you'll get like 1,000,000 hits:)...

Kschreck said...

It was a ton of fun speculating on what the Revolution would be and this blog of yours was one of the best out there and for that I thank you. I would also like to say congratulations on the new technology job. I think you are going to have a ton of fun with that.As Always I will continue to read this blog and the news and exclusives that you cover. Keep up the awesome work!

I actually recently changed the theme of my blog from a Wii only blog to a Technology blog. While I don't have the resources to go all out like Engadget and other big sites, I try my best to cover some of the bigger stories (though news has been a bit slow lately in the tech front) and of course my favorite topic to write about is still Virtual Reality. Though there really have not been any significant advances in that area of technology unfortunately. Anyways, good luck with the new job. Can't wait to see what kind of technology news you post about.

Last topic I want to talk about. I have a theory as to why Microsoft may have let Bungie go. You can check that out here:


http://theboard.zogdog.com/index.php?automodule=blog&blogid=11&showentry=16628


On top of that EA has done a survey recently suggesting that they are interested in getting into the console race. They also made comments how they wish there was only one console and not three. Anyways, thought you might be interested in this piece of speculation.


-Kevin [The Revolution Lifestyle

Falafelkid said...

Hi everyone - and thank you all for your kind comments and congratulatory messages. I am absolutely thrilled to become a technology editor and am sure that this blog will improve further as a result. Just to make this clear (since some people seemed to misunderstand): this blog will only get better, if anything.

Hi Kevin. I read your story and I find those theories very interesting. However, there are no real indications, other than the executive reshuffle between the two companies and the studio acquisitions. What I am lacking here is some concrete evidence why it would make sense for EA to become a hardware manufacturer. They are making a ton of money as the world´s top third party publisher. Why risk all that and go head to head with the might of Nintendo?

It´s an interesting theory, like I said. But I am sure that I can safely rule out any such scenario for the next ten years.

Anonymous said...

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