Ben Kuchera, gaming editor for Ars Technica, said his goodbyes to the site he’s been a part of for roughly 10 years. He was key in developing a chunk of Ars known as Opposable Thumbs, which he’ll be leaving in the care of Kyle Orland. While this is noteworthy, his leaving Ars Technica isn’t what makes this story interesting. In recent months we’ve seen many high profile departures from other gaming news outlets.
No, what makes this story interesting is that Kuchera left because he was approached by Penny Arcade (Jerry Holkins specifically made the call to him) to start up a segment on the site dedicated to covering games and the industry at large. With the project being in its infancy, Kuchera will be the only person on board for gaming coverage; at least for the first year or so. So far not many specifics have been named, as many details still need to be ironed out. Here’s what we do know, though:
- Kuchera’s gaming coverage will be featured on the main page of the site in some way, not tucked back into the forums or something similar.
- Coverage will be provided Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of each week.
- In many way the coverage will reflect Kuchera’s work on Opposable Thumbs. That means less frequent, more in-depth articles.
- Both indie games and majors will be covered.
- No, Ben doesn’t have a Penny Arcade style avatar yet.
- The idea for gaming coverage was already in the works before the Christoforo vs. the World flare-up.
There’s a few weeks yet before the gaming coverage commences at Penny Arcade, but this is an interesting time in general for games journalism. Ben is also still answering questions over at the Penny Arcade forums, so head over and ask any pressing questions you might have.
[source: Ars Technica, Penny Arcade forums]
[image source: Ars Technica]
