Hey everyone! This is Lou Contaldi, friendly neighborhood Editor in Chief at DualShockers. Welcome to 2020, another year for our backlogs to grow larger and to accept no New Year’s Resolution that is less than 4K.
In a quick detour from our normal gaming news, reviews, and editorials, I wanted to talk briefly about what we are doing here at DualShockers and what you can look forward to in the near future. Every year DualShockers is continuing to grow–in an ever-shifting digital landscape, we have to adapt to stay competitive. Thankfully, that means going in on some of the most requested features coming from the community.
Before I get to the patch notes (for lack of a better word), I want to make one point clear. This isn’t a one-way discussion. DualShockers belongs to the community just as much as it belongs to the people on staff. If there is something that you want to see, let me know in the comments. If there is something we can and should be doing better, let me know in the comments. If you are giving up the site completely, let me know in the comments. In short, come chat with me in the comments.
Finally, another quick thank you from me, the Editorial Team and everyone with us at DualShockers. Many of us write here because — like all of you — gaming is our passion. We want to spark conversations and share our love of gaming with anyone who will read our work. Everyone who is reading this now has helped this small startup become an established brand over the last decade.
With all that out of the way, let’s get to some of the upcoming (and current) changes for 2020!
DualShockers Dark Mode
When we made the switch to the new DualShockers layout, there were some who loved it and others who hated it. But the consensus was clear — we need Dark Mode. Especially if you have your operating system set to Dark Mode, the signature DualShockers white website was like a flare directly to your eyes.
With some elbow grease from our development and operations team, we’re happy to announce that you can now enjoy DualShockers in the dark. No more avoiding our hot takes after 6 PM!
To enjoy DualShockers Dark Mode, you can do one of two things:
- OS Settings: If your operating system is already set to Dark Mode (as it arguably should be), you are likely already reading this in the new dark format. Nothing else is required!
- Manual Switch: If you haven’t adopted the Dark Mode OS setting, you will notice a Day/Night toggle in the top right of the page. Simply click that button to go between Day Mode and Night Mode seamlessly. (If you don’t have that option like in the image above, it’s because your OS is automatically set for Night).
New Blood in the Water
As mentioned earlier, DualShockers is continuing to grow — that means a lot of new faces that I’d like to formally introduce.
We’ve got a ton of applications over the past year, and we are using 2020 as a way for us to grow out and cover games quicker, more thoroughly, and with a broader range of opinions.
Some of these writers have been with us for a few weeks, others are just joining the team and in training. You can see the full list of the fresh blood below:
- James Bowers (Aardvark Swift), Associate Staff Writer
- Josh Starr (industry n00b), Associate Staff Writer
- Kris Cornelisse (previously GameSkinny), Associate Staff Writer
- Laddie Simco (previously Pure PlayStation and PlayStation Universe), Associate Staff Writer
- Mario Rivera (previously Model Citizens), Video Manager
- Otto Kratky (previously Sprites and Dice), Associate Staff Writer
- Scott White (currently Irrational Passions), Associate Staff Writer
There is no consistent feature to any of these writers — some worship at the feet of Eastern titles while others find Western games to be their speed. A few of them have experience in large-scale editorials, while others are the standard newsbeat journalists. In short, expect a lot more from DualShockers over the coming month.
More importantly, we have more new faces on the way — don’t think we have capped out for staff over at DualShockers. And, if possible, don’t haze these new guys too much.
Shifting Focus to Next Gen
Have you noticed the recent thrust of coverage to PS5 and Xbox Series X? Whether it is me or Managing Editor Logan Moore facing off at whether the PS5 or the Xbox Series X is better poised at the moment, listing off the latest news, or delving into some of the cool design concepts, we have next-gen fever (and it’s contagious).
With the next generation of consoles quickly approaching, we aim to be a one-stop-shop for all the latest news on the consoles. If you are wondering what is happening daily with PS5 or Xbox Series X, look no further than DualShockers for a curation of next-gen news and opinions.
This isn’t to say that we are losing focus on the PS4 or Xbox One, either. Part of the staffing push is to make sure we are equally staffed across the board to never shift away from anything you care about. Well… except for maybe the PlayStation Vita (RIP).
DualShockers LIVE
We are hoping to shake up our strategy when it comes to live press conferences, major events, and everything in between. This includes a live blog system that is currently in development.
While we are planning to keep up the article coverage during these events, expect a new way of experiencing our commentary of these press conferences sometime this year. You may have already noticed a shift with our coverage of The Game Awards and December’s State of Play.
Building Up Our Friend Network
DualShockers is expanding its reach — including most of the biggest social networks. While we aren’t ready to make the jump to TikTok or Insta (yet), expect to see a lot more coverage in the following channels:
If you aren’t following any of the above, we’d love for you to do so. We are still testing the waters on many of them to see what you all like — for example, how much you like us peppering memes in:
Basically the #PokemonDirect rn pic.twitter.com/W7og6cUJC5
— DualShockers (@DualShockers) January 9, 2020
In other words, throw us a follow if you have some room in your inner friend circle and pardon our dust while we work out the kinks.
Odds and Ends
Then we have a few things we will (hopefully) be talking about in a future update. These include
- Infinite Scroll: No more having to jump back and forth on our front page to check your latest articles
- Focus on Video: We’re slowly aiming at getting out one piece of original content per day, whether that it is editorial content or capture about future games.
- Quicker Website: Why did DualShockers stop supporting Amp? Long story, that begins and ends with Google not liking some of our Venus Beach content. With that said, expect a quicker website using Google Amp moving forward in 2020.
- Crossover Coverage: Have you been feeling that DualShockers has been missing some of our Japanese coverage? We are working out plans to partner with an amazing group of writers to help broaden that out.
This is just a taste of some of the developments on DualShockers’ horizons, with a lot more unannounced developments lined up after. In the meantime, I hope to see a few of you in the comments — if there is something on the list you think is missing, let me know below.
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