I think this means HIS THRONE IS MINE NOW
I kid. This is actually super weird news for me, as it's not hard to see how influential N'Gai's work has been on me and other folks trying to find new ways to talk about games. He and I seem to "fight" every once in a while, but even though I've got a trigger finger over here, the debates we have had have ended up being some of my favorite moments in being part of this community.
His Level Up blog helped me think about options I had for approaching the subject of games as a writer before Sexy Videogameland existed, and before I'd ever really published much of anything. So it was pretty surreal to be interviewing him colleague to colleague and friend to friend for Gamasutra as he gets ready to tackle the next challenge.
One thing I didn't end up printing in the interview is that one of the things I credit most to him is helping delineate and cement the concept that there can exist game criticism as a discipline separate from traditional reviews, from pointed editorial and from news journalism -- writing that in part asks questions and shares experiences, something that's become a big part of the work I do.
So thanks, dude.
Also, here's N'Gai's official final post at Level Up.
