undead labs is an american seattle , washington-based game development studio , which was founded in 2009 by jeff strain , a former blizzard employee and one of the co-founders of arenanet .

undead labs

official twitter account of undead labs , developers of the state of decay franchise .
microsoft studios , state of decay 2 , undead labs , windows 10 games , .
microsoft studios , state of decay , state of decay 2 , undead labs , .
impressions , microsoft game studios , preview , state of decay , undead labs , .
© 2015 undead labs llc . all rights reserved . - terms of use - privacy policy
feature , microsoft , microsoft game studios , state of decay 2 , undead labs , .
state of decay , state of decay : year one survival edition , undead labs , .
feature , have you played , state of decay , survival week , undead labs , .
© 2016 microsoft corporation . all rights reserved . © 2016 undead labs llc . all rights reserved .
e3 2017 , microsoft studios , state of decay 2 , undead labs , windows 10 games , .
e3 2016 , microsoft studios , state of decay , state of decay 2 , undead labs , .
microsoft studios , state of decay 2 , undead labs , windows 10 games , xbox play anywhere , .
microsoft studios , state of decay , state of decay : year one survival edition , undead labs , .
feature , microsoft , review , state of decay 2 , undead labs , windows 10 games , wot i think , .
moonrise will debut at pax prime in seattle later this month , where undead labs will be showcasing the title ' s beta build .
undead labs on twitter :
a release date . first real look at gameplay . you know . . . stuff . …
is streaming about the new dlc independence day pack right now for state of decay 2 . check it out on undead labs mixer or twitch !
# business , compulsion games , e3 2018 , microsoft , microsoft studios , ninja theory , playground games , the initiative , undead labs , .
state of decay developers undead labs might be working on lifeline , the military - focused expansion to their zombie survival game , but that . . .
undead labs’ zombie apocalypse simulator , state of decay 2 , made a strong showing during e3 2017 as microsoft introduced a large new chunk of . . .
state of decay developer undead labs has signed a deal to produced multiple games for the publisher over the next few years . it’s not clear yet . . .
feature , guide , microsoft studios , state of decay , state of decay 2 , state of decay : year one survival edition , undead labs , walkthrough , .
feature , microsoft studios , preview , state of decay 2 , undead labs , video , walkthrough , windows 10 games , xbox play anywhere , zombie game , .
state of decay 2 is a hard taskmaster . undead labs’ survival sequel lulls you into a false sense of security , holding back the zombie horde for . . .
state of decay 2 developers undead labs are already calling time on the battle royale genre . though they ' re making a survival game - the genre . . .
state of decay 2 is an ambitious zombie basher , but does it have the performance to match ? undead labs have taken the well - received original and . . .
developers undead labs unveiled a new gameplay trailer for zombie - survival - brawler state of decay 2 at pax east in boston this week , and it looks . . .
everyone has their own idea of how they ' d survive . we thought it would be fun to build a game around that concept .
- - jeff strain , undead labs
strain said that development on moonrise began in 2013 shortly after state of decay was delivered to certification . during this year ' s game developers conference , kabam approached undead labs about publishing .
the next game from state of decay developer undead labs is moonrise , a multiplayer monster collecting role - playing game for mobile devices being developed in collaboration with kabam , the companies announced today .
undead labs is a studio formed in 2009 and based in seattle , washington . the studio was with the vision of creating a zombie - themed massively multiplayer online game currently codenamed class 4 .
undead labs , the studio behind state of decay , have been tinkering away on a free - to - play rpg for a while . it’s called moonrise , and it wears . . .
coop , feature , microsoft studios , multiplayer , state of decay , state of decay 2 , state of decay : year one survival edition , undead labs , video , windows 10 games , .
the headline is just one of several catchphrase suggestions for undead labs’ upcoming moonrise . they could also go with “you simply must capture ‘em all” or “cram yer pockets with pure tiny monsters , aye ? ”
the game you ' ve all been waiting for . state of decay is an open - world zombie - survival game , developed at undead labs and produced for xbox 360 ( via xbox . . .
undead labs is on a mission to take gaming in bold new directions . we are the makers of the state of decay franchise , and have exciting plans for the future . read more about the lab here .
this marks the second publishing collaboration for undead labs , the first being a multi - year , multi - title agreement with microsoft studios made shortly after state of decay became the fastest selling xbox live arcade title in history .
strain also noted that , in addition to the advantage of having the microsoft studios team shepherding the project along , the xbox platform — both on xbox 360 and now on xbox one — offered undead labs some important technological benefits .
strain has been very positive about his company ' s relationship with microsoft , and he told polygon that undead labs went with microsoft for the original state of decay and followed up with the long - term agreement for a number of reasons .
but the core of moonrise — like the future of state of decay — is
most definitively multiplayer .
he explained that undead labs is
in the business
of building online games that can be picked up and played anytime , anywhere , and wanted to create a new game that wasn ' t cross - platform but
omni - platform .
undead labs wanted something players could take with them , eventually settling moonrise on the one device people always have with them — their phones .
in an effort to build to that goal , the staff at undead labs has opted to create a xbox live arcade title , state of decay . the arcade title will allow the team to focus on the core mechanics they hope to feature in the larger game .
the game , which is currently going by the codename
class3 ,
sounds an awful lot like an interactive take on
the walking dead .
undead labs is building an open - world game that , as they describe in a new blog post , will
empower you to try out your real - world zombie survival plan .
it ' s early in the development and a lot of the ideas being thrown around are of the big picture variety , but there ' s no denying the appeal in what undead labs is cooking up .
kidding ! seriously , undead labs remains an independent studio , in full creative control of the games we make . that said , i wasn’t bsing when i said we are excited to work directly with microsoft on this project . over the past year we were approached by numerous publishers expressing an interest in partnering with undead labs . not surprisingly , many of them were mmo industry publishers who were drawn to the team’s track record in that industry , and while they were excited to work with our team , most of them wanted us to work on yet another world of warcraft clone .
the game is coming to xbox one and pc for $ 29 . 99 , and players who bought it before get a 33 - percent discount . returning players also get access to an exclusive character , which undead labs calls
the sword - wielding indian - american badass , gurubani .
this position is for full - time employment at the undead labs studio in seattle . ( for more on our culture , be sure to check the jobs page . ) if you think you have what it takes , send your resume and some code samples in c + + or c # to jobs @ undeadlabs . com .
as you fight the undead hordes you’ll find new survivors . your favorite characters from lifeline can now be unlocked in breakdown , including the previously unplayable kelly “sasquatch” eldridge .
state of decay : lifeline , the second expansion and the first story - based add - on for undead labs ' hit xbox live arcade title , turns the tables on state of decay by putting the player on the military side of humanity ' s efforts to repel the zombie threat . but as we saw during a demo of lifeline at pax east 2014 , that doesn ' t mean that the dlc will shy away from what made the original game so special : exploring the psychological effects of dealing with the undead .
lifeline is a single - player expansion ; strain said last year that it wasn ' t feasible to add a multiplayer component to state of decay . but as a result of the multi - year , multi - game agreement between undead labs and publisher microsoft studios that the companies announced in january , the state of decay brand is here to stay — and multiplayer action is the bedrock of its future .
undead labs , creators of the smash hit survival - fantasy game state of decay , is home to an elite team of programmers , artists , designers , musicians , and producers . above all else , we love games and we love to try new things . if you think you could help to create our unique brand of innovative games for gamers on all platforms , we want to hear from you .
my experience with our team and microsoft has been that it is built from very passionate , very smart people whose hearts are in the right place ,
said strain . he pointed out that state of decay was a risky proposition to invest in , partly because undead labs
did violate game dev 101
with several of its design choices , like the inclusion of permadeath in a role - playing game .
finally , when i had just parted ways with glu ( after eleven years at the same office ) , i got a call from richard foge , the design director at undead labs . state of decay was shipping , and they had an opening for a designer to handle the expansions . he thought i should apply , and if i was a good fit for the team and the job , then i’d be in .
then i went to pax 2012 , and stumbled into this tiny booth on the edge of microsoft territory , where this studio i’d never heard of called undead labs was demoing the exact game i wanted to make . i started talking to them excitedly about the potential of their state of decay franchise , and over the course of the next year , we had lunch several times , exchanged e - mails , and really got to know each other .
microsoft have gone on a spending spree , buying four studios and opening a new one of their own . during their e3 pressblast tonight , microsoft announced that they’ve picked up forza horizon developers playground games , hellblade developers ninja theory , state of decay developers undead labs , and we happy few developers compulsion games . they’ve also opened the initiative , a new studio in santa monica with a name like a faction of wwe heels . read the rest of this entry »
state of decay developers undead labs today announced a sequel to their community - building zombie apocalypse survival game , coming to windows 10 in 2017 . the big feature for state of decay 2 [ official site ] is online co - op , letting up to four players join up to romp around the end of human civilisation . between this and dead rising 4’s announcement , it has been a good day for co - op zombiefun . have a look at sod2 :
in a post on the undead labs blog , studio founder jeff strain — a veteran programmer who worked on starcraft and diablo and co - founded guild wars studio arenanet — detailed the new game ' s features . moonrise will feature 3d visuals and be multiplayer - focused , with real - time online play available between friends . players will collect magical creatures they can use in real - time strategic combat scenarios , as well as customize these creatures and their own created character .
state of decay didn’t impress me when i played it last september . originally released on the 360 , undead labs’ debut is an open world survival game with a structure remarkably close to my ideal zombie game . it’s about scavenging , gathering survivors , barricading , running out of supplies , collecting vehicles and avoiding enormous hordes of the living dead . great ingredients that didn’t quite make for a fine banquet , but it’s a much better game now than it was a year ago .
if guttural howls from those strange , primitive hill people in console land are anything to go by , state of decay is apparently quite excellent . we at rps have been eagerly awaiting its arrival on pc while sipping fine scotch and inventing new classical instruments , and now it’s finally made the leap . kinda . the nicely freeform zombie sandbox is playable on our platform of choice right this very second , but you’ll have to contort your highly evolved digits around a controller in order to make with all the driving , surviving , and undead drop - kicking . it’s not all bad , though . undead labs actually wants your help coming up with a fitting keyboard - and - mouse control setup – among other things .
‘class3’ is the codename for the ambitious zombie - survival open world game currently under development at undead labs for release as an xbox live arcade title . ‘class4’ is the codename for the subsequent zombie - survival online world game that we will develop by building on the class3 platform . in other words , class3 runs on your xbox 360 and supports 1 - 2 players via xbox live or on the same screen , while class4 will provide a much larger server - hosted world for thousands of simultaneous players .
our open positions are listed below . unless otherwise stated , all positions are for full - time employment at the undead labs studio in downtown seattle . if one of them describes you , send us an email expressing your interest in joining us . if you know someone who works at the lab , please express your interest to that person directly . if we haven’t had the opportunity to meet you yet , please send us an email with links to your online portfolio and resume to jobs @ urltoken .
like every game we will ever make , moonrise is a gamer - focused game , meaning it ' s developed for people like us —passionate gamers who expect our time and money to be treated with respect ,
strain added in his post .
it ' s also fully an undead labs game in terms our complete commitment to the player community and long term support for the game . moonrise is as much our baby as state of decay , and babies needs lots of love and attention .
if you ' ve been feeling some burnout from the zombie overload in pop culture of late , then you run the risk of missing out on some cool stuff .
the walking dead
tv series was great stuff and the just - released zombie map for
call of duty : black ops
features space monkeys , which is absolutely fine . now there ' s news of an upcoming xbox live arcade title from undead labs that the developer hopes will put a whole new spin on zombie video gaming .
moonrise is of course very different from state of decay in many ways ,
strain wrote .
it ' s bright and colorful , it ' s fantastical , and it ' s on mobile . but despite those notable differences , you ' ll also find that it ' s very much an undead labs game , with a focus on systems - driven content , sophisticated progression mechanics , and a few bold design choices — such as strategic real - time combat — we think will result in a fresh gameplay experience .
i’m almost done catching up on news i missed over the long holiday weekend and , aw , this last bit’s bad news . state of decay creators undead labs are planning to close their pocket monster battling game moonrise [ official site ] without ever officially launching it . moonrise launched on steam early access in may , selling $ 15 and $ 20 bundles of creatures and virtuacash and whatnot . it was supposed to turn free - to - play when it launched but , well , it won’t launch and they’ve pulled it from sale .
missions in lifeline will focus on picking up people trapped in danforth and bringing them back home so the military can extract them to safety via helicopter when the next resource drop comes around . as in state of decay , your outpost becomes more challenging to manage as its population grows . we watched undead labs founder jeff strain play a rescue mission in lifeline , and before he began , he scrolled through the game ' s interface for building out your base . keeping the place sanitary is a key factor in maintaining morale , so strain constructed a latrine .
the long - term goal for this project is meant to culminate in
class4 ,
a massively multiplayer outing that brings the basic mechanical precepts established in
class3
into a much larger space and for considerably higher numbers of players . that ' s going to happen much further down the line , after
class3
- - a full - blown game that will also serve as a testing ground - - has been put through its paces . for now , undead labs is partnered with microsoft on the xbox live arcade release and in concept at least it sounds freaking awesome .
when our adam asked “have you played… state of decay ? ” he noted that the open - world zombie survive ’em up had become a lot better in the year since its release , thanks largely to its ‘breakdown’ dlc . what we here at rps have apparently neglected to mention so far is that developers undead labs are revamping state of decay for a prettied - up rerelease with its dlc bundled in as the year one survival edition . oh ! well , they are . and now they’ve announced a release date . unfortunately , it won’t come as an upgrade , only sold separately .
their intention for the open - world game is to put just as much emphasis on the challenges of surviving in a post - apocalyptic , zombie - infested world as they will on actually bringing down the shambling hordes in open combat . food , water , shelter and ammo are listed as necessary resources to seek out and maintain . shelters will need to be built , but since location is also important you ' ll need to explore the open environment , either on foot or in a vehicle . you can even bring a friend along , as undead labs plans for two - player cooperative play .
it makes sense when you consider undead labs ' multiplayer ambitions for the state of decay series ; in fact , when strain announced the formation of the studio in 2009 , the title of the press release said the company was created to develop a
console - based zombie mmo .
asked about the xbox live compute cloud — the xbox one ' s highly touted cloud - based computing technology — strain told us ,
the azure infrastructure is huge . the existing live infrastructure is really quite mature and robust . and those are all things that we ' d love to take advantage of .
what we’ve found is that while some people really love moonrise , there were unfortunately many more people who played the game and then moved on after a few days . for a standalone , offline game that might be fine ; but for an online game with significant server hosting costs and an expectation for ongoing development and new content , it can mean a game that not only doesn’t pay for it’s development costs , but might even cost money to operate . as you can imagine , that’s not something that makes sense for an independent studio like undead labs , nor for that matter would it be a good business decision even for a large publisher .
as you know , moonrise has been in beta on steam in the early access channel for the past few months . at the same time , the ios version of the game has been available in limited release , in countries including australia and canada . during this beta period we’ve been gathering data on how people play the game . the free - to - play model , and the mobile market , are new territory for undead labs , so we’ve been paying close attention to these numbers to make sure we’re making a game people are excited to play , and also a game that we can operate profitably and sustainably with the level of support you expect .
ah , there’s nothing like throwing a pipe bomb at a group of zombies , and having that pipe bomb freeze in mid - air right in front of your face and explode . state of decay 2 wasn’t good at many things , but it was good at being a buggy jankfest . now , a patch from developers undead labs includes fixes for the accidental facebomb , along with some more of the worst bugs , like disappearing health bars and doors that won’t stay open . the patch is 20 gb large , perhaps a testament to just how much of the zombie survival game was left unpolished when it released ( for windows 10 only ) last month . read the rest of this entry »
microsoft and undead labs announced that they were bringing an enhanced version the game to xbox one and pc last august , and now they ' ve released additional details about what ' s in the remastered version . the year - one edition combines the original release and its two previously released dlc packages , breakdown and lifeline . breakdown was the game ' s sandbox mode , which stripped the story away from the original release and simply challenged players to stay alive as long as they could . breakdown moved the action into a new city , and let players experience the catastrophe from the perspective of a military unit . as they learned , superior firepower only means so much against such an unrelenting opponent .
watching the state of decay 2 [ official site ] trailer which came out of e3 it got me thinking about how focused the games industry is on the human undead . sure there are sometimes a few pets or whatnot which appear sometimes in a horror movie - ish way – this thing which was cute is now scary – but why aren’t people resurrecting dinosaurs ? is this a comment on whether a t - rex has a soul ?
move through the world like a zombie - slaying badass . dive through windows , jump on cars , and take it to the living dead with baseball bats . hop in a truck and mow down some undead pedestrians . break into the local police station and clear out their arsenal or walk into the local grocery store to stock up on your favorite junk food . the world is your oyster…a shiny oyster that happens to be filled with zombies .
- - sets itself apart . we recently spoke with strain about how the team ' s first onus ( which recently found a publishing partner in microsoft game studios ) stands out among a veritable field of undead offerings , and he explained succinctly ,
in a real zombie apocalypse , you wouldn ' t just gather up the guns and go hunting zombies . you ' d be trying to avoid them . you ' d be trying to survive .
come the zombie apocalypse the jugglers are the first against the wall . what to do with an unemployed children’s entertainer is one of the tamer dilemmas thrown up in the three hours i spent with state of decay 2 . but it’s indicative of undead lab’s slightly goofy take on zombie survival , one that has you desperately scavenging for supplies one second and weighing up the combat potential of a barista the next . i condensed all this , and the game’s other new features , into one convenient 20 minute walkthrough .
strain left ncsoft last summer to build a creative studio around the most talented – and zombie loving – developers in the industry , and to pioneer a new development model that will create a new breed of mmo built from the ground - up for console gamers .
“every time i see a good zombie movie with friends , we spend days debating our strategies for surviving the zombie apocalypse , ” said strain . “the police station , or the supermarket ? garden rake , or staple gun ? bach , or the white stripes ? i’m a game developer , so i’d probably be useless for anything other than ghoul bait , but i’m excited to have the opportunity to build an mmoz that lets us put those strategies to the test and find out for sure . ”
strain’s experience and expertise as a game developer and business leader helped spawn the game industry’s most successful and influential mmos . in the mid - nineties while strain was at blizzard entertainment , he was a programmer for starcraft and diablo and created the starcraft campaign editor . in 1999 strain formed the initial team and kicked off development on the wildly successful mmo world of warcraft while taking on the roles of team lead and lead programmer on the project .
attention : our privacy policy has changed . please click here to view the updates .
in light of this , we won’t be commercially releasing moonrise . there are some fantastic elements to the game that we’re extremely proud of , and those might find their way into a future game someday , but for now we’re going to make some changes to the game that make it a blast to play for our existing players .
since we won’t have to worry about whether the game is profitable , we can just have some fun and open the floodgates . we’re updating the game with new solari , wildlands , dungeons , and clothing shops . we’re also increasing rewards in arena mode , making it easier to earn xp and hit upgrade and evolution milestones , increasing drop rates , decreasing leveling time , and generally making the game play faster and easier across the board . we’re also giving every player a free sunset pack containing 2 , 000 gems , 10 , 000 gold , two solari boosters , and a bunch of essences . detailed patch notes are here .
this update will be available on steam today , and for our ios players as soon as we clear certification with apple , usually in about 2–3 weeks . we’ll keep the servers running for the rest of the year , ending midnight , december 31 .
i want to personally thank every one of you who played moonrise , and in particular those of you jumped in on our steam and ul player forums and shared your feedback with us — both the praise , which makes us giddy like little kids , and also the criticism , which makes us learn and get better at our jobs . our future games will benefit tremendously from your feedback and support .
© valve corporation . all rights reserved . all trademarks are property of their respective owners in the us and other countries .
the moonrise has transformed wild solari into savage lunari . only wardens like you are capable of protecting innocent people from the fierce lunari . . . are you up to the challenge ?
© 2018 valve corporation . all rights reserved . all trademarks are property of their respective owners in the us and other countries .
vat included in all prices where applicable . privacy policy | legal | steam subscriber agreement | refunds
we can’t talk about what we’re doing , so we’re talking about the people doing the work . if you’ve ever been to a show where we were demoing our games , you’ve probably talked to geoffrey , our lead designer for state of decay . check out the story of how he came to be here . — sanya
my first foray into game design was when i was seven years old , and i realized that all it took to make a board game was a pen and paper and a die . i used to draw out weird little games that were a cross between
, and they were terrible . it only took one playtest to make it obvious that they weren’t any good , and i had no idea what to do to fix them . so i stopped , and played with legos instead .
legos , though . those were amazing . my sister and i used to play together , though we had very different interests . she used them ( at the age of five ) to tell personal stories of loss and heartbreak , while i mostly wanted to build sci - fi military bases , and have them fight to the last man against ruthless invaders who left a trail of sword - impaled lego corpses in their wake .
we eventually compromised with natural disasters like floods and tornadoes , which satisfied my need for destruction , as well as her insatiable desire to care for sad refugees .
but this pattern of using our toys to tell our own stories persisted through a range of different interests . i used to watch transformers and g . i . joe on tv , but for the life of me , i couldn’t retain any of those scripted plotlines . i was much more interested in the persistent characters and stories i was creating myself , over the course of years , with my legos , my stuffed animals , and my ( naturally sentient ) hot wheels cars .
i’ve played video games for as long as i could remember . my dad was a game critic in the eighties , and so video games showed up randomly at our house by the truckload . my dad didn’t have time to play them all , so he subcontracted that work out to me . my job was to play every game that entered the house , evaluate them , come up with themed lists of games to demo for him , and then give him the raw material to write his articles with .
i couldn’t write like he could , but it was a transformative experience for me to play all those games , not just for fun ( though many of them were ) , but to root out what could be said about them on an analytical level .
unfortunately , i never had the patience or temperament to learn to program ( see : me quitting making board games as soon as it became hard ) . and as far as i knew at the time , that was the only way to get involved in video games . so when i graduated high school , i went on to film school , and started training to become a director and screenwriter .
but i noticed a difference between me and some of the other folks in the film department . you could sort of tell who was going to make it — the ones who imagined themselves making a movie , and then just went out and did it . the ones who didn’t need a class project to get them moving . the ones who would take a minor video assignment and turn it into a full - scale production , because they could , and because they loved it . they devoted every waking minute to their art , because it was both work and play for them .
meanwhile , i would just go home and stay up all night playing video games .
i played a couple of the most influential games of my life during this period . the original two
games did something that felt revolutionary to me — letting me make an extremely arbitrary character , sending me out into the deadly wasteland , and then giving me the agency to decide how i would affect the world , for good or evil .
the first time i won , and saw the final montage of the effects my choices had on future history , i was completely hooked . i made character after character , trying different strategies , and coming up with different motivations . “this woman hates mutants . ” “this guy is socially anxious , and avoids speaking to anyone . ”
i was telling my own stories again , just like i did with my legos — only this time , i had a world that was created by someone else , which would push back against me in surprising ways , and provide me with feedback for my decisions . once , i accepted a mission to assassinate someone at an orphanage ( because i was “being evil” at the time ) , and when i did , a room full of children assaulted at me , and i had to mow them down . that playthrough stopped right then — i couldn’t continue because the story i was telling was too ugly . and i learned something about myself .
it was deus ex that clinched it for me . on my third playthrough [ spoilers — seriously , you should play this game if you haven’t already ] , on a lark , i decided to stand my ground during the scene where the men in black are coming for my brother , and he is ordering me to flee . i assumed that the developers were using my brother’s voice to tell me what i had to do , so i didn’t expect to be able to survive . i saved my game , and prepared to meet my doom .
but with the right placement of mines and some luck , i actually did survive . and my brother lived . later , in the scene where i was supposed to find his body , there was someone else on the gurney . and his voice was now in my ear , over the radio , influencing my moral decisions , throughout the rest of a story that i thought i had already played to death , twice before .
a choice that i made had a ripple effect in this world . this was my story now , to a degree that it had never been before . there was something profound about that , and i wanted more of it . i wanted to be a part of making more of it .
when i was twenty - four , my dad asked me to represent him at a meeting with amaze entertainment , a video game developer in the seattle area that was courting him for some work . i ended up spending two days with them , telling them exactly how i would design the game they wanted to make .
back then , the game industry was the wild west . there weren’t any college programs , or other “official” ways to get into the game industry . owners of game companies had to be on the lookout for potential entry - level hires in all kinds of random places , and in this case , they decided to offer an entry - level position to me .
this blew my mind . i looked at all the time and effort i was putting into being a filmmaker , and suddenly , i did not give a crap about any of it . making games was what i wanted to do ; it was obvious . and now i had a problem .
what worried me was that story i told at the very beginning : i quit making board games as soon as it became hard . making video games was my dream job , and now it was about to become hard . and i had never seen myself actually accomplish something difficult , ever in my life .
i was the sort of kid who coasted through school , did whatever caught his eye , but never got really devoted to any of it . that helped me on one level , because it meant i played a lot of video games . but it also meant i was lazy . a procrastinator . the kind of kid who cleaned his room once a year , when it finally got bad enough that it was an adventure instead of a chore . the kind who lost a scholarship because he was in a bad mood on finals week . the kind of kid you never want to give any serious responsibility to .
suddenly , for the first time in my life , i had this unbelievable opportunity that i was going to screw up . you’ve heard of impostor syndrome ? holy crap , did i have impostor syndrome . i knew i didn’t deserve that job , and i knew that if anyone found out how lazy and procrastinating i really was , they would fire me immediately .
so i spent years pretending to be a really hard worker . it’s not a hard act to pull off — you just have to do an awful lot of work . i practically lived at the office , pouring everything i had into the games i was assigned to work on . at one point , i actually won a minor prize in an m & m’s sweepstakes because i was living entirely off the candy and ramen on the studio’s snack table .
i was made a lead designer fairly early in my career — and not because i was ready for it at all . it was more of a battlefield promotion in the midst of attrition . but i managed to hold onto it , partly through sheer luck — each of my own disasters was dwarfed by a larger disaster elsewhere in the company that made me seem tolerable by comparison .
what we did was mostly licensed work — low - budget games based on kids’ movies , and handheld spinoffs of other people’s franchises . but i genuinely
in 2011 , i thought i was about to get my shot at doing something new . the industry was changing , the licensed work was running dry , and so amaze’s parent company sold it off to up - and - coming mobile giant glu .
we spent the first few months at glu pitching all our crazy original ideas , including this one i’d been nurturing for a while — a game about a community of survivors during a zombie apocalypse that was much more about the characters and the dynamic storytelling than it was about the danger and the violence .
in the end , i was assigned to other projects , and those original ideas went onto a back burner that was so far back , it was pretty much the fridge .
so that’s how i finally got the chance to do the work i’d been preparing for since i was seven years old . the state of decay franchise is poised to break new ground in the realm of video game storytelling , and through a series of incredibly improbable events , i’m actually a part of it , contributing the ideas and experiences that i’ve collected over the past thirty years to the ones that were already here , and the ones that came in after me .
there is one subplot here , though , that i skipped . when i landed my first job in the game industry , and suddenly went from procrastinating aspiring screenwriter to job - having career guy , one of the first things i did was propose to my girlfriend . now we’re married with four children , and my second daughter is the same age that i was when i started this whole journey thirty years ago .
when moonrise was canceled , her first response was , “but we worked so hard on it ! ” as an early access player , she felt like she was part of the team . she would make suggestions all the time , and once even got a weapon idea into state of decay . ( if you like the pirate cutlass , you have her to thank for it ! )
i like to imagine that my job is giving her the same kind of opportunity that my dad’s job gave to me — a chance to see games not just as an idle pastime , but as an important art form that adults think deeply about , and devote their careers to .
she doesn’t actually have to be a game designer , of course . right now , she says she’s planning to be a farmer , so she can pet animals every day . but when i remember the transformations that i went through playing fallout and deus ex , i’m thrilled by the idea that the work we do here might one day affect some other young mind , and through them , continue pushing out the boundaries of what video games are capable of .
© 2018 viacom international inc . all rights reserved . mtv and all related titles and logos are trademarks of viacom international inc .
lifeline casts the player as a member of greyhound one , a small platoon that ' s attempting to maintain order in the overrun city of danforth . unlike in state of decay , you start out with plenty of rations and support from the larger military . but all of it dwindles over time in the face of the zombie outbreak : your supplies gradually deteriorate , and resupplies from your group ' s commanders become more rare . that forces you and your comrades to head out of your base into town , in an attempt to rescue civilians and gather resources to fortify your defenses .
afterward , he went into danforth on a mission to rescue a man named dr . madison grant . lifeline includes some new vehicles and graphical improvements over the original game , and they were apparent in our demo . according to strain , lifeline brings a brand - new region with an area of 4 square kilometers into state of decay . he drove along a highway littered with zombies and abandoned vehicles to get to dr . grant , and then the two of them escaped the area together .
this isn ' t an escort mission with a helpless person . the ai for grant wasn ' t dumb : he followed strain ' s character as strain switched cars , and dr . grant even managed to fight off some zombies while in the bed of a pickup truck strain was driving . once they made it back to the outpost , strain explained that other rescue missions will direct you to soldiers marooned in danforth ; after all — as in state of decay — it ' s possible for the player character to die , and once that happens , you ' ll switch to controlling a different soldier . if all the soldiers bite the dust , it ' s game over . that can also occur if you lose too many civilians to zombie attacks on your base .
we have long - term ambitions for the franchise ,
said strain in an interview following the demo , referring to the deal with microsoft .
wherever we take this , in terms of sequels , multiplayer will be built in from the beginning .
when you look at some of the things we want to do going forward , if you want to be on the console platform , it takes some different thinking about the console business model , about the live infrastructure and network infrastructure that traditionally you associate with the console experience ,
he said .
we ' re going to have to have somebody who ' s a partner working with us on the technology to make all that happen . and so working directly with microsoft is going to be a huge win going forward for that .
strain also praised microsoft ' s recent announcement that microsoft studios chief phil spencer was being promoted to head of xbox .
phil ' s a fan of the game , he ' s a fan of the studio — he wears his state of decay t - shirt up on the stage at e3 — and he ' s super excited about where we ' re going . so we were very happy with it ,
said strain .
lifeline is the latest piece of that bright future for state of decay . the expansion is set for release this june ; strain couldn ' t confirm a price , but said it will likely be
pretty close
to the first add - on , breakdown , which costs $ 6 . 99 .
fallout 76’s todd howard : no cross - console play because ‘sony is not as helpful as everyone would like . ’
this article has a component height of 19 . the sidebar size is long .
. we can ' t help but sympathize with their worries - - in the past three years , we ' ve crushed , shot , sliced , exploded and generally obliterated more virtual zombies than we could ever possibly hope to count throughout the fullness of time .
we wanted to build a game around the central question of ' what would you do in the zombie apocalypse ' ,
strain explained .
we ' ve all had the experience of going to a great zombie movies , coming out with our friends and grabbing a beer and , you know , you sit around talk about what your personal strategy is . would you go to a helicopter , would you try to get on a boat , would you get in a car and try to drive to some remote farm somewhere - - everyone has their own idea of how they ' d survive . we thought it would be fun to build a game around that concept .
players will carry out their strategies in a third - person , over the shoulder
fast - paced action
shooter , exploring locations scattered across the zombie - infested sandbox town of dunniway . while exploring , players will make decisions that affect how the zombocalypse evolves , all the time searching for a home base that they can fortify with resources scattered throughout the environment .
what makes this game really different is the focus not on combat with zombies , but surviving the zombie threat ,
strain said .
stealth , evasion , securing your resources , figuring out ways to distract the zombies so they don ' t pile up on you , and moving through the world in a very kind of realistic way .
finding weapons is certainly a big part of it , but by weapons , we mean more than guns ,
strain added .
you live in this world that is filled with the clutter of 21st century civilization that ' s now yours for the plucking . there ' s all kinds of things that could be weapons : from the serious , like knives and crowbars , to the humorous , like golf clubs and baseball bats .


hitfix , or hitfix.com , is an entertainment news website that launched in december 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news , insider information , and reviews and critiques of film , music , and television .

in mid-2010 hitfix crossed the 1,000,000 unique users per month milestone .

as of june 2017 , hitfix was ranked 37th among all entertainment news websites by web traffic analyser alexa internet .

hitfix has been cited as a source by such publications as time , los angeles times , the huffington post , e! online , and the daily herald .

in april 2016 , it became a brand of woven digital .

hitfix

in march 2016 , hitfix had 3 . 9 million unique visitors in the u . s . , while woven digital tallied 33 . 1 million , according to comscore . hitfix claims that it reaches an audience of 300 million each month across hitfix . com , hitfix - branded channels on youtube and facebook , and via other partners .
the star - ledger ' s alan sepinwall moves to hitfix . com | business wire
hitfix , or hitfix . com , is an entertainment news website that launched in december 2008 specializing in breaking entertainment news , insider information , and reviews and critiques of film , music , and television .
oops , meant to add that your google - friendly name saved me often in the hitfix days .
subscribe to hitfix or check back daily for exclusive interviews with the biggest names in hollywood , expert opinion and commentary on the latest breaking movie , tv and music news and original viral videos from hitfix riot . join the 4 million people who visit hitfix every month for the latest entertainment news , reviews , recaps and analysis - all delivered by veteran experts without the gossip and celebrity news - at www . hitfix . com . show less
does anyone know how to get email notifications of alan’s articles ? it used to work in the hitfix days .
hitfix said it has more than 4 million monthly unique users and 50 million users across its video distribution network .
always fantastic film writing , one of my favourites . will miss you from aicn . hitfix then eh . . .
the fien print . 1 . 2k likes . television critic for the hollywood reporter . formerly at hitfix . com .
entertainment news website hitfix has received $ 1 . 8 million in second - round funding led by tech coast angels .
youth - skewing media company woven digital has bought hitfix , a fan - focused publisher of entertainment news , reviews and video .
after a combined eight years at hitfix and uproxx , tv critic alan sepinwall says goodby as he prepares for a new chapter .
what ' s alan watching will launch on hitfix on tuesday , may 4 , 2010 . fans can sign up for a reminder by visiting
hitfix had raised $ 6 . 8 million , per crunchbase . the company’s investors included gordon crawford , golden seeds , angel capital entrepreneurial fund , liquid capital group and tech coast angels . in 2008 , sargent co - founded hitfix with gregory ellwood , who left the company last september .
keywords suggestion tool used hitfix keyword to suggest some keywords related from this domain . if you want more , you can press button load more »
this sucks to read . will we be able to read your past film nerd 2 . 0 articles somewhere else , or still at hitfix ?
very sorry to hear this , drew , but i can personally testify that there ' s life after hitfix . wishing you a swift rescue .
hope the transition will be smooth and mostly without issues ! especially for the archives , hopefully the system would be better than what hitfix had for sure .
distinctive and respected voices are difficult to find these days in an increasingly fragmented media landscape ,
gregory ellwood , editor - in - chief and co - founder of hitfix , inc . says .
we are thrilled someone of alan ' s stature and talent has decided to join the hitfix team .
and it said my email address was already taken . . . < p > were the email addresses of aicn talkbackers copied over to the hitfix beta list ?
i’m glad to see you have your own sub - headline , alan . that way when uproxx inevitably gets rid of the hitfix banner yours will still exist .
just because i hate donna dickens and amy schumer doesn’t make me a right winger . i hate the extremes on that side , too . hitfix was awfully biased .
founded in dec 2008 by jennifer sargent and gregory ellwood , hitfix brings the world of entertainment to discerning fans that prefer entertainment journalism and events to celebrity scandal . hitfix has a top - notch team of insiders that break news on what’s next in tv , music and movies . profiled in businessweek in 2009 as one of “america’s most promising start - ups” , hitfix is the only entertainment news site to offer a location - based calendar tool , called the hitfix event forecast , that lets fans discover must - watch tv , upcoming movies , concerts , sports , theater , video games , album & dvd releases and local events through the website and through their iphone .
i appreciate every one of you who reads my work . i ' m not sure where you ' ll read it next , but it is no longer at hitfix .
hopefully the change is for the better . hitfix turned into a horrible site with horrible writers ( you were the last quality one left ) … . i don’t know uproxx , though . is it the same garbage , click - bate , extremely left wing nonsense that hitfix turned into ? i see they brought donna along…so my hopes aren’t high .
while uproxx also covers entertainment , digiaro said it’s broader - based than hitfix and includes sports and music . “entertainment is such a key component of millennial culture , ” he said .
hitfix . com , one of the fastest growing film , tv and entertainment sites online , announced today that noted television writer alan sepinwall is joining its stable of award - winning writers and editors .
founded in 1997 , irvine - based tech coast angels is the largest angel investment organization in the united states . in 2010 , it participated in a $ 1 . 6 million investment round in hitfix .
drewmcweeny on twitter :
i appreciate every one of you who reads my work . i ' m not sure where you ' ll read it next , but it is no longer at hitfix .
co - founded by jennifer sargent and gregory ellwood , hitfix is the top destination for 18 - 34 year old consumers to discover what ' s next in entertainment news and events . hitfix calls on the talents of renowned entertainment journalists such as alan sepinwall , drew mcweeny , daniel fienberg , kris tapley and melinda newman to produce wide - ranging news , interviews and commentary on all aspects of entertainment . on a monthly basis , the site reaches over 4 million uniques directly and over 50 million users across their multi - platform video distribution . for more information visit www . hitfix . com , urltoken urltoken or urltoken
terms of the deal were not disclosed ; digiaro said the acquisition comprised a mix of cash and equity . with the acquisition hitfix’s 17 employees are joining woven , including sargent , editor - in - chief richard rushfield , cto anurag jain and tv critic alan sepinwall . ( last summer , variety hired kristopher tapley , who had served as editor - at - large for hitfix with his film awards blog in contention . )
) - - hitfix . com , one of the fastest growing film , tv and entertainment sites online , announced today that noted television writer alan sepinwall is joining its stable of award - winning writers and editors .
sepinwall , an active member of the television critic ' s association , is the latest addition to hitfix ' s established and respected industry experts including ellwood , drew mcweeny , daniel fienberg , melinda newman and katie hasty .
woven plans to boost hitfix’s video output , with higher production quality and frequency , said digiaro , who stepped into the ceo role last fall to replace scott grimes , who is now the company’s non - executive chairman .
youth - skewing media company woven digital has bought hitfix , a fan - focused publisher of entertainment news , reviews and video . for woven , hitfix’s focus on 18 - to 34 - year - old consumers passionate about movies and tv shows will expand the company’s reach into the highly sought demo , said ceo colin digiaro . other woven - owned properties include pop - culture site uproxx , which it acquired in 2014 , [ … ]
the latest tweets from terry sandton ( @ hitfix ) tweet with a location . you can add location information to your tweets , such as your city or precise location , from the web and via third - party applications .
“we’re humbled by this sizeable investment from some of the biggest names in the finance space , which will allow us to expand our reach across all platforms , ” hitfix cofounder and chief executive jen sargent said in a statement .
gregory ellwood is an american writer who has given film festival and awards season coverage for variety , la times and the telegraph . he is also the co - founder of hitfix and contributor to urltoken and awardaampaign . com .
hmmm . i ' ve tried three different addresses and hitfix keeps telling me my email address has already been taken . any help ? anyway , good luck , drew . you ' ve been my favorite reviewer here for years .
additional investors included golden seeds , an investment firm that funds women entrepreneurs , and gordon crawford , who committed a large personal investment in hitfix . crawford is a retired investment fund manager who worked for 40 years at capital group .
also , anything the programmers can do to make it easier to drill down to a review of a specific episode as we do binge - watching catch - ups , and want to get your thoughts … would be appreciated . at hitfix , we needed to 1 . figure out episode title , 2 . google sepinwall + title constrained to site : hitfix . com . something more convenient would be appropriate , given we’re not all watching all series in real time anymore .
earlier this year , uproxx ‘s parent company acquired hitfix , and while the two sites functioned independently for a while , it eventually made the most sense to combine our forces . so as of today , you can find all my stuff — both new material and the complete archive of my 6 - plus years at hitfix ( along with all the old comments ) — at urltoken . donna dickens , jill pantozzi , and others will continue covering comics , sci - fi , and other genre fare at urltoken .
my career began with me writing about tv online ,
says sepinwall ,
so it feels right to get back to doing that full - time - particularly at a website like hitfix with a stable of talented writers and a mission i respect .
who owns the moriarty tag ? will you take the pseudonym with you , or will it be drew at hitfix ? maybe aicn will keep the rights and suddenly there will be a new moriarty , but his reviews will sound oddly like an entertainment tonight stooge .
hitfix is the fastest growing online entertainment news destination , reaching more than 4 million monthly unique users ( with a higher concentration of the coveted 18 - 34 year old demographic than any of its competitors ) and upwards of 50 million across its video distribution network .
as you may remember , all heck broke loose last weekend when hitfix reported that edward norton would not be reprising his role as the green - skinned musclehead . a nasty game of verbal ping - pong between a marvel studios exec and norton ' s agent ensued .
david , devindra , and jeff are joined by drew mcweeny from hitfix to discuss batman v . superman : dawn of justice . be sure to read drew’s review of the film , devin faraci’s review of the film , and learn more about bvs’s box office performance .
about hitflix co - founded by jennifer sargent and gregory ellwood , hitfix is the top destination for 18 - 34 year old consumers to discover what’s next in entertainment news and events . hitfix calls on the talents of renowned entertainment journalists such as alan sepinwall , drew mcweeny , daniel fienberg , kris tapley and melinda newman to produce wide - ranging news , interviews and commentary on all aspects of entertainment . on a monthly basis , the site reaches over 4 million uniques directly and over 50 million users across their multi - platform video distribution .
woven digital thinks it knows . led by ceo colin digiaro and chief creative officer ben blank , woven is a pop culture - focused digital media and content company that ' s home to guy - friendly brands such as uproxx , brobible , dime magazine , and most recently , hitfix .
hitfix reported friday that mike myers inked a deal to reprise the role as the flamboyant brit . but that’s about all they knew . there was no word yet on a storyline or even a director – though jay roach would be a solid bet , as he’s helmed each powers film thus far .
with hitfix , woven digital now has 135 employees . the deal is woven digital’s seventh acquisition to date , following brobible ( 2012 ) , guyism ( 2013 ) , brotips ( 2013 ) , animal new york ( 2013 ) , uproxx ( 2014 ) and basketball fan site dime ( 2015 ) .
tech coast angels ( tca ) , the nation’s largest angel investor network , announced that its angel capital entrepreneurial fund ( ace ) committee has invested in a second round funding that helped raise $ 1 . 8m for hitfix , the top online destination for what’s new in entertainment . additional investors include , golden seeds , an investment firm dedicated to the empowerment of women entrepreneurs , and gordon crawford who committed a large personal investment in hitfix . crawford is a retired influential investment fund manager best known for his 40 - year career at capital group and dispensing wisdom to the titans of media , entertainment and technology .
when uproxx bought hitfix , they also bought years worth of content , including six - plus years of reviews , episodic recaps , and interviews from what’s alan watching ? all those old posts now exist under the uproxx banner , with uproxx urls ( if you have old hitfix links , they should still point you to the new versions ) , but it’s taking a while to get them organized . we’ve started building up hubs for notable shows — both classics like mad men , deadwood , and parks and recreation , and current shows in the rotation like game of thrones , the americans , and legion . all the links are below , in alphabetical order , and we hope to keep adding more of them when possible . if there’s a particular show from the hitfix days that you’d like to see a hub for , email me and i’ll pass it along to the web designers to see what can be done .
digiaro said the deal came together in recent months in talks with hitfix co - founder and ceo jennifer sargent . “it was evident how passionate jen and her team are for entertainment news , ” he said . “they fit well with the vision for woven… and we thought it made sense to work together . ”
tech coast angels ( tca ) , the nation ' s largest angel investor network , today announced that its angel capital entrepreneurial fund ( ace ) committee has invested in a second round funding that helped raise $ 1 . 8m for hitfix , the top online destination for what ' s new in entertainment . additional investors include , golden seeds , an investment firm dedicated to the empowerment of women entrepreneurs , and gordon crawford who committed a large personal investment in hitfix . crawford is a retired influential investment fund manager best known for his 40 - year career at capital group and dispensing wisdom to the titans of media , entertainment and technology .
hitfix , a los angeles - based producer of entertainment news and reviews , editorially positioned somewhere between variety and tmz , has found an enormous audience for its videos with 90 million monthly video views via web syndication and outdoor media , says jennifer sargent , ceo and co - founder in this video interview with beet . tv
for woven , hitfix ’s focus on 18 - to 34 - year - old consumers passionate about movies and tv shows will expand the company’s reach into the highly sought demo , said ceo colin digiaro . other woven - owned properties include pop - culture site uproxx , which it acquired in 2014 , and dude - oriented brobible .
when i left for my vacation last week , i promised some big blog news upon my return . well , you’ve probably already noticed the main part of it , since it got done ahead of schedule before i returned from my trip : what’s alan watching — and all of hitfix , for that matter — is now a part of uproxx .
. . . absolutely not . i wouldn ' t do that to the aicn readership . you guys are free to read hitfix or not . . . i ' m not going to strongarm anyone or use any mailing lists from here . i think we may just have a glitch right now . we are still just gearing up the beta , so bear with us .
was like one of the main reasons to come to this site and with him gone it will be a lesser place to visit . < br > < br > all the best with hitfix may need to hit you up with an email as my wireless card is playing up < br > < br > it ' s like the beatles all over again . . . : (
i can ' t believe it man . this place won ' t be the same without you . i like your reviews , and your occasional forays into the talkbacks to administer some discipline . < p > i wish you much success at hitfix and will definitely look for ya there . but stay on as a talkbacker . please . with a blackbox . the fun must not die .
for leaving to
hitfix
and it better not be money . you would leave a site run by people who live and breath movies like harry for what , i assume , is a pop - culture blog for idiots . you will regret this decision for the rest of your career . when this blog goes belly - up i hope there is still a place for you at aicn .
i ' ve loved mori ' s reviews . always thought he deserved his own archive like harry . even the controversies like being banned from the ranch , the evisceration of jj abrams ' superman script , telling us it is wrong to read preview scripts , the massa feud . they were good times all . i hope hitfix gives mori more discipline so there ' s more of him to read .
“since hitfix’s inception , founders jen sargent and greg ellwood have built the top editorial team in the business , strategically using its angel investments to lead consumer discussion and deliver top - notch content to its growing fan base , ” said ace deal committee member ray chan . “their continued success and high - rate of expansion to digital partners such as aol , hulu and youtube makes us confident that our money is in good hands . ”
“since hitfix ' s inception , founders jen sargent and greg ellwood have built the top editorial team in the business , strategically using its angel investments to lead consumer discussion and deliver top - notch content to its growing fan base , ” said ace deal committee member ray chan . “their continued success and high - rate of expansion to digital partners such as aol , hulu and youtube makes us confident that our money is in good hands . ”
greg co - founded hitfix , has contributed to the major trades ( variety , thr , etc . ) and he’s been reading the oscar tea leaves for as long as the internet has been around . he’s a terrific addition to the team and you’ll see his work starting at the telluride film festival in late august ( and if you were eagle - eyed , you’d have noticed a few pieces from cannes and karlovy vary early this year ) .
in person , digiaro and blank are laid back , engaging guys who are passionate about their work and confident in woven ' s ability to capture this notoriously hard - to - reach audience . woven claims half of 18 - to 34 - year - old men have visited the network of sites , which boasts 60 million monthly unique visitors and 120 million monthly video views . its recent acquisition of popular entertainment news site hitfix will only add to that number .
i once sent him an e - mail , because of something that he wrote and made me a little bit angry and he sent a very nice e - mail back . i don ' t think that someone like massawyrm would ever do that . ( of course i may be wrong . i never sent anything to massawyrm , because i don ' t read his stuff . ) < br > i wonder if mirajeff will be at hitfix too . . .
“since hitfix’s inception , founders jen sargent and greg ellwood have built the top editorial team in the business , strategically using its angel investments to lead consumer discussion and deliver top - notch content to its growing fan base , ” said ray chan , deal committee member of tech coast’s angel capital entrepreneurial fund . “their continued success and high - rate of expansion to digital partners such as aol , hulu and youtube makes us confident that our money is in good hands . ”
if you’re like us , you’ve seen a lot of really , really good movies this year . so which ones will make the cut when it comes to the oscar’s ? gregory ellwood , co - founder of hitfix and writer for variety and la times , covers the award season for urltoken and awardaampaign . com . he joins us this week to discuss la la land ’s chances , if casey affleck will take best actor for his emotional performance in manchester by the sea , and much more .
the television critic for the star - ledger for the past 14 years , alan sepinwall has become a must - read for tv fans and industry professionals alike . expanding on his work for the star - ledger , sepinwall has spent the past five years developing a large and loyal following on his private blog what ' s alan watching . that blog will be incorporated into urltoken allowing sepinwall ' s fans access to hitfix ' s proprietary event calendar and planning tools as they search for their entertainment fix .
word to the wise : if you ever have the privilege to interview tom hardy ( or any a - list actor , for the matter ) and that interview ends up being unexpectedly canceled , don ' t air your strongly worded grievances on a public forum such as twitter . yet that ' s exactly what hitfix film critic drew mcweeny chose to do last week , slamming back at the beautiful british actor for his supposed bad behavior at a recent press junket for the revenant . enjoy a select sampling of his delightful prose :
alan sepinwall has been writing about television for close to 20 years , first as an online reviewer of
nypd blue ,
then as a tv critic for the star - ledger ( tony soprano ' s hometown paper ) , now as author of the popular blog what ' s alan watching ? on hitfix . com . sepinwall ' s episode - by - episode approach to reviewing his favorite tv shows
changed the nature of television criticism ,
according to slate , which called him
the acknowledged king of the form .
this years investment portfolio represented companies in a wide number of growth industries including technology , biotech and pharmaceutical , social media , financial services , consumer products , and green technologies , among others . the companies funded by tech coast angels in 2010 included : cyber - rain ; benchmark revenue ; allylix ; outside labs ; vigilistics ; h2scan ; mobile xl ; continental windpower ; amplyx ; olfactor ; vokle ; micropower technologies ; hitfix ; ranker ; cardiocreate ; myshape ; bikestation ; mashermedia ; brand america ; intrastage ; youmail ; glassbeam ; laughstub ; ondax ; cosnet ; solulink ; and cognition therapeutics .
our middle - aged critics like devin faraci from birth . movies . death and drew mcweeny over at hitfix have settled in nicely to mainstream roles after spending a decade and a half contributing to the ruination of the artistry of film criticism . these critics were inspired by the contentious nature that siskel & ebert created as they argued across the aisle . though to be fair to both of them , their frustration was usually reserved for one another . the internet age of criticism brought forth a number of changes in the online critical voice , but the one constant that connected them all was indignation .
irvine , calif . – april 25 , 2017 – tech coast angels ( tca ) invested $ 14 . 1 million in a total of 55 companies in a diverse mix of industries in 2016 . tca’s total investment for the year was its fourth highest since the network’s inception in 1997 , and its two largest deals in 2016 were echo labs and movocash – each at over $ 1 million from tca . tca had six exits including five acquisitions ( retrosense therapeutics , wegolook , clearcare , hipmunk , and hitfix ) and one optional exit ( grandpad ) upon receiving strategic investment from acer . this brings the total exits to 68 in the angel network’s history .
a busy day of screenings . busy . watching movies . then mori ' s exhausted ass has to take his dad to meet clint eastwood . mori ' s life is rough , isn ' t it ? just kidding ; i love ya brother . good luck with the new gig . i ' m glad you ' ll be keeping one foot in the aicn nest . i ' m afriad if you come to bnat this year you ' ll have already seen all the premiere screenings ! anyway , i hope you ' ll be there as we ' ve not really formally hung out and i ' d like to shake your hand and congratulate you in person . keep up the good work at the hitfix .
green dot , a leading prepaid financial services company , language weaver , a pioneer in statistical machine translation , and trius therapeutics , a biotech firm developing an oral antibiotic for serious staph infections , demonstrate the wide variety of industries tca invests in . among the new investments in q2 are olfactor , a novel technology for insect repellant and trapping , hitfix , an entertainment news site featuring original content , and vokle , which provides a next generation interactive platform for anyone wishing to reach their audience through live video dialogue . sudek added , “we invite entrepreneurs to visit our website at urltoken where theyll find a description of what were looking for and the simple steps to get ideas in front of tca . were a receptive audience .
the revenant junket happened the other day . tom hardy was available for interviews . but , actually , not really . hitfix’s drew mcweeny was supposed to interview tom and was f - cked over . normally when that happens , we’re too afraid to talk sh - t about the celebrity because we don’t want to be blacklisted by the studios for upcoming opportunities . i’ve written about this many , many times . hollywood crusades for free speech all the time , so long as the free speech is when you only report positively about their projects , and if you don’t , they have no problem with censorship . so , basically , you just have to accept them pissing in your face . and you return to get pissed on , indefinitely .
does that mean harry needs new staff . . ? fly me out to l . a . and i ' ll do it ( of course , one would need an expense account too ! ) . kinda reminds me of that scene in ' talk radio ' where ' michael wincott ' bursts into the studio . . . let ' s hope mori doesn ' t get shot on his way home . ! good luck with whatever you choose to do in the future drew . it ' s been great posting ( usually in agreement ) on the thousands of articles you ' ve written down the years . whatever do at hitfix , it ' ll never be as important as the aicn years ' but i ' m sure you can live with that . up and out . . !
this years investment portfolio represented companies across a broad spectrum of growth industries including technology , biotech and pharmaceutical , social media , financial services , consumer products and green technologies . the companies funded by tech coast angels in 2011 included agilenano , anabios , angstrom pharmaceuticals , inc . , banshee bungee , bethebeast , continental windpower , cosnet , inc . , cyber - rain , define my style , extendcredit , groundmetrics , hitfix , h2scan , llc . , inhance media , jobsync , larada sciences , lendamend , mobile cause , numira bioscience , inc . , olfactor , olive medical , orion data analysis corporation , pharmasecure , phone halo , ranker , rx timer cap , sleepsafe drivers , social rewards , swarmology , virtual metrix , vokle , wispry , inc . , youmail , inc . and yowza .
i didn ' t realize . it was that much more saddening coming at the end of this fantastic review . i ' m sure you ' ll have an official goodbye post at some point . but i ' d just like to echo what other people said , you ' re really the only reason i come here anymore . with you gone , i have none . your well - written and touching reviews always get to me . although i ' m disappointed that you don ' t like forrest gump . i can understand big fish as that movie divided people . but forrest gump ? ? the ones i know that don ' t like it are the smash and bang summer blockbuster types who don ' t have the patience for anything else . but anyway , i hope one day ( when you get bigger ) you will release a book with all your best reviews . good luck at hitfix , i ' ll be visiting regularly just for you !
at the golden seeds summit a panel focused on
building great cultures through dynamic leadership
with barbara mowry , chair of the federal reserve bank of kansas city and ceo of gorecreek advisors , and michael ott , president of the private client reserve of u . s . bank , who also serves as an advisor to the pentagon . other distinguished panelists in attendance included , lisa kassenaar , editor at large of global women ' s coverage at bloomberg news , as well as deirdre naphin who had been a producer at cbs
60 minutes ,
producing notable segments from downton abbey ' s maggie smith to facebook ' s sheryl sandberg . business executives from the media and tech world also discussed innovative business strategies on topics such as ,
monetizing content
with amir akhavan , managing director of jordan edmiston group , david goldberg , co - founder and president of stylecaster , alex jutkowitz , managing partner and founder of group sjr and jen sargent , founder and ceo of hitfix , a leading media company .
one of the nation ' s most opinionated and influential critics , sepinwall is known as a dogged supporter of quality television , proving to be a fierce advocate for shows including
lost ,
the shield ,
breaking bad
and
the wire .
last spring , nbc executives went so far as to credit sepinwall by name for his role in earning a renewal for
chuck .
sepinwall ' s ties with the creative community have led to exclusive and exhaustive interviews with many of the industry ' s most respected show runners , including david simon , matthew weiner , josh schwartz and vince gilligan . when
the sopranos
ended in 2007 , creator david chase granted only one interview and that was to sepinwall .
in addition to his writing and blogging , sepinwall found the time to write
stop being a hater and learn to love the o . c . ,
the seminal chronicle of the first season of fox ' s popular soap .
this site uses cookies . by continuing to browse this business wire site ( and / or any other business wire website ) , you accept the use of cookies .
certified site metrics are metrics that are directly - measured from the website instead of estimated . the website owner has installed an alexa certify code on the pages of their site and chosen to show the metrics publicly .
not all websites implement our on - site analytics and publish the results . for these sites , we show estimated metrics based on traffic patterns across the web as a whole . we identify these patterns by looking at the activity of millions of web users throughout the world , and using data normalization to correct for any biases .
the more traffic a site gets , the more data we have to calculate estimated metrics . estimates are more reliable the closer a site is to being ranked # 1 . global traffic ranks of 100 , 000 + are subject to large fluctuations and should be considered rough estimates .
if a site has certified metrics instead of estimated , that means its owner has installed code allowing us to directly measure their traffic . these metrics have a greater level of accuracy , no matter what the ranking .
alexa traffic ranks the global and country traffic ranks show how popular a site is relative to other sites .
unique visitors and pageviews the number of people who visit this site and the number of pages they view . site owners who install the alexa certify code on their website can choose to display their certified metrics , such as monthly unique visitors and pageviews , if they wish . for other sites , we display the estimated number of unique visitors from up to 6 countries , when sufficient data is available ( advanced plans only ) .
audience geography the audience geography data describes where visitors to this site over the past month are located , and how the site is ranked in popular countries . if a country is not listed , it is because alexa does not have enough data for this site to rank / measure the site ' s popularity among that country ' s online population . these metrics are updated monthly .
alexa traffic rank a rough estimate of this site ' s popularity . the rank is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors to this site and pageviews on this site over the past 3 months . the site with the highest combination of visitors and pageviews is ranked # 1 . updated daily
traffic rank in country a rough estimate of this site ' s popularity in a specific country . the rank by country is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors to this site and pageviews on this site from users from that country over the past month . the site with the highest combination of visitors and pageviews is ranked # 1 in that country . updated daily
how engaged are visitors to this site ? engagement metrics help you understand how interested a site ' s visitors are with the site ' s content . the metrics are updated daily based on the trailing 3 months .
bounce rate ( % ) percentage of visits to the site that consist of a single pageview .
daily time on site estimated daily time on site ( mm : ss ) per visitor to the site .
search traffic the percentage of traffic , both free and paid , that come to this site from a search engine over the past 3 months , updated daily . the change number shows the difference versus the previous 3 month period .
top keywords from search engines the table shows the top keywords that sent traffic to this site from major search engines over the past 6 months . the list is updated monthly .
upstream sites upstream sites are sites that people visited just before they visited this site . note that this list is not the same as referrals from upstream sites . there is not necessarily a link between the upstream site and this site .
downstream sites are sites that people visit immediately after visiting this site . note this does not necessarily mean that people are directed to the downstream site by this site
signing in means you ' ll see the new alexa site from now on . please confirm that you ' re ready to switch .
the
sites linking in
count shows the number of sites that alexa found that link to this site . for more information please see this explanation of how alexa determines the number of sites linking in .
the complete list of sites linking to this site is available to alexa pro subscribers .
subscribe to the alexa pro basic plan to view all 4 , 560 sites linking in .
other sites owned these are other sites with the same registered owner as this site .
sites with similar names there are domain names that are similar to this site .
categories with related sites these are the categories that this site is in . click on the category to browse other sites in that category .
the table shows the top subdomains for this site ordered by the percentage of visitors that visited the subdomain over a month . note that the percentages can add up to more than 100 % because a visitor can visit multiple subdomains during the month .
news , insider information , and exclusives in film , movies , tv , music , events , and awards .
customize your site overview page with your logo , plus add links back to your site and much more ! an enhanced site overview is just one of the features you get with an alexa pro subscription .
audience demographics the audience demographics data comes from voluntary demographics information submitted by people in our global traffic panel . the data is for the past 12 months , updated monthly . learn more
age , income and children - only available to subscribers of the alexa pro insight or advanced plans .
subscribe to the alexa pro insight plan to view all demographics including age , income and children .
- age , income , children in additon to gender , education and browsing location .
to edit your site ' s public information you need to log in and verify ownership of your site .
the on - page seo checker is available in the alexa pro advanced plans .
alan sepinwall : he changed tv criticism . but can you be a rabid fan and a thoughtful reviewer ?
alan sepinwall changed the nature of television criticism . but can you be both a rabid fan and a thoughtful reviewer ?
alan sepinwall started writing about television in 1993 , as a sophomore at the university of pennsylvania . he stank at it . in 2004 , sepinwall characterized his early work thusly :
misspellings , bad grammar and , even worse , observations that make me cringe and wonder exactly when ( or if ) i stopped being such a dumbass .
he soon outgrew his dumbass ways . by the end of his undergrad years , sepinwall had parlayed his role as the leading nypd blue fanboy of the newsgroup era into a gig as the newark star - ledger ' s tv critic .
[ w ] ithout blue ,
he wrote in 2004 ,
i wouldn ' t have the career or the life that i currently do .
television , and television writing , have transformed since dennis franz ' s bare butt launched sepinwall ' s career . upon nypd blue ' s early ' 90s debut , it was heralded as one of the best shows ever made . in comparison with the sopranos , the wire , and even lost , david milch and steven bochco ' s cops - and - perps procedural now looks prehistoric . today ' s more ambitious shows demand more ambitious commentary . in 2002 , sepinwall wrote his first post - episode sopranos breakdown . this was a new form , a hybrid of the inside - joke - laden episode recaps pioneered by dawson ' s wrap ( which later expanded under the name mighty big tv , then was re - renamed television without pity ) and the nypd blue disquisitions from sepinwall ' s dorm - room days . if you wanted to understand the subtext and symbolism of hbo ' s epic mob series— the long - ago motivation for one of tony ' s murders , the meaning of an end - of - episode quacking sound —you had to read sepinwall ' s sprawling write - ups .
after 14 years at the star - ledger , sepinwall left the paper in 2010 to blog for urltoken . the style of tv criticism he helped invent is now ascendant . gawker , new york ' s vulture , and the onion ' s a . v . club employ teams of recappers to parse the previous night ' s dramas , sitcoms , and reality fare . slate supplements troy patterson ' s criticism with weekly dialogues on shows like lost , mad men , and friday night lights . sepinwall , though , is the acknowledged king of the form . as the a . v . club ' s steve heisler explained last year ,
he ' s an inspiration to tv critics throughout the country . his recaps appear online in record time , typically bursting with incisive commentary and wit .
sepinwall ' s output is also legendary : he ' s currently reviewing between 10 and 15 shows each week , which he says is
a fairly light schedule for me .
( advance screeners help on that score . )
sepinwall - style criticism has obvious strengths . week - to - week coverage reflects how people actually watch their favorite shows—we rehash the best lines , parse the meaning of weighty moments , and anticipate plot twists . at its best , new - school tv writing is brainy and inquisitive , thoughtful commentary borne out of a fanatical attention to detail . but hypervigilant criticism , written by obsessive fans for obsessive fans , isn ' t necessarily an unmitigated force for good . is it possible that today ' s tv writers are sitting too close to the screen ?
television criticism used to be like restaurant criticism : a writer would sample a few episodes and then issue an informed recommendation . today , it ' s more akin to visiting the same restaurant every week , then reporting back on the mood of the wait staff , the condition of the silverware , and what dishes might appear on the new fall menu . in a fantastic a . v . club dialogue about the state of tv criticism , noel murray argues that since weekly critics
aren ' t primarily engaged in telling people whether they should or shouldn ' t watch a show … we get to kick around symbolism , character development , and real - world connections to what ' s on the screen .
rather than tell you what to watch , sepinwall , murray , and time ' s james poniewozik , among many others , validate your interest in the shows you ' re already watching .
poniewozik , who blogs for time at tuned in , says serial dramas like mad men and lost reward weekly coverage more than procedurals ( man , i can ' t believe they solved another one ! ) . sepinwall agrees .
i like ncis … [ but ] i would have nothing to write about it on a weekly basis ,
he says , referring to cbs ' monstrously popular series .
for what i do , there ' s not enough meat there .
sitcoms can also be a challenge—sepinwall admits that his 30 rock reviews have sometimes been just lists of punchlines . still , contemporary comedies like the office , community and how i met your mother give critics a lot more to chew on—recurring jokes , obscure pop - culture references , occasional character development—than , say , golden girls .
no matter the series in question , a typical episode review combines traditional criticism , plot recap , what - will - happen - next punditry , and unadulterated fanboy - ism . there ' s no single formula for how best to combine these four elements . gawker ' s gossip girl recaps seem aimed at a readership that watches the show as a guilty pleasure—the recaps make sport of the show ' s ludicrous plots , then score the characters on their behavior ( - 1 for eric when he
[ g ] ets his hair ruffled by nate like he ' s some sort of fey chipmunk
) . murray , who has covered boardwalk empire , lost , and mad men for the a . v . club , believes a
fairly thorough recap is essential
to jog readers ' memories about what they ' ve seen .
murray sees his role as part critic—what worked , what didn ' t work—and part conversation starter , soliciting opinions from readers on whether a kiss on boardwalk empire was genuinely felt or politically motivated . sepinwall ' s pieces , too , don ' t read as straight reviews . a 1 , 300 - word blog post on a recent friday night lights episode doesn ' t offer a straight - ahead rundown of key moments or a clear - eyed assessment of the show ' s strengths and weaknesses . instead , it ' s an impressionistic take on how a much - beloved show made him feel .
loved the cut from the team doing the war chant on the riggins lawn to them doing it before the quarterfinal game ,
he writes .
easy way to pump me up .
when sepinwall does critique fnl —assistant coach , he says , is
the job that the writers give to characters they don ' t know what to do with
—his observations are buttressed by years of careful attention . he ' s not afraid to reveal his ardor , though , lamenting that the show will
rip my heart out a time or 12 in those [ last two ] episodes . dammit . i wouldn ' t be mad if i didn ' t care , and boy have they made me care over the years .
for the week - to - week critic , fandom is an occupational requirement .
you wouldn ' t commit yourself to writing 24 weekly reviews of a series unless you like it ,
says murray . tv writing has always had a strain of advocacy , with critics frequently campaigning on behalf of low - rated fare . one of the first shows sepinwall championed was 1996 ' s paul haggis - helmed drama ez streets ; it was quickly cancelled . sepinwall ' s campaign to rescue chuck —boosted by social media , his own increasing influence , and the efforts of fellow critics like maureen ryan —was more successful . in an open letter to nbc executives , sepinwall argued that the network could rake in cash by expanding the show ' s existing product - placement deals .
if blatant pimping is the price of continued existence ,
he wrote , chuck ' s writers and fans
are more than happy to pay it .
the show was ultimately renewed , and nbc ' s ben silverman credited sepinwall ( and subway ) for the show ' s survival . while critical distance can be overrated—i ' d prefer to read sepinwall on friday night lights than a writer who doesn ' t care about the show—his role in the
save chuck
movement , as well as a cameo appearance on community , mark him as something other than an objective viewer .
more than any critic , sepinwall reminds me of his frequent podcast companion , urltoken ' s sports guy bill simmons . we read television recaps for the same reason we read about last night ' s game . we want to relive what we ' ve seen through the eyes of an expert—someone who recognizes a callback to season 2 or spots a parallel with the 1967 red sox . sepinwall ' s episode reviews are akin to simmons ' running game diaries . both men are unmindful of word counts , piling on minutiae for their comrades in compulsiveness , and both dispense their knowledge without sacrificing the passion that marks them as fans rather than jaded pros . at the end of his reviews , sepinwall explicitly opens up the floor to his eager commenters—he is a fellow enthusiast , not a guru who imparts wisdom from an exalted perch .
one unavoidable consequence of writing for the web is that you get led around by television ' s most rabid fan bases . the a . v . club ' s recaps of terriers , which was cancelled after one season due to low ratings , reliably generated scores more comments than reviews of the good wife —a show with a larger but less - engaged audience . and given that episode reviews are mostly of interest to hardcore fans , honey - soaked praise attracts more readers than vinegar - y condemnation . blog readers , sepinwall says ,
want you to be a cheerleader for what they ' re a cheerleader for .
indeed , my colleague jack shafer ' s lost - hating rants made him a pariah among the readers of slate ' s tv club .
i stopped by here after every show just to see if anyone had anything interesting to say about it ,
wrote one commenter ,
but i hung out at [ entertainment weekly ] where i found doc jensen ' s unabashed enthusiasm far more entertaining and enlightening than these sour , shallow critiques .
( if a show is absolute dreck , however , hate can be therapeutic for all parties .
toward the end of heroes … [ the recappers would ] just lay into it , and the readers enjoyed that ,
murray says . )
in tv criticism , as in sports , mid - season analysis is also a game of incomplete information . assessing a tv series episode by episode , murray told me , is a bit like
reviewing a book chapter by chapter , or reviewing a movie every 15 minutes .
by the opening credits of next week ' s show , this week ' s deeply held convictions may well be obsolete .