If you interested in following my personal ramblings, and to see where I'm headed next. I've posted more details over on the Tumblr I whipped up this week.

Yeah, I know, tumblr. :D

[subcathoin.tumblr.com]

I have an old beat cop manual from the 50s that does an amazing job of proving this point. This is a book that beat cops used to read to get a lay of the land before they started on the job. It tells them things like "people with tattoos are likely convicts." There's a bunch more, but it is all in that vein.

Having said that, I really should check this new show out now that I have a bit of time on my hands. :D

After writing 11,296 stories for Kotaku I find myself at a loss for words as I write this, my last for the site.

I leave both Kotaku and Gawker Media today after more than seven years of features and news, silliness and personal tragedy, contests, parties, reviews and redesigns. I leave the site in good hands, with Stephen Totilo taking over the role of Editor in Chief of Kotaku. I will miss you all: The writers, the readers, the steady rhythm of news, the buzzing of community response.

The time is right, though, for a parting of the ways. I can leave knowing that something I was fortunate enough to see blossom into life will continue to thrive beyond me.

Much has changed from when I started more than seven years ago at Kotaku, two months after its launch. The site was an unknown, an unpronounceable off-shoot of Gawker Media with a readership of 10,000. I was a full-time newspaper reporter, spending those early days covering gaming for Kotaku and my afternoons and evenings writing about homicides, serial killers, gang-bangers and raging wildfires for the Rocky Mountain News.

Over the years, Kotaku's community grew to more than five and a half million readers. You all put up with my personal interjections, watched with me as my son grew up with a Playstation Portable, a Wii remote, an Xbox and PS3 controller, a plastic guitar in his hand. You were there for me during the worst year of my life and for some of the best. We came to know one another, and I'd like to think that on some level we became friends.

I'm exceedingly proud of what Kotaku, its readers and its writers, have come together to create. That I was witness to it and managed to not mess it up too much, will always be something I cherish.

Take care of each other, never forget the talent of these writers and editors, nor your responsibility as readers and community commenters. Be kind, be fair, be here.

I'm lousy at goodbyes. (Anyone who knows me well, knows I'm also pretty terrible at hellos too). So, I'll just say that I'll see you around. Around in the comments on Kotaku, on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter. And soon, in my new role, in my new place.

If you're interested follow me on Twitter. Heck, I trust you. Here's my email too: crecente At Gmail dot com.

Ps. I'm the one in the bird shirt in that photo. :p

With its big, bright screen, ability to sense touch and motion, and controls that mimic a home game console's, Sony's Playstation Vita delivers the sort of gaming that approaches what you might expect to experience in your den. But is that what gamers still want?

I've spent the past week with a PS Vita, enjoying its smart design, its cleverly crafted games, its luxurious screen and two thumb sticks. I also spent the week wondering whether this was a gaming machine that's come too late.

The growing ubiquity of gaming, the ability to play games on laptops, tablets, digital books and smartphones, undermines the value of carrying around a device that can only game. That doesn't mean that there's no market for dedicated portable gaming machines, just that they face new challenges.

Where portable gaming once had to deliver an experience simply better than not gaming on the go at all, now it has to overcome the advent of micro and casual games, time-killers like Angry Birds, Words With Friends and Bejeweled. These smaller, bite-sized experiences can be purchased anywhere, anytime with a short download for little money. But more importantly, they're playable on devices that people may be carrying around to read a book, to do some work, to make a phone call.

The PS Vita is a delightful gaming machine, but its dedication to the experience of gaming brings with it the requirement that gamers plan ahead. Its over-sized screen, multitude of inputs and controls means that this isn't a device you can simply slip into your pocket and forget about. When planning a trip to Manhattan last week, I had to decide if I wanted to bring a bag simply to carry the Vita with me. I decided against it, opting instead to rely on my phone to help kill the hour-and-a-half trip ahead of me.

Having said that, I found myself regretting that decision on the return trip. Why? Because the Vita's experience is so robust that it can outweigh its inconvenience. The trick will be for Sony to convince people of that.

The Vita is shaped a bit like an over-sized, fatter Playstation Portable. Players can use the touch-sensitive 5-inch OLED screen to interact with games or trace their fingers along the device's back to play games that way. The Vita also has two cameras, one facing forward and the other back, and can sense motion. There are also buttons on the top corners of the Vita. The device's lush screen is bookended by controls including a directional pad, four buttons and two thumbsticks. It may not sound like much, but adding a second thumbstick to the already vast array of controls is in many ways a game changer for portables. That second stick means that the Vita's controls are close approximations to what players have in their hands when gaming on the Vita's big brother, the Playstation 3. So the experience of gaming on the go can now feel like the experience of gaming at home. That's a big deal.

Another big deal is how cleverly the games I sampled played with the Vita's array of control mechanics. Some games had me tilting the device to balance my character while using the twin thumbsticks to move. Others had me tickling the Vita's underbelly to virtually push up through the device's screen. In some cases, the experience of playing on the Vita was better than the playing at home.

ModNation Racers is a Playstation 3 game that allows you to create your own drivers, karts and tracks and then race with friends. But the process of crafting can be tedious when done with thumbsticks and buttons. The Vita version of the game, ModNation Racers: Roadtrip has players using the touch screen and back panel to draw creations with their fingers. It's not just easier, it's much more fun.

The Playstation Vita launched in Japan with a bang last month, but the second week of sales for the device saw a significant drop. The device is set for a $250, Feb. 22 release in the U.S. Sony has one last opportunity, with this month's Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, to prove to a broad audience in North America why they should buy something built to do one thing, but do it very well.

Some pundits have suggested the best way to do that is to drop the price. I'm sure that would help, but I think the better option is to prove that the experience of gaming on the Vita outweighs the inconvenience of owning an over-sized dedicated portable gaming system.

It's doubtful that the Vita will become a system that redefines who games, but redefining how one games on the go should be enough to allow it some success.

Well Played is an internationally syndicated weekly news and opinion column about the big stories of the week in the gaming industry and its bigger impact on things to come. Feel free to join in the discussion.

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Among the games loaded up on the Playstation Vita Sony lent us last week there was one game I had very little interest checking out. Once I did, I couldn't stop tinkering.

ModNation Racers: Road Trip is the portable, very malleable take on ModNation Racers. On its surface it is a kart racer that has you turbo charging your way around a mix of tracks, using weapons and hopping your way to sharp turns and close finishes. But dig a little deeper into the game and you'll discover the ability to create your own cars, your own racers and your own tracks.

What makes this particular take on the game is that you'll be doing all of those things with your fingertips. That means fiddling with placement, sizing, and tiny points of your design is much easier than it would be if you were using a controller.

The end result are races that's just as fun to design as they are to compete in.

The Playstation Vita's Escape Plan is a charming, clever side-scrolling puzzle game sure to win over the hearts of anyone considering a Vita purchase.

In the game you need to maneuver Laarg and Lil through a labyrinthine series of puzzle and trap-laden rooms. Players swipe at the two characters, tap the screen and tickle the underside of the Vita to interact with the environment, trying to keep the two out of harm's way.

The game's clever mechanics and level design is augmented by an extreme Chiaroscuro art style that turns the game into a monochromatic marvel.

Here's a look at the kiosk demo for the Fun Bits developed game, that Totilo calls his most anticipated titles for the Vita. It makes that list for me too, right up their with Gravity Rush.

Sorry the video isn't more stable, but I had to hold the Vita to play it properly and I drank some coffee first. :D

Even the mainstays of a Playstation platform, games like Hot Shots Golf, sing on the PS Vita.

Sure, Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational feels like it sort of tacked on the touch and motion controls, but the core gameplay of this golf game remains as fun as any of the titles in the franchise. It's also really pretty.

Check it out.

News that Kid Icarus: Uprising will feature both local and online multiplayer was followed up with this video showing the game's online play in action.

The gameplay looks like free-roaming third-person shooter with wings and some fancy weapons. Players seem to team up, light versus dark, in this video. Though there's also a free-for-all Battle Royale mode.

Kid Icarus: Uprising is due out on North American 3DS on March 23.

[via Sidemission]

A "Mocachu" as seen on GameTrailer's SideMission Twitter account.

Viacom is fighting an order to pay Rock Band makers Harmonix Music Systems $383 million, or a bit more than half of the money sought by the former shareholders in a long-running legal dispute over unpaid bonuses.

The arbitration decision is the latest in a legal fight between former Harmonix owners Viacom and the game developers. Last year a group of former Harmonix shareholders - including company CEO Alex Rigopulos and his co-founder Eran Egozy - sued Viacom over claims of unpaid bonuses. The bonuses were based on Rock Band sales goals that the game hit. In 2007, most of those payments were made, but the 2008 payments never were, according to the original suit.

On Dec. 19, arbitration accountants said that the Harmonix shareholders are entitled to receive an additional $383 million as part of that original 2006 acquisition, according to a Dec. 27 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Earlier this week, Viacom filed a suit in the Delaware Court of Chancery seeking to "compel the resolution accountants to consider arguments and evidence that were improperly excluded and to vacate the determination of the resolution accountants on the grounds of manifest error."

So Viacom is fighting the decision.

Perhaps these Dr. Zoidberg modded Skyrim mudcrabs aren't as freaky as the contorted spider Spider-Men, but their screams of agony when you kill them are pretty spot on.

Also, thanks to XtremeScope we get to see the two doing battle. Someone really needs to do a full-on Futurama mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Nintendo plans to kick off a two day video New Year's telethon starting the last day of the year and running until the morning of Jan. 2, the company said in a note sent to 3DS owners.

"Mark your calendar for the first-ever Nintendo Video New Year's Telethon," the note reads. "Wondering what you've missed on Nintendo Video? Wish you could see your favorite videos again? Want to vote for your favorite video of 2011 the old-fashioned way? Check out the Nintendo Video New Year's Telethon running from 6 p.m. EST Dec. 31 until 2 a.m. Jan. 2. We'll be running the classics from 2011 and taking your calls and votes!"

The video receiving the most votes will be featured on Nintendo Video for five days, according to the note.

The message doesn't quite explain how the telethon will work, but I assume the videos or the voting or perhaps both will be accessible through the 3DS during the event.

Maybe next year Nintendo could swing two days of Twilight Zone or old Doctor Who episodes. Now that's a telethon I could get behind.

The PR tempest in a teapot born of one misused gamer and shockingly bad customer support seems to have mostly run its course, leaving a one-man PR firm in apparent shambles and a unique video game controller accessory struggling to survive.

The issue came to light today when emails between Kotaku reader Dave and Paul Christoforo, the president of PR firm Ocean Distribution, were sent around to a number of sites including Kotaku. In them, Christoforo antagonizes, name-calls and belittles customer Dave after being asked why his order for an Avenger controller was delayed.

The obnoxious response gets worse once Christoforo begins name-dropping websites including Kotaku, IGN and Penny Arcade. Eventually, Christoforo seemed to go nuclear, calling out most of the sites he originally said he was pals with and name calling folks including Penny Arcade's Mike Krahulik who proceeded to ban Christoforo permanently from the Penny Arcade Expo.

As news of the exchange began to spread, gamers began to attack Christoforo and the Avenger controller.

Earlier today we reached both Avenger Controller maker N-Control and The Hand Media, the folks who handled marketing for the controller prior to Christoforo, for comment.

Christoforo, we're told, is no longer working with N-Control. Effective today, the company is now doing all of their marketing with a new marketing manager who works directly for the company.

"We apologize for our poor representation from Ocean Marketing," David Kotkin, the owner and inventor of Avenger Controller told Kotaku. "We wanted to give Paul a chance. He was rough around the edges, but he had drive and enthusiasm. However his behavior was unprovoked, unnecessary, and unforgivable. We are no longer represented by Ocean Marketing."

Brandon Leidel, CEO and Director of Operations for The HAND Media, Inc., wasn't as kind about Christoforo and his outburst.

Leidel said that his company was initially hired to market the new controller, something they did up until earlier this year. He said that The Hand Media found themselves increasingly having to deal with customer flak over delayed shipping, and that it was becoming overwhelming.

"Then Paul came in and said 'I know this guy at Gamestop. I know this guy at Best Buy," Leidel said. "They saw dollar signs and decided to start working with him. We decided to walk away from this because it was a nightmare dealing with their problems and this guy Paul."

Leidel describes Christoforo as a "rogue marketing guy" someone who operated without any rules and never checked in with The Hand Media about what he was doing.

"He was representing the company in a way I wasn't comfortable with," Leidel said. "I brought this up a few times and said I cant have this guy representing the company and not have any control."

Eventually, Leidel decided to walk away from what he called a lucrative marketing contract over Christoforo's behavior.

N-Control's new marketing manager, Eli Schwartz, spent today trying to do damage control and deal with a flood of what he believes are unwarranted negative ratings for the Avenger on Amazon.

"At this point I'm just trying to point out that, what was said was someone who we hired, what he said should not reflect on the product itself," he said. "So far the Amazon rating on the Avenger has gone from 4 and 1/2 to 1 star in around 8 hours. None of the reviews are true, they all just appeared today out of pure hate trolling."

Schwartz added via Twitter that Christoforo is now "out of business."

A search through Florida's public Department of State Division of Corporations database reveals that Kotkin and Christoforo are listed as officers in a company called Afternoon Artists. Afternoon Artists was registered this July.

Schwartz said he has been receiving a lot of questions about that connection.

"David (Kotkin) said it was a LLC for a charity that was never actually created," he said. "He bought the name thinking Paul would be involved, but nothing came of it. The company never actually existed."

The real victim here appears to be The Avenger controller, a product, that while slightly over-priced, was both an interesting new way to game and a solution for some disabled gamers.

I've only had about ten minutes with Gravity Rush, but I'm already thinking that it's one of the most exciting new games coming to Sony's PS Vita.

The game blends a gravity-defying puzzle quality with action combat, a bit of platforming and a wonderful, arty aesthetic and surreal story. Gravity Rush is due out on Feb. 9 in Japan and sometime this coming Spring in North America.

This video shows you the game's full demo, the only experience I've had with the game so far. It's being played on a PS Vita demo unit that Sony was kind enough to lend to me for a month or so.