I've spent the last couple of weeks clearing my backlog of Real Work instead of podcasting my Twitter vlog on the blogosphere, but here is my general catching up/responding/announcing post.
1. The news - I want to clarify that I had no problem with doing the news. Sometimes I even liked it. I just can't continue to do it while also trying to hold down a "normal" job. If one of you mugs happens to be a rich oil baron or editor for a game site (you'll find they're often one and the same) who wants to offer me a paying gig, I'll be happy to, but otherwise I need focus on things that buy me food.
Actually, I should ask the Escapist, they could use a real news section and they seem to be throwing money at anyone lately.
2. Donations/subscriptions - I thought about the subscription model (not very comfortable with donations), but there isn't the audience. I'd need practically every person who regularly reads this site paying $15 a month before it became viable, and that isn't remotely realistic.
3. But if you just advertised.. - I don't really have the funds to do so, even on a small scale. More important, though, is the fact that Error Macro by nature is just a hard site to get spread around. Places like Kotaku and Joystiq get visitors from articles and exclusive news, neither of which EM provides. A pure aggregator is only ever linked on occasion whenever someone makes a forum post complaining about existing game sites and asks where other people get their news.
4. Then you should make exclusive content! - I'll do that with the time I have not doing the news.
5. You said that last time - I know.
6. You're a fag - I know.
7. Other options - I've been informed that a site called Pirate vs. Ninja has taken the Error Macro style and attempted to carry on in my absence. I'm sure you'll all wish them well as they begin to regret this decision within the first month.
Just so this post isn't only about my lack of money, I'd like to also officially announce that Mercenaries 2 is one of the buggiest products ever released by a major publisher. It's practically impossible for a play session to go by without experiencing some kind of glitch, from small things like objects floating in mid-air, to blatant screw-ups like unlocking 8 achievements at once, 7 of which I hadn't earned. Even down to the last moment the game makes an ass out of itself -- I didn't actually get to see the last in-game cutscene because the camera got stuck in the nose of the helicopter, juttering around helplessly. The only consolation is that that was probably more entertaining than the actual scene.
Rent it for the stupid enjoyment of blowing things up, but I wouldn't advise spending $60 on it.
Also, screw Australia.