As we reported last week, Nintendo of America's longtime Senior Vice President, Marketing and Corporate Communications, George Harrison finally confirmed that he'll be leaving the company at the end of December. You can read more about that here.
This past week, Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group promoted digital executive Jason Root to Senior Vice President, Digital, Nick.com and Nickatnite.com. Root will oversee all creative and management operations for Nick.com, as well as the growth and development of NickatNite.com, Nicktoonsnetwork.com, Nicktropolis.com (a youth virtual world) and Nickelodeon's broadband video site, TurboNick.com. He will guide the development of sites for all Nickelodeon television properties such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The Naked Brothers Band and Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as other online Nick initiatives such as Kids Pick the President and Kids' Choice Awards.
Root will work with his team to focus on developing new digital-first ways to help develop characters and properties. He'll also help with Nick's online gaming efforts, including the existing franchise New Game of the Week, giving it a multiplayer focus. Root's group will build multiplayer cooperative gaming into the aforementioned Nicktropolis, complementing the video, safe chat, and virtual economy capabilities already integrated into that site.
"Jason has helped Nickelodeon be a leader online within the kids' demographic with initiatives like the New Game of the Week franchise, TurboNick, and Nicktropolis. He has been an integral component of growing Nickelodeon's digital business," said Steve Youngwood, Executive Vice President, Digital Media for Nickelodeon/MTVN Kids and Family Group, to whom Mr. Root will continue to report. "As we continue to evolve in digital media as a company, Jason will ensure that we provide kids and families with the best interactive entertainment possible."
Root got his start with Rabbit Ears Productions, a small multimedia family entertainment company. Prior to joining Nickelodeon, Root held several new media management positions at the Walt Disney Company, particularly in the Disney Online group. His previous position with the company was Vice President of Nick.com, where he worked closely with network executives to execute online convergence and interactivity around Nickelodeon's key properties and television events, including the network's 20th Annual Kids' Choice Awards. Nick.com has continued to hit new traffic highs under his leadership and has garnered two Webby Awards.
IGN.com recently announced that it has appointed Chris Tilly to be its Entertainment Editor. As a result of this move, Alex Simmons has been promoted to U.K. Editor-in-Chief of IGN.com and Justin Keeling has been promoted from Publishing Director to European General Manager of IGN Entertainment. Tilly will help broaden IGN's editorial focus in the U.K., by expanding out a wide range of new entertainment specific channels, such as TV, DVD and film. He will drive the depth of U.K. relevant content for the new channels as IGN.com expands.
"IGN already offers the best gaming content to the most concentrated men's audience online in the U.K. Chris's appointment will help bring the best in broader entertainment content to the site and help expand its reach further still," said Justin Keeling, European General Manager of IGN Entertainment. "His experience will be invaluable in maintaining our position as the leading U.K. destination in the men's sector online."
Tilly's position is a result of working in the trenches of film journalism for the past six years. Out of school, he landed a job as a staff writer at the movie monthly Hotdog. Three years later, he joined the staff of Time Out as editor of the film website. Tilly has also contributed to Maxim, Bizarre, DVD Review and Little White Lies in addition to "Time Out Film Guide" and "Halliwell's Top 1,000 Films."
Recently, Future US announced that Kristen Salvatore has been named Editor-in-Chief of PC Gamer, making her the second woman to be named the Editor-in-Chief of a major games publication (OXM's Francesca Reyes is the other). In the position, she will determine which games deserve the most press and help secure products for exclusive coverage. In addition to this, Salvatore will work towards redesigning the magazine and pcgamer.com.
"As PC Gamer's Executive Editor, Kristen has done a magnificent job in building relations with game developers, following games from previews and first-looks to final reviews, and being a goodwill ambassador to readers and industry folks alike," explains Future US Editorial Director, Jon Phillips. "She's never shy about calling bad games inferior, but she bears a pure enthusiasm for PC gaming that many old-timers in the industry have lost. Moving forward, she'll not only express that enthusiasm in the pages of the magazine and website, but also help us grow the entire PC Gamer brand. The next 12 months will be very exciting for PC Gamer, and Kristen has an ambitious plan to make things happen."
Salvatore started at the company as features editor at Future US' Maximum PC magazine. She has advanced through the enthusiast magazine industry by establishing strong relationships with game developers and publishers and event and conference managers, as well as appearing in PC Gamer's podcasts and videocasts.
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