IGN's Casamassina takes Apple job
Ex-Nintendo journo to promote gaming Apps.
IGN's Matt Casamassina is to join Apple as global editorial manager of the App Store.
Casamassina, IGN's resident Nintendo expert since he joined the website in 1997, made the announcement on his blog.
"In a nutshell, I will be leading the charge for games on the App Store, so whether you browse through iTunes, iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad, the games content you see will be hand-picked and organised by me and my team. I couldn't be happier," he said.
The significance of the announcement is perhaps less in Casamassina's appointment than in the creation of the new role. Users and game developers frequently complain that it's difficult to sort through the huge amount of content released on the App Store, and that gaming on Apple's platforms lacks direction. Casamassina's words suggest his job will be to rectify that, and to pick games worth highlighting.
"Anybody who has read my work through the years will know that I've long been a huge Nintendo fan, but if there is one company that could entice me away from covering Mario and Zelda it's the one owned [sic] by Steve Jobs," he said.