Well ... it seems like there is a lot to do on this site. I'd first like to give my thanks to Truck and Machina for keeping this site afloat. That being said, there are a lot of things that need to change.

1. The main attraction of the site is sales. It's what gives this site it's identity. The figures need to be consistent (like they were a few years back). It seems that everyone agrees that there is a clear bottleneck (brett and the HW numbers). This should be one of the main priorities that needs to be addressed ASAP.

2. The mobile site needs a change. The ads are unbearable, the touch screen navigation is buggy, the formatting needs a lot of work, and every now and then users are sent to porn sites (a big no no for an "official" video game site).

3. The main site itself could use some work to look more appealing. While this is by no means a priority, this is something that should be changed if you plan to regain new users.

Clearly there is a lot of work to do, and I would certainly be willing to lend a hand (familiar with HTML, CSS, and Javascript), but if you guys feel you have the manpower to do the work then good luck.

I only ask that you guys keep everyone constantly updated on every change (In fact, it only helps to have feedback in a time of great change).

I'd argue the sales would have far more prominence with what I proposed. And the hot topics would be in relatively the same position. I'll try and sketch something out to clarify what I mean.

That sounds like a killer road block and hopefully one that gets dealt with soon. Not much revolutionary change can be made when you don't have code/materials you need.

Anyway, my main concern lies with trasparency (which doesn't seem to be that big of an issue anymore). Without it, the community falls into a state of paranoia (like it did when we were months behind sales) which is an extremely difficult to come back from (IMO)

Really enjoy reading through this thread.


As for the NintendoLife thing, I'm actually not a fan of the new layout (especially the main page and news pages) The articles themselves are fine (except now they hidden the chat) but the main page is too cluttered and annoying. In fact, I'm using Nintendo Life a lot less because it's a bit annoying to navigate

My Nintendo News had a site overhaul and I didn't like it at first but now I'm fine with it. Maybe I'll get used to Nintendo Life but I still preferred the older one

What is NintendoLife? Is it like a support group, like Life with Aids or something? 😗

So this is what I came up with using the guidelines you provided:

It has the fast tabs banner thing at the top, a big header that shows off a featured article, a slider that changes it to other featured articles, and the Global hardware sales.

Under this, still as part of that header, are the rest of the sales numbers. The Hot Topics are still where they are, and there is a space above the header for the ad. Obviously it could be made bigger to fit whatever ad needed to go there. I moved the ad box that is usually above the Hot topics to be below the weekly sales. I figure since that would give the space for two ads, it wouldn't be much of an issue.

As you scroll down, more of the page is revealed and you get to see more of the articles. There is a small tab above them that lets you filter out what articles you want to read. I intentionally wanted the forums to reach down to the first "recent" article because your eye will naturally go to it as you scroll down to see more threads. At this point, more ads could be put wherever it is deemed appropriate. Below the Hot Topics or even every couple of articles as the user scrolls down.

I'm imagining you'd be able to scroll down until you hit 10 or so articles, and then a link will appear saying "show me more," revealing ten more articles, and so on indefinitely, or somthing.

The Game DB is featured prominately on the top banner thing, and I guess the rest can be occupied by whatever else needs a tab. I do think that the VGC Supporter Program specifically deserves it's own tab though, but that's just me.

EDIT: To the left of the VGC logo is the VGC Buddy Tab. the three horizontal lines. If you click on it, a drop down menu will appear letting you see all the your most recent forum contributions and maybe other stuff. It only goes away when you click the tab again.

EDIT 2: If the ads really have to be in their exact same spots as they are now, it's as easy as scrolling everything on the rightmost column down one square to make room for that upper add, ad then removing the two adds from underneath the weekly sales section and sliding the recent articles column up to make up that space. Then just apply the ads where they are supposed to be on that column.

Also, contrary to what anyone else says, I actually like the black, as well as the green. It makes the site stand out.

I don't know if it's in a good way, but I like it. Definitely keep the orange, though.

The community here is awesome besides a few annoying fanboys (mainly sony), it definetly needs some improving though.

Hm... That's difficult to work around.

I definitely do think there desperately needs a redesign. I think change naturally alienates some people, but I strongly believe that the way the site is currently is very disorganized to put it lightly. I think it's very counterintuitive to the kinds of traffic I think the site can get, and I think it pretty much guarantees that the articles will get little attention. It almost feels like we're sending the articles out to die with the way it's currently laid out, which just isn't fair to me, and seems to run against the best intrests of the site.

The discomfort is definitely a consistant feeling across all websites, but more often than not people simply get used to that change, as Platina's post above regarding the Nintendo dedicated sites also illustrated.

It's tough, because it's difficult for me to think of a way to keep the Forum Hot Topics at the top while giving the articles the primary attention I think they deserve. Perhap making the Featured Article section I made and cutting it in half. The Global Hardware can slide into the middle (much like it is now -_-), and then the ad would go where the Hardware box used to be. That way it's the same as it used to be, the articles still have a relatively prominant position on the front page, and the Forum Hot Topics doesn't have to move positions. Just slide up the recent articles, and you have a much more intuitive page layout that drives traffic and represent's the site's various sections more efficiently.

Something like this:

As for the VGC buddy, I was assuming it would be much like the way youtube used to do it, where clicking on it would actually shift the entire page about half an inch to the right, making room for that tab by closing the blank, unoccupied space. I don't see why this couldn't be the same. If anything, I guess it could be on the side. I just think it looks a bit cluttered the way it is currently, so I was trying to make the whole thing tidier.

Just to clarify, Youtube doesn't do it like that anymore. Now the tab does block the content unless you're looking at your subscriptions, but it used to do that about a year ago.

Yeah, my main goal is for the articles and sales to be at the center of the focus. If the forum colomn staying is a necessary compromise to allow for that focus, so be it.

I'd like to hear other people's thoughts as well! Just remember that my sketch is only meant to exemplify how the site could be layed out. It doesn't incorperate a new logo, or fonts, color scheme or anything like that that is more artistic.