Polygon.com is live. What do you guys think?

@Phatmac said:

Yeah you are being a dick. Thanks for your wank off at this site that only web designers can love. I like it but it isn't some magnificent perfect creation from masters of their craft or anything. The site is impressive in a number if ways that'll take time for folks to appreciate. I mostly agree with you but simmer down and control your web design boner. Thanks.

I am a webdeveloper and I dont like the site :) ... I think its confusing to navigate and uses way too many way too big images.

@LiquidPrince: I'm too tired to answer man. I'm not here to convince you. I tried I guess :D

It's not real until it has a Russian knock-off.

It seems nice but it will take a while to get used to. And they should probably tone down the white a little bit.

Justin McElroy and Griffin McElroy and Russ Frushtick are all pretty fucking awesome, and I really like how the site is designed so I guess I'll be a regular visitor.

also polygon is sponsored by GEICO

so

great site, really

I enjoy reading Arthur and Phil's reviews and maybe the occasional feature, but I don't imagine myself spending a ton of time there. Considering their entire staff is all over the place operating out of their homes (people's lives are at stake, man, they'll have to wake up and walk five feet to their computer to work!), I doubt they'll have a ton of video content compared to GB. That's the major reason I'm here: 5 or more guys in one office filming themselves playing games together.

..... Call me back when they downsize their pictures throughout the whole site. Holy hell- the pictures on that site are obnoxious and single-handedly ruin the whole thing. @_@

Whoever thought making the pictures that large was a good idea needs to be sacked. :(

Please look for my upcoming documentary on my thoughts of Polygon.com.

@wjb said:

I enjoy reading Arthur and Phil's reviews and maybe the occasional feature, but I don't imagine myself spending a ton of time there. Considering their entire staff is all over the place operating out of their homes (people's lives are at stake, man, they'll have to wake up and walk five feet to their computer to work!), I doubt they'll have a ton of video content compared to GB. That's the major reason I'm here: 5 or more guys in one office filming themselves playing games together.

That's exactly why I like GB. I hope they manage to find an even better way to deliver that content with the new design.

@2HeadedNinja said:

@Phatmac said:

Yeah you are being a dick. Thanks for your wank off at this site that only web designers can love. I like it but it isn't some magnificent perfect creation from masters of their craft or anything. The site is impressive in a number if ways that'll take time for folks to appreciate. I mostly agree with you but simmer down and control your web design boner. Thanks.

I am a webdeveloper and I dont like the site :) ... I think its confusing to navigate and uses way too many way too big images.

This is exactly how I feel.

Polygon is what I imagine the internet would look like if I was on LSD; a jumbled mass of shapes pictures and colors.

Beyond that though, I just don't like some of the writing. It's not bad, but at times it reads a bit robotic and stuffy. It's the kind of writing that doesn't have errors in it, but it reads so awkwardly that you expect it to.

@GiveUpNed said:

@BabyChooChoo said:

Meh, I like it. Again, I feel like everything they're offering I can easily get from my current trio of favorite video game websites so I'm not sure how much I'll visit the site, but still...

http://www.polygon.com/2012/10/24/3538296/data-entry-risk-management-and-tacos-inside-halo-4s-playtest-labs

So, apparently, from what I have now gathered, this may now be the greatest site of all time time.

All the gigantic images locked chrome up as soon as I tried to click an article. Yeah, I'll be avoiding this place. Huge images like that are just not cool.

speaking strictly from a design perspective, i think the site looks brilliant. it's not as good as the verge (see http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/28/3262089/history-of-dubstep-beyond-lies-the-wub for an example of what i consider great, modern design), but i find it really attractive. and with screen resolutions increasing, i'll take hi res photos any way i can get them.

it's just opinion, but i really appreciate the sites that are starting to undertake radical redesign- it feels like we're starting to get to a place where the visual aesthetic of a site is finally utilizing the potential afforded by the medium. for so long webpages have been laid out like text books- these look like proper pieces of multimedia.

@mellotronrules said:

speaking strictly from a design perspective, i think the site looks brilliant. it's not as good as the verge (see http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/28/3262089/history-of-dubstep-beyond-lies-the-wub for an example of what i consider great, modern design), but i find it really attractive. and with screen resolutions increasing, i'll take hi res photos any way i can get them.

it's just opinion, but i really appreciate the sites that are starting to undertake radical redesign- it feels like we're starting to get to a place where the visual aesthetic of site is finally utilizing the potential afforded by the medium. for so long webpages have been laid out like text books- these look like proper pieces of multimedia.

This.

@Demoskinos said:

All the gigantic images locked chrome up as soon as I tried to click an article. Yeah, I'll be avoiding this place. Huge images like that are just not cool.

The mobile site is way better. I think that will be the only way I'll go to the site.

It's no Giantbomb.com

I just keep scrolling down and down and it never ends..!

@Phatmac said:

@BisonHero

Holy fuck, it's a website.

I don't get why this is even worth talking about. Whoop-dee-doo, Polygon is now a proper website instead of being part of theverge.com/gaming. Websites get redesigned all the time.

I'm with you on the whole simmer down people it is just a website for now.

My stance is more to the effect of "Why the fuck are you even talking about this if you are not a professional web designer?"

I'm not belittling what people like Dave and Alexis do. It is a valuable pursuit. I just think it is incredibly fucking boring to talk about unless you're the kind of person who is so deep into it that it's your job. I can be impressed by say, a well designed building or car or something, but I just can't imagine a scenario where I use my browser to look at some text, pictures, and embedded video on a website, and then exclaim "HOLY SHIT, THIS IS BLOWING MY MIND RIGHT OUT OF MY SKULL". Like, whatever. It's a website.

They definitely weren't lying. It's a website.

I'm still trying to figure out what they think is so revolutionary about it, but, as a fan of videogame websites, I hope it really does end up being as revolutionary as they say.

I really like it.

@BisonHero said:

@Phatmac said:

@BisonHero

Holy fuck, it's a website.

I don't get why this is even worth talking about. Whoop-dee-doo, Polygon is now a proper website instead of being part of theverge.com/gaming. Websites get redesigned all the time.

I'm with you on the whole simmer down people it is just a website for now.

My stance is more to the effect of "Why the fuck are you even talking about this if you are not a professional web designer?"

I'm not belittling what people like Dave and Alexis do. It is a valuable pursuit. I just think it is incredibly fucking boring to talk about unless you're the kind of person who is so deep into it that it's your job. I can be impressed by say, a well designed building or car or something, but I just can't imagine a scenario where I use my browser to look at some text, pictures, and embedded video on a website, and then exclaim "HOLY SHIT, THIS IS BLOWING MY MIND RIGHT OUT OF MY SKULL". Like, whatever. It's a website.

Well, to each his own I guess. I love graphic design so websites are a huge inspiration for me. It's my job after all.

@rebgav: @Levio: @SuperJoe: It's procedural. The content loads as you scroll down the page with javascript...

@Deusx said:

@mellotronrules said:

speaking strictly from a design perspective, i think the site looks brilliant. it's not as good as the verge (see http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/28/3262089/history-of-dubstep-beyond-lies-the-wub for an example of what i consider great, modern design), but i find it really attractive. and with screen resolutions increasing, i'll take hi res photos any way i can get them.

it's just opinion, but i really appreciate the sites that are starting to undertake radical redesign- it feels like we're starting to get to a place where the visual aesthetic of site is finally utilizing the potential afforded by the medium. for so long webpages have been laid out like text books- these look like proper pieces of multimedia.

This.

Attractive but not functional for those who want to do things besides look at pictures, like read articles maybe

It looks like a fucking abomination. WTF am I looking at?

Page layout seems unpredictable, wasteful, and overly fanciful. It has the aesthetics of an old old print magazine. It's different and new but not in a good way.

LOTS OF BIG PICTURES AND LETTERS

I like the general idea of what they've got here but getting around the place takes longer then it should. Really, the how site feels like it was designed for big TVs instead of PC monitors. I could be viewing 6-10 stories on one page as opposed to 1-3. Other then that I'm not sure why people are really bothering so much with it apart from the fact that they've got some good writers and that they made some documentary.

It's doing new and unique things that no other video game website is doing, like having a dumb obnoxious site layout.

LOL at all the haters on the site layout. It looks amazing. Then again people were set on hating this thing from the get go so I'm not surprised. Being able to resize your browser and have the site dynamically resize accordingly is pretty damn cool. The mobile version is great as well.

I registered FuckRyanDavis and if anyone wants it from me... well they're gonna have to pay.

@coribald said:

@ExplodeMode said:

It's not real until it has a Russian knock-off.

It seems nice but it will take a while to get used to. And they should probably tone down the white a little bit.

multigon.ru?

I think you mean bunchopixels.ru

I like their philosophy and execution for reviewing games, knew this before the launch obviously. There's some great writers over there, but for the most part it's hard to tell. I am not a fan of the overly magazine layout, but I'm sure I'll get used to it, like I did with the verge.

@YOU_DIED said:

Attractive but not functional for those who want to do things besides look at pictures, like read articles maybe

webpage design is always a balancing act between form and function. you're right- the imagery doesn't necessarily enhance the way the information is delivered. but i would argue they've struck a pretty good balance in this case- take the halo 4 feature for example-

http://www.polygon.com/2012/10/24/3538296/data-entry-risk-management-and-tacos-inside-halo-4s-playtest-labs

the layout is really pleasing to the eye, and the floating table of contents makes it really easy to jump around. and everything you need for quick site-wide navigation is always at the top.

and for those really concerned with scrolling the large images- might i suggest clicking the scroll wheel of your mouse?

I like the live site. As for the content, the unique thing they offer (apart from a team of nearly-exclusively quality writers) is a really seriously geeky look inside the industry. @BabyChooChoo said:

@GiveUpNed said:

@BabyChooChoo said:

Meh, I like it. Again, I feel like everything they're offering I can easily get from my current trio of favorite video game websites so I'm not sure how much I'll visit the site, but still...

http://www.polygon.com/2012/10/24/3538296/data-entry-risk-management-and-tacos-inside-halo-4s-playtest-labs

So, apparently, from what I have now gathered, this may now be the greatest site of all time time.

Articles like the one above are for crazy people. But they're also fascinating, and they pretty continually write them. They wrote a couple more in the last couple days, one about Dishonored and another about Company of Heroes 2.

Urgh. What a terrible page design.

Nice doom and konami code easter eggs on Polygon. The doom one was a tad harder to find.

I think the site looks lovely but those pictures at the top might be a bit too big.

Not a fan. It's just too busy for me and pretty much every page makes chrome lag for me. I know next to nothing about websites so I have no idea if that's down to my computer/browser/extensions/bandwidth (Windows Experience Index of 7! [joking...]) or something. Also I have no idea what you guys are talking about in terms of radical design, it seems to me like they've just made a magazine layout viable with a vertical scroll rather than horizontal.

I dunno about you guys but I'm used to just ignoring obnoxious designs so that's pretty much what this is for me... The writing does seem neat though especially that Halo article and that scrolling table is amazing!

Its OK, the features are nice with the table of contents, but man the reviews are really messed up with weird blanks spaces and those over-large pictures. Get why people would want nice big pictures, but put them in a gallery and don't disrupt the flow of the article. The news seems fine.

It's a new website where I can get content.. I give it at least a month before I really decide whether I like it or not

Since I don't want to delve into the arguments here, these are some of my thoughts:

• It makes a really good impression early on, and looks really pretty. However, everything feels, in a way, cluttered while not utilising all of the screen real estate properly.
• Big images are nice to look at, but eventually get in the way. I wanted to read that Halo 4 article, but can't muster the will to scroll through all that text and imagery, when it could have probably been condensed down and placed in a more utilitarian style.
• In fact, this site feels anything but utilitarian right now. It's very colourful, which is nice, but form doesn't necessarily fit function. It seems catered, I would suppose, to someone who's trying to avoid the info-heavy news sites, and have a lower involvement barrier to its stories (by this, I don't mean people have to be stupid to read their articles. I mean that it's easier to process imagery and colour than blocks of text, and that each style is suited to cater to different tastes and circumstances. It's a marketing thing.)
• The review scale seems interesting, if not necessarily as revolutionary as they portray it to be.
• Overall, it feels like a very new and unproven site, which needs to have sand kicked in its face before it knows that it either wants to stick it out for the long haul, or change and adapt and alter the site depending on its reception and their personal views.

I may have more, but I can't remember them right now.

EDIT: Much as I think the current podcast The Besties is entertaining because of the presence of the McElroys, the format is shit and Russ Frushtick is fucking annoying, whether he intends to be or not. He either has to pick up his game, or get dropped from the podcast. I hope the change made to the podcast format (which has been promised) is substantial.

@AmatureIdiot said:

but man the reviews are really messed up with weird blanks spaces and those over-large pictures.

This is definitely my biggest complaint. The layout on some of the articles is just plain awful. Case in point, the Dishonored review has a "continued below" link in the middle of the article because the main text is broken up by a big aside about games that inspired Dishonored and a full screen image gallery.

I can respect that they're trying to resurrect the sort of meaty image, info, and pull-quote heavy articles of classic gaming magazines, but they really don't pull it off.

I really love the design of the site, but I really dislike the arrogance of the staff, so I'm not going to use that site much anyway. S'a shame.

It looks real pretty. But the way each review is designed on the page is just awkward. It seems as though the text was thrown haphazardly onto the screen.

And call me weird, but the fact that they're using the tagline "It's a website!" kinda bothers me. Think of your own phrase to use Polygon!

I really like the design of Polygon, and they've been putting out some decent stuff so far. I'll keep up with them on my RSS feed, but I don't see myself actually navigating to polygon.com regularly.

Also, any website that boasts "It's a website" at the top can't be a bad thing.

Love the infinite scrolling design. I hate browsing a separate page for older content I've missed.

I don't enjoy the design nor the content and I'll stick to Giantbomb.com

Polygon.com is the opposite of what I want in a video game website.

Fucking finally, forgot all about it. Now I'll have to check it out. And why isn't there a lazy link in OP?

Edit: Looks crisp. I'll bookmark it for now.

Edit2: Man, that site really lacks the connection to game info for game news/screenshots. Can't see any info about platform et.c.

That Warfighter review is a jumbled mess of pictures, text and text overlayed on pictures.

Also PURE WHITE.

Why do I even care about this.

I learned a new word within 5 minutes of reading their content, so they've got that going for them.