Nezza

@rorie: Whatever you announce, I hope it's made loud and clear on the website and not buried in a podcast or off on another site (Gamespot). Frankly, if it wasn't for other people disseminating the info that is available, as a non-Podcast listener but long time Subscriber, I'd have zero clue what was going on.

That gives me more fear for the future of this site than any other changes. That the people that run this site don't seem to use it themselves any more.

@fugoy On Twitter. Kinda proving the point that was being made.

Whatever take you want to make from this. I personally find it very telling that the only quotes through Gamespot. That the only notification for hours yesterday was a thread in the forums and even now the only reference is a link to the Bombcast which reads as more of the 'Brad's leaving' meme.

I found out about all this because I follow Patrick on Twitter and he posted about it. I don't listen to the Bombcast so this could have passed me by otherwise given this is the only gaming site I visit.

That the site itself can barely acknowledge what is happening does not fill me with confidence for the future and is completly indicitive of the complaints people have had for a while now that 'content' is often in third-party places and not here on the site.

As a newcomer to the series It's an anachronism. Whilst I'm sure it really hits the nostalgia spots for original fans it no just feels out of place. Compare and contrast to the recent Diablo release where everything is unlocked from the get-go and we were able to jump right in with the characters, the difficulty and the acts that we wanted. Actually compare to even Mario Kart 8 or Mario Tennis Aces since they are Nintendo releases also geared to social multiplayer.

There is literally no real argument for not having at least the option to unlock all through a menu or a code. There isn't even the argument of distorting achievement points since that isn't a system on Switch. Most of the arguments against it simply remind me that there were people who were up in arms about Mario Kart 8 getting driving assists which were aimed at letting younger kids, or those who complain about games having difficulty levels.

@secondpersonshooter: Whilst I understand your point about the long run, it comes across as spoken like someone who is lucky enough to not know how difficult it can be for even one or two friends friends to get time together. Unfortunately as time goes by other responsibilities and obstacles mean that time together can be scarce and precious. At that point the prospect and hour let alone 8 hours trying to unlock everything so everyone can play who they like really is an obstacle. Particularly if you have friends who don't play a lot of games and are playing more for the social aspect, but liked that one character in Kart/Tennis and wonders why they can't be it now when they are on the box.

@wemmick: Clicking pause on a video is in no way the same as not having autoplay. One requires user action to prevent a video playing, the other does not.

I've kept my council so far, but the more I use the site the more I dislike it. It's just user unfriendly with thing that should be present missing, yet other information duplicated up to four times on the front page alone.

Seriously, why aren't all title links? Actually same for the subtitling - take the Hitman 2 video I'd expect to click the reviews under the title and go to a page with all reviews

Why is everything presented oldest to the right? It's so counter intuitive when the next click takes you to older content, so it goes old-new-older! On the subject, why to carousels function left to right on the front page and right to left on the content pages!?

The roll-overs, man the roll overs. First you've somehow managed to make them infuriatingly slow to activate, yet still make them flash quickly enough that you think you're on the verge of a fit. Also, the one place that a carousel may be genuinely welcome and you don't use one, and again so much wasted space.

Autoplay on non-playlist videos - No. Just No. Doesn't even need an explanation.

Dark only theme? My tired eyes do not thank you.

I'm not against change. Implementing change is what I do for a living. But as visually pleasing as the new site is, the user friendliness is a major step backwards. Frankly the point of this site is to get to the content and I feel like it fails in that regard by making being so inconsistent and inefficient in the way a user has to interact with it. Plus why you do get to content, the information about it is barebones in comparison to the previous site. Which team posted it, who are the QL presenters? Where is the link to more info or content about that game.

You can add all the little flourishes in the world, but it matters not a jot if people can't use it simply.

And as if to add insult to injury, I've had to type this all again as the site crashed on reply.

If only there were an academy that hosted a black-tie event, treating video games with the same reverence as cinema and TV.

Oh wait, there is and it has been going for some time now.

http://www.bafta.org/games

That thing is going to ground out, and Link is going to have a terrible accident.

Typically, I tend to look at the reviewer and see if they have an overall positive or negative experience rather than an arbitrary score at the end of the page.

A review can encourage me to give a game I've no interest in a second look.
A review can prevent me from purchasing a truly broken product.
What a review cannot tell me whether I will find the experience of playing a game a pleasant one as experience is entirely subjective*.

I'm perfectly fine playing a flawed game, provided it gives me an interesting experience along the way.

*Unless it's Alex reviewing as If he likes a game, chances are so will I.

Despite visiting from the beginning I only subscribed after the Kirbal Space Program Quick Look and hearing everyone call it a non-premium episode of Flight Club.

The post conference chats (E3 etc) are always fantastic content.