Kikizo and the future

Hey guys,

This is just a quick, belated post to let you know what's happening with Kikizo at present. The can-be-arsed-with-the-frontpage among you may have noticed that updates have slowed to a trickle in the past few weeks. The reasons for this are twofold: first off, we're in the process of ripping Kikizo's backend apart and replacing it with something far more user-friendly and efficient, which will ease the content bottleneck (we have literally acres of pending material). Secondly we're gearing up to roll out the next batch of sites, all of which will run on the same content management backbone as the upgraded Kikizo.

Adam can probably phrase this better than I, but strategically speaking we're in the middle of a shift from one, full-fat, all-purpose game editorial site to a network of punchy outlets tailored to specific audiences and subject matters, much as Flytrap is aimed at penniless casuals/indies and Blu-ray Daily the HD film freaks. It's all quite exciting for me personally as it means I'm going to be able to write a whole bunch of different shizzle, rather than the more by-the-numbers preview/interview/review stuff (though we'll still be doing plenty of that on Kikizo itself, of course).

Apologies for neglecting you chaps a bit, but I think the results will be worth it. Thanks for your patience :)

Will this affect the forums?  Will those other sites have their own forums?  Will all sites share these forums?

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

The plan for the moment is to have all sites fold into one set of forums, and we're thinking about ways we can "improve the experience for users" and other such customer relations gubbins.

Its a bit of a strange strategy to split the userbase only to try to bring them together again in a forum.  You're also more likely to split your own resources and dilute each part of the site.

I still maintain that: if you invest in unique video content, they will come.

They're going to give Edwin's job to someone in India.

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

Adam's given Edwin's job to too-pac?

Nah, 2pac got himself arrested for peddling cocaine to the armed forces, so you're stuck with me for the duration (or at least till they decrypt his client database).

"Its a bit of a strange strategy to split the userbase only to try to bring them together again in a forum. You're also more likely to split your own resources and dilute each part of the site.

I still maintain that: if you invest in unique video content, they will come."

Having one forum is partly a question of convenience - it's just not practical, for various reasons, to maintain a bunch of site-specific forums - but it also makes sense as part of a network strategy. Each site will be editorially led (i.e. will be more or less free to call its own shots, content-wise) but they won't be completely disparate. Naturally we're getting more writers and editors involved to take up the slack. And who said we weren't going to do more video stuff? :)

So thats how he funded his studies.  pfft can't trust anyone these days.

I just think that when games try to cater to all audiences they fail to really engage any of them properly - so it seems going the same way with the kikizo conglomerate may end up in similar hot water.

Personally though will eagerly stick around to see the new haloed video stuff.

Bring on the fresh meat!

***flyingsaucersdisguisedasmushrooms***
***mushroomsinvadingfromouterspace***

Yeah, hopefully this repopulates the forums with more nubs to feast on.

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

But you promised you'd all be nice :(

"I just think that when games try to cater to all audiences they fail to really engage any of them properly - so it seems going the same way with the kikizo conglomerate may end up in similar hot water."

We're not trying to "cater to all audiences", though I can see how it might look that way from my first post. What we're trying to do is diversify within our existing audience, break it down by demographic. The web is swimming in sites which target an amorphous, elusive gaming "mainstream", a mainstream everybody bandies around in discussion but nobody can adequately define. Rather than reaching for the unknowable mass, trading on the same old "review, preview, interview, news" circus act, we want to make our offering far more specific. Not too specific, of course- I'm not going to start an Atlus fansite or anything - but specific enough that we actually speak to certain readers rather than just throwing open the doors and yelling "Come and get it" to the universe at large.

I'm not going to start an Atlus fansite or anything

Aww, you know it makes sense.

I'm not speaking to Atlus till they publish Demon Souls over here. Miserly gets.

So while Kikizo fails and blows the cock, we're going to make new sites? I miss Eddie. I miss Majik. Hell, I miss Fathoms. Evil Man, where art thou? All we have left are Iad, Choupolo, Loco, and Atheist Ghost. Well, there's edwin, but he just fetches the tea.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

That's harsh. I also do a selection of coffees and soft drinks.

/passes plate of Jammy Dodgers

I think you'll find one of the new sites particularly interesting, dan...

That was harsh. You're part of the family, you've survived the hazing, and been with us even when we're on life support. Excuse me while I look up what 'Jammy Dodgers' are.

And what site will I find interesting? Will it amuse and entertain me? Will it force me to come to grips with my angry outbursts? Will it make me evaluate how good or bad of a person I am and actually make me feel remorse? If you said yes to all of these I'm hoping it's a KOTOR site announcing the canning of the KOTOR MMO and announcing KOTOR 3, 4, and 5.

Disclaimer: I have been known to ride the Bioware cock. And ride it hard.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

Well it's pretty easy to stay faithful to something when they're paying you to do so, but thanks :p Jammy Dodgers are the Bioware of the biscuit world, less the sex.

The new site I'm referring to isn't an RPG site, though we could probably do with one of those at some point. We're about to start populating it with launch/test content.

That's harsh. I also do a selection of coffees and soft drinks.

When you say soft drinks does that include sweet tea? And if so, is it Southern America sweet tea or shitty Britfag sweet tea?

Leave the britfags alone, amerifag.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

Isn't sweet tea just tea with sugar in it? The only people who drink that round these parts are lorry drivers, and you don't want to fuck with that action.

I bought a macbook pro

emofag


I bought a macbook pro

I hate you.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

It's so damn sexy, dual booting with Windows 7, of course.

I bought a Asus G51-Vx . Dual booting Win 7  with Leopard 10.5.8 :)

  [image]http://gdpit.com/avatars_pictures/animated/gdpit_com_45464555_806.gif[/image]

Too fat and non-sexy/slim.

the microphone and camera are much better on the new macbook pro than on the older one.  The touchpad works really nice too.  

I'm waiting for Windows 7 to launch and getting a multitouch netbook though.  

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

Netbooks are pointless and a step back in portable computer design, why would you even want one?     

Instead of inovating by designing better cases and batteries laptop manufacturers are just making netbooks.  I'm not an apple guy, I would never buy an apple desktop, but when it comes to laptops they are just brilliant, they have designed their cases to be able to cram in high end laptop components very tightly, the 13" MBP is about 20% bigger than a netbook and has components that are actually worth a shit, it manages to be so much smaller than other laptops not by going with shit components but by simply not wasting any space in the case, most laptop cases have alot of dead air and plastic.  

The new battery design is also crazy, I'm getting around 8 hours on mine which is amazing considering a 2.53ghz core 2 duo, 4GB ram, Geforce 9400, and 300GB HDD, that's better than most netbooks that use components that are many times less powerful.

And let's not even mention the macbook air...

"Netbooks are pointless and a step back in portable computer design, why would you even want one?"

Because they're cheap, small (obviously) and (providing you pick and choose) very serviceable as secondary/on-the-go computers. I'm using one to update Flytrap (i.e. play Flash games, edit images, access the web and type stuff) at the mo, and while I wouldn't want to be lumped with it full-time it's a good stop gap. Macbook Pros are awesome, but they cost a fair bit.

They aren't that much more expensive, especially if you buy them at the right time.

13" Macbook Pro with the new OS X 10.6 is $1200, if you're a student you get $100 off and a free ipod touch.  If you're not a student either take an old college ID or just take a random friend/relative that is a student and say you're buying it for him, the transaction will still be in the name of the person who's paying for it.

I'm actually using the ipod touch, but if I wasn't it would be easy to sell it for $150-$200 on ebay, which would drive the overall price down to $900.

A 14" Dell Studio with similiar features (new OS [windows 7], backlit keyboard, geforce 9400m, etc) comes out at about $974 at dell.com, and that's after the $140 rebate they have going on right now.

Only problem is aesthetically the dell looks like shit compared to the MBP, it's big and clunky, and the battery life is 4 hours instead of 8.   Even without the ipod promotion going on it's still $1100 vs $974, and to get 8 hours of battery on the dell you need to buy a 2nd battery which is like another $100, so it's about the same anyway.

Anyway my point is, macbooks are only marginally more expensive than an equally equipped laptop.  Yeah you can get a piece of shit barebones dell laptop for $500, but... it's a piece of shit. 

I don't want a regular netbook.  I want a touchscreen and I want it to be able to fold up with the screen showing and stuff.  

I'm thinking about getting this one.
http://eeepc.asus.com/global/productt91.aspx?n=0
When Windows 7 comes out they are releasing the multitouch version.  It's $500.

Before I was thinking this one
http://www.alwaysinnovating.com/home/index.htm
Which would be $400 with the keyboard thing.
but I don't think that one is powerful enough.  I want to be able to play movies at the full resolution of the screen and whatnot and that doesn't even have a webcam built in.  


After I get it I'm going to get a USB GPS receiver, which are only like $30, and use it as a GPS.

I'll use it to check emails and browse the nets, also instant messaging and skype video calls.  Perhaps watch some movies on.  So I don't really need too much speed.  

I won't do much gaming on it except maybe StarCraft because it's the best game ever made and you're all nubs.

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

That Eee PC is whack, or something. But are you sure you really need something like that just for Skype, email, MSN and movies? A decent smartphone would offer the same functionality (other than the screen size, obviously) for much less.

The Acer Aspire One netbook I'm typing this on cost £300 (around $490), and for that you get 1 GB RAM, a 1.6 Ghz processor, 160 GB HD, three USB slots, a webcam and a 6-7 hour battery. I've got Dungeon Keeper 2 and Ground Control running on it. Good times :)

Edwin


That Eee PC is whack, or something. But are you sure you really need something like that just for Skype, email, MSN and movies? A decent smartphone would offer the same functionality (other than the screen size, obviously) for much less.

The Acer Aspire One netbook I'm typing this on cost £300 (around $490), and for that you get 1 GB RAM, a 1.6 Ghz processor, 160 GB HD, three USB slots, a webcam and a 6-7 hour battery. I've got Dungeon Keeper 2 and Ground Control running on it. Good times :)

I want to be able to do them all at once.  Video chat, instant messaging, and web browsing, and playing starcraft would suck pretty hard on a smart phone.

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

/parts waves of spam like Moses parting the Red Sea

Bit more clarification for you - http://games.kikizo.com/news/200909/kikizo-relaunching-in-november.asp

Only a few weeks to go...

If you don't assign a mod to delete all the spam, nothing you do here will amount to jack shit.

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

All in good time, mate. There's no point crusading against the spammers till we've stitched all the backend stuff together.

I agree it's getting pretty ridiculous in here though...

so what's the new name going to be?

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

Something much more transparent, basically :)

TELL US RAWR

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

NEIN.

How about you try to guess it? I'll give you a hint: three words.

KEN - Kikizo Entertainment Network

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."