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?

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.

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.