Research

I have decided to do the game console heaven, however i have spoke to my tutor and have discused changing the target age from 12+ to 16+. i asked if i could make this change so that i was able to do more of the games that "hardcore" gamers are into without having to limit what was displayed on my website. this will also allow me to have a much different theme to my website. so first of all i started looking at what different gaming websites have to offer. First of all i wne to a very populour gaming news website (www.ign.com/) and at the top of the website they have a bar with all the different categories to choose from whether this be actual consoles (playstation, xbox Etc...) to movies comics and technoligy in general.

They also have a member system where you can sign up to thewebsite and recieve news updates and gives you the ablility to interact with other members through forms etc...

I then looked at GameSpot Uk (http://uk.gamespot.com/) and they had a similar lay out with the tabs at the top of the website like so...

But also when you hover over the tabs it then has a roll down menu that has more indepth categories. This i feel is a very good idea to take on board as it helps greatly with navigation of the site and allows users to quickly and easily find information they are looking for.I also noticed that they have cross media activities so as you can see in the top right they have links to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube this means that if people are members of the website can get information through other social media sights that they use such as facebook and they can also share any news that they found intresting with their friends. This greatly expands the flexability of the website giving it a even bigger advantage when attempting to attract new members to the sight.

 

 

 

As i have been looking on websites i have found that a lot of these websited do more than just video game news, they seem to do technology news also whether it be hardware or software or even just the latest software updates for products. I feel that this could be a wise thing to bring into my website as it will then appeal to a wider target audiance as well as creating more intrest in the people who visit the sites for game news. I feel that these will go hand in hand as people who play games and look up news within the gaming industrie are highly likely to be intrested in technological news as well.

 

With a lot of the sites i have looked at they seem to have a large widget in the center of the screen at the top of the main page which shows the latest stories, the user can either flick through these or after a set time they will transition from one to the other.

 

 

 

With the IGN  website i like the style as it is quite basic and does not have lots of fancy graphics, I feel a more basic approch shows that the website is more seriouse about the news that they post. So addoptinig this approch I am going to start making concept are for the website and get some ideas however, i am going to put some influances of my own. i am a big fan of futuristic graphics and so i feel i could create something simple and futuristic looking but still maintain the look and feel of a serious website. These are some of the graphic styles that I like.