It’s been a while now since we last had a major update to the site, 5 years to be exact. We are finally ready to push the next site update and we are aiming for a launch mid December. Before that we need some help with breaking stuff so we are opening up beta versions of all 5 newsboiler sites today so that we can do some stress testing and sort out the last bugs. So for those interested in helping out, or just want to see how the new site is turning out you can access the beta at
http://beta.n4g.com
Login: You current N4G account
The new site works a bit differently from today's site. Here are some of the changes and improvements that the new site will have.
- Front page and its algorithm is completely redone. The default front page is now similar to today's tabloid mode. Instead of having a “stale” top list and a stream of latest news the front page is now much more dynamic. This makes it feel more fresh and up to date and will make it easier to get to the interesting stuff right away. The new algorithm focuses on the stories that has the most momentum. The story cards are dynamic and will change size according the live activity in the story. When a story gets less activity they will go back to normal size. Since the algorithm in the beta pulls its data from the current site that uses a different layout it won't work properly until we switch all traffic over to the new site.
- Content navigation is much easier and on articles pages we have added fully native navigation of related articles under the story.
- Pending stories are now featured around the site to help with the flow of approved articles.
- Content from the other NB sites is better featured and has more powerful navigation
- Submitting process is now a lot faster and with better UX
- Site search is finally useful
- User blogs and reviews are now featured in the main news feed. Temp to these will be added soon. We are also working on a new submission form for these so that one can make a blog post look much better than today.
- Better looking improved public profiles for users.
- Improved PM system
- The sites are finally mobile friendly. It’s not the best user experience at the moment but updates will be pushed soon to improve that.
With this beta build we are testing the core loop. There are a lot of new features that are still in development that will be roled out in coming weeks and months. We are now moving to continues delivery instead of pushing big updates like we have done in the past. Colors and graphics will be updated before launch to make the sites shine a bit more.
Here are some of the stuff we are working on that will be added to the site in the near future.
- Dynamic PopUp Cards: On the home page there will be cards that pops up when a big game is getting a lot of reviews showing the current meta score, number of reviews and they will expand in size according to how many reviews are submitted. These cards can be used for anything really. Under E3 they could show all available live streams, or be a news ticker showing all incoming E3 news. They will help make the site feel more alive and dynamic. These will be automatically triggered when a certain tag gets a high amount of heat in a short period.
- Improving the algorithm of the front page. We will work on balancing the algo to get a good mix of news, media, articles and user content.
- Real time temp signs, updating without having to reload page.
- The ability to “boost” the temp of articles and comments. A limited number of boosts will be available each day for each user to give this feature some real value.
- The approval process will be improved but we are still working on how this should be done. So we are keeping it as it is for now. We will go over all guidelines and site rules to update these to make things a bit easier for everybody.
- Choose between grid and list view for the news feed. The grid will still be default but users who prefer a list view can save this so it becomes their default rendering. You will be able to set hottest or latest instead of featured as default, this also goes for story types.
- At the moment the beta still pulls data from the backend of the current sites. This will affect the content that is displayed when navigation around the site, like a lot less stories will show up from the archive when browsing content for a specific tag than we have in the database. When we move to the new backend all stories will be easily accessible (all 2 000 000! )
You might wonder how we managed to spend 5 years on this update. I can reveal there is one really big feature (and that is an understatement) to the new newsboiler platform that can take most of the blame for the big delay. We will reveal more about this when we do the full launch next month :)
Oh, and all data in the beta is live data. So all your actions will be reflected on N4G.com. If you find bugs please use the feedback label on the right side of the screen. Thanks!
With Arkane Austin no more and Lyon living for who knows how long, the superb Dishonored is in serious danger; Microsoft cannot be trusted.
I love the Dishonored series so much and really want Dishonored 3. Microsoft better not screw this up.
I mean, I think the fans will probably kill Arkane Lyon by cooking up reasons to hate whatever they do next without playing it. I've never seen a game so artificially disliked as Deathloop.
Lol, why don't we just say, we are worried about all studios owned by MS now. They will keep closing studios until they have none left ...🙄
Just merge them all into a single studio, have it churn out a single Call of Duty every year and call it a day, lol.
I think it's becoming clear based on matt bootys comments there's no future for any IP that can't sell above 10 million within the launch window. But is also a small game that gives them prestige
/S it's beyond a joke right now
A renowned industry insider has suggested the rumored PlayStation May 2024 showcase featuring Silent Hill 2 could happen this week.
Bogus!
Why would Sony do that and how would this benefit them?
1) It would piss off their media partners (IGN, Gamespot, Edge, etc.) since they would have to allocate resources fast to cover the event.
2) Risk of not having great coverage or proper coverage from the various source
3) It could give the impression that they are not confident in their own stuff.
4) They would miss the chance to hype the event losing viewers and losing free marketing time.
Again I'm calling it bogus unless it's a small showcase before the big one or because they want to announce that Hellbalde 2 is also coming on PS5.
As far as I can remember, they typically give a week heads up for these sorts of things.
Last year it was a weeks notice.
https://blog.playstation.co...
May 17th announcement for may 24th show.
Nintendo always tweets that a direct is happening tomorrow but no one cares.
Sony gives a week or days of notice and we get anti sony type fake outrage like this.
But good luck trying trying to get some Sony hate going...
You just mention it!
Sony gives a week in advance NOT just a couple of days.
So I fail to see what Sony's hate movement I'm trying to start when it's a basic business strategy to not piss off your partners (ask Sega).
And I doubt it's hate to ask how it would benefit Sony in doing so.
@Versus
Huh? What?
Bro you really should relax, if what you read was some kinda negative against Sony.... seriously, is that what you got from the comments?
Bro, he was debunking the rumor, and gave perfectly good reasons why it would be unlikely, and your Nintendo Direct comparison is different, as this is supposed to be a BIG Sony showcase, not a surprise 20 min direct, and Sony 's pattern has been one week.
Slow down warmonger.
@thesoftware730
"1) It would piss off their media partners (IGN, Gamespot, Edge, etc.) since they would have to allocate resources fast to cover the event."
That is implying Sony is preventing them from doing their job properly therefore negatively affecting their business...but i guess that's a reach in your mind?
And it's not like they need that many resources to cover the stream. They just need 3 people to react to the stream live and make some easy articles made up mostly of summaries of Sony provided press releases. They would have enough time to "prepare" if it was announced with one days notice.
@Versus
" That is implying Sony is preventing them from doing their job properly therefore negatively affecting their business...but i guess that's a reach in your mind"
No, it simply implies that some media all over the world might (keyword MIGHT) not properly cover the event like having proper articles for each game announced, or having a proper preshow. maybe some popular YouTubers won't have time to prepare or simply your local newspaper doing an article on tech and game.
So why would Sony take a chance?
What benefit would that give them?
Before I get tons of replies for Sony given a week in advance, my initial comments are related to the notion that the Show could happen this week as the title mentions.
Now to be fair the complete article mentions that Jeff said the Show could happen later in May giving time for Sony to give the normal 7-day notice.
Again not trying to start a negative thing here just thinking that it's bogus that Sony will have a show this week
Yeah as much as I’d like to hear what sony’s 1st parties have cooked, it’s not their style to shadow drop a showcase.
Still waiting for ghost of tsushima 2, I’m ready whenever man..
Going in with no expectations but likely will see something that resonates with me.
Here is a look at the new Joker Trailer. Warner Bros. Games today released a new MultiVersus trailer revealing the first look at gameplay for The Joker, who will join the roster as a playable character when the upcoming free-to-play platform fighter videogame launches on May 28th.
Looking forward to testing out the new site!
Can't seem to click on any news without being re-routed to the beta login page (or login anymore, so can't report via feedback).
I'm curious as to how the comment system has or will change. The bubble system aside, will comments still be sorted by Time, as in the people who post first always remain at the top? It seems a bit counter-intuitive, as dozens of worthwhile comments are buried at the bottom or on the second page onwards, while a very large comment thread goes on to the point where you can't even reply to the comments anymore and have to resort to replying to yourself.
I like the style of it so far, one thing though. It should be a requirement to submit articles with higher resolution thumbnails, the lower res ones look god awful in the new layout.
One thing I really like with it is the comment system, no bubbles and being able to sort comments based on age/rating is nice.
" - The sites are finally mobile friendly. It’s not the best user experience at the moment but updates will be pushed soon to improve that. "
I think that is a bit of an issue here, it seems you fellas focused more on Mobile users than PC users.
Maybe it will grow on me later on but for now, i have to say i like this one more.
And are you getting rid of the bubble system with the new update?
I like this one better. I'm a mobile user myself and that site dosent work for me :/
Plus, the current one is easier to navigate through. :)