There's a new landing page for the site, which I know is always a surprise but I hope that you'll all find the new layout useful. It should more effectively highlight a variety of new content for people who visit the site for the first time, while the content that more regular users tend to enjoy most is right near the top of the page (or requires less scrolling to reach).

I've posted in more detail on the forums. You can view that topic right here.

In other news, I've taken additional steps to disable iframes on the forum, both in messages and in signatures, as they can serve as a security exploit. I know some people like to use things that include iframes, but there's no telling who might control the content on the other end, so it was an appropriate change. Have a great weekend, everyone!

It's a round number, so I'm noting it as a milestone of sorts. Which gives me an excuse to celebrate heavily today. CHEERS!

It's a shame you're married.

It's worth every penny, but don't forget, you'll also have to pay for your own airfare and lodging! I'd maybe let you sleep on the floor in my front room, since you would have to come all that distance, but you seemed just a little too excited about the walk on the beach.

But I don't have a spare $2000 just lying around.

*sigh*

A man can dream, though. A man can dream.

Congrats on your win. That's gotta be gratifying!

Lol...you might be right. Since, while CC was a long review, it wasn't 350K words long.

I think you mean KB. MB would be a LOT of text.

I don't know if its just because I've had a lot to say about certain games like FF XIII and Chrono Cross, but I've been more in the 8-9 MB realm than the 5-6 MB realm recently. Might have to do a couple short-n-sweet reviews just in case I'm just getting overly verbose.

OD's Thought for the Day

I discovered that the links to posts from the Friends page were not always working as should (specifically, when people would try to click to read the original post that prompted any replies that now appear in the feed), so I fixed those links. It's just a minor tweak, all for the best because previously the page was not working as intended and now it is.

I just had a friend telling me I should get the MGS HD Collection, which seems like a decent way to go, but I wouldn't without playing the first game. But it's not like these games are going anywhere so I can wait.

Never really got into this series but I'm tempted to download the PSone classic onto my PS3. Looked at the reviews for MGS and there's a lot of 3/10's and 10/10's but not much in between.

I didn't realise the game was so divisive.

You have likely noticed by now that the left and right columns on the main site were swapped. There's a simple reason for that. I've been reading for a long time about the natural path a person's eyes follow when viewing a site. I've also been reading within Google's help pages that it's important to switch up design elements (such as the orientation of columns) to determine which layouts get the desired response.

The new setup is an experiment. People tend to look toward the left of the page first, which will allow them to see our latest featured content no matter what page they first view upon arriving on the site. In general, the tendency is to ignore content on the far right side of a page. Because our left bar is narrower than the right bar, the effect of the new design is that the left content calls attention to itself (as it should, to encourage more traffic to reviews and such) but the right column also pops out more and is more comfortable to read.

I realize that the experience can be jarring for people who have been viewing pages on the site for years. It took me between 15 and 20 page loads as I browsed the site before I adapted to the change, but now I quite like it. I hope that you'll give the change a chance and see how it impacts your browsing experience. It will likely remain in place for at least a few weeks to give me time to determine what impact (if any) it has on our traffic.

Edit: For whatever reason, pages now seem to load faster than they did previously. I like that.

Obviously, I haven't been making huge tweaks to the blogs after the recent change of some enormity, but today I did add one tweak that's been on my mind for a bit: a bar along the top of the page so that it's easy to return to your own profile if you visit a friend's blog. It's something some of you had asked about, as well.

Another change I may implement today is a change to add replies to the "Friends" page, so that it's easier to see discussions friends might be having that you aren't necessarily aware exist. It's likely I'll put that change in place today, perhaps even in the next few minutes. It'll make it easier for more people to join interesting discussions.

This section of the site is obviously still a work in progress. I hope that you're enjoying the streamlined design as much as I am. Thanks for continuing to frequent the site and for posting in your blogs when you have something to share.

Awesome write-up describing what sounds like a wonderful event. Thanks for sharing!

Eventually you get to the point where every other puzzle will stump you for a while.

I downloaded Pushmo this afternoon. Now a few hours later, I'm at 4-6 and ready to stop for a bit. I didn't skip any puzzles, so my brain is a bit fried at this point. Getting to the top of the Christmas Tree was quite the ordeal, and there were a few other tough puzzles along the way, as well (the NES controller comes to mind).

MS Word mostly. I use Notepad for small stuff.

I use Microsoft Word and sometimes Open Office. I also write a surprising amount of stuff in regular Notepad if I'm in a rush.

I didn't play much this week. I've been more interested in watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's my first time watching them, ever. So no spoilers. Currently about half way through Season 2.

The Longest Journey

Up to the start of chapter 4. April's just ended up somewhere in her underwear. That's so... not appropriate!

Pullblox (Pushmo)

Up to the Nintendo murals. They're a bit easier than the challenges, and form some interesting pictures of Nintendo characters.

Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Got lost in the stupid forest near the start of the game. Don't remember what I'm supposed to do. Found an animal who talks about smell and a mushroom that gives off an aroma but I'm damned if I know how to make the two things interract.

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Just landed in the mines section of the lower world. Haven't explored further yet.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D

Got the lens of truth from the well and then I went to Gerudo Valley, but that whole dodge the sentries thing is much harder on a small screen.