As a gaming forum, Evolution is barely that, however it has great potential and I have a few suggestions to make this happen.

We should have a main page with updated news sections, much like this forum, where the main page is essentially part of the forum. We should also include staff reviews section where our more prominent members can submit reviews on games, and perhaps if there is a confident member out there who would like to set up a podcast.

The only reason I say this is because I have only just realised how big we really are. Huh? You may say? Well I have just heard of a small podcast which broadcasts only to the population of a forum who have come into the possession of an Xbox 360 and several games for free simply so they may continue their podcast. I recently won a competition for a game not because I had the best entry, but because there were 10 winners and only around 20 entries yet a game developer still donated the 10 copies of their game as the prize. If we turn this site into a prominent gaming hub this will be no challenge for us, as long as we keep up the hard work, of which I am more than willing to contribute. At the very least I'm sure if we ask Microsoft to donate a 360 console for the sole purpose of it acting as a dedicated Evolution Xbox server they would be more than happy to oblige.

Some interesting ideas of where you'd like to see the forum go :) it is true Evolution has grown and we're always looking for ways to improve / expand the forum, you might be on to something mate :)

Thanks for the ideas, I'm sure the Evolution team will consider your suggestions.

I put together a quick mock screenshot:

Looks good that screenshot, although hopefully we can get prizes from all companies to keep the people still coming in. Also there are a few of these sites around, i.e. PALGN that are in the similar market and give out regular prizes. So in that case, competiting against them can be difficult.

Also I guess there was the chance to become official partners with Edge Australia back when they were still around, but unluckily they went out of bussiness.

But definately along with VIP members which can tie into people submitting their own reviews and / or articles to a centralised hub for mass viewage would be an interesting concept.

Isn't this like that idea to make the fourm into a magazine one day (much like Hyper)?

The Hyper forums (and the website for that matter) were created because the magazine itself was so damn popular. Not the other way around.

As for this idea, I will also be willing to contribute if we do indeed having a website or something similar as a division to this board.

There was talk when this forum first began of a merge with PALGN, so that is always a possibility too.

Yeah, I had that same idea a few days ago too. Link!

It's a fantastic idea, but considering that Mach is in control around here, I really doubt anything will come of it. Still, you have my support if it goes ahead, and I'd love to help out with the updating, etc.

No, you misread me. I sadi that the idea is to make a magazine that is like Hyper. I didn't say that Hyper came around from the forums (they where not around when the first issue hit the stands).

I was saying that as I don't know if the idea has been pointed here before. As I know it was on Virtually Creater at some point.

Umm, well starting a magazine takes A LOT of money, time and hard-work so I think its pretty safe to say that no one suggested turning Evo into a magazine, at least not seriously.

Cracking idea MetalliX, i'm hunting a code / hack for this type of thing right now. I found the Arcade, Signature of the Week and Shoutbox were all relatively straightforward to set up... so this shouldn't be to much of a problem for me. This will definitely add some more validity to the VIP member system too, both should coexist together quite well. :)

Yes, thats why I said it's a bad idea (magazine).

As to this, see what happens.

WOW this is done already.....having the main page up before the forum is wicked great job whoever did it!!

It's looking rather good, although it was quite a shock to see it kick in so quick, as Ryan said. It is however looking a little plain, which means we need more updates! I'm assuming that the next update will go above the current one about the Nintendo games, and that one will drop down?

Yeah I'll try and add some more updates to get things looking better, and yes the latest stories will be at the top :)

Nice, it looked just like the mock-ups.

I wonder what will be placed on it.

Wow! Well done guys looks great and so soon!

Question, is there a way to have a thumbnail of what the news article concerns rather then the poster's avatar?

Whoa, I certainly wasn't expecting to see a different page when I clicked on my Evo bookmark this evening. Very schmick guys, very schmick indeed. It was also nice to find out those release dates for the DS games so danke Borg. :thumbsup:

I hate it. It's clunky and confusing.

Why add another interface just to get to what you want to get to?

Just click on forums to get to the normal boards :)

I don't know for sure, but I don't think so (Mach would know), either way I'm liking this thing, now you guys only have to make one stop for all your gaming news ;)

We need a new skin after all this is sorted out. The homepage looks dull, I don't like the layout.

Cheers Nismo, we think it looks pretty slick too. The majority of InvisionFree forums are using this interface now, it's fantastic. News is just a starter, expect some very cool specialities coming soon.

Currently, that particular hack or code isn't achievable... updates are happening all the time, so it's definitely not out of the question. :)

Already on the cards DZ. :thumbsup:

I like it. Good stuff Mach, I'm impressed.

Yeah, things are really looking good.