We Proudly Announce The Impending Arrival of AIN'T IT COOL GAMES!

Hey folks, Dave here.

Here's something I bet most of you weren't expecting today...next week, January 30th, marks the launch day of Ain't It Cool Games, a new site of ours covering interactive entertainment of all sorts (video games), at www.aicg.com, and www.aintitcoolgames.com. No, there's nothing there yet.

Why, you ask? Well, because if you're gonna work on something, it should be something you enjoy, and those of us behind the new gaming site really love our video games. Also, because based on reader feedback, it's the area current AICN readers would most like to see us move into.

We're excited, paranoid, stressed, you name it. We're also depending on you, our loyal readers, to make it work. What is the point of an Ain't It Cool Games site, after all?

Well, it's to bridge the gap between developers, editors, and readers. Right now, online, there are tons of great game forums, plenty of editorial-driven sites, and a few fantastic developer-oriented sites as well. Our aim is to bring all of these things together in a way that's useful to everyone. We want to get these groups communicating, in a way not dissimilar to our beloved film site. Because if you're a developer, and you're gonna spend millions of dollars developing a game, you ought to have some idea of whether or not you're giving the people what they want, and if you're a consumer, fifty bucks is way too much money to spend on a game that sits on your shelf.

Maybe you always wanted to write for a site like AICN, but you don't really know much about film, or much give a rat's ass about it. Well, here's another opportunity. Then again, maybe you just always wished we ran a site that had user-moderated comments (oh no!). Well, we can help you with that too.

There are some things we're not going to do. For instance, we're not going to have game cheats, faqs, and walkthroughs, because frankly, GameFAQs already does that better than anyone.

We're also not going to have pop-up/under ads, and we're not going to make you pay us money to read our content. We will have a little PayPal contribution button, though, because there are up-front costs, and we do have a couple of trips to take this spring, one to the Game Developer's Conference, and one to the E3 Expo.

More than kind donations of cash, though, we need your support in the spirit of fandom. Information gathering, submissions of content, ideas of all sorts for any reason at all, putting us in touch with people you think are interesting in the industry, and if you're a part of the developer or publishing community, we need your help too. In ways I'm sure you can anticipate.

Along with your support, we'll need your patience. Patience for getting through this spring and the two big expos, problems with the new site that are sure to arise, and so forth. Think of the new site as a baby. You can slap it on the ass, but do so in a gentle and caring way.

So, there you have it. Fun and peril is on the way. Write us at games@aintitcool.com if you like, we'll be happy to hear from you. I'll put up another note next week. May the lot of you have a happy Friday and weekend, and pray to your respective gods for our good fortune in this mighty venture. We will need it.

-Dave

dave@aintitcool.com