I have spoken about this with Ant before (and I know he agrees but just lacks the time to do it) but I think the actual site with in itself is where it needs to be about now. The content is coming pretty thick and fast, the hits are rolling and the site looks the part too.

Where I think NintendoLife falls short compared to other Nintendo sites is the community aspect. Are there any quick ways we can beef up the community?

I have a few very small ideas:

• Expand on user profiles. All the data that's collected in the games collection section is not really getting used. Why not display it? How about giving tabbed browsing on each person: Profile // Games Collection // Friends Codes // Wishlist // User Reviews // Forum Posts. People tend to like statistics and I totally see your point of view with not counting users forum posts to avoid spamming, but maybe some overall statistics could be included on their profile page?
• Make it more obvious people can sign up. At the moment I think there is only one link.
• Automatic email updates on wish list games, currently owned games and the like.
• News article comments appearing in forum too making communication and discussion easier.

It's nothing major or groundbreaking but I think it would be great to visit NLife and not just be reading news articles, but also get involved in a community - 'cos at the moment the people are reading our articles (which is great don't get me wrong) but no one is really sticking around to say "hi".

I dunno - I just wondered what people thought/what we can do to get things moving.

It's a good suggestion, however I know me and Ant don't really like forums too much, so it won't be on his priority list.

It could also be possible that people are like trained to spot 'Forum' and not 'Community' and may not know what it is, I doubt it but it could happen I suppose.

Alright Geezers,

Yeah, good points all round, I think we should rename the menu button to "Forums" so people get the message loud and clear Agree Sammy?

One of my colleagues has actually coded a pretty neat new forum which was based on my nlife one, that just adds a few more features that would be worthwhile, (like it finally remembering what topics you've looked at between computers and visits) I'll be looking to implement that sometime soon.

The news/reviews/previews/features appearing as topics I think is really worth doing, I'll try my best to get that one sorted out at the same time as the above.

Chat (IRC) we're gonna try and expand on this one, we've just registered our new channel on Quakenet and we should have a web-based interface live by the end of today, I think it'd be cool to get people chatting via the website too, rather than simply in the forums.

Mii's - I've found a pretty neat way to get Mii avatars into the site, that'd be a pretty cool feature if we all had Mii's on the site. Sound good?

Content is still paramount, but we certainly do need to build on the community side of things, even if it is simply things like making it more obvious to standard users.

Yeah, I say focusing more on the forums and making it more obvious to sign up is vital. I myself am quite a big believer that communities make sites what they are, so indulge us forum junkies Ant

The Mii's thing might be the breath of fresh air the site needs to market it.

As for the "community" button instead of "forums" I don't really have a problem (eBay uses the term "Community"). In fact I'm happy with the term "Community" so long as there actually is one. NLife definitely has the 100% basis for one it just needs to get alive and kicking. The hits are there to gain one - just some subtle persuasion could be paramount.

Totally agree that content and the homepage is the key though.

Off to play Zelda. Have a good night guys

Sounds like a lot of work lined up for you Ant. I'd make a new image called Forum instead of Community, GCUK and TGW was called "Forum" and they was always active. See how things go.

I agree the community should be a bigger part..

Profiles should be more detailed, making use of the games collection data collected. Article comments and the forums should also be integrated.

Just my observations as a new member (I've been using the site for some time but only just signed up today). I have to say the thing which has always impressed me most about this site is the design.. it was the first thing I noticed upon discovering this site and probably one of the things which kept me coming back.

It would be nice to hear some other "non-staff" members opinions.

I totally agree about the profiles though Rob. The data is being collected but not really being processed. HOWEVER, I know Ant is very busy and probably has plans for all that stuff - just not the time for integration.

Like the ideas so far, I've just thought of another one too..

Game tips - Not so much cheats and stuff, just little bits that people have stumbled across in a game. The topic about Wii Secrets is a good example of what could go in there.

Game tips could also be part of a FAQ system. - Every now and then I think of a question I'd like to know the answer to, I normally try to figure it out myself but if many people are doing the same thing it is redundant. A FAQ sytem only answerable by trusted members would be a good idea.

p.s, about the forums; I like the way they are but more functionality (i.e searching) is good. Hopefully they won't be made too complicated though.