Gamestyle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Gamestyle**

Our World, Your Guide
URL	http://www.gamestyle.net http://www.gamestyle.co.uk http://www.gamestyle.com http://www.gamestyle.mobi
Commercial?	No
Type of site	Gaming
Registration	Free
Owner	Dean Swain
Created by	Dean Swain Matthew Cox Dave Carlson
Launched	1999

Gamestyle is a UK-based independent computer and video gaming website that was launched in 1999 by Dean Swain, under the name Dreamers128.

Gamestyle covers video game software reviews, previews, news, and other information. After starting out on its own, Gamestyle was linked with a small American media network called FanGen. Later, Gamestyle broke free of FanGen and merged with fellow independent site GameHub.

To date, Gamestyle remains independently operated.

1 History
2 Main site
- 2.1 Reviews and Rating System
- 2.2 Developments
3 Gamestyle Offline
4 Forum Community
5 Staff
6 References
7 External links

[edit] History

Launched in 1999 by Dean Swain, the site focused exclusively on SEGA Dreamcast games, under the guise Dreamers128. Approximately a month following launch, the site rebranded to Gamestyle.co.uk, became a multi-format site, and began to cover all console systems - though coverage of other consoles was restricted to previews alone.

With sites of this stature somewhat of a rarity, Gamestyle was quickly tied to a small American media network named FanGen who covered running costs of the website. Under FanGen, Gamestyle turned to become a more humorous, 'punky' website which displayed images of semi-nude women on the front page.

The FanGen link remained until Gamestyle merged with another UK independent, GameHub. This merger saw an increase in visitors to the site, due to the popularity of GameHub. With each newer build of the website, Gamestyle progressively lost it's attitude and tamed the humour in written articles.

To date, the site runs primarily on the .net web domain and is now funded by Dean Swain, Matthew Cox and Jason Julier. It also can be found under the .com and .co.uk web domains.

[edit] Main site

Gamestyle's main page displays the latest news, reviews, previews, and links to areas for the following platforms: PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360, GameCube, Wii, Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance. Visiting each console section shows a list of the latest articles, the most popular games on that console, and an index method for users to track down games of interest as quickly as possible.

Gamestyle has always had 'retro' section, yet since the latest redesign in 2006, the retro section has not yet returned. This is expected to return by summer 2007 with all of the previous content restored.^[1]

[edit] Reviews and Rating System

Gamestyle has a strict review policy and they themselves believe their reviews to be trustworthy and unbiased, granting a fair review score. Many have used the phrase "the Edge magazine of the internet" when describing the review style, noting that Gamestyle only issues a 10/10 score to games that truly deserve it, and that 5/10 is an 'average'. While none of the writing team are professionals, Gamestyle delivers new content daily on weekdays and also at weekends.

Though in articles, Gamestyle refers itself in third person, staff writers are also credited. Reviews are also listed on Game Rankings^[2], Metacritic^[3], Rotten Tomatoes, and MobyGames.

Their reviews were considered highly enough to be included alongside IGN and Electronic Gaming Monthly on Nintendo's UK marketing print campaign for Metroid Prime. These adverts were printed in numerous gaming magazines, on advertising hoardings across UK towns and cities and also online.

[edit] Developments

Gamestyle is constantly looking to evolve and improve the site. In March 2007 a new feature was launched that connected any posted news story, with a related topic in the forum. This allowed users to discuss events and offer opinions on breaking news in the world of videogames.

[edit] Gamestyle Offline

Gamestyle also creates and hosts a downloadable PDF magazine. Now published on an infrequent basis, Gamestyle Offline ^[4] is intended for the visitor to print their own copy for 'on-the-go'. Gamestyle maintains that download figures of each issue are promising, and are known to have worked with video game publishers such as Vivendi Universal to create 'Special Editions'.

At the close of 2006 there are eleven issues of the magazine, three of which are 'Special Editions'. Each issue contained content that you may not typically find on the main site, such as interviews with developers and features on specific subjects. Gamestyle has been known to publish reviews of various titles in Gamestyle Offline, before publishing them online, as a 'selling point' of the PDF magazine.

[edit] Forum Community

Whilst Gamestyle itself remains popular, the site has always struggled to gain a relatively large forum user base, hosting a small community of regular visitors in comparison to larger websites. Although this creates a nice atmosphere on the forums, the forum has always been held back due to hacking issues with previous versions. On May 3rd 2006, the forum accumulated 420 visitors online at the same time and continues to be a hidden gem amongst gaming sites often ridden with fanboys and ego's.

The most active forum member on Gamestyle is Richard Meerman, who now plays a significant role as a Gamestyle member of staff. Other notable Gamestyle Regulars include Rogue Soul and MIkes.

[edit] Staff

Owner: Dean Swain

Development: Matthew Cox (design) and Dave Carlson (implementation)

Editors: Jason Julier (chief), Gareth Chappell (retro)

Writers: Adam Gulliver, Andrew Revell, Andy Lucas, Anna Ghislaine, Colin Whiteside, Dan Gill, Daniel James, Gareth Chappell, Garry Webber, Gopinath Chandran, Jason Julier, Tom Knowles, Richard Meerman, Usman Zia

Previous staff writers for Gamestyle have gone onto further their career, include Garnett Lee of 1UP.com ^[5], Ollie Barder of The Guardian and Darren Jones, retro editor of gamesTM and Retro Gamer.