Polygon.com is live. What do you guys think?

As the title states, what do you guys think? I've noticed similarities between their game database and Giantbomb's. Chiefly the option to have a discussion forum for the game. That said the design is completely different. I'm pretty impressed with their Medal of Honor Warfighter review. http://www.polygon.com/game/medal-of-honor-warfighter/2686

I like the mobile version of the site. I don't really like it on my laptop though. The homepage sort of looks like a clusterfuck of everything all at once. It just looks like there's stuff everywhere. I'll probably get the hang of it eventually though.

It's a website... about video games.

What the hell is Polygon.com and why is everyone talking about it?

The mobile site seems pretty well designed.

I don't know. That MOH review is a little hard to read with those giant images breaking up the pacing of the text.

@Coafi said:

It's a website... about video games.

Yep. It's another website about video games.

The layout is pretty neat on the site. Probably wont visit it much though.

I think it is fine and way better than what they had on the verge, that site was shit compared to this. I will use it here and there for awhile and see what they want to do with the site before I make my final decision but....kinda reminds me of IGN a bit which is not a good thing obviously. I'm willing to see it through, I owe it to the McElroys for all the laughs.

I say *farting noises*. The site is terribly designed. It looks like a Wordpress blog.

So guys, after all the hype...its a website...about video games.

Its looks like every other gaming website, but instead of leaving room around the sides the banner parts are edge to edge.

Eh, it works I guess. My preference for this format is to either make the display areas for each story smaller (if you go with polygon's almost no story text on the front page - so maybe more like Blue's News). Or to include enough text to basically capture the relevant info when that much space is devoted to each entry (VG24/7 or RPS). So the story titles and pic size to information ratio is really bad. The idea of separating out news from different time periods by switching between horizontal and vertical presentation is interesting, but in this context its not enough (and a tad messy) to make me ever visit the site beyond a link to an interesting article posted in the RPS Sunday Papers and Worth Reading.

@Coafi: the first thing I saw.

It looks way too much like the revisions that they made to Kotaku to make it even uglier than it's always kind of been.

I fucking hate the GIGANTIC images included with everything. A simple news story about a change up at THQ starts off with a THQ logo that is absurdly large.

Meh, I like it. Again, I feel like everything they're offering I can easily get from my current trio of favorite video game websites so I'm not sure how much I'll visit the site, but still...

I like it. Don't expect many honest opinions on here as folks will compare it to this site forever. It's okay for duders to like other gaming sites. I like some of the people in polygon so I'll follow it. I do the same for IGN.

I'm not a fan of that review layout. Hopefully not all of their reviews mean that I have to scroll down half the page to get to the other half of the review. It's way overproduced for a review of a video game. Also eerily similar to IGNs new review layout(which I'm also not a fan of).

I'll probably use the mobile site when my GB subscription expires, since they don't seem to hide that feature behind a paywall.

I like it. Don't expect many honest opinions on here as folks will compare it to this site forever. It's okay for duders to like other gaming sites. I like some of the people in polygon so I'll follow it. I do the same for IGN.

I like the design. So far what seems to be on the site isn't bad. Time will tell how well it performs, but from what I've seen, it's alright.

One or two of the images on the reviews are far too large. Other than that, it looks okay. Will visit from time to time to see how it is.

@LiquidPrince said:

What the hell is Polygon.com and why is everyone talking about it?

It's a game website run by a bunch of popular game journalists from around the industry.

@ZeForgotten said:

@Phatmac said:

I like it. Don't expect many honest opinions on here as folks will compare it to this site forever. It's okay for duders to like other gaming sites. I like some of the people in polygon so I'll follow it. I do the same for IGN.

There are honest opinions in the other thread about Polygon.com Mostly just "Meh, I'll check it out" and "For fucks sake, who thought that giant "in your face" images was a good idea? idiot designers!" :P

That's the newest trend with web designers.

To be honest, the design feels all over the place if I scroll down. It's like I got there and didn't know where to start. I prefer the navigation bar to be at the top in the main page. The way it's laid out feels confusing, I scroll down and everything seems to merge, there's obviously different sections but they don't feel divided that I can identify it quickly enough and say what feature is which. Of course, that's just talking about the design aspect, I haven't really read any of their content, so I can't really talk about that.

Edit: D'oh, I just noticed that if I scroll down the nav bar follows which is great, what I meant was when you load the main page the nav bar is not at the top, like it usually is. It's not something awful, but it's something that bugs me.

It wants to be a magazine and it feels like reading a strung together PDF file. I guess if you really like Arthur Gies and pull quotes with gradients you might like this enough to get past the really questionable layout choices though.

@Coafi: @BananaHace: @MiniPato: Maybe you guys should stop using Opera/IE and living in the 90's. That's how web interfaces work now a days wether you like it or not depends on your ideas of improvement are. Magazine style user interface is slick and promotes reading. Websites have been leaving behind the page turning curiosity from magazines but designers are trying to bring that back. The fact that you actually have to go through the content only encourages you to read the articles throughoutly whether you want to read or not. If you look at statistics, most readers of gaming sites only care about the scores or the last paragraphs of reviews, Polygon isn't that kind of site.

I know I'm being a dick here but as a web designer I must say it's the most beautiful website I've ever seen and used. It's magnificent. Still has a couple of issues with the style sheets but oh boy is it just incredibly slick. The active comments are a great idea, the layout for the review pages is perfect and the home page is very intuitive. It's making me incredibly jealous of the skills and design sensibilities the guys from Vox Media have. Fucking amazing. I have faith in Dave, Alexis, and the other designers from CBS and Giant Bomb but that's it... They once said the site's redesign was in response to Polygon but they just won't be able to compete. I bet those guys are looking at Polygon right now feeling the same way I do now. That site is too fucking beautiful. Everyone who says the design is bad can go fuck themselves, that site is fucking perfect (design wise, not content wise). Also the content seems pretty good. I've read a few articles and it's much better than expected. Now I see why those guys were releasing those overly dramatic videos. They have a good thing going and everyone else should be afraid of that.

The quality of the writing seems OK, I was watching a clip of their documentary about the site and one of the writers said (paraphrasing here) "the games industry might be the most secretive industry in the world". Immediately stopped the video and closed my browser window.

@Phatmac said:

I like it. Don't expect many honest opinions on here as folks will compare it to this site forever. It's okay for duders to like other gaming sites. I like some of the people in polygon so I'll follow it. I do the same for IGN.

If by honest opinion you mean positive opinion, then I'm afraid I'd no longer be honest!

The site seems like it's trying to look like a magazine while functioning primarily for tablet/touch interfaces. Neither of which are tailored for someone like me who does all my browsing and computing on a desktop. And yeah, there's a lot of people like me. It's not an atrocious design by any means, they have a good idea, but it seems like they pushed too far into style over function.

@LiquidPrince said:

What the hell is Polygon.com and why is everyone talking about it?

@Phatmac said:

I like it. Don't expect many honest opinions on here as folks will compare it to this site forever. It's okay for duders to like other gaming sites. I like some of the people in polygon so I'll follow it. I do the same for IGN.

it's not even that you like following other sites, it's that polygon is horribly designed

@Animasta said:

@Phatmac said:

I like it. Don't expect many honest opinions on here as folks will compare it to this site forever. It's okay for duders to like other gaming sites. I like some of the people in polygon so I'll follow it. I do the same for IGN.

it's not even that you like following other sites, it's that polygon is horribly designed

No it's not.

@Deusx said:

@Animasta said:

@Phatmac said:

I like it. Don't expect many honest opinions on here as folks will compare it to this site forever. It's okay for duders to like other gaming sites. I like some of the people in polygon so I'll follow it. I do the same for IGN.

it's not even that you like following other sites, it's that polygon is horribly designed

No it's not.

oh okay

@Deusx: Where did you get the idea I was using IE/ Opera? I'm using Chrome. It's not terrible, it's trendy, it has some neat ideas, but it's not my style. Maybe it's all the white that's melting my retinas and I can't see the design clearly.

@BabyChooChoo said:

Meh, I like it. Again, I feel like everything they're offering I can easily get from my current trio of favorite video game websites so I'm not sure how much I'll visit the site, but still...

http://www.polygon.com/2012/10/24/3538296/data-entry-risk-management-and-tacos-inside-halo-4s-playtest-labs

@Coafi: @BananaHace: @MiniPato: Maybe you guys should stop using Opera/IE and living in the 90's. That's how web interfaces work now a days wether you like it or not depends on your ideas of improvement are. Magazine style user interface is slick and promotes reading. Websites have been leaving behind the page turning curiosity from magazines but designers are trying to bring that back. The fact that you actually have to go through the content only encourages you to read the articles throughoutly whether you want to read or not. If you look at statistics, most readers of gaming sites only care about the scores or the last paragraphs of reviews, Polygon isn't that kind of site.

I know I'm being a dick here but as a web designer I must say it's the most beautiful website I've ever seen and used. It's magnificent. Still has a couple of issues with the style sheets but oh boy is it just incredibly slick. The active comments are a great idea, the layout for the review pages is perfect and the home page is very intuitive. It's making me incredibly jealous of the skills and design sensibilities the guys from Vox Media have. Fucking amazing. I have faith in Dave, Alexis, and the other designers from CBS and Giant Bomb but that's it... They once said the site's redesign was in response to Polygon but they just won't be able to compete. I bet those guys are looking at Polygon right now feeling the same way I do now. That site is too fucking beautiful. Everyone who says the design is bad can go fuck themselves, that site is fucking perfect (design wise, not content wise). Also the content seems pretty good. I've read a few articles and it's much better than expected. Now I see why those guys were releasing those overly dramatic videos. They have a good thing going and everyone else should be afraid of that.

Holy fuck, it's a website.

I don't get why this is even worth talking about. Whoop-dee-doo, Polygon is now a proper website instead of being part of theverge.com/gaming. Websites get redesigned all the time.

@Coafi said:

@Deusx: Where did you get the idea I was using IE/ Opera? I'm using Chrome. It's not terrible, it's trendy, it has some neat ideas, but it's not my style. Maybe it's all the white that's melting my retinas and I can't see the design clearly.

Like I said, "I know I'm being a dick" and I apologize. Just saying, design isn't art. It's not subjective, it isn't asking what your "style" is. It's bad or good and that's it. That was my point and btw @Phatmac: I said I was being a dick, at least I knew that. You're just going down to my level without realizing it.

Some of the layout stuff is still not good and none of the writers interest me that much.

Yupp, it's Polygon alright!

I must be crazy but I like how the site looks and the content on it right now. Folks that have a problem with it shouldn't write it off just yet. I'm sure they'll fix some issues that you have. Regardless if people's complaints on here the folks at polygon are quite talented.

I think they're gonna do news and reviews?????

@Animasta said:

@Deusx said:

@Animasta said:

@Phatmac said:

I like it. Don't expect many honest opinions on here as folks will compare it to this site forever. It's okay for duders to like other gaming sites. I like some of the people in polygon so I'll follow it. I do the same for IGN.

it's not even that you like following other sites, it's that polygon is horribly designed

No it's not.

oh okay

Yeah, thanks for clearing that up for us, chief.

It scrolls to infinity!!!!!! I'd like to see more "series" videos but there's no filter for it which makes me feel like they would just get lost in the many written articles that i'm not going to read. So for me i'm better off just subscribing to their youtube channel for videos and their podcast on iTunes and i can ignore their website completely.

@Deusx: fine then it looks like fucking garbage

happy now?

@BisonHero said:

@Animasta said:

@Deusx said:

@Animasta said:

@Phatmac said:

I like it. Don't expect many honest opinions on here as folks will compare it to this site forever. It's okay for duders to like other gaming sites. I like some of the people in polygon so I'll follow it. I do the same for IGN.

it's not even that you like following other sites, it's that polygon is horribly designed

No it's not.

oh okay

Yeah, thanks for clearing that up for us, chief.

Sure thing man.

@Animasta: No.

@Deusx: well too bad, it does

read the goddamn warfighter review, one picture takes up my whole goddamn screen, that's not good design

Holy fuck, it's a website.

I don't get why this is even worth talking about. Whoop-dee-doo, Polygon is now a proper website instead of being part of theverge.com/gaming. Websites get redesigned all the time.

It's pretty much an online magazine. Which makes a change from the hundreds of gaming blogs out there.

GB has video content covered, but I'll probably use Polygon for news from now on.

@Deusx: So you say. I dislike the webpage a fair bit though. It has no focal point, and I can't see what I want to see at a glance. The problem with this design which is reminiscent of a magazine is that when you're holding a magazine, it's in your hand. You can see the entirety of the page at a glance. With a web page, it requires scrolling up and down, and it is just tedious to look at.

@Animasta said:

@Deusx: well too bad, it does

read the goddamn warfighter review, one picture takes up my whole goddamn screen, that's not good design

Images are cool man. Also, get a bigger screen man. I'm from Guatemala and still can afford something bigger than 1024X768.

@LiquidPrince said:

@Deusx: So you say. I dislike the webpage a fair bit though. It has no focal point, and I can't see what I want to see at a glance. The problem with this design which is reminiscent of a magazine is that when you're holding a magazine, it's in your hand. You can see the entirety of the page at a glance. With a web page, it requires scrolling up and down, and it is just tedious to look at.

I understand what you are saying but look, your mouse has a scroll wheel for a purpose, it's a tool that should be used. "You have to scroll too much oh gaaaawd" is not a valid opinion. I'd say you don't need a focal point. You are reading content in different sections divided by the different images in the layout. The site was made for you to focus on each part of content at a time instead of just one page with a bunch of text for you to dismiss the whole article and just glance at the number below.

@Deusx: well too bad, it does

read the goddamn warfighter review, one picture takes up my whole goddamn screen, that's not good design

Feels like I should be reading it on a gigantic screen. I would rather have more organization than pretty pictures. I'm sure it looks awesome on a tablet though.

@Deusx said:

@LiquidPrince said:

@Deusx: So you say. I dislike the webpage a fair bit though. It has no focal point, and I can't see what I want to see at a glance. The problem with this design which is reminiscent of a magazine is that when you're holding a magazine, it's in your hand. You can see the entirety of the page at a glance. With a web page, it requires scrolling up and down, and it is just tedious to look at.

I understand what you are saying but look, your mouse has a scroll wheel for a purpose, it's a tool that should be used. "You have to scroll too much oh gaaaawd" is not a valid opinion. I'd say you don't need a focal point. You are reading content in different sections divided by the different images in the layout. The site was made for you to focus on each part of content at a time instead of just one page with a bunch of text for you to dismiss the whole article and just glance at the number below.

Who exactly are you to tell me or anyone else what a valid opinion is? Also, it has nothing to do with being able to scroll. The design of the site is retarded. Your eyes are overwhelmed with giant images and no section has a direct focal point. Also I realized that it's even more idiotic after I noticed that it scrolls down a ridiculous amount. I'm not going to scroll the equivalent of ten pages down and have my eye bombarded with images and randomly placed text just to see if there is one thing on the page that I want to read. Magazine's work because you see the entire page at once, digest the content and look to the next page. This has no breaking point and is a constant barrage.