PopuBlog, the offical blog of PopuGamer

PopuGamer focuses on mobile game reviews

Patrick — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 18:15:29 +0000

Since we started PopuGamer, we’ve fielded reviews for all types of games, from traditional console games to mobile, from Atari classics to iPad standouts. As PopuGamer evolves though, we’ve decided to focus our efforts solely on mobile game reviews. As anyone in the gaming industry can tell you, the trajectory and growth are all in mobile. With the emergence of the iPad as an incredibly solid gaming machine, the explosion of game releases on Apple and Google’s distribution platforms, and the transition of many traditional game companies to re-releasing classics on mobile systems, we’ve realized the mobile segment of gaming needs more attention, particularly as it comes to quality, well thought-out mobile game reviews and a better mechanism for game discovery. Vince and I have even noticed the shift in gaming behavior in our own gaming patterns. Most of the time we’re raving about the latest sick release on iPad, or bitching about how iTunes reviews are absolute horseshit. It’s time we focused our efforts on kicking ass in mobile game reviews!

As we make the transition to mobile game reviews on PopuGamer, we hope you’ll stick with us as we crank out improvements to the site. Unfortunately, as the site changes, we will eventually have to put out to pasture some of our older console reviews. Not to worry though, we do intend to keep all those that may be relevant for the mobile space, and we’ll make sure all of our users have a way of downloading their content for their own personal use. For now, we’ve made a few fun improvements that we hope you’ll appreciate:

+1 Club members now receive exclusive access to free game codes on iTunes for new releases
The homepage and game pages have been redesigned
We’ve optimized PopuGamer for mobile Safari

Here’s to the new PopuGamer! And as always, we welcome your feedback — just hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

A few new improvements: Faster search, Platform specification, more

Patrick — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 16:00:04 +0000

Our work is never done here at PopuGamer, and we’re happy to introduce a few new improvements to the site that should make the user experience a touch more insanely awesome. While we’ve been rolling out a lot of minor tweaks you might not notice (like simplifying the registration process and adjusting fonts and spacing), here are a few of the bigger changes:

Faster Search
With over 30,000 games in our database, our search functionality was really starting to slow down. With our newly improved algorithm, search is now buh-laaaazing fast! Just look at how quickly Pac-Man chomps down!

Badges & Stats
We’ve built out a new profile page that highlights all of the badges you’ve earned at PopuGamer and some pretty important statistics. Now you can totally geek out over data and keep track of all your activity on site!

Platform Specification
Many of our users have requested this feature — to be able to specify which platform you’re reviewing for. Ask and you shall receive! Now for any review you submit, you can let everyone know exactly what platform you’re talking about.

Add Games Form
Up until now we’ve been relying on a third-party site to keep track of game suggestions, but now we have our own nifty little form. Game suggestions and tips from our users have been uber important since we started PopuGamer. While we try to be as thorough as we can, sometimes we’ll miss a game, and our users have always been awesome in letting us know. If you ever don’t see a game on our site, just use the Add Games form and we’ll get it up ASAP!

Well, that’s it for now! We hope you enjoy the new improvements, and as always, let us know if you’ve got any feedback!

Introducing the PopuGamer Leaderboard

Patrick — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:00:56 +0000

Today we’re launching a much-requested feature to PopuGamer, the Leaderboard. If you’ve ever wanted more insight into the PopuGamer community and how your review skills stack up against others, you’ll definitely want to check out the new Leaderboard. Members are ranked based on PopuPoints, which are fun little points we give out to users who are doing what’s right. From writing insanely great reviews to helping out in the forums, all of the good you do on PopuGamer gets translated into PopuPoints. So go check out the new Leaderboard – we hope it’ll be a fun way to insert a little good-natured competition into PopuGamer, all the while allowing PopuGamer members to discover other great reviewers on site. And as always, let us know if you’ve got any feedback on how we can improve!

Brown Box!

Patrick — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:09:06 +0000

If you’re a lover of video games, and a true techno-geek at heart, then do yourself a favor and take some time out this weekend to pay a visit to the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California! This place is truly epic, and if words like ENIAC, Traitorous Eight, or “Ever onward, IBM!” tickle your fancy, then this is the place for you. The museum has an awesome video game section as well, with classic games up for play like Pac-Man, Pong, and Adventure, as well as awesome artifacts from the beginnings of video gaming. They’ve got an Atari 2600 prototype on display, as well as Ralph Baer‘s Brown Box and the Magnavox Odyssey (if you’ve recently read Harold Goldberg’s All Your Base Are Belong To Us, then you’ll particularly enjoy this display). They even have a working PDP-1 with SpaceWar! — how cool is that?

If you don’t have any plans this weekend, I highly recommend the Computer History Museum. I just went last Sunday and had a blast! Check out some of my pics below to get a taste of how cool the museum is!

[Show as slideshow]

Recap: PAX Prime Contest

Patrick — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:57:27 +0000

With over 170 awesome entries, our PAX Prime Contest was really tough to judge! A big thanks goes out to everyone who took the time to participate and submit a review. Tough as it was, we had to pick a winner, and our congrats (and two 3-day PAX Prime + Halo Fest passes) went out to Ens (keepitensy) who wowed us with his well-written and entertaining review of Mortal Kombat (2011)! Ens tells us he had a great time at PAX and sent over this pic of him sporting PopuGamer gear with Tycho and Gabe. Thanks again to everyone who participated, and be sure to check out Ens’ winning review here!

Old School Combat

Patrick — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 14:30:32 +0000

Just wanted everyone to know that if you’re looking for a place to play Combat on the Atari 2600, check out the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. I just checked it out this past weekend, and picking up that old joystick and schooling my girlfriend 6-1 in Combat really brought back some good memories. They’ve got an NES with Super Mario Bros. and a Genesis with Sonic setup too. I saw some kid playing the Genesis and thought, man this kid must think these consoles are ancient. I am OLD! Haha, anyway, check out the museum if you get a chance. They’ve also got a bunch of old school arcade games like Donkey Kong and Ms. Pac-Man, so you’ll definitely get your fill of nostalgia! Oh, and the Jim Henson exhibit is awesome, too! Muppets!!

PAX Prime Contest!

Patrick — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:12:40 +0000

Earlier this year, we ordered 2 three-day passes to PAX Prime in Seattle (August 26-28), but it turns out we can’t go (we’ll be at a bachelor party in Vegas — not a bad substitute, heh)! Well, our loss means your gain! Instead of selling these bad boys on the open market (passes to PAX Prime have been sold the hell out since May), we’re giving them away. Yup, that’s right, time for another awesome contest.

Never heard of PAX? Trust us, it is awesome. To find out more, check out our recap of PAX East last year, or check out PAX’s FAQ. They describe it as “a three-day game festival for tabletop, videogame, and PC gamers … the best part of PAX is hanging out with other people who know their shit when it comes to games.”

So how can you win our two passes?
Since we’re all about SICK reviews here at PopuGamer, the contest works like this: Write an awesome review on PopuGamer to enter your hat into the contest, and the best review wins. Easy as that.

We’ll be judging reviews on quality and originality, so put your creative juices to work! And if a lot of folks are voting your review as “helpful” (the little thumbs up icon next to each review: ), that will definitely up your chances of winning. So get to writing guys! These PAX passes are worth a solid $120, so this is a big big win! The contest starts today and make sure to enter before the deadline: 11:59PM EST, Friday, August 19.

Official contest rules are here. And as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates!

GameStop winner recap!

Patrick — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 13:29:55 +0000

Time for another summer winner! :) Here’s a shout out to our GameStop gift card winner Brian (aka eroivas) who wowed us with his review of BioShock 2. If you’re looking for some solid RPG reviews, definitely give Brian’s reviews a read through. Brian also has a sick bi-weekly podcast at Downloadable Content, so check that out too! Congrats again to Brian, and for the rest of ya’ll, stay tuned! We’ve got an amazing giveaway coming up this week!

And as always, be sure to follow the PopuGamer crew on Twitter and Facebook for the latest updates!

Silicon Valley New Tech

Patrick — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:08:12 +0000

Last month, I was out in Northern California and got a chance to demo PopuGamer at Silicon Valley New Tech an uber-techno-geek monthly meetup that highlights cool startups. I’ve attended a few SVNewTech meetups before, and it’s always great to see all the awesome ideas coming out of the Valley, not to mention partake in free beer and pizza :) Gooood times. Anyway, the lineup for the July SVNewTech was pretty cool (recap on 7x7SF here), and SVNewTech put up videos of all of the demos on YouTube. Check out the PopuGamer demo below, and if you get a chance, check out SVNewTech! It’s always super interesting and hey, who can say no to free BEER AND PIZZA, I mean c’mon :P

LA Noire winner recap!

Patrick — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 18:00:18 +0000

We’ve had a lot of fun giveaways this summer already, and there are definitely some awesome ones to come. For now, it’s time to give a shout out to our LA Noire Giveaway winner! Christen (aka chariotarc) was awesome enough to send us a pic of her rocking her PopuGamer gear, along with her prize LA Noire! Game on, Christen!

As always, keep your eyes peeled this summer for more awesome reviews from our dedicated users, as well as some fun contests and giveaways from the PopuGamer staff! Check us on Twitter or Facebook for the latest updates!