bennybox

An email I wrote yesterday regarding nintendo.com’s new website design/layout.

To: nintendo@noa.nintendo.com
Hey!

I couldn’t find an email address to the website staff.

I just noticed the re-design of nintendo.com (i go about once a week), and definately have some comments!

There are a lot of things i don’t like about the new design, and i wanted to voice my disappointment. I noticed my first time around there was a link to say how you like the new look (on the main page). After clicking it, i was asked to sign in. Good thing i was already a member, but when i went back to the main page, the link was gone! I realized it was a randomly populated link list, so i refreshed until i got the link back.

What happened next? The ’survey’ had only one multiple choice question out of 10 questions on the new look of the website! And all the choices were positive! No wonder people always talk about how Nintendo should get a grip of reality and stop living in the clouds!

That was upsetting enough that I had to write this email (although I love nintendo with all my heart!).

So please forward my complaints to the website staff, unless they don’t want to hear criticism of course.

(1) The populated lists (top games, msot wanted games, new game sites, don’t miss out, game releases, game spotlight etc): Please PLEASE PLEASE dump the nested scroll areas! These lists will almost always overflow and require scrolling, and in some cases, the scroll area is larger that my window, which will definately cause scrolling issues for scroll mice users, not to forget the fact that they’re incredibly user unfriendly, and a personal pet peeve.

(2) The way the nintendo site previously generated the main page (like random features and the such) was better. Now, it seems like you have too much info on your site, and you want to cram it all on the Nintendo.com main page. Now when I want to find a specific piece of info, i have to scroll around and surf around until i find it, which is a lot more cumbersome than having a well thoughout and organized website.

With randomly generated link lists, I have to manually open every link in a new window (which doesn’t always work well when i’m clicking on a flash link), otherwise i’ll lose the page I had previously, with the other links i wanted to go to. That’s just annoying for me as a surfer.

(3) It seems you want to make nintendo.com the one-stop shop for any nintendo fan, casual or hardcore. But these factors make nintendo.com barely useable at all. Take a look at IGN which manages their content in a very structured manner, and i know i can find any specific piece of info by surfing. I know in advance from being a IGN user, exactly what links i’ll be clicking along the way, and I could even tell my mom how to download the newest screens for Soul Calibur over the phone if I wanted to. It’s that well organized. I definately wouldn’t be able to do that on nintendo.com.

(4) The page feels very buggy, but naturally this is expected from a new layout transition.

Lastly, I’ll mention somethings I do enjoy:

(1) In general, the site looks a lot better from an aesthetic point of view. Very crisp and good design, though I wish i was more useable.

(2) I like the whole nintendo run “Game Site” idea, where nintendo creates a little ad in cyberspace for all their hyped up games. However, I feel that aside from Animal Crossing, these sites shouldn’t be treated as more than an advertisement website, where more often than not, they’re trying to be the premier resource for game info. I doubt anyone would ever go to these sites for game info if they already owned the game, I know i don’t, and I’m as hardcore a gamer as I am a websurfer, so I know how i want those two worlds to intertwine.

Thanks for listening to my opinion, and i hope that some constructive advice can be drawn from this. Maybe if the design flaws creates an uproar in the gaming community, you might just read a penny-arcade article which would probably illustrate my points in a more directly and likely hilarious way.

Chris
My Nintendo User

I’ve just set up the 13th moveable type blog on hiyo.org (eugene’s webstrip blog). I pretty much set up a blog for everything now. it’s pretty amazing how much content has been generated using this interface.

i was thinking about a redesign of the hiyo.org main page. something that actually implements design principles which would result in a somewhat decent to look at homepage. most ideas that have been flying through my head have been videogame related.

a lot of designs i’d like to do would revolve around super mario, who’s been a reoccuring thought these past few days. there are quite a few mario games (golf, party, smb3, kart) on my wishlist, i just put up new mario wallpaper on my computers, i thought about dressing as super mario for halloween, i’ve been humming the smb3 music for a couple days, i was reminded of group x’s mario flash song today, and oh yeah, i played a few mario games this week too.

but then, mario isn’t what hiyo.org is about, so in the end, i’ll probably just create some generic css-styled look/feel that’s completely text based. then again, maybe i just need some time to think about it.

i love nintendo for super mario. it’s what will probably keep me a diehard nintendo fanboy for the rest of my life. (remember that awful live action mario tv show in the late 80’s? so awful, but i still loved it!). i realized this after subscribing to nintendo power yesterday, and the fact that i play the horrendously poorly-supported gamecube more than any other system (except maybe my gameboy). it’s just something about things with the nintendo logo on them, that draws my attention and the money in my wallet.

it’s these types of infatuations that are usually just fads for me, and predictably go away after some time… but i’ve been into nintendo for quite some time now, from the duck hunt days, and as long as they keep making games, i’ll probably still be buying them, especially since now i can afford them.

ah, a mustached plumber who hops on turtles. did miyamoto understand his legendary creation when he first thought of smashing bricks in a videogame? i’d love to think about it, but i have a game to get back to.

it’s always very entertaining knowing someone dwelling on a girl. if the dude in trouble is your friend, they’ll tell you their whole dramatic story about how these feelings, similar to a high school crush, are ruining their lives. they don’t know what to make of the situation, or how to interpret the girl’s actions/reactions.

does she like me? does he hate me? does she even know i exist? what are my chances? if i ask her, will i ruin everything? do i even have the balls to ask her? what if she says no? what if she says yes? what if she give me some amgibuous answer and i don’t know if it means yes or no? arrrrgh!!!

but even more exciting is watching the drama unfold before you. you get periodic updates, much like sitting down for this week’s friends episode, where you find out what happened last week, what’s happening this week, and you’re on the edge of your seat to find out how this love written in time will turn out!

and then that’s when he realizes the girl of his dreams is really a brad pitt fan/ or is a lesbian (the bad kind!)/ or thought he was gay/ or digs the roommate instead.

well, at least that’s what i’m rooting for. if only there was a web poll where the audience could decide how the story arc ends. but then i’ll probably just be happy if this all ends. then i can stop getting those IM spams that go:

tonight at midnight your true love will realize they like you. Something good will happen 2 you at 1:00-4:00pm tomorrow, it could be anywhere AOL, outside of school, anywhere. If you break this chain letter you will be cursed with 10 relationship problems for the next ten years. Tomorrow is National Kiss Day.

you know, or something like that.

hiyo.org is quite the hip place to be. we’re coming up with new content all the time, and it’s dynamic with the times.

a frequent hiyo.org drifter, devin, has decided to pick up the microphone and put his philosphy out there for all to see. you can see too! www.hiyo.org/devin.

i’ll update the main page and all that kind of stuff later.

sometimes i wish everyone i knew had a blog. and that they posted to their blogs all the time, with the highlight of their day each and every day. and most importantly that they didn’t know that anyone read their blog.

it’s the next best thing to reading people’s thoughts.

that’s why the beauty of blogs is kind of lost here. i know exactly who reads this page, and when i know my audience, i sort of target my posts when i write. i think about how each of the people i know that read this would react to each sentence i write. (hi mu!) i’m certain that those people will understand what’s going on in my life, which would seem completely boring to a random surfer.

ideally, people i barely know would read my site, and check it semi-frequently because they’re interested in what’s going on in my yao-ming jersey draped life. does this even make sense?

i love my blog but i wish that i didn’t know who read it. i think there’s some romantic feeling to know that someone reads these words and that i’d never know, but know that eyes do indeed surf over to my boring page. i’m in love with the thought that when people talk to me in person, i’m clueless to the fact that they’re thinking of a post i’ve read, and they know just how to talk to me to make me smile.

but then, would that actually happen if people did read this site? damn, probably not. and a piece of my heart dies a little.

i’ve returned to my parents’ place. they’re not home so i can’t tell them i missed them. so instead i’ll consume all the food in the house! yum! well, i’m off to go find something blog-worthy to do.

on a ‘i’m such a softie’ note: i can’t believe i made reference to a mel gibson (swoon!) chick flick (which i’ve seen twice). sigh…

Me, Mu, VLing, Ori, RJ holding it down. (Colina is in the background).
Continue reading ‘Hallowe’en 03′