I just noticed the ad banners...

#1 The Google ads really depreciated over time. Not only did the $ go down, but the content of the Google ads has become much more like spam and crap rather than game development oriented. I'm wondering if this is going to be a problem to Google over time. After all, they are getting billions of dollars from the public for their stock.

We are starting to have enough of our own products, so using our own ads makes sense. We can probably rotate in some other ads that are game development/partner oriented, but we don't want to start a Double Click type of production with this feature.

-Jeff Tunnell GG

#2 I think that this is a great idea for the promotion of games that are sold or developed through GarageGames or the community itself (especially since it can get the community more active in these games that their peers are developing).

Oddly enough we had talked about doing something similar with the next revision of Realm Wars to help push people who download it back to GarageGames and to the various game sites for those developers who help contribute to it (with any form of signifigance).

Logan

#3 Good move. The ads look good and integrate well.

#4 I LOOOOOVE the "Why make a mod..." ad. It's exactly why I bought Torque! The other ads are great. Can't wait to have my own game in a banner! ;-)

And thanks for sharing that little insight about the Google ads, and inner workings of the GG site. I'll file that away under "good to know". It actually reaffirms my own observations. After you announced the Google ads, I was like "Oh. Interesting." And I even clicked on a few, but was never interested in what I found. After a week or 2 they were simply invisible to me. I'm assuming most other GG regulars had a similar experience.

#5 "Why make a Mod .... When you can make a Game" -- I like that one :)

#6 Alex is creating some new banners...

@Logan - Get me a new Dark Horizons: Lore banner so we can post it with the update.

#7 I liked the google ads at first and clicked when their was something that interested me. Problem was the ads repeated too frequently. I really like the new banners though.

#8 I have to admit when I saw an add for "Meditech Interface Development" (paraphrased), I was completely amazed. I work in Healthcare IT as my primary job (Independent Contractor), and I couldn't believe that something as specialized as that would show up on a gaming forum. Interestingly enough, my current (paying) contract is in Meditech Interface Development, but honestly, if I needed help, there would be no way I would respond to an add generic enough to be advertised on a gaming forum!

It is nice to see GG specific (distribution) advertisements, but I have to wonder if it is a good target market--those that are aware of GG and the games they distribute are already here--and probably have at least looked at the games already in the forum. Even so, I like the new banners!

#9 I like the change it looks nicer than anything Google could have put up in the space. And the new self advertisement is a pleasant change from the random ads Google was starting to throw up there.

Matt