Welcome to the new Gamezebo!

It was just 2 years ago that we launched Gamezebo. Our goal was then and still remains the same: to create an online home and community for people passionate about casual games, just like you.

Since that rainy day in Amsterdam, we’ve published over 600 casual game reviews, launched the Zeebys Casual Games Awards with our best friends in the world, the Casual Game Association, assembled an extraordinary staff of writers and experts to rate and review casual games, posted the world’s most detailed strategy guides as written by casual games extraordinaire Margie B, and been nominated for a Webby.

All the while, many of you have written in with suggestions and requests for new features and ideas on ways we can improve the Web site.

Well, we’ve listened and the result is new Gamezebo, featuring improved search, enhanced community, new personalization, and a lot more fun and games! Here are just a few of the cool new things you can do on Gamezebo:

• Find It: We’ve made it a whole lot easier to find the content you want on the new site. On the bottom of each channel page, we have added All Games List boxes to search for any game review, preview, tips, and forum by alphabetical order. We’ve also organized all our content on each game on one page. So, if you are reading the review for Carrie the Caregiver 3, you are only a tab away to viewing the tips, videos (new!), or forum!
• Rate It: At Gamezebo, we pride ourselves on providing well-written reviews on all the casual games that we think you would want to try out. But, why should we have all the fun? You can now rate and review every game that is reviewed on Gamezebo, share your expertise, and see what your fellow Gamezebos think.  For example, click here to rate and review Dairy Dash.
• Discuss It: On the old site, there would be separate comments for every item we posted on the Web site. So, someone could be asking a question on the Westward 2 preview but the answer could be in the comments of the Westward 2 review. No More! We now automatically create a forum for each game covered on the Web site. So, you’ll have one place for each game to discuss, ask questions, and provide answers.  For example, check out the new Westward 2 forum.
• Earn Points & Have Fun: Our users love playing games, we thought, so why not make the Gamezebo Web site a game itself? You can now earn points with different actions on the Gamezebo Web site. Right now, earning points is all about bragging rights, but in the future, we’ll add a funware meta-game around it (that’s industry-speak for, we’ll give the points more meaning, I’ve been to too many industry shows lately). You can also test your casual games knowledge by playing The Never-Ending Casual Games Quiz. Just a warning from someone who has wasted too many hours playing: it’s very, very addicting.
• Be Nice: Ever wanted to thank someone for providing you a tip that helped you get pass a game level or compliment someone who writing a good user review? Or, just tell someone how cool they are? Well, now you can with Gamezebo Kudos. Members can send and receive compliments to each other for a variety of nice actions on the Gamezebo Web site. The more Kudos you send and receive with other Gamezebo members, the more points you earn . . . and happy vibes you share!
• Print It: A top request from our users has been the ability to easily print any article on the Gamezebo Web site. Your wish is now our command. Look for the “Print this Article” icon on bottom of any page of the Gamezebo Web site. Click this button and it’ll pop up a printer friendly page for you to print out.
• Make Gamezebo Your Own: When you register and sign in to Gamezebo, you automatically create your very own Gamezebo Page. You can pick your own avatar from a variety of popular game characters, add any game to your favorites, and track your and your friend’s favorite activities.
• Make Friends: Casual gamers are the friendliest people in the world, and Gamezebo’s users are the friendliest of them all! You invite your friends and family to Gamezebo and connect with them through your My Gamezebo page.

For a full list of all what is new on Gamezebo, I suggest you read our FAQs and try all the new features for yourself.

The more things change, the more things remain the same. We shall to continue create the place to go to find, share, and discuss the latest and greatest in casual games as well as a developer-friendly environment. If casual game is released online, you’ll continue hear it first on Gamezebo.

And, we’ll continue to listen to you. This site has been in super secret beta for past few weeks and I would like to thank all our beta testers for their excellent suggestions and help finding bugs. We plan to incorporate most of your suggestions in the coming weeks. If you have any suggestions, concerns, or recommendations on how to make Gamezebo better, please feel free to post in our Gamezebo Beta Forum.

While I’m thanking people, I would like to give a shout out to everyone who has helped make this new site a reality (not necessarily in this order).

• Stanley Adrianus my former colleague at Yahoo and current founder of Gamenauts, who graciously created the user interface for the old and new Web site.
• The TreeHouse Interactive Agency for creating, developing, and launching the new Web site (especially lead engineer and world traveler Thomas Wysocki, who helped launch the site from a tiny little café in Bangkok last night)
• Yin Media, Media Dove, Kalico Productions, uiNNOVATIONS, Iulian Pintea, Alan Yu for additional tech, graphs, video, and accounting expertise and support.
• Our amazing team of writers, experts, contributors, and advisors (Marc Saltzman, Scott Steinberg, Meryl Evans, Lisa Haasbroek, Heather “Game Fairy” Lane, Chuck Miller, Justin McElroy, David Laprad, Vinny “The Naked Gamer” Carrella, Gabe Zicherman, Ron Powers, Kris Soumas, the list is too long). Special thanks for Margie Bissainthe, our newly appointed official Community Leader, and Erin Bell, our Editor in Chief who has had to learn a whole new and more complicated content management system overnight!
• My friends and family who have listened to me rant and rave about this project for over a year (what should I talk about now, will need to get a new hobby. . .)
• The community of casual game companies who continue to support us with early sneak peaks of games, a huge directory of game characters avatars, and new casual games to review daily!

Finally, I would like to thank all of Gamezebo users. All the new features we added were based on your suggestions and ideas and Gamezebo would be nothing without your patronage. Not a day goes by where I do not wake up and go to bed with this thought. Thank you again for all your support.

I hope you like the new Gamezebo.

Joel
Chief Gamezebo

Joel Brodie