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| ===IGN Sci-Fi=== | ===IGN Sci-Fi=== | ||
| Hi, it's NAT-MAN. | |||
| Largely dead since 2002, this section of the site included movie news, comic book reviews, and other associated items. It has since fallen into disuse. It still exists at , where its front page offers, among other things, the latest news on ]. | |||
| I got Haleon banned. | |||
| NAT-MAN > Haleon. | |||
| ===IGN ForMen=== | ===IGN ForMen=== | ||
Revision as of 19:44, 15 July 2005
IGN is a part-free and part-subscription general gaming website. It was founded in 1995, starting as N64.com, SaturnWorld and PSX Power. As of June 2005, it claims 23 million unique visitors a month, with 5 million users registered through all departments of the site, including reviews, previews, walkthroughs, codes, and other media.
IGN is ranked among the top 300 most visited websites according to Alexa, and runs some of the most popular forums on the Internet according to Big-boards.com.
Corporate Details
IGN runs on a combination of advertising and subscriptions. It was created one day when a boy wished upon a star for a hangout place for sexists and racist bastards. This boys name, "Introducing...". His wish was fulfilled, to say the least. IGN Insider is IGN's premium subscription service at $20/year. Insiders get benefits like the ability to disable some ads, access to Insider only forums, and can read Insider only content.
IGN Entertainment was only the only gaming website in the stock market (Nasdaq: IGNX), however its stock is no longer publicly traded.
IGN originally stood for Imagine Games Network, until it was spun out of Imagine Media as part of Affiliation Networks (soon renamed Snowball Inc). Snowball is now known as just IGN Entertainment, thus the IGN acronym has no real meaning. There was a short time when IGN stood for the "Internet Generation Network."
In March 2004, IGN Entertainment and GameSpy Industries merged, and was briefly known for 3 months as IGN/GameSpy before formalizing their corporate name as IGN Entertainment.
In June 2004, IGN bought the popular movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, and in February 2005 they acquired the popular download site, 3D Gamers.
In June 2005, IGN bought male lifestyle website AskMen.com.
Editors
(Management Team)
- Introducing...-Ass kicker/Name taker
- Peer Schneider - Senior Producer
- Steven Horn - Producer
- Tal Blevins - Editorial Director, IGN Games, Socialite Homophobe
- Chris Carle - Editorial Manager, IGN Entertainment
- Aaron Boulding - Executive Editor, Special Projects
- Fran Mirabella III - Chief Video Producer
- Jeremy Dunham - Editor-in-Chief, IGN PS2, PSP, PS3
- Douglass C. Perry - Editor-in-Chief, IGN Xbox, Xbox 360
- Matt Casamassina - Editor-in-Chief, IGN Cube
- Dan Adams - Editor-in-Chief, IGN PC
- Craig Harris - Editor-in-Chief, IGN Game Boy, DS
- Mark Ryan Sallee - Editor-in-Chief, IGN Cheats, Guides, FAQs
- Brian Zoromski - Editor-in-Chief, IGN FilmForce
(Staff)
- Brennan Ieyoub - IGN Insider
- Ed Lewis - IGN PS2, PSP, PS3
- Ivan Sulic - IGN PS2, PSP, PS3
- Mark Nix - IGN PSP
- Jason Allen - IGN PSP
- David Clayman - IGN Xbox, Xbox 360
- Juan Castro - IGN Cube
- Steve Butts - IGN PC
- Tom McNamara - IGN PC
- Erik Brudvig - IGN Cheats, Guides, FAQs
- Stephen Ng - Cheats, Guides, FAQs
- Hilary Goldstein - IGN Comics
- Brian Linder - IGN FilmForce
- Chris Roper - IGN Gear
- Jon Robinson - IGN Sports
Message Boards
IGN is also known for its active message boards. The IGN boards were created in late July 2000 as a place of video game discussion for members of IGN.com. IGN Boards contains many forums on topics ranging from the 3 major video game systems, to cell phones, to DVDs, and gear. According to Big-boards.com, the IGN Boards are ranked 3, behind FaceTheJury at 2 and GaiaOnline at 1. On April 16, 2005 at 9:34 am PST, cheese8214 posted the 100 millionth post.
Hi, it's NAT-MAN.
I got Haleon banned.
NAT-MAN > Haleon.
The IGNCB
Hi, it's NAT-MAN.
I'm a little bitch and I got Haleon banned.
NAT-MAN < Haleon.
I-Boards
Hi, it's NAT-MAN.
I got Haleon banned.
NAT-MAN > Haleon.
IGN Sci-Fi
Hi, it's NAT-MAN.
I got Haleon banned.
NAT-MAN > Haleon.
IGN ForMen
This section closed down officially on October 2, 2001 soon after the announcement that Leah was moving on. It can be found at formen.ign.com but is no longer updated. IGN has recently opened a new site at http://babes.entertainment.ign.com/ that fulfills much of the function of the old IGN ForMen site.
IGN Wrestling
IGN Wrestling met its end in early 2002, when many of the staffers departed. Interviews with professional wrestling personalities and coverage of wrestling games has been folded into IGN Sports.
The GCNGB
Home of Virtual Reality/Hologram research conducting by looking at websites devoted to the subjects and randomly connecting them to Nintendo.
Criticisms of IGN
Like many popular gaming sites, IGN has its detractors. The most contentious issue is their ubiquitous advertisements. IGN was one of the first sites to use interstitials. Originally these ads were designed to show up after a set number of page links; currently, they now appear more often. Also, for a brief time, IGN's entire website was significantly changed to add Coca-Cola and McDonald's logos everywhere. Currently, they now advertise the Pepsi Logo.
One of the most common charges against IGN focuses on the credibility of the publication. Many have pointed out countless examples of a slant against Nintendo and its products on the site. While some dismiss the charges, the allegations certainly leave a big question mark on the network as a whole.
IGN has been criticized for displaying advertisements for its Insiders, who pay a yearly fee to receive added benefits. Many sites with subscriptions disable all ads for those who pay. After many complaints from Insiders, IGN gave them the option to disable the most intrusive of the ads. Banner ads, including Flash ads, are still shown to Insiders.
IGN defenders say that they should be given credit for developing a business model which allowed them to survive the dot-com crash of the late 1990s.
Another major criticism of IGN involves their editors and board administrators. Some of the editors at IGN do not make any effort to visit the boards regularly to chat with IGN Insiders on gaming topics.
Finally, yet another criticism is the subject of the website's competency as a news website. Although IGN is known widely for having more inside sources than any other source of Gaming news coverage, many feel that the website tends to blow hot air by saying that it has sources at the very heart of the gaming scene.