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{{Infobox Website/With_logo
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|type = Gaming & Entertainment
|reg = Free, IGN Insider
|owner = ]
|author = Several
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'''IGN.com''' is a multimedia news ]. Founded in ] of ], it began as a small group of console-specific gaming sites: '''N64.com''', '''SaturnWorld''' and '''PSX Power'''. Over the years, and through many mergers and buyouts, it has arisen as a largescale multimedia news site, consisting of specific ] for each of the major videogame consoles, PCs, movies, and more. '''IGN''' is a part-free and part-subscription general ] ]. It was founded in ], starting as '''N64.com''', '''SaturnWorld''' and '''PSX Power'''. It is controlled by 92.3% shareholder ], a company chaired by ]. It was bought for $650 million on 8 September 2005.
IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites, each occupying a subdomain on IGN. These sites, commonly known as "channels," cover three generations of video gaming: ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], and ]. They also offer assistance to gamers in the form of ], ] and detailed Guides. IGN.com also covers ], ], ], ], Gear, ], ], ], ], ], Babes, Careers, Sci-Fi Brain, Horror Brain, and ].


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 a highly profitable business, and each single page often has at least 3 advertisements, complete with tracking cookies from both IGN and "partners" such as ], ], ] and ]. One of it's most notable parts is ], which was originally a separate company. The GameSpy suite of programs have been source of much controversy due to bundled ] and ].
Each channel consists of various subsections, such as Game/Movie Profiles, Product Lists, Previews, Reviews, Features, News, Mailbag, Editor's Choice, Release Dates, as well as links to the aforementioned Cheats, FAQs and Guides.


IGN's core site -- -- is comprised of a several specialty sites, each occupying a subdomain on IGN. This has given rise to such IGN sites (sometimes referred to as 'channels') such as ], ], ] (PS3), ], ], PC Games, ], ], ], Cheats, Guides, FAQs, ], Music, Comics, Sports, Cars, and Babes.
As of June 2005, IGN claimed ] million unique visitors a month, with 5 million registered users through all departments of the site. IGN is ranked among the top 160 most visited websites according to ], and the IGN forums have been considered to be among the most popular ]s <ref name="BigBoards">http://www.big-boards.com/</ref>. Traffic is seasonal, however, peaking in May during ] and during the busy October-November Fall release window, so any single traffic number is typically an annualized average. Its yearly traffic is slightly higher than its closest competitor in the videogame space: ].


IGN is ranked among the top 300 most visited websites according to ], and the IGN forums have been considered to be among the most popular ]s{{ref|BigBoards}}.
==Corporate details==
IGN originally stood for '''Imagine Games Network'''. However, IGN spun off from Imagine Media on ], ] to form an independent, online-only business, and the acronym is no longer used. Its corporate name, Affiliation Networks, was changed to Snowball.com soon after the break from Imagine Media.
]
IGN runs on a combination of advertising and subscriptions. '''IGN Insider''' is IGN's premium subscription service for approximately $US 20 a year, although it has been known to fluctuate. Subscribers, who are also known as "Insiders," get special benefits, such as higher resolution videos, and full access to the message boards.


===Corporate Details===
IGN relies mostly on advertising to generate income. Each page on the network has at least one ad, typically a "banner" or the smaller "billboard." There are also interstils between some pages. IGN also uses tracking cookies from both itself and partners such as ], ], ] and ]. However, tracking cookies are widely regarded as being the most benign of observation mechanisms, since they can be easily removed, or blocked outright with a few clicks in browser settings.
*IGN runs on a combination of advertising and subscriptions. '''IGN Insider''' is IGN's premium subscription service for approximately $20 a year, although it has been known to fluctuate. Subscribers, who're also known as "Insiders" get special benefits, such as higher resolution videos, no ads, and full acess to the message boards.
*IGN Entertainment was the only gaming website in the stock market, however its stock is no longer publicly traded.
*IGN originally stood for '''Imagine Games Network''', although now, it is no longer an acronym -- it means absolutely nothing.
*While still known as Snowball, IGN acquired the ] and its message boards in 1999.
*In March 2004, IGN Entertainment and ] 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 ]
*In February 2005 they acquired the popular download site, 3D Gamers.
*In June 2005, IGN bought male lifestyle website .
*On ], ], it was announced that ] had acquired IGN for $650 million. {{ref|newscorp}}


===Site Managers===
IGN has substantially grown due to the various mergers and buyouts it has conducted. While still known as Snowball, IGN acquired the ] and its message boards in 1999. In March 2004, IGN Entertainment acquired ] Industries. For three months it was called IGN/GameSpy before formalizing their corporate name as IGN Entertainment. In June, IGN bought the popular movie review site ]. For a short time, IGN Entertainment was the only major independent gaming website in the stock market (IGNX). However, its stock is no longer publicly traded.
*Peer Schneider - VP Site Content
*Steven Horn - Producer
*Talmadge Blevins - Editorial Director, IGN Games
*Chris Carle - Editorial Manager, IGN Entertainment
*Aaron Boulding - Executive Editor, Special Projects
*Fran Mirabella III - Chief Video Producer


===Editors-in-Chief===
In February 2005, they acquired the popular download site, 3D Gamers. IGN announced on ], ] that they had completed the acquisition of GameSpy. In June, they acquired ].
*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 GameCube
*Dan Adams - Editor-in-Chief, IGN PC
*Craig Harris - Editor-in-Chief, IGN Game Boy, DS
*Spencer A. Abbott - Editor-in-Chief, IGN Music
*Mark Ryan Sallee - Editor-in-Chief, IGN Cheats, Guides, FAQs ("Game Help")
*Brian Zoromski - Editor-in-Chief, IGN FilmForce


===Site Editors and Staff===
On ], ], ] announced that it had bought 92.3% of total stock of the company for $US 650 million, giving it a controlling stake in IGN. <ref name="newscorp">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4226170.stm</ref> It is now a division of Fox Interactive Media (FIM), which includes MySpace.com, foxnews.com, and several other properties owned by News Corp. FIM is not to be confused with "Fox Interactive," which is the (functionally discontinued) video game publishing branch of 20th Century Fox.
*Brennan Ieyoub - IGN Insider

*Chris Beridon - IGN Insider
==Site editors==
*Chris Roper - IGN PS2, PSP, PS3
*Notes:
*Ivan Sulic - IGN PS2, PSP, PS3
**'''(M)''' stands for an Editorial Manager
*Juan Castro - IGN PSP
**'''(C)''' stands for an Editor-in-Chief
*Marc Nix - IGN Database Manager, Gamestats.com
**'''(F)''' stands for an IGN Founder
*David Clayman - IGN Xbox, Xbox 360

*Peer Schneider - Vice President Site Content '''(M)''' '''(F)'''
*Steven Horn - Publisher, Entertainment and Lifestyle '''(M)''' '''(F)'''
*Talmadge Blevins - Editorial Director, Games '''(M)''' '''(F)'''
*Chris Carle - Editorial Manager, Entertainment '''(M)'''
*Dan Adams - IGN PC '''(C)'''
*Steve Butts - IGN PC *Steve Butts - IGN PC
*Tom McNamara - IGN PC *Tom McNamara - IGN PC
*] - IGN PS2, PS3, PSP '''(C)'''
*Chris Roper - IGN PS2, PS3, PSP
*Juan Castro - IGN PS2, PS3, PSP
*Jeff Haynes - IGN PS2, PS3, PSP
*Douglass C. Perry - IGN Xbox, Xbox 360 '''(C)''' '''(F)'''
*Charles Onyett - IGN Xbox, Xbox 360
*Jon Miller - IGN Xbox, Xbox 360
*] - IGN GameCube, IGN Wii '''(C)''' '''(F)'''
*Mark Bozon - IGN GameCube Cube, IGN Wii, IGN DS, IGN GBA
*Craig Harris - IGN Game Boy, DS '''(C)''' '''(F)'''
*Fran Mirabella III - Chief Video Producer '''(C)'''
*Erik Harte - Video Producer
*Brennan Ieyoub - Video Producer
*Nick Scarpino - Video Producer
*Kyle Watson - Video Producer
*Mark Ryan Sallee - IGN Guides, Cheats, FAQs '''(C)'''
*Erik Brudvig - IGN Guides *Erik Brudvig - IGN Guides
*Jason Allen -IGN Cheats *Jason Allen - IGN Cheats
*Levi Buchanan - IGN Wireless '''(C)''' *Stephen Ng - IGN FAQs
*Hilary Goldstein - IGN Comics
*David Adams - News and Features Editor
*Kathleen Sanders - News and Features Editor
*Daemon Hatfield - News and Features Editor
*Brian Zoromski - IGN FilmForce '''(C)'''
*Brian Linder - IGN FilmForce *Brian Linder - IGN FilmForce
*Jeff Otto - IGN FilmForce *Jon Robinson - IGN Sports
*Todd Gilchrist - IGN DVD '''(C)''' *David Adams - IGN News Wire
*Spencer A. Abbott - IGN Music '''(C)''' *Levi Buchanan - IGN Wireless/Mobile
*Hilary Goldstein - IGN Comics '''(C)''' *Justin Kaehler - IGN Cars
*Jon Robinson - IGN Sports '''(C)''' *Todd Gilchrist - IGN DVD
{{ref|ign}}
*Justin Kaehler - IGN Cars
*David Clayman - IGN Insider '''(C)'''
*Craig Beridon - IGN Insider
*Marc Nix - Gamestats.com
*Teddy Pierson - IGN Boards Administrator, Community Manager


==IGN Ratings== ===IGN Message Boards===
IGN is also known for its active , which were created in late June 2000, which were originally for video game discussion, but now, they have deviated from just that subject, to cars, movies, politics, photography, and various other things.
The five ratings categories stand in this order:
*'''Presentation''': This category includes everything from the quality of the manual and packaging to the menu layout and game options. We also consider the overall production, licenses, and style of the game here.
*'''Graphics''': How the game looks as well as technical issues like animation quality, texture design, and framerate.
*'''Sound''': This category rates the quality of the sound effects and voice acting as well as the music in the game.
*'''Gameplay''': In a nutshell, how fun and satisfying the game is to play. Usually considered the most important part of any title, this category encompasses the controls, design, and overall feel of the game.
*'''Lasting Appeal''': This rates how much time you're likely to spend with the game before you get tired of it. This rating also reflects the depth of the game and options such as multiplayer and mini-games that keep you going after you finish the single-player experience.
*'''Overall''': Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, Lasting Appeal & Presentation. All added together to rate the overall score (which is not an average.)
<p/br>
'''''Readers Review''''' All reader reviews and reader ratings create an aggregate score, although this number may not be indicative of the gaming community's opinion, if an insufficient number of people have voted. For example, if IGN rates ] an 8.9/10 while only 5 readers rate the game a 2/10, all score will be added up and form an estimate of a 3/10 or 2.9/10
<p/br>
IGN's 10 point scale, as described on the website:
**'''''10.00''': Virtually flawless. No game is absolutely perfect, but 10s represent the pinnacle of gaming brilliance. It doesn't get any better than this. This is like winning the lottery on your birthday. It takes a rare and special game to earn a perfect 10 from IGN.'''''
**'''''9.0 to 9.9''': A fantastic achievement with only minor flaws or imperfections. If a game scores a 9.0 or better you know it's a great title with just enough imperfections to let you know they're for real. Games of this caliber are must-haves, even if you're not particularly fond of the genre.'''''
**'''''8.0 to 8.9''': An excellent gaming experience that misses the boat in just a few key areas. Games that score in this range still come highly recommended by IGN.'''''
**'''''7.0 to 7.9''': A good game that has some obvious flaws. Games scoring in the high end of this range might have some first-rate elements, whereas the lower 7s have some serious shortcomings that keep them from ever achieving classic status.'''''
**'''''6.0 to 6.9''': Passable, but just barely. Games in this range have more blemishes than strengths, but still might be worth a look if you're into games of its type. The other games are polite to the sixes, but they don't get invited to any of the parties. Rent this game or download the demo first before spending your hard-earned money.'''''
**'''''5.0 to 5.9''': Games scoring between a 5.0 and 5.9 have numerous major shortcomings. It's a cliche -- but we have to say it: only fans of the particular genre will get any enjoyment out of this one. You might get some enjoyment out of this as a rental, but you probably wouldn't want to own any game that scores in the 5s.'''''
**'''''4.0 to 4.9''': Any game that scores in or below this range isn't worth your attention, and if you happen to end up with one, you'll probably find yourself returning to the store for a refund. These are the games your grandmother buys for you because she thinks they're cute. Trust us, they aren't.'''''
**'''''3.0 to 3.9''': When you get to the terrible threes you know you have some major suckage going on. If your parents give you a 3 game for your birthday, suggest they start getting you socks instead.'''''
**'''''2.0 to 2.9''': Games of this caliber aren't even good enough to recycle. It's more fun to play catch with the box than it is to play the game. Maybe the cat could find some use for this one.'''''
**'''''1.0 to 1.9''': The absolute worst of the worst. Put it in a paper bag, set it aflame on your neighbor's porch, ring the doorbell, and run like hell. Just as it's rare to see a 10 on IGN, it's just as unusual to see a game score in the 1.0 to 1.9 range.'''''
**'''''0.0 to 0.9''': Okay, so we lied. 1.0 to 1.9 isn't "the absolute worst of the worst." However, we don't even consider titles that score below a 1.0 games. Think of them as sewage in a box. This range is saved for those titles that are just so incredibly bad that we question the sanity of the developer and publisher...and don't say it can't happen.'''''


Known as The Vestibule, or to members, as the Vesti. The Vestibule is a forum that is a part of IGN.com. The Vestibule was created on March 8th ] as a means to experience the IGN community without having to purchase "IGN Insider" - the boards were previously made completely subscription-only on February 20th 2002, much to the appal of long-time members.
==Message boards==
IGN is also known for its active message boards. They were created in late June 2000 and originally intended for video game discussion. However, like many other message popular boards, it has since expanded to forums for discussion about cars, movies, politics, photography, and various other interests.


The Vestibule has no set topic - anything goes as long as it falls within IGN's ]. The discussions tend to be of a frivilous nature, but current events are largely discussed; from politics to sport, television and videogames. Viewing ] such as ], tubgirl and lemon party are almost considered a rite of passage on The Vestibule. Recently there has been a tendency towards ] - by far the most talked about being what is known only as "The Video", which consists soley of penis mutilation.
On IGN, members have "celebrations" for personal milestones in posting, such as reaching 5,000 posts. Some even include petty milestones such as 1/10K Celebrations.


One of the features of the board system is WULs (watched user list), which is essentially a ] to keep track of your favorite users' posts. However, users of the Vestibule especially feel a need to be on as many users' lists as they can, raising their WUL count. The system is now effectively a currency of its own - people offer WULs for information and favors.
====Wrestling General Board====
The Wrestling General Board or The "WGB" is a wrestling board in which all kinds of wrestling related topics are discussed. Also a NCAA Basketball Tournament style Tourney is held annually its called The King Of The WGB or The "KOTWGB" and is a really big thing for the community members, The past winners of this award have been theGAME71135(2004), catatonic121(2005), and ThundaPC(2006). This board does not take kindly to new comers, or slightly off-topic posts. It is often regarded as one of the more difficult boards on IGN, in similar fashion as The Vestibule.


Another large part of The Vestibule is "adoptions" - someone can buy another user an IGN Insider subscription as a gift. Adoptions are almost like WULs insofar as they are used to ] with, but of course these are worth far more. You may see adoption contests from time to time and some people will even adopt purely because they find the user to be a good part of the community. Wingflyer and N-Finity have between them bought hundreds of subscriptions for others. Members of the Vestibule are particularly prone to rioting, which consists of users flooding the forum in a short amount of time with similar topics and posts. Examples include the Tal-IGN riot, the Armadillo riot, and the Tumbleweed riot. Participating in a riot will result in a temporary suspension of your account, a practice that moderator Lord_Auric made standard.
===IGN Community Board===
The IGN Community Board, often shortened to '''IGNCB''', opened on ], ] for "non-video game related content" that was beginning to appear on the video game discussion boards. The board is particularly renowned for its high-brow wit and perceived elitism, although this is less true now than it was in the board's heyday in 2000-2003. It has now been likened to a slower version of ]. The Community Board features the highest moderators-normal users ratio, primarily because users of the IGNCB have generally been around longer than others.


Due to the Vestibule's large volume of posts and users, the moderators on The Vestibule are little more than window dressing and combat The Vestibule's ] and blatant offensiveness infrequently and ineffectively. Members of other forums on IGN and across the internet usually look upon regulars of The Vestibule as offensive, crass, spammy, and immature. Most in the Vestibule claim that other forums are too rigidly defined to doctrine and topic and prefer the freedom The Vestibule offers. As of ], the Vestibule has 20 million posts and is one of the fastest boards on the internet.
===Other Community Board===
The '''Other Community Board''', or the '''OCB''', was created on ], ]. Its users are comprised of both IGNCB and The Vestibule users, as well as users from the "Other" cateogry. It is a very gated community, but welcoming to users at the same time.


The IGNCB, or IGN Community Board, opened on September 11th, 2000, for "non-video game related content" that was beginning to appear on the video game discussion boards. The board is particularly renowned for its high-brow wit and perceived elitism, although this is less true now than it was in the board's heyday in 2000-2003. The ratio of moderators to normal users is the highest of any board, this is because the users of the IGNCB have generally been around longer than others. According to Big-boards.com, the IGN Boards are ranked number three in terms of activity, behind ], and ]


===Other Details===

*IGN retains a site for its unofficial videogame guides. While most of IGN's newer guides are for subscribers or IGN Insiders, the majority of the guides are actually free.
===The Vestibule===
*In 2002, IGN launched a dedicated videogame FAQs site specifically designed to host user-submitted guides{{ref|ign}}. Stephen Ng currently manages IGN FAQs.
{{dablink|Often shortened to "Vesti", the board is known among its users as "Teh Vesti", playing off of one of the more popular message board spelling errors.}} The Vestibule is by far the most popular board on IGN, a large majority of the total posts are there. However, The Vestibule is often criticized for having low quality content, due to its quick speed the forum moderators often miss all spam completely. The Vestibule currently has over 30,000,000 posts alone.
*IGN purchased before to augment its growing codes and cheats database. Jason Allen currently manages IGN Cheats.

*In 2004, IGN launched which serves as an more unbiased rating network, as it takes in every corporately owned game rating site, and averages it all into one score to give a general idea of the games quality.

====Board riots====
Board riots usually consist of user(s) deliberately flooding the forum in a short amount of time with similar topics and posts. Occasionally, script riots occur on the boards, when more technologically knowledgeable users code javascripts to take advantage of the board code and attack the forums with spam.

Members of the Vestibule are particularly prone to rioting, which consists of users flooding the forum in a short amount of time with similar topics and posts. Those participating in a "riot" receive a temporary suspension of their user accounts. Those who start the "riots" are either banned for a very long time or are permanently banned.

*The most famous script riots include the original post script riots of 2002. Users accidentally clicked links to hosted scripts which automatically posted shock images under their account.
*The flood spammers of 2003 (also known as The other Spammers (ToS), a play on IGN's ToS) used log in-log out scripts to make hundreds of account post threads in a short amount of time.
*The poll hackers of summer 2004 (often considered to also have been members of 'The other Spammers') used the same form of log-in log-out script to stuff the votes.
*The last major script riot was by the steak scripters of 2005. The steak scripters used a modified version of the 2002 automatic post script. Any user who clicked on a certain ] would go to a ] site where the script was hosted. This turned their board icon (avatar) into a steak, posted a new topic entitled "STEAK!!" with the link to the script inside, meaning that the script spread rapidly, fooling both users and moderators. The script riot was uncontrollable and caused the Vestibule to be virtually unusable for 36 hours. This was partly due to the open source code, allowing other users to duplicate and create more offensive versions of the script.


Eventually, over 100 users were banned for deliberately contributing to the 2005 riot. To stop the flooding, IGN administrators changed it so only admins could post topics. Two of the three original scripters were permanently banned from the IGN board system; however, the main scripter remained unbanned and later took part in several other endeavours to the point where IGN threatened to take legal action.

Due to alterations to IGN's board code, it is unlikely that such script riots will occur again. Now a user has his or her own unique post-key that is automatically submitted in each post. Without the inclusion of this postkey, the post will not go through, stopping streak rioter scripts. However, each users postkey is still viewable, so scripts can be altered to reflect this change. IGN has prevented this by requiring users to log in on a secure server, preventing the log-in-log-out scripts from running. Although this caused many temporary board glitches, it has hopefully ended a long era of IGN board script riots. Minor non-script riots are still often started without warning, but mostly lead to nothing more than a few locked threads that are only witnessed by the users who were there during that hour.

It should also be noted that ] has become a date synonymous with mayhem on the Vestibule. In 2004, one of IGN's main administrators Tal-IGN flooded the Vestibule with 'stickies' (threads which remain at the top of the board and replace those below it) so they would fill the entire viewable pane and make all new posts appear on the second page. This resulted in the Vestibule becoming virtually unusable. Moderators added to the mayhem by unnecessarily editing threads. The steak riot of 2005 also occurred on this date, meaning that many of the userbase have come to associate it with a 'festival of rule breaking.'

====Adoptions====
Another large part of The Vestibule is "adoptions" – someone can buy another user an IGN Insider subscription as a gift. Adoptions are almost like WULs insofar as they are used to ] with, but these hold more value. There have been adoption contests from time to time and some people will even adopt purely because they find the user to be a good part of the community.

==Criticisms==

One of the main complaints from visitors of IGN.com is the high volume of ] content. While IGN removes ] from the main page, large advertisements are still visible to paying customers, some of them ]-based.

Another common criticism is of the quality of IGN's game reviews. Many gamers believe that IGN tends to give preferential reviews and inflated scores to some games, especially major releases from established companies such as ], ], and ]. However, this has never been proven and is not an accusation unique to IGN.

==Trivia==
*IGN retains a site for its unofficial videogame guides. While most of IGN's newer guides are for subscribers or IGN Insiders, the majority of the guides remain free.
*In 2002, IGN launched a dedicated videogame FAQs site specifically designed to host user-submitted guides{{ref|ign}}, following the refusal of ] to renew its affiliate status.
*IGN purchased to augment its growing codes and cheats database. Jason Allen currently manages IGN Cheats. This deal caused mass unrest among members of the large bulletin board community established at GameSages, and led to rival sites X-Sages (disbanded to allow the webmaster to pursue "other projects") and TheSagesNetwork (eventually changed format to , distanced from GameSages) being established. A plurality of the more distinguished characters remain active on established by noteworthy GameSages player Cody "Ace" Morrison.
*In 2004, IGN launched , which serves as a more unbiased rating network, as it takes in every corporately owned game rating site, and averages it all into one score to give a general idea of the games quality.
*In 2005, IGN launched their comics site. It is devoted to not just the staple Marvel and DC titles, but also manga, graphic novels, statues, and toys. *In 2005, IGN launched their comics site. It is devoted to not just the staple Marvel and DC titles, but also manga, graphic novels, statues, and toys.
*IGN Sci-Fi: Largely dead since 2002, this section of the site included movie news, comic book reviews, anime coverage, and other associated items. It has since been discontinued. The site, now redirects to the recently created SciFiBrain.ign.com which covers some of the content of the old SciFi site. *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 ]. Recently, IGN has created SciFiBrain.ign.com which covers some of the content of the old SciFi site.
*IGN For Men: This section closed down officially on ], ] soon after the announcement that Leah was moving on. It can be found at but is no longer updated. IGN has sites such as and Askmen.com that fulfill much of the function of the old IGN ForMen site. *This section closed down officially on ], ] soon after the announcement that Leah was moving on. It can be found at but is no longer updated. IGN has sites such as Babes.IGN.com and Askmen.com that fulfill much of the function of the old IGN ForMen site. Jeff Hall currently manages IGN Babes.
*IGN Wrestling met its end in early 2002, when many of the staff departed. Interviews with ] personalities and coverage of wrestling games has been folded into IGN Sports, currently headed by Jon Robinson. *IGN Wrestling met its end in early 2002, when many of the staff departed. Interviews with ] personalities and coverage of wrestling games has been folded into IGN Sports, currently headed by Jon Robinson.
*In 2000, Snowball.com would purchase an ] called the Internet Wrestling Organization (IWO)<ref name="IWO">http://web.archive.org/web/20000519215622/http://www.iwo-online.com/fed_history.shtml </ref>. Since Snowball owned both IWO and IGN, IWO would go on to become IGN's first official E-Fed, even doing a column on the website.


==References== ===References===
#{{note|BigBoards}} http://www.big-boards.com
<references />
#{{note|ign}} http://www.ign.com
#{{note|newscorp}} http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4226170.stm


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Revision as of 02:17, 11 June 2006

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IGN is a part-free and part-subscription general gaming website. It was founded in 1995, starting as N64.com, SaturnWorld and PSX Power. It is controlled by 92.3% shareholder News Corporation, a company chaired by Rupert Murdoch. It was bought for $650 million on 8 September 2005.

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 a highly profitable business, and each single page often has at least 3 advertisements, complete with tracking cookies from both IGN and "partners" such as DoubleClick, Overture, TribalFusion and Gator. One of it's most notable parts is GameSpy, which was originally a separate company. The GameSpy suite of programs have been source of much controversy due to bundled adware and spyware.

IGN's core site -- IGN -- is comprised of a several specialty sites, each occupying a subdomain on IGN. This has given rise to such IGN sites (sometimes referred to as 'channels') such as Xbox 360, Xbox, Playstation 3 (PS3), Playstation 2, GameCube, PC Games, Playstation Portable, Game Boy, Nintendo DS, Cheats, Guides, FAQs, DVD, Music, Comics, Sports, Cars, and Babes.

IGN is ranked among the top 300 most visited websites according to Alexa, and the IGN forums have been considered to be among the most popular Internet forums.

Corporate Details

  • IGN runs on a combination of advertising and subscriptions. IGN Insider is IGN's premium subscription service for approximately $20 a year, although it has been known to fluctuate. Subscribers, who're also known as "Insiders" get special benefits, such as higher resolution videos, no ads, and full acess to the message boards.
  • IGN Entertainment was the only gaming website in the stock market, however its stock is no longer publicly traded.
  • IGN originally stood for Imagine Games Network, although now, it is no longer an acronym -- it means absolutely nothing.
  • While still known as Snowball, IGN acquired the Vault Network and its message boards in 1999.
  • 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
  • In February 2005 they acquired the popular download site, 3D Gamers.
  • In June 2005, IGN bought male lifestyle website AskMen.com.
  • On September 8, 2005, it was announced that News Corporation had acquired IGN for $650 million.

Site Managers

  • Peer Schneider - VP Site Content
  • Steven Horn - Producer
  • Talmadge Blevins - Editorial Director, IGN Games
  • Chris Carle - Editorial Manager, IGN Entertainment
  • Aaron Boulding - Executive Editor, Special Projects
  • Fran Mirabella III - Chief Video Producer

Editors-in-Chief

  • 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 GameCube
  • Dan Adams - Editor-in-Chief, IGN PC
  • Craig Harris - Editor-in-Chief, IGN Game Boy, DS
  • Spencer A. Abbott - Editor-in-Chief, IGN Music
  • Mark Ryan Sallee - Editor-in-Chief, IGN Cheats, Guides, FAQs ("Game Help")
  • Brian Zoromski - Editor-in-Chief, IGN FilmForce

Site Editors and Staff

  • Brennan Ieyoub - IGN Insider
  • Chris Beridon - IGN Insider
  • Chris Roper - IGN PS2, PSP, PS3
  • Ivan Sulic - IGN PS2, PSP, PS3
  • Juan Castro - IGN PSP
  • Marc Nix - IGN Database Manager, Gamestats.com
  • David Clayman - IGN Xbox, Xbox 360
  • Steve Butts - IGN PC
  • Tom McNamara - IGN PC
  • Erik Brudvig - IGN Guides
  • Jason Allen - IGN Cheats
  • Stephen Ng - IGN FAQs
  • Hilary Goldstein - IGN Comics
  • Brian Linder - IGN FilmForce
  • Jon Robinson - IGN Sports
  • David Adams - IGN News Wire
  • Levi Buchanan - IGN Wireless/Mobile
  • Justin Kaehler - IGN Cars
  • Todd Gilchrist - IGN DVD

IGN Message Boards

IGN is also known for its active message boards, which were created in late June 2000, which were originally for video game discussion, but now, they have deviated from just that subject, to cars, movies, politics, photography, and various other things.

Known as The Vestibule, or to members, as the Vesti. The Vestibule is a forum that is a part of IGN.com. The Vestibule was created on March 8th 2002 as a means to experience the IGN community without having to purchase "IGN Insider" - the boards were previously made completely subscription-only on February 20th 2002, much to the appal of long-time members.

The Vestibule has no set topic - anything goes as long as it falls within IGN's TOS. The discussions tend to be of a frivilous nature, but current events are largely discussed; from politics to sport, television and videogames. Viewing shock sites such as Goatse.cx, tubgirl and lemon party are almost considered a rite of passage on The Vestibule. Recently there has been a tendency towards shock videos - by far the most talked about being what is known only as "The Video", which consists soley of penis mutilation.

One of the features of the board system is WULs (watched user list), which is essentially a buddy list to keep track of your favorite users' posts. However, users of the Vestibule especially feel a need to be on as many users' lists as they can, raising their WUL count. The system is now effectively a currency of its own - people offer WULs for information and favors.

Another large part of The Vestibule is "adoptions" - someone can buy another user an IGN Insider subscription as a gift. Adoptions are almost like WULs insofar as they are used to barter with, but of course these are worth far more. You may see adoption contests from time to time and some people will even adopt purely because they find the user to be a good part of the community. Wingflyer and N-Finity have between them bought hundreds of subscriptions for others. Members of the Vestibule are particularly prone to rioting, which consists of users flooding the forum in a short amount of time with similar topics and posts. Examples include the Tal-IGN riot, the Armadillo riot, and the Tumbleweed riot. Participating in a riot will result in a temporary suspension of your account, a practice that moderator Lord_Auric made standard.

Due to the Vestibule's large volume of posts and users, the moderators on The Vestibule are little more than window dressing and combat The Vestibule's spamming and blatant offensiveness infrequently and ineffectively. Members of other forums on IGN and across the internet usually look upon regulars of The Vestibule as offensive, crass, spammy, and immature. Most in the Vestibule claim that other forums are too rigidly defined to doctrine and topic and prefer the freedom The Vestibule offers. As of 2005, the Vestibule has 20 million posts and is one of the fastest boards on the internet.

The IGNCB, or IGN Community Board, opened on September 11th, 2000, for "non-video game related content" that was beginning to appear on the video game discussion boards. The board is particularly renowned for its high-brow wit and perceived elitism, although this is less true now than it was in the board's heyday in 2000-2003. The ratio of moderators to normal users is the highest of any board, this is because the users of the IGNCB have generally been around longer than others. According to Big-boards.com, the IGN Boards are ranked number three in terms of activity, behind Face the Jury, and Gaia Online.

Other Details

  • IGN retains a site for its unofficial videogame guides. While most of IGN's newer guides are for subscribers or IGN Insiders, the majority of the guides are actually free.
  • In 2002, IGN launched a dedicated videogame FAQs site specifically designed to host user-submitted guides. Stephen Ng currently manages IGN FAQs.
  • IGN purchased GameSages.com before to augment its growing codes and cheats database. Jason Allen currently manages IGN Cheats.
  • In 2004, IGN launched Gamestats.com which serves as an more unbiased rating network, as it takes in every corporately owned game rating site, and averages it all into one score to give a general idea of the games quality.
  • In 2005, IGN launched their comics site. It is devoted to not just the staple Marvel and DC titles, but also manga, graphic novels, statues, and toys.
  • 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 scifi.ign.com, where its front page offers, among other things, the latest news on Terminator 3. Recently, IGN has created SciFiBrain.ign.com which covers some of the content of the old SciFi site.
  • 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 sites such as Babes.IGN.com and Askmen.com that fulfill much of the function of the old IGN ForMen site. Jeff Hall currently manages IGN Babes.
  • IGN Wrestling met its end in early 2002, when many of the staff departed. Interviews with professional wrestling personalities and coverage of wrestling games has been folded into IGN Sports, currently headed by Jon Robinson.

References

  1. http://www.big-boards.com
  2. http://www.ign.com
  3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4226170.stm

Official Sites

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