We're looking to tap the immense power of your collective brains out there, to get your input into "What makes a good esports game?". All in order of providing direct input to the development team of Crysis Wars who are keen to hear direct from you, the community. In order to do this UGAME.net & Crysis Wars are holding contest with lots of goodies for those that help! The idea of the competition is to get your thinking caps on about what you look for in a good ESPORTS title. What do you like about  games which makes them worth playing in a competition? What gives you that hunger to jump in with your mates and compete? Is it the team play aspects which drives you to play with your team? What have been your favourite ESPORT titles and why? If you could summarize the key points that make a good esports title, what are they?

This contest will be run through UGAME.net, a great place to share your gaming interests with other people. All you have to do to enter the competition is sign up to at UGAME.net/register, if you're not already a member, and post a new blog entry titled "What makes a good esports title?" Once you've written your piece, all of them will be reviewed by UGAME and Crysis Wars staff, and the winners will receive the following prizes:

The Prizes

1st Place

1 ATI 3850 Graphics Card (Courtesy of UGAME.net)

1 Crysis Wars copy

1 Crysis Wars Tshrit

2nd Place

1 Steelseries 3H Headset (Courtesy of UGAME.net)

1 Crysis Wars copy

1 Crysis Wars Tshrit

Positions 3^rd-8^th will all receive a copy of Crysis Wars as well as a Crysis Wars T-shirt. So there is every reason to enter! This is open to everyone and couldn't be simpler to take part in. All you have to do is voice your opinion to be in with a chance to win some of these great prizes! So be sure to sign up at UGAME.net and get writing your views on "what makes a great esports title?"

How to Create a Blog

Once you're signed up to UGAME.net then all you need to do is click the "My Home" button. When you're there you can click on the "Write your blog" button and it will take you through to a screen. Then just start typing, it's that simple.

The competition will run from the 1^st December until Monday 15^th December, and the winners will be announced shortly after the competition has closed.

So get blogging folks to be in with a chance to win, or simply to share those extremely valuable opinions!

Hi Guys,

Following on from last weeks blog where lots of you gave great feedback, we've rolled out an update today with a number of different changes and fixes to the site as promised.

Firstly this is the first of a bigger update in which we will offer you more things to keep you occupied and test your mettle against other UGAME users. So this update was predominantly about fixing some issues we found across the site and updating the graphics.

Some things you will notice:

• New Header, background, tabs and Main pages design: The new header is transparent so will do nicely alongside another update we will roll out next week if you can guess what that will be!
  
• We have now added Steam ID to the list of gaming identities you can add, something that has been requested and we listned.
  
• New Uploader: with the release of Flash 10 it somewhat broke our picture and file uploader, so with this release everything should be in order again.
  
• New combo box: Now you will notice a much improved version of our combobox complete with icons, its not something which will slap you in the face but these little things really help! ;)
  
• You now have the ability to turn off NOTIFICATIONS FOR NEW MEMBERS OF GROUPS, which should stop a little of the notification spam. Find this here: http://ugame.net/dashboard/privacy/ 
  
• Finally quite a lot of bug fixes we encountered across the site recently, and as per usual be sure to use the GOT FEEDBACK button on the top left of your screen to keep us informed!
  

THE UGAME TEAM // The best thing since sliced bread..

Issue No.2

KEY DEVELOPMENT UPDATES

It's been a while since we last bombarded you with what we've been working on behind the scenes so it's about time we did. There are big things in the pipe line, so don't think that because we've been quiet that we're not improving all the time.

We've decided to focus on the area of the site that will give the most enjoyment to the community and their groups of friends; so that mean teams, guilds and groups pages! The guys here at UGAME have been working on making sure that you get all your friends in the right place, are able to vote on things that count and have the games they need.

Here are some of the things we've been working on:

GROUP POLLS

When you have a need to know the opinion of the masses you can now offer an ‘opinion' poll. Whether you want to know who the best player is of a particular game to what everyone's favourite WoW character is, you can now find out. All you have to do is enter a poll in your group with the choices on offer and let the public take the vote. Don't forget that while the poll is running you will still be able to edit, delete and close all of your polls and if you're really keen you can even set a closing date and a start time for every poll. Here are some examples:

INVITE MODULE

Some of you are finding it hard to remember your friends email addresses to add them to UGAME so we've just made it easier for you. In your dashboard we've added an option for you to invite your friends for all of these email accounts:

• Gmail
• Windows live messenger
• Hotmail
• Yahoo!
• AOL
• ICQ mail
• Fast mail
• Lycos
• mail.com
• rediff.com

It even tells you whether your friends are already members or not and whether they are in your friends list already. So, what are you waiting for... Get your friends involved in the fun!

DOWNLOADABLE GAMES

UGAME has partnered with Nexway who offer digital downloads of games. We are now selling numerous games through the games pages on our site so if you're interested check them out. Here is our first promotion:

Be one of the first to get your copy of the new Stalker game, Stalker: Clear Sky from the comfort of your own home. All you have to do is:

1. Go to the Stalker: Clear Sky games page.

2. Click the "Buy this Game" button.

3. Enter the toomai site, add the game to your basket and follow the instructions.

Additionally if you manage to get 5 or more friends registered on UGAME trough the friend inviter you will receive a discount code which you can use in our shop. You get a 10% discount on all games!

This is a great way to buy games cheaper, faster and more easily without the hassle of having loads of CDs lying around!

Here we are... we're reached the results of the AMD/ATI & UGAME competition for i34. It's not quite the same as winning a gold at the Beijing Olympics but the winners are worthy of top spot in their own right.

So let's count them down one by one:

1.       Highest overall, individual score in the CS:S group stages

I can't say that this was a close fought battle... Although I'm sure there was some stiff competition for the 1^st place finish it seems that most of you were too busy actually playing and winning rather than uploading proof and ultimately winning a prize. Well done to Callisto from Infused Gaming for his seemingly effortless time pwning of the competition, you've just won an ATI Radeon HD 3850! Here are his scores: http://ugame.net/groups/679/gallery/view/1301/

2.       Highest overall, individual score in the COD4  group stages

We had a similar situation with the CoD4 as we did with the high score in CS:S but there was no way any challenger could muster the skill and kill count that Linqan from Fnatic could. Achieving 210 kills in only 7 rounds, it seems that he is a just winner... I think some one on one matches should ensue for those who think they can do better ;)... A ATI Radeon HD 3850 is on its way to you! Check out the results here: http://ugame.net/groups/680/gallery/view/1303/

3.       Who can take and upload the most amount of photos from i34

We saw a large number of i34 photos being uploaded to the site and some ‘interesting' situations that some members got themselves into... hmm! Anyway... because we can only count the ones that were associated with the ATI/AMD Group, Millen has won with a total of 92 pictures.... congratulations, an ATI Radeon HD 3850 will be with your shortly!

4.       Most Valuable Player for CSS at i34

Thanks to our popular opinion poll and with a selection of 20 of CS:S's finest as voted for by the lads at Quad-V you were able to choose the MVP for CSS at i34. Rattlesnk destroyed the opposition with a 31% margin over his closest rival Mangiacapra... Well done, an ATI Radeon HD 3850 + Everglide Titan + 50 Pounds are all on their way to you.

5.       Most Valuable Player for COD 4

With the help of another opinion poll, also selected by the guys from Quad-V, congratulations go to Kajsking who received 23% of the votes closely followed by Vanner on 15% and Qwerty on 11%. An ATI Radeon HD 3850 + Everglide Titan + 50 Pounds will be in the post shortly.

As you know, i34 was last weekend! It was a success all round except for the accommodation, which most of you suffered with I'm sure, but hey... it's LAN, so who cares!

UGAME's competitions for a new ATI Radeon HD 3850 however are not over yet... You have time to get your galleries in for the high scores for CS:S and CoD4, time to get your galleries up and associated with the ATI & UGAME Group, and time to vote for your most valuable players.

• Vote for the Counter-Strike: Source MVP HERE
• Vote for the Call of Duty 4 MVP HERE
  

For the MVP competitions in CoD4 and CS:S the guys from QUAD-V have drummed up a list of who they think were the top players from each game (they would know, they watched every game). So from this list, you can vote for your favourites in the polls on the UGAME & ATI group. We're setting a deadline for everything on the 20^th of August... So make sure you get involved as quickly as you can and get your friends to vote and upload pictures too...

COD4 casters : Joe Miller, Leigh "Deman" Smith and Stuart "TosspoT" Saw

CSS Casters : Ben "Hoodini" Hodder and Jay Atkins

Some of your favourite players caught the eyes on the commentators including: Blackmane, Tidde, D1ablo, rattlesnk, Hughsy and more

The prizes once again:

1.     Highest overall, individual score in the CS:S group stages

         PRIZE         ATI Radeon HD 3850

2.     Highest overall, individual score in the COD4  group stages

         PRIZE         ATI Radeon HD 3850

3.     Who can take and upload the most amount of photos from i34

         PRIZE         ATI Radeon HD 3850

4.     Most Valuable Player for CSS at i34

         PRIZE         ATI Radeon HD 3850 + Everglide Titan + 50 Pounds

5.     Most Valuable Player for COD 4 at i34

         PRIZE         ATI Radeon HD 3850 + Everglide Titan + 50 Pounds

You can find more details about the competitions in our previous UGAME blog.

Are you going to Multiplay's i34 in Coventry on the 8^th August 2008? Fancy winning some excellent prizes from ATI? If so, then you could be in for a chance in UGAME's (www.ugame.net) & ATI's I34 competition.

There are over 2000 people attending i34, so the competition will be stiff but we're confident that if you put the effort in, you will become the proud owner of one of five brand new ATI RADEON HD 3850's!

We're running 5 different competitions through the UGAME site, all of which revolve around the i34 group here (http://www.ugame.net/groups/574/).

1.     Highest overall, individual score in the CS:S group stages

• Make sure you take a screenshot at the end of every game
• Join and add your pictures to this group http://ugame.net/groups/679/

         PRIZE         ATI Radeon HD 3850

2.     Highest overall, individual score in the COD4  group stages

• Make sure you take a screenshot at the end of every game
• Join and add your pictures to this group http://ugame.net/groups/680/

         PRIZE         ATI Radeon HD 3850

3.     Who can take and upload the most amount of photos from i34

• Must be genuine interest photos, no webcam auto shooting people!
• Upload a gallery to your profile and associate it to the i34 group

         PRIZE         ATI Radeon HD 3850

4.     Most Valuable Player for CSS at i34

• A vote will be carried out on the ATI & UGAME i34 Group on UGAME which will start on the final day of the tournament after the final match http://www.ugame.net/groups/574/
• In order to put a player forward you must submit their real name and alias as well as the team they played for in the CSS MVP Forum of this group linked below http://www.ugame.net/groups/574/forum/show/4952/

         PRIZE         ATI Radeon HD 3850 + Everglide Titan + 50 Pounds

5.     Most Valuable Player for COD 4

• A vote will be carried out on the ATI & UGAME i34 Group on UGAME which will start on the final day of the tournament after the final match http://www.ugame.net/groups/574/
• In order to put a player forward you must submit their real name and alias as well as the team they played for in the COD4 MVP Forum of this group linked below http://www.ugame.net/groups/574/forum/show/4953/

         PRIZE         ATI Radeon HD 3850 + Everglide Titan + 50 Pounds

Hey everyone,

Everything seems to be running smoothly and we’ve had some great feedback so far, so thanks! I’ll try to keep this brief but its hard  when you’re that excited about new stuff...

Before I talk about some of the things that we’ve done recently I’d like to talk about one problem in particular. We didn’t realise this until very recently but apparently there has been a problem with our mail server, which is the reason that some of you have not received activation emails. We’re sorry for this but rest assured the problem is now solved and you’ll all get your emails from us now (lucky we still have that Beta sign up :).

Now for the fun stuff... Here are some of the things that we’ve been working on since launch:

• Adding achievements
• Deleting galleries
• Empty Games review error
• Paging when searched for something in the global search
• Some fixes on the news feed
• And countless other small improvements and fixes!

We’ve had a lot of people join recently and there’s loads and loads of cool content going up all over the site so keep it up. We’ll be adding more features all over the site, namely in the games system and the guilds system so watch this space.

Slightly off topic, but if you’re lucky enough to be going to i34 (M-Festival as it’s known to the posher among us) you’ll be in for a chance of winning some prizes... I’ll be announcing this in the next week so keep an eye out for the post, and make sure you tell your mates if they’re going too!

Laters,

The UGAME Team

Hello all..

So its a Saturday and yes were still working to improve your site! Today we just launched a redesign of our beloved forums complete with a shiny new look and and easier way to navigate them.

The big changes are as follows:

1. We now have a tab to guide you through all the forums of the site, and remeber there are forums on every team, guild, group, and games page as well as a global UGAME forum for general bugs and feedback. 

2. Forums main page is now oraganised by latest activity meaning it has never been easier to find that interested discussion about the most fun boss kill, or which of your team mate team flashs the most!

3. We have also easily highlighted the most active forums, so be sure to make your team/group/guild the most active to get up there!

Remeber in your group/guild or team its easy for you to manage, and create new forums simply by going to the dashboard then the tab forum like so:

1. Go to dashboard:

2. Go to the forums TAB

3. And finally click add and your away!

And that was our post on forums!!

Enjoy, the UGAME Team.

HOORAY... We have finally launched into the public domain and have opened our doors to the world. After months of testing (thanks to our dedicated beta testers) and hours of development, the Network has now launched its public beta. The feedback that we have received from you guys has been phenomenal and crucial to the development of our services. So, if you were one of the ones that gave us feedback give yourself a pat on the back and remember that this really is a network for gamers (you), by gamers (also you).

We wouldn't launch into public beta without updating the site aswell, who do you think we are!? We've changed loads of things and incorporated new stuff too, some of those updates include:

• A games system for you to find all the information about your favourite games
• An improved notifications system to keep you up to date with UGAME developments
• Photo tagging, so you never miss out on those flattering pictures
• An improved frontpage to make it easier for you to find the best content
• A slicker look and feel throughout the site, with a thumbs system and a comment system

There are loads of new and exciting things to look at on the site, and just as many new features will be introduced shortly, including videos and a detailed guilds system. There is one small down side to all of this though... if you have been using the services for the past few months, because of the incorporation of a completely new notifications system we were unable to save all of your past newsfeed items and invitations. Sorry about this but hopefully the new system will make up for your loss ;)

Again, we want to extend our thanks to everyone who has helped make UGAME possible and we hope that your dedication continues to help us grow.

Until next time,

The UGAME Team

Since the last update we have been working hard developing UGAME's up and coming (earth shattering :)  features and planning for the Open Beta Public Launch, which is happening towards the end of this month! Some of us from UGAME will also be attending Dreamhack's Summer-08 event in Jönköping, Sweden to give the Swedish gaming crowd a taster and bring in some more beta testers. Finally, our graphics guru's have decided to dish out some downloadable content including a background and the poster that will be on offer at Dreamhack (more will come in the future).

UGAME Development

I won't give away too much but I can tell you that the development team have been improving the galleries system to allow you and your friends to share photos better and browse more easily. The FrontPage has been changed to make it easier to find interesting content... the site has been made wider! When it comes to content I cannot tell too much but I can tell you that a complete new tab is coming soon... oh and of course a splatter of bug fixes!

You may be aware that the development team work from home mostly but each once a month  we get together for two weeks at the UGAME HQ for development carnage and the odd bit of xbox live! All of the team will be together once again in the UK for the last two weeks of this month so expect something to role out around then!

Dreamhack

On the 14^th - 17^th June 2008, UGAME will be attending the Dreamhack Summer-08 event in Sweden where we will promote the network in conjunction with Fnatic Team. There will be autograph signings with the Fnatic Team, competitions for big prizes, presentations and the opportunity to sign up before UGAME goes live to the public.

Dreamhack is the World's largest eSports event with over 10,000 crazy gamers, so we are really looking forward to meeting all them and showing them our baby!

Downloads

UGAME has created a poster with Fnatic that will be handed out at Dreamhack but if you can't make it to the event, you can download a copy of it here. In addition to this poster you can also download a UGAME background for your desktop here.

Launch

At the UGAME HQ we are fully preparing for the launch of UGAME. We appreciate all of your feedback and want to thank you for it. You can still submit bugs, feedback and suggestions to make UGAME a better site for all of us!

Thanks again ..... THE UGAME TEAM!

Oh heres a quick screen of the posters, 500 will be up for grabs at dreamhack so be sure to find us for your chance to get a signed one with the Fnatic team and also a chance at one of the 100 tshirts we are getting printed.

Hello all!

At UGAME we've all been extremely busy with lots of shenanigans from GTA 4, to Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 and a little bit of COD4 and CSS on the PC in the mix! Oh, and we've also been quite busy preparing for some sort of launch of this UGAME thing ;)

Thats right.. sooner than you think we will be pushing it live, and what a launch it will be.. expect 1 big new content type, improvements to current modules and a few new bits (sections) and bobs (languages) here and there that will enable UGAME to be just a little bit better than it was before! Were also trying to add some features that you have all kindly requested two weeks ago, all excellent suggestions, we were pleasantly surprised to the quality of all your gamer brains.. all that playing has made you a pretty creative bunch!! On that note.. we would like to announce the winner of the RAZER pro|tone m100 in ear headphones which was drawn randomly from all those who made a suggestions:

Congratulations Jesse "WrathofGod" Knoll please email press@ugame.net your address!

We've also partnered with Cadred.org, a banner swap between sites so expect to see some pretty banners flashing up on their website should you be a fan of their quality CSS and CoD4 news and community. If you would like to support the beloved UGAME campaign to dominate the world and put up a banner of your own then you can download this zip which has a few different versions of the flash banner.

Anyway untill next time,

// THE UGAME CREW

Hello all!

Its been an exciting week here at UGAME, we're really happy to have rolled out the new release with a lot of fixes and a few more major organisational updates. To celebrate this we are giving out an extra 10 INVITES to all current testers and adding in 2000 new members from the FNATIC DB.

We're going to be moving onto some new larger features in around 1 week and untill we have our polls module up and running, I wanted to hear from all of you about what you would like to see on here!

• For us we see VIDEO as the next big thing, what do you think?
• Also on our agenda is actual GAMES pages so you can talk about games
• Events pages, similar thing to games pages
• Guilds, which will be similar to current teams
• Tagging in photos and profile photos gallery
• News aggregator (ala DIGG for gaming news)
• What about other stuff?

What about other stuff? Whats important for you? let use know in the comments for your chance to win a free pair of RAZER PRO|TONE m100 headphones! (will be drawn in two weeks!)

Peace out...

/// UGAME DEV TEAM

Issue No.1 22nd April 2008

KEY DEVELOPMENT UPDATES

This is the first issue of the "Key Development Updates" newsletter for UGAME.net. It has been created to inform UGAME's users of the updates to the services that will improve and enhance their experience of what we have on offer.

Over the last couple of months and after our promotional booth at Multiplay's i33 event in Newbury, England, we have received some great feedback and have been tirelessly responding to your input. New services and features have popped up all over the site, so take a look and let us know what you think. The following is a list of those changes:

EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS

1. Email notifications for profile activity

2. Weekly Newsletter

3. Development updates

We have incorporated an email notifications system to let you know what is happening to you and your profile on UGAME.net without you having to login. The emails will be sent to the email that you signed up to UGAME with and will inform you of the following:

• Friend Requests
• New Board Messages
• New Private Messages
• Team Invitations
• Group invitations
• New Team Applications
• New Group Applications
• New Fans

All of these notifications can be managed in your privacy settings under ‘edit profile' so that you can turn on or off any one of these notifications at any time. In the next update we will enable you to manage the privacy settings for the newsletters and development updates as well.

ACHIEVEMENTS

1. New User Interface

2. Request Event

3. Wizard style input

The achievements module has been reworked and remodelled to make it easier for you to add the things that you are most proud of. The look and feel of the service has been improved and we have added a much larger database of events. This will make it easier for you to find those tournaments that you couldn't before. In addition to what we have added, you can now request an event yourself, if you cannot find it in our list.

The style of the achievements interface has also changed; it is now in a wizard format, which means that you have to fill in information before you can move onto the next part. It is not limited to competitions but now includes personal achievements; so if you are proud of the fact that you broke your mate's television with your Wiimote, you can add that too!

GAMES SYSTEM

1. Request Games

2. Assign Platforms to your games

3. Console codes, tags and ID's

The games database has been widened to incorporate new games and we've added possibility feature that allows you to request games yourself, on any platform, that are not yet in the database. The requested game will appear on the users profile page but it will first need to be approved by admins before we can add it to the database permanently and then enable other users to add it tooGames that you have added to your profile and that you play can now be assigned to platforms such as Xbox, Playstation, PC etc. This feature will allow people to find you more easily and will also enable you to search for people who play the same game on the same platform.

Each profile page now has the option to add your user ID's for each of the consoles that you play on. We want to make it possible for everyone to interlink through their consoles so that you can challenge each other and play via the internet, console to console. The next update will allow you to search for users by their console code or ID, so if you have some friends on your console, you will be able to find them on UGAME easily.

TEAM & GROUPS

1. Invite people to your Team or Group

2. Editable Avatar

3. Assign applicants to division

You can now invite your friends to join a team or group by using the ‘Invite a Member' box on the main page of that group or team. When you invite someone to a team you can also assign them to a division so that when they accept they will automatically enter that division. By the next development update we will have incorporated a feature that will allow you to invite people who aren't yet registered on UGAME as well.

In addition to the main Group or Team logo that you have on the main page you have the options to edit the avatar image as well, which will be shown on all of the members profile pages.

MESSAGING

1. Look and Feel update

The design around all of the messaging functions within your profile page, including your inbox, notifications, comments and sent items have all been changed to make it easier to understand and use.

FOOTER

1. New Look

2. More Information

We have created a new footer that displays much more information than the previous one. One of the things that we've added is a sitemap to make it easier for you to navigate your way around UGAME. This new footer also gives us the possibility to display more information in the future.

BUGS & FIXES

1. Privacy has been incorporated into the main pages for the FrontPage, Galleries and Blogs

2. A 'Read our Blog' button on the FrontPage to keep you up to date with UGAME developments

There were many other minor bug fixes that have also been fixed but too many to list here. If you find that a bug has not been fixed yet, please let us know.

We noticed that a lot of our users have already spent all of their invites. To celebrate this development update we have decided to give all of the UGAME users ten extra invitations. On top of that we are inviting another two thousand extra gamers to the site!

IN THE NEXT UPDATE

1. Messaging people who are not in your friends list

2. More email notification options for what happens to you on UGAME

3. Paste text directly from word into your profile, blogs etc

4. A function allowing the deletion and editing of comments

5. Much Much more....

Keep an eye out for more updates,

The UGAME Team

 ISSUE No. 1                                             Week  14^th - 20^th April

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

This is the first issue of the weekly newsletter for UGAME.net, which has been designed to inform all of our users about the latest updates, current services and future plans for UGAME and its network. In this week's issue we cover the progress that we have made so far, the promotional event at Multiplay's i33 and our plans for the coming week.

Progress to Date

For the last 12 months the staff at UGAME have been working tirelessly to develop a site that not only offers services that gamers will enjoy but have been making them in such a way that gamers from any game on any of the different platforms will enjoy and appreciate these services So far we have incorporated the following into UGAME: 

• An in depth profile page for every user
• Team pages for the competitive gamers
• Blogs & Galleries
• A place for all members to post their gaming achievements

 These pages and the services within them have been created to allow every user to interact and share with others on the site. This is becoming an information haven for gamers everywhere and we intend to improve even more upon that.

Multiplay's i33

In Newbury, England from the 21^st to the 24^th March, UGAME together with Fnatic and Bestpoker held a promotional event for the attendees of i-Series. The purpose was to find some talented gamers to test the site for the following weeks and we now have just over 1000 people helping us improve the UGAME services thanks to this event. 

UGAME held two raffles for signups and I am happy to announce that Rick "Ricceh" Marwood won the individual raffle and will receive a top of the range AMD/ATI computer and Team Carrick won the team raffle for a full set of peripherals from Razer & Everglide for each member. Congratulations to them.

The Coming Week

This week we will be working on improving the messaging system, creating an email notification system for each user, inviting another 1000 people to the site as well as starting work on an entirely new service that will keep you coming back for more, so watch this Space.

Until next time ..... THE UGAME TEAM!

Two weeks ago UGAME reached out to the British gamers at i33 in Newbury, England. It was great fun and allowed us at UGAME to get some ‘expert’ Beta testers for the site and at the same time run two raffles, one for an AMD/ATI computer (in conjunction with Sapphire) and one for a set of peripherals for a team from Razer and Everglide.

We have had some great responses to the site and are getting excellent feedback to improve its services. So, thank you for your continued support!

Now for the important bit..... THE WINNERS:

Individual Raffle:

Team Raffle:

Congratulations to the Ricceh and Team Carrick, and thank you to everyone who took the time to visit the booth at i33. We hope you enjoy the site....

Until next time....

Hello all and welcome once again to our newly opened up beta!

The site as you see it has been in development for over 10 months now, and we are just scratching the surface of what services/features we want to add. But we are calling out now for your help!

We would like to know YOUR ideas for the site, what would you like to see added?  How can we improve it for you and your friends or team mates?

We already have some planned addition which include;

• Videos
• Games Pages
• Guild Pages
• Events
• News
• Shares (DEMO's, Replays, Files etc)

We would like to know which (if any) of these sounds exciting, what other features do you have in mind that we could do to improve the site? All you have to do is write a comment below to join in the discussion with improvements, features or general annoyances. We're here for you after all!

Also for all those that haven't noticed, we have a GIVE FEEDBACK button permanently on the USER PANEL bar so that whenever you find a bug, or have an idea or suggestion you can quickly provide that input. We thank all of you who have been doing that so far it is invaluable feedback!

See you in game! // UGAME DEV TEAM

20/03/2008

This weekend the UGAME team will be attending the Multiplay i33 LAN event in Newbury, UK where we will officially be entering our second phase of private beta!

So far we have had around 40 users experience the site and provide us with invaluable feedback and the all important bug reports. With our latest update we have tried to address as many of these as we can aswell as introduce some new features.

Changes since first phase private beta : 13/02/2008

New additions:

Privacy Settings

We have implemented site wide privacy settings enabling users to define the privacy for their profile and all submitted content.

The privacy levels come in four flavours:

• Public - content will be viewable to anyone that accesses the site
• Registered - content will be viewable by anyone that is registered to the site
• Fans - Only people who are your fans can view the content
• Friends - Only people added as your friend can view the content

Friend invitation system

Users can now invite other people to take part in the beta and join the site. The invite system will email a friend of your choice and automatically send them a friend request for when they do register!

Comment Tracking

Comments across the site can now be tracked by users. Users content will automatically be tracked as are comment replies.


User Fans

Users now have an extra way to show their support for their fellow gamers with the introduction of a fan status. Fans can benefit from extra user content and helps support the player involved


Developers Blog

This very system has been created so everybody can keep up to date with the progress of UGAME development.

Gallery image rotation

Users can now rotate images within their galleries.

Forgotten password function

Users can now request a new password when their memory fails them!

Changes:

Jump to Friend, Group and Team

The 'Jump to friend' combo box has been ammended to also allow quick navigation to your teams and groups.

Additional tabs on main pages

Every main page now has 4 tabs to allow for easier navigation

Paging on main pages

Module main pages now all have paging options to allow for easier navigation.

Quick filters on Users and Groups

The main pages for Users and Groups now have a filter box to allow for quick searching

Search on all module main pages

Every module main page now has simple search functionality.

Show / Hide more option in data boxes

A number of data boxes now have an additional option to show and hide extra data. Included in this is the 'My Groups' and 'My Teams' blocks on the user profile pages.

Messages link navigates directly to notifications

The messages link now navigates directly to an unread item with the priority being set to Messages, Notifications and then Comments.

Main page header changes

The headers on each of the main pages have been changed and we believe they now look much better! The header also includes a direct link to the latest development blog.

Data scrolling option

A number of the data content boxes now have a cool new scroll option available so you can easily browse through them. A good example of this is the 'My Friends' box on the user profiles.

As well as all that, we have also fixed a large number of bugs that were kindly reported by our beta testers!

UGAME is continuing to grow and we have planned a large number of new features, but we still need your help! Please continue to provide the much needed feedback, even if its just to tell us how good the site is, everybody benefits from a moral boost from time to time!

So welcome to all the new users, we hope you enjoy the site, use it well and we look forward to seeing all your galleries and blogs popping up!

The UGAME Network (UGAME.net) launches with a Private Beta Southampton, UK

The UGAME Network, an online gaming social network, is proud to announce its private beta launch today. After 10 months of hard work, and over 6000 hours of development by the technical engineers behind UGAME, the website will be open to a select few individuals. It will provide them with a place to interact with others, meet and make new friends, share, play, and use services; all of which have been designed from the ground up by our team of passionate gamers. UGAME is designed to enhance and extend the user’s enjoyment of their online gaming experience. The private beta will be used to improve upon the services provided by UGAME, with more invitations being sent out over the course of the beta. In order to stay true to the world’s gamers, we have also enlisted the help of the seasoned professionals at Team Fnatic; who are currently ranked as the world’s number 1 professional gaming team. They will be invaluable during this beta phase and will provide their expert feedback on the sites services and usability.

Patrick "cArn" Sättermon

, in‐game Captain of the Fnatic Counter‐strike team had the following to say about the website he has been using on a daily basis:

"I have had the pleasure of using the service over these past months and have seen it evolve and grow. It is definitely a great place for gamers to interact and share their experiences, not just for the professional players but for every gamer. I look forward to seeing a lot of teams sign up, share, interact and improve their skills by playing others on the UGAME network. But most of all I can’t wait to get all my friends, fans and even my opposition under the one roof. It will be a great way to stay connected and of course be endless fun!" The development team behind UGAME are itching to share their project with the world, and are excited to have reached such an important milestone towards reaching this goal. The

Lead Interface Engineer, Vincent Croes had the following to say:

"I’m really glad to see the UGAME website reaching the beta phase. We’ve been working hard to reach this status and we will make the site even better with the feedback that will be gathered during the beta! So far we are really happy with the results; we are creating a website for all gamers, from the most hardcore player to the casual gamer. In the future we have a lot of new features coming which we are excited about. We always look forward to the challenge of creating great web applications for the gaming community!" UGAME.net will help gamers find and interact with friends, set up their own team or guild pages, write blogs, support gaming teams, organize offline and online events (tournaments or LAN parties), upload galleries and much more. All of the features found on UGAME are designed to make everyday online gamers’ lives more enjoyable through the increased possibilities of interaction!