IDG Entertainment Launches Game Site

Video game company IDG Entertainment today will officially launch Games.net, a Web site devoted to information about the video game industry.

Sponsors at launch include the U.S. Army, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, and McDonald's. The site offers standard ad units, as well as rich media and branded vertical sites.

IDG, which also publishes the popular video game magazine GamePro, intends for the Games.net to focus on news and developments in the industry as a whole, rather than on reviews and previews that follow the cycle of a game's development, said Craig Eastman, IDG's director of online product development.

"We want to tell you why is it important for you to be following this game and its development cycle, instead of following every game and its development cycle," Eastman said.

Games.net's major Web competitors will include CNET's Gamespot.com and IGN.com.

In addition to the original content, Games.net also will include material culled from several of IDG's other online properties, including GamePro.com, Gamerhelp.com, Gamedownloads.com, and Blogfaction.com. The site uses RSS feeds to aggregate the content from IDG's other sites, as well as from unrelated sites. Eastman said that Games.net hopes to emulate successful aggregators like Slashdot.com and TheFark.com--posting links to external articles but allowing users to comment on the articles on-site.

To promote the site, IDG will be running ads on its own Web properties, and has also bought keyword ads on several search engines. Eastman said that a broader online campaign is planned, but the details have not yet been finalized.

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