New 3D Realms Site Launched!

From Joe Siegler...

"As you can see by reading this, our new web site has been launched! It's been a long time coming, but the new site has finally been released. It's very different than the last site we've had online, both in visual style, and in the content area. The new design layout was put together by Brian Cozzens, who did all the framework graphics as well - once again doing an awesome job in making everything look good.

In honor of the launch of the new web site, we've done something that has never been done in the 13 year history of the company - that is a comprehensive, across the board price restructuring of all of our games. Virtually every game in our entire product line has had it's price dropped, some as much as $35! If you've been thinking of purchasing some of our games, now's the time. Make sure and check out our Ordering Information Page for how to order from us, as well as updated pricing lists, and a new order form.

Speaking of purchasing games, one feature yet to come with the launch of our new web site is an Online Store. You will very shortly be able to purchase games direct from 3D Realms online and have them shipped to you. We had intended to have this feature launch with the new web site (this was the mysterious "Part 2" referred to in my .plan files), but some paperwork from our bank was holding things up, and we didn't want to wait any more to launch the web site, so we decided to hold off on the store a bit more until we're ready to go there.

There's much more that's new in our web site this time around than what's listed above. also a bunch of new items on our web site now that have never been here before. They are:

*Price Overhaul - It's worth mentioning again the price overhaul - if you haven't checked it out, check out our Ordering Info page for more details.

*.plan updates - You're familiar with the .plan update systems such as QuakeFinger, Blue's Finger, and Webdog. We now have our own plan updates that track our employees. They're available under Company Info.

*Quick Poll - Our old poll system was OK, but never really did what we wanted it to. Our new poll system which appears on the main page will be where you can leave your input on several relevant questions

*Banner System - The top of each page on our site now has "ad banners" - but they're for things internal to this site - they're not conventional advertisements as you know them, they'll be there to alert you to contests, sales, and other 3D Realms related information.

*News Replies - As you saw at the top of this news update, we have added news discussions, a popular feature on many gaming news sites. You can reply to (just about) any news story you will see here on the 3D Realms site.

*Tech Support Area - We've decided to place the entire knowledge base about all of our games online. In the new Tech Support area, you can check out our answers to every known issue relating to any of our games. The information here is extensive, and has been built up over many years of the company's existence.

*New ISP - At the same time we've brought the site online, we've switched hosts. During the release of the Duke Nukem Forever screenshots, we realized we needed a better hosting solution, so we are now with a new company, with much better hardware and bandwidth. Details are on the "About this Site" page under Company Info.

*No Frames - Frames are gone. This is our first web site since 1996 that doesn't have frames in it.

One of the biggest goals with this new site design was ease of navigation. Our old design, while great in the beginning, grew into a bit of an unwieldy mess. For example, if you wanted to get to the Duke Nukem sound bloopers page, you had to click on "Our Games", then "Duke Nukem 3D", then News, and finally the bloopers page. On our new system, you click on "Games", and Duke Nukem 3D, and that's it! A lot of care went into the design of the new site's navigation. The goal was to make every piece of information on our site no more than two clicks away from any other piece. With very few exceptions, this has been achieved, and the menuing system on your left has also been trimmed down. Several other sections to the site that are still here have been revised to be more streamlined. These sections include the game catalog, personal bios, and other areas. There's too many minor changes to list here, but regular site visitors of ours will notice the changes instantly.

There's still more to come, too. Two features that are not ready with the site's launch are the aforementioned Online Store, and an update to the Virtual Tour. The old tour was great, and still is, but is wildly out of date both in terms of people who work here, and in terms of people changing offices here. Next week, the work to replace the Virtual Tour will begin in earnest, we hope to have that online by the end of the month.

It's taken a long time to get this new site up, and of all the site designs we've had in the past, this one is the best in terms of navigation, visuals, and content. This was the hardest to get done, and at the same time, by far the most satisfying. I look forward to a long time working with this new layout, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I've enjoyed putting it all together.

Also, since we're changing servers at the same time, you may find if you go to http://www.3drealms.com, you get the old server. This is normal behavior, as the DNS change wasn't made until about 4:15PM on March 2nd. It can take up to a week for some DNS servers to pick up the change, but there will be a message on our old server telling you where exactly to go. Eventually, you'll get here with the correct domain name, so keep trying http://www.3drealms.com - We don't recommend you bookmark the new IP address location, as it won't be needed shortly.

One final note - if you used to link directly to information on our forums, please be aware that a lot of directories have been changed, moved, or likewise. You should probably check out the new layout.

And to the folks who regularly visit our Web Forums... "Hey, it's done!"

Posted by Joe Siegler on March 3, 2000 at 3:45 PM | Permalink
News Categories: About Site