First Impressions: (12 out of 15)
When I am first directed to your site, I see all the "Homepage Reviews" that have been written about different things from the video game industry. I think that adds a nice touch to your forum and I'll talk more about that later on in the review. It was easy for me to find my way to the forum from there, which is good. The pop up at the bottom right hand corner kind of annoys me. I've never like those pop ups to be honest. Especially when they appear smack dab in the middle of the page. I prefer looking around at the community a bit before being asked to join because I want to see what the community has to offer first.
Site Structure: (14 out of 15)
I understand that your forum is mainly about video games and I appreciate the fact that you separate the console gaming from the PC gaming. You even have the console gaming separated into different sections for Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. Even though there may be a lot of people out there that are into playing video games, it's easier to find discussions that they would be interested in because you have everything broken down the way you do. It is easy for me to find what I want to discuss on your forum. The widgets on the right hand side of the forum, I think that's an important part of your forum. Especially the ones that show the forum statistics and the recent posts. Those need to be moved as far to the top of the forum as possible. You want people to see that your forum is active if you want to gain more members.
Design Quality: (10 out of 15)
I love the icon you're using to mark each section of the forum and how it goes hand in hand with the niche` of the forum. It even matches the favicon you're using and the banner at the top of the forum. I don't like that there is a pretty noticeable empty space underneath the widgets on the right side of the forum. I would add some more widgets to that side of the forum to help fill in the space. Also, there appears to be a lot of the gray background on both sides of the forum. I'm not really a fan of it but I understand that that is just my personal opinion. I would either do something to widen the forum that is in the middle or see if you can change the background itself.
Originality: (10 out of 15)
Unfortunately, I've seen quite a few gaming forums so standing out from the crowd is going to be imperative. One thing you are doing differently are the "Homepage Reviews" you provide about different things from the video game industry. That's something I haven't seen done on another video game forum. Something you can do that may also help you stand out from the crowd can be doing something fun your forum. If you can do something like have a fun game to play there on the forum. Or maybe you can have a tournament where members can play against each other and the winner gets whatever prize you choose to offer.
Overall Mark: (46 out of 60)
I know your community has quite a few members on it already and I applaud you for that. However, there are some additions you could probably make to keep those members and add news ones to your community. I wish you the best of luck in the future!
