Post by Steve Farrelly @ 12:49pm 15/11/23 | 61 Comments
The reasons are numerous, but largely we just wanted a new challenge and to have full ownership over our next adventure. This was all amicable with no hard feelings between camps and therefore isn’t tied to the recent spate of site closures or firings or resignations across the gaming media landscape. (Largely because we haven’t been employed with Mammoth these past number of years, running the site in a kind of defacto setup with Mammoth.)
So what’s next for us?
We’re launching a new entertainment platform called 3rd-Phase Boss focusing on Gaming, Tech & Gear and Pop Culture. We’ll also be building out a merch store, working with artists that work in and around gaming and pop culture to produce bespoke ‘Limited Run’-style shirts and prints. The tone of the site will be not all that dissimilar to what we produced here, but it’ll be more expansive and will focus more heavily on the celebration of so-called ‘geek culture’ and will feature a more rounded and dynamic social media presence.
But we want to specify it won’t be AusGamers 2.0 (the Mammoth cats have given us permission to carryover a collection of our work from here, though that will be updated and reformatted for the new digs so as not to ‘copy and paste’, so to speak).
This wasn’t an easy decision. For almost two decades AusGamers and Mammoth Media have been ever-present in my life, and I can’t thank Trog and Term enough for taking a punt on me all those years ago, and my time working alongside Dan and Eorl as well as the rest of the Mammoth Media guys will forever remain one of my most beloved professional jaunts. And then being able to work with one of my best friends in Kosta at this site has been amazing, but together we just felt it was time we owned our own shit. 3rd-Phase Boss is wholly owned by us under our freshly-minted digital publishing and professional writing business, Swear Jar Editorial and Media Pty Ltd and will launch in early 2024.
Thanks to everyone who followed our words and our stories over the years and thanks to everyone we ever worked with here. You can get in touch with us at our new digs via email and for all enquiries related to AusGamers use the site’s contact form as those still reach Mammoth Media.
Cheers,
Steve and Kosta
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Posted 12:51pm 15/11/23
Posted 01:02pm 15/11/23
Posted 02:32pm 15/11/23
Posted 03:14pm 15/11/23
Thanks to everyone involved in the site past and present, best of luck going forward with the new site. Perhaps it can be my new homepage for another 20 years.
Posted 03:45pm 15/11/23
GL
Posted 03:50pm 15/11/23
I'll still be hanging around in these forums from time to time, but maybe now the old crew can reclaim the feed and not be spammed with stuff from Kosta and I and just go back to arguing political semantics and philosophies!
Posted 02:56pm 16/11/23
Posted 09:59pm 16/11/23
Posted 02:26pm 17/11/23
Posted 05:13pm 17/11/23
i met some truely awesome people here, and paveway.
Posted 10:19am 18/11/23
Hah you know it!
I'm actually kind of hopeful that as people who were there for web 1.0 that you might put together something worthwhile. Be sure to post when you get your thing online so I can register and s*** all over it please :)
Posted 05:20pm 18/11/23
Posted 06:08pm 18/11/23
Posted 12:17pm 19/11/23
Thanks for all the lols over the years.
Posted 01:44pm 20/11/23
Posted 02:06pm 20/11/23
gj folks, thanks for all the fish :)
Posted 04:32pm 20/11/23
Best wishes and GG!!
Posted 02:04pm 21/11/23
Posted 03:30pm 21/11/23
Best of luck with the future.
/salute
Posted 07:59pm 21/11/23
id like to see a heap of old skool real names pop by to say goodbye
Posted 05:53pm 22/11/23
Or Einy to post up some 2023 progress pics
Posted 06:22pm 22/11/23
They're all still doin' time for their crimes committed at QGL Lans.
Posted 02:41pm 23/11/23
Thanks for the link Spook
Memories of LAN party at QSAC flooding back, lugging a 22" CRT monitor through carpark.
Someone always dropped one, thankfully I wasn't one of them!
Posted 10:53pm 24/11/23
Posted 08:47am 28/11/23
Is it actually coming anytime soon, or is this like a vibe check?
Posted 01:03pm 28/11/23
As per the OP.
It's designed, as in all pages have been signed off, it's now with the developer. But yeah, we're kicking things off in 2024, we just needed to let all of our contacts know and to start trying to build an army of artists wanting to work with us for our merch stuff so we don't launch with an empty store front ;)
Posted 02:13pm 01/12/23
Posted 08:17pm 01/12/23
Posted 11:00pm 02/12/23
Waiting...500 secs
Waiting...400 secs
Waiting...300 secs
Waiting...200 secs
Waiting...100 secs
Waiting...0 secs
and I still have a post limit of only one post per 10 minutes after all these years...hahahahaha
Makes people think I was naughty or something.
Posted 02:55am 02/12/23
Missed that from your overlong OP somehow.
Wake me up when something interesting is happening.
Posted 04:27pm 02/12/23
Posted 01:03pm 07/12/23
Bye
Also good luck with the new venture 👍🏼
Posted 09:46am 08/12/23
Posted 04:34pm 12/12/23
lol where did you hear that?
ive never seen the inside of a gaol
let the record show that as of my last last qgl post i am free man. living, learning, thriving
Posted 02:05am 13/12/23
Best of luck with the new platform lads, will be keeping an eye out.
Posted 10:38am 13/12/23
But you do have your own dungeon for lone unsuspecting wayward travellers.
Posted 05:38pm 14/12/23
Who doesn't?
Posted 05:08pm 15/12/23
Wow! Did I miss out on another trend. I need to work on my trendsetting.
Posted 02:13pm 18/12/23
when does the new website go live ?
Posted 10:15am 22/12/23
Good luck all
:)
Posted 09:15pm 25/12/23
good luck to all.
Posted 03:38pm 26/12/23
Posted 10:59pm 08/1/24
So indeed, so long and thanks for all the fish ;)
Posted 09:33pm 10/1/24
Posted 03:01pm 12/1/24
https://discord.gg/CQaCTumZ
Posted 08:51pm 16/1/24
christ
Posted 08:38am 18/1/24
Brokened and s*** for me, my other discrods work
Might be some sort of access signup bulls*** that isn't working properly?
Posted 06:50am 20/1/24
But sad that this might mean the final blow that kills qgl.
Posted 03:26pm 22/1/24
Will let you know if I can suss it. I did see you 'join' the server, but you were bounced or bounced almost immediately.
EDIT: Actually I think I fixed it!
Posted 04:22pm 22/1/24
https://www.theguardian.com/games/2024/jan/20/strange-sweaty-sociable-early-days-of-gaming-in-pictures
Posted 08:07pm 23/1/24
that's Boba or infi isn't it ?
Eloquant article of read from the guru of Webcentral himself, troggles. i've been meaning to donate to Guardian in the past few months, however since their content is free anyway and not paywalled-to-continue reading i haven't been pressed to as yet.
Bluenews has been getting my priority of monthly donaation ticker for almost 6 months, as it's been a goto source for the pasttimne since i was 16 and a friend in the same grade would contrib from time to time.
i noticed that either for editorial reasons or otherwise that Blue missed the realease of Under The Waves for PC digital last August, and the more recent update on 2's health condition has been dismaying to read.
last edited by trillion at 20:07:58 23/Jan/24
Posted 01:58pm 26/1/24
Best wishes for the future to both Steve & Kosta. Your efforts in keeping AusGamers alive over the last few years were amazing and of course all the stuff we did when we worked together was not only impeccable but very enjoyable. I was always blown away by your engagement with the industry and how you communicated your findings back to the gamer community, both locally & globally.
While I haven't posted as much as I used to I still read every news item and (almost) every review that was posted, knowing that it was going to be the best look at what is going on.
I think it's testament to your professionalism both as a gamer & as a journalist that you've been able to have such a long and distinguished tenure here with basically no major issues outside of a few gamers being sad because you scored a game a couple of points too high or too low. In an era which encompassed some amazingly terrible online behaviours, AusGamers, under your lead, not only avoided getting dragged into diverting messes but focused on the core mission and continued to deliver what it was founded to do - deliver the best possible information to the Australian gamer.
Unfortunately changing conditions in the online publishing market and gaming industry all affected AusGamers' parent company which meant it wasn't able to get the attention that it once used to. I've been disappointed that this happened & have been searching for ways to try to resurrect something from the ashes for years, but it requires almost a back-to-the-drawing-board approach - so I'm glad you guys are breaking off to pursue exactly that strategy.
I don't know what comes next for AusGamers - obviously it will be quiet around here for a while. But I'd like to think there's an adventure or two left in it somewhere.
Very much looking forward to seeing your new venture unfold and doing whatever I can to help it be a success!
Thanks for everything.
Posted 05:34pm 27/1/24
If you can possibly keep it (especially these crusty old forums) online for those of us who remain, please do! It's a wonderful record of Australian internet and gaming culture and nothing else from the period still persists. We ofc have the wayback machine but that's just not the same and reddit has become a f*****g cesspool. I really like this little quiet corner of the net.
I'd be interested in posting random thoughts and composing articles (for free) if it helps at all to keep the lights on, but I can't commit to a schedule or anything like that. I am time rich these days but my enthusiasm is a bit bipolar.
Posted 02:35pm 29/1/24
Crowd source your content via a set of volunteers who either do it for the love and the historicity of the site, or are young, enthusiastic and looking for publishing credits with a real site.
Maybe even convert AGN to a non-profit dedicated to supporting Australian gaming culture, community, development, independent journalism and review.
Posted 06:27pm 29/1/24
Posted 09:29pm 29/1/24
Post your bank details to http://somefatbastard.crypto.inmybackpocket.com
Posted 05:57pm 02/2/24
I'll create an ETH sub-token, what could go wrong?!
Posted 04:34pm 03/2/24
Posted 01:50pm 04/2/24
Vale and thanks for the website. Best of luck with whatever you do next.
Posted 11:53am 21/3/24
Posted 04:49pm 21/3/24
I still use the QGL.AUSFORUMS.COM link so it looks the same as it always did.
It's always a weird time capsule coming back here and seeing familiar names.
Whens the next Lan?