That time has come. For anyone still checking back in hope that AusGamers would start posting regularly again, given we’ve been sporadic and largely dormant these past six or so weeks, we can now reveal that both Kosta and I, the site’s long-time co-managing editors, have made the decision to move on to something new, while Mammoth Media has decided to put the site out to pasture.
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
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