Visitors tonight to the official SG-1 website, http://www.stargatesg1.com/, will note it is showing a countdown timer. According to posts in this thread at the Gateworld forum, the countdown is for launch of a completely revamped official site, one that promises extensive multi-media content, both official and fan-generated, including streaming episodes.
Users will be able to create their own profiles and upload images and videos to share (coined My Space meets YouTube). MGM will provide high-resolution images, behind the scenes footage and specials, interviews, etc. Episodes will be available for streaming, free but with ads, though not right away. There is no word on any restriction by country.
Check http://www.stargatesg1.com/ on October 3 to see for yourself. The new site seems to confirm MGM’s commitment to digital distribution under its own control…
I’ve created my userid, but I have to tell you it is absolutely painful to work with if you’re on dial-up!
Another complaint — the “forum” for this official website is Gateworld’s forum. That’s a bummer.
Sent them an email/comment letter as there is a bug of some sort involving what I guess is meant to be background/start-up music; I had to close my browser in order to make it stop (and, no, none of my own media players were open). I also stated that I felt the profile page setup is too complicated for casual users, and that the two default themes provided (a Daniel-less S6 or a Jack-less S9) are not much to my liking; nothing against S9+, but I have a fondness for the “old school”, and found it odd that there was not a S1-5/S7-8 theme to pick.
I like the idea of the youtube-type media channels, for clips, etc., but think that the overall “busy-ness” of the individual profile pages needs to be brought down a bit, as well as specify that the “Forums” button is only a link to the GateWorld threads.
b
Yeah, I have to say I found it long on bandwidth required and short on content. It’s a bit rude to launch into a video with audio just when visitors arrive. Not good if you’re at work! Also I really don’t want to see other fans’ ramblings all over the pages. Where are the high-res images and (recent) interviews? Hmm, maybe it will be cool eventually but for now… I think the Sci Fi site kicks its butt!
I was able to change my background picture to be from S10’s The Quest, but there are still some major problems with working with that profile editor. I hate that it goes into edit automatically if you’re logged on. You can pretty much accidently screw your page up quite easily that way. Needless to say, my page is really needing work, but I’m going to have to do it piece by piece because it just takes so darn long!
http://www.stargatesg1.com/DeeKayP
The moving of the “widgets” can’t be done in the Netscape browser — ASFAIK, only IE seems to be fully supported there.
My page is very simple because I’m on dial-up and really am not looking for a lot. I guess for those who have the “power”, this would be fun and entertaining.