This latest release was a pretty big one for us. It introduced another major system that will lay the foundation for gamerDNA as we move into 2009. I have mentioned it in the past, but this new system allows us to start getting at the "WHY" behind what you like as a gamer. All games are not created equal. Just because you and I play the same games and like the same games, does not mean that we like them for the same reasons… and when it comes to your gaming identity, this is an important nuance that we as gamers want to recognize.

Read on for the full release notes. We will be producing some more blog posts and materials through the week that call out many of these new features and give you specific help in using them.

Member Profile Changes/Enhancements

• Launched a new member profile header with new information and navigation as well as one-click updates for your motto and avatar. Hover over your motto to change it. Hover over your avatar to upload it.
• Members now have member-specific game pages, in addition to the system-wide game page.  The page highlights the items that a member has added to the system about the game, including why they liked the game, images, stories, etc. Think of it as all the content you have created around a game.
• On your games page of member-home, there are links to trait your games… which is essentially tagging WHY you like them.
• Validation added to prevent entering of commas, long text, and accidental caching of previous entered traits.
• If you say you are anticipating a certain game title, you by pass the game traits and receive a confirmation page.
• Members can now periodically check out offers from merchants that gamerDNA thinks they might like by clicking on the offers tab on the member home.  First up:  Custom wow guild T shirts!
• If you are logged in, you now always land on your member homepage (Watchlist)

General Site Changes/Enhancements

• European support added to the warhammer signatures and to the HELIX Warhammer Character API.
• We are starting to move away from the DNA panel… the first pages to do this are adding a game, traiting a game, and the confirmation/discovery page.
• All places where you added a game through the DNA panel now directs you to the Add game form.
• When adding games as a non-logged in user, you can now bridge that into a registered user and take all of your games with you.
• All games returned through the discovery show the platform correctly.
• Added a button to get back to the discovery page from a game page that you have added to your profile.
• A new member profile API has been created for members to utilize!  Check out the documentation!
• Some meta data enhancements have been made to the game pages.  Check them out!
• Game meta data has been added to the personal game pages. This information includes publisher, release date, and developer.
• Fixed the game shadows to display correctly in IE7
• Fixed a small stories display problem on the games pages.
• Repaired the line wrap on traits when they are displaying on the game discovery page.
• Fixed some class conflicts in CSS on the member profile.
• Created a tool for scheduling community nights. The Gears of War 2 community night will be first to use it.
• Fixed an issue where the footer was overlapping the homepage at lower resolutions.
• Adding games was moved to a new form… so one of the bugs around creating new titles was fixed in the process.
• Cleaned up the discovery UX when checking out the matched traits and all available traits.
• Fixed the wrapping of traits in the popularity box when the bar charts were too short.
• Repaired a large performance issue when a quiz was completed.
• Cleaned up some formatting in the games header where the buttons should be positioned.
• Added some missing icons to the interface when adding new traits.
• The default for no box art has been changed to a new more hi-res image.
• Repaired some issues with the openID cobrand page when incorrectly sized images were used. The page will now hold shape in these cases.
• Merged a few games to make things less confusing. We will be continuously monitoring and merging games where it makes sense. Any games you want merged, let us know!
• Fixed an issue where icons were over-sized.
• Corrected grammar in the game widgets.
• Fixed the search results to show the game platform and the box art for games.
• When you add a game and say that you like/dislike/anticipating it, history entries are generated.

Group Hosting Changes/Enhancements

• New guild theme! Pyromaniac features smoldering background images and singed borders in a deep red theme. However every color and image used in this theme can be replaced so designers can create their own versions and completely change the look.
• Repaired an old issue where a user was having conflicts with some markup- libraries.
• Cleaned up how the group image gallery works. If images are not approved they drop off the list.
• On the members tab of the guild section, you can now see a history of all the applications for your guild.
• Fixed a strange issue where guild signatures were not displaying in the guild forums when you weren’t logged in. It should not display correctly.
• When a member applies to a group, the join date of that applicant is now properly set.
• date/times on posts in guild forums were showing an hour off. A correction has been put in. We have to remember to change the GMT offset when daylight savings moves around.
• Fixed an issue where the signatures tab was blank due to permission/naming issues.

That’s all! I’ll be back next week with another new list! Cheers!