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After the turkey sandwiches have been polished off, and after the New Year champagne is drunk and the office parties are over, there's always much uncertainty surrounding what we, quite aptly, call the New Year. For many, it is seen as a time to forget what is past, and concentrate on the future, and how to make it the best it can possibly be. But it is in that very sentiment that the uncertainty lies, as with a New Year, and a new beginning, one is forced to - and must - give up the habitual routines and OCD-worthy traits in order to further themselves and make their life in the next twelve months better than in the previous.

However, I am certain of a few things as I write this on the third day of twenty-ten (or two-thousand-and-ten, or oh-ten, or the tenties, or whatever system you're using for year names this decade). For one, I'm certain that T.S. Eliot would not have been happy with my decimation of part of his "Little Gidding", which made the title of this post. And, number two, I'm certain that Gamer's Guide to Life is, and will continually, get better over the coming year. Because we've taken the previously-mentioned habitual routines and traits, and we've replaced them with new ideas, new people and new paintwork in order to make our site - and our home - better for both us and our readers. In a way, therefore, I am certain that we'll get better through the uncertainty of new things. Certainty through uncertainty is a rare thing.

It was in November that I made the difficult, but necessary, decision to essentially close Gamer's Guide to Life whilst we worked on essential development and maintenance. The choice, born out of a need for time to improve and the increasing problem of staffing, was one which was both a risk and a necessity. However, we're now back and, I'm sure you'll agree, looking much better for it.

We have, as you will have noticed, had a complete redesign and restructure of the site. The main features of our new design are the new navigation menu, which allows you to search for all of the articles on a chosen subject - reviews, previews, etc - and, we hope, will save you time when looking for your desired gaming information. The rest of the site has been fully graphically updated too, and we're sure it'll make your experience at Gamer's Guide to Life far more aesthetically pleasing.

Our other main change is the restaffing and restructure of our editorial team. I am immensely pleased to welcome back Greg Mengel to the GGTL3 team in his previous position, and Joey Nunez in his new position on the contributing team as Special Editor. Furthermore, I am pleased to have old members in new positions on our expanded Senior Editorial Team. Therefore, a big welcome goes to Jacques Hulme in his new position of Associate Editor, and to Tyson Breen in his new role as Reviews Editor. I'm certain all our old writers will continue to do us proud, and despite the fact that they may not be fresh and new, I'm sure they'll be all the better for the experience and time they've already had with us. Like wine. Although not made of grapes. Okay, bad comparsison.

We unfortunately had to say goodbye to previous writers due to the need for a new, fresh, creatively-charged team. However, we have worked tirelessly to ensure that our new writers will bring sparkle and entertainment, infused with all the other ingredients which make good games journalism, to our team. I'm honoured to welcome our first 'girl gamer', Lauren Wainwright, to our team in the capacity of Xbox Section Editor - her previous experience includes time at Destructoid and Gamerzines, and I am sure she'll be a much-valued asset to our team. I am also happy to welcome Chris Hawke to our team as our new PC Section Editor; and Sean Engemann in the role of Nintendo Section Editor. Both writers have been working hard on articles for our relaunch, and they certainly look promising - look out for writing from both of these new starlets very soon indeed. And lastly, but certainly not least, I am pleased to introduce Adam Meadows to our team in the capacity of U.K. Editor, and I have no doubt that he will be a treasured attribute to the Senior Editorial Team and to GGTL as a whole.

As regular readers will know, we are still without our Managing Editor, Matthew Meadows, due to his commitments at university. However, we are hoping to see him back on the team in full force later this year, and we wish him all the best in his work at uni.

We hope that you stay with us and make sure to keep an eye out for all the latest and best in games journalism. Exciting features will continue to be published this week - keep an ear to the ground.

Linford

Labels: Columns, Happy New Year, Linford Butler, News

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