There was a time when running a fansite was an easy thing to do. As gamer kids, in those eager and burgeoning early days where the Internet was really taking off, just being part of that surge was inspiration enough to carry on day-to-day. Living on the edge! Touching the world! Attending trade shows that brought us inside the industry we so idolized! We didn't have anything better to do anyway, might as well let our favorite hobby consume every iota of our lives.

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As adults, it's challenging. We're pulled in every direction by corporeal needs, by our rent, our careers, our families. Is there still room for a Nintendo fansite? Is it possible to produce quality material on a regular basis? And beyond that, is the standard fansite fare even something we give a crap about any more? There's no satisfaction to be found in being yet another news outlet, another marketing machine for Nintendo's press assets, another aggregator of every kitschy retro thing you already saw elsewhere.

But we're still those kids, deep down. For one reason or another, we can't separate ourselves from this hobby, or from our need to share our experiences within it. We need that outlet, but we need it to grow up along with us. We need something that can fit in our lives, but that can still scratch that itch we've always had for the in-depth and authoritative. What you're seeing here today is the first step in that direction.

We've been working on a large-scale re-platforming of the site for ages, but letting the existing site just flounder along as it has for the past months isn't fun for anyone. So what we're surfacing is the new site's blog component, tucked into N-Sider's somewhat dated skin. A blog is convenient for us since the type of content it allows is more suited to the ins and outs of our daily lives, but also because it finally gives us the opportunity to connect to you, the readers. I know we're really just catching up to "five years ago" here, but a comment system is a big deal for us, with as isolated as our writing has been for so long.

Over the next few months we'll be using the blog to write about what we think is interesting, and what we hope a grown-up Nintendo fan might find interesting too. Don't follow us in hopes for the latest scoops or media dumps, I can promise you that whatever way you do that already is superior to anything we could offer. We've never considered ourselves to be "journalists," or to belong to the sometimes-laughable industry of "games journalism." We're a fansite, and proud to be one. Just some dudes sharing our hobby with other people like us.

While the blog will remain an element of the full N-Sider refresh that is coming down the pipes, it will hardly be the only one. If you've been a fan of N-Sider's larger and more researched pieces in the past, you'll be pleased to know that they'll be coming back in full force. With the blog as our casual outlet, though, we'll maybe feel a little stressed out about a languishing site between each larger piece. We're also planning on some more evergreen systems that should be fun for any fans that appreciate Nintendo's long and collectable history.

So with that, I present to you the sorta-new N-Sider. If you were a member of our old forums, you can log in to the new site with your existing info. If not, how about signing up and saying hello? I know a lot of you have been reading silently for a long time, and we'd love to hear from you. We've got a ton in the works, and we hope you'll join us on the way.