Welcome to this brave new world. You are one of the first visitors to the new daily Game Industry News, and I wanted to take a moment to welcome you.

One of the major changes is that GiN is now free. Simply click on the Free Subscription or the Free Prizes link to sign up. As a special gift, in addition to getting the e-mail version of GiN each week, we are having a prize blowout. Our friends at Codemasters, SouthPeak Interactive and Westwood Studios are providing very nice prizes in the form of games for both the PlayStation and PC. Each week of our initial membership drive, we will be giving away games to registered members. So don’t miss out, because whether you are an industry insider or a consumer, we could all use a few more games.

The second thing you will notice is that we have added a weekly editorial cartoon by artist Michael Bechetti. Called Trigger Finger, he will be tasked each week with making a cartoon that will make you laugh and make you think as well.

We have also put our accountants to the test and designed an index showcasing the overall health of the computer game industry, based on the ranked performance of the top publicly traded computer game companies. Called the GiNdex, we know this will become an invaluable tool for those that want to know the overall growth or loss of the industry over time.

Another new addition is the no-holds-barred weekly column by Ken Urben. We think his honest and straightforward talk will both help to spot trends in this industry, and generate a bit of heat as well. We welcome and encourage participation in Ken’s Corner.

But all this new content does not mean we are abandoning our established standards. One of the reasons we went daily is so we could take our news coverage to the next level, from weekly updates to up-to-the-minute happenings. Whenever you decide to take a look at the GiN home page, you will find breaking news as it happens.

And the interviews with industry insiders, product and game reviews and thoughtful editorials are all in the mix as well. Plus, we remain one of the only publications with a dedicated Family Titles reviewer. And you aren’t even losing your faithful weekly e-mail GiN, since we will still be publishing this – though later in the week – with notes about the breaking stories, as well as some original content.

We are very excited about this new GiN, and hope you will like what we have done. If anyone has comments or questions, I invite you to send me an e-mail at editor@gameindustry.com . And unlike some publications, if you write anyone here at GiN, you will get an answer. We are here to serve you, and are happy to cut the ribbon on this new endeavor. So click around and let us know what you think.

Enjoy!