Many of you are familiar with a certain wireless organization who recently initiated a new campaign to its workforce proudly touting being energized by change. And over the past weekend, it made me think about how important it is within my own organization to take a step back and reflect on the current direction at hand. Two years ago, I launched this site with the mere intentions of hosting casual matches on Youtube shortly before getting reacquainted with the competitive fighting game circuit. Over time, that direction took some significant shifts that incorporated more of an editorial spin and more recently, we’ve managed to juggle a few photos and interviews along the way.

On paper, that sounds exciting doesn’t it? And the truth is – there’s nothing I’d rather be doing on a daily basis: talking about the things I love. It’s part of the reason PTB was fortunate to assemble such a rich scale of personalities who share common interests. . .some which may/may not have a much heavier interest in fighting games.

Well PTB is clearly NOT an exclusive destination for that and if you’ve been actively supporting us, or discovered us via Facebook based on our recent extension into the amazing realm of photography, you’ve come to recognize that the site aspires to offer more.

So much more.

The team and I have come to the realization that our aspirations to be a viable destination required some significant adjustments. Here’s where I am going to basically drop any politically correct tones and just drop some real talk and if that irks anyone, my apologies. With that out of the way, here goes. I’ll try to keep this all short, but if I get this all out the way now, then my next editorial piece can get back to the more exciting stuff.

Traditional media sucks. I won’t get into all the reasons here, but the essence of what it is has almost turned me off completely from what it used to be into what it’s become (i.e. linkbait stories, we’re looking at you.) We’ve grown tired of feeling obligated to rehash press releases, especially since much of what’s rolled out on existing and the recent next-gen formats all seems to be showing less and less innovation. Does that even exist anymore? Sometimes I wonder.

So how’s this all relate to the site? It’s pretty simple – we’re a bunch of enthusiasts vying for the audience that values our opinions. Much of our readership is based around those we’ve connected with in the FGC groups, and a much smaller niche of that actually appreciates that we have made noble steps to talk about mainstream gaming in general. Along the way, we’ve tinkered with a couple of other topics, but the truth is, a few things have gained more traction than others.

It made me go: shit – if we’re going to invest our time into operating like a voice in the media, the most important thing we need to do is find a better way to distinguish ourselves. Now, running a new web design along doesn’t change that – but remember when I told you about those rich personalities? We want those unique traits to be more defined, and the best way we’ve determined that is going to happen is to strive to be even more personable and stop trying to establish ourselves with a generic, cookie-cutter tone. It means we’re going to strive to be a bit more subjective about what’s going to print, injecting a bit more of a spin because hey, we all have opinions about why Destiny has just as much going for it as the next Call of Duty. These days, I feel like there’s only several franchises running the show, and everything else short of a handful of indie developers ever truly get to shine.

In any case, the goal ultimately is to start introducing a few vital elements to help enhance the entire volume of content we roll out. The greatest challenge I see many outlets face is developing original content. I’ll say that again: original content. Everyone under the sun is typically quick to run the same news stories, but how many actually say – hm, I can direct some personal spin on this topic? I mean really unique. Trust me, the number is smaller than you think. So we’re endeavoring to get off the speedway and take the road that’s less traveled, even though a speedway might sound like the more ideal, sensible way – I don’t wanna be like . So expect to see more features that can/may consist of editorials, lists, product guides, etc.

. . .if we’re going to invest our time into operating like a voice in the media, the most important thing we need to do is find a better way to distinguish ourselves.

Reviews is an area that I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions hasn’t been the biggest highlight of the site, but guess what? It hasn’t been abandoned. In fact, not only is this element here to stay, but we’ve expanded with a much more professional format that *gasp* includes scores once again. Every review going forward will be hosted on a hub which allows you grant easier access to the content you’re looking for at the touch of a button. So you liked Destiny? Awesome, so do we. And now you get to vote on it. Yup. It’s a simple as just going to the slider, cast your score and impact to the overall user scoring system. Oh and post…We’re thinking about rolling out user reviews at some point – stay tuned. 

You may have heard about this cool show called Meter Burn which has featured various guests in the tournament circuit, streaming, organizers, etc. If you’ve missed an episode, not to worry. All the content can now be conveniently accessed right on our website. And when you’re done, you can always hit the subscribe button to show your support. They’ll definitely appreciate it. We’ve got a few other video-related programs that will roll out, one of which some of you are familiar with. We think he used to wear a fedora too. Yeah, keep your eyes peeled for us to get behind the camera for some colorful interviews once again.

Oh and if you can’t get enough our photography, please check out our portfolio at http://www.ptbpro.org! There you’ll find plenty of content which for the moment is filled with tons of FGC-based content, but in the coming months will be expanding with more albums based around other exciting areas spanning industry events, music, photo shoots, and more. We’ve also been known to throw together a few vignettes/montages. Our will eventually be getting a full hustle once our video gurus Dayasha, Brandon Jumper, Atrain and the newest addition, Wolverine Master get back into full gear. They also have channels of their own which are conveniently listed under our “Channels” section, give em a visit too, will ya?

So this is just a few things that we’re looking to roll out or refine, but this certainly isn’t the end of what we can/should roll out. For now, we just want to see our existing content criteria established in a fun, effective format. And thanks to this new design – not only are we confident that you’ll greatly appreciate the end results, but you’ll tell others about us too. The PTB brand is still very young but has plenty of room for growth.

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy the all-new PTB look. There’s still a few things to iron out so pardon any sections that are not live or incomplete (certain areas will be retrofitted, but trust me – no one’s got time to go through two years of content either!) If you have any comments, questions, suggestions – please share them via email at bahn at putthatback.org (it’s literally not being linked because of the evil spambots. Curse them all!)

Ok, I am off to get back to work – these projects won’t complete themselves and I really have to get back to grinding in Destiny.