As Cheapy mentioned in the latest CAGcast, we recently added a feature that lets you browse price/trade-in data without leaving the page you're on. The most obvious place you'll be seeing this is in the CAG search bar, you'll see a new price window button on the right of any game listed in the results.


Clicking it will make the price window appear, letting you browse new, used, and trade-in values for any game without leaving the page you're on.

Another handy feature is the bbcode integration we've included for the price window. For example, typing this in your post:


Will automatically create this handy price window link:
Heavy Rain

(Soon it'll show the lowest new price alongside the link, but for now it'll just be a link to the...

Next up on the change list, user profiles. They've always been a bit of a mess on CAG, so we're taking them back to a tabbed view and throwing plenty of new features into the mix! (Needless to say, things in the screenshots below might change between now and the beta launch - I'll likely add a "blog" tab, and maybe a few other bits and pieces.)



Since there's a lot of new functionality throughout the site, a lot of this data will be ending up on the profile pages in one way or another. From the new profile pages you'll be able to see a summary of a user's trading activity, their feedback, games they're currently playing, events they're participating in, awards they've achieved, games they've rated, along with all the usual statistics from before. (I'll be revealing more information about the "games" tab tomorrow when I go over game collections tomorrow.)



Key Features
- No longer a huge wall of text, everything has been...

The second in a series of blog posts leading up to the February 1st beta release of CAG's next big update, this time we're taking a look at the replacement for the old CAG-O-Matic - now known as the CAG Price Tracker.


Please note, everything you see here is likely to change - especially the logo! Suggestions are welcome, but please bear in mind that nothing is final yet.

So, what is the CAG Price Tracker?
The CAG Price Tracker is a new CAG feature that provides users with a list of price drops/increases that have occurred on retailers' websites over the past 24 hours. Unlike the old CAG-O-Matic system that produced a list of Amazon price changes, the new Price Tracker processes data from all major retailers in both the US and UK to provide region specific pricing information.



Key Features
- Scans and processes price data...

I'll be posting updates running up to the launch of the beta, giving everyone a taste of some of the new features they can expect to see. Today we'll be starting off with something you can use on the site right away, it's called "New Post Filtering" and you can get to it through the User CP. (Or here.)

It works by allowing you to choose which forums are included when you click "New Posts" to see what's new on CAG since you last visited. If you're anything like me you're only interested in seeing activity in threads that aren't region specific, or are specific to your local region. (For example, if you live on the west coast, you probably won't be interested in seeing new posts from the Canada deal forum.) To use new post filtering, simply head over to the new post settings page and uncheck any forums you don't care about. Save your preferences and you're done! The next time you use the "New Posts" search tool in the forums it'll be tailored to your custom preferences. ...

The CAG Game Collection system has been coming along nicely (along with a bunch of other huge features), but since the collection system is what I hear most requests for it's the current top priority. The basics of the new system have actually been nearly complete since the launch of CAG 2.0, but I haven't considered it ready since there are still too many things lacking. I want to make sure that it's the best game collection system around by far, and for that I'm going to need some suggestions on what you want to see included.

Here's a quick overview of what we've already got in CAG game collections:

Basic Functionality

• A sortable list view of your game collection (or anyone else's, for that matter) - sortable by platform, name, genre, and date added.
• Game browsing - a list of games in the database, searchable by name, platform and genre, and sortable by all the usual fields.
• When adding a game to your collection (or editing an existing record),

...

I should really be working on more important stuff, but I couldn't resist adding Twitter feed integration into user profiles.


I might add them to blog view pages too, I'm not sure yet. Either way, expect lots of changes to the user profile page over the coming weeks - the plan is to make it a useful place to see everything about yourself on CAG, rather than the intimidating wall of text and tables it is now.

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, we've made some changes so that everything is centered instead of left aligned. Nothing is final yet, no doubt we'll be changing the appearance of major site elements over the next few days.

Now when you look at the bottom of the "What's New" module, you'll see a new link - "View All Activity". Clicking it takes you to a page where you can see all recent activity related to you or your friends.





Furthermore, you can use the tools in the top right to filter through the notifications that are important to you.

Today we have a few changes to the "Latest Forum Posts" module, which includes groupings similar to the old front page.



You can collapse groups you're not interested in to keep the length of the module down.

A small feature, but one that a lot of people have requested.


Now when you have a private message you'll be notified below the CAG logo. Click the notification and you'll be taken to the mail panel, where you can see a list of the most recent messages to arrive in your inbox.

Yesterday we added a panel to the right side of the page to allow you to quickly insert your images into your blog posts. Today we've added a small but significant feature that allows you to upload images directly from the new/edit blog post page, without refreshing or going anywhere else to upload your pictures.


When you're typing a new blog post (or editing an old one), you'll now see an "Image Uploads" section at the top of the page. Simply select the album you want your image to upload to (it has to be pubicly accessible), click "Upload Image", and your file with begin to upload.

During the upload process you can continue to type your post, when the transfer is complete your image will appear at the top of the "Your Images" column on the right hand side. Click one of the buttons below your new image to insert an expandable version into your post (like the one above).

Here's a new addition to CAG 2.0, an easy way to get your existing album images into your blog posts.


It appears whenever you're editing or posting a blog post, and allows you to insert expandable images with a single click.

Clicking on the CAG logo will now display useful notifications in the overview panel, notifying you of site activity that requires your attention. (Similar to the "Notifications" module on the front page, but now accessible from anywhere on CAG.)

Another day, another new feature. Today it's the "Since You've Been Gone" section on the front page, also known as "New Today" if you're not logged in. In addition to making the area around the 300x250 ad look less crappy, it adds a handy content counter that shows you what's new on the site since your last visit.


For unregistered users, it displays totals of all the blog and forum posts for that day, as well as a nice visible registration link.


Of course, clicking on any of these totals will take you to a relevant page that lets you view the content without having to click through multiple pages to find what you're looking for. Check back tomorrow for the next new feature.

At last! We've finally soft-launched the new site, but rest assured that the best is yet to come. Over the coming weeks I'll be posting some info about updates and upcoming features here, if you're interesting in reading about what's coming next on the site feel free to check in from time to time.