Hey all -

Taskle here again to give you a quick look at some of the improvements we’ve rolled out over the last few days on Raptr!

Post Categories:

When you’re creating a post on Raptr you can now select what kind of article it is via a drop-down menu — preview, review, opinion, etc. And you can sort posts in your feed or a topic page based on those criteria. It’s a little thing…but a key part of a master plan that we’ll roll out in the future!

Comments: A Vision in Gray

You might notice some color changes in your Raptr feed. We’ve made the comments background gray to help differentiate the many posts and comments in your Activity Feeds. Comments now rawr meow with this bold new tone.

Discover Something New

Click on the View Topics link of a post and you’ll notice that we’ve colored game topics a darker blue to help distinguish them from  other kinds of topics. Handy if you’re looking to discover new games you’d like to follow. Or if you just really enjoy dark blue.

The New “Reply” Button

What if I told you you could reply to a comment by “xXxSolidMasterChefxXx” without typing “@” followed by all those Xs and random words? Well the future is now with the new Reply button. Hover over a comment, any comment, click that Reply link, and the name of the person you’re complimenting/arguing with shows up as if by magic. Magic.

For a full list of improvements, check out the website release notes.

It was only seven months ago when we proudly announced that we wrangled together six million gamers on Raptr. Today, we’ve reached another epic milestone; our fans now number at 10 million.

So what do 10 million gamers look like when you break it down to gaming stats? Here’s a quick snapshot, as it captures just how many hours you’ve collectively played,  total achievements/trophies you collectively racked up, and how many games we now track in our library. Talking about stats really gets us going.

The Raptr community has racked up 30,500 years of gameplay hours – more years than modern day humans have existed; if you believe in evolution and all that stuff. Dinos never got a fair shake.

Sure, we built a lot of cool features that gamers love. We’ve got a client that can auto-track your gameplay hours. We have a full breakdown of what Achievements and Trophies people have unlocked for thousands of games, and we show you how you stack up against the community. Back in May, we launched an all-new personalized news feed that gives you full control of what gaming topics you want to follow, so we can serve you the hottest content based on what games you play (another fun stat – since May, you guys collectively followed over half a million upcoming gaming topics, a new feature we didn’t have before). But we are only just beginning. New profiles are coming. New user created content as well. Not to mention new ways to interact with each other.

With over 1 million active users daily on our website, desktop client, and iPhone app, Raptr has become a vibrant community that loves sharing their favorite gaming content with others. We all wear the gaming badge of honor proudly, and I’m proud to be part of something that you guys helped build!

Welcome to Raptr!

First off, some questions:

• Do you want to take advantage of the free Raptr platform to immediately gain access to a large community of avid gamers?
• Are you sure your community of more than 9 million avid gamers are buzzing about your games or brands on Raptr?

If you are reading this post, you are probably interested in finding out what Raptr can do for your games or brand. We want to make sure that you have a good idea of how to begin working with Raptr. And, of course, you can always contact us directly for more information.

Our mission is to provide gamers with a central location to connect with both friends and the games they care about. We have a community of over 9 million gamers who have joined Raptr because they love the social networking service that we’ve built specifically for them.

The best part of all this is that there are many ways for you to utilize our platform for FREE! Below are some ways in which we can help you acquire new users and retain existing ones. We’ll continue to add more examples and case studies, so have a read and contact us if you’d like to learn more about our platform and our partner programs.

Raptr’s Community Platform

In any given week, thousands of gaming stories and videos from around the net are shared on Raptr, and tens of thousands of votes are cast to determine which ones are hot. Are you sure our users are buzzing about your game or brand?

Raptr’s Community Platform surfaces the top info for the games people care about. The news feed on Raptr intelligently filters gaming content from the net using our award-winning tracking system. The platform is completely open and user-driven, meaning it’s the community who submits the content, as well as the ones who votes and decides which posts become popular.

Launched in May 2011, the Raptr Community Platform is a mix of:

• Story submission and voting style of Digg/Reddit
• Activity feed and comments structure of Facebook
• Intelligence around what games/platforms you like via Raptr tracking

While the community creates, curates, and consumes the gaming content on Raptr, our intelligent algorithm delivers targeted stories based on several factors, including games you recently played or follow, what you voted and clicked on, and how long you’ve played the game for.

Get your own topic page set up and make sure you encourage your loyal fans to come follow you on Raptr. The more followers you have, the easier it becomes for you to reach out to our user base.

Contact us for more information!

Get featured in our quarterly promos

In addition to using our platform, there are a number of ways for you to boost your presence on Raptr by working directly with us. Perhaps the most impactful and visible way is to be a part of our massive quarterly promotions.

One such example is the Summer of Raptr which highlights different partners each week and encourages our users to follow their topic pages on Raptr in exchange for prizes. In just 3 weeks, we already got over 250,000 entries into this promo. Users win prizes, you garner the interest from gamers, and we’re happy that people get to experience our service and have fun using our platform.

Unfortunately, space is oftentimes limited. So if you’re interested in jumping on board with our fall promo schedule, please contact us ASAP for your chance to build a rabid following on Raptr!

Contact us for more information!

The Raptr Client

Our award-winning PC app is an all-in-one utility for PC gamers that includes chat, in-game web browsing, and gameplay tracking. It also turns each of your users into evangelists by giving you tons of social impressions every time they play your game. The number one reason why people buy a game is because of a friend’s endorsement, and there is no better endorsement than seeing a friend constantly play your game! Are you taking advantage of this free viral loop? Download the client now to see for yourself.

For example, one of our publishing partners bundles the Raptr client with their games. Every time a person plays their game, they become an instant evangelist since friends see what game they’re playing. Best of all, everyone who plays the game automatically becomes a topic follower on Raptr. As a result, they have amassed a following of over 100K fans on our service in a matter of weeks.

Contact us for more info on Raptr Client bundling

The Raptr Rawrcast has another treat for everyone, episode #5! We have another fresh voice joining in on this week’s discussion, as well as an exclusive interview with SuperGiant Games’ Creative Director, Greg Kasavin. So tune in now!

• Stream it on SoundCloud – Click the “download” button to save to desktop
• Find us on iTunes – Make sure you subscribe!

In this week’s episode, we sit around a campfire and share some stories about how we personally discovered new games using Raptr, how game tracking works, and the benefits of using the Raptr client while you game. We also discuss Raptr’s ability to predict industry changes. Well, sort of.

In-between celebrations for all the glowing press the game is already getting, Greg Kasavin spent some time with us to talk about how the game’s dynamic narration replaces the cut scene, his successful crossover within the game industry, and the influences behind Bastion. Since Greg was the former Editor-in-Chief over at GameSpot, we also pressured him into rating his own game. Did he crack under the pressure? Find out!

2:15 – Raptr makes it easy to discover new games, it worked for us!
6:20 – Raptr is further expanding their games library, starting with arcade titles
10:45 – A look inside Raptr’s game tracking
15:25 – Raptr can predict industry changes, sort of…
17:15 – Level up your experience by using the Raptr client
25:15 – Interview with Greg Kasavin of SuperGiant Games starts
27:35 – Dynamic narration is the new cutscene, and the accidental hook to the game
32:10 – Greg’s crossover from game critic to game development
40:00 – The inspirations behind Bastion
46:30 – As former Editor-in-Chief of GameSpot, what does Greg rate his own game?

Additional things of interest:

• SuperGiant Games website
• Get the latest Bastion news by following Raptr’s Bastion topic page
• Check out our previous Rawrcast episodes here
• Theme music: The OneUps

Special thanks to this week’s sponsor, Alienware. Make sure you follow the Alienware topic page on Raptr to get the latest news and for a chance to win FREE prizes.

After a hectic, but exciting week at E3, the Raptr Rawrcast returns with a bang! This time, we pulled some fresh new voices to join in on the conversation, as well as an exclusive interview with Runic Games’ CEO and co-founder, Max Schaefer.

Don’t miss out! Get your forks ready and dig in:

• Stream it on Soundcloud - Click the “download” button to save to desktop
• Find us on iTunes - Make sure you subscribe!

In this week’s episode, we talk in detail about the massive Summer of Raptr promotion we just kicked off, how users can get involved on the website, and hint at an upcoming “hot topic” feature. We also take a look back on some memorable E3 moments and discuss which console created the most buzz on the Internet.

We had the pleasure of talking to Max Schaefer about the innovations the first Torchlight game brought to the genre, how his experience working at bigger studios ultimately shaped his approach in game design, and his take on console MMO’s. Max also took some time off from putting the final touches on the upcoming Torchlight II game to spill some industry secrets.

6:17 – Follow your favorite topics, chance to win BIG during Summer of Raptr promo
12:30 – Get involved on Raptr by joining the conversations
14:05 – Spoiler alert! An upcoming “Hot topic” feature
14:44 – Is E3 coming back in full force?
17:42 – Highlights from the big 3 press conferences
23:44 – Which console got the Internet buzzing – Join the discussion here
27:23 – Interview with Max Schaefer of Runic Games starts
28:45 – Torchlight I sets the bar high with small “Ah-ha” innovations
29:42 – Industry secrets #1: How to design the best interface
32:15 – Blizzard is a fairy tale, indie oriented company
35:22 – Through past mistakes, Runic has a much simpler approach
37:20 – Even with Diablo 3, the action-RPG genre is highly underserved
44:29 – Max sheds light on the possibility of console MMO’s

Additional things of interest:

• Runic Games website
• Torchlight II website
• Get the latest Torchlight II news by following Raptr’s Torchlight II topic page
• Check out our previous Rawrcast episodes here
• Theme music: The OneUps

Get the latest news on our sponsors by following their Raptr topic pages.  Plus, follow each topic page for a chance to win awesome prizes:

• Astro Gaming Topic Page
• Gunnar Optiks Topic Page
• Faxion Online Topic Page
• Alliance of Valiant Arms Topic Page

After a busy week rolling out our brand spankin’ new website, we bring you a very special episode of the Raptr Rawrcast. This time around, we have 2 interviews for the price of one. Which is still technically free.

We managed to pull both Raptr’s CEO and head of product development out of the woodwork to shed light on the new website. In this interview, we talk about the cravings our users had for more relevant content and how our new platform can satisfy this need through our gameplay tracking capabilities. We also share how we’re antsy with anticipation for E3, which is the ultimate use case for our personalized news feed system. In addition, we discuss how “sharing is caring” on Raptr, and how some of our old features are making a comeback.

In our second interview, we have Niero, CEO and founder of the irreverent and popular gaming website Destructoid, to talk to us about the origins of the Mr. Destructoid alter-ego and what it means to live the dream. We also get into a discussion about game journalism and what he thinks will be the most anticipated game of E3.

Lend us your ears as we feed it some Raptr treats! Listen in on the Raptr Rawrcast #3 now!

To download the podcast on Soundcloud, click the “down arrow” icon to save it on your computer. You can also right click this link and click “Save link as” to download. Find us on iTunes by searching “Raptr” in the iTunes Store. Make sure you subscribe so you can automatically download new episodes as they come!

1:43 – Interview with Thresh and Taskle begins
4:30 – Users craving content, Raptr intelligently delivers
8:00 – Sharing is caring on the new Raptr platform
12:25 – New Raptr website is the remedy for E3 overload
14:00 – Old features: Where are they now?
17:42 – New stuff cooking – Client update
18:44 – Interview with Niero from Destructoid begins
20:02 – The start of the Mr. Destructoid alter-ego
22:54 – Was game journalism taking itself too seriously?
27:04 – Living the dream Destructoid style
33:22 – The most anticipated game of E3 according to Destructoid
34:00 – Niero’s surprising personal choice for the anticipated game of E3

Special thanks again to The OneUps for our theme music this week! You can check out their music at their Bandcamp page.

Stay tuned until next time as we bring you another episode of the Raptr Rawrcast!

We’re happy to announce the launch of our new Raptr website. Not only have we redesigned the entire website with a slick new interface, but we added a number of new features. The most notable is your brand new feed.

The Brand New Raptr Feed

The new Raptr website introduces a personalized news feed for all things gaming. Based on your gaming activity, we will be able to intelligently serve up the top gaming news stories from around the net for only the games you care about. All of this is generated by our great Raptr community, where you can submit the stories you want to share, vote on the stories you like best, and leave commentary on the things that catch your fancy. In addition, we’re introducing a way to follow just about any type of content related to gaming from Cosplay to Alienware! Check out our “how to use the new Raptr Website” guide for more details.

Improved sharing

On the old Raptr you could only update your status and share that with your friends. With the new Raptr Website, anybody can share anything from the Internet on Raptr. Tag topics to what you find to share with the community! Check out our “Guide on posting” for more details.

Notifications and Changes to your Profile Page

A vast majority of users come to Raptr to see if their hours had tracked. Rather than having to navigate to your profile page, we have now placed all updates you care about in notifications. Now you know when you’ve received a message, played a game session, or got an up vote all in one organized location. This is detailed more in our “Improvements to your profile page” post.

There are tons more improvements, from the game pages to our new search function, but we won’t ramble on anymore so you can get back to playing with the site. The old website is still available at old.raptr.com if you want to compare! Give us your feedback on Raptr.com by clicking the FEEDBACK tab on the right! The Dino lives off of it.

After a successful first episode, the Raptr Podcast has returned with a brand new episode. This time with an official name and an exclusive interview with The OneUps, a rockin’ band with a passion for video game music.

In this week’s episode, we reveal an upcoming new feature that will expand topics to all things gaming. In addition, we chat about some recent data we supplied for an Ars Technica article, confirming that games are getting much shorter. We also discuss the phenomenon we call, “The video game tragedy”.

After dusting off our trusty Rolodex, we called up Mustin, who is the co-founder and band leader of a video game music band known as The OneUps. In this interview, we talk about the strangest venue The OneUps played at, how the group nearly got disbanded, and their upcoming debut tune that will probably be as popular as the game itself.

So put your headphones on and start listening to the Raptr Podcast #2 now!

To download the podcast, right click this link and click “Save link as”. Click OK to save the podcast onto your computer. You can also find us on iTunes by searching “Raptr” in the iTunes Store. Make sure you subscribe so you can automatically download new episodes as they come!

1:26 – Do you recognize our theme song?
3:50 – The solution to overcoming scary games…wimping out
6:12 – We picked an official podcast name!
7:08 – Upcoming new Raptr feature revealed – Expanding topics to all things gaming
9:40 – Are games getting too short?
10:00 – The video game tragedy
16:54 – Interview with Mustin from The OneUps begins
20:58 – One of the strangest venues The OneUps rocked out in
23:08 – Just when The OneUps were planning to disband…
33:25 – Over 100 million people will recognize The OneUp’s next debut tune

Special thanks to Mustin and The OneUps for allowing us to use their music in our podcast! You can check out their music at their Bandcamp page.

We hope you enjoy this week’s podcast and stay tuned for our next Raptr podcast!

You guys demanded it, we delivered! The long awaited Raptr Podcast (official name still pending) has finally arrived.

You can now get to know some of the people behind the leading social platform for gamers as we talk about all the things happening at Raptr, including an inside look at new features we are launching. We’ll also tap into our Rolodex (does anyone even use a Rolodex anymore?) and invite interesting people in the gaming industry to chat it up with us, and share things that might catch your fancy.

In this week’s episode, we talked about the impact of our recent client and website improvements and the upcoming search feature we have planned for Raptr. We also had a chance to talk to Street Fighter legend Alex Valle about fighting games, the origins of combos, why he can pwn you in any fighting game, and his new venture that he’s getting off the ground (hint: it’s fighting games related.)

So what are you waiting for? Listen to the Raptr podcast now!

To download the podcast, right click this link and click “Save link as”. Click OK to save the podcast onto your computer.

• 0:29 – Shout out to Astro Gaming and why their headsets rock
• 2:39 – Introduction to the cast
• 6:20 – Pac-Man Championship Edition Challenge (Win prizes!)
• 9:00 – Improvements to the Raptr client and website
• 13:05 – A new, upcoming feature that makes searching easier
• 19:06 – Interview with Street Fighter legend Alex Valle begins
• 22:40 – The shocking origin of combos
• 24:33 – Alex can pwn you in any fighting game
• 31:04 – Why Alex will show you no mercy

Special thanks to Astro Gaming for providing the A40 headsets we used to record our podcast!

UPDATE: Per inquiry, John Master Lee is ranked ~#65 on the overall leaderboards for Pac-Man Championship DX on XBLA (out of ~200K gamers.) 1st person to top that rank on Raptr in the next month, wins big prizes! You can play on either XBLA or PSN.

Just when you thought Raptr couldn’t possibly get anymore awesome, Boom! Award. Hot on the heels from securing 15 million in financing, Raptr has recently been awarded as one of the hottest companies in Silicon Valley by Lead411.

Lead411, who tracks and provides information about US companies, whittled down a list of 4000 companies to the hottest companies in the Silicon Valley. Along with gaming companies Digital Chocolate and Kabam, and popular tech companies Facebook and SurveyMonkey, Raptr ascends into the ranks of the elite. With the recent surge in Raptr users and additional financing secured, Raptr remains one of the fastest growing technology companies in the valley.