GameGum – Flash gaming site review

I haven't done any reviews in a while, then today I got asked to do one for GameGum a Flash gaming website (this is a paid review). It's nice to get some games related reviews to do so I had to say yes.

Competition

Currently GameGum are running a referral contest in which you can potentially win $100 and 1000 GameGum points (more on those in a bit) - with a total of $250 worth of prizes. I am now wondering if I could win the contest by getting people to sign up. I guess I'll find out in a couple of weeks

About Game Gum

GameGum is a site that let's you play a vast array of Flash (browser based) games. However where it differs from sites like Miniclip (where I work) is that it also let's you submit your own games, rate other people games, and post comment on the games that you play, adding a nice community/ social aspect to the site.

The site uses a points system (told you I would mention it) which involves you getting points for performing various actions such as rating or commenting on a game. Apart from being a status thing there is currently little point in having the points - the only people who really benefit are developers.

When you upload games you can specify an Adsense id. Your adverts will then be displayed on the page of any game you submit. However the ads will only show a percentage of the time, and this percentage increases based upon the amount of GumPoints you have. Personally I would be inclined to give the developers 100% of the Google Adsense revenue. This would encourage more developers to sign up. Naturally GameGum want to make money from their site but there is no reason why other ads couldn't be used around the Adsense.

The site itself is quite nicely designed using a lot of the recent trends (soft gradients, simple design, large fonts, lots of white) with a smattering of ajaxy goodness thrown in for good measure. The navigation is easy to use, with the exception of the profile button, which pops up a very cluttered little window (a simple drop down menu would be a lot nicer here).

Conclusion

I must admit I find it strange that I hadn't heard of GameGum before, I play many browser based games and am aware of all the major Flash gaming sites - so the fact that GameGum has managed to hide from me is unexpected. I do like the design, and the community aspects are nice, but I have played most of the games on there before - and I suspect this is part of the reason they aren't as popular as they could be.

If you've run out of games to play on Miniclip, then this could be a good place to catch up on many of the other Flash games that are available. If you're a developer with an Adsense id then I think it would be worth signing up to earn some extra pocket money.

And don't forget to sign up so that I can win the referral competition