OK -you asked for it- I could use the DN$$s so here's what I think...
In the fold, the first thing anyone sees, needs to be the most appealing. It can be improved.
Your "welcome" and "How to use this site" in the center of the HOME page almost assumes that everyone is there for the first (and probably the last) time. (It also doesn't contrast well with your first and third colums which are all text.)
Assume people are coming back every day to see this great site, and design it that way. =>they know how to use it and and they want to see something different every day - maybe some RSS here. The exception is the newcomer - he can click on a link in the header that says" How to use..." Maybe save the welcome for after someone log's in (welcome back...) Get it?
As hinted to above, this page cries out " break it up" to me. I like color and I would assume people who play vedio games do to.
Visually try breaking it up so that your eye wants to move around the page-
You definately need a graphic there somewhere to catch the eye, create site recognition and break up all that read-once and throw away text. Get one photo which would define the user experience for your market: like a kid /teen having an awsome time playing a game.
(high-rated teen related sites would be good for you to link-exchange with)
Maybe consider changing the color of the google ad- the 160x600 on the right side (the header one looks cool) - to a complimentary color just to give it balance and break it up further- that's an easy one. (I've never been able to get two different sized adsense banner ads on the same page- how did you do that?)
Also try to see if you can use some recognizable tragemarks for:
PC Games, Xbox, Playstation, Playstation 2, GameBoy Color, GameBoy Advance, GameCube, DreamCast, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, 3D0, NES, Sega Saturn instead of listing them as words only.
(Get a nice logo for your site too - and some banners with the same logo while your there...)
Summary: Nice site- I do think the basic color and layout is good, the site is well organized and definately shows a lot of site design skill. If anything, it suffers from over information and lack of flavor/fun. If your going to work so hard to get visitors, assume they will stay and come back. Pay some basic attention to your users/market (color and site recognition being a real important part of that) and make their experience worth coming back for again and again.
('bookmark this page' scripts and a survey (which I see you have) can help too..)
HTHs GoodLuck!
