EG launches dedicated kids site

The Eurogamer mothership is delighted to announce the launch of our new dedicated kids gaming site, Megaton.co.uk, which emerges from beta today smothered in content appropriate for children aged 8-12.

You may remember that a little while ago we hired excellent industry veteran Catherine Channon to head up a new project. This is that. Cat's been working closely with our lovely art and tech men and experts in children's interactive content to produce a site that's not only suitable for littluns, but great at engaging them. Like Eurogamer.net, it will be updated multiple times a day.

"While many sites appeal to children and some cover videogames, no one is dedicated to making videogame content appealing to children," Cat said when we forced her to explain herself for a press release we did earlier.

"We've gone to great lengths to research this site and worked with the most experienced and knowledgeable people in the children's online space to ensure what we're producing works for our audience."

The site already offers Flash games, competitions and other activities catering to children, allows them to build their own robot avatar, and includes frankly awesome pictures drawn by children who read the Megaton print magazine, which Megaton.co.uk partners with and expands upon.

Why are we telling you all this? Well, apart from the fact we're very proud of Cat and her team, we also know that a lot of you have children. We're not asking you to make them read the new site - we'll be marketing it in our own way, and they probably won't appreciate it as much if mum or dad points them to it - but we are interested in your feedback as parents. If you have kids and fancy sharing your thoughts, lob them at us through our contact form or in the comment thread below. We really appreciate it.

Of course, it wouldn't be Eurogamer.net if we didn't use this as an excuse to do some content for you lot on the same subject, so today we've got Dan Whitehead's lovely compilation of Games That Define The Way Children Play, taking a look back at the best examples from the last 30 years.

Tomorrow Cat will be a special guest on the Eurogamer.net Podcast, where you'll get to hear what it's like to do focus groups with children and her new and amazing cheese and apple cake (I was also taken aback). Later in the week we'll be speaking to some of the best kids game developers and people in related fields to try to get to the bottom of what makes a child tick when it comes to gaming.

In the meantime, thanks for checking out Megaton.co.uk and thanks in advance for any feedback you might have.