I am happy to announce that the new and improved Zarathustra Studios is back online and (crossing my fingers) ready for visitors. I will be blogging next week about the details, but in short the features are:

• Site-wide login - One user account gets you access to the forum, private messages, comments, and so on. If you were a member of the old ZS Forum, your old login username/password should work just fine.
• Improved Media Handling - The Films section now includes more of my work, there are a number of new soundtrack Music playlists, and Series have been broken out into their own section for easier navigation. And everything is syndicated through Vimeo, YouTube, or Blip.tv, which means better quality viewing options for you and a greatly streamlined release process for me.
• The ZS Marketplace - It may not look like much now, with only one item to speak of (more on that later), but the plan is to develop this web store into your premiere stop for quality production assets (both free and commercial), sound effects and music with ridiculously reasonable licensing terms, and production training solutions.
• Monthly Newsletter - Starting in April, the ZS Newsletter will begin publication, featuring noteworthy machinima/animation content and news from across the Internet, exclusive insights into the ZS works in progress, and special subscriber discounts at The ZS Marketplace. You can subscribe to the newsletter whether or not you sign up as a member at the site, so come on by and subscribe today!

Very soon I'll debut my latest comedy short, titled "First" and featuring a cast of a dozen of my fellow machinimators from various platforms and backgrounds. I had hoped to have that film ready for the official March 1 relaunch, but this migration basically ate up my entire month. Looking at the site now, though, I feel like it was well worth it, as I trust it will be for you when you see both the site and the new movie.

Have a great weekend! The update details begin in earnest on Monday.