Chatroulette 2.0 launched after a week of remaining offline. The new site is very similar to the experimental version once located at http://www.chatroulette.com/new. The new version includes the users image inset into the main video screen which can be re-sized. The "Next" button is now single gray bar that doesn't include any descriptive text. The newer version seems to take longer to load or to find a new partner. This version also seems to be less stable and more likely to crash your flash player. The re-launched site only remained online for a short while and is now offline again with no official announcement. Well ChatShock.com has some exclusive information ...
After much speculation, the new and updated version did not seem to address the #1 issue with the site: users who use the service to broadcast explicit video. So why would chatroulette re-launch the service without any new features to resolve the main problem and simply change the layout? Well, ChatShock has exclusive information. We contacted Andrey regarding the service a while ago. Following are a couple of excerpts from Andrey's response on July 7th:
"You have a point regarding registration. We have some plans how to keep it working without registration"
"Spam and [site name withheld] are a problem. Unfortunately, we can only get rid of it in a /new version, as it uses new technology. So we will have to move the site towards that version in order to fix those problems. But we have to make it appear and work good at first. We are actively working on a chatroulette.com/new/ version so it will be more useful in future."
Well, Chatroulette will succeed one way or another. The service ran perfectly for a while after one of many updates that took place without notice. The layout was clean but unfortunately many of its users were not. Chatroulette will soon be back with new updates intended to filter out offending users. The next step of the upgrade might come sooner than you expect. We'll have to wait and see what they come up with.