Design 1: http://i.imgur.com/m5ZMy.png Design 2: http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/7600/portalstrike4.png Any advice would be appreciated.
I'd say the second design is better, its far clearer and the data is clearly laid out. I would possibly place the login/username section alongside the search button to have it all in line.
Yeah, add myself to the pile of people who like the second one. I think the advertisement in the middle of the games is slightly intrusive though (I've been using adblock+ to be honest though) and the bottom of the box with the games also needs to be rounded.