Are these forums dead?

Pretty much.
Had them subscribed for ages via RSS and haven't heard a peep.

You could say we've had a pretty good run, though. I remember migrating the database over to a new CMS and seeing how frequent forum posts used to be in the site's heyday. It really was quite a lot more active. I'm sure some of the old regulars like Kezza can attest to that.

I think a lot of niche and small websites like tsumea have found their visitors slowly migrate over to social websites (Reddit) and services (Facebook, Twitter etc) over the years. I've been contemplating on what to do with the site - either shut it down or re-focus on a few specific core areas (I've chosen the latter and have been working on some things for what seems like ages now). If that doesn't really do much to provide usefulness to local games developers, however, it might be an idea to send this ship out to sea.

I don't think you should shut down the website down though, it's a good location in order to find news of what's going on with the Australian games industry scene, plus you see a lot more Australian specific games job listings that are more current and relevant than say on GDAA. Plus the database of developers does help a lot in terms of keeping track of who's around and who's doing what. Basically, don't shut the site down, it's good! :)

I like your idea of refocusing the scope of the forums to specific areas, and agree with bugfush on saying it is good having something more for australia/NZ around.
I'd love to see it grow into something more, what exactly I'm not sure tho.

...wow, it's been forever since I poked my nose in around here.. but I really owe my beginnings to some of the people that frequented these forums 'back in the day' - I'm now working on the new Mirror's Edge at DICE in Sweden.. and it all started out with some very humble attempts to learn about the industry here :) I wish I could do something to give back and put some life back into this forum to encourage other aussies down the same path.

It's sad to see the site go!

Tsumea was where I went to find a list of companies to apply to, after finishing at the AIE in Canberra 8 years ago, and has been a staple read from before and since then.
Obviously, the industry has been hit from all sides in Australia over the last 5 years or so, and that surely takes its toll.

Souri, good luck with future projects, thanks for all the hard work over the years, we all look forward to hearing more about your adventures in Unity!!

In the blog post that I made previously, I outlined my plans with the site so that it can continue without me spending my time on it all day, everyday. So, we're not exactly shutting down the site, but it is going on automatic mode where people can submit their own news and jobs etc. People should still be able to find jobs and our listing of developers and services here and hopefully find talent here for their projects, but the days of me doing all the daily news writing, continual site maintenance, upgrades, research and development, and in the last year building new features and applications, are over. Web development was never my passion and I'd rather be sinking my time and efforts on something I love (and miss) doing, just like all you guys. Art and games!

Have you thought about handing the reigns to someone else?

Ah, yes, actually I read that post, and still managed to make it sound like Tsumea was going to disappear, even though I know it isn't :P
Sorry about that!

Good luck with everything, games development is the best :)

People may still check out the site some time later so it wouldn't hurt to keep using it passively and see who may be interested in utilising it for a small community or users.