Basically, it is a Negative World review writing competition with free prizes! I'm mostly just going to copy and paste from last year's stuff, because barring any objections, I plan to run it the same way. It... worked... last time, right?!



What is it?

Negative World will be running a competition for review writers. Basically... write and submit a review for Negative World, and you're in! However, there are going to be two minor stipulations:

1. It must be a game that has not been reviewed on Negative World yet.
2. Whoever calls a game first, gets dibs on that game. You can only have "dibs" on one game at a time though, and I will keep an updated list in this thread.

NOTE: This contest is for Negative World members only. However, it is free and only takes about a minute to join us, so why not go for it?

What is the deadline?

All reviews submitted between right now and midnight (Pacific) January 1st, 2014, that follow the above stipulations, will be eligible. Of course, they must be for a game on a Nintendo console. From the classics to the virtual console (virtual console games on non-Nintendo platforms ok!) to the Wii U... anything goes!

Who can enter?

All members of Negative World! Members at level -2 and down can already write reviews. If you are -1 and would like to enter, let me know, and I will hook it up.

...except Zero. We hate that guy, so his reviews will not be eligible.

Don't get overly concerned about whether you are a "good enough" writer. If you're interested, get involved! Try your best! That's all we're asking!

How many entries can I make?

Hmm... let's say... 3? This is a soft limit though, if you really want to do more, just ask. Please make sure to keep the length and quality level at your best though, these are public reviews for our site. If we notice anyone just knocking out reviews left and right without much effort put into them, we may have to... say something. Besides, you probably won't win anything with a sloppy review.

However, as stated above, don't worry too much about your own skill level as a writer. Just try your best!

How will winners be determined?

1 winner for "best review" will be selected by you, the people of Negative World. We will work out exactly how based on how many entries there are. But it will involve a voting process using the polls. This will happen regardless of the number of entries, so if you are the only entry... you win!

IF we get at least 10 entries, 1 winner for "Zero's choice" will be selected by Zero because he has the power and it is his money being used for the prizes. He may include the other moderators in this decision. May.

More prizes may be announced in the future depending on the popularity of this contest.

What are the prizes?

Considering that neither Wii U or 3DS allows gifting, we'll have to think about this. Maybe I'll just buy a few eShop cards and email the codes to the winners? That could work. Prizes will be at least $10, probably more considering that I don't think there are $10 eShop cards.

How do I write a review?

If you are level -2 or below, it's easy! Just go HERE and search for the game that you would like to review, and then click on the title in the results. If the game is not in the database, you can add it using the "submit a game" form at the top right of the main database page. Anyone level -1 will have to let me know you are interested, as stated above.

You should also use the new file upload page to upload any images related to the review you will be writing. I will frown heavily upon anyone who does not use this.

SUGGESTION: I strongly suggest to write your review outside of Negative World (I use Google Drive, but you can just use Microsoft Word or something if you want), SAVE FREQUENTLY, and then copy and paste it in when you are ready to submit it. Otherwise, if the server hiccups when you submit, you may lose everything. That would suck, no?

What format should the review be?

We do not have a strict format for reviews, but prefer freeform reviews, with no "headers" for sections. If you're afraid of having a wall of text, break it up with images! We prefer that at least 1 or 2 images / videos / etc. be placed within the review (use the file upload page to upload and manage your images!)

How do I know if a game has been reviewed yet?

Just go to the review add page and search for the game that you would like to review. If the game has already been reviewed it will inform you under the column "reviews" in the results of the search, if not, it will be blank. If the game is not in the database, it has obviously not been reviewed yet, and you can add it using the directions above.

Can I review a game that I have already played long ago?

Sure! We are hoping to get some more "modern" reviews, but anything is fine. Just make sure to refresh yourself on it if you have not played it in awhile.

How do I call "dibs" on a game?

Just post your intention to review a game in this thread. First come, first serve. Make sure to mention the platform as well as the game name. You can change your dibs at any time, but if so, you lose dibs on the old game. Obviously, when you submit a review for a game that you had dibs on, you are now free to call dibs on another.

Do I have to call "dibs" on a game?

No, you don't have to call dibs, you can just submit what you want when you want if you like. However, if you don't call dibs and someone else gets to it first (either by calling dibs or releasing a review) then you're plain out of luck. For all of those involved, it is probably best to take advantage of the dibs system.

Last year's winners!

In the voting, we had a tie, so there were two winners...

Mr_Mustache for his review of Batman: Arkham City: Armored Edition and
TriforceBun for his review of Nintendo Land

But of course, that's not all! There was also a special Zero's Choice Award to give out! The winner was...

roykoopa64 for his review of Nano Assault Neo

So if you want to win this year, check these reviews out, they'll point you in the right direction!

"Dibs" list
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate (3DS) - deathly_hallows
Crystalis (NES) - chrisbg99
Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS) - Amanda (username coming soon)
Rayman Legends (Wii U) - ludist210
The Legend of Zelda (NES) - Secret_Tunnel

Finished list
Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS) - DrFinkelstein
Babysitting Mama - Kris Wright
Batman (NES) - Mr_Mustache
Bike Rider DX (3DS) - Super_Conzo
Jeopardy! (Wii) - poguesquadron
Pokemon X / Y (3DS) - Pokefreak911
Super Mario 3D World (Wii U) - poguesquadron
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds (3DS) - sirmastersephiroth
Wheel of Fortune (Wii) - poguesquadron

Zero list (not officially in the competition)
I'll give you all a bit of time to pick first.

URL to share (right click and copy)

@DrFinkelstein
@PogueSquadron

In all of our cases, the "due date" was December 31st, 11:59:59pm PST. If it were me? We'd all be left out in the cold (rather, I would've been in before that.). But here we are.


Personally, I think (and I know he doesn't) Zero should say "alright, Saturday is IT." (More generously, Sunday Night / Monday Morning, 6am PST.) If Zero won't / doesn't want to do it, perhaps us..underlings? should make a pact, or something, to have our reviews done by Saturday, or simply don't submit for it at all? Seriously, we've known about this stuff since LAST November (like, 14 months ago, "wow, Review-A-Thon is awesome, I can't wait for next year!"), and we're either dragging our feet (like me), or putting it off, whatever the case may be.

And if you want to go with a closer "we've known about this" date, remaining stragglers have at least known about this since last weekend. 80+ hours should certainly be enough..I'd hope.

Posted by

Mr_Mustache

on: 01/10/14, 04:56

@Mr_Mustache You had a solid date. Not my fault you didn't get it done by then.

I'm not setting a solid date for the flex stuff because taking care of the competition takes actual time and work and I'm in the midst of a billion other things right now so it won't happen for a week or two. Which means I can either:

A. Set a hard date for the stragglers, and then post the results weeks later when I actually have time, meanwhile everyone is sitting around waiting for the results and people who were almost finished are wondering why they weren't allowed to finish

B. Wait until I'm ready and then end the competition then (with a small warning), allowing the maximum amount of people to finish

I like B.

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/10/14, 05:12

...which isn't particularly fair to those of us who got ours done on time.

But, c'est la vie. It's better for Negative World to have as much content as possible. So that's ok with me.

Posted by

kriswright

on: 01/10/14, 05:18

Remember that story from the Bible? Where the one person showed up at the beginning of the day and agreed to $X for a day's worth of work. The next person showed up at the middle of the day and agreed to $X. The final person showed up at the end and agreed to $X. The first person complained that it wasn't fair, and then um... the moral is that uh, if you agreed to your part it is fair, it doesn't matter what other people are getting and uh...

Well... actually not only does that not really apply here, but I always thought that story was terrible. Of course it's unfair to the person who worked all freaking day to pay the one who showed up last minute the same wages. Not sure where I'm going with this.

Basically December is kind of a terrible month to run a review writing competition. People are busy with the holidays and all, so of course I understand why they don't make the deadline and I know a lot of people wanted to be involved but only a few actually submitted, so I thought it'd make sense to extend it a bit. And I'm busy with the GOTY stuff, among other things, so I'm not ready to throw everything together at the deadline anyway. I really should do this in July.

We should probably say that this stuff is done by next weekend though, right? That's hard enough.

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/10/14, 05:54

@Zero

I'm totally on Jesus's side on the parable of the 11th Hour Workers. It's about grace, first and foremost. But there's a key part of that story that doesn't apply here: the all day workers got exactly what they were originally promised. Which isn't necessarily the case here.

BUT... I honestly don't care. I'll happily lose to a new review if it means one more new review for the site. I'm not even sure why I brought it up.

Posted by

kriswright

on: 01/10/14, 06:50

Ok now I think I understand why it came to my mind. Strictly speaking, this was the "promise":

All reviews submitted between right now and midnight (Pacific) January 1st, 2014, that follow the above stipulations, will be eligible.

And it's still true! It's just that, much like the parable, some others were like hey, we're late to the party, but we still want what they got! And, also like the parable, it's totally unfair to those who came first. But those who came first are still getting what they were promised... eligibility in the competition!

Ok ok it's not an exact comparison, because in the case of a competition the more people who join the worse odds everyone has. But it sort of works. AND... if we get 10 entries the prizes double from 1 to 2, so were that to happen because of the extended deadline, the odds will be about the same as if I just cut things right at the buzzer...

Also because I'm me and uber flexible I'll probably just do the Zero's choice award anyway, even if we don't get the 10 entries I claimed we need for me to do that, because why the heck not? Well, other than the fact that I have limited money nowadays, BUT... December was a good month for Adsense clicks so it's time to give back. So my flexibility works both ways!

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/10/14, 08:00

Edited:

01/10/14, 08:01

Zero said:

Strictly speaking, this was the "promise":

All reviews submitted between right now and midnight (Pacific) January 1st, 2014, that follow the above stipulations, will be eligible.

And it's still true! It's just that, much like the parable, some others were like hey, we're late to the party, but we still want what they got! And, also like the parable, it's totally unfair to those who came first. But those who came first are still getting what they were promised... eligibility in the competition!

Posted by

Secret_Tunnel

on: 01/10/14, 10:22

@Secret_Tunnel

Lawl.

Posted by

Shadowlink

on: 01/10/14, 11:24

Yeah I'd say either cut it off or we have a solid date, otherwise this thing will go on forever.

Posted by

PogueSquadron

on: 01/10/14, 17:07

I have begun writing! It'll be a little bit of work but I'm enjoying it. I can't wait to finish as my plan to do something different already pleases me. I need to go take various screen shots myself though. I hope I have enough in the backlog to cover things also. I always take photos.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 01/11/14, 23:06

BAM!

Animal Crossing New Leaf Review
It's a bit different than a normal review style. Hoping that's worth something.

While I don't churn out reviews often, I do enjoy them from time to time. I wonder which one will be next.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 01/13/14, 01:28

I'll try to get it done by the end of the week. Can you take screenshots using 3DS Miiverse?

Posted by

Pokefreak911

on: 01/13/14, 02:25

@Pokefreak911

What do you mean? As a means of saving photos for use of the review? Should work. I presume the resolution would be just as bad, lol, I mean, good as mine were in my review since it should just take the normal res shot and post it.

Luckily with Animal Crossing, the screens are so nicely built in as a game functionality that, well, super easy. Miiverse should be an appropriate alternate though.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 01/13/14, 02:52

@DrFinkelstein
So screenshots work with Miiverse 3DS the same as Wii U? I have yet to use 3DS Miiverse so I have no idea.

Posted by

Pokefreak911

on: 01/13/14, 03:33

@Pokefreak911

Oh yeah, definitely. I've posted screens there and nabbed them with my browser after. Works fine.

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 01/13/14, 03:37

@DrFinkelstein
Ok thanks.

Posted by

Pokefreak911

on: 01/13/14, 05:09

So I'm thinking this weekend we cut this off. Sunday? Get your stuff in by Sunday yo!

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/14/14, 00:56

Edited:

01/14/14, 00:57

Sunday when? All day or sun at midnight?

Posted by

DrFinkelstein

on: 01/14/14, 03:27

@Zero
I will try. If not i'll get it up sometime after that.

Posted by

Pokefreak911

on: 01/14/14, 03:41

@DrFinkelstein I dunno... midnight central? But it's not like submitting at 12:01 wouldn't count.

Who all is still working on and actually intending on finishing a review?! Pokefreak we know of. Is Amanda still going to take a crack at it?

Posted by

Zero

on: 01/14/14, 06:50