Nerd Bacon News: April 2015 (1)

Check out our very first issue of Greased: The Nerd Bacon Newsletter!  This is something new that David and I are trying out, so bear with us as the newsletter grows and changes with each subsequent issue.  For now the idea is to send it out in bi-monthly installments.  We'll be sending out one around the end of the first week of each month that will detail the previous month's traffic statistics, and then another near the end of the third week in order to prepare everyone for the upcoming focus and goals of the next month.

We also plan to field content about the site from other members: got a question or concern?  Have something like a tip or trick to share with other members of the site?  Email it to us and we'll make sure to get it into the next issue!

Note that this is not a general newsletter for the public or visitors.  This is just for you guys (and gals) - the members!

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This Month: April's Foolish Games!

Don't forget that April is all about "bad games."  Why bad games?  Well, there's a few reasons.  First, it's fun!  Playing through a bad game can be frustrating, but it can also be a lot of fun to tear through later.  While we still want solid, informative reviews, don't be scared to have a little fun with it!  Secondly, it adds some diversity to the site.  Most of us don't purposefully seek out games which we think won't suit our tastes, so branching out into bad games deliberately helps add articles to the site that we normally wouldn't be able to claim credit for.  And lastly, both playing and reviewing bad games helps us grow as reviewers.  Picking apart and analyzing what makes a bad game bad encourages a deeper understanding of the game, thus offering more insight into what makes a good game successful.

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Review Spotlight

• Breakout 2000 - Atari Jaguar - Space Invader
• Be sure to check out Space Invader's humorous take on Atari's attempt to cash in on past arcade success while playing into the then-futuristic vibe of "the year 2000."  You'll laugh, you might cry, and one thing's for sure - you'll have yet another good reason not to own an Atari Jaguar.

• Plumbers Don't Wear Ties - 3DO - Abyssal Oblivion
• Most of us remember the 5th generation as a time of innovation and creative "rule-breaking"...and it was, for the most part.  3D gaming took hold like never before, but in the undercurrent, some developers were using increased processing power and full motion video (FMV) in other ways.  One of many attempts to cash in on a more adult audience, Plumbers Don't Wear Ties is a lurid tale straight out of a daytime soap opera.

• Beetlejuice - NES - ZB
• Back when video games could be churned out by a couple of guys with 2 weeks of hard work, we got tons of cash grabs like this that played of virtually any facet of popular culture aimed at kids.  What was a disappointing experience as a kid can become a nostalgic trip to a different era of gaming - check out ZB's superb take on Beetlejuice to see what we're talking about.

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Help Wanted!

As always, Nerd Bacon is looking for driven and committed members to help us out on a number of fronts.  One of the biggest is editing.  If you think you've got a great handle on our formatting and technical standards and wouldn't mind editing articles on a regular basis for us, contact us right away!

We also would like to get ourselves more involved with social networking.  If you think you could enhance our effort on current networks (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Flickr, Google+) or help us expand to others (Instagram, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, and others) we'd love to hear from you.  In addition to simple assistance, we're also looking for those of you who can potentially manage our presence on 1 or 2 of these sites without explicit, daily instructions from David or I.

And don't forget to keep those pics for Flickr coming!

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Next Month

We've got a ways to go until May, but here's a quick heads up.  We don't have any special theme planned, instead, we want to start getting all of our ducks in a row for E3 coming in June.  This will involve figuring out who wants to be involved, how they want to be involved, and those who participated last year passing down any tips and tricks to new participants this year.

Covering E3 is going to be a lot of work.  We're going to need individuals who have some time on their hands in order to find the news, write it up here on the site, and make sure that we know about it so that we can get it published quickly.  We want to stay on top of events as they happen by keeping up with live speeches and other news delivered via the internet.

So start giving it some thought - we need several people to get involved to make sure this works as smoothly as possible.  

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Site Developments

The only new thing to report on right now is a revamped badge system that we hope will drum up some friendly competition among members.  Previously, badges sort of replaced each other as one climbed the ladder of accomplishments.  Now we've decided to implement a more cumulative approach to badge-gathering.  Rank and Post Count will still be the most prominently displayed (we're on the fence about Special Badges), but now, when a user hold their cursor over the badges (a "mouseover" or "hover"), all of that member's badges will be displayed in a small popup.  These new badges range from the simple, such as following us on Facebook or writing a hardware review to the more intensive, such as hosting a Twitch stream, bringing us an exclusive piece of news, or even contributing financially to the site in some way.

Keep an eye out as we continue to revise and update this new system.  At some point I hope to integrate this feature into the badges that show up in members' authorboxes as well.  You might notice that as you highlight someone's badges to see the full range of their accomplishments, it's presented as a clickable link.  This is mostly for the benefit of outside readers, so that they can see just what all these symbols mean.  There's another, separate page for the Badge Key as it pertains to members:

• Badge Key for Members
• Badge Key for Readers

For some badges, we'll be able to easily tell if you've met the qualification but for others it will be more difficult.  We'll maintain track of what we can, but we'd like you to take an active role as well and let us know when and if you've met certain criteria.  The most difficult for us to monitor are those which involve following/adding/subscribing to us on a particular social network.

If you're not into a whole lot of extraneous achievements and just want to stick to writing reviews, that's cool too.  We've always wanted to make Nerd Bacon a site about the team and not the administration, and this was one way we thought of to recognize the sometimes lofty achievements of certain Baconeers.

I still need answers from some of you regarding the short questionnaire I sent out the other day!  I'd like to have everyone's badge system updated soon, and this will be a lot easier if you guys give me a quick yes or no answer to those 12 easy questions.

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Until Next Time...

That's it for the inaugural edition of Greased!  Feel free to send us feedback - like it, love it, hate it, change it?  Is there any site-related information or news you'd like to receive updates about that we didn't include?  (Keep in mind that site statistics will typically be included in the month's first newsletter, but they've already been sent out this month.)

Also, don't forget to send us potential material for the next newsletter.  Got any tips for your fellow Baconeers?  Any ambiguities or confusion you want to ask about that you think everyone could benefit from?  Maybe you just want to point out a great review, past or present, and tell the rest of the team why you like it?  Anything's fair game - I can't promise we'll use it, but we'll consider it!

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