Jul 31 - Aug 26

Badges Earned

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Super Leaf (Author)

• Action Zero

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2x Shot Multiplier (Aug '15)

• Doc Croc
• Action Zero
• Variand
• ZB

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P-Wing (Twitter)

• Action Zero

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Poison Mushroom (Bio)

• ZB
• Sarus Vakarian

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Letter (Exclusive)

• InfiniteKnife

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Golden Leaf (Twitch Host)

• AbyssalOblivion

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Green Leaf (Blogger)

• Doc Croc

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Metal Box (Recruiter)

• Action Zero

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Spell Book (Facebook)

• Doc Croc

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Pill Pal (3+ Social)

• Doc Croc

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Master Chief (Microsoft)

• Doc Croc

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Anchor (RSS)

• Doc Croc

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Spirit Orb (Gen/CD/32X)

• NerdBerry

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Mushroom (Contrib)

• bbpower

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Triforce (1 Year)

• Rhutsczar

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Cloud Flower (160 Posts)

• The Watchman

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Don't forget about our newest and first limited edition badge! This simple depiction of the number 2 in Roman numerals is the perfect representation of our celebration - we're all about turning 2 years old.

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More Info About Badges

Have you earned a badge that you haven't yet received? Let us know!

Fresh Meat:
New Member Spotlight

Let's give a warm, cripsy, greasy welcome to Nerd Bacon's newest Baconeers!

• Joseph N.
• NightShadeVII (Robyn)
• bbpower (Brad)
• Avara (Harley)
• TimmiT (Timothy)
• Def Zeppelin (Oscar)

Nerd Bacon News: August 2015 (1)

Again I apologize for the irregularity with which Greased has gone out these last couple of months. With a number of personal issues and some professional issues going on, it's been difficult to give over as much attention as I'd like to the newsletter. In fact, you can thank Nerdberry himself for a good deal of this content, which has been trickling into my mailbox for a couple of weeks now.

Summertime proper is almost over, and that means we have lots of high profile releases to look forward to over the next few months. Get those wallets ready and start handing your Christmas lists out early - the 8th generation is in full swing and we have some awesome stuff to look forward to starting in September! The period of October through December has traditionally been one of Nerd Bacon's busiest and most productive periods of the year. Don't let us down! We've got a great team and a healthy slew of newcomers to help get us there.

We are still celebrating Nerd Bacon's 2nd Birthday for a few more days though, so don't forget to jump in on the action and review as many "first sequels" as you can! (More details in a segment below.)

One of our most important recent developments concerns the future of our Monday night show "The BLT," so make sure to read over it and feel free to provide us with any comments, questions, suggestions, or anything else.

Celebrate Nerd Bacon's 2nd Anniversary with Us and Earn a Special Limited Edition Badge!

I know we've brought this up a lot lately, but we really want to make sure everyone who's currently with us gets a fair shot at earning this badge that will never ever be available again! This little icon is taken from the early NES Castlevania games and is known as the "Double Shot Multiplier." That's not really important - what is important is that it's the perfect display of the number "2" in honor of our 2 year anniversary! Earning it is pretty easy: you just need to review 2 "first sequels" during the month of August. A "first sequel" is exactly how it sounds, the second entry in a series. It doesn't necessarily have to have "2" in the title, and conversely not every game with "2" in the title is a "first sequel." Many of you only have one review left to go! If you haven't gotten started yet you've still got about 4 days left, so hurry up!

If you've got a question about what constitutes a first sequel we'll be glad to answer. Also, if you review a game that may not be an obvious first sequel, be sure to tell us so that you get credit for your efforts and earn your badge.

This Month in Video Gaming History
by Nerdberry

In August of 1995, Nintendo released the dreadful Virtual Boy, a huge red neck-ache eyesore headache piece of shit! The console was highly touted as the first portable home video game system with virtual reality 3D capabilities. They flew off the shelves pretty quick, but were instantly panned by critics and consumers for not living up to any of the hype and for being extremely uncomfortable to use. The awkward design caused serious neck strain as trying to figure out how to use the damn thing was just as hard as trying to get all the butter off the inside of a bag of popcorn. Okay, maybe that's just me. But you get the point. Furthermore the Virtual Boy was famous for its headache inducing design, yet another major flaw in this promising console. The end result was a number of employees losing their jobs (despite telling Nintendo that the system was not ready for public release) and some serious damage to Nintendo's image. They bounced back well with Super Mario 64, Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye 007, and The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time though.

From The Cubist
Here's a few more fun facts about the Virtual Boy! It spent less than a year on shelves, only 770,000 units were ever produced, and there were only 14 Virtual Boy games released in North America! This is good news and bad news for collectors. On the one hand, every complete Virtual Boy that ends up in the hands of another collector is one less on the market. 770,000 really isn't that many, especially considering how many have ended up in landfills, all the incomplete units (missing stands, visors, etc.) and those with the dreaded "re-calibration message" that require servicing from Nintendo. (A service which of course Nintendo no longer offers!) On the other hand, it won't be too hard to snatch up all 14 games. However, once you start talking about the Japanese games, some of those titles really shoot up in price. It's worth noting that a lot of these games aren't very good, though Virtual Boy Wario Land is typically considered the best of the lot, sometimes even regarded as a "good game" in general.

Virtual Boys may seem pretty expensive, but get used to it - the price is only going to rise. Consider yourself lucky to find a complete unit for around $100. Consider yourself even luckier if you can find one of the rare link cables used for multiplayer! (And let me know; I've got 2 Virtual Boys, but no way to link them!)

Level Up
by Nerdberry

Everyone has a unique style of writing. Something that makes them different from all of the others. We love that characteristic in Nerd Bacon. We are quickly branding ourselves as a blending of different styles with a unified goal and objective. You can have a ham sandwich by reading reviews at a massively huge website, or you can get the unequivocal melding of writing at some tiny community website (also known as a Reuben Sandwich). You've chosen wisely, my friends. And we believe we chose wisely as well. Not everyone gets accepted when they apply. So you've made it this far! But why stop there? If you feel that you're doing an awesome job, but maybe you have room to grow as a professional writer, we're here to help! Hell, we know we're not the best writers in the world ourselves, but we have a good eye for talent and we can spot the difference between quality and exceptional quality. Let us help you get there. Grow with Nerd Bacon and go do big things with your life! For some great reading materials on how to take your game to the next level, check out ANYTHING in the "Extra Information for Members (Optional)" area in the members page: http://nerdbacon.com/members/ - The password is can be found in the upper right of this email.

Review Spotlight

• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II - 360 - Variand
• by NerdBerry
  I was very impressed with Variand's depth in this review. It's one of the longer game reviews on the site, which isn't a bad thing. He applied his knowledge and expertise to create a truly deep and impressive review of the game. Plus he did what most people are afraid to do: he detailed exactly what the developers should have done to make this game better. Many of us don't mind mentioning a few things, but Variand almost rewrote the entire game! But anyway, we always appreciate a good review from one of our longest standing members, and he hit a home run with this one.

• Mortal Kombat: The Phantom Characters - The Cubist
• by NerdBerry
  Patrick took a lot of flack on this one from one viewer in particular. But, that means one thing: someone found their way to Nerd Bacon based off of Patrick's original article. I'm picking this article for our spotlight because the concept is unique. As noted by the asshole reader who tried to call Patrick out, sure this information can be found on the web. As with all other info. But Patrick's goal was not to copycat anyone. His goal is to provide his own opinions on the subjects but compile them into a better read. A more organized read. And all under one roof. That warrants some attention! Great job!

• Devil's Crush - TurboGrafx-16 - Doc Croc
• by NerdBerry
  This review could be a green baby butt bomb in a flaming diaper and I'd still put it on the spotlight. Why? Because it's Nerd bacon's first ever TurboGrafx-16 review! I mean, we all own the system! Everyone has a TG16! Right? Okay, not really. But seriously though, branching out into areas of need for the site is always appreciated. Any obscure games on weird systems is a big need for the site. So if everyone occasionally busts one out, then we'd all be in good shape.

Coming Up Next...

We don't have any immediate plans for September yet, but we had such a strong response to the limited edition badge that we're thinking of trying to do something similar with time-dependent challenges. For example, maybe we'll give members 2 months to review 5 Mario games, or challenge you to review 3 fighting games in a month, or review a game for all Sega consoles over 1 or 2 months. This idea is still only in the discussion phase, but we always like to take a second and third look at events that kickstart production and pique members' interest.

After September wraps up and everyone has settled into their post-summer grind, we'll start gearing up for one of Nerd Bacon's most festive months: October! What does October mean at The Bacon? Well we don't have a clever name yet ("Shocktober" was already taken), but we love getting into the Halloween spirit by spending the entire month trying to review as many creepy, ghastly, spooky, monstrous, demonic, gory, and downright scary games as we possibly can. Start updating your "to review" lists now and dig up any and all games with supernatural or preternatural themes, monsters, demons, or anything else under the "horror" umbrella. If you don't have one already, participating in our October festivities will earn you this lovely Pumpkin Badge pulled straight from Super Mario Bros. 2!

Get Greasy!

Help us fill Greased with the things that you want to know about the site! What do you want us to talk about regularly? What kind of updates are you hoping for? What sort of information would inspire you to be even more productive? Let us know how we can make Greased yours and we will do our best. Don't hesitate to share any tips or tricks you may wish to share as well. We'd love to have more of you guys' and girls' input. We'd also love to field any questions that you guys and girls may have: questions about grammar, spelling, or punctuation? Maybe an ambiguous piece of policy you want clarification on? Or maybe there's a technical aspect that you've seen in another article or on another site that you're interested in using? Chances are that if you have a question so does someone else, so please, speak up and ask us! If you submit something that we use in a future issue of Greased, you'll earn yourself a Lightning Bolt Badge!

Nerd Bacon, Twitch, and the BLT

Hopefully many of you were able to participate in the Twitch survey that we recently directed you to on the site. (If you haven't, you're still free to fill it out; it's 100% anonymous.) We used these results in part to determine what the future of Nerd Bacon would look like on Twitch, specifically the "show" we introduced post E3, the BLT. Some of you attended my recent LNNB stream where we casually discussed the results and heard what other members had to say, and your input has been included in this final, official announcement as well.

The BLT was originally intended to be a weekly showcase of any and every member who wanted to stream. In an effort to go above and beyond "let's play" type of videos, we encouraged members to experiment with ideas and formats and possibly take the BLT in a more interactive and entertaining direction - like an actual show meant to entertain viewers. Doing this requires more than just playing a game and providing commentary. It requires planning, preparation, possible testing, maybe even some rehearsal...a lot of work goes into trying to put on a show for other people. The problem? People just weren't showing up to these streams. Not only does this undermine morale (and we definitely don't want that - working for free is tough enough, right?) but it also amounts to a waste of time for several parties.

As a result of the lowered attendance and the feedback from the recent survey, we've decided to suspend the BLT indefinitely and re-focus our efforts back on the site. Numbers don't lie - visits are down and production is down on Nerd Bacon proper, and we feel that a lot of this is due to the increasing emphasis on Twitch which evidently is doing very little for the actual site. Some people have espoused a "wait and see" approach; others advocate a "keep trying" or "keep promoting" method, but the reality is that we've already tried all of this to the best of our abilities. We've left the door wide open for members to host and develop actual shows, we've stayed steady and consistent for a few months, I've endlessly hounded all of you to help us stream and promote....and it just ain't panning out. It's nobody's fault. I think we've given it a great effort, though it's time to get back to what's really important: THE SITE.

A lot of people want to see it continue, though I think some of them are unaware of the work it takes to keep up with scheduling these streams. It is a truly Sisyphean task and despite my repeated pleas, no one has stepped up to the plate. Personally, I feel like I can make better use of my time and energy within the site. Also, as much as I love to see novel approaches to Twitch streams, consider this: how much writing could be done during all that time spent streaming? How much writing could be done during all the time spent attending these streams? We're just not bringing in the outside viewership that we'd hoped and our presence on Twitch isn't driving people towards the site and the time that our members are dumping into Twitch seems to be taking away from what gets done on the site.

This does not mean that Nerd Bacon is through with Twitch, it just means that the BLT has been suspended until further notice. Our Wednesday night show Nerd Bacon Plays! with InfiniteKnife will continue as usual. The Watchman will also continue his monthly installments of Nerd Bacon By Request due to popular demand. LNNB will, as usual, be prone to sporadic appearances. We will still leave the floor open for special streams or events. If you've got something awesome to share or a cool idea, let's plan it out, take some time to promote it, and stream it officially as a special event. We're not giving up on Twitch entirely, just trying to put it into perspective. For the foreseeable future we will not support any other regular shows aside from the weekly Nerd Bacon Plays! and monthly Nerd Bacon By Request. If you're interested in streaming regularly, we can discuss it in more detail, but please think about it carefully and consider your productivity on Twitch vs. on the site itself. We want to remind all of our members that Nerd Bacon is not a Twitch club, Nerd Bacon is a review website.

What was so astonishing about the Twitch survey was the complete lack of consistency between results. There was hardly a majority vote for any of the questions, proving that our members are interested in entirely different aspects of Twitch for entirely different reasons. For example, when asked about your favorite show, 30% of you voted for Nerd Bacon Plays!, 20% for Girls Got Game, 20% for The BLT, and 30% for LNNB. Most of our other questions yielded a similar spread in results; there was no single aspect we could focus on and say "that works!" or "that doesn't!" And since there wasn't an overwhelming majority on many questions, we decided that, for the time being, it would probably be best to put the BLT to rest and try to reinvest our energies back into N E R D B A C O N . C O M.

In closing, this isn't necessarily the end of the BLT or other potential NB streams, but it is an extended hiatus. Let's bring ourselves back to the site itself and get production up (remember, we want to shoot for 25 articles per 5-day work-week - that's 100 per month); let's promote our articles and get people to visit the site instead of just the Twitch channel (we want to hit 10,000 visits per month regularly!); let's get people interested in what we're writing again by aggressively working on social networks - our continued work on Facebook and Twitter as well as establishing ourselves better on places like Google+, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. If we can pull our numbers back up and if the interest is still there, we'll be glad to give this experiment another spirited effort.

One thing that became somewhat obvious during the survey is that many of you were interested not in the games being played on Twitch, but rather the social aspects involved. We can certainly make every effort to replicate that on the site itself. Stay tuned for future details!

If there's anything else you'd like to discuss when it comes to Twitch, the BLT, or anything in between, remember that our door is always open and we're always willing to talk about pretty much anything with our members. We truly appreciate all of you who endeavored to make the BLT a success whether it be through hosting, attendance, or promotion. Much of our success rides on the actions of you guys and girls and we just want to make sure everyone's efforts are being used in the best possible way.

We Still Need an Extra Reporter (Or 2!)

With September right on our heels, lots of big games are getting ready to drop. The industry will be full of announcements, delays, cancellations, praise, criticism, scarcity, exclusives, and more! We really need one or two of you Baconeers to step up to the plate and become a full-fledged reporter for us. Although we would prefer those with the "Author" rank or above, we will make the position available to anyone with at least 10 posts under their belt.

What does being a reporter mean? Well, besides getting your very own nifty Feather Badge, you'll be one of The Bacon's primary sources of new information. That means bringing us at least 2 news articles per week instead of the typical member quota of one review per 30 days. Two per week may seem like a lot, but remember, news pieces don't have to be long, they just need to be correct and informative. In fact, the more succinct and to-the-point, the better. We want to cover this upcoming holiday season as thoroughly as possible, so if you think you can give us 2 news pieces per week, let us know! For an example of what most news pieces should look like, just take a look at The Watchman's archive of posts.

Site Developments

Pretty slim on site developments again except for what we've already been over when it comes to Twitch and our plans for the coming months. I haven't included the site statistics for July in this issue, but I plan to go over them as well as the results for August in the upcoming newsletter, scheduled to go out sometime around the first week into September. Again, I also hope to get back on track with Greased as well with 2 issues per month, the first going out after the first week and the second going out after the third week.

Until Next Time...

Production has been a little slower than we like overall, but you guys have shown an incredible burst of activity during our 2nd Anniversary celebration; keep it up! Do you find that you work better with "assignments" or within themed months? Let us know! We do our best to keep you guys (and gals) interested and engaged, so feel free to tell us what works - and what doesn't! We've also seen a notable surge in new member registration which is always a good thing. Remember that if a prospective member writes down your name in the "referred by" field on an application, you automatically get the Metal Box Badge whether we accept them or not.

Keep up the great work everyone. If you ever have any comments, questions, ideas, suggestions, or just want to shoot the breeze, don't hesitate to drop us a line at your convenience!