Formatting Your Review

Title, Header, Body, and Images

Title
Header
Required Crosslinking
Body of Review
Adding Images
Sizing and Aligning Images

To maintain a look of professionalism, we would like for all of our game reviews to have the same general bit of information so that both readers and editors can easily locate, search for, and identify articles. Here are a few small steps to follow before beginning a game review proper. This does not apply to articles in other areas, including hardware reviews. Please see “Other Articles” in the HUB below or in the right sidebar for more information.

Title

In the title bar (see figure 1) at the top of a new post, please structure the title as:

Game Title - Platform or System

This should be as clear and succinct as possible for game reviews. For reviews in other areas, titles can be more elaborate or creative. That’s it. We don’t care if you type “SNES,” “Super NES,” “Super Nintendo,” or “Super Nintendo Entertainment System,” just as long as someone seeing only the title knows what the game is and what system it’s for. No abbreviations for games, and if using an abbreviation for platform please be sure it’s a well-known one; for example, no one knows what the hell a SuNi is, or an SGen. Keep it simple, keep it clean. Nothing more, nothing less. Using Mortal Kombat II for the Sega Genesis as an example:

Mortal Kombat II - Genesis – Correct
MK2 - Gen – Incorrect

Figure 1

If you want to add a subtitle, like “The Game that Killed My Girlfriend” or something of the sort, put it in the main editing box below the box for the title. I’ll dress it up and make it look nice before it’s published. This is of course completely optional. Also, it is not necessary to reiterate the title of the game at the beginning of the article.

Header

Immediately after the subtitle (if using one) should come the following information as shown, with the categories – platform, developer, etc. in bold and the information italicized. Nerd Rating and Reviewed by, if used, should be both bold and italicized (see figure 2):

Platform: Name, or widely accepted abbreviation of platform/system/console

Developer: Developer of the game; this is usually different for each release across platforms

Publisher: Publishing company of the game

Release Date: The applicable release date (NA, JP, EU, WW) in Month nth, 19xx form if known

Genre: Include any and all applicable genres (within reason)

Nerd Rating: Your personal rating of the game

Reviewed by... optional; your authorship is and always will be credited at the end of the article

Figure 2

To accompany your header, you should include the box-art of your game aligned left or right and typically no larger than the default medium size. This is required. Some games will not have box-art, such as Angry Birds for iOS because it never had a box. Furthermore, your box-art should be for the correct region of the game you are playing. For example, if reviewing Chuck Rock for Sega Genesis, please make sure your box art is for the GENESIS and not the MEGA-DRIVE (unless you were by chance reviewing it for the Mega Drive).

PLEASE NOTE that this is exactly how every review should look. There should be no variations in style, approach, or anything. Categories should not be all caps. Everything should be in the proper order. SEE FIGURE 2!

**See REQUIRED INTERNAL CROSSLINKING below. But to summarize: Please crosslink the header and the genre EVERY time before submitting for approval.

Although in the past we have allowed writers to use whatever rating scale they’re comfortable with, we are now asking that everyone stick to a 10-point scale. Check out Rating Games for more information.

After this you are free to write whatever you want!

REQUIRED CROSSLINKING

In the header: Crosslinking the PLATFORM and the GENRE are required. Using the steps from review content (SEE INTERNAL LINKS), you should crosslink the platform within your header (see figure 3.) Using the steps from review content (SEE INTERNAL LINKS), you should crosslink the genre within your header. When searching for “racing” for example, search “genre – racing.” All genres start with “genre – ” (see figure 3.)

Figure 3

In the body of the review itself: As mentioned above, please crosslink each game that you have mentioned within an article ONLY ONCE. If you mention SMB3 in 2 successive sentences, there is no point in crosslinking it both times. Please only link it once. Typically, one link per paragraph or two will suffice.

All Crosslinks: All crosslinks, whether internal or external, need to be italicized (but not bolded). This is purely for cosmetic uniformity on the site.

Body of Review

In the body of the article, the game title should be in bold and italicized each time it’s included in the article. Look at the following paragraph for an example (see figure 4.1):

“Pagan Warlords is a game that requires you to sacrifice innocents and worship dark forces in order to achieve your goals. Although this sort of thing isn’t for everybody, if you are looking for a different take on the turn-based strategy genre and an in-depth look into the tortured minds of the developers, you should check out Pagan Warlords.”

Also, highlight the titles of other similar games you compare with the review title in italics only. See Figure 4.2.

Figure 4

Adding Images

Adding images using WordPress can be a little difficult at first. I highly recommend typing out the entire article first and then inserting pictures. It seems to be easier to add images into existing text than typing around pictures. We would like some visuals in your game reviews if at all possible. There’s no need for dozens of pictures in every single article, but box art with the header plus a few screenshots to show off what the game actually looks like make full use of the medium. Readers always want to see pictures of what they’re reading about. There are no set rules regarding image placement, but please be aware that our editor(s) may ask you to provide images before publishing the article. If you encounter any problems (such as being unable to locate or create any images) please discuss this when and if our editor(s) mention it.

Your images should also consist mostly of actual in-game gameplay stills. A few conceptual art images, cinematic cut-scenes, character sprite images, or other similar images are perfectly acceptable, but it should not comprise more than 50% of your total images. It is important that people see what it’s like to actually PLAY the game. Please do not include your featured image WITHIN the body of your review.

Sizing and Aligning Your Images

For purposes of making sure your images fit on a variety of browsers and resolution settings, your image should not exceed a width of 550. The most effective way to have your image sized to your exact specifications while maintaining optimal visual appeal, there is a little trick that is entirely tedious but yields the best results.

If your image is going to be inserted BETWEEN paragraphs, the max width is acceptable. If your image is going to be in-line with the text, it should not exceed a width of 300. Furthermore, all images placed between paragraphs should be centered.

Want to edit BEFORE you insert the image (Recommended method)?

You can use the built-in “Edit Image” link (see figure 5.1) when using “Add Media” to crop out any watermarks as well as resize or rotate your image. This is all very easy to do. But beware of copyrighted images and fan-art images, as those cannot be used. Here you can resize the image and align it how you please (see figure 5.2), all before putting it into your review. We highly recommend this method over editing AFTER you insert the image.

Figure 5.1 – Step 1.

Figure 5.2 – Step 2. Note: When you scale the image, it saves automatically.

EDITING after you insert the image? (Not Recommended)

Insert the image in the location of your choice at any size ABOVE 550 (not below). Highlight the image by clicking on it, and you will notice 2 icons appear in the top left of the image: a pencil and an “X.” Select the pencil option and you will be able to edit the image’s size. Select “custom size” and adjust the width the proper dimension. The height will adjust automatically to stay proportionate. Select the “X” to delete the picture from your review. Don’t worry though, your image will still be on Nerd Bacon‘s servers. See Figure 6.

Figure 6

Why do we do it like this? Well, starting with a big picture decreasing the size of the picture keeps the image looking clean and crisp. Starting small and increasing the size makes it distorted, fuzzy, and just flat out ugly. So you must not increase the size of the image using the custom size AFTER the image has been inserted into the body of your review.

If this is your first time, please read through the required reading IN ORDER.

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Required Information for Members HUB

Extra Information for Members (Optional)

Review Structure – (What’s in a review?)

Common Mistakes

Tips for Writing Better Reviews

Watermarking Your Original Images