Greased: The Nerd Bacon Newsletter (1.4)
Issue #4, Volume 1
Nerd Bacon News: May 2015 (2)
E3 is almost here! Now is the time to let us know if you’re interested in participating! Remember, we’ll be expecting you guys and gals to hunt down primary sources whenever possible and do your best to get the news to us as soon as you can. Several of us on the backend are ready to handle the workload, now we just need the rest of you to start pumping out articles!
Reviews are, as always, extremely welcome, so keep ’em comin’!
We can spend the entire month of June capitalizing on E3 for those of you that are interested. When June proper rolls around in about a week, it’ll be great time to start getting E3 hype articles out there. Let us and the world know what you want to see, what you expect to see, maybe what you don’t want to see, and any expert predictions you might have. To tide us over until the actual event, you can also touch on the highlights from last year or some of last year’s announcements that you expect a followup to in 2015.
Most of you are doing a fantastic job, but we still want to bring in dedicated new recruits to help us with production. With new editors and senior members getting more involved in our management, now, more than ever, we’re at a point where we can sustain a serious increase in membership. Put the word out wherever you can and try to get others interested! We really need a swift influx of committed writers to help us keep new and fresh articles churned out on a regular basis! Remember to keep our application URL out there – http://nerdbacon.com/apply/!
E3 is Almost Here!
Yeah yeah, more E3 from us to you, we just want to make sure everyone who’s interested gets involved and knows what they’re doing when the time comes!
So how is this all going to work? Well, one of the easiest and best ways to go about it is to figure out who’s going to cover what ahead of time. The schedule for the pre-expo live streams is already circulating, so if you’d like to take a look at these and see when you might be available and what you might be most interested in. These will be airing LIVE from June 14th to June 16th, while the actual conference will take place from June 16th to June 18th. Here’s the schedule on IGN as well as a link to how to watch them.
This will be where some of the biggest announcements come from, but there will be all kinds of news oozing out from everywhere, so don’t be afraid to jump on anything that you can. If you’ve written news articles for us before, working with us through E3 should be a breeze. If you haven’t, then now is the time to get some reporting experience under your belt. The Watchman is our resident reporter and regularly fills the site with tons of great news pieces. If you want some good examples to follow, take a look at his extensive work. Then, try your hand at a news article yourself (sometime soon!) so that we can take a look at it and pass along any necessary feedback.
Members that write news articles during the E3 frenzy will receive the E-Tank Badge!
Top 10s
Everyone enjoys a good Top 10 list, and anyone with 10 or more reviews under belt is free to write one! Top 10s are a great way to show off your expertise, have a little fun with your writing, and create an enduring, entertaining, and popular piece of material for the site. Many of our Top 10 lists draw in proportionately larger numbers of Likes and Tweets than the average article, so as long as you’ve at least received the Carrot Badge, think about writing one up from time to time.
Are you a rabid fan of a certain franchise? Put your extensive knowledge to use – run down the 10 best or worst games of a series. Maybe you know everything there is to know about Pokémon spinoffs. Or maybe take it in a different direction and run down the best, worst, most overrated, or most underrated characters within a game such as Super Smash Bros. or Street Fighter. The possibilities don’t stop there; you can run down a list of great game soundtracks, examine the best and worst launch titles of the industry, or even compare hardware! If there’s a game, series, or brand out there that you’re really familiar with, start trying to think of ways to turn it into a Top 10. “Best” and “Worst” are a good start, but you can also go with options like “Most Obscure,” “Most Over/Underrated,” “Most Expensive,” and any other superlatives you can think of. You could even put together rough price guides (just be sure to do your research!) such as “Best SNES games for under $20.”
The possibilities really are endless, and it’s easy to turn almost anything you’re knowledgeable about into a Top 10 list, or maybe even 2 or 3 Top 10s. I know several of you out there have a game or franchise that you’re really into, so put a little bit of creative thought into it and turn it into a Top 10!
Some Top 10s will be short enough for a single page, while you may want to break others into numerous pages depending on the length. You may even want to use collapsible elements, hide spoilers, or use other clever tricks. Don’t worry about all that at first: get your content written, and then email me (The Cubist) and I’ll be happy to help you out with all your formatting and presentation needs. Once the content is there, the rest is easy!
If you haven’t ever visited our Top 10 area, go take a look and read over some of our most popular lists such as Top 10 Scary Moments, Top 10 Consoles That Never Existed, and Top 10 Nintendo Characters That Deserve Their Own Game. Also check out our group efforts – Top 10 Favorite Games and Top 5 Favorite Consoles!
Have an idea but don’t know where to start? Browse around and take note of the different formatting styles and topics. Notice the collapsible format of each member’s individual Top 5 Consoles or Top 10 Games, the multi-page structure of Top 10 Castlevania Games You’ve Never Heard Of, and the single page setup of The Watchman’s Top 10 Things I Want from E3 2015. Don’t let presentation hold you back; we can pretty much make it look however you want!
Crafting a Top 10 list takes a little more work than the average review, but a well done countdown is a strong article indeed. When done right, they represent a welcome convergence of both information and opinion, so if you really know what you’re talking about, consider adding your own Top 10 to the site
Check out our Top 10 list collection now!
Review Spotlight
- 10 Things I Want (and a Couple That I Don’t) from E3 2015 – The Watchman
- NerdBerry says:
Writing a top 10 isn’t always easy. It’s tough to choose 10 things and justify why they are on the list, and then justify why they are in this order. Longtime Nerd Bacon author David “The Watchman” K. killed 2 birds with one stone in this article. Actually, maybe 3 birds. By releasing this pre-E3 hype article so far in advance of the actual Expo, he adds a lot of life to the article which is very uncommon for most news articles. This is news. This is E3 news. This is a top 10 article. It’s a lot. But it doesn’t look like it took him an inordinate amount of time as the article sound genuine and flows naturally. It’s a great piece!
- NerdBerry says:
- How to Spot a Fake Pokemon GBA Game – Doc Croc
- This is the kind of random information we love adding to the site. Of course we’re still all about the reviews, but collecting and archiving little tidbits like this are exactly how we aim to make our DIY section a major draw to the site. Besides the enlightening subject matter, it’s a great example of how to write a DIY “how-to” or guide. Each point is laid out clearly and succinctly with pictures to back them up. I’ve sure lots of you have interesting things like this to share that most people don’t know, so whenever you’re ready to share, take a look at Doc’s awesome article to see how it’s done!
- This is the kind of random information we love adding to the site. Of course we’re still all about the reviews, but collecting and archiving little tidbits like this are exactly how we aim to make our DIY section a major draw to the site. Besides the enlightening subject matter, it’s a great example of how to write a DIY “how-to” or guide. Each point is laid out clearly and succinctly with pictures to back them up. I’ve sure lots of you have interesting things like this to share that most people don’t know, so whenever you’re ready to share, take a look at Doc’s awesome article to see how it’s done!
- New Nintendo 3DS XL – Nerdy Friend
- NerdBerry says:
Why is this such a great article? I like this particular article because it does a great job touching up on many of the important aspects without turning into a boring 10 page spec review. Nerdy Friend touches up on some light comparisons with the previous 3DS XL model, which is very important in this particular case as most people want to know “What makes this thing so new anyway?” Furthermore, she accurately discusses the ergonomic feel, the price tag, why you should buy a New 3DS XL, and lots more. The goal of a hardware review is to give people the tools/info they need to decide whether this is an item worth their dollars. And Allie did just that.
- NerdBerry says:
The Future of Nerd Bacon on Twitch
Twitch has been a wonderful way for interested Baconeers to become more social and interactive with each other and we love that it’s brought so many of us a little closer together. We don’t aim to change any of that, we just want to help others get involved who may not have the kind of time to devote to a weekly show.
We plan to keep the 2 existing weekly shows running – Nerd Bacon Plays! and Girls Got Game on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, but in lieu of adding any further shows to the line up, we’d like to set up a revolving slot on Mondays for other interested individuals. We’re not going to worry about the specifics of scheduling until after the E3 madness dies down, but once it does and we enter into the doldrums of summer, it’s an idea we’d really like to put into practice.
In the meantime, we encourage anyone interested to get some impromptu practice in! Collectively we’ve experimented with several streaming options already, including emulation, using a capture card, and the native abilities of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. No matter what method best suits you, chances are we’ve got someone who can help you get started!
So don’t worry too much about times and long standing commitments; if you want to show off your games or skills under the official Nerd Bacon banner, there’s plenty of room! The more notice you can give us the better, but many times we may be able to work with just a few hours. Plus, once you go live, many of our followers will be alerted and can join in as well. So don’t be shy. If you want to have some fun and shoot the breeze with some of your fellow Baconeers, drop us a line and we’ll get you set up in no time.
Oh, and if you have trouble figuring out what sort of game you should play, we will soon be putting together some guidelines on what makes a game fun to watch and what you can do as a host to keep the crowd engaged. In the meantime, talk to us directly and we’ll be more than happy to help you come up with a good choice.
I know that several of you are interested in getting certain Twitch activities off the ground, and I promise we’ll get to them, just sit tight while we concentrate on E3. Although E3 participation isn’t mandatory, we do want to keep as many members focused on it as possible (whether it be through directly reporting the news or editing and publishing articles) without the distraction of major Twitch events. For roughly the next month, we’ll be hosting our regular shows as usual and catering to anyone who wishes to get some practice in for our future rotating slot, but we will not be tackling any large scale new projects until after E3.
Get Involved! Get Greasy!
Hey! Listen up! We want you guys to help out and be a part of Greased! We’d love for you to send in comments, questions, and any other newsworthy information that might hold relevance to other members. We’ll consider any other ideas you may have as well, so don’t be shy. Make Greased yours!
Site Developments
You nerds and nerdettes have made some amazing progress with badges during these last 2 weeks! It’s been great keeping up with all of your achievements and we hope to see it continue. As always, it’s easy for me to miss some of these, so don’t be shy about letting me know what you’ve accomplished. We’re still open to ideas when it comes to something cool we can “do” with the badges, so let us know if you have any thoughts.
Observant members (and those that read a recent email that was sent out) will notice that the site has a new category – E3 2015. As expected, this is to help us organize incoming articles connected to the event. Please remember to check this box if your article has anything to do with the event!
This new category is not intended to replace any category that the article would usually fall under. If you’re writing a news article (which is what most of them will be), the News category should still be used and E3 2015 will be checked in addition. This will ensure that articles are categorized as usual but also allows us an easy way to group all of this year’s E3 articles.
Once E3 is over and we’ve had some time to settle down, we will be working hard to get out Member Evaluations throughout the beginning of July. Some of you are too new to know what I’m talking about, but those of you who’ve been around since the last couple of months of 2014 should remember. Basically we crunch a few numbers pertaining to your productivity and give you some feedback about the work you’ve been doing so you can know where you stand.
Don’t worry, these aren’t like “evil report cards” or anything, just an update on where you stand within our organization. And there’s no need to panic unless you’ve already received a warning. We’re not out to push you to do more, but we do realize that everyone may not be as up to date on all the individual member statistics as we are, so we do want to take a few moments to share that kind of information with you and potentially open up any dialog about your future with us. We’re always open to ideas on how to make you guys happier, more productive, and more personally vested in the site.
We still need some help when it comes to a mobile version of the site, both in terms of actually coding it and a vision of what a mobile version should look like. If you’re smart and want to help, look back to the previous newsletter for details or just drop me a line.
You may also have noticed that the constant pumping of the Twitch streams has dwindled (individual posts, countdowns, etc.) as we try to land on a more permanent solution. Soon you can expect to see a schedule posted in the right sidebar, and once we stabilize ourselves with a Monday night show and get more of you involved with our social networking presence, we can retool our approach to Twitch promotions.
Tips and Tricks
from Doc Croc
Trouble with Typos? Crunched for Time?
If you’re forced to rush through an article or don’t have the time for a proper proofread, here’s a suggestion; listen to each paragraph in Google Translate (Detect Language to English). That way you can hear back mistakes or weirdly written sentences.
Tips and Tricks
from The Cubist
A Word on Emphasis
As writers, we’re often searching for ways to make our words more expressive, and one of the easiest things we can do is add emphasis. Most of us have a natural tendency when it comes to where to add emphasis, but sometimes we could use a little push when it comes to how to add emphasis.
If you’ve ever read more than a couple of emails from me, you know I use emphasis in a number of ways, my two favorite choices being ALL CAPS and *the asterisk.* This mainly stems from the days where you couldn’t count on everyone to have HTML-enabled email, but it shouldn’t be construed as “official” usage.
The best ways to add emphasis in a published article on the site is to use either italics or emboldening. Italics are the standard choice, such as, “This is the best game I’ve ever played,” or, “What were they thinking?” Bold can be used similarly, but I think it’s more effective in other situations, such as a “yell” or a situation where you may feel like resorting to ALL CAPS, such as, “WHAT WAS NINTENDO THINKING!?” vs “What was Nintendo thinking!?”
In fact, I’d suggest staying away from the ALL CAPS approach in official articles. If you think ALL CAPS is the way to go, try emboldening the text instead. And if you need some serious extra emphasis, go with the rare but effective emboldening plus italics!
What if, for some reason, you’re already typing in italics and need emphasis? In that case, just reverse the formatting: And just where am I supposed to find this thing!?
Even though we use both methods as formatting tools to denote titles of games, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be used within your articles, and both are definitely better choices that leaving a string of ALL CAPS in your article. You don’t even have to stop typing to use the tool bar: simply hit CTRL + I for italic text and CTRL + B for bold text, and hit it again when you want it to stop.
Did you know that…
Authors are entitled to create a “bio page” immediately and granted blog space at 25 articles?
When you become an official author at Nerd Bacon, you’ll have the chance to create your own “bio/about me” page for permanent inclusion on the site! This is a chance to show off who you are and connect with the audience on a more personal level. Most authors have created one, but some of you haven’t! Let us know if you need details, and if you’re close to authorship, be thinking about what to do with your page! It’ll also earn you the Poison Mushroom Badge!
Authors are made at 20 posts, but when you’re able to squeeze out just 5 more, you’ll get your own blogging area on the site! This is a less permanent and more ongoing way to cut loose and let your personality out as it offers members a chance at informally chronicling whatever it is they wish to chronicle. Imagine it as a more in-depth version of the site’s status widget. When you’ve established yourself as a fairly regular blogger on the site, you’ll earn the Green Leaf Badge!
Current Members Area Password:
- Only available through email!
Drop by the Members Area any time to check up on the latest site developments, leave a comment, or just to say hi!
Official Correction
In the previous newsletter (1.3), under the Review Spotlight, the review for Shrek Fairytale Freakdown was misattributed to ZB. The credit should be given to Steroid Gamer. Sorry for the mix-up, and thanks for letting me know!
Badges Earned
May 10th – 22nd
Let’s congratulate our newest author, Steroid Gamer!
POW (Video)
- The Cubist
Crown (Exceptional Member)
- ZB
Lightning Bolt (Greased)
- Doc Croc
Hammer (Hardware Review)
- Doc Croc
- Nerdy Friend
Carrot (Sr. Contrib.)
- Abyssal Oblivion
- student 20
Cloud (YouTube Subscriber)
- The Cubist
Statue Leaf (Twitch Viewer)
- AbyssalOblivion
Super Leaf (Author)
- Steroid Gamer
Map (News Article)
- Steroid Gamer
- Rhutsczar
Frog (Jr. Author)
- Doc Croc
E-Tank (E3 Article)
- Rhutsczar
Angry (Mobile Review)
- Rhutsczar
Metal (Recruiter)
- Steroid Gamer
Maxim Tomato (Featured)
- Doc Croc
- The Watchman
- student 20
- Rhutsczar
- Sarus Vakarian
- NerdBerry
- Variand
- The Cubist
- ChronoSloth
- InfiniteKnife
Bacon Badges Version 3.1 is Here!
We’ve added 2 new badges to the mix, the first of which is the Metal Box. This goes out to those of you who have directly referred someone to the site. We’ve added a field to the application so that an applicant can tell us who referred them – they can use your real name, alias, email, anything goes as long as we can connect the dots. Be sure to tell anyone you refer to fill in the “referred by” field! Even if we don’t accept the prospect, you still get the badge! Have any of you referred anyone directly to the site previously? We’ll take your word for it and award the badge retroactively.
Check out the new Maxim Tomato Badge as well! This is going out to those of you who’s articles end up in the “featured” slideshow on the homepage. I know plenty of you have had that distinction in the past, but sit tight, write some good articles, and you’ll be up there in no time!
Have you recently added us on a social network such as Facebook, Twitter, or anything else? If so, let us know and we’ll hand out the appropriate badge! Stay vigilant!
Have you earned a badge that you haven’t yet received? Let us know!
Fresh Meat:
New Member Spotlight
Let’s give a warm, crispy, greasy welcome to Nerd Bacon’s newest Baconeers!
- Marcus Phoenix
(Anthony) - Ogai (Derek)
Welcome to the meat grinder!
Member Appreciation
by NerdBerry
Kelly, or better known as Doc Croc, has been the consummate Nerd Bacon professional since her inaugural article on February 27th. Since then, she has shown a wide range in ability with her enthusiastic endeavors related to everything video games. With game reviews that range from Atari 2600 games to hardware and DIY Articles, the Doc has proven that she just enjoys gaming culture. But it’s much more than her writing abilities. The Doc is often one of the first to show up in the Twitch shows and provides a quality balance to the overall chatroom shenanigans of which we all partake. Other areas to note are her quality contributions to our social media sites via Flickr and her voluntary willingness to take on editing responsibilities, which is an area The Cubist and I have been hoping to fill. @DocCroc: Thank you for all your excellent efforts and we look forward to your authorship in just 5 more articles!
Articles
May 10th – 22nd
- Interview with Nicholas Spargo
- You Shoulda Been There: 1987
- NHL Hitz 2003
- Mini Pro EX Controller
- MKX Official Wired Fight Pad
- 10 Things I Want from E3 2015
- Successor to Castlevania Announced
- The Incredible Hulk
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
- Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate Revealed
- Nintendo World Championships Return
- MotorStorm
- Mortal Kombat X
- Rainbow Six: Siege Release Date
- Diablo
- E3 Press Conference Schedule
- Splatoon – First Impressions
- Sidemeat – 21st Slice
- WWE Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth
- Kirby: Canvas Curse
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons
- Hi-Octane
- New Nintendo 3DS XL
- Alchemic Phone 7
- Home – PS4 (Video Playthrough Ep. 1 & 2)
- How to Spot a Fake Pokemon GBA Game
- Doom 4 Teaser
- Contra: Shattered Solider
Technical Focus…Image Sizing and Alignment
Most of you have a pretty good handle on using images, but here’s a few things to keep in mind!
- If you have a nice big image, don’t be afraid to put it on its own line and make it as big as possible!
- Remember that the maximum width that an image can comfortably sustain on our site is about 550px. WordPress’ built in image editor will help you automatically size images that are too large – just click “Edit Image” and enter “550” in the first box (representing the width) and WordPress will automatically scale it properly.
- Feel free to crop out blank areas of an image or to bring more focus to whatever it is you want to show case. Always do your cropping before any resizing!
- For images appearing within paragraphs, the preset “Medium” is almost always sufficient, though you may want to do some cropping beforehand to make sure the subject of the image isn’t too small.
- Be careful with the preset “Thumbnail” setting. Unless your image is perfectly square, chances are that some of it will be cut off or possibly distorted.
- If an image is going to sit on a line by itself, be sure to center it and make sure it shows up as large as possible, up to the 550px limit for width.
- Don’t forget about captions! These are great way to insert points that may not otherwise fit into your article and to explain to the reader what’s going on in the image.
For more information about using, sizing, and aligning images, check out our official documentation: using, adding, sizing and aligning.
Upcoming Twitch Events
May 27th – 7pm EDT: Nerd Bacon Plays!
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes for Xbox 360, Part 1, with InfiniteKnife
May 28th – 7pm EDT: Girls Got Game
Game TBA with Sarus Vakarian & Nerdy Friend
June 3rd – 7pm EDT: Nerd Bacon Plays!
LEGO Marvel Super Heroes for Xbox 360, Part 2, with InfiniteKnife
June 4th – 7pm EDT: Girls Got Game
Game TBA with Sarus Vakarian & Nerdy Friend
June 10th – 7pm EDT: Nerd Bacon Plays!
StarFox 64 with InfiniteKnife
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Following, adding, subscribing, friending us earns you a badge! It can be hard for us to tell when this happens, so please let us know!
Until Next Time…
We’ve had a great couple of weeks when it comes to member activity, not only in terms of output but with several of you stepping up to the plate and agreeing to help us out with certain aspects of the site.
Here’s a few encouraging words from NerdBerry that we leave you with:
Things have been really great lately folks. The Cubist and I are more than pleased with the current team we have. Truly though, everyone puts in such a great effort contributing what they can in their spare time while asking for nothing in return. You guys are more than just writers, you’re part of a team. Part of a group. A group of like-minded individuals from very different walks of life who have one major thing in common: You love video games and you want to show everyone why! BUT, you are all VERY different people, which is what makes this group so great. Everyone is so unique, and everyone brings a completely different persona to the table. If I haven’t said this enough, or you feel like you haven’t heard it enough, please know that The Cubist and I are extremely grateful for your efforts and we’re so happy to share these experiences with you. Here’s to some great long lasting relationships be it business relationships, acquaintanceship, or close friendships. Here’s to it… Cheers.
That’s it! Get ready for E3 and keep those hype articles coming!
CONTACT US
Administrators
- NerdBerry –
NerdBerry@NerdBacon.com – Promotion, advertising, funding, events, social networking, editing, concept & direction. - The Cubist –
TheCubist@NerdBacon.com – Tech support, maintenance (badges, newsletter, membership management, etc.), graphics, editing, concept & direction.
Assistant Admins
- Variand –
Variand@NerdBacon.com – Twitch support, site support, concept & direction. - ChronoSloth –
ChronoSloth@NerdBacon.com – Link supervisor, general management & maintenance. - InfiniteKnife –
InfiniteKnife@NerdBacon.com – Twitch support.
Authors
- The Watchman –
TheWatchman@NerdBacon.com – Current affairs specialist, head reporter. - Gingerbot –
Gingerbot@NerdBacon.com – Reporter. - Justicescooby –
Justicescooby@NerdBacon.com – Senior writer. - Steroid Gamer –
SteroidGamer@NerdBacon.com – Senior writer.
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