HonestGamers review bounties topic (February, 2012)

Welcome to HonestGamers! This site features staff and user reviews for a variety of games old and new. I'd like you to be a part of the process, and I'm prepared to reward you!

What is the prize?

This month, the prize is one (1) $40 electronic Amazon.com gift certificate. You can apply it toward nearly anything on that site that is sold directly by Amazon.com. I'm not sure if it works on third-party marketplace purchases, but either way, an Amazon.com gift certificate is pretty sweet! I reserve the right to increase the size of the prize or the number of prizes awarded at my discretion.

Who is eligible?

Anyone other than myself who contributes a review to the site is eligible, as long as such contests are not void in his or her region of residence and that person is 18 or has permission from a parent or legal guardian, but only when contributing user reviews. If you review a game on assignment as staff or a freelancer, that review is ineligible.

How do I enter?

Write a review for a qualifying game and submit it. If the review is approved by a staff member during the accepted time period (no later than the last day of the month), then you can post a link to the review in this topic. Any one person may enter a maximum of 5 reviews during a given month.

What happens next?

Once the month ends, assuming that there have been 5 or more eligible reviews entered into the contest, I will compile a list of all qualifying reviews within the topic. Then I will post a new topic to encourage voting. In order to cast a vote, a user must have an HonestGamers account in good standing. Feel free to explain why you voted for that review. Users may not vote for themselves, and each user may only vote for one review during the voting period. At the end of that period (a week or two, depending on volume of activity), I will tally the votes. Obvious voting fraud will be ruled out and the winner will be determined. In the event of a tie, my vote will be the tiebreaker. Once I announce the winner, he or she will have 48 hours in which to contact me in order to make arrangements to receive the prize. I will then send the prize within the next 60 days.

Can I help make this contest even better?

You can! Make sure that you let people know about it on Facebook and Twitter, if you think they might be interested, or you can contact me if you'd like to sponsor the contest with prizes or donations. I'm easy enough to reach (you'll find a link to contact me by email in the right column on this very page). Remember that the more people who meaningfully participate, the more likely I am to increase the rewards. Everyone benefits when people are active.

So, what games are eligible for the contest this month?

The eligible titles during this one-month period are as follows:

*Final Fantasy XIII-2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
*NeverDead (PS3, Xbox 360)
*Silent Hill HD Collection (PS3, Xbox 360)
*SoulCalibur V (PS3, Xbox 360)
*Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PS3, Xbox 360)
*Resident Evil: Revelations (3DS)
*The Darkness II (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)
*Inversion (Xbox 360)
*Twisted Metal (PS3)
*Uncharted: Golden Abyss (Vita)
*wipEout 2048 (Vita)
*Hot Shots Golf: World Invitationl (Vita)
*UFC Undisputed 3 (Xbox 360)
*Tales of the Abyss (3DS)
*Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Vita)
*BlazBlue: Continuum Shift EXTEND (PS3, Xbox 360, Vita)
*ModNation Racers: Road Trip (Vita)
*Lumines: Electronic Symphony (Vita)
*Rayman Origins (Vita)
*FIFA Soccer (Vita)
*Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom (PSP)
*Rhythm Heaven Fever (Wii)
*Little Deviants (Vita)
*Tekken 3D (3DS)
*Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D (3DS)
*Syndicate (Xbox 360, PC)
*Asura's Wrath (PS3)
*Touch My Katamari (Vita)
*Ridge Racer (Vita)
*Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen (Vita)
*Army Corps of Hell (Vita)
*SSX (Xbox 360)
*Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2 (DS)
*Phantom Breaker (Xbox 360)
*Hyperdimension Neptunia Mk2 (PS3)
*Binary Domain (Xbox 360)

*Any RPG (Sega Genesis titles only)
*Any Jaleco-published game (NES titles only)

I reserve the right to add additional titles, and some titles (particularly those that are released late in the month) may be eligible next month, as well. Since HonestGamers is a site that appeals to a large number of retro gamers, I will always try to include some options so that retro reviewers can also get involved.

Do "action RPGs" count? Like, say, something Zelda-ish? Then again, that could be considered adventure... Just curious.

For the purposes of the bounty challenge, games that would typically have been classified as Adventure titles at the time (stuff like Zelda or Landstalker) are excluded.

If I can work shit out financially, I'm totally snagging a Vita. So I may grab that Hot Shots option.

For the future: When a game releases on the last day of January, it's more than likely that people won't be reviewing it until February.

Astyanax re-entered!

May I take the bounty for Soulcalibur V?

http://www.honestgamers.com/reviews/9975.html

You're now in the running, disco. Thanks for entering! Remember: there's only one winner each month and people get to vote to determine who that will be. Good luck to you and any others who enter this month! We now only need three or more additional entries!

There's several people reviewing FFXII-2, so that should give us enough to hold the contest. I'll go ahead and submit a review for Twisted Metal PS3 before the month is out, too. Well, I'll try in any case.

I just hope the people who want to enter continue entering their reviews in this topic, or else they don't count. I do agree that it looks likely that we'll hit the minimum this month, but only time will tell.

I've finally started writing my Final Fantasy XIII-2 review. It'll, um, be a while before it's finished, though.

Edit: Here it is. Final Fantasy XIII-2

Oh, how convenient! Here's mine for XIII-2

Shining Force is a long game!

LOL I'm discovering that with Phantasy Star II myself. Grind, grind, grind, do dungeon, grind, grind, grind, realize you might be deluding yourself if you think you'll have the game finished and reviewed anywhere near next Wednesday.

My review for Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D:

http://www.honestgamers.com/reviews/10046.html

Also, my review for BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Extend:

http://www.honestgamers.com/reviews/10047.html

I'll be submitting Twisted Metal tomorrow. Hopefully it gets posted before the 1st. I tried to finish it tonight, but my eyes are closing. It's 2:00am, anyway.

Word on the street is that there are 29 days in the month, but you're not the only one regarding calendars with suspicion. How can anything featuring Sports Illustrated swimsuit models be trusted? That's what I say!

Does a Rayman Origins review only count if it's for Vita?

That's right, Suskie. The point of the bounty program is to encourage the community to contribute reviews for recent releases that are most likely to generate a lot of traffic among audiences that are looking for sites with quality coverage of recent releases, or certain retro titles. There's a lot that falls in between that is still worth covering, but it's not a candidate for a bounty.

Yeah, I understand, Jason. Figured it was worth checking, though.

Argh. Dammit. I tried. Got about 1/3 to 1/2 of it done, but I'm just too tired to finish it. Even if I did finish it tonight -- which I suppose I could do if I really, really tried -- doing so would just wear me out too much to function properly at work tomorrow. So all I can do is hope that the Genny category is on March's bounty list so I can take it.