Character Battle 5 Nominations From: CJayC | Posted: 7/26/2006 2:36:43 PM | Message Detail This year's twist will become readily apparent when you visit the following link. http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/contest/contest_nominate.php --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Contest Nominations Character Battle V You may nominate up to 14 of what you consider to be the best video game characters of all time: 7 male, and 7 female. To nominate a character, simply enter the name below in the appropriate box. Please note the following ground rules: * Characters must be original creations for a video game, and not originally appearing in other sources. This excludes licensed characters (Spider-Man, Naruto) and real people (Tony Hawk, John Madden). * Once you enter a nomination, it is permanent, and you may not delete it. * Using multiple accounts to nominate more than 14 characters or the same character multiple times will invalidate all of your nominations. * If a character's gender isn't clear (i.e. they're never referenced as "he" or "she" and are totally and completely androgynous), assume they are male. * Use a character's full name when possible, and make sure you spell the character's name correctly, as it is used in the English-language version of the game (i.e. "Crono", "Aeris"). This ensures all votes are tabulated correctly. Entering the name of the game/series the character is from helps to clarify situations where a similarly named character appears in more than one game. * The following characters are guaranteed positions and do not need any nominations: Link, Cloud, Sephiroth, Mario. --- Best. Series. Ever. Winners Notes From: CJayC | Posted: 8/18/2006 3:52:59 PM | Message Detail As the winners of the BSE contest are announced, a few notes, just to remind everybody before we start the next contest. This year, three people chose to knock themselves out of contention for a gift certificate. They had the score, but not the desire, to win. One of them didn't manage to fill out their entry form completely, and two were caught red-handed voting multiple times. *shrug* Ah well, live and learn. Or don't. And congrats to mocktroid13, the first place winner with the perfect bracket! --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- 1 and 8 seeds. From: CJayC | Posted: 8/18/2006 6:00:34 PM | Message Detail Preliminary, may change, but looking solid. 1s: Solid Snake, Sora, Sonic, Crono. Samus, Zelda, Tifa, Yuna. 8s: Soma, CATS, Captain Falcon, Tingle. Roll. Carmen Sandiego, Ivy, Nidoran F. And, for the record, Midgar Zolom and Jay Solano weren't even remotely in the running. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Oh, Canada. From: CJayC | Posted: 8/26/2006 1:51:02 PM | Message Detail Part of the reason for the delay was to get everything squared through legal, but it's all good. Canadians (except those in Quebec) are allowed in. Woot. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. From: CJayC | Posted: 8/26/2006 1:59:22 PM | Message Detail Oh, and the bracket went up like 3-4 minutes ago now, but everybody's still focused on Canada. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Character Disambiguation From: CJayC | Posted: 8/26/2006 2:07:18 PM | Message Detail Jade - Beyond Good & Evil Axel - Kingdom Hearts The Boss - Metal Gear Solid 3 Roll - Mega Man Kasumi - Dead or Alive Dante - Devil May Cry And, of course: Rikku - Final Fantasy X Riku - Kingdom Hearts --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. From: CJayC | Posted: 8/26/2006 2:10:47 PM | Message Detail And, of course, if you're not sure of the others, Google or Wikipedia them. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Year number five of the Character Battle is a battle between the sexes: Four 8-character female divisions, four 8-character male divisions. The winners of each meet in the final, and then it's time for the Battle Royale. The four champion characters, Link, Mario, Sephiroth, and Cloud, will be joined by the top male and female characters from the final, and they'll all battle it out at once, with the character receiving the least votes being eliminated each day until only one remains. --- 42,646 entries... From: CJayC | Posted: 9/10/2006 6:04:19 PM | Message Detail Not as many as the summer contest, but not too shabby for school being in and all. Now, back to advent... football. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- For everybody complaining about the Kerrigan pic... From: CJayC | Posted: 9/20/2006 7:42:58 PM | Message Detail Find me another then. Go on. Round 1 is body shots. There is, to my knowledge, one official Blizzard-endorsed body shot of Kerrigan. That's it. I could be wrong. With so many people complaining, certainly you all know of some other official body shot of Kerrigan. Please tell me where it is. Surely someone knows of one. Remember: Official, Body Shot. No unofficial fan art, not the BW head shot. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- From: CJayC | Posted: 9/20/2006 8:35:04 PM | Message Detail Well, congrats, Board 8, on proving me wrong. Sort of. I mean, it took a combined effort and some major touch-ups, but you guys managed to come up with a better body shot than previously existed, and for that, you should be applauded. But you're not going to be. :) --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Ask GameFAQs: A good week... From: CJayC | Posted: 9/29/2006 6:01:06 PM | Message Detail Yes, all in all, a good week. After Monday, the queues got cleaned up nicely. Numerous little changes and fixes through the week (better error messages, updated features pages, FAQ and Review of the Month winners). And now, for some number crunching. jdig asks, "How much space does the boards database take up?" Just over 9GB, and that's with daily purging. It's not the size, it's the amount of sorting through all that data that forces us to keep it trimmed down to a manageable size. ka24 asks, "What is the total karma that all the users of GameFAQs have combined?" 87,767,149. No, 87,767,146. Wait, now it's 87,767,126. You get the idea. HaRRicH asks, "When you make a contest-bracket, how do you go about deciding which matches should be made? Do you look at previous contests, or do you decide by what simply feels close?" This year, I sorted out all of the contestants by seeds, so I had four each of each gender. From there, I went through and made a list of every past character battle, and which characters went up against which, and split the previously featured characters as far apart as possible to avoid any re-matches. The remaining characters then got dropped into the bracket where there was space, in a couple of cases to create a few interesting first-and-second round matchups. You guess which ones. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Ask GameFAQs: Pandering to the Masses From: CJayC | Posted: 10/3/2006 4:39:52 PM | Message Detail Good stuff: Yesterday, a whole pile of FAQ Bounties went up, and today, our search engine got an upgrade. There's still more tweaking that can be done to the search engine, at least on the advanced search side, so suggestions are welcome. UltimaterializerX asks, "What would happen if a contest poll ended in a tie?" The earth would collapse in on itself, destroying all life as we know it. I have no idea. It's highly unlikely, but possible. I suppose, if it looks like it could happen, I would set the contest handling script to extend the contest by 5 seconds, check to see if there's a winner, and repeat if not. peach freak asks, "What do you currently think of the NES and SMS FAQ Completion projects at the FAQ Contributors board? Do you see this in a good way? Any downfalls to it?" I think they're wonderful. The "impossible dream" of GameFAQs is to have a full guide for every game, and the completion projects are a fun and interesting way of doing it. The Game List in contributor central (and now, the advanced search engine) was created in part to assist in these efforts by allowing detailed searches of the database. As far as a down side, it does somewhat encourage quick and sloppy work that doesn't really go into a game's details, but most of the people trying to complete the project aren't the kind of people who tend to cut corners, so it's not a big problem. ICTOAN asks, "Have you ever thought of making the contests registered users only?" No. The whole point of the contest is to act as a promotion for the site, by bringing in new users, getting other sites to link to us, and so on. Requiring registration just to vote would drive users away, and it wouldn't really swing the final tallies that much (except in a few cases, and you have to admit, those were some of the more interesting battles we've had). --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- From: UltimaterializerX | Posted: 10/17/2006 6:05:47 PM | Message Detail Ceej'll probably make a topic about it later, but INSIDE INFORMATION! -There was a major vote-stuffing attempt for Jill, but none of the votes actually went through. Everything in the book has been attempted in the past, so it's easy to spot and remove cheating attempts (PS, the method MarkSmith got banned over doesn't work anymore). -No cheating was detected for Peach, just a "lol the kiddies are out of school" vote surge for her akin to Kairi's. So basically everything is legit.... so far, at least. Go Peach go! ~*ST*~ --- Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest Now Playing: Disgaea 2, KH:COM (Sora), Castlevania: LoI --- From: UltimaterializerX | Posted: 10/17/2006 9:04:53 PM | Message Detail Jill is one update overdue for another spike. Her average votes the last 5 updates = 156. +20 = 176 votes next update or so, you watch. It's been clockwork (for a reason) all day. ~*ST*~ --- Winner of the Spring 2004 "Best. Game. Ever." Contest Now Playing: Disgaea 2, KH:COM (Sora), Castlevania: LoI --- The Result: a 172 vote update for Jill. --- Battle #36 Analysis From: CJayC | Posted: 10/17/2006 10:23:48 PM | Message Detail An in-depth analysis shows lots of back and forth, lots of rallies, but no individuals who managed to alter the results of the contest. Not that they didn't try, of course. The "cheaters" vote-stuffed for Jill by only an extra 4%, but that would have been enough to tip the balance if we didn't have measures in place to block it. Of course, none of those votes actually counted, as did none of the votes from the three users were axed for vote-stuffing; all three for Peach. *shrug* --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- As this info hits the boards, Rock becomes the first to ever manage to post in a CJay announcement topic before he can close it. --- Im Ngamer (12:34:56 AM): congrats on the CJay post RockMFR (12:35:01 AM): :) Im Ngamer (12:35:09 AM): I know you've been close before, was good to see you nail it this time Im Ngamer (12:40:01 AM): there's no trick to it, right? you just have to be fast RockMFR (12:41:12 AM): well, I set up a post form with the board # and post #. Then I refreshed constantly for about 20 minutes until I saw the topic, grabbed the topic ID, threw it in the post form, and posted. Im Ngamer (12:42:17 AM): ah HA, I see Im Ngamer (12:42:43 AM): did CJay IM you about it? RockMFR (12:42:48 AM): yeah lol Im Ngamer (12:43:02 AM): from *secret AIM SN*? RockMFR (12:43:05 AM): yeah Im Ngamer (12:43:29 AM): that's cool, didn't know you were on that SN's buddy list as well --- Looking for KHII Tifa... CJayC Posted 11/3/2006 3:28:12 PM message detail I really want to use an in-game render of Tifa from Kingdom Hearts II for the quarterfinals, but have so far been unable to find one, and I've already spent an hour or so looking in all the usual places. So, once more I call upon the power of board 8 to find me an image. It needs to be good quality (I don't think screencaps from YouTube videos would work too well), and in a decent pose. Full-body isn't required, but as much as possible is, as the Samus image I'm going with is full-body. The more shots I can pick from, the better. So, Board 8, can you do it? Or do I have to pull out an old Ehrgeiz render? --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Battle #57 Analysis CJayC Posted 11/8/2006 12:21:22 AM message detail Good stuff. Some suspect voting patterns, but the end result is all good. Results verified by Diebold. While Samus won by 2418 votes, there were 2997 more "cheating" votes caught for Tifa than Samus, which means that it could have been an upset if we didn't have these measures in place. Of course, just in case you're worried those might just all have been legitimate votes unfairly thrown out, 2210 of them came from just 6 unique IP addresses. Surprisingly, only two axes handed out. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Create Your Own Battle Pic! CJayC Posted 11/9/2006 2:14:03 PM message detail It's back! http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/feedback/new.html?typeid=29 We are now accepting battle pictures for the final three rounds of the contest (Female Champ, Male Champ, Tournament Champ). Of course, only the entrants for the Female Championship are known right now... As usual, we'll post the best pics we receive on the home page, and list your names on it too. No reward other than getting your name in lights, but if you think you can do better than I've done, now's your chance to shine. Deadlines: Female Champ - November 10th, 7PM Pacific Male Champ - November 11th, 7PM Pacific Tournament Champ - November 12th, 7PM Pacific Good luck! --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Pic Delay... CJayC Posted 11/10/2006 10:00:12 PM message detail Just one up in the early going, but they'll be rotating in about 15 min. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Whew. CJayC Posted 11/16/2006 10:04:03 PM message detail With about 3 minutes to go, there was a separation of 2 votes. Luckily, it looks like some folks had saved up their votes for the the last push, and Snake pulled cleanly ahead with about 60 seconds to go. As soon as I saw that, I set up the last poll entry, pushed the image, and hoped for the best... right as my net connection glitched. So, you almost got to see a poll option of "Snakeroth". --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Image Submission for the Final Round Open CJayC Posted 11/16/2006 10:22:44 PM message detail http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/feedback/new.html?typeid=29 Three characters enter. Two characters leave. Which two will fight in the final round?? ... Okay, it's Link and Cloud, barring a massive upset. You know the drill. Now's your chance to shine; submissions due by 7PM tomorrow, and I'll pick the best of the lot and rotate them throughout the final battle, your name in lights, et cetera. Good luck! --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- CJayC: I got you a picture of Kerrigan and gave you two match pics. Post here. Villainous M Bison Posted 11/16/2006 9:47:56 PM message detail Show your gratitude for once! I never even got a thank you or recognition for that Kerrigan picture! --- Wouldn't it be scary if Friday the 13th fell on Halloween? - The scholar known as dacb1984 MakeYourChance --- CJayC Posted 11/16/2006 10:06:15 PM message detail Thanks, Bison. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Thanks for posting in my topic Ceej. Villainous M Bison Posted 11/16/2006 10:23:26 PM message detail --- "Thanks, Bison. - CJayC MakeYourChance --- CJayC Posted 11/16/2006 10:27:46 PM message detail You're welcome, Bison. --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Since CjayC seems to be chatty tonight: xXxNORGxXx Posted 11/16/2006 10:33:25 PM message detail Mind telling me why I didn't have 'the desire' to win the first summer contest this. I know I didn't cheat, or I wouldn't be here. Please answer. --- Owner of a Perfect Bracket - Best. Series. Ever. I had the score, but not the desire, to win...apparently... --- Ngamer64 Posted 11/16/2006 10:42:08 PM message detail He already did answer you. This year, three people chose to knock themselves out of contention for a gift certificate. They had the score, but not the desire, to win. One of them didn't manage to fill out their entry form completely, and two were caught red-handed voting multiple times. *shrug* Ah well, live and learn. Or don't. --- thengamer.com/xstats - "lol x-stats," The Contest Simulator thengamer.com/gamefaqs - The Contest Archives --- CJayC Posted 11/16/2006 10:48:09 PM message detail Because your entry with the perfect bracket was for fun, not a prize-eligible entry. Your entry that was eligible for prizes only scored 63. Now look sad and say "D'oh". --- Once upon a time everything was lovely, but that was before I had to deal with people. --- Final Stats Up, plus a little bonus... CJayC Posted 11/18/2006 10:26:41 PM message detail Of course, not the final rankings, since the tiebreaker hasn't been applied, and not everybody in the top scorers actually entered for prizes. For the curious, I finished with 119. Was not expecting Snake to do so well. And, just for being good sports: Character Battle V - ULTIMATE BATTLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.gamefaqs.com/shared/cb5/cb569.jpg Link Jay Solano view results only Thanks to Bison again for the pic. Figured she wouldn't mind. ---