You can tell that the collections are INCREDIBLY dynamic now. Kutos!

Flashes that havn't been up even a day are getting added lickity-split. However, is it such a good idea for day old animations to get thrown in to the collection page? I thought this would be mainly about going through older submissions that had been forgotten and get them some recognition. New flashes will be getting enough recognition as is to start out with. Perhaps a moratorium is best? Say, no work can be submitted to a collection until it is a month old (series pages being exempt, for obious reasons)? That way it might be better judged after it's newness has worn off.

Another thing, how about being able to make new collections or series? It seems to me that there has been a few new series pages opening up since this new version started. Is that just me or is it really happening (I think the "Strategy Guide" series page is new. Also the "Minushi" one)? If it's really happening how do you submit to new collection and especially series? I would REALLY like to have a Xin series page. It deserves it as much as any of the other ones that are listed currently in the series section. More even. There is 15 episodes on NG and most have won several awards.

It's time for Xin to get's it's own spot. What other series combines the full animation action, drama, and intrigue that it does in a single package?

At 8/8/05 08:11 PM, TomFulp wrote:

At 8/8/05 07:16 PM, Rabid-Echidna wrote: Does that mean that the Super Flash Bros. and David Firth both get $500?

Yuuuuup

Is that a good idea?

I don't mean giving David 500$, he deserves it, I guess. Although, I AM getting a tad irked by his total dominance of the movie awards, give other people a chance voters! He's won 3 awards in the past, ALWAYS has a movie in the top ten placing and now he's won 2 in the same category in a single month. Five awards total is also the most ANYONE has won (by a fair margin) and he hasn't even given all this good fortune so much as a single mention anywhere! It would be nice if he bothered to thank NG votes for all the money he's gotten (1250$ plus prizes isn't exactly chump change).

But no, I am talking about giving Super Flash Bros getting 500$ for 2 submissions this month. I don't care about them winning for "Zelda Lampshade" but "Decline of Video Gaming 3" was a collaboration effort. Shouldn't the 250$ have been split evenly between SFB and Double Helix instead of SFB getting it all? Unless DH and SFB BOTH got 250$ but in that case what happens if one of those massive collaborations with 6 or more artists win a spot? That can be a HUGE amount of money, especially if several collaborations win the ten spots in a given month. It might even encourage greedy people to mark in several names, even for work that isn't a collaboration, just to give friends some money in case the submission wins. It's a system that can certainly be abused.

Tom, what exactly is the policy when collaboration works win? Do all artists get 250$ or just the top placed artist? If the former, what steps, if any, are being used to safeguard people from simply adding names of friends in order to let them get money they don't deserve in case that submission wins the monthly prize?

At 8/2/05 08:38 PM, Glaiel_Gamer wrote: Well, they told me that they get about 25000 hits per day. That was a bit over twice the amount of visitors I was getting to my site when Magnetism was first released. If their site stays at 25000 visitors per day, that should give them plenty of money to sponsor all those games (I know from personal expirence)

Hmm, well what is NG spending all it's money on? It has to be raking it in much, MUCH better then GoG and if that website can make it with so little advertising why does NG need to advertise porn and such? Oh and the pop ups for non members <shudders at the memory of what pop ups was like before the invention of pop up blockers>.

GoG seems like almost a subsidiary of NG by this point, it would not be a feasible system if it was working on it's own and I have seen nothing on the internet so tied down to NG as GoG. Maby NG should buy it out and make it an official sub selection? Tom was always saying how he loves promoting games. Frankly, I think Games of Gondor does it better then NG has so it might make sense for a buyout. They certainly pay the moolah and making it so movies get a .10 deduction in points seems to be a super good incentive to focus on gaming. As well as the active recruiting of games that make it into the daily top 5.

Too bad about Tom taking himself out of the running like he did. His game deserves a spot in the monthly list. Owner of the website or not. Of all the animations and games that were showcased this month I a really hoping for Xin Session 15 to make it in there. I would love to see Lifepoint1 win something they make SUCH good animations.

On another note Games of Gondor
on their contest from May 25th, 2005 to September 30th, 2005

Grand Prize $400.00 + Sony PSP
2nd Place $350.00 + 4GB iPod Mini
3rd Place $300.00 + iPod Shuffle 512MB
4th Place $250.00
5th Place $200.00
6th Place $150.00
7th Place $100.00
8th - 15th Place $50.00

I know they are only awarding the prizes after a 4 month stint but still that's a lot of money AND

Front Page Bonus: If your game makes the front-page of NG you will receive a $50.00 bonus.
Most views: The game with the most views @ the end of the contest will receive a $50.00 bonus.
50 for 50: Any game that has more than 50,000 views by the time the contest ends will receive an additional $50.00 bonus.
First Ten: The first 10 entries received that have a score higher than 3.40 will receive a $50.00 bonus.

AND on top of that they are supplying ipod shuffles which cost almost as much as the 250$ prize packs NG gives out.

WHERE ARE THEY GETTING THE MONEY FOR ALL OF THIS??? It's much smaller then NG and doesn't have all the advertising either. How can they afford to give all this money away to people? Also, are they inextricably linked to NG or are they using it to get enough reconnection to make their own competing portal eventually (it is after all a fairly new website)? I wonder as well how much having such a dedicated platform for games is boosting the number of artists making them. They even recruit games that had nothing to do with the website. They just posted on NG and GoG came along and ask if they can sponser it (like RaidenX).

I would really like to know the history and motivations for the creators of this website and to know how closely it and NG are linked (besides the obvious). they don't really talk about it there. Is anyone else wondering the same?

The IGN review partially compared it as a next-gen Golden Axe. I loved that game. This sounds like fun Tom. Congratulations on your new project.

One question. Alien Hominid got a lot of it's advertising by being a flash game on Newgrounds. Will you make a flash version of YOS to post on Newgrounds as well so you can do some on-sight advertising for that as well? I'm sure everyone here would appreciate it.

Well guys, my one brief glimp of Tom doing his thing in the show came from a post from HairydragonballZ here. In it he tells what his current favorite submission to Newgrounds is.

I really don't want to download Bit Torrent but if you guys who DO have it, could you download the episode (or some choice bits from it) onto this site so the rest of us can watch? I can see the show really easy. All I have to do is click and the clip auto loads.

At 7/8/05 02:48 PM, TomFulp wrote: I have always wanted to get NG some sort of spot on TV and it's a possibility now. The tough part is content needs to be prepped for TV format and any copyrighted music needs to be replaced by music we are allowed to use. I need to hire a full time TV-prep guy back in the Philly area to do that sort of thing on a consistent basis.

Oh yea... I didn't really think about that. If you deleted all the videos that had copyrighted music in it that would be a huge chunk. Does anyone know if video game theme songs count? Like Mario music? Is all that copywriter? Do you have to change the look of the characters? Would the straight (using proper names and such of whoever they were aminating about) parodies/tributes to all the movies/games be covered under first amendment?

If course there is PLENTY of original stuff here, to be sure. The Xombie series would probably fit right in, for example but definitively you'd have to be more selective then I was thinking at first.

If NG did go onto television what rules would an aspiring webartist have to follow to make sure he could have his work shown on it? Also if he publishes here dopes that mean his work can be used an any way that the owners of the site wish?

There is alot of food for thought with this idea. Plus the resizing of the animations of course. Still I could love it so much if it could be done. Maby not TV even, maby it could be a video series like "Girls Gone Wild" woot!

It's so cool that Tom get's to be on TV. I guess it's more of a local station. I don't think I get the show up here in Canada. I didn't see anything on it. But just in case I do, what station is it on?

It would be so great if NG could break out of it's niche market. It seems bottled up in it when there is a still a whole world of people that have no idea. I think we have become large enough to go prime time, so to speak.

I always thought NG animations should make it to TV. It could be like a flash Masterpiece Theater. Tom comes on and gives a little intro and then shows the different submissions that have been collected. We have so much by this point we could have a half hour show every day and not run out of material for a LONG time to come.

Then things start happening. Newgrounds becomes the most famous website since Google. It goes on the stock market and the people will buy like they did before the technology stock crash. Next think you know Tom Fulp is on Forbe's Magazine for up and coming nouveau riche millionaires. The title would read something like "Dot-Com era over? Tell that to Fulp" BOOYA!!

and the games... Why can't we give them more exposure? I see all these computer, arcade and home entertainment systems from back before we could even manage 16 bit graphics that are being sold in package deals for people to play or be put into cellphones or whatever else they think of. NG has such a wonderful collection of stuff we should be able to find some way to market and sell them.

I don't suppose this could happen, could it? Seems to me alot of people became millionaires with sites that had MUCH less to offer then this one does. Maby I'm just dreaming...

'Lilium' is the movie I expected to see in first place or, at most, second (after I saw 'Xombie: Chapter 6' come out, that series is VERY hard to beat) place in this month's winners. Nothing has been more parodied then that movie since maby even as far back as Numa. How many have there been by now? We could probably make a collection page out of it by this point. I'm pretty surprised that the Clams one beat it.

Having Burnt Face Man win this month means David Firth holds the record of most wins (3 total). Woot! I don't much care for his stuff , it's humor is just a little slow and dry and he makes such disturbing productions. I don't even think this edition was all that worth the win but you gotta be impressed by the amount of money he's gathering up by this point. Even when he doesn't win he seems to have a movie on contention every time. 750$ by my count, PLUS all the extra prizes he's won since Tom started handing out the monthly prizes. Wonder what he's doing with all that money. I think this goes to show that David is one of our more active artists and has a supremely strong fanbase. Even more so then some others like Iwillpress or the Lifepoint1 team ('Surface' didn't even rank in the top 20 *sob*. Hopefully the New Xin will do better)

I certainly liked 'RaidenX', it was my favorite game of the month as well. I always enjoyed the arcade version when I played it so long ago. I was really surprised that 'Field Command' didn't get an award. The side scrolling, action genre is more popular then I thought. Generally, I find those games to be uninteresting. The puzzle ones and Sabermania are interesting though. Ah well.

and let me add to the chorus of congratulations to DaSadGirl. Out first known and active user winner.

Overrated or not, Xin still is one of the longest continuous animated series on Newgrounds. It's won a long string of awards and been given wide acclaim.

When is it going to get a series page for itself? It's definably deserving.

I'm surprised Tom has given us ten votes. That's alot of submissions to pick. True, we now will have ten winners but since we are not really dividing it up into two separate categories does it really matter? Games will still not get as many top rankings as movies do so we would have to go down below the top ten list to get the required number of games anyway.

Just a thought but as long as the games and toon categories are not fully divided (which might very well be the best way if we have ten choices), why not stick to just five choices for people to pick? It's less work all around for the voters and the results should be about the same as they would have been when you do ten (all things being equal). Ten is alot of choices to pick, a person might look at it and look at how many flashes they must choose from and not want to bother.

I could be wrong, how about it experienced voters. Was it easier to have 5 votes or the current 10 or is it about the same?

Also, I don't know about the rest of you but I find myself skimming all the choices people put up. Before, I always read the full number of choices that was posted but it just looks kind of long and boring to really check them all out at ten and consider it as I used to.

And now, I would like to recommend one particular game for your voting consideration.

"Field Command"
It's author, BARMan, has come and created his very first stick animation (dots are sticks, right?) and it’s his best work to date. The man has been trying to get a daily top place for close to 2 years now is just an example of how you never can tell what will be the next big success around here. The game is simplicity itself, you are in command of an army group during the Vietnam War. As you move from one tactical situation to the next, you are given a number of choices. Make the right ones and you will give victory to the USA. The wrong ones will of course lead to your death, most likely but it’s ok, you are not sent back too far in the game (which isn’t that long anyway).

I confess, I am a big strategy buff. Not a great one mind you but decent. I enjoy board games that feature tactics (more so then ones that are mainly strategic like Risk) and have read many books on the topic, particularly WWII. A big problem with RTS games is that it’s a slug feast. The person with the most troops will win the battle. Boring! Here I found myself entranced by the little dot men as they intelligently went about their business. Willing to die like gangbusters for the cause but not being STUPID about it. This made Field Command more fun in its limited way then even established buyable games like Starcrraft or Command & Conquer. They have many good features but you can get sick of micromanaging and mass attacks you know.

In short this is a must play game and I am glad that this side project has given the author the acclaim he has long deserved and since five games will win anway why not help make this submission one of them?

At 6/16/05 11:16 AM, liljim wrote:
Alright, you seem to be missing the princinpal point here in that Newgrounds first flourished as a gaming website. Its grass roots are with games. That's what made it popular.

Let's now see how many games score over 3.0 compared with how many movies score with over 3.0

Games: 3,817/11,329 = 33.69%.
Movies: 17,718/49,219 = 40.00%.

Do we continue to let games developers feel neglected by our audience of voters ... or should we let game developers continue to be disappointed with the results of the monthly voting to a point where they peter out on the site completely? Let's see how the averages compare on who comes to see each type of submission on the site in total:

Movies average views per submission: 15,164.85
Games average views per submission: 89,177.67

Wow, that last stat about the average views per submission is really impressive. I had no idea that games were viewed so much more then movies and you say they are ignored? Your ascertains make even less sense to me now after seeing that.

As for the rest, nice try but no dice. I have covered all of this in previous posts but one more time (and I hope this to be the last time) I will repeat it.

No, I did not miss this principal of Tom opening up the site for games... HIS games! That's what he does, games. So what? Why is this important to it's present state? What does one have to do with the other? I am sure that if Tom had had other interests (like in toon movies) that would have worked for him as well and things would have ended up being similar (if not exact). Am I right? Impossible to say but there has to be more to him then making games and I have to believe that quality (drive, ambition...whatever) would shine through.

When Newgrounds evolved. He could have stuck to his gaming roots but decided on a grander vision. Movies and toons could have been banned altogether. They weren't, he opened the floodgates and let the free market happen. Which also made it the success it today. Movies are just as important as games, either alone is MUCH less effective. I'm not sure why the past is the point. As far as I can see it has no bearing on what is. So why not keep the talk to after the portal was automated. Anything before that just doesn't seem important to this debate.

Your other 'key' point is the rating system. I have already stipulated that movies get higher ratings over the long term for varying reasons. Why are we on this again? However, it did make me check a few things. Games marked under 2 is actually slightlyhigher then for movies (and anything below 1 is less then 2% of the total. Not worth bothering to work out). So the rating divide is actually larger then I thought it was. Interesting, I'm big enough to admit I was wrong to assume that games in general did not score in the low end as much, making up for the lack in the high end. That said...

SO WHAT???

What does this have to do with anything? Sure, the games get lower scores but they are also viewed six TIMES more (thanks for telling me that). That's certainly a trade off, a HUGE trade off. While movies rate slightly higher from a small 3% of the total, game developers know they are being viewed by many, MANY more people and their stuff is getting out there beyond NG DESPITE their lower rank (that will not change anyway no matter how much money you give a few of them). I don't know about you but that would seem to be adequate compensation to me. Wouldn't you rather have 6 times as many views then a mesially extra point in your score which would STILL put you in the deep depths of Newgrounds generally? The only way to solve their lack of visibility is to fix up the collections (which is finally being done), thanks for that!

Another point, games can lead to deals that have not been done with the toons to my knoledge. Alien Hominid is the most widely known success story but I also know that Ryan Khatam has 'been commissioned to create more Johnny Rocketfingers games' (he said so on his website). He's getting paid to do a sequel to the game he submitted here. Sure, hitting the jackpot like this is rare but has even one animation had so big a prize?

It's really interesting that we look at the exact same numbers here but come to such different conclusions. I can only assume you are nursing a grudge against the 'establishment' that you believe is keeping games down.

Dispite all this, here's the thing, it doesn't matter what the long term scores are. What's important is the daily awards. Everything we've just said up until now is pointless if you don't deal with it.

Obviously, enough people gave good scores to shoot games up, at least long enough that despite their lower eventual ranking they still earn the same number of awards (percentage wise) that movies get. Roughly one fifth. They submit one fifth of the entries, they get one fifth of the daily awards.

The people that get these awards surely cannot complain they are being ignored personally. So they are unlikely to stop their work in despair now, aren't they? Winning cash is also VERY unlikely to boost the long term score of their game. It get's very little publicity, one post and is voted on by a mere 2000 people. Such a small fraction of our daily traffic.Therefore liljim, your stated reason for this change can only be considered bogus.

Games are NOT ignored!
If they were TRULY shunned then how is it possible they win as many daily awards as they do?
Can't answer that can you?
You don't even try.
I'm getting sick of repeating it add nauseam.
All you can do is try to work around it because apparently it's so devastating that if you acknowledged it you know you would have to concede the point.

I will try and not respond to any more of you people imagining you can rebut my posts if you don't deal with this fact. It's pointless.

PS. Just one more thing, can you at least consider my idea? Obviously you are going to split the awards so I'll stop arguing against it but why does it have to be the same number as movies? It's clearly unfair to have 1/5th of the choices get 1/2 of the cash awards. Wouldn't... Okay, 2 prizes get the same goal across and if/when more games win then you can increase the number of cash awards to games. Can you at least think about it? Your all so busy trying to shoot me down to consider this.

At 6/15/05 02:33 PM, MasterGehn wrote:
I like how you try to spew facts and statistics about NG as if you knew it like the back of your hand. You make snooty comments like, "According to my recent study..." and "whatever, my facts are correct..." You have all these assumptions and no really hard numbers to back up anything you're talking about. You seem to feel SO educated on what you're speaking of, and so sure of yourself. Then you get all sensitive when your comments get dismissed by someone who clearly knows more about the site and its workings than you do. Tone down your arrogance a little and just accept the idea that there might be more information about NG's system that you're unaware of.

Bitter, bitter bitter...

TRY to spew facts?

Are you accusing me of lying and having made up everything I wrote in order to further some anti gaming agenda? That's extremely nasty and unfair thinking. Could this be the problem everyone has with my posts? *sighs*

I don't know what to say except it only required about 10-20 minutes worth of work to do this. I can also assure you I made NO assumptions until I had already done the calculations.

It's just when I read the header post and the replies the general assumption was that games are and have been unfairly ignored here in Newgrounds for some time. I was curious if that was true so I checked it out and I discovered that it was not.

Anyone can do it. It's not about Tom or you or anyone else knowing more then me. If you think I was dishonest, instead of assuming it and looking down on me. Why didn't you just check it for yourself?

All you have to do is go to the
Newground archives
to get the information. In it you can see how many submissions there are (as I write this the amount stands at 60,004. NG keeps growing) you then can divide that up into a game or toon section. Then you can FURTHER divide it by pulling up all the daily winners in all five categories (you can also pull up turds of the week, review crew pics and others) and add them together, as I have done. It's not a matter of being 'snooty', I just looked at the numbers that NG itself provides to anyone that looks and did the math. It's extremely simple.

If there is some OTHER information that isn't included in this that may be relevant please share it. ( I do NOT consider looking at the top fifty relevant. It's got alot of mass voting and clicks surrounding authors to be a true indication of much except the flavor of the month ).

Oh and Psycho_Goldfish, great post, made me think. I'm rereading Newground history. Perhaps it was more about games then I thought. Still, in the end, it was a private showcase of one artist. It's two very different worlds, then and now, you can't really compare them and it would be unfair to try to entice people into make more games here just because you really like games and that's what you submitted when it was your private showcase or because of a vocal minority, clamoring for more.

From the numbers that I pulled up on the archives, while I would certainly agree that movies may more likely to get into some popular spots (like the top fifty due to fanboy interest that just doesn't happen as much with games), games are still placed in the 5 top daily awards at a slightly higher rate then pure numbers would suggest and it's CERTAINLY not lower. It would have to be lower by quite a bit if games were truly being shunned in general. SERIOUSLY, don't you or anyone else take my word for it. Go to the archives and look into it yourself.

Plus, keep in mind that some animations take months to create as well and can still lose out to the latest Foamy cartoon. It all depends on how far your willing to push yourself in either medium, either can take up alot of effort. Also, while crap animations are much more common then crap games (dress-up stuff *cough*) , keep in mind that their scores reflect that fact.

When push comes to shove, the basic facts are that games comprise less then one fifth of the total here in NG and the awards given are (gamers dreams of persecution notwithstanding) on par with that ratio. Games are NOT being shunned. They are NOT being ignored. They get the amount of recognition that that their percentage deserves. No more, no less. Making this split for the monthly awards DOES put an unfair focus on games, especially if you are giving them 5 spots, the same as movies. Two spots would be more appropriate until games take up a larger percentage of the total, it's not an unreasonable idea, please don't treat it as such. Why are you all so against it? That or don't do this new feature at all. Why is everyone so against the status quo?

At 6/14/05 09:59 PM, TomFulp wrote:

At 6/14/05 02:24 PM, TomaO2 wrote: Lets not tinker period.

Well I'm gonna do it anyway.

Wow, that one actually hurt, I gave a comprehensive reasoning as to why games (contrary to the popular opinion) actually are not underappreciated in Newgrounds. Why we didn't need to do this.

About the only replies I get are put downs from people that say I am wrong because of silly reasons. I am 'too new' (I'm not, I was just to casual to bother registering. When your on dial up, it was such a pain to load up anything but it shouldn't matter, my facts are correct) and 'too opinionated. I don't get that last one as I think I am being less opinionated then others. As anyone that has watched CSI knows, the evidence doesn't lie and my numbers are spot on. While everyone else gives options they state as facts (that games are underrepresented). That is far worse in my book.

I say, if you are going to do it anyway (I don't think you should). There is only 1 game for every 5 toons posted so at least make it a smaller number such as 1, 2 or maby 3 tops for the monthly award. Which seems more fair since you are getting them from a much smaller pool. Which will probably not go up significantly from this initiative.

Look, I don't need people to agree with me but I would have really appreciated it from you Tom, in particular, if you had just... made me feel like you took the issues I raised seriously. That was so dismissive. I considered that post very carfully. It was well thought out. Didn't it deserve a little better then that?

At 6/14/05 01:46 PM, Glaiel_Gamer wrote:

At 6/14/05 02:06 AM, TomaO2 wrote: a lot of stuff

I don't agree. Look at the top 50 list, maby 2-3 are games? that is not proportionate to the amount of games and movies in the portal.
You left out many key points, my friend.

Yea and the worst flashes of all time are predominantly animations too. Also, the turd of the week is usually an animation.Therefore games MUST do better then animations.

You see the faulty logic?

The top fifty is an ever changing dynamic and not really a key point at all. If you start there then you have to talk about the Popularity rank , Top 50 Artists, Top 50 Most Bookmarked Artists, the Review Crew Pick... plus all those user made lists. Best just to set aside the entire mess.

What's important is the dailyportal awards (I also leave out the weekly awards as I don't think that's as relevant and is pretty well covered in the daily awards anyway). This is where I am focusing. When you win on of these awards it's won and it stays there, unchanging for as long as this site shall run. Try telling me an ACTUAL key point I missed or maby another set of numbers which dispute what I have shown. so far no one has so we should assume the are correct. IF the numbers are correct, then I don't see how you can some to any other conclusion then the one I did.

RiftMaster, your post had nothing meaningful to say but I will mention that while I have not been officially a part of NG for more then two months I assure you I have been looking around here for a few years now it's not nice to make snap judgments on people.

That's like me saying you couldn't POSSIBLY have been very interested in the going on's of newgrounds as your experience level is the same as mine (with all those years extra you had to get them and you write about .2 posts a day. that's a pretty unfair assertion isn't it? Please don't make them about me.

At 6/14/05 10:33 AM, totoum wrote:

At 6/14/05 02:06 AM, TomaO2 wrote: long post

to get into the daily top 5, a game has to be really good, a movie doesn't, it will get more exposure

the original NG was known for pico, assassin, club a seal, all were games, NG was originaly a place to play games, pico the mascott of NG is from a game, tom fulp the founder of NG is known for making games, the most viewed supmission is a game

it's just that over the years games have had less and less attention.

That argument doesn't take into account what I said. There seems to be a common misconception. Newgrounds was NOT specifically devoted to games originally. It was devoted to one artist that happened to also make games. Some artists make games as opposed to movies ya know. That's a HUGE difference. What if Tom had been an animation maker? Would it then have been okay to say that games are neglected because this place was originally for animations solely? That's just as bad.

However, when he opened it up to everyone, he could have made it a showcase for games exclusively. He could have just forbidden movies altogether. He did not because he wanted it to be open to ANYTHING flash could do. It evolved being past being Tom's private showcase into a forum for flash animation of all kinds. As well as other stuff. We got claymation, live video, even hand drawn, pencil and paper anime that was scanned in. The before and after situations arn't even in the same ballpark, you can't possibly compare them fairly.

Let me repeat, when Newgrounds automated the portal it was essentially a total remake in operations. You can't possibly give a fair comparison the two periods. You may as well say that Nintendo should get back to it's 1889 roots as a maker of paper playing cards. The two DON'T compare!

So lets talk about what happened after.

I'd be willing to bet that within a month of opening the site to public submissions. The portal was already flooded with many, MANY more animations then there were games. It would be hard for me to prove this but the archived numbers seem to bare this out. So basically, throughout it's automation, portal entry on Newgrounds has been predominantly about animations. We, of course, can and should honor the humble roots of this fine website (such as looking up to Pico, our official mascot) but not get taken up by things that just don't compare anymore.

As I have stated, according to the archives, if you add up all the games ever submitted it comes to in-between 1/5th to 1/6th of the total. If you add up the number of awards given out it comes out to in-between 1/5th and 1/6th of the total as well and if you add up the number of games that have won awards since the beginning of the month AGAIN it comes to a ratio of in-between 1/5th to 1/6th. In fact the number of games that have won awards is slightly better, ratiowise, then the number of games submitted and portal awards came AFTER

So, far from games becoming less and less prominent, they have actually been at an EXTREMELY steady minority ever since the portal automated and have won awards at the same (or at a slightly higher) ratio as they have been published ever since the portal was automated. Furthermore, as my most recent study has shown, this ratio is the same now as it has been historically. Saying that games have been becoming less and less important over the years just fails to address the reality.

This ratio is just not likely to change.

Let's not imagine things as they could be if only some tinkering is done.

Lets not tinker period.

and finally, totoum, if you or anyone else disagree with me try to some up with something better then before the portal was automated, games... I hope I have made this clear (after repeating it a dozen times, sheesh)
THEY DON'T COMPARE!!!

Well, this is all well and good but it seems unfair put games on par with the movies in this way. As Tom said, not as many people submit them. Plus, this act may garner even MORE annoying calls to increase their visibility in other areas. Will we eventually split the daily awards too? I hope not, It would just allow a bunch of lesser games to garner attention. Don't believe me?

Think about it. First off, It's not just the monthly awards where games are supposedly underrepresented, it is the daily awards too and according to the rules. A game has to have been on front page or get a daily award to be in consideration. Since the start of this month or 13 days there has been

3 recorded daily firsts,
1 daily second,
1 daily third,
3 daily fourths and
3 daily fifths placed games for a total of 11 out of a possible 65 these past 13 days!

People, that's less then one game per day (or to put it another way, less then 1 out of 5) that is eligible for the same number of cash prizes as animations, which have to compete against 4 times this number.

Due to the wonderful archives at Newgrounds it's possible to figure out the absolute ratio as well. There has been

1,740 recorded daily first,
1,304 second,
1307 third,
868 fourth and
871 fifth place winners. For a grand total of 6090 since records were kept.

Out if that large total, there are only

335 recorded daily first,
274 second,
252 third,
141 fourth and
160 fifth place game winners. For a grand total of 1162.

Games don't even break the 1,200 mark which they would need to achieve a simple ratio of 5 to 1 and why should they? With the wonders of the archives we can find out exactly how many games have been submitted in out entire history.

There has been 59,939 submissions recorded submissions gathered in all of Newgrounds history. Only 11,200 have been games. Incredibly, if you divide by 10 these total numbers are almost exactly the same as the amount for the top five representation of toons and games that we just went through above. Why, it even appears that games have gotten slightly more awards then their numbers might suggest.

If you were going solely on numbers.

Conclusion:
Games have ALWAYS been submitted at a ratio somewhat less then 5 to 1 when compared to toons. On top of that they have also won awards at almost the same rate as they have been submitted. Less then 5 to 1 again. As the number of awards won to games submitted it essentially equal. We can now see that Tom's assertion that "movies generally score on a higher curve than games" is not correct. According to these number (if you want to get into decimal points) games actually do a bit better then the movies when it comes to awards won to the total percentage of submissions.

So having less the one game per 5 in the daily five is, in fact, historically accurate and completely fair. It stands to reason that getting just 1 game (at most) in the monthly top 5 on average is also appropriate.. It's in line with what has been the case throughout the history of NG.

Saying this was intended to be a games site or trying to get it back to it's roots is simply not realistic to the reality. Movies always have and shall ever be the dominate force in NG. No matter what kind of incentives or tinkering is done. The free market has spoken. Don't try to nanny us get different results simply to please a vocal minority or to make what people submit more in line with what you personally believe it should be. It is what it is and we should all accept that. That's capitalism at it's finest people and, more and more, I find that I wouldn't have it any other way.

Solution:
Giving the same number of monthly awards to games is grossly unfair and I recommend that if this must go though with this (I really don't think you should. The system as it sands, seems fair). Games should get 1 or 2 awards, perhaps 3... maximum! Having 5, the same as movies, is just not proper and can only lead to an unfair showcasing of inferior flash.

I hope this post makes you think a little. Peace out.

You know, I still just can't help but feel your not really thinking about the important parts of what I am saying. Just looking to find quick points to target me on. I really take exception to your act, pretending like your the one that was insulted, though.

:And what exactly is the "this" I've given you? I work hard on my posts (and my reviews), too, yanno. A large portion (larger than that of most posters, certainly) of my posts reach or nearly reach the 6500 character limit. I type fast, but it still requires time, effort, attention, etc. etc... so I respect the care you give your own posts, but please don't disrespect me by implying I couldn't possibly understand that or possibly be anything like you in that regard. It's insulting, man.

But you didn't respect the care I made in my post. Don't pretend you did. That's what "THIS" is.

You replied in such a dismissive way. You mentioned NOTHING about it having made any kind of a point whatsoever. It would have been really nice if you had but instead you just lumped it in what a bunch of half thought out posts and essentially trashed it, and you spent more time trashing my words then the others. Yes, that WAS insulting and disrespectful... to ME and it was far more so then my post was to you.

Since you seem utterly at a loss as to how I could feel this way, perhaps I should bring every point to the fore. You seem to like completely excessive nitpicking.

:SO MUCH HATE IN THIS TOPIC, eh? Let's fan the flames:

First off, you said you wanted to 'fan the flames' and labeled the posts as hate. You say now that this is OBVIOUSLY tongue in cheek. I don't see how I am expected to know what is meant jokingly and what is serious. Perhaps, you can remember not everyone has the same since of humor as you have and when your not dealing with friends, keep things more diplomatic or at least say 'joking' in brackets.

:At 6/7/05 03:12 PM, Back_Door_Baron wrote:

Then you got my name wrong. Even if it was a mistake you surely must be able to appreciate how that makes a person feel dismissed (and do not tell me not to 'freak out', you probably meant it as another 'joke' but it's not coming across that way). Then you simply repeat what I have already said. Which really DOES make it sound like you are not properly reading what I wrote.

:Did you, Back_Door_Baron (and JetNinjin and ScrunchMuppet), ever think that JUST MAYBE... just maybe other voters for these monthly contests aren't voting strictly for the "most visually stunning animations"? The ones that [graphically] "blow everything else away"?? Did it ever occur to you that things like humour, action, drama, violence, romance, plot, dialogue, interactivity, and MANY OTHER FACETS of a flash appeal to different people differently?

Um... no, I didn't. I only consider the graphics. That's my style. #;-}>

:#1) a very fun and replayable game (with great graphics, IMO, so perhaps you'd agree with this pick, if not the other four)
#2) a hilarious Marc M flash with a song about a dragon's penis (which to you must be shit, since it isn't "visually stunning")
#3) a hilarious flash about a burglar with Tourette's Syndrome (not very good graphics either, but they were better than the dragon penis flash's)
#4) a sweet and funny visual story/music video about a girl who meets a robot and goes to school with it
#5) a kick ass shooter game with not the best graphics but FUN GAMEPLAY

How do you think I liked it when you go over your picks and decide how much I'd like each by the graphics that are in it? You say I'm insulting??? You beat it over and over again, graphics are not important. Well, that was the conclusion I came to as well. Like I said, TOTALLY REDUNDANT!

:All the idiots lecturing people for not voting for what THEY PERSONALLY LIKED need to get over themselves.

You cap it off by calling me and other posters idiots. More of that humor of yours, I guess. I have a few funny words I could use on you too. Since you find that sort of suff amusing, I am sure you ''d. laugh but I don't sink to that level and I would appreciate it if you didn't either, it cheapens any meaningful dialogue. Unlike the others, I'm not telling you to vote on what I personally like. You never denied that Nim looks better then the rest. ALOT more skill and work went into it. Quality should rise to the top.

Oh yea, I guess I really am the insulting one...

Well, it may surprise you but despite what I just said above, I don't think graphics are all there is to a good animation. (Last month I would have loved K&K The Finale to have won I love the series) Which is why I mentioned that I was able to pick out two winners for this month. I wrote a good summery for both describing the numerous ways they were good flashes and it didn't exclusively focus on the graphics. You now tell me that, in fact, you meant to say that alot of aspects get judged when making a flash movie. Well, I KNOW THAT!!!

That said, graphics are the biggest show of skill. The better they are the more you know a person worked on it. What was it they say? 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. humour, action, drama, violence, romance, plot, dialogue, and interaction... ALL of that is the inspiration. We have no way of knowing how much thought went into it. We don't know how much effort that was but we do know if a person spent weeks drawing the look of it. That, we can be sure of.

I have very little faith anymore. Don't toss in that line about Galapagos. Galapagos would probably not have made it. That's my feeling after the recent dismissal of Nim's Tale. I have actually seen that animation and while it may have deserved a place, it would not have gotten one. I think that, fundamentally, the top 2000 users will choose other styles. Like the Madness (and it's spinoffs, I noticed that Tricky Apotheosis did rather well for what is pretty well just madness, starring Tricky) series with it's spin offs and David Phulp's creepy stories and whatever.

I don't think that is right, if it was open voting for everyone, I would agree that a higher slandered cannot be sometimes used but I just can't help but feel that the top 2000 active users in Newgrounds, who have all been here for a year and more should be capable of it. I guess can agree to disagree on that. Which is fine, we can do that. Just don't treat my thought's like they are of less worth then yours.

At 6/9/05 08:45 PM, gfoxcook wrote:

At 6/7/05 03:12 PM, Back_Door_Baron wrote: I guess I was just so dazzled by the beauty and artistry of the N.W. that I let it blind me to the truth. You need more action or humor if you want to win an award here on Newgrounds. A silent piece (or mostly silent) that is all about the stunning visuals has no place getting an award, apparently. With the exception of The Fox and the Mirror (I'm not sure how that piece placed better) all the flashes that placed higher then Nim's had this to one degree or another.

I'm really disappointed, I don't think anyone can argue that it and Gooberstory were the most visually stunning animations released that month. It blows everything else away. Even VH cannot compare. Although obviously many of you voters liked other movies better, how can you not justify reserving at least one spot on your list for at least Nim's Wintertale? Just for the sheer quality that went into it.

Did you, Back_Door_Baron (and JetNinjin and ScrunchMuppet), ever think that JUST MAYBE... just maybe other voters for these monthly contests aren't voting strictly for the "most visually stunning animations"? The ones that [graphically] "blow everything else away"?? Did it ever occur to you that things like humour, action, drama, violence, romance, plot, dialogue, interactivity, and MANY OTHER FACETS of a flash appeal to different people differently?

This... this is so wrong I don't even know where to begin. Oh wait, I yes I do. Back Door Baron? Who the heck is he? I wrote this. I mean really... How hard is it to quote a person properly?

As for the rest, did you actually read what I said? I don't appreciate having that post labeled as hate, by the way. Although, I'll admit I was somewhat unfair when I talked about DucktalesZ (which you didn't mention this time around but might later so I'll cover myself). It's actually a good flash I just don't agree with it's high rating.

Jeez, do I really need to re-explain myself? I thought I was clear when I wrote it. I will try ONE more time as I think I made a good point and am willing to elaborate as it may make others think about it. I will then ignore you if you can't be bothered to reply to me sensibly. Just like I am doing with that guy that responded to my DTZ rant. Ba, I work hard on my posts, it's really a downer to have the first person to reply to me write so nonsensically and now the second gives me this.

Right off the bat, I said that it seems that you need more action or humor if you want to win an award here on Newgrounds. I mean, seriously. Don't tell me that people like things such as action or humor if I have already said so. It makes your statement redundant. Besides, I DO have a pretty good idea what people are into. I wrote a lengthy and, I think, well informed post when the nominations were announced (why don't you check it out?) on who would win. I correctly picked NG Sim and Bunnykill 3 Pt1 to win awards for various reasons that are listed there so I won't waste time repeating them.

I also knew that despite it's graphical excellence that Gooberstory would not be chosen as a top five. Simply to abstract and also don't think an author can win 2 monthly awards in one month. Gotta spread the love (cash) around, lol. I thought Valhalla Knights might but between that and Nim's Tale I thought Nim was more likely to win. As I had read people complaining about VK more in reviews.

Obviously, I was wrong. Now, I am aware that people like other types of movies better. I was simply stating that all of you that vote are Newground veterans. Surely, you can recognize a piece that is truly exceptional. It was by a first time artist. I only asked if there can be no thought given to an animation that is truly exceptional even if it's not exactly to your taste? Were I voting I would have picked Gooberstory for fifth place. NOT because I liked it so much (I didn't) but just because the quality, the workmanship, the sheer beauty of it... I just could not, NOT vote for it. I knew in my heart it had more work put into it then anything else and it was a new author to the community. The Bunnykill series has already won once as has the animator that did VK. Plus Nim's Tale, it was actually good as a story. It's not just some abstract art, it was excellent in many ways that mattered.

All I asked is can we not look beyond what we like the MOST personally and look at something that we also think is very good as well (though obviously still not as interesting to you as your personal favorites) and say something like:
"While this is not exactly my style, this new author (that has won nothing) has made something so good it deserves something for the work"?

I'm not asking you to vote on the Gooberstories (which you may find weird and totally uninteresting no matter how well done, mass appeal is important too. Don't ever think it's not) but the Nim's Tales that you probably like and realize are made well even if your something of a fanboy for other works that can be picked.

Just some things to think about. Peace out.

Oh man, I am so disappointed. I loath Ducktales. It's the movie I most love to hate right now. I was really hoping that this movie would not win. I can't believe how well it did. I was so positive when I first saw this that it would soon vanish ot the face of the top 50. I was wrong, was I EVER wrong.

Why is it that an ugly, UGLY looking movie with nothing but fart jokes and 5 year old humor get's to be number five when there is so much good, intelligent stuff that was released this month? I mean, these are the votes from the top 2000 users of Newgrounds. I thought they had a little more maturity in their tastes then that. At least Retarded Animal Babies was drawn better and wasn't QUITE so stupid. It had an interesting premise at least.

It's kind of funny, I picked 3 movies to be sure bets to win. NG Sim, Bunnykill 3 pt1 and then I was going to go with Valhalla Knights but after looking at it again, I went with Nim's Wintertale. I read the reviews for VH and knew there were people that didn't care for the main voice character or the titalating panty shots at the start and thought maby that would take it's placing down a notch. I now believe the reverse was true. So much for being able to pick the 'so called' sure things. <sighs> Though I did admit personal bias (maby that was the problem and I could manage it better next time though. Hmm)...

I guess I was just so dazzled by the beauty and artistry of the N.W. that I let it blind me to the truth. You need more action or humor if you want to win an award here on Newgrounds. A silent piece (or mostly silent) that is all about the stunning visuals has no place getting an award, apparently. With the exception of The Fox and the Mirror (I'm not sure how that piece placed better) all the flashes that placed higher then Nim's had this to one degree or another.

I'm really disappointed, I don't think anyone can argue that it and Gooberstory were the most visually stunning animations released that month. It blows everything else away. Even VH cannot compare. Although obviously many of you voters liked other movies better, how can you not justify reserving at least one spot on your list for at least Nim's Wintertale? Just for the sheer quality that went into it.

I thought this was about recognizing talented new artists and this was his first submission ever to the site... It would have been a good show to encourage him if we could have given a top five placing. Animation like that doesn't come every day or even every month, he deserved a better placing.

At 6/1/05 11:55 PM, Dekathos wrote: FIRST I am verry happy that I can vote on Star Wars AP but dissapointed that I couldn't find Anakin Loves Padme anywhere.

ANYWAY This was a great AWESOME month. VERY easy to vote even if all my favorites weren't there.

Can someone tell me what the requirements for a flash being listed are? I assumed it had to make front page.

Any animation that has made a spot into the daily top five is a candidate to be a monthly winner. In addition, any movie that has gotten a front page listing is also added to the nomination pool. That is, unless it was already in last month's contest (no more Kitten Cannon situations). I believe that is all the submissions that are listed in any given month.

Oh and for those people that refuse to influence other's with their voting habits... As you can see I have no such qualms. Why should I? Look at pretty well any subject that is even slightly controversial and you will find people lobbying for this that and the other's viewpoint. From politics, to abortion, to the kind of snacks you will serve at the diner party. As far as I am concerned, it's all a part off free speech and can only make things more interesting.

Seriously though, I just have to laugh at the attitude. You give yourself too much credit. All monthly voters are experienced users that are NOT going to be swayed just because you listed it. I think they are intelligent enough to ask 'WHY did you vote that way?' that and 'are those reason's good enough for me?'. So go ahead and post your picks people. Unless you give the REASONING for your choices (as I have done) I doubt it'll make any difference.

In fact, I'm not even sure my post will make any different. We'll have to see.

Toma O'Two's Guide To Picking Winners

Now everyone want's to have their favorite movie picked to be one of the top five but what we all REALLY want is to pick the Flashes that are going to win. When the winners are posted we all want to scream, "OMG, 3 of the movies I picked won, yay"

Am I right? Does this sound like you? Well fear not for if you choose the movies that I have selected you will definitely get a few.

Now Many months there are what I like to call "locks" for a top five placing. Movies that touch a place on our hearts and become so popular to the majority that losing would be unthinkable. I will tell you which ones I think are such movies and why.

-Bunnykill 3 Vol.1 is the first most natural choice. For all intents and purposes the Madness series and It's most popular rip off, Bunnykill draw the exact same group of people and they WILL vote for anything that comes from the minds that do the two series. Already, "Madness Depredation" has won second place in March and "Bunnykill 2" has won second in February.

This, collectively, is a better showing then any other style you can think of (including David Firth, who has also won 2 lower ranked awards for his creepy style of animation.) "Bunnykill 3 Vol. 1" Shows to be every bit as entertaining as previous two movies. Those facts and it's current placing on the top fifty makes this, far and away, the most definitive LOCK for the top 5 movies of May. If you want to pick a winner pick this one.

-Newgrounds SIM v 1.2 Is the game to beat. Yes, it's repetitious, long, and has no challenges that cannot be solved by simple endurance. That said, nothing but NOTHING on Newgrounds captures the essence of what it is like to be an account user for this website. Not only is this in the top fifty flashes on newgrounds (always a good indication that it has a shot of placing, though don't be a slave this idea, There are many others that buck the trend) but....

Think about it. Everyone that votes for the top five has been a dedicated Newgrounds account user for over a year. It's a significant part of all your lives. Plus, it allows your friends to see what the fuss is all about in an addictive, fun game that anyone can play. The graphics are nice and everything about it SCREAMS NG nostalgia. Some may scoff at playing a game version of that they have spent so long doing for real but any truly popular activity will make it in a game. From car racing to the Olympics to a simple game of marbles. Yes being an account user is every bit the equal of all of that and this game shows it.

For all these reasons, NG Sim is a LOCK for a top five placing and furthermore will be the top ranked game of the month.

-

Nim's Winter tale has perhaps, with the possible exception of Gooberstory, the most beautiful animated backgrounds in all of Newgrounds. At times I stopped breathing a little as my eyes went wide with the gorgeous winter wonderland shots the 'camera' showed. The music was such a perfect accompaniment that you can't help but be riveted to the screen. It even gives a few, small IMEX style moments where the shot turns and you feel you move with it. There's no violence in this (I don't count the tossed snowball as such) and this is better for it. And then you find out that Nim is a Pixie and when a hard night's work of fixing the barn is done. A fairy believer brings him some porridge. This movie is so good it can make you believe, of only for a moment that they really do exist.

I'll admit some bias here. I think this is the BEST movie of May. It warms the soul and touches wonder and awe in every frame that's shot. For all these reasons "Nim's Winter Tale" is a LOCK for a top 5 May placing.

Those are the locks for this month. I refuse to guess more then three because you can always be surprised by choices and should have some wiggle room. Plus I can't very well have a column of sure bets if I get even 1 wrong. So I'm gonna be careful.

Two other movies I think deserve to round out the top five are

-Valhalla Knights from the creator of The Real Legend of Zelda2 The animation is fantastic and it's a great opener to a future series. It also feels a bit short and some may not care for the voices actors used or may not care for the plot which has been unfairly (in my view) called cliche.

Gooberstory is an animation I am positive won't win and even I'll admit that the author's other work "Nim's Winter Tale" is more compelling. It also might seem unfair to the other artist to give 2 monthly awards to the same man on the same month. Goober is very abstract and you may not care for that style but the man just has so much talent oozing out of his pores that it cries out for recognition.

His works are simply the best that NG has to offer in animation background and I cannot bring myself to pick a different movie when this one is looking at me. So do me a favor, give this a chance and Watch it.

Well that's my picks for May. I hope this post makes you think and vote this May... The right way!
^_~

PS. This is the first time I have tried links, I hope they work.

So is this how it works? Movies are flagged and then 3ish times a year we do a mass purge? I always thought it was a more continuous thing actually. Whistling is confusing to me, though I must be doing something right as I moved from a normal whistle to a bronze.

I made my first big mistake today. Wasn't paying attention. The guy that made "If..." made a sequel "Enough...". I took one look at that and immediately recalled "If..." I looked for it on the front page archives, which I just noticed being up today, weird. I found it, played both. It looked so similar with the beating hearts and the introduction, that I whistled it and only after did I realize my mistake. I should have paid more attention. He even said it was a sequel on the author's notes but it was the first time I was able to report a stolen flash that I moved to fast I guess. Last time I tried it told me that it was already reported. Is that gonna cost me points later? Damn, I really want to be a help in this and that I messed up really bothers me.

When you get that message do your whistles count? Because if they do you really have to kind of rush if you want to get the points for the catch.

Also is one blow not enough? and if it passes do you get negative whistle points? Sometimes I want to whistle but am afraid that it will pass anyway and will affect me negatively. Like the Smallville parodies. He's just flooding the portal with basically the same animation over and over again with the purpose to get more "turd of the week" awards. I think he's got a team to give it fives because I really don't get how it can get past judgment otherwise. The reviews are universally bad.

I just read that some of his stuff was erased so is it okay if I whistle any more sequels that he posts then? Would my whistle alone be enough? I seriously need more info on this. It's one of the least defined areas. Any questions that can be answered would be appreciated.

At 5/18/05 02:30 AM, KaynSlamdyke wrote: Not to rain on Granfa's parade (the guy's got the skills after all), but that was some VERY careful manipulation of Newground's portal to win Daily Feature, Weekly Feature, Review Crew Pic AND still be 36th most recent animation on the portal (at time of writing).

VERY carefully done...

Not that it probably doesn't deserve it knowing Granfa's quality (Moonlight is still one of my favourite animations on the portal to date)

I don't think it was all that careful really. He didn't release it with only an hour to spare before the deadline after all (which I'd imagine is all it would have taken). He put it up about 2-3 hours after the previous Daily Award was posted and there were only was 50 submissions that got in yesterday in total. So being the 36th most recent animation is a bit of a mislead. Plus, be fair, it was adequately reviewed. Before the awards were posted it had already had 50k views and he currently has the most WRITTEN reviews then any other of the top weekly 5. Not bad for such a recent addition. It even has a few more write-ups than 'Retarded Animal Babies 13' which was released WAY earlier. So I don't think anyone can seriously argue that it isn't deserving.

That said, lets face it people, if you want to sweep the Portal Awards you really should post on Monday to mid-Tuesday. Granfaloon, who is no fool, is aware of this. It's not a hard rule of course, especially when your submission gets the front page and is thus able to stay heavily in the public eye. Just look at 'There She Is 2', it sweeped the awards and it was released on a Friday (by my best guess). Still, it's an important general rule to keep in mind. Newer submissions have a better chance of making it to the top weekly five then older ones You can see it now with 'Valhalla Knights', all day Tuesday it's rating rose higher and higher and now it's starting to drop again. You can see it with 'DucktaleZ 3'. Does ANYONE seriously believe that's gonna stay as a top 50 for long? If had been released before Monday I am certain it would not have made it as a top Weekly 5. Look at the Bunnykill series. The newest installment has been released today, a Wednesday, very bad timing. These movies have been much praised, the previous installments have both gotten the Weekly and Daily Awards but not the Review Crew Pick. Had they been released on a Monday or Tuesday I have no doubt at least one would have. This newest installment will fare no better at sweeping the prizes and, in fact, I'll bet that it won't make the top Weekly (it's a lock the Daily though) Award either as it has been released on a Wednesday, which has GOT to be the worst day to try and sweep the portal awards. I could be wrong on that, we'll have to see.

I'll have been an official member to Newgrounds for just a tad over a month when I write this but coming back to the first P-bot message makes me realize how long I have been watching the movies here. While I don't remember the specific movies getting awards per say... Being a part of the 8-Bit Theater crowd I DO vividly remember when a person stole the "White Mage vs Black Mage" cartoon (Caused a bit of an uproar). I remember watching it here at the time and I know I'd been looking at other flash cartoons before that. I just never saw the need to join so I didn't. I was simply to casual a viewer. Such a waste of experience, I could been a high ranking (fairly high at least, I didn't come ever day) member by now. Of course it helps that I am finally on high-speed leading to be able to watch movies at a rate I never was able to manage before which let me get more and more involved until I finally took the plunge.

This also has shown me a few things. Man, IWillPress has been posting stuff here for a long time. Also, now I know the origin of the blam animation I sometimes get when I am the last person to vote for a flash that is "in judgment".

There are flashes that I vaguely remember. That I have been unable to find and I'll bet they are in these P-Bot archives... I am gonna go through them all and see what the best of the best used to be. It's kind of cool doing this. Almost like a time capsule I'll get to relive everything over again for the first time.

It's a pity that people feel the need to spam these old areas, they deserve more respect. This is Newgrounds history we have entered, so people, a little decency here, please.

At 5/14/05 11:27 PM, LoNgBaUgH wrote:

i want to change my nickname, if there's a way without terminating my account that's fine

To change your nickname simply click on your personal profile and change the Alias setting. This will also change the name you have too type to log into your account.

I did it myself after I first joined, as long as another doesn't have the name you want it can be changed to anything, anytime. A very nice feature.

I'm personally a bit upset that Kitten Cannon won.

I certainly DID notice that it was on the list for last month. It had it's shot there and COMPLETELY failed to win. I'm not even a voter and I knew it. How did the people that picked it this month and who were in a better position then I to remember that it was on last month's list (as most would have had the chance to vote on it then) justify picking it again when there are so many worthy choices? This isn't some school special where if at first you don't succeed. Try, try again. I mean sure, it would have some hard core support from people that thought it was robbed lat time around, you expect that sort of thing but it would need MUCH more then that in order to get 5th place and I don't understand how KC got it.

I guess I can understand Tom's position and at least the problem is being fixed so it doesn't happen again but it just doesn't feel right to me. The creator of KC should do the right thing, refuse the prize and let StickRPG have it because THIS submission was genuinly robbed of it's place.

Other then that, congratulations to the winners. I was particularly pleased to see Men's Room Monologue win. That would have been my choice.

On an different note. It's impressive that KC, a game that was released at the beginning of the month would have legs and make it to the end. That shows that it doesn't matter when you release it. If it's quality, it will rise to the top.

I personally don't think that it was a good thing that Kankuran released both his works on the same day.

I mean sure he totally dominated the charts. Winning the daily first and second prize, the weekly first and second prize, the review crew pick AND (at least for the moment) the highest rated 2 movies in newgrounds but it also causes the two too trip over each other (and gives an early start to artist fatigue perhaps? I'm sure we all know how even the best of animators, if they dominate the charts too much or post too many submissions in a row, can start attracting detractors).

They split the awards. Either animation, published alone, could have taken ALL the top prizes (I'm sure of it) but because they were released on the same day they split the glory with Nim's Winter Tale taking the lion's share of the glory. Nim has over 50k views and a spot on the front page already while Gooberstory hasn't gotten half that amount of traffic nor the front page exposer.

I think that is such a shame that Gooberstory will never reach the audience it could have if Kankuran had released them just 2 weeks apart... and I personally think such world class works should have been put a month apart. Nim's Tale, I guarantee you will be one of the top 5 monthly picks but Gooberstory? Common, I seriously doubt the majority of NGers will want to give 2 monthly awards to the same author. No matter how exquisite the works and as I have said people are paying MUCH less attention to Gooberstory.

If only they had been submitted a decent interval apart. I strongly feel would have been much better that way.