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• January 1 - 31, 2012
• December 1 - 31, 2011
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• October 1 - 31, 2011
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• August 1 - 31, 2011
• July 1 - 31, 2011
• June 1 - 30, 2011
• May 1 - 31, 2011
• April 1 - 30, 2011
• March 1 - 31, 2011
• February 1 - 28, 2011
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Editors Challenge Results
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| | Product Info | User Reviews | Article Images | Image Gallery | Comments | Forum Thread | |
Contest
This has been a terrific contest from my perspective. Not because we attracted lots of outside attention, and not because it generated additional page views for FiringSquad, because it proved what I have been saying for years; FiringSquad has the smartest and most technologically savvy readers of any website out there. I knew we had some great potential writers out there, I just didn’t realize we had so many. If I had the budget, I would have frozen the contest at round 3 and hired the entire top 10 contestants. But unfortunately I don’t, and so we find ourselves here with just one winner.
I did not vote in this contest except in the first round. I decided that my ability to remain impartial would be affected by the day to day running of the contest and any interaction that I would have with the competitors during the contest. So, I left it up to the pros to decide. The pros are the judges and you, the FiringSquad readers. Which brings us to the debate on the voting system.
We designed the voting system so that the FiringSquad readers would have a chance to express their opinions about the contestants, but also so that a little cheating or down-voting would not derail the process. For that reason, we put the majority of the voting power in the hands of the FiringSquad editors, John Callaham, Brandon Bell, Alan Dang, and Jakub Wojnarowicz. All of these guys have been doing this for a long time and know better than most what it takes to keep a site like FiringSquad or any other site growing and prospering. That includes the ability of a person to deliver great editorial content. Generally speaking, I think the voting system worked out very well. We may or may not make changes for season two. Either way, we appreciate the hard work that some of you have done to ensure that voting remains fair and equitable.
As I hope some of you found out, what you get for free on FiringSquad day in and day out requires A LOT OF WORK. Besides the editors who work their tails off, we have Pongky working on system upgrades and site design, Ozy who maintains our server farms in Phoenix and San Jose, and of course there is Lyle, Lynne, and myself trying to keep all the advertisers, sponsors, and corporate partners happy and opening their wallets so that we can continue to serve our audience.
We especially owe a big nod of gratitude to Intel and particularly Dan Snyder, who put their faith in FiringSquad and more importantly our readers to make this contest a success. They recognized early on that FiringSquad readers were the best and the brightest and jumped at the chance to help us prove it. We also have to thank the good people at Intel’s agency, Universal McCann New York, who had the vision to support an idea like this from the beginning.
Finally, I hope that the people who participated but didn’t make it into the finals do not get discouraged. You are all talented writers and could be writing for sites like FiringSquad or one of the hundreds of sites that exist on the web. We hope you come back for season 2 and take another crack at fortune and fame (hah!).
Again, I thank you all for your dedication and participation over the last 3 months. It has been fantastic for all of us here at FiringSquad.
Now, on to the results.
The Winner: JacobVandy
Jacob's entries.
Runner Up: CanadaDave
Dave's entries.
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Batman: Arkham City PC Review
Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s smash-hit action game Batman: Arkham Asylum. As the name suggests, you will be reprising your role as the Caped Crusader and going against an even larger 'prison' filled with Gotham's criminals and villains. A textbook example on how to do a proper sequel, Arkham City takes what worked in the original, excised or improved upon what didn’t, and elevated everything to an even greater scope. The PC version suffered from a few months of delay, but in that time, Rocksteady worked closely to NVIDIA to implement some familiar technologies from the last game, such as PhysX and 3D Vision, along with new DirectX 11 optimizations. But how well was the whole package executed? Read on to find out!
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Saints Row: The Third PC Review
Saints Row is one of most unique series of games to build upon the open-world action template forged by Grand Theft Auto, and has met with plenty of critical and commercial success since it began on consoles back in 2006. This latest iteration, titled Saints Row: The Third promises the most outlandish fun and freedom of customization of them all, and in a much more PC-friendly package than its predecessor. Does it live up to those expectations and, more importantly, is it worth the price of admission? Find out in Will's latest review!
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The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC Review
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Softworks’ latest offering in their series of epic fantasy RPGs, as well as one of the most highly-anticipated PC titles of 2011. As the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, prepare to take the fight to the mythical beasts that have returned to the realm after centuries of slumber, all the while exploring a huge and highly-detailed open world.
The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
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L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review
L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
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Intel Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge-E Performance Review
Today marks the launch date for Intel’s Sandy Bridge-E line of processors, a new family of high-end Core i7 products based on the LGA 2011 platform. This new socket is poised to replace the existing LGA 1366 specification used by the more powerful Nehalem and Westmere parts from the past couple years, specifically Bloomfield and Gulftown, the Core i7-9xx+ line of CPUs.
With 6 cores, 15MB of cache, and support for quad-channel DDR3-1600 memory, the Core i7-3960X sounds like quite a catch. Want to know more about it and how it performs? Read on!
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 Review
The self-appointed "most anticipated game in history" launched worldwide this past Tuesday. Why, it's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, of course (of course), what else? Unsurprisingly, the military FPS debate between this and Battlefield 3 rages on, but now that both have been released, surely we can take a look and objectively evaluate them both? Luke's taken the Xbox version of MW3 for a spin this week, so to find out what he thinks of it in today's review!
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Stronghold 3 Review
The latest sequel in the long-running real-time strategy franchise from FireFly Studios, Stronghold 3 is all about building your dream castle and defending it against sieging enemies. Almost exactly one decade after the first game was released, this new title promises a return to the classic and well-received gameplay that has been strayed so far from in more recent iterations. Does it live up to those expectations? Will (AKA Synchronous Failure) tells us all about it in his first official FiringSquad review, so read on!
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Battlefield 3 PC Review - Single-player Impressions
One of the most highly-anticipated PC games of the year is upon us; Battlefield 3 is now available in North America! EA/DICE have finally delivered a sequel to the core Battlefield franchise, a proper follow-up to BF2. Having played through the game's single-player campaign already, ahead of the multiplayer festivities kicking off around midnight, I figured I'd share my impressions ASAP. Is it really a worthy addition to the core Battlefield series, or just another bullet point on the back of the box? Read on and find out!
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Wrecked: Revenge Revisited Supersonic Software Interview
Following up on our hands-on preview from earlier this month, here's an interview with Supersonic Software, creators of Wrecked: Revenge Revisited. The game's coming out on XBLA and PSN in a matter of weeks, but for now, Luke chats with the developer about its predecessors Mashed and Micro Machines, how difficult it can be to get an indie game published, the closure of Codemasters' Guildford branch, and more!
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Orcs Must Die! PC Review
Orcs Must Die! is the first release from an independent developer named Robot Entertainment. Fans of classic real-time strategy games may have heard that name before, as the outfit is comprised of many veterans from Ensemble Studios, creators of the Age of Empires series.
Equal parts action and strategy, this is a tower defense game that not only puts you in command, but on the front lines of combat, as well. Slaughter thousands of orcs, ogres and other vile creatures of fantasy that invade your fortresses through 24 levels of the story-based campaign. With high levels of replayability thanks to its scoring and leaderboard functionality, multiple difficulty levels, and various styles of play, it sounds a steal at only $15. Does it deliver on all that’s promised, though? Read on and find out!
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