Speaking of banners and banner submission, we here at Equestria Gaming have decided to hold a banner contest, the first of its kind. Anyone can submit; you can even submit more than once if you want to. Just be sure to submit it by Saturday, January 21, 2012. Yes, we're announcing this pretty early, so if you want in, you have a big timeframe to work.
At that point, I'll make a post with all the submissions, Equestria Daily style, and you all can vote on your favorites. The banner with the 4th highest number of votes will be the banner from February 1st to 7th. The 3rd highest banner will be showcased from the 8th to 14th, and so on, until the grand winner becomes the banner for the last week of February.
Rules and more details after the break... Rules: 1. It must be a banner (of course) 2. It must feature the name Equestria Gaming 3. It must feature ponies in some form 4. It probably should have something to do with gaming - not required 5. It has to be appropriate - keep it classy guys, nothing suggestive or gory 6. It has to have been made by you - no art theft please 7. It has to be submitted by Saturday, January 21, 2012
Email your submissions to me at enigma9994@gmail.com, along with the author's name and any additional information you feel inclined to include. The phrase "Banner Submission" should appear somewhere in the subject line. The four winning banners will be the banner of Equestria Gaming during their respective weeks in February, and will include the authors' names in the corner for recognition (feel free to add this yourself if you want to customize it).
Note: There are no specific dimensions that you need to use: you guys are smart, and I trust you to make banners that would work. We can scale banners down to fit, but not up, so it's better to make it overly large to be safe. For reference, our current banner has an aspect ratio of 16:9.
Note 2: If you want to use the classic Equestria Gaming font, its name is Celestia Medium. You can download it here. You do not in any way have to use this font, it's just there if you need it.
Note 3: This happens to be the 100th post on Equestria Gaming. Hurrah!
Well, I updated the website's ageing banner. It's only temporary, and was drawn by the DeviantART user Equestria-Prevails. We'll be updating the banner regularly, and yes, in case you were wondering, you CAN submit banners if you wish.
Well, I've been working on the site lately, fixing small errors and things like that, when suddenly I realized that we don't have a favicon.
So...here it is!
Please note that this is not final, and may be replaced later. I also plan on updating the site's banner; as it's getting rather old. You can email me submissions if you wish.
I woke up this morning and turned on the Hub, which happily informed me today was the channel(and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)'s first anniversary! I wasn't able to really celebrate it since I just returned from traveling, but I knew I had to acknowledge the birthday of the show that not only created a fandom of wonderful and caring and creative people, but also was responsible for this website. The show itself has been consistently amazing thus far, and I can't wait for what's to come!
Also, I know it's been a week without gaming news, and I'm sorry for that.
Unfortunately our mobile site still sucks, which is bad news for those 4% of our readers who visit Equestria Gaming with their iOS devices. Android users already had a better way of viewing the site in the form of Ponu News, a little news app that has just recently found its way onto the iPhone (yes, it should also work on your iPads and iPod Touches). Eventually we would like to rewrite our site's interface to be more mobile-friendly, of course, but in the meantime Ponu News should serve all of you mobile users just fine.
In the meantime, Windows Phone users continue to be left out, but they're quite the minority here. As in, there are more people visiting from their PlayStation 3s and BSD machines than folks with Windows Phones.
I'm very sorry for my long absence. I've also been impacted by the wrath of college. I may have my work cut out for me academically and socially(trying to keep Twilight's wisdom in mind when making friends), but I'm finding it a bit easier to manage my time and so I thought it was a good as time as any to return. Expect updates soon!
College hit me hard and fast guys In fact, I should be working on my essay now rather than posting here.
So as you can see, I haven't had ANY time to do anything with the site, and I'm in need of some help. The other guy who was supposed to be helping me hasn't been seen by me in a while, and I've got no one to help run this while I'm getting all my work done.
I apologize for not being active, when I get my work all under control I'll try to be better, but until then I really need some help.
shoot me an email if you think you can help, and if you want to help with posting and such, go ahead and include a quick review or news post so I can see if you're writing style works. strawberryspice@ymail.com
Yeah, you heard that right. Enigma and I have dipped into the vast EQG treasury and chartered a plane from our headquarters in rural Mongolia, and thus will be seeing you all at Seattle's first annual pony convention. We'll be there all day on Sunday the 19th, and might be hanging out around the gaming room. We won't be doing any panels or interviews, just seeing the sights - so if you see us, don't hesitate to come up and say hello!
I wanted to give a few shout outs and thanks yous before I go over the details.
First off, I wanted to thank the one brony who made the entire Saturday Raffle 20% cooler. This man donated at LEAST $100 worth of pony merchandise for the raffle, including the last $60 Pinkie Pie hat. Without him, the Raffle wouldn't have been NEARLY as amazing.
Thanks to the guy who donated the Applejack spoons for the smaller Friday Raffle! (Shoot me an email so I know who to put you down as)
Thank you to Plaster of derpyhooves.com, Aoshi Stark (who was dressed as Big Mac), and Shadow Blast (the guy with the Brony Shirt) for keeping everyone in order, telling EVERYPONY about the Saturday meet, and shouting with me! I lost my voice at the end of Saturday, so I don't know what I would have done without you guys!
Thanks to the guy dressed as Scootaloo for organizing the Singing after the meetup!
Thank you to the one Otakon Employee who was redirecting noticeable bronies to the meetup!
Thank you to the http://geeksnextcomic.com/ stand for giving us a discount on the shirts for the raffle! (Go check out their site!)
And lastly, but certainly not least, Thank you to the Gentleman dressed in the Gentleman Creeper outfit! He donated $30 to use for the brony community! I will not let him down, and it will go to a good cause!
And I think that's all of the big thank yous I have to put out there! Just shoot me an email at strawberryspice@ymail.com if I missed you, or listed you wrong, or anything! Now, onto business:
DAY 1 FRIDAY
The Friday meetup went really well, I think somewhere around 40-60 people showed up to this one. Everypony who showed got one sticker (That I cut out by hand), and after all the stickers were given out, everypony entered their name in the raffle, and we gave out three different prizes. The first prize was the remaining stickers (like 10-15), the second and third prizes were two Applejack Spoons.
Afterwards, we took a big group photo, and shouted 'Otakon Bronies Rock!'
The Saturday meetup went way better than anyone thought it would. We already had more people there than Friday's a half hour before it was even supposed to start! I think the total head count was somewhere over 150 by the end. As soon as we could, we started the Raffle, everypony put their names on a piece of paper and we started handing out prizes. Thanks to a VERY generous Brony, we had over 50 different prizes (He donated like 25 badges, the hat, and a bunch of pouches.). I used my personal Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie figures as prizes, as well as custom stickers, pins, an image donated by the Big Mac, and FOUR Shirts! Also, I drew a picture of Rainbow Dash, signed it, and gave it away as well. It was INSANE, and we had OVER $200 WORTH OF PONY STUFF GIVEN AWAY. After the raffle, my voice was shot, so we went straight to photos (Post your photos here). Once again we all shouted 'Otakon Bronies Rock!'
OTAKON BRONIES ROCK!!!
After this, we had a HUGE Photoshoot, with ALL the awesome pony cosplayers there, and then the remainder of us headed down to the water fountain where Scootaloo led us all in a giant song-filled time. it kind of just dispersed after that, but the entire meetup lasted an hour and a half, almost two hours total!
Day three was MUCH less crowded, we didn't have a raffle or anything, and most ponies were busy with last minute things, other meetups, or had to leave already, but we still had a small meetup! We chilled for like, 30 mins, and drew a bunch of ponies, talked about the show, sung some songs, and had a fun time! Once again we all shouted 'Otakon Bronies Rock!'
OTAKON BRONIES ROCK!!!
We all chilled, and I had a discussion with Plaster about organizing a pony panel for next year's Otakon. I'm going to do it. I WILL be making one, so don't worry! You will hear more about that in the near future, I need to plan, organize, etc. It's a lot of work :P
Anyway, thanks to everypony who showed up! It was absolutely amazing!
PS: If the person who wanted to interview me reads this, I'm sorry for not calling you back. I lost your card, and couldn't find you the next day. I'll be more than happy to do one over the web though! Just shoot me an email.
That's right! I'll be attending this year's Otakon! And even better, I'm organizing a Brony Meetup there! Now I already announced this a few months back, but Otakon is in a few weeks, so here are all the details!
LOCATION CHANGE as of 7/19/11 (Meeting on the Third (floor 400) Floor)
When and Where? Okay, so I've decided that I'm going to have a meetup onboth Friday and Saturday BOTH Days I will be there, but I suggest you come Friday, that's when I'll be giving some stuff out. The time is 1:00 PM though I will probably be there around 12:30ish, and stay there until possibly 2:00 PM. You might want to come early! We will be meeting On The Third(Floor 400)Floor. Just go up the escalator that goes there, and you'll see me (If you dont know where it is, ask people, PLEASE. I believe it's called the Ball Room). If you have trouble finding me on the third floor, just walk around, it's not that big up there. I WILL BE WEARING THE AMAZING LUIGI COSTUME (Yes I enjoy cosplaying, it's fun) And I will probably be with a girl wearing a Daisy Costume (My sister). So that's how you'll know it's me.
. The second place is the Main Lobby Water Fountain, though check the third floor first. Though that area is a popular spot for photoshoots, so if there is a photoshoot going on, I will be gathering everypony on the Left side of the escalator (when you get off, turn left) and look on the side. If there is too many people there, our last and final place will be back up the escalators and directly to the right where the two couches are. This last one is a last resort, and will probably NOT be the place, so check the other two first. THE LOCATION COULD CHANCE BETWEEN NOW AND THEN SO PLEASE CHECK BACK
These times and places will be the same both days.
ALSO, I suggest you come at, or by 1:00 PM BECAUSE I will be Giving out pony stickers to everypony there. It will be on a first come first serve basis, so if I run out, I run out.
I'm so excited and I can't wait to meet you all!
IF SOMETHING COMES UP, THIS IS WHERE I WILL BE POSTING UPDATES. SO CHECK THIS POST THE DAY BEFORE OTAKON, AND PREFERABLY EVERY DAY YOU GO TOO.
If I have a bad time chosen for you both days, contact me! I'm going Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday! So We can still hang out pretty much any time you want, and Sunday will be super slow anyway. (I might add a Sunday meet in the near future, maybe.)
Q&A: (Or just A)
No I will not be signing autographs. (lol)
Yes I will give you a hug, just don't be creepy.
Yes there will be Fluttershy Stickers.
No there are no Rule 34 Stickers (Why would you even want that, the internet works fine)
Each sticker is hand cut out, and printed on my home printer. They are not water proof. AT ALL I am not taking sticker requests. BUT If you show up and request one from an image that you drew, I'll (try to) go home and make it to give you the next day.
If you have any suggestions, Questions, or problems, please tell me. You can email me at strawberryspice@ymail.com
I want to give a warm welcome to Sapphire Feather! I met him at BroNYCon, and he said he was interested in being a reporter for EqG, so I asked him to send me a review.
And well, he did! And it was absolutely brilliant! So congratulations to him, you'll be seeing some of his posts around now!
I don't really have much more to say about it, other than look forward to his reviews! Good Luck!
I entered BroNYCon with a poker face I left singing winter wrap up with three pony necklaces and four commissions in hand.
I love you guys so much. Pics and more stuff after the break.
Okay, so I spent a bunch of money on stuff there, and this is what I got:
SO MUCH ART
I'll probably end up posting more pictures and info here later. Along with better pictures of the pics I commissioned as well as links to their artist's DAs
Alright, a few of you may know this, but I will be attending this July BroNYCon (tomorrow).
This means I won't be updating any more until this Sunday. But honestly, I still feel like I'm missing a lot of gaming news. With all the things I'm doing IRL, I haven't had much time to search for stuff, and you guys really need to tell me when things happen. Even if it's a post on EqD, email me about it. PLEASE.
Anyway, If you ARE going to BroNYCon, you get to see this handsome fellow (me):
But this will be the first time anyone will see me unmasked IRL, and when the photos are up, here as well.
ANYWAY TO THE POINT.
I've got some pony stickers I'll be bringing with me, and possibly giving out to people (My hand cut ones). So if you are going, and see me (I'll be wearing my 20% cooler shirt), say hi! I'm also curious to see if there are any Equestria Gaming readers going as well, so say hi to me o3o (I'll give you an extra sticker if you say you read Equestria Gaming).
Anyway, looking forward to meeting you guys! And don't forget about the Otakon Brony Meetup either!
There are so many Brony-centered social networks out there that it's getting hard to keep track of 'em all. RainbowDash Network, Cloudsdale, PonySquare (I don't recommend PonySquare for various reasons), and BronyNet are some of the more popular MLP social networks, and on most of those sites we have a profile that you can follow in case you're interested.
For all of our readers that also use BronyNet: today is your lucky day! We have just added an Equestria Gaming profile to the site, where we will post news, new Arcade games and more stuff like that. We can be found under the "RP" profiles page, or in case you want a direct link to our profile you can visit http://bronynet.com/main.php#!/profile-3175.
That My Little Pony Windows Phone 7 Portal (my, what a long name for an app!) that we posted a while back just received an update not long ago, and it added some rather useful features that I'm sure all you Windows Phone 7 users will love.
A while ago this bloke named ReignOfComputer offered to include Equestria Gaming on an app for Windows Phone 7. He claimed that the app would act as a central pony hub for all WP7 users, making life easier for the lot of 'em and giving him some recognition among the fanbase in the process. Well now that the app is available for public use, does it live up to his claims? We have no idea, as we have no way to test it at the moment, but if you have a Windows Phone 7 then you can give it a spin. Just follow the link above and follow any instructions that you might get, mkay?
Oh, right. There's also a press release after the break, and if you like that kind of stuff...well, it's there in case you want it. It gives a more detailed summary as to what the app actually is, and what you'll find within it.
“My Little Pony Portal” is now available on the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, and will be an exclusive app to the WP7 mobile platform. Best of all, it’s FREE. My Little Pony Portal, or MLP Portal, is a feature-rich application that combines several functions and services related to My Little Pony. MLP Portal acts as a gateway, providing easy access to several prominent news and services including:-
It also allows quick access to My Little Pony’s FanFiction.net, Memebase, Reddit, and Wikia sites.
Don’t forget style – that should be considered. MLP Portal is based off the Metro UI, making it beautiful to look at and use.
Regular updates have been planned in advance to bring new features such as the integration of Bronyville Podcasts among others. Improvements to YouTube and Twitter to include more profiles are also coming soon. With all the features currently available, the reality of this app is sure to make this... The Best App Ever!
My Little Pony Portal is available globally on all Windows Phone 7 devices, and may take up to 24 hours to appear in your marketplace.
So what do you say then bronies, care to step into the modern world and put My Little Pony Portal to the test!
Our partners over at Cloudsdale, an up-and coming brony social network, recently released a major revision to their site, which has now left beta and is open for everybody to use. From what I've experienced of it, Cloudsdale is a very unique network, quite different from sites like Facebook or Twitter. It's user base is growing steadily, and it's definitely worth checking out. Have some copypasta after the break.
Cloudsdale has just left betaand is now publicly available for everypony to use. The application is a unique take on the social network, designed specifically for the Brony community. While most sites created with this purpose in mind have been clones of other popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and others, Cloudsdale takes a different route and offers a completely different experience, wrapped up in a beautiful package. Cloudsdale uses the very latest web technologies and is built with a combination of the the powerful Ruby on Rails & Node.js frameworks to ensure that it's users get the best experience possible, with new features being added on a regular basis.
We offer features like
•A beautiful, easy to understand design.
•Support for mobile, with native iOS and Android apps coming soon.
•Live chatting with other users.
•Different "Clouds" for discussion of various topics.
•Built with the latest and greatest web technologies.
No, we don't have an Android app yet, but some guy named Tom Jin has made an app titled Ponu News that compiles news and fanworks from around the ponynet and packages it all inside their convenient app. In a recent update they added Equestria Gaming to their Entertainment category, so if you want to read our stuff on the go you can do by picking up their app over at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hummingtap.ponu. They also have support for other fansites like DerpyHooves News and Fimfiction, in case you're interested.
As for you iOS and Windows Phone users...you'll still be stuck with the lousy mobile version of our site. Sorry!
UPDATE: Xtux was turned away from the convention because the building was too full. Sorry everypony!
Equestria Gaming's very own XTUX345 (in other words, me) will be attending the Calgary Comic Con on Saturday. So if you're attending the convention, see you there!
