Jaldomar’s Pearl Harbor COTM at RTC!

Everyone has a COTM, it’s trendy now a days (remember where the concept started?).

Over at RTC, it’s Jaldomar who takes the cake. And here’s the prized cover:

Ace’s “Revolver” Voted COTM at Hirescovers

Subject line say’s it all! Here’s the proof:

 

Ace has been making a splash in the cover scene as of late. This is one of his many great covers. Congratulations and way to go Ace!

R1DB Making a Comeback?

So it looks like there have been some renovations over at R1DB: a new look (web 2.0ish), ability to subscribe to an rss feed, you can see the lates covers now without actually having to go to the covers section of the site, and it looks like they’re bringing back the voting system for covers.

The real question is…is this too little too late? With other cover sites having opened shop many long time R1DB users have left seeking added features and higher quality covers.

Haven’t had much of a chance to really dive deep into the site, but, just on first glance, the homepage looks similar (feature wise) to what RTC used to look like before Dagon’s recent upgrades.

New Replace The Case Unveiled!

Check it out, it’s a pretty impressive “new” site Dagon has got up and running there. A very streamlined look, easy to navigate and pretty slick and sexy. I believe the first “cover” site to implement some web 2.0 elements. Replace The Case continues to innovate.

What Happened to R1DB?!

If you’ve been noticing odd changes or differences to R1DB then you may want to take a look at R1DB admin & founder, Jayhawk’s, official statement:

“OK! so, now that we’ve got the cover area working again…

here’s some small things that have changed, things we are still working on and aware of, and a general overview of what happened:

WHAT HAPPENED?!?!

well, basically we upgraded the kernel on the box (security) and support for PHP4 with the new kernel was dropped. We had to move to php5, which most of the scripts on the cover section didnt like (session info was broken). We’ve upgraded most of that, but almost all of our old scripts… no longer work.

Things we are still working on:

1. display credits under statistics in the cover profile
2. display credits on your posts in the cover section
3. display number of downloads on the cover

Things that changed:

1. we are no longer hiding who uploaded what. I don’t think this is really a big deal anymore. you can still give credit to the artist, and if they ever want to participate on the site, it will be easier for them to know that they dont own it.

2. no longer sorting by “most popular” on the index. given we dont vote… didn’t make sense. I may add one for “most viewed”

Things that need to be corrected or errors you see:

(well, im getting sql errors emailed to me by the boat load still, but that doesn’t affect you)

Post what problems you see, or features that need to be reinstated. Errors… etc.

Thanks!”

Hirescovers August/September Competition

Here’s an unofficial list of entrants to this competition. Entries must be in by Sept. 27. I beleive this is Round 1, with winners advancing to the subsequent round, so let’s see how they do!

Ace
Arkflip
b3arstyle
corky
easylife
golemeye
gutterballs
kylumi
nonini
ubl6612
voetzoeker
wasp
wesje

Cover Challenge #2 at Customaniacs

Looks like this challenge will pit MrMiniUK against Evilmonkey. MrMiniUK is the current “Champion” so let’s see if he can retain his title at Customanics. You can vote now for what cover you would like to see them make for the competition. The choices are:

Unleashed
Gross Pointe Blank
Bewitched
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Alien Autopsy

Hirescovers.net Cover Competition Launched!

For the details and rules check out Hirescovers! And don’t forget…there’s a twist involved in this one!

The competition looks heated. Here’s a list of current contestants to the competition and the judges:

Competitors:

b3arstyle
kylumi
wesje
corky
skallywag
golemeye
zantasha
sauron
ubl6612
gutterballs
ace
easylife
digital
nonini
voetzoeker
Arkflip
Ruso gkn

Judges:

cyberclown
irrob
stalker
demonology

Hirescovers.net Cover Competition

Interested in winning a 2 year subscription to Hirescovers.net? If so then you may want to enter the August/September 2007 Cover Competition. Bazzah is currently looking for both participants and judges. This competition will be different from past competitions on the sites, instead of a single cover challenge, this will be a “knock-out tournament” with multiple rounds with each round having a particular element/theme that must be incorporated into the cover.

Here’s the official word from Bazzah:

Please Note: This Competition Will Not Begin Until We Have A List Of Judges And Entrants. I Will Post Here Again When The Competition Is Starting. Please Inform Me If You Would Like To Take Part.

We are trying something a little different for this month’s competition. Instead of making one cover, we are going to have a knock-out tournament. But, as a twist, each round you will have to design a cover that includes a specific element and /or theme). It could be anything from a stone background, to having to feature a shoe These details will be decided over the next few days. There will also be a set panel of judges, so please can I have some volunteers to help.

So, basically we will have four rounds, with one week to design a cover (for each round), and one week to judge it. The first round will include all of you. Which will hopefully be more than 10 ? (If it isn’t, then we will have to rethink the amount of contestants for each round.) The panel of judges will then have one week to vote on each cover, accumulating a top 10 for each judge. I will then put these scores together, and the ten contestants with the most overall votes, will be announced, and entered into the next round.

Round two. A new element will be decided for this round. If you were selected as a top ten contestant from round one, you will need to include this element in this weeks cover. Again, you will have a week to design your cover. The judges will then have another week to decide their top ten, which will give us 5 contestants for the next round.

Next round; a new element, and just 5 contestants. This time, only two contestants will go through for a final round.

Final Round, the two contestants will battle head to head, using the element designated, and will have up to two weeks to complete their cover. Obviously if they both finish before the deadline, then we can move straight on to the judging. Again, I will collate the judges scores, to give us our winner.

Here are the rules for the competition:

1. ANY member from the site may take part
2. Covers must be up to site standard (see site rules)
3. Your chosen cover must be listed on www.imdb.com.
4. Poster art may be used, for images, but each must be no more than 20% of the total cover size.
5. You may not post your covers for help, in this forum, or any other. All work must be done by yourself, without any assistance. Anyone found doing so will be disqualified.
6. You may create a DVD, Blu-Ray or HD DVD cover.
7. Covers must be submitted by the ** September 2007.
8. All entries should be emailed to admin@hirescovers.net, with your member name clearly stated. I will then forward the covers anonymously to the judges.
9. You may only submit one entry each.
10. Admin reserves the right to withdraw the competition at any time, and/or disqualify anyone for breaching the rules.

Hirescovers.net Reviewed

Hirescovers Review

Slogan: Your Home For Everything Cover Related; One Site, Three Galleries; United By Covers

Administrator(s): Bazzah

Moderators: corky, kylumi, Irrob, B3ARStyLE, ubl6612, *Krafty*, CyberClown

Engine: IP.Board Version 2.3.1 IInvision Power Services); Coppermine Photo Gallery

Access: Registration required to view site/Subscription pr Proving Yourself required to access covers and artwork

Language: English Only

Types of Covers Offered: DVD, Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, Masters Designer, Console Covers, Scans, Competition Entries, Thinpaks, Inserts

Forum: Yes; News, Site Rules, Prove Yourself, Cover WIP, Design Artists, Requests, Cover Show Off, Console Art (Covers & Labels, Console WIP, Console Show Off, Console Requests, Console Templates), Discussions (Mayhem, Movies, Welcome, Suggestions, Technology, Movie News), Help Desk (Skallys Skoolyard, Tips and Tricks, General Art Help, Requests, Site Help), Error Reports

Upload Process: Via The Gallery

DVD Disc Labels: Yes

Keyart/Cost: Yes/Subscription or Proving Yourself

Posters/Cost: Yes/Subscription or Proving Yourself

Site Advertisements: Ad Banners, Google AdSense/Search. Scattered through the site.

Newsletter: Yes

Statistics: Our members have made a total of 48,200 posts. 13,009 registered members

Extras: HiRes Accesories Shop via CafePress, Arcade, Chat Applet, Blogs, Lo-Fi View, Textures, Resource (Fonts, Templates, etc.) Downloads, Site Themed Wallpaper

Full Access Subscription cost $12.00 and gives you unlimited access to the entire site so if your favorite artists are regular cover posters here then Hirescovers.net may be your one stop shop for covers. Some of the featured artists include CaveManLawyer, CyberClown, Demonology, Dweez, Global Cinema, Golemeye, Irrob, Kylumi, ubl6612. The subscription lasts for a year and can be set to auto-renewal. The price of the subscription is very reasonable especially if you download a lot of covers.

Hirescovers has also made console/game covers an integral part of the site. It offers a separate subforum for console covers and also provides an area for console cover WIP’s. Currently, there are about a hundred or so console covers available, hopefully this number will grow with time.

Another great aspect of the site, is it’s Cover of the Month feature. Covers that go through the WIP process on the site and then are uploaded to the gallery are eligible for this monthly title. Covers of the Month are announced on the 5th of every month. At the moment, no prizes are involved, but instead, just recognition. I found this to be a great way for people to get involved in theWIP section and also provide incentive for them to upload their covers. Maybe in the future, HiRes will throw in some prizes to the winners! HiResCovers also often hold cover competitions, providing an even higher level of interaction for its members.

The HiRes Accessories shop offers users the opportunity to purchase HiRes logo items, including t-shirts, hats, mugs, and much more. The items are produced by CafePress and are a little pricey but if you want some HiRes gear, this is the place to go!

My main criticism for HiRes would be forum clutter. The forums are divided into many different categories and sub-forums. Specifically, it looks like the Discussion, Helpdesk, and Error Reports forum categories could be stripped down and put into one category. It just seems a little bulky as is, but that’s just my opinion. Other than that, the forums seem to be very active and the moderators seem to be quite helpful in providing advice, help and critiques. Another small criticism, involves the look of the gallery not matching with that of the rest of the site. This might be a theme limitation in Coppermine, but, ideally, the site would look much more cohesive if the themes matched.

Ultimately, Hirescovers offer a large amount of covers to subscribers that are high quality, covers are added daily and some of the most well known designers upload atHiRes. A large amount of poster art and keyart is available for download by subscribers. Also, the growing number of console covers is plus for people interested in that type of artwork.

Pros: Many recognized names upload at HiRes, Cover of the Month and Competitions add heightened participation by members, Accessories shop provide logo products, Subscriptions is relatively cheap if you download a lot of covers.

Cons: Crowded forum and gallery, gallery theme different from the rest of the site.

Reviewed by iCoty.