Creating a night light out of a severed hand probably isn't a great way to reassure children frightened of the monster under the bed. An Assassin's Creed retracto-blade gauntlet probably isn't an age-appropriate toy, either. These are our two exploitables for this week's edition of the Kotaku 'Shop Contest. Unhand me!
I'll post the source images and move the discussion along, as life under the new commenting system means some changes to the 'Shop Contest. Basically, we're looking for these hands to cameo in some kind of hilarious image. I'm sure we'll see lots of middle fingers and shockers.
Source Image: Dead Space severed hand with lights, by Florian Furtkamp.
Source Image: Assassin's Creed "Role-Play Gauntlet Replica." (alternate image; another)
So, this will be our first contest under the new commenting system that everyone enjoys complaining about. However, bear with me, I think this will provide new benefits to how we see, praise, and round up the images in the 'Shop Contest.
Community response has long factored into whether something makes the final roundup of 20 (or top overall finalist.) The way comments are threaded now, a 'Shop that gets a strong reaction is likely to be shown first (or close to it) in the discussion. I'll still go through and look at each submission, but it should be a lot more clear what the community on the whole has blessed. So if you see a 'Shop and really enjoy it, please do say so. Even if it's just to say +1.
Second, there's no longer a need to approve and promote posts. This was by far the biggest disappointment for new participants under the old 'Shop Contest. Those who are new no longer need me or another approved commenter to bless something. Now, don't go posting it five times (though I can clean up extraneous posts) but this should be a little more egalitarian.
Most importantly, and I'm really crossing my fingers here, I think image upload will be better—as it once again includes the ability to upload a file from your desktop. You can still use Imgur if you like, but this should be more intuitive and not lead to the kind of problems and confusion we'd seen in contests past.
With that said, I've revised the guidelines. Here they are:
1. Create your 'Shop.
2. Click "Reply to this Post" at the bottom of the article.
3. Click "Add Image" in the upper right above the comment window.
4. Click "Upload an Image Instead." Then click the "Choose File" button. Browse your desktop, find the image, and click "open."
5. If you prefer, you can upload the 'Shop to a free image hosting service. I suggest imgur. Then click "Add image" in the upper right above the comment window. Paste the image URL into the field that says "Image URL."
6. You can add editorial commentary if you want, but then just hit submit and your image will load. If it doesn't, paste the image URL as a comment.
8. This is important: Keep your image size under 1 MB. Further, try to keep its longest dimension (horizontal or vertical) under 1000 pixels.
Now, Gentlemen, start your 'shopping!