Alright, gang, you had to know this one was coming. I had a couple other ideas this week, but in light of rumors that Nintendo will unveil a Wii successor at E3, and the thing will have iPads for controllers, we have to make sense of it all and help the Internet understand what this will look like.
Remember, the Kotaku 'Shop Contest helped everyone out back when the 3DS' final design was rumored, so let us perform the same kind of public service this week. No, really, Internet, you can thank us later.
No one knows what the Wii 2 looks like. But we know what the people who make the Wii 2 look like. And we know that Triforce Johnson will likely be first in line to buy one. We can also get some hints at this contraption's capabilities and what the controller may look like over here. And if the Wii was memorably described as two Gamecubes duct-taped together, while Wii 2 will be more powerful, we can combine even more hardware, Voltron-like, into a final hilarious product.
It's up to you to bring clarity to a time of confusion.
You know the rules: The 20 best will get rounded up and published at the end of next Saturday. Meantime, I and the rest of the starred commentariat will approve and promote as many as we can so folks can see them and pass judgment.
This is your no-frills step-by-step procedure to participation in the Kotaku 'Shop Contest.
1. Create your 'Shop.
2. Upload it to a free image hosting service. I suggest imgur. It's stupid simple. No account is necessary.
3. This is very important: You must use the URL of the image itself. In imgur, this is the second URL it gives you after you upload the image. It's under "Direct Link (email & IM)"
4. At the beginning of the comments roll, click "Start a New Thread"
5. To the right of your name, select "Image."
6. Paste the imgur URL in the image URL field. It's the field that says "Image URL."
7. You can add editorial commentary if you want, but you can hit submit and your 'Shop entry will be uploaded to the comments.
8. Keep your image size under 1 MB. It will not upload to comments if it is over that size.
As an added inducement, I want to let you know I do star commenters who send in worthy/funny submissions - whether or not they're chosen for the final 20. This may not happen immediately. I usually start rounding up a gallery by the middle of the week. This is my subjective call, but I do want to recognize as many contributors as possible, and show gratitude for making this such a popular feature on weekends.
Now, Gentlemen, start your 'shopping!