It’s that time again: Another Contributor Challenge, where IGN Wikis teams up with other rad people to give you, our impassioned wiki user, the chance to win cool stuff and try your hand at wiki editing.

This time around, these four IGN wikis need the tender embrace of knowledge and attention:

• Diablo 3
• Tera
• The Avengers
• The Witcher 2

Some of you are probably already familiar with the whole process, but for first-time participants the rules are simple: Visit any of the above four wikis and contribute your game knowledge. We’ll be tracking the top contributors based on edits of these four wikis between April 26, 2012 and May 30, 2012. Only those edits made between those dates will be considered. At the end of the contest, the IGN Wikis editors reserve final judgement, and the top three (3) contributors for each wiki will be announced.

Prizes

The top three (3) contributors of each wiki will win a $50 gift card from Amazon. That’s a total of 12 possible winners! Unfortunately, only U.S. residents are eligible for prizes (but you’re still encouraged to contribute, if not for the prizes then for the GLORY!).

• The top contributor of this Diablo 3 wiki will also receive a SteelSeries Diablo 3 gaming mouse.
• Second and third prize winners will each receive a SteelSeries Diablo 3 gaming mouse pad.

In addition, our friends at Astro Gaming have kindly offered to hook up the top overall contributor that has made the most quality edits within the duration of this contest with an Astro A40 Wireless System.

Getting Started!

Editing an IGN wiki is easy-breezy. Simply log in to your IGN account and start hitting the edit button. If you don’t already have an IGN account, simply sign up here! If you’re unfamiliar with editing our wikis, there is a handy How-to wiki you can read through. Any questions can be posed to our friendly staff of editors.

Win stuff, feel good, and get recognized by the community. Win-win-win! Plus, who knows what hidden wiki calling you may have lying dormant in you? A lot of the superusers now never realized how much they enjoyed being wiki sages ’til they actually tried it. And even if you’re not into editing or don’t follow this show, there’s still something in it for you–bubbling, breathing wikis and a lot of shared knowledge.

For the full legal stuff, see: Official Contest Rules

Needed Contributions

Help! The following — but not limited to — wiki pages need contributor attention. Check back regularly for new areas of the wiki that need your help. We’ve highlighted important sections in need of updates in Bold.

The Hollywood Reporter says D.V. DeVincentis (High Fidelity, Gross Pointe Blank) has been hired to script The Night Stalker based, like Dark Shadows, on the 1970s Dan Curtis TV series.

Here are the weekend estimates via Rentrak:

• 1. Marvel’s The Avengers  $55,057,000

• 2. Battleship  $25,350,300
• 3. The Dictator  $17,415,000
• 4. Dark Shadows $12,770,000
• 5. What to Expect When You’re Expecting  $10,500,000
• 6. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel $3,250,000
• 7. The Hunger Games  $3,000,000
• 8. Think Like a Man $2,700,000
• 9. The Lucky One  $1,765,000
• 10. The Pirates! Band of Misfits  $1,450,000
• Article retrieved from www.ign.com

And while E3 conferences are unmissable for anyone who cares deeply about gaming, offering moments of genuine excitement and awesomeness, they are notoriously prone to examples of amateur-hour buffoonery. So to avoid any unnecessary embarrassment, we are offering up a list of no-nos.

Look dude, we know you’ve been hooked up to a snazzy mic headset and we get that the whole shebang went down a blast in the corporate cafeteria last Friday, but none of this is going to transform you into Lady Gaga. There is no scenario here where the gathered crows of game journalism erupt in joyful applause as you bound across the stage waving your arms like a demented Kinect avatar. Bam! There it is.

We are not plump ladies from the mid-West, collectors of creepy dolls, owners of disgusting little dogs, keen addicts of Pinterest. We are games journalists, socially engineered to sneer. The faint front-teeth-biting-of-lower-lip to express ‘that’s so darling’ is an unknown expression to us. Best to leave the little loves at home. If you really must display a game’s infantile simplicity, have a CEO play it for us. We’ll be convinced.

Games journalists may not be proper journalists but we are, at least in theory, paid to notice unusual things. So if we’re in a conference and a subsection of the audience is jumping up and down and hollering like they are at a beer-commercial beach party, we’re going to call BS on that, and we shall scowl and cross our arms.

You know that thrilling, pumping, youthful soundtrack you used last year? The one the other guys used the year before that? You know, the one they are currently using to sell plastic toys to 8-year-old boys? Yeah. Let’s try a different song this year.

@mom. Oh wow. Billy from The Voice is on stage right in front of me filling my own eyes with his spangly presence. Awesome. #e3conference2012

Here’s a puzzle. You have about 2,000 people outside a room. You have to get them inside the room. You have an hour to accomplish this feat. Here’s a clue. Try opening the damn doors more than ten minutes before the show begins.

[ENTER STAGE RIGHT]

[ENTHUSIASTICALLY] “Hey. Great to see you all again.” [Pause for sullen silence.]

“Great! Well, I know you’re all just dying to get a look at our stunning line-up of games, so let’s just jump right in shall we?” [Pause for coughing and checking of cell-phone messages]

“Oh my God. I’m sure you all agree that this is a greatest line-up ever.” [Pause for embarrassed shuffling of feet.]

[EXIT: Commence sobbing and self-recrimination.]

Below is a harrowing excerpt from the Bleeding Heart Award-winning PBS documentary ‘Surviving Mister Caffeine’.

“I have no memory of last year’s Ubisoft conference. I’m told that when the medics finally arrived, I was in a state of catatonic shut-down, common in trauma victims. My psyche had endured such an immense shock, it simply refused to allow any further input.  The jokes were that bad.

“After a few weeks of careful analysis and the tenderest of coaxing, I was able to face the world once again, free from flashbacks of terrible time-travel gags. However, small sections of my brain, containing tiny traces of the jokes offered up that day, had to be removed. It was for the best.

“A few months later, the doctors showed me video footage of myself and fellow victims in the audience that day, writhing and gasping in excruciating pain, trapped in our plush seats like giant, misplaced crabs. I understand that there are many videos of the host’s death-summoning comedic performance available on the Internet, that it became an amusing meme for some ghouls, but I try to avoid any further exposure to the horrors of that awful, awful day. I only hope that my suffering has not been in vain, and that nobody ever has to face anything like that again.”

Article retrieved from www.ign.com

So clearly, people like the first combined adventure of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and the rest. After seeing the film, everyone seems to leave the theater with a bunch of “Wasn’t it awesome when…” favorite bits — and that includes the IGN staff. So let’s talk about some of our favorite parts from The Avengers, and then why don’t you guys chime in below with your own most memorable lines/scenes/explosions/characters/whatevers?

Beware of spoilers if for some unfathomable reason you haven’t seen the film yet!

Jim Vejvoda: The thing that rocked most about Avengers is that it simply worked at all. Everyone had a moment or two to shine, a standout line or fight, and the dynamic between all these disparate personalities was spot-on. The global scale of the threat, the final battle, all of the climactic elements that many felt were missing in the Marvel films leading up to this was addressed here to glorious effect.

Scott Collura: As Jim said above, every character gets their moment to shine, and the dynamic between them all is just perfect. A few of my favorite interactions:

Cap to Black Widow, about Thor and Loki: “There’s only one God, ma’am. And I don’t think he dresses like that.”

Iron Man to Thor: “Shakespeare in the Park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?”

Tony Stark to Pepper Potts: “Phil? His first name is Agent.”

Bruce Banner to Tony Stark: “Are you saying that the other guy saved my life?”

Black Widow to Loki, abruptly dropping her facade: “Banner… that’s your play.”

Agent Coulson to Loki: “You lack conviction.”

Cap to Hulk: “And Hulk… smash!”

Max Nicholson: Teamwork! There’s a particular shot during the Manhattan finale when we see all the Avengers sweeping through the city streets as they tag-team the Chitauri in one seemingly “single take.” (Blink and you’ll miss it, but there’s even one part where Iron Man fires his repulsor at Cap’s shield and it deflects into an alien soldier.) All stitched together, it’s perhaps one of the most technically impressive shots in the entire flick. Plus, it all builds up to the subsequent shot which provides the fan-favorite “Hulk punches Thor” moment.

And of course, there is perhaps no better example of “Whedonesque” than the final, final tag of The Avengers. It’s simple, sweet and downright hilarious. If you still haven’t stuck around until after the credits, do yourself a favor next time and kick back for a few more minutes. You won’t be disappointed. (And to think, this almost didn’t make the final cut!)

R.L. Shaffer: Shawarma. It’s what the Avengers needed, and it’s what we needed — the icing on an already very tasty cake. Who would have thought such a quick last minute shoot, done after the film’s premiere, would have such an impact… but it has. Shawarma sales have shot through the roof. Fans across the entire planet are discovering the tasty Mediterranean dish. If only Marvel could sell it in stores, they’d make billions. I even found myself firing up the grill to cook up some shawarma after seeing the movie. But beyond that, the scene was just a wonderful little moment, a quick glimpse of superheroes in their downtime, which is something we don’t often see. And I thank Joss Whedon for providing the tastiest post-credit cookie of them all.

Jesse Schedeen: I was extremely excited to see the Thanos reveal during the mid-credits sequence. It wasn’t necessarily a huge surprise to learn he was the villain pulling the strings given the character’s usual motivations and penchant for sitting on floating space rocks. But it did cement the idea that Marvel isn’t afraid to go full-on cosmic with these movies and celebrate the more fantastical characters in their lineup. Telling Thanos that to battle the Avengers is “to court death” is practically like handing the villain a hand-written invitation to crush the planet between his giant, purple fingers. I’m eagerly waiting to see how he responds in the sequel, and hoping that we’ll see more of Marvel’s cosmic characters in the interim.

Dan Iverson: If I had to pick just one single moment of the movie which I considered to be better than the rest I would have to say Bruce Banner joining the final fight in Manhattan. Sure, “Puny God” was shocking and one of the very best moments in comic-book movie history, but Banner stating that he’s “always angry” and then taking the armored leviathan out of the sky with ease had the character come off as the most interesting and fun to watch in the film. Plus, this bit of mayhem confirmed that there is still a future for Hulk in cinema… we just want to watch more of Hulk smashing indescribably large targets.

Matt Fowler: In accordance with the brand new natural order of the universe, there is no other discernible time other than “time to watch The Avengers.”

Right. Now go see Avengers. Again.

Article retrieved from www.ign.com

Port and Guarascio wrote for Just Shoot Me and created The CW’s short-lived Aliens in America. Recently, they served as consulting producers on Happy Endings. However, the tough pill to swallow, regardless of Port and Guarascio’s own accomplishments, is not having Harmon be the guiding force for the series anymore, given Community’s very unique feel and vision among the sitcom landscape.

Community is a rather low-rated show, but one with excellent reviews and an intensely loyal core fanbase who know much about the people who make it. That being the case, it’s odd to see this dramatic change behind the scenes, as many of the key creators of Community will likely be dramatically different next season. Besides Harmon no longer running the series, executive producers Neil Goldman and Garrett Donovan are leaving for a new deal at 20th Century Fox while co-executive producer Chris McKenna has a new deal at Universal TV. TV Guide says McKenna also wouldn’t have taken the showrunner job if offered without Harmon’s involvement in the series.

All of which begs the question, will Community: Season 4 feel like Community? TV Guide says Sony had been “looking at ways to broaden Community and attempt to extend the show’s life on NBC,” as they sought new showrunners. But it’s pretty clear fans of the series love Community the way it’s been.

Update: Vulture has a very comprehensive look at the situation and the ongoing issues between Sony and Harmon that may have led to this. They do say Harmon is being offered the chance to return as a writer, but not showrunner. (Though would he want what is pretty much a demotion?)

Update 2: Oh my. Dan Harmon has now spoken out on his Tumblr, giving his side of the situation. And it’s not a happy report. Harmon says, in no uncertain terms, that him not returning as showrunner all began and ended on Sony’s side, stating, “They literally haven’t called me since the season four pickup,” and he has no idea what their reasoning is. He says that recent statements NBC’s president Bob Greenblatt made about Harmon being involved in some capacity are not true – yes, he’ll have a producer credit, as the creator, but he has no intention of being involved, given that if he were to go to the office, “I wouldn’t have any power there.” He also jokingly adds that, “The same contract also gives me the same salary and title if I spend all day masturbating and playing Prototype 2. And before you ask yourself what you would do in my situation: buy Prototype 2. It’s f**king great.”

Harmon goes on to say, “Do not believe anyone that tells you on Monday that I quit or diminished my role so I could spend more time with my loved ones, or that I negotiated and we couldn’t come to an agreement, etc. It couldn’t be less true because, just to make this clear, literally nobody called me,” and also, sadly, simply states, “I’m not running Community for season 4. They replaced me. Them’s the facts.”

There’s also more humor and other thoughts worth checking out (including some kind words for his replacements) in Harmon’s full posting.

Article retrieved from www.ign.com

He said the remake would incorporate some changes as the original was, “a movie in a foreign language with a star nobody knew and a director nobody knew.”  It won’t be anything too drastic though, as Evans is on board as executive producer and the Indonesian star of the first film, Iko Uwais, will be choreographing the action.

While fans may be sad not to see him at the helm for the remake, he said he felt it was important that he stood back.  He explained, “I’m not remaking it myself.  My approach is to be hands off; in order for them to do the job properly they need to be given freedom.”

The good news is that this leaves Evans free to focus on getting the Indonesian sequel underway.  When The Raid was still in script form, Evans was primarily focused on another project called Berandal.  After seeing how well people responded to The Raid, he decided that with a small rewrite (“about 15 per cent”) Berandal could serve as a sequel.

He’s now planning a full trilogy and shared today that *SPOILER* Mad Dog will be reappearing in the next film, though we’re not sure in what capacity.  With filming due to start January 2013, he said he felt hopeful about releasing by “the tail end of next year.”

Finally, with the American remake underway, Evans was asked how he’s coping with the influx of Hollywood offers.  He said that he hasn’t received any, putting this down to the level of violence in his films.  He teased, “I make violent movies, so I don’t quite fit the Hollywood mould… yet.  But at the moment I can make smaller films that allow me to do what I want.”

Article retrieved from www.ign.com

At a panel hosted by IGN at London’s Kapow! Comic Con, Director Sefton Hill said that there were “3 or 4″ secrets in the game that nobody had yet uncovered.

“Some of them we put in there that were really obscure were found within a week [like the Scarecrow code],” he said. “We didn’t think anyone would ever solve that, but it only took people two days. But there are still 3 or 4 things that people haven’t seen – some of them very subtle things. There’s one that we had right in one of the first demos that we did that nobody has found – it’s in there if you look hard enough.”

The panelists also shed some light on the creative processes behind Arkham City, although they refused to be drawn on what Rocksteady’s next project will be. Sefton did take the time to reiterate that they were absolutely not working on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, to our continued disappointment.

Article retrieved from www.ign.com

Here is a list of unconfirmed but probable Characters in Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale, images or mentions of all of these Characters were leaked in some form or are already represented in the game.

• See also Confirmed Characters

Character	Evidence
	(inFAMOUS) Leaked by voice actor Eric Laden.
Cole McGrath
	(Jak and Daxter) Leaked by Paul Gale Network, Sandover Village is a stage from the franchise as well.
Jak and Daxter
	Said could be a possibility by Paul Gale Network, would tie with new film being distributed by Sony.
James Bond
	(Heavenly Sword) Possibly seen in developer image.[1]
Nariko
	(Uncharted) Leaked by Paul Gale Network, RPG-7 is specifically mentioned as coming from these games.[2] Also, Eric Laden Leaked details.
Nathan Drake
	(Ratchet and Clank) There is a stage from the franchise..
Ratchet
	From LittleBigPlanet and more commonly known as Sackboy or Sackgirl.   Dreamscape is an LBP stage and the LittleBigPlanet games are some of the highes selling SONY games this console generation. This makes the character inclusion possible.
Sackthing
	From Metal Gear Solid. Snake represents the protagonists of all the games released so far (apart from most of Metal Gear Solid 2). More commonly known as Solid Snake, but has also been called Old Snake. Naked Snake and Big boss are also played by the same voice actor. All of them are a possibilty as voice actor Eric Laden only  leaked that David Hayter would be in the game.
Snake
	(ICO)Possibly seen in same developer image as Nariko, could be NPC though.[3]
Yorda

Not only was this game the real deal, Nintendo of America further blew my mind by announcing the title would be coming stateside as Pokemon Conquest. Whoa, right? The more surprising revelation came a few weeks later when I got the chance to actually play the game. It wasn’t the jumbled, confused pairing I was fearful it would be, nor was it just a standard Nobunaga’s Ambition title with Pokemon thrown in for no reason. What I played was a fully realized and truly expert melding of these two distinct game worlds – and just exactly what I’ve always wanted from a Pokemon spin-off.

But Pokemon Conquest is different. So much so that my limited time with it has renewed by faith in the concept of Pokemon spin-offs. Again, it’s not that the other spin-offs are a heaping pile of Garbador, it’s more a testament to how much attention to detail and effort this particular game exhibits. Pokemon mainstays like special abilities and type advantages/disadvantages are seamlessly applied to monsters and warlords alike, and craftily integrated with the Nobunaga concepts of unit, time and castle management.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Other things for aspiring tyrants to keep in mind is that the bond between your warriors and the Pokemon you’ve paired them with influences how effective they are in battle – the stronger the bond, the better they’ll work as a team. This takes one of the overarching themes of the Pokemon franchise – the bond between trainers and their monsters – and makes it a key component of the actual gameplay, one that has a true and lasting effect on the experience. All of this, especially when paired with the plethora of other gameplay aspects and strategic elements, is a lot to keep in mind. Yet, at the same time, all these parts join to create such an organic and intuitive whole that the game is actually quite easy to learn, and enticing to master.

If it’s successful, Conquest could pave the way for more and better Pokemon spin-offs.

To top it all off, the overarching story is possibly the best I’ve ever seen in a Pokemon spin-off. Sure, there’s a healthy sprinkling of the sillies (would you really want otherwise from a game centered around electric mice and singing, pink puffballs?). But overall Pokemon Conquest actually has a really clever premise handled in an impressively thoughtful manner. The basic gist involves an ancient legend that if someone is able to conquer all 17 kindoms of Ransei, the Pokemon that created the land will reveal itself. As countless rulers go to war to try to expand their kingdoms, it’s up to you to protect your castle and conquer the 17 kingdoms before the power-hungry warlord Nobunaga beats you to it. It’s a fairly heavy concept – ya know, the overthrowing of kingdoms and war and whatnot – but it’s handled with the lightest touch, as well as a brilliant balance of humor and urgency.

The remarkable thing is that these two worlds really shouldn’t fit together this seamlessly – but the fact that they do only further exhibits the amount of time and attention the developers invested in this experience. Pokemon Conquest is not the quick, cute romp that is PokePark. It’s not the passable but lackluster Pokemon Rumble series either. This is a more than 40 hour adventure, not counting subsequent playthroughs (each of which will unfold differently). It’s got world building, characters, backstory. It isn’t just taking advantage of the Pokemon name for a quick sale, it endeavors to stand alone as a unique homage to both franchises.

All of these factors are why this unassuming title embodies what a spin-off should truly be. It takes the things people adore about the monster catching franchise and presents them in a completely fresh and unique package for an experience that is separate from – yet couldn’t exist without – the Pokemon brand.

Pokemon Conquest will hit store shelves on June 18. Sure, it would have been cool if it was a 3DS game rather than a DS one – but in the end it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that I’m more excited than ever for the future of the Pokemon name. The core entries are dependable, solid experiences, and I love how they evolve from generation to generation all while respecting their own legacy and tradition. But for a Pokemon spin-off, I crave something unexpected. Something that shows me a whole other side to the series I’ve loved for more than a decade. That’s why I was (and still am) so enthralled by Pokemon Snap – and if the final game looks as good as what I demoed, it’s why gamers with an interest in seeing more innovative Pokemon spin-offs would do well not to pass this one by.