As for GameGrep, this document will serve as a set of guidelines for contributing news to Neoseeker, if you have signed on with us.
Note that this is written from a video game news perspective, though a fair bit of it can be applied for hardware writers too.

Note: A much better and updated wiki version of this guide can be found here.

Grammar

First thing is first, hm? This is about the best grammar resource I've found on the web, so if you know your skills aren't quite up to par in that department, go through it (at least the parts you're not confident in). In fact, we recommend a good skim even if you are confident.

Some common mistakes include mixing up it's/its, they're/their/there and your/you're. If you're not 100% sure on these, look up the rules. It should help you to remember an apostrophe indicates a separation of two words (i.e. "it's" = it + is, while "its" indicates ownership).

Spelling

As for spelling, your browser, as you may know, should have a built-in spellchecker which highlights incorrectly spelled words. Beyond that, http://dictionary.reference.com is your best resource if you're not sure of how to correct mistakes, as it incorporates multiple dictionaries (including the elitist's favourite Merriam-Webster ). The site also has tabs for a thesaurus, encyclopedia, translation tools, and a bunch more. Use whatever pleases you.

Repetition and flow

Make sure your headline and subheadline don't repeat each other (otherwise they're redundant). Generally you should use the subheadline to elaborate on what the headline says, so the latter should be specific, whereas the former can go either way. Keep these as to the point as possible; leave out unnecessary words. For instance, "Company X is showing off their latest product Y" should be changed to "Company X showing off latest product Y". On that note, always write headlines and subheadlines in the present tense (i.e. "Company X recently showed off latest product Y" should be "Company X shows off latest product Y").

As for article content, here's an example from a recent article to illustrate repetition and how it hinders "flow":

quote

"Gold's Gym Cardio Workout for the Nintendo Wii is the result of the recent teaming of video game publisher and developer Ubisoft and one of the world's most recognized health and fitness companies..."

Try not to use the same words or phrases so close together, especially not in the same sentence. In this case, change it to this:

quote

"Gold's Gym Cardio Workout for the Nintendo Wii is the result of the recent teaming of video game publisher and developer Ubisoft with one of the world's most recognized health and fitness companies..."

If you can't see the difference, look closer and/or read each of them aloud. One word can make a huge difference!

Something you will encounter a lot in writing (naturally) is the need to write about a particular game (or hardware or what-have-you, as the case may be). Be sure to avoid repeating yourself in doing this, and in general. For instance, instead of just saying "game" throughout an entire article, use "title", the game's name (shortened if possible, sometimes), and whatever else you can think of to mix things up.

Sources

It's generally best not to use major sources like IGN unless the story is not very popular online. If the news is imperative though, of course, by all means.

And this is not to say never use big sites, just generally only if they are the best source of information (or one of the best sources, if you're using multiples). Their size has the advantage of a lot of studios going to them with information, sometimes first and/or exclusively, so they certainly shouldn't be ignored.

On a related point, multiple sources can really liven up a story, since often each has some interesting things of its own to add, whether details or background info or whatever.

Blogs (official and otherwise), small/independent sites, fansites and forums are all great places to look for highly current and not so well known news, especially since a few translate Japanese news, which is where a fair bit of stuff comes from months before we hear word of it. Some good examples are Qj, NeoGAF, Siliconera, Capcom Unity blog, Major Nelson, and the PlayStation blog. Heck, even our own forums sometimes beat us on getting content out there first -- feel free to subscribe to the ones you're interested to keep up to date.

Mailing lists/newsletters for companies and/or specific games, press rooms, etc. are also awesome as (sometimes anyway) they offer up to the minute news. Keep in mind occasionally press releases are out of date (sometimes hugely), though mailing lists/newsletters are typically not.

A note about linking your sources: minimize them within articles (generally 2 max, fewer the better), and never link to the same thing twice (this includes the sources you list at the bottom of the article). Also make sure links aren't too long (a few words or less is ideal). Try not to repeat the sources you do link to within articles, otherwise people are wasting their time clicking them.

Preferred content

We generally don't do articles specifically on a game announcement, unless it's something really special (whether it's a little known game we feel people should know about like Zeno Clash or a huge title like say, God of War III we know everyone wants to know about). And for these especially, it's best to include something of a personal touch to liven it up as opposed to just sounding like an advertisement (never sound like an ad if at all avoidable, that's what ads are for!). New asset announcements are encouraged, but again, personal touch is preferred.

Assets

Aside from mailing lists and forums, Joystiq is one great place to find new high-quality images without watermarks.

Trailers can be more tricky -- we can embed most of the popular ones but if they contain no watermarks it's preferred you download them and upload to Neoseeker Videos. Of course, you should look here first to see if the video in question is not already uploaded.

GamersHell is probably the single best resource for contributors in acquiring trailers, though it's no good for images (watermarks up the wazoo). It can be great for demo news, too. GameTrailers is also an invaluable resource, but don't use their exclusive videos, only the publicly released stuff. Keep in mind that instead of downloading a video then uploading to Neoseeker's video section, you can get Neo-Vids to download the video directly from the source if you insert the right URL in on the video upload page.

Note: upon downloading new assets, be sure to upload them to the game's profile, not just the article! Do the article first though so it's out asap.

Feel free to use the Neoseeker Videos repository to use older videos on newer articles if applicable, too, just don't overdo it by using too many videos in one article (one looks best, but sometimes more than that is needed -- consider linking to other videos though).

Formatting (aka layout)
Images are always nice to have, and at first you'll notice the uploader has room for two. These are the main images, and you can choose to place them in any of the preset locations or pick manual. If you've selected manual, then you copy and paste the thumbnail tag, which looks like this:


You can change around the dimensions, which I have marked with XXX. Just make sure you try them out (I preview changes in Photoshop), so the thumbnail doesn't look all stretched out when it displays. The same goes for any images uploaded via the Java uploader. Keep in mind image files need to be 3000x2000 px or smaller, or else you'll just get a big black box instead of the actual image. Also note that for the images you upload through Java, the thumbnails will be smaller than those of the main images, and they automatically appear at the bottom of your article in an unorganized fashion.

To prune your article's appearance a bit, take some time to actually copy and paste the thumbnail tags in an orderly manner. This way you can actually anticipate how the article looks. Otherwise, the images can really mess up the formatting of the entire thing. This is why the pending feature is so awesome -- it lets you preview everything before you publish.

Regarding videos -- whether you use Neoseeker or Youtube, centering the videos would make your article more aesthetically pleasing in most cases. Just click out of Source mode, highlight the video box, and change the alignment. Same goes for images.

If you have a problem with image caching, you can remove the original images. Rename the file name before re-uploading, and the problem will usually be solved. Another method is to refresh the cache by hitting Ctrl+F5 on the edit page, and sometimes the article and/or main page too.

Miscellaneous

You can use the pending feature as much as you like to try and perfect your article, just be sure when it is complete, add "[Approve]" (without quotes) to the beginning of your headline, so we know when to look at it. If it takes longer than about 20 minutes to be approved, message one of us on msn.

As with GG, tie news to game profiles, and click the 'Insert companyid from product' box. This makes it very useful for readers if they want to find out more about the game you're writing about (GG news, release dates, screens, videos, walkthroughs, whatever), and also binds news to the given company.

Use the appropriate categories, too. A story about a Wii game, for example, should be attached to 'Nintendo Consoles' and 'Console games'.

Don't include references to other sites if avoidable, especially in the headline or subheadline -- it looks unprofessional.

This message was edited by a moderator on Mar 03 2009.

This message was edited by chautemoc on Apr 11 2009.

This message was edited by chautemoc on Aug 05 2009.

This message was edited by chautemoc on Aug 05 2009.