The Contest

Alright, duders. E3 2014 is nine days away. Get on that hype train, and ride it! Well, if you've been around Giant Bomb for a while, you know that since 2009, the moderators have held a contest for users to create the banners that will be placed at the top of each press conference's discussion thread. Whether you're a Photoshop master or a can't find the color red in MS Paint, you could win! So, read the rules carefully and start making pretty and/or funny stuff!

The Prize

Aside from having your banner featured at the top of a stickied press conference thread during E3, each of the five winners will also get a free month of premium membership. If you already are a premium member, an extra month will be added to your current subscription.

The Rules

• You each can submit up to THREE banners for EACH press conference. So, if you've got multiple genius ideas for whatever the hell Nintendo is doing, have at it!
• Although you can submit many banners, you can only win ONCE. For example, if you win Microsoft, you can't win Sony. We gotta spread the love.
• All banners must be 650 x 150.
• For the first time ever, GIFs are now LEGAL (hard G’s or otherwise) but not required.
• General forum rules apply. (i.e. no nudity or otherwise NSFW stuff)
• Deadline is next Sunday evening (June 8).
• While everyone is encouraged to give feedback and pick their favorites, winners are chosen by the moderators.

The Info

Here are the details about when each conference is being held. Use these as you wish. Or don't. Or use incorrect information if you want! It hasn’t stopped people from winning in the past. For your own personal convenience, I have also provided a link that will magically convert the listed time into your local time.

As you can see, we've decided to go ahead and include Nintendo even though they won't be doing a live stage presentation. Nintendo will be releasing a Nintendo Direct-ish video on Tuesday morning before E3 officially starts, so I'm sure we'll have a discussion thread about that too. Also, there is no Konami...thing this year. Pre-E3 or otherwise as far as we know.

Microsoft

“Xbox: Game On, the Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing”

• Monday, June 9 @ 9:30 AM PDT - Galen Center (Local Time)

Electronic Arts

“EA World Premiere: E3 2014 Preview”

• Monday, June 9 @ 12:00 PM PDT - Shrine Auditorium (Local Time)

Ubisoft

“Ubisoft E3 Media Briefing 2014“

• Monday, June 9 @ 3:00 PM PDT - Orpheum Theater (Local Time)

Sony

“PlayStation E3 2014 Press Conference“

• Monday, June 9 @ 6:00 PM PDT - Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena (Local Time)

Nintendo

“The Nintendo Digital Event”

• Tuesday, June 10 @ 9:00 AM PDT (Local Time)

Wrap It Up

Now you know the rules and the basic info you should probably include. So, get to photoshopping, drawing, or even photographing! There's a template if you need a visual aid. And, if you need some inspiration, just check out all of the past winners below.

Gallery

Holy crap that Jack Tretton banner is just...amazing.

If that Jack Tretton banner had accurate 2014 info on it, it would likely have my vote again.

Also, be warned. While GIFs are legal, some of us (i.e., me) will hold the use of animation against you.

bump

I approve of this. I hope there are some animated gif banners because I fucking love animated gifs. *not spam*

Omg... wth @pseg . Also, why can't I "at Trace"? Your new name ain't in the system?

Not great at the Photoshop/Creativity thing but it made me laugh too much last year not to whip this up.

(EDIT: Changed the time thanks to @marino - thanks!)

@trueheresy: Big ups for being the brave first entry!

That should be 9 AM, though, not PM. But, again, some people have won with incorrect info before!

@marino: I guess someone had to do it, I just want to contribute even a little bit to the site.

I'm actually pretty pleased with the amount of depth this ended up having. I just hope everybody gets what I was going for.

@chumley_marchbanks: Awesome work duder :)

can we make it a rule that all submissions must be created while listening to Quad City DJs in the background

GIF CITY AAWWWW YEEAAAAHH!!

I promise I will not gif more credit to gif posters - but know I love a good gif.

Good luck, everyone. I wanna see lots of cool entries.

I am a gif-neutral mod, for the record. If you've got a great idea for a gif banner, go for it, but don't assume any banner that ain't in motion is gonna lose.

And so it begins!

I certainly have no expertise on making banners but I thought I might as well try making some this year. Decided to make a really basic one and then spiced it up with some images afterwards.

Edit: Now with 100% more Ubisoft.

Edit2: Now including Nintendo power.

@riostarwind: I really, really like the less spicy one - super classy lookin'

some Sunset Overdrive themed mess

very simple one

@alcor741: Those are some graphic-ass banners right there. Really nice looking, man! :D

ALSO HELL YEAH GIFS ALLOWED

NOW IS MY AGE OF RECKONING

(God it's like a Geocities page up in here now. I'm sorry, I'll make some non-GIF ones tomorrow but I really had to get this idea out of the way because it's too dumb I love it.)

Here's my first set. Just wanted to be clean and simple but had the idea to incorporate the bomb into it. I'll probably have another pass at these later and maybe tweak them a bit but for now I'm pretty happy.

@aurahack: These are great! I embrace the newfound love of the gif and really like the old VHS footage look of these.

vhs gif ones are the best

I will publicly disclose that I will not vote for any banners that are animated.

@Trace: @zombiepie: You guys are trying really hard to put a damper on this whole thing. :(

@sirdesmond: Thanks!!

@zombiepie said:

I will publicly disclose that I will ONLY vote for any banners that are animated (That said, I'm not a mod so I don't really vote at all).

@marino: I should remind you that I am the commissioner of the No Fun League.

Though I do appreciate aurahack shamelessly incorporating racing games into three of his five animated banners.

@face15: These are really simple and really fucking clever. I love them.

@Trace: Need For Speed and Gran Turismo are givens, in all fairness. Monaco GP 2 is me being totally shameless though, yeah.

@face15: That Microsoft one is perfect.

Too dark?

@Trace said:

I've just woken up, and for some reason I read that as "No Fun Lasagne" at first. And I didn't even question it. I just got on with reading the rest of this thread with the idea of a No Fun Lasagne commissioner making total sense. Seemed like a totally rational and normal thing to say. It was only when I scrolled back up to @reply to you and @zombiepie in order criticize your anti-GIF policy that I realize how ridiculous a No Fun Lasagne would be.

In any case, I was going to announce that I will only vote for animated GIF banners. But I'm changing that policy slightly:

I WILL ONLY VOTE EITHER FOR ANIMATED GIF BANNERS, OR BANNERS WHICH CONTAIN LASAGNE. (Bonus points for banners that contain animated lasagne).

Then why are GIFs allowed in the first place? Eh? EH?

OMIGOD #CorruptMods #ModsAreEvil #JustinIsMyWaifu4Ever #FREEGIANTBOMB #SAVEGIANTBOMB #ShamelessSelfPromotionalHashtagThat'sTooLongToGiveYouAnyRoomForAnActualTweetSoDon'tEvenBotherTryingToTweetThisAtMe

@alcor741: What font are you using there? I like it. Reminds me of Kentucky Route Zero.

I would try, but I don't have my copy of cs5 anymore. I have Photoshop, CC, but don't have a membership and a months worth of premium ain't worth the 30 bucks for a month of cc

@sweep: The font is called Dekar Light and you can get it here!

I gave the gif thing a try:

@narujoe93: http://www.gimp.org

I'll second that. I used to hate gimp, but once you get used to the weird interface it's a perfectly legit image editor.

@sweep said:

Alternatively, I recommend Paint.NET. It's super lightweight, user-friendly, and does a lot more than I ever thought a free image editor would let you. I could never get used to GIMP because I always thought the UI was shit. :(

Windows only though, my work machines all run on Linux :D

Oh, yes! I love the annual banner contest, I enter every year but never ever win. It's probably because the mods hate me :(

I'm not sure if I should even try. Also, goddamn @aurahack for always making awesome banners.

Here's my first attempt;

I like this.

I did a Quick Look of this thread on my Wii U...

@aurahack said:

@sirdesmond: Thanks!!

@zombiepie said:

I will publicly disclose that I will not vote for any banners that are animated.

WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO LIKE GARBAGE ANIME?!

Well, I just had the best dumb idea for a sony banner. I guess I have to at least try and do it. If not, Ill pass the idea along here.

Nope, cant do it. Also, it's really stupid so I'm not going to say it. It could be funny if done right, but it would end up being too much (it would be a really long gif).

@aurahack: Nah, it's not truly Geocities until we're bombarded with auto-playing midis.

God damn! This is an impressive early showing here. Keep 'em coming.

VHS-looking gifs for life.

@hailinel said:

@alcor741: Classy!

Woah! Woah!

No need to be redundant.