3D Dot Heroes Copyright Competition

With the recent release of the rather fun 3D Dot Heroes for PS3, in both the USA and Europe, US publisher Atlus have set up a hall of fame where you can share your heroic creations. At a later date these will apparently be entered into a draw to win prizes. European publisher SouthPeak Games meanwhile has also set up a competition, where as they put it:

"A hero created by you could appear on the official European 3D Dot Game Heroes website! You'd be treated like a king and it would obviously make you more attractive to members of the opposite sex."

Unfortunately both stipulate that: "No licensed material or characters of any kind" can be submitted. Which in fairness makes sense for a competition, since the reward is for creativity. But in the case of Atlus it makes sharing characters more difficult, and is a little annoying if you've been really looking forward to using all of the Colossi from Shadow of the Colossus, or the blue dragon from Panzer Dragoon. (for those desperately wanting Link, he can currently be downloaded from GameFAQs)

Wishing to redress the matter of competitions, Hardcore Gaming 101 is running its first ever:

Recreate a character from a videogame for 3D Dot Heroes Competition

This main rule is: no original work. If it's not a character from a game, then submit it to Atlus or SouthPeak. The more obscure the game though, the more impressed we may possibly be. The deadline is Sunday 27th of June. After which HG101's judges will vote on their favourites and the TOP 5 will be hosted on-site for your pleasure. If we get a lot of entries, the rest could well be bundled together and put on Megaupload for the world to judge. This competition is all about breaking copyright law, so if we receive CEASE AND DESIST letters from Atlus or anyone else, then we know it's working.


THE PRIZES

The absolute best will be awarded with a copy of the 3D Dot Heroes soundtrack CD released in Japan. All will receive the honour and prestige of being one the five famous "HG101 Heroes". Bragging rights. One non-alcoholic beverage redeemable only in Paris or the state of New Jersey. The love of a thousand annonymous readers. Positive Karma. A thank you email, signed by the world famous Kurt Kalata (possibly worth millions if authentic). One genuine Stratocaster air guitar. Whatever else we might have lying around the HG101 Citadel which we don't want.

THE RULES

1) Competition closes midnight Sunday 27th June GMT.

2) Only copyrighted/licensed videogame characters, strictly no originals. Famous people and characters from non-game media - unless they have appeared in a game - don't count. So Forest Gump is a no-no, but Wolverine is fine since there's been several X-Men games.

3) No Mario, Link or Cloud Strife characters. These are already available to download on GameFAQs, and being popular we'll probably get millions of such entries unless we say no to them now.

4) No stealing from other civilians. We will be checking the internet to make sure that, should you recreate Koyori from the Sengoku Ace games, you did it yourself and didn't just submit someone else's.

5) One submission per person.

6) Competition open to everyone except HG101 workers - From Software and Atlus employees are welcome to contribute if they like.

7) Do not mess around with the standard 3D Dot Heroes file format.


HOW TO SUBMIT

1) Get a copy of the game and using the editor to recreate your favourite gaming character.

2) Take 2-3 screenshots of your character using the game's handy SNAPSHOT function, found in the main game.

3) Using a USB key which your PS3 recognizes, copy over the CHARACTER DATA, and the screenshots. Keep the screenshots in their own separate folder .

4) ZIP the folder together into a single ZIP file.

5) Email this ZIP file to HG101's head editor: Kurt Kalata. When emailing make sure to include your name, the name of your character and the game they originally come from.

Thankfully From Software allow you to share creations via USB key and the internet, as opposed to needing dedicated servers, meaning in private we can break copyright as much as we like. HG101 contributor and competition judge Sketcz even went as far as recreating Vyse from Skies of Arcadia.

"The hair is a constant work in progress, his legs are too short, the shield is annoying, and I'm debating adding more depth to his eyepatch, but otherwise Vyse's original design works pretty well. My advice: draw out any designs you have first and make use of reference material. Using an elarged pixel image of retro characters can also help. Have fun with your creation!" - Sketcz


His version of Vyse can be downloaded HERE.

So, get cracking then, and the best of luck to you!