I just wanted to thank a few users for their exceptional work with the new proof system. magicboy10xx, sausage948, Miles, Soccer and markace have all reached Contribution Level 4, the top contribution level, thanks to both proving and approving lots of scores. Together they've approved about 1500 scores (!), with overlap, of course. Without overlap, if I'm thinking right, we've altogether approved 747 scores! Wave should also get an honorable mention for approving 70+ scores. Well done, everyone!
There are several ways of improving the system, and I will be working on this in the time to come. I still haven't found a watertight way to ensure trustworthy approvals, and so far the moderators have looked at every single proof themselves. Still, as has been said before, it is much faster now. I have exams coming up in early June, and my subjects are requiring more and more of my time, so I'm not sure I'll be able to do much until mid-June. I hope to due more intensive programming then, as I have in previous vacations.
In Wii gaming news, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit are now out, two excellent games. Wii Fit will be added with a bit of support, there are some fun mini games, but only a few are not maxable, and I assume records will all be done by "cheating" (not using the correct stance), which takes away some of the fun. Mario Kart rankings can be found at http://www.mariokart64.com/mkw/, we're going to follow the game ranking sites honor code as usual and not add the game here. Besides, mariokart64.com is a great place and has a great community, so check that out.
You might not have noticed it yet, but the site just had a major update; 21 of the existing pages were affected, and 9 new pages have been added. The reason for this is that I want us to try out a new proof system.
Submitting Proof Near the top of the Submit page there is a new link called Submit Proof. This is laid out exactly like the Submit page except that you submit proof instead of scores. You have two options: submit a link to off-site proof or upload a picture to this site.
Approving Proof On every game menu you will now see a new link "Proof". On this page you can see all the proof that is awaiting approval. Here you will be able to see a user's proof and then approve or disapprove it as you see fit. Nothing will happen except that the option you chose will be shown under the proof entry. The moderators will be using the same page and hence see what you have chosen, which will help them out for games they are not knowledgeable about. Also, if a trusted user has approved the score, the moderators can take their word for it and approve it right away.
Why would you help out the moderators? Well, for one you'll be helping the site by contributing a little, which hopefully should give you a good conscience. I don't expect that to save the world, so I have made a contribution system - you will be awarded points for approving other people's scores.
Contribution Points These are points you get from contributing around the site, including submitting proof of your own scores and approving others'. What is done is that all your contributions from the last three months are converted into points. There's a few awards you can unlock. None are needed to enjoy the site, but they add a little extra. Our goal is not to force you to be active, but award those who are. The link to the Contribution page is on the top menu (CP).
I believe this is a big positive move for the site, but the system is very fresh, so there might be aspects of it that need adjustment. The points that are required to unlock new features might seem a bit high right now, but that is mostly because no one has any points for proving and approving scores yet - I will lower them if they continue to be high.
Since this is still very much a Monkey Ball-centric site, I thought I'd post this story.
SEGA was asked to make a Super Monkey Ball demo for Apple's iPhone, and here's the vid of them showing it off. This is just a quickly made demo, but apparently they're going to be making a full game. If it gathers any interest we'll add it to the site.
I got a message from my host yesterday saying that this site will be moving to a better server March 7. There shouldn't be any problems with this, but read the warning below.
Quote:
The moving process may take anywhere from 15 minutes to 12 hours, depending on the size of your account. Although we do not anticipate any downtime during and after the moving process, you may experience a slight delay in receiving emails. If you are running a blog, CMS portal or forum, any post that is made during the moving process may not be copied over to the new server.
Edit March 8:
*sigh* We were down a few hours after the move. Somehow the table that keeps all the user information disappeared, and I had to use a backup from two days ago to restore it. I have no clue how my host managed to miss that one table, but it happened in both the developing version and this live version of the site.
A few inconsistencies have been created by this backup restoration. I don't think there were any new members during these two days, but if there were, these have to sign up again. Post counts lack posts made the last two days and profile changes that were made during these two days will have to be done again. The end result wasn't so bad, but I'm annoyed by the errors.
I just finished putting up a new version of the site. It looks just like it did before, but there's several changes in the code. It should be faster now. One of the new features is that it uses a cache system to drastically reduce the number of calls to the database - which is often the limiting factor for speed.
A new feature you might have a use for is that you can now submit zero scores. To do this you have to type "n" (no apostrophies) in the submit box. The forums have been updated too. More features will be coming, but most will be about efficiency and moderator tools.
As always when there's new changes up, be on the lookout for errors. A lot of the code has been changed, and I'm not always able to catch all of the bugs. Also, if you have feature ideas just go ahead and suggest them.
Edit: In the first reply to this news post I've listed known bugs and new features. These lists will be updated as I fix the bugs or add new features.
Edit 2: There was a bug in how the (game) versions were converted from the old Elitescores version to the new (ES) version, so I had to disable submitting scores for a few hours. Everything should be back to normal now. Please keep bug reports coming, though if you find a bug I think it would be easier if you reply to this news post instead of creating a new topic.
The basic function of EliteScores.com is that you can submit your Wii high scores and compare them to other people's scores.
This site focuses on each separate game; lots of statistics, forums, fun extra stuff to do in the game (Challenges and more),
a complete history of scores, high score strategies and more.
Navigate the site by using the menu rows at the top of this page.
Click on RANKINGS to take you to a page linking all the games that are here.
The boxes down on this side are shortcuts that you can use when you get to know the site better.
It is recommended that you log in when visiting this site.
That way you can be notified when you get new messages, when your rivals update their scores and more.
To enable the "remember me" feature, letting you stay logged in for 3 months, select the small box after the username and password fields.
If you haven't joined yet, read here why you should!
EliteScores.com is the new domain for the Super Monkey Ball Elite, formerly hosted at klow.net,
and that's why all the Super Monkey Ball games are also here, in addition to the Wii games.
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