MAG+ Gold and Silver Medals

[Cranberry]

***UPDATE***
Edward has just made an announcement about the in-game medals. Please read this topic right away if you want to collect in-game medals.
http://forums.sega.com/showthread.php?t=320689
Make sure you have space in your room to receive your medal!
*************


Okay, so here's the deal. The MAG+ event has ended, and Xbox 360 has dominated the leaderboard taking 93 of the top 100 slots. They will be receiving their medals sometime soon. PC/PS2 claimed only 7 spots of the top 100, however they took the top 6 as well as spot 47! This means that PC/PS2 servers won this event. Congratulations teams "Like OMG" and "Last Day" for their winning performances and making our servers proud and putting us on top for the final event the PC/PS2 servers will ever see.

That said, there is a rain cloud over the victory. The medals were not issued as announced in the last update. Although the PSU GM Edward is admirably trying his best to get them awarded to you, in a best case scenario you'll have them for 2 weeks before they are taken away from you. At worst you'll never get them at all. Even the best case scenario here does not seem fitting for all the hard work and skill you displayed to put us on top. And it doesn't seem like Sega is going to go to any lengths to reward you for your achievements, so I will.

Here's the story. I am in the process of having real life gold and silver medals manufactured for the players of these winning teams. This will be 6 medals total - 4 gold for the 1st place winners of Team Like OMG, 2 Silver for the runner ups of Team Last Day, and a Bronze medal for spAwn of team "lolpc/ps2 kthxbai". I'm still in the process of designing the medal itself, but my current concept has MAG+ engraved on it, with "PC/PS2 2010" along the top, and "Phantasy Star Universe" on the bottom. I'm also looking a the pictures of the in-game medals, and am going to attempt to use those images as the basis for the design of these real life medals. Additionally, I plan to design a kind of "Certificate of Authenticity" to go with the medals as a testament to your great abilities.

To the winning teams: Once manufacturing is finished, I will ship these to you at no cost. I'd like each of you to get in contact with me so that we'll be able to make shipping arrangements. I am willing to ship internationally. Depending on the cost of manufacturing and shipping, I may need to wait a few weeks to get some pay checks. I am not a rich woman, but I really feel you deserve this so I definitly want to do it.

To PSO-World: I do not know the winning players personally in-game, and I'd like your help in contacting them. I'd like the fellow members here to refer the winners to this topic so that they can be aware of this. I'm not sure if they visit PSO-World at all, and if they do I have no idea what their user names might be.

With all the hard work the winners did, they deserve a better prize than a medal that will vanish almost as quickly as they get it (if they ever get it at all). This however will be some medals they can use to remember this event (and PSU itself) forever.

Edit:
Sega's package has arrived! Included are official signed letters of congratulations for each medal winner. Each letter is signed by Edward and Clumsyorchid. I scanned one of the letters and included it below. As you can see, Sega has fully supported this project and has essentially declared these to be official MAG+ medals.

Bronze and Silver medals will ship tomorrow. The gold medals are still waiting for some blue ribbons to arrive. The tracking# says the blue ribbons will arrive on Wednesday. So the Gold medals will be shipping either Wednesday or Thursday depending on how early the blue ribbons come. A very special THANK YOU to Edward and the Sega community team for supporting and contributing to this project!

Youtube Video Awards Ceremony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HK69m4rooc

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/afa25c9455ac1db98002f1825f82ed1920ad74f.JPG

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/ac1356f04b04a568df6c8df72851e4e46754b28.JPG

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/42c354f04526aec4d93b84232bfd05a019f98ad.JPG

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/76d35b674575afafd7bf83ac2158fb8cd5f5986.JPG

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/64535c094f60a78fdb028c722d29c94acd43889.JPG

http://images.yuku.com/image/pjpeg/f70350c04ab0aa86ddf08ee2273c5c37a898e99.JPG

[Omi]

O.O Wow that is a surprise, please do not feel obligated to do any of this,
but I was on both "Like OMG" and "Last Day" and know all the players that
you might want to contact for these irl medals.

I will PM you some information relating to this. If it does come through that's
pretty nifty and tyvm.

[Tyreek]

Now this is some hard earned appreciation and dedication. Way to go Cranberry, for giving the winners what they deserve.

[Max B]

http://www.atgrehab.com/consumer/HatsOff.jpg

[Ami]

OH WOW! That's some great appreciation. This is one of the reasons why I think that PSU players are some of the nicest I've ever come across.

[ChibiBecca]

i think that's a really nice idea. ^^

[desturel]

PC/PS2 claimed only 6 spots of the top 100, however they were the top 6! This means that PC/PS2 servers won this event.

Okay, I'll play devil's advocate (you can ignore the spoiler section if you are overly sensitive):

The only reason why the PC/PS2 servers didn't have more of the top 100 spots is because not enough teams were running the event on that server and seriously competing for the top prize. It was basically a core group of dedicated players doing the runs.

It also helps that the competition was "rigged" in a sense. There are a number of things that will cause slow down and a number of glitches that would prevent a good X360 team from being able to get the same time as an equally good PC team could get. You argument is like saying there were 100 spots in a drag race, the top six spots were claimed by McLaren F1s (or Bugatti Veyron for the car snobs) while the remaining 94 spots were won by the Corvettes. Sure the 'vettes are fast enough for finish the race in a great time, but they don't have all of the advantages that the F1 has.

If both platforms had a level playing ground, it's not certain which platform would have "won" this event.

All that being said, the winners are the winners. No one remembers second place (or seventh in this case). ;)

I hope you are able to get in contact with everyone who won. It's great that you are doing this for the winning players.

[Cranberry]

I've sent private messages to as many of the winners as I could. I wasn't able to find the accounts of all of them, so I am very much hoping the community can help guide them to this topic.

In addition to getting medals for them, I also would like to request that each of them provide me with the best screen capture of their character that they can. I want these so that I can use them in a medal awards ceremony.

I'd love to hold an online medal ceremony, but I don't think I will be able to pull that off before the shutdown. Instead, I plan to use Windows Movie Maker and my TV Tuner combined with the Photo Channel on my Wii to make a Youtube awards ceremony through my PSO character. A kind of video ceremony to honor the winners. I want to phase in pictures of their characters into this video ceremony.

To pull this off I'd like character screen captures, and a brief description of what each members main role in the team was; what they contributed that helped you achieve success.

Once the medals are shipped and the ceremony video is ready, I want to upload it to Youtube so it can be shared with everyone.

Once I have the medal designs ready, I'll post them in this topic.

[milranduil]

When I got the PM to this thread, I figured it was just a copy/paste of what Ed had said on official...when I finished reading the post, I can honestly say I'm left speechless. I honestly can't convey how awesome this would be or how much it would be appreciated. I, for one, don't feel so deserving for such a thing, but perhaps it would be rude to say no either. In any case, I can provide the necessary information to help make this as easy as possible. I also notified DreX (Lyzael Guardian) and can notify Black Velvet tomorrow (well later today...it is 4am here lol).

Thank you just isn't sufficient for the gratitude that I wish I could show for something like this :)

[DreXxiN]

I've PM'd you Cranberry. Thanks again.

And you know me, we had DPS discussions about BB awhile back. :P

There's really nothing I can do to show my gratitude for this reward. It'll mean more to me than anything I'll feel in a long awhile, rest assured. Let it be known that it really means a lot to us. Thank you.

[RagolianHunter]

Hey Hey now there are actually seven PC players in top 100

Every bit counts...

So 360 winning percentage is only 93% not 94% lol....

[Dhylec]

Sounds like a grand thing to make real medals for the last few winners. Let's see how they will turn out. ;]

[Cranberry]

I've made a quick concept sketch of the gold medla in paint. While obviously the real thing will be far better quality than this, it gives you an idea of what I have in mind.

As you can see, I'm using images of the in-game medals for the design. I wasn't able to make the text do this in paint, but I want to have the text run along the circumference of the medal. If someone has some suggestions for the exact verbage of the text feel free to offer a suggestion, but I definitly want it to say "MAG+ 2010" and "PSU or Phantasy Star Universe"

The medal image itself disrtored a bit when I stretched it. I'm going to ask a web designer to help me stretch it without distorting it. The orange color obviously represents the gold of the medal. I'm also currently designing the certificate of authenticity.

I have a few color choices for the ribbon. I'm thinking of using Blue for the Gold medal and Black for the Silver. I could go with Red for the silver but it seems like Red and Silver wouldn't look good together. Maybe I'll go with Blue for both. I'm still pondering that.

Oh, the place that I'm looking at to have these made. I think they are also going to provide velvet cases for the medals too. So the winners will have a nice case to keep them in when they're not proudly strutting down the streets wearing it.

Again I want to stress that this is just a very quick concept sketch. The more refined version will be FAR better quality than this.

You know, since I'm a 3rd party making these I sort of feel like Kubara. Maybe I should call this "MAG+ Award Medac"

A beautiful medal awarded to the winners of the MAG+ event. Probably.

[Cranberry]

It's been brough to my attention that there is a 7th medalist that I didn't notice before. Rechecking the leaderboards I've verified tha we do indeed have a bronze medalist! spAwn of team "lolpc/ps2 kthxbai". I've edited my initial post, and this user will not be left out! I'd like for him/her to see this topic as well and a bronze medal will be made and shipped out to this person.

I've established contact with 3 of the medalists so far:
Omi (Omiboti)
adios (Bobby)
DrexXin (Lyzael Guardian)
Black Velvet
spAwn
Mia Ritz the Second

I still need to reach the following (these are their in game PSU names):
"..."

[luminouskitsune]

I am black velvet of the team "Last Day"

I'm left speechless to the fact you want to make the PC/PS2 servers medals for there participation of the MAG TA leader boards. The rough sketch that you did was really cool and I wanna thank you in advance for all the hard work and dedication that your doing to put all of this together.

[Cranberry]

I am pleased to announce that I have succesfully contacted 6 of the 7 winners. The only one I still need to reach is the player who's game name is ...

No seriously. His in game name is literally "..."

I thank all of you for helping me reach out to the winners and make them aware of this!

The medal logo will be finished very soon. I look to be well on track for my goal of ordering these medals on Friday.

I also have some very surprising news. The Sega team has noticed what I am doing and wants to help. Edward has contacted me (As well as another mod) and it seems the Sega community team is in full support of this, and is even suggesting that he and Sega want to contribute to this to help reward the winners. It's still in discussion but this surprising, and very welcome twist to this story, will hopefully make this even more special for the winners.

The medals will probably take approximately 3 weeks to be manufactured once they are ordered. I'll give an ETA once the order is placed and I'm provided with one.

[NDW]

I am pleased to announce that I have succesfully contacted 6 of the 7 winners. The only one I still need to reach is the player who's game name is ...

No seriously. His in game name is literally "..."

I believe that would be "Ellipsis...". He hasn't signed on PSOW for 4 months, but it's been 3 days since he last signed on SEGA Forum. Here (http://forums.sega.com/member.php?u=108620) is his profile for SEGA Forum.

[Omi]

I believe that would be "Ellipsis...". He hasn't signed on PSOW for 4 months, but it's been 3 days since he last signed on SEGA Forum. Here (http://forums.sega.com/member.php?u=108620) is his profile for SEGA Forum.

You are right about that account, however SHE also has another account here called Deragonite, for some reason she stopped using Ellipsis... on here but not on the official forums.

[Cranberry]

One of the Sega moderators helped me locate her and I've sent her a private message both on Sega and on Youtube. Currently awaiting the responds.

The logos are done! I just need to submit them to the manufacturerer so that they can make a mock medal draft. If I approve the draft, they'll begin manufacturing. The white area is transparent area. The medal color will be visible in the white area.

Edit:
Moved medal images to the initial post.

[NDW]

You are right about that account, however SHE also has another account here called Deragonite, for some reason she stopped using Ellipsis... on here but not on the official forums.

Ah! Thanks for clarifying! ^^;

[Cranberry]

Actually, the above comment does bring something to mind.

I'd like it if the genders of the winners could be confirmed for me. This is just so that I get my pronouns right when I'm doing the awards ceremony and writing up the certificates of authenticity.

I'm basically assuming male unless told otherwise.

My current understanding is that Black Velvet and Ellipsis are female, and the others are male. If that isn't correct please tell me right away.

[Omi]

My current understanding is that Black Velvet and Ellipsis are female, and the others are male. If that isn't correct please tell me right away.

You are correct.

[Cranberry]

Edward has just made an announcement about the in-game medals. Please see my initial post for the link.

Edit:
The mock proofs are in. I added them to the initial post.

[Zorafim]

I... Wha, really? You're gonna do this? That... That's pretty surprising. How much will this set you back by?

[Cranberry]

At the moment, the cost has been a little more than $300 for the medals themselves. I haven't determined shipping cost yet.

I updated my initial post with an example of one of the certificates of authenticity I've made. My current work is on the youtube awards ceremony.

[Ce'Nedra]

Intresting concept Cran, looks good.

[Volcompat321]

At the moment, the cost has been a little more than $300 for the medals themselves. I haven't determined shipping cost yet.

I updated my initial post with an example of one of the certificates of authenticity I've made. My current work is on the youtube awards ceremony.

$300, wow.

You're doing something awesome here. :D

Could you post a link to the Youtube ceremony thing? :o

[DreXxiN]

This is turning out just absolutely amazing, Cran.

You're making me feel guilty for accepting such a fantastic reward. :P

[Cranberry]

This is the update everyone has been waiting for! The medals have arrived and the pictures are in! That said, there is some slightly bad news for the gold medal winners. I ordered blue ribbons for your medals, but the manufacterer messed up and sent orange ribbons. I've already contacted them about the mistake and they are going to ship me the blue ribbons tomorrow. Once they arrive I'll replace the incorrect orange ribbons with the blue ones.

Silver and bronze medal winners, your medals are perfect.

Sega noticed this project of mine and also wants to congratulation the winners of MAG+ by contributing to it. Edward has informed me that a package is on the way to me with a little something extra to help officially congratulate the medalists. As soon as both the blue ribbons and Sega's package arrive, I'll sort everything together and get these shipped out to the winners.

Bronze medalist spAwn, I still need you to contact me with a shipping address. "..." I have not heard from you yet and you I would like you to PM me either here or on the official forums so I can make shipping arangements for your medal.

In the mean time, medal pictures are in! I put them in the initial post of this topic.

[Volcompat321]

Wow, they look awesome!

You might have an easy time getting to "..." through Bobby.
Or if she has MSN or something linked through here.

I'm curious; what's this SEGA thing you're talking about?

Will you mention it after it gets to you or something, or going to keep up in the dark about it? :p

[Cranberry]

I replaced the mock-proof pictures in the initial post with photographs of the real thing.

I want to wait until I receive Sega's package before I officially announce what they've included.

As for "...", Bobby isn't able to contact her. She's been left some messages on a few medias, and my hands are tied until she checks one. She hasn't logged into any of her accounts in more than a week.

[Volcompat321]

:( That sucks.

Hopefully she'll check something soon.
It would be a shame if she was the only one that didn't get her medal, due to not contacting anyone.

Hopefully everything gets sorted out!
This really is an awesome deed you've done! :D

[desturel]

Did anyone try her youtube account (http://www.youtube.com/user/EllipsisPSUTA)? Youtube messages are automatically emailed to the account owner.

[Cranberry]

Yeah I did message her youtube account a few days ago. No responds as of yet.

[DreXxiN]

You're the best, Cran! Sorry I was so hasty on PSU earlier ^^.

[Cranberry]

This is the official forums profile:
http://forums.sega.com/member.php?u=108620

This is PSO-World profile:
http://www.pso-world.com/forums/member.php?u=45462

Both have links to her Youtube account.

[DragonStriker]

If you give me some of her contact info (YouTube, player names, ID, etc), I'll see if I can contact her. I have my ways.

I reported you for harassing me over Xbox live in a sexual nature. :(

[DreXxiN]

I wonder if anyone thought of the possibility of it being this hard to get contact with her for a REASON. >_>.

..As in she doesn't want to be contacted. lol

[DragonStriker]

I wonder if anyone thought of the possibility of it being this hard to get contact with her for a REASON. >_>.

..As in she doesn't want to be contacted. lol

She's hiding in Canada.

[Cranberry]

"..." has contacted me and shipping arrangements for her medal have been made. This is very good news.

spAwn is now the only person I still need to make arrangements with.

Thank you everyone for your help in helping me reach the winners. I am so glad no one will be left behind.

[Ce'Nedra]

Man these medals looks very cool, wish i could have one.

[Cranberry]

Major update today.

Sega's package has arrived, and just as promised Edward has provided official signed letters of congratulations to all the medal winners. All of the letters are similar but have slightly different verbage depending on the medal position of the winner. These letters will be included to each winner.

Each package will consist of the following:

1 Medal
1 velvet pouch
1 display box
1 award certificate signed by Cranberry
1 official letter of congratulations signed by Edward and Clumsyorchid

Silver and Bronze medals will ship Tuesday 3/30. Gold medals are currently waiting for a blue ribbon that goes with them to arrive. The ribbons arrive on Wednesday so the Gold medals will ship by Thursday.

I put a scan of one of the letters in the initial post of this topic.

This project is very nearly complete. Thank you all for your support and an EXTRA special Thank You to Edward & Sega for all their support, help, and contributions to this project!

[Sapient]

gratz on medals but if 360 didnt have loading time gazetto team woud have kicked ur azz

[FUDGEHOY]

There are great players on both pc/ps2 and xbox 360. Some people are just too stubborn to admit it.

[Cranberry]

Update to the medal project.

The blue ribbons arrived today - 1 day earlier than expected. This is good news!

The Silver and Bronze medals have already shipped. I dropped them off at the post office today. The gold medals are shipping tomorrow. I'll also have the Youtube video awards ceremony finished tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be my final update to this project.

[milranduil]

Update to the medal project.

The blue ribbons arrived today - 1 day earlier than expected. This is good news!

The Silver and Bronze medals have already shipped. I dropped them off at the post office today. The gold medals are shipping tomorrow. I'll also have the Youtube video awards ceremony finished tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be my final update to this project.

Thanks for the good news! :D

[DragonStriker]

No offense, but it's not really fair at all. Their server is going down, which is why SEGA is doing this. We don't really deserve anything :3

I think that Vanilla person meant the top 360 team should have gotten it's own set of gold medals from SEGA. In all honesty the TA board should have been seperate from the start because it's not comparable.

[Cranberry]

I shipped all 4 Gold Medals today. The 3 gold medalists that live in the USA should be getting their medals within a week. One of them lives overseas, and your medal will probably take a little longer to get to you because it has to pass through customs.

The silver and bronze medals were shipped yesterday, so all 7 are on their way now.

If for any reason someone doesn't get their medal, contact me and I'll see what I can do. Also, I'd like it if you could confirm for me when the medal arrives safely too, for my own peace of mind!

I've also finished the Youtube video awards ceremony. It's live and the link has been added to the initial post of this topic.

Assuming that there's no problems with the shipping, my work is finished. Once again I'd like to congratulate all the medal winners, and again extend a very special thank you to Sega and the Sega Community Team for supporting and contributing to this project.

This marks the official completion of the PSU MAG+ Medal Project. Now, let's get online and enjoy the last day of PSU!

[DreXxiN]

Hey, Cran. Got the medal, it is awesome! I'll try to take pics when I get off of work. :)

The ribbon is really a nice touch.

[Cranberry]

Happy to hear it! So far I've gotten confirmation of 2 medals having arrived. The rest should be arriving any day now.

[Omi]

Happy to hear it! So far I've gotten confirmation of 2 medals having arrived. The rest should be arriving any day now.

3 of them now ^^. I just got mine today, but have been to busy to open it yet lol,
but it is indeed here. TYVM

[Cranberry]

Fantastic!

[DC_PLAYER]

Team Like OMG lol

The medals look sweeeeeeeeet, nice stuff cran

[luminouskitsune]

Black Velvet here Confirming that i indeed got my medal...

Thanks again so much Cran Its absolutely gorgeous

[DragonStriker]

Black Velvet here Confirming that i indeed got my medal...

Thanks again so much Cran Its absolutely gorgeous

Hahahahah 3rd time was the charm with Harry Potter......Or not.....

[Cranberry]

=) I'm glad they got to you safely! I've gotten confirmation from everyone except ... and Mia Ritz the 2nd that the medals have safely arrived. Truly that's great news. Mia Ritz the 2nd probably hasn't got it yet due to international shipping, and I don't expect to hear from ... again.

Edward, the PSU GM, would like to put this in the Sega blog. If you guys feel up to it, feel free to post pictures of them here. I'll send any pictures to Edward for their blog.

Enjoy your medals everyone. You earned it!

Never forget PC/PS2!

~Cranberry