I prefer V1 because the other stuff behind is just pretty cool. Looks really good though. Not digging the word itself (like how it looks... Doesn't fit) but it's still good. Kudos.
I tried to follow the tut but failed. D: I think the texture on the 3D part of the text could be more realistic but thats my only complaint, well done! EDIT:V1, nice addition
The grass is too obviously just tacked on, or at least it looks like that. I don't know how you could fix that, just pointing it out. V1 is definitely the best, 2 and 3 are just boring. It just looks very fake =/
v1 is definitely the best because of the added bit of background effects. I agree with Shataki, the grassy parts look a bit pasted-on... in the example the grass flows with the contour of the text, and has just a little bit of overhang, but in yours the grass is huge and is just sitting there, not really following the text. It still looks pretty cool though, good job.