2007 was a big year for RFGen. Hundreds of new members, new staff, new features, new scripts, new tools, new designs and banners (thanks Dennis!), a new store to help fund the server costs and an increased level of community participation!
Along the way we broke records, raised the bar, improved the site in so many ways your brain would melt trying to remember it all. The Admins, Editors, Staff and most importantly the Members, have helped mold and shape RFGen into the site it is today. So first off, let me quote a few 2007 database statistics for you:
41358 game submissions of all types 5956 hardware submissions of all types ====== equaling 47314 total submissions for 2007 alone!
Meanwhile behind the scenes, our three Administrators: Eddie (St0rmTK421), David (TraderJake) and Scott (Tynstar) have worked tirelessly fixing errors and bugs, making new policies and scripts, adding new features to the site for all of us to use, guiding us with their leadership and all of this despite busy schedules, jobs, school and real life in general that can eat away at your time even in the most ideal of circumstances.
One of these new features that really hit it's stride in 2007 is the ability to log submissions and submission approvals. It's handy because we can thank each and every one of you for your contributions. So for 2007, we'd like to thank the following members:
Also a big thanks go out to the staff who besides their own submissions and contributions, review and approve member submissions on an almost daily basis. Here are the top staff approvers for 2007:
As you can see it takes a tremendous amount of community support and staff to make RFGen the success it is. From the staff who have specific departments and areas of expertise, the members who spend hours scanning, submitting and discussing, to the weekly polls & chats (thanks Norville!) and forums that make this a second home for many of our over 1500 registered members. It's great to see that after three and a half years this site is still moving forward at such a fast pace. Here's to 2008 becoming another banner year for this site and it's members!
2007 is dead. Long live 2007. Looking back, there were some nice games. Bioshock, The Orange Box, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Mass Effect, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters- certainly, there were some good games that came out. But yeah, such things are now in the past. The question now becomes what are you looking forward to in 2008? I've got a few games that I am looking forward to, read about them after the jump.
I'm sure you've seen the classic video of the kid who gets way too excited over his new Nintendo 64 he got for Christmas. If you haven't, what the hell are you doing on the internet? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/rKapP-A7VIc&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/rKapP-A7VIc&rel=0</a>!
Anyways, the excited kid getting a video game console for Christmas video has finally made the next gen leap to the Playstation 3. Or as they might say: OH MY GAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWD PLAYSTATION THREEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!! Watch the video below...
Now, I don't know which excited kid is better. The N64 kid getting excited over an old system with arguably few great games or the PS3 kid getting excited over a new system with arguably few great games. Regardless, this calls for a comparison. CUE UP THE HTML TABLES PLEASE... (After the break...)
Posted on Jan 1st 2008 at 07:18:57 AM by (hXd) Posted under site news
2008 is here. For me, it's going to be a fresh start, for various reasons:
1. After debating it all week during my vacation, and facing truths I may or may not have wanted to accept, I decided that I will be moving back to New York as soon as possible. There are a few factors that come with it, such as my not making enough money down here, and that my dad STILL doesn't meet the requirements for the HOPE scholarship. The commute to Georgia State plus having to work on top of that would cut into my homework time, and not only would I slowly go broke but I wouldn't have decent grades due to all of the interference. I feel that this decision is what's best for me, as do most people I know. So I will see it through with my future in mind.
2. I feel as though I'm slowly growing more and more apathetic to the goals I strive for in life. The six months I spent in Georgia playing video games and working being case in point. I need to start practicing art more and get myself a camera so I start taking pictures again. I always wanted to learn Japanese. Get in shape. Learn how to use Photoshop and Illustrator to the most potential that I can use them. Goals that all somehow got thrown to the wayside.
3. I need to start living my life for me instead of constantly walking on eggshells for other people. I need to be unafraid to speak my mind, even if I'm probably wrong. Life's too short to try and please everyone, you can't be afraid to butt heads when it comes down to it.
I did accomplish one thing in 2007 that I have no regrets about: I took chances. I moved down to Georgia in pursuit of a dream that unfortunately didn't come true. But no one can ever say that I didn't try. I took a chance on a girl, and it didn't work out, but I treasure the time we spent together. I've always played things too safe in my life: never threw my security on the line for a dream, never put my heart on the line for the oppposite sex, and I finally did these things. And if I could do it again, I just might.
And that's the story. Hopefully I can accomplish these things and more.
December 31, 2007, 4:57:30 PM, Eastern. That is the date and time that will go down as the date we hit 100000 posts in our forum - our community. From 0 posts on June 8, 2004 to 100000 posts today, certainly, today is a day of celebration. Check out the stats bar as captured for this momentous occasion:
Certainly, I am humbled by the mark, and by the success of our forum. I am humbled by the community that we have. Without our community, there is no way that we could have hit this mark. We are nothing without you guys. Thank you all for fostering our community, and we hope that our community remains vibrant for years to come.
I'd like to specifically congratulate the person who made the 100000th post, Bad Enough Dude. I can confidently say that Bad Enough Dude is the oldest member (with respect to join date) on the site that is not or has not been on staff and still actively posts. That's really cool. He even joined before me, at 4AM on the date that the site launched. How cool is that? Check out the post that made 100000:
Congrats, and congrats to everyone! May the forum continue to be a success and a place for interesting musings and thoughts!
So, back in the day there was the SNES CD Add-on under development by Sony and Phillips. Clearly, it didn't work out. Phillips decided to release the add-on as the CD-i, the system with amazing games like The Legend of Zelda: Wand of Gamelon. Certainly, we are blessed that system and it's amazing games. Thankfully Nintendo has learned a thing or two about whoring out franchises, haven't they?. Anyways, yeah, there was Sony's prototype as well, and we all know what happened with that prototype.
Well, a piece of development history is currently up for auction. Someone is auctioning a dev controller for the SNES CD. Talk about of piece of history, it could be yours if you win the auction, and also have a large sum of money. It could be yours for the cool price of $2999.99. Personally, I don't have that type of money, and I am not a hardware collector. But for those of you who love to collect rare, and I mean REALLY RARE pieces of hardware, now is your chance. Happy Bidding!
Posted on Dec 29th 2007 at 07:16:24 AM by (hXd) Posted under site news
Wow what a week. From the moment I got off the plane to the minute I got on the returning flight was pure awesome. Synopsis?
Day 1: The first day I spent mostly with my family and we went to this awesome all you can eat Japanese place in New Jersey. Saw my little brothers, then I went and spent some quality time with the DTS crew, played Loaded Questions (a great party game btw) and went to the diner, ending at around 2 am.
Day 2: I went to my old job and saw some people very briefly, as the store was packed with people doing last minute food shopping for Christmas Eve/Day. Saw my little brothers again and my stepsister. Went bowling with some old co-workers.
Day 3: My little brothers were in a Christmas pageant at church so I went to see them, it was the cutetest thing. Went to Hoboken NJ to catch the ferry to NYC, and my family and I got soaking wet because it decided to pour. Went to see Cirque De Soleil's WINTUK. Nice narrative about a boy that wants to see snow, but it just wasn't a Cirque De Soleil show, it was rather dissapointing. Called it a night early.
Day 4 (Christmas Eve): Went to lunch at Chili's with some people from my town, went to church and back to my house for the annual Christmas Eve Extravaganza. One of my friends who lives in Boston came over, made the night so great. We played Smash Bros. with my little brother and later we watched Paprika. Everyone went home around 3 am.
Day 5 (Christmas): Went to my mom's in the morning to get my stocking and help my stepsister set up my brothers' Wii that they got for Christmas. We play Wii Sports and hilarity ensues. Went back to Grandma's for Christmas dinner. Now usually one of my aunts n' uncles on my mom's side hosts a Christmas party for that entire side of the family, but this year nobody did nanything, which was a bit depressing. So I just made my rounds to each of the branches to catch up with them. Went back to my mom's and played Guitar Hero with my stepsister until about 12-12:30.
Day 6: Visited one of my friends at A.C. Moore. We had guests for dinner and I recieved an impromptu call from a friend from college, we talked for a half an hour. Went to my BFF's house in Monroe for Rock Band and Guiatr Hero, got home around 2 am.
Day 7: Met some more friends for lunch. Last dinner with the family @ my favortie pizza place. Met someone from DTS to see I Am Legend, went back to her house for a few hours. Went to the diner again, said goodbye and came home at 3 am.
Day 8 (today): Packing and whatever was left of laundry. My mom and brothers came over to have lunch and say good bye. Left at 2pm to catch the plane. My flight was delayed about an hour and 35 minutes.
1up has just posted the world's first glimpse at actual gameplay footage of Street Fighter 4. I can't say anything about this video because I CAN'T FREAKING VIEW IT! Most likely because everyone on the internet is trying to do the same thing as well. Oh well, I've embedded the video below for you to try your luck with. I'll update this article later on with impressions and how I think the game is turning out to be. So, best of luck trying to watch this...
UPDATE: 2:39PM: I've been watching the WMV version as it's downloading from GameVideos, and I just came upon the first gameplay footage. WOW! It looks really sharp. 60 frames per second, very fast paced, and it isn't 3D styled! It's still a traditional 2D fighter. I can't say much else because I only have about 4 out of 20 minutes of the clip downloaded. Oh and be aware, it's 20 minutes long, and most of it is probably made up of developer interviews and the 1up guys acting like morons. I'll update this article again if I find a RapidShare or something with the video on it so you don't have to deal with GameVideos.
It's the end of the year, so that means that every self respecting video game site (or any site in general) must put out top 10 lists. Next-Gen.biz has done one that I thought was a pretty good read for the top 10 blunders of the year, and get this: I actually agree with the list completely! Read on for the list and my comments:
10. The Non-Elite Elite (Microsoft's release of the Xbox 360 Elite):
Makes sense that it's a blunder because Microsoft only painted the 360 black, put an HDMI port on it, and threw a larger hard drive in there for the Elite. The did nothing else with it really. No HD DVD playback or built in wireless. Far from "Elite" in my book.
9. This Heading Guaranteed 100% Free of Wii Puns (Nintendo not producing enough Wii systems to meet consumer demand)
This is definitely a bad move on Nintendo's part. It's been one year and I've only seen a Wii in stock at a store only a few times since the launch. Come on Nintendo, step your game up.
8. We've Got A SKU Just For You! (Sony's new models)
I don't know that it was exactly a blunder, but it was a boneheaded move on Sony's part. All those PS3 models confuse the consumer. Especially considering they criticiczed Microsoft for the same thing when the 360 came out two years ago (dang, has it really been that long). I also had to laugh at this quote in the article: "Given the current rate of hardware revisions and Sony's stated goal of a 10-year console cycle, there will be no fewer than 40 PlayStation 3 models by the time the platform retires. As each model cuts features, analysts expect the final version to be just a stylish, shiny black box that does nothing more than take tens and twenties in through the disc slot." Now you all know I'm a Sony fan, but that is undeniably hilarious. I also laughed at the comparison chart's bottom row.
7. Surprise! Zombies! (The VP of Microsoft Game Studios' big secret is not so secret.)
As with the article I linked to, I just need to reprint the whole exchange between Microsoft's Shane Kim and Game Informer magazine. There's really no other way to explain it:
Kim: I think one of the most important, subtle announcements at the Xbox 360 briefing is that Resident Evil is coming to Xbox 360. Yes, it's from Capcom, who's been a great supporter of us.
GI: But we knew that two years ago.
Kim: What?
GI: Resident Evil. It was shown at TGS two years ago.
Kim: No, but coming to Xbox 360.
GI: Yeah. It was at the press event.
Kim: I don't think so.
GI: I'm positive. I was there.
Kim: Really?
GI: It was shown at both press conferences.
Kim: That RE5 was coming to…?
GI: Yep.
Kim: I'm going to have to confirm that. That was supposed to be the big announcement.
Comedic GOLD! What an announcement there Shane!
6. Sony Exec Offers to Buy PS3s (Jack Tretton offers $1200 for unbought PS3s)
Basically, the story goes that current president of SCEA, Jack Tretton, said in a January interview with EGM that he would offer $1200 to anyone who can find a PS3 that has been on store shelves for more than 5 minutes. Well, the guys behind the popular webcomic Penny Arcade (in b4 WHY AM I SO BALD?!) did a little investigating and found that Sony now owes them $13,200 since they found 11 units unsold. Great move Jack, great move. The article also mentions some of his other quotes this year, in specific comparing the Wii to a lollipop, the 360 to a bad chef who you might get sick from, and the PS3 to a steak dinner. But my favorite Tretton quote has to be: "I would like my car to fly and make me breakfast, but that's an unrealistic expectation." which was referring to the backwards compatibility of the PS3. I think that Jack Tretton has become the new Ken Kutaragi as far as ridiculous comparisons go.
5. Alone Against The Empire (Sony blackballs Kotaku)
Right before the Game Developer's Conference Kotaku, a gaming blog, posted an article on a rumor that Sony had a new online service (the then unannounced Home) that they would reveal at GDC. When asking Sony for comments on the rumor, they offered no comment and demanded Kotaku take down the story. When Kotaku refused to do so, Sony gave them the middle finger and blackballed them via email (which Kotaku published as well). This was definitely a blunder on Sony's part and perhaps one of the most moronic PR decisions I've seen in my life, but at least Sony made nice with Kotaku later on that day and invited them back to all their GDC events.
4. Game Over Gerstmann (Gamespot fires Jeff Gerstmann)
I think this one could be higher, because it is perhaps the most significant blunder of the year since it exposes what is wrong with the mainstream gaming media. As we reported a few weeks ago, Gamespot fired Jeff Gerstmann over alleged pressure from Eidos over the review of their game, Kane and Lynch: Dead Men. Since the firing, Gamespot Complete subscriptions have been cancelled in mass and more importantly, their credibility has suffered <a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/2g1fr5vk72M&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/2g1fr5vk72M&rel=0</a>.
3. It's Just a Toy Guitar and Some Music (Guitar Hero and Rock Band's many problems)
Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band launched with issues. Mono sound on the Wii and failing Rock Band guitars in specific. The first one is really odd because I can't believe QA didn't pick that up! How in the heck does one not notice that unless they're playing on a tv with one speaker? I'd be disappointed to get GH3 home and see it just showing up as a mono signal on my receiver. Heck, I'm disappointed Orange Box on PS3 is just in stereo. And as far as the failing Rock Band controllers go, remember that you can get a free game from EA (aka: GET SKATE DAMMIT!) if your controller breaks...
2. We Already Bought All the Good Ones, Right? (EA buys Bioware and Pandemic, gets cocky)
I don't know about this one being on the list but it's pretty funny. So, John Riccitiello, the CEO of EA said that the industry has largely been picked for mergers after they bought Bioware and Pandemic, but then two days after he says that Activision and Vivendi Universal (publisher of World of Warcraft and owner of Blizzard) form to make Activision Blizzard. Funny ain't it? Not really.
This is definitely the blunder of the year. Why? It's made many people uncomfortable getting a 360 due to the enormous failure rate and made the 360's reputation into an unreliable piece of hardware. For Peter Moore to ignore it and brush it off when it was really a huge problem that would eventually cost the company a ton of money, not a good idea...
So, what do you think? Good list? Bad list? Let your thoughts be heard in the comments!
We programmers at RF Generation like to add new things. Tonight, we give you our Christmas Gift. Sure, it is not Christmas, but think of us as the side of the family you do not see on Christmas - the side who has no problem giving you that fruitcake for Christmas. In addition, similar to those gifts of old with the classic disclaimer "some assembly required", there may be some bugs. We're working hard to fix them, but if you see any let us know. Anyways, you probably would like to know what is new. Here is the short list:
Submissions System Improvements, as told by me:
Revamped Variations: We no longer discriminate variations. In addition, if you make a variation on one page it will make it also a variation on the other page.
Revamped Rating Systems: Does a game have more than one rating? Is the rating only valid for a few consoles? Well, we can accommodate both of those now.
Intelligent Submission: We figure out the region for you now. Of course, if something is realized regionwide, do let us know. We have also made the script intelligent so that selecting the country brings up corresponding countries and regions. You can now add variations across regions... because we want you to and we love you. In a platonic sense, of course.
Animated Flags: Game or Hardware released in more than one country? Now, the flag shows those countries, rather than the overall region
Collections System Improvements, as told by Eddie "The Black Perl" Herrmann:
You can now mark folders as "for sale" or "owned"
Trade Search feature now checks all folders marked "for sale"
All Collections page shows owned game totals
Statistics page updated with total owned game stats and QTY/BOX/MAN totals
Settings page added - can choose default region and ignore duplicates
Profile page added for profile stats and management
Simplified country/regions selection
Tools Page added - has links for random game selection, missing image search, collecton links, and trade match features
As a personal plea, please submit variation ties for games across regions. Adding it for one entry adds it for all. So please, please submit! You'll be my favorite member! Just kidding, you're all my favorite members. But seriously, do submit. It's fun.
If you find any bugs, let us know. From us to you, enjoy the new features, and stay tuned, you never know when that next new feature set will launch. It may be sooner than you think.
Now playing: Let it be-The Beatles (yeah I like older music too).
So now that the Christmas family events are over I guess I can take some time to write in this. So in Minneapolis Minnesota right now its snowing kinda bad right now. I get 2 days off from work and it has to snow 85% percent of the time, that's the weather for you I guess.
So I've spent most of my time today on ebay, after all now that the holidays are almost over its time to spend a little money on me. But I was kinda shocked at few things I looked up. I didn't realise that River City Ransom EX and Double Dragon Advance were gonna be so hard to find. I manage to find the box and manual and hopefully will find the game when I'm out shopping later this week(gotta spend those giftcards sometime). Also when did tales of Symphonia become so rare? There only a handful on ebay and I can never find one in the case and all at gamestop. I really I wish mine hadn't "disappeared".
So I've decided to save the rest of Robotrek for the next gaming drought and work on StarTropics and Lunar:Sliver Star saga for a while. Don't get me wrong, IMO Robotrek is a great game with nice little features here and there but its just not doing it for me right now. StarTropics is pretty awesome so far. Its a lot like Zelda but with some features taken and others added. I manage to buy it back in November complete and unopened. One reason I bought the game was because of the letter from you uncle you get with it. You had to wipe part of it with a damp cloth to make some invisible ink appear which told you a pass code you need to move forward in the game. I LOVE when they throw in extra stuff like that in with games. Sadly I don't know of many game companies that do that anymore. Working Designs did but sadly they are no longer around Also I've been playing the fan-made Flash Portal (I think that's the name) its the closest I can get until I get a PS3.
Hmmm I wonder if anyone who reads this can name all the characters on the top of my page, extra points to you if you can.
So yeah, some homebrew is too damn cool to ignore. Take for instance Extra Mario Bros. I only hope that it is real. Someone thought it would be pretty neat to take Mario and place him in a Metroid Type Universe, complete with remixed Metroid Music. All I can say is -- Pure Awesome. Check for yourself:
Again, damn, DO WANT!. Awesomeness of Mario... awesomeness of Super Metroid... combined, wow. Someone find me that game.
From our family to yours - Merry Christmas. May this joyous day be spent with friends and family, and may you find happiness in the day. May the holiday season continue to be a joyous and festive time, and from the staff of RF Generation - Merry Christmas.
I don't know about the rest you, but I tend to be dragged down around this time of year. Being home from school, the cold, the snow, and being around family a little too much drains the life from me. Fortunately I always find the time to get a lot of gaming in, and that, my friends, is what shines this geeks soul. I've been playing a lot of Ridge Racer 6 alone, Halo 3 and Gears of War when I'm with my brother, and some Wii Sports bowling with my parents. Since I haven't gotten my dad to play a game with me since NHL '96 was new, I consider this a breakthrough.
Since it is the holidays, I'll try and keep this short so y'all can get back to your lives. Ridge Racer 6 is the featured game this week. Lots of drifting, and simple gameplay keep the disc spinning in my 360. It can be had for a bargain price now, and is worth a try if you're a fan of the series.
My brother was kind enough to give me an early present, NYKO's Charge Station 360. Rechageable batteries, and battery packs are a must in this new generation of wireless gaming. 3rd party? It doesn't seem to matter much. These batteries fit snugly and do the job. Remember playing with remote control cars and airplanes when you were a kid. Well you can play with them again in Toy Commander. There's even a Chrismas themed level if you are interested in that sort of thing.
Wrapping it up today is a real WINNER collection. Tondog is a good friend of mine and a good member of the RF Generation family. He's a long-time Playstation fan, but isn't against showing the Dreamcast and Nintendo DS some lovin'. His true interests also include overlooked and underappreciated games.
I hope you get to play something fun this week. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from your own channel 3.
So, yeah, Ben Eberle, if that is his real name, has done it again, publicly shaming us with his awesomeness. How the hell do you get 95% on Through the Fire and Flames on expert mode, anyways? Someone should buy that kid a real guitar and hookers, so he can live the real rock life. Okay, maybe not, but yeah, perhaps he can be recruited into a Rock Band? Time shall tell. All I know is damn...
We are a community of collectors, gamers and the likes, and some of us enjoy to let the world know what is on our mind. For those members, we have the community blogs, a place where they can publish their thoughts and feelings regarding life, universe, and everything. Some of those members might even choose to write about gaming and collecting! Whatever they write about, you can find it on their blog. You can either see the latest community blog entries in the feed you see to the left, or you can browse for your favorite blog using the menu above. Interested in having your own blog hosted on RF Generation? It's rather simple, first be a registered member, and then click the "My Blog" link that you see in the navigation above. Following those two steps will certainly get you on your way to blogging.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy our entries, rantings, and completely unrelated series of thoughts. We write for you to read, so we certainly hope that you enjoy our material.
2007 was a big year for RFGen. Hundreds of new members, new staff, new features, new scripts, new tools, new designs and banners (thanks Dennis!), a new store to help fund the server costs and an increased level of community participation! 
So, back in the day there was the SNES CD Add-on under development by Sony and Phillips. Clearly, it didn't work out. Phillips decided to release the add-on as the CD-i, the system with amazing games like The Legend of Zelda: Wand of Gamelon. Certainly, we are blessed that system and it's amazing games. Thankfully Nintendo has learned a thing or two about whoring out franchises, 
It's the end of the year, so that means that every self respecting video game site (or any site in general) must put out top 10 lists. 
Also I've been playing the fan-made Flash Portal (I think that's the name) its the closest I can get until I get a PS3.
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