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 Three years for the 360! On November 22, 2005 the Xbox 360 was released in North America to a gaming mass waiting for the next iteration of Microsofts gaming console. Unlike its predecessor, the 360 was a stylish system that when it wasnt greeting players with a red ring was rather sexy when compared to the black paperweight known as the Xbox. Surely, Microsoft was off to a better start from a design point with its system, and there were plenty of other things for 360 fans to be excited about.
Id be lying if I told you I owned a 360 or desired one. The truth is that I have no desire for a 360. That said, the 360 does have several things that go great for the masses. If you were to ask me which system appeals most to true gamers right now, it sure as hell would not be the Wii. It depends on the avenue, but if youre looking for games for adults that will make you say wow then the 360 is the system to have. From Halo to Dead Rising to Bioshock to GTA IV, there have been some heavy hitters for the 360 that would make the most hardcore gamers squeal with delight.
Of course, thats not the only thing that appeals to true gamers. Of the three console manufacturers, Microsoft really does know how to best do an online product. Sonys working on creating a good online product and Nintendo is being Nintendo, and while the bar has been set rather low by the competitors Microsoft has delivered a product that quite frankly trounces the competition. Its really quite amazing and I give Microsoft kudos for their online platform. Their competitors could learn a thing or two from Live... they really could especially Nintendo.
 Of course, Microsoft is not the market leader anymore this generation. While they were in the beginning, the behemoth known as the Wii has taken the title and ran with it. Is Microsoft going to sit there and just watch that happen? No! They decided they were going to revamp their dashboard and create a new experience that is enjoyable for all. It just launched, and as someone on the outside looking in I have to say that the avatars do look really cool. They offer customization that I only wish Nintendo had for their Miis. Did Rare rip off the Mii concept? Who the hell cares! Rare has created something with much more depth than the Miis of Nintendo, and I give them full credit for creating something much more interesting than the Mii Channel. Good job Microsoft and keep pushing along with the new experience.
Every console has its fair share of issues, and the same can definitely be said for the 360. Probably the most notable of these issues was the Curse of the Red Ring. Chances are you know someone who has suffered from the Red Ring of Death. In fact, you might know someone who has suffered from it multiple times. Truth be told, the initial batches of the 360 had some design issues. No one really knows what is it, but rather than screwing over consumers, Microsoft did a noble thing and extended everyones warranties. Thats pretty nice, and it suggests that perhaps Microsoft is not the cold hearted bastard that its Windows operation suggests that it is (and it is).
So sales have been down in recent history for the 360, and one has to wonder what the future holds for the console. I honestly dont know if the console will see a rebound in sales, but I dont know if that is necessarily a bad thing. 360 owners like to buy third party titles, so its an enticing console for those developers and publishers. So for developers, I dont see as much as a risk for releasing games on the 360 that I do for releasing non casual games on the Wii. While casual gaming dominates the Wii, real games dominate the 360, and thats a great selling point for the console. Why not capitalize on that, Microsoft? Push your strengths, and it might help you in the long run.
Three years for the 360. What do you think has been the good, the bad, and the ugly? What do you think the future holds for the 360? Does the four year lifespan still hold true for Microsoft? Well, in a year we might just know. What do you think?
 Two years, has it been that long? I guess it has been. Two years ago today the Wii was released worldwide, because Nintendo loves you or so we thought. What has the last two years brought Nintendo and its Wii? Lets delve into the past, and see where the future lies for Nintendo.
Nintendo had a cool concept. Motion control in a game, would it be a gimmick or a novel innovation? Well, two years has passed, and honestly, the verdict is still out. There are the games that just tack it on, such as Super Monkey Ball did. Did they even play test their game? Super Monkey Ball should have been great on the Wii. Alas, it was not. Fortunately, there have been games that do make excellent use of the Wii Remote, and these games shine amongst the games that treat motion control like an afterthought. Games like No More Heroes, De Blob, Zack and Wiki, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption all make excellent use of the Wii Remote. Super Mario Galaxy was a refreshing reinvention of the platform genre. Truly there are the gems in what seems more and more like an endless pile of crap, and my, there is crap.
Why is there crap? Well, it might be because the Wii sells like hotcakes from McDonalds. It sold almost 850,000 units in North America alone last month, and quite frankly thats impressive. Its enough to make the Wii the clear market leader, and well talk about that later. But now, lets talk about the effects of being the market leader. See, being number one tends to bring a lot of crap to your console. Games like Target: Terror. What is that game like? Well, you know what Lethal Enforcers is, right? Well, it looks just like that, except with Terrorists. How novel for the Wii, especially when it could probably run on an N64. Great job there, Konami, you really must have been bitter after the sales of Elebits and Dewys Adventure. I bought Elebits! Dont hate me! And dont think that its just the third parties giving us steaming piles of shit. I see that the fourth worst ranked Wii game on Gamerankings is Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast. Now, I am sure that game is full of win, but the score speaks for the masses. And dont forget about Wii Music! Is that even a game? You decide.
If you would have told me with a straight face that the Wii would be far and beyond the market leader right now prior to its launch I would have laughed. I was a Nintendo fanboy at one point, but just because I was a fanboy does not mean that I am not a realist. Cmon, Nintendo had a good idea, but was there really something as a casual gamer? I sure as hell didnt think so. I guess I was wrong, because as they say it prints money. Unfortunately, it only prints money really for Nintendo. See, the Wii third party tie-in ratio is rather poor. It seems as though the real winner in all this is Nintendo and the companies that realize shovelware. Its sort of sad because it limits creativity. Why be creative when you can make money with a low budget piece of crap? Its sad, and its true.
 Well, the future, what does it hold? Being on top means that Nintendo has the most to lose. Its quite obvious that Nintendo cares most about the casual gamer these days, and it hurts. Nintendo really, really needs to either invest in games for gamers or encourage third parties to innovate rather than defecate. Maybe it could, you know, do both? Who knows, really? I certainly hope they do, because to a certain extent Nintendo has really tried to see what the breaking point of their fanboys is. Maybe to them thats okay, but they have to realize that you can have your hardcore faithful in addition to being super trendy. Apple does it, somehow. Isnt that who Nintendo is trying to emulate anyways? Does that mean that well soon see a super thin Iwata in jeans and a black shirt with a goatee? God I hope so. The truth is though that Nintendo needs to know that some of Nintendos biggest fans are becoming some very bitter people, and bitter people can bring some very negative press. Best then to keep the fans happy, I suppose. Might you start with localizing Captain Rainbow and Mother 3? Please? PLEASE?
Nintendos console will probably have a bright future. I know I am personally as giddy as a schoolgirl for No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle and Mad World. I guess you could say Ive become a person to enjoy violence more as Ive gotten older. I also know that in the future Ill probably own a PS3 to satisfy other needs. But dont you worry Nintendo, because youve already made more than enough money off of me, and chances are youll make more than enough money off of others. Congrats on that.
Well, what do you think? Where has Nintendo been over the last two years for you? Where will they be in the future? I know where I think theyll be, but its always more interesting to find out where you guys think the future lies, so tell us, wont you?
Four years, has it really been that long? Wow April 28, 2004 does and does not at the same feel far away. Needless to say, we at RF Generation have weathered the long storm, and were not four years old. Look at how weve grown. From just a few members to 1700 members, from a couple thousand games to over 35000 games, from no hardware records to over 2000 hardware records, etc the site has sure grown. Certainly, were proud of how our little slice of the internet has grown, and we wish for it to grow for years to come.
Its been a long time since weve sent out one of these newsletters. I intended on sending one out every year on April 28, but our previous host suspended our account when someone flagged our newsletter as spam. Its cool though, were still here, and no hard feelings. Havent been around for a while? Let me clue you in to some of the things that have happened since Ive last sent one of these out:
- Hardware Database: What? A hardware database? Thats right, RF Generation now has a hardware database. Its a lovely thing, and you can even add hardware records to your collection. Of course, the new database is always hungry hungry for more submissions! So, if hardware is your thing, than boy do we have a database for you.
- Submission Script: The Submit Missing Games Here Thread is Dead! Long live the Submit Missing Games Here Thread. Seriously though, most every submission is handled through this lovely submission script, which has been recoded in the last two years about 4 times. Its amazing what one can do when they learn more PHP. Games or hardware released in only certain countries of a region we can add those. Game ratings we can add those. Easy variation additions we can add those. Certainly, our little submission script has turned into one complex monster.
- Site Redesign: Last year on June 8, we rolled out our new site layout. I must say, it looks rather nice, and well, I do enjoy the fact that were using CSS to the fullest extent now. With the site redesign came an about section for our site as well as a (still yet to be fully realized) features section. Also, we redid the front page news script so that it behaves a bit more like a blog script would. (read: you can be selective with what you read and comment on news stories)
- Community Blogs: Some of you may find this idea reprehensible. Others may find it cool, but if you want you can make a blog at RF Generation. Dont like the idea of calling it a blog, call it then your collection find log. Or, just stick to the other areas of the site.
- True Image Search: We switched to being mySQL driven in the last two years. Oh yeah, I didnt mention that, but we did. We had a true image search before the mySQL switch, but it went away once we moved to mySQL. Well, after a lot of coding, its back, and better than ever.
- Countless Collection Script Improvements: Have an idea for the collection script? Chances are that the Black Perl will in fact listen to your request and add it into the script. Its happened so many times in the past two years that well, I just cant name them all. Did you know you could have a banner showing off your collection stats? How about being able to set a specific folder to being an owned folder or for sale folder? These things are just a few of many additions to your collecting needs.
So yeah, thats a not so short list of things weve added in the last two years. Still reading? Good, I was afraid that we may have lost you. So, today marks our fourth birthday. To celebrate, were having a contest! It involves being the best submitter possible, and to learn more about this contest well, I guess that youll have to visit the site for more information. Did I mention that there was swag to be won for first through third place in our contest? Its true. SWAG! MUST PLAY! Good luck to those who decide to go all out in our little contest.
Four years. Now is the time to celebrate! Eat! Drink! Be Merry! May RF Generation have many more years of happiness. We only hope that you all continue to be a part of our community and come along for the ride. After all, theres always more to come when you put it on channel three.
This year, we turn 4, and well, being four means that were still in our toddler years, and as a toddler one may say that we can be quite the terror. You love us, right? You want free stuff, right? Good, because once a year we like giving crap away. Good deal, isnt it? I think so. So, what is it that you need to do? Heres the rules of the contest:
Submissions, they make the site go round. We just dont grow if we do not have anyone submit stuff. Funny how that works, and well, we do have one heck of a community that loves to do submissions. Perhaps, with this contest, youll be interested in doing submissions as well. Submissions will garner you points, and these how are they are ranked:
Title Addition: 4 Points
Variation Addition: 4 Points
Page Edit*: 2 Points
Review*: 10 Points
Overview*: 6 Points
Image Upload: 10 Points
Submission Review**: 1 Point
Blog Post*: 10 Points
Blog Comment: 1 Point
Forum Post: 1 Point
Forum Karma: See Explanation
*Regarding the asterisk: For page edits, it is noticed that you are consistently only adding one field per edit multiple times for a single ID just to up your points, you will be disqualified. Any review or overview completed will count as a page edit as well the points for an overview or review. To get the points for an overview or review you MUST contact me via Personal Message so that I can keep a tally. A review or overview of poor quality could result in less points than stated being granted. The same statement holds true for blog posts.
Because we want the forum to be a lively place of fun and interesting posts, were enabling Karma during this contest. Karma rewards members that make good posts and smites those who do not. Your Karma will play a wildcard role in posts. Positive Karma at the end of the contest will increase your point total by a factor, while negative karma will decrease it. The equation used to decide how karma affects your points will be announced at a later date before the end of the contest.
As with any contest, there is fine print. Any submission that you make must adhere to the RF Generation guidelines / policies. We wrote these policies and guidelines for a reason, and well, wed like everyone to adhere to them. Failure to adhere to the guidelines could result in a disqualification.
Any point reduction or disqualification can be contested. In the event that you wish to contest, you must explain why the reduction or disqualification is unfair. If you win the contest, well restore your greatness, but if you lose, you shall be pelted with figurative rocks and garbage.
**KICKER! Normally, staff members could not be involved in these contests. That is no longer the case! Everyone, except for the directors of this site, is in this contest. There is a catch though for staff members their final score will be halved. So, that should lead to a lively competition. I think halving their scores is fair, and I hope you do as well. Oh yeah, there is that 1 point for a submission review, that unfortunately only applies to staff members because they are the poor souls who must review your submissions.
What do you win? Well, were a poor bunch here at RF Generation, especially after the server move. That said, there are prizes for the first, second, and third place winners!
FIRST PLACE: Gaming swag not to exceed $100 and also a groovy RF Generation ringer T.
SECOND PLACE: Gaming swag not to exceed $25 and also a groovy RF Generation ringer T.
THIRD PLACE: A groovy RF Generation ringer T
Also, anyone in the top 5% of points gainers shall get some sort of recognition, to be determined later.
So when does this contest start? TODAY, APRIL 28, 2008. When does this contest end? SUNDAY, JUNE 8, 2008 AT MIDNIGHT (late Saturday night). So have your cake and eat it too! Happy submitting!
Three yearsââ"¬Â¦. three years ago to the day RF Generation was founded by a wonderful group of people, and today we celebrate the fact. What started as a site for a small group of collectors has grown into something so much larger. I donââ"¬â"¢t think anyone would have fathomed when the site was founded that it would have grown as much as it has up to this day. We could not have done it would you, our readers, members, and staff, and for that we are truly grateful.
In the last year, weââ"¬â"¢ve seen many new and exciting additions to the site. From big things like the submissions system, hardware database and new forums to small things such as additions that you, our readers and members, ask for, the last year has surely seen lots of changes to the site. The outlook for the rest of 2007 is no different, with the biggest project currently cooking being the site redesign. A few of you know what it will look like, and to be honest, we think it looks pretty darn good. Stay tuned for that project and many more, youââ"¬â"¢ll certainly here about them more as they come closer to fruition.
You may be wondering if we are doing anything to celebrate the third anniversary of our founding. The answer to that of course, is yes. Today we launch the ââ"¬Å"Show Us You Love RF Generation!ââ"¬Â contest. Winning of course could land you some nice swag.
Join the celebration, and keep it tuned to channel three!
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