|
So, finally, we have an official pairing bracket for the Best of the Best contest. But! Those who are good with math may notice something: we have an EXTRA pair! So, it is up to YOU (again...) to decide which pair is automatically eliminated! So, without further ado, the pairings....
Continue reading Best of the Best: The Pairing, and an EPIC QUESTION!!!
Hello, and thanks for all the comments on Part 1. I don't have as many detail pics on these b/c there are more games in this lot and I didn't want it to be too long.
Anyway, I contacted the guy I bought the first lot from, about a week later, and asked him if he had any left b/c I had more money. He told me the second person only bought 25 games and that he would sell me what ever I wanted for only 4.00 a piece.
So I went back to his house and this is what I picked up in my second lot.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES024.jpg[/img]
8 Eyes, After Burner, Air Fortress, Air Wolf, Baseball, The Black Bass, Dr. Chaos, Gauntlet 1 & 2, Ghostbuster, Ikari Warriors, The Immortal, Indiana Jones, Legacy of the Wizard, Pictionary, Pinball, Pinball Quest, Super Sprint, Tiger Heli, Total Recall
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES025.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES026.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES027.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES029.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES030.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES033.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES034.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES035.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES036.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES039.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES040.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES041.jpg[/img]
So that was my second score, 20 games and 31 total from this guy on Craigslist. Stay tuned as I have 32 more games to show.
 Oh, hello OH NOOOO! Otter. I've missed you so much. Has your need gone away, or have I been lazy? You decide. I'll report.
You know, GTA is a series that tends to be heavy on the mature themes, and in addition to cold blooded murder and sex, there's also the drugs. Generally, all those things exist in the virtual world only, and you get your virtual kicks. But, wouldn't it be interesting if Rockstar gave you a trinket for buying the game? Nah, it wouldn't be good, sex, murder, and drugs are bad, and best should be virtual. Here's for keeping those things virtual.
Well, turns out that when you buy used copies of GTA you increase your chances of having GTA become slightly more real for you. See, if you live in Britain, you have a chance apparently of buying a used pair of GTA games with Ecstasy tables stuffed in one of the game's manual. I bet that could be lucrative on the market, but, drugs are bad, and you should definitely turn them into the authorities.
So, the better question is will some evil British Politician use this story to tie games and drugs? Do playing games like GTA make you do drugs? Well, if you find the right politician, I bet you'll find out adept enough to contort the facts to reflect that. Will it happen with this case? Who knows, but we'll keep tracking this story for developments, because, you never know if games might make you do drugs. Just remember, drugs are bad, even if you do find Ecstasy in your case.
Report: Dad Finds Ecstasy Tablets in Used Copy of Grand Theft Auto [Game Politics]
*NOTE: Drugs really are bad. Don't do them.
You know what? We have a chat. It's absurd, and it's fun. Want to see a sample of our absurdity? Sure you do:
[23:32] *** TraderFake is now known as Alfaxxor. [23:33] Alfabor: doesn't rhyme. [23:33] Alfacor: ONLY ONE LETTER CHANGE [23:33] Alfabor: nice try. [23:33] Alfaxxor: I DO NOT CARE [23:33] Alfabor: better luck next time. [23:33] Alfaxxor:  [23:33] Alfacor: You don`t add more, you`re messing it up! [23:33] Alfacor: Now he`s not gonna give you +o [23:33] Alfaxxor: YES! [23:33] Alfacor: YOU`RE MISSING OUT [23:33] *** Alfaxxor has been kicked from #rfgeneration by Alfabor: you damn well better make your name right [23:33] Alfabor: oops. [23:33] Alfabor: he doesn't know how we roll, does he. [23:34] Alfacor: Nope. [23:34] Alfabor: whoops. [23:34] Alfabor: oh well. [23:34] Alfabor: well, he was a nice guy. [23:34] Alfabor: way to lose that member. [23:34] Alfabor: he apparently does not have autorejoin [23:34] Alfacor: Yep, he`s gotta do it right. [23:34] Alfabor: so... will he ever come back.
And that is the $64,000 question. Did Lios come back? The only way you will know is if you join #rfgeneration. So yeah, won't you join us? JOIN US, WON'T YOU?
Click Here for our Chat Page
This list is only going to be top 5 for two reasons
1) There are barely over 10 options to choose from
2) Im feeling lazy today
So on with the list!!!!
5) Mega Man 5 - Super Arrow
From Mega Man 5 the Super Arrow is almost useless.... but at least they tried something kinda different. It is a lot fun to play around with and use to climb walls however.
4)Mega Man 3 - Rush Coil
The original Rush Coil, much like the original Rush Jet rocks all other versions. Its pretty simple. Jump on your dog and a big spring bounces you way higher than you can jump on your own. Some of the other versions get annoying when the dog bounces with you and stuff. I like it simple.
3) Mega Man 2 - Item 2
This little gem lets you shoot out a long beam that sticks around for a few seconds. This is to help Mega Man by letting him run across a long pit, avoid enemies that have limited range or climb to higher areas by using several small ones. While its not necessary to use this item to complete the game it damn well makes it alot more bearable.
2) Mega Man 3 - Rush Jet
You get to fully control the Jet unlike some of the later versions of the Rush Jet that propel you forward without choice. Not only is it incredibly handy for passing over challenging areas, but useful for fighting certain bosses, because it gives you the ability to hover in one spot temporarily and just unload your arm cannon into them.
1) Mega Man 6 - Rush Jet
This personally is the highlight of the whole game for me. Rush transforms into a huge backpack that attaches to Mega Man and give him is own Jet boosting abilities. Plus he looks so badass.
Sorry for the long delay if anyone was actually waiting for these. I went on vacation for one week and then we had the server change last week. This one kinda felt uninspired so I'll try to make it better next week.
Good news everyone! The weather has broken (for a while at least) and it was reasonably comfortable shopping around the flea market for the first time this year. The place was far from packed, but if its any indication of what is to come, this will be another spectacular year. The flea market has been consistently good so far this year, but garage sales are still very slow. Hopefully, April will bring more stuff (actually since this is so late, I KNOW April will be good  )
And I apologize with the tardiness of this post, it should have been up earlier, but with the server move and a really hectic schedule, I didn't have a chance to get it up until now.
And to try and maintain consistency, I'll be posting these on Mondays from now on.
Continue reading Treasure Hunt Chronicles '09 - March
I hope you've heard of Mega64. If not, they're a comedy group that does live action re-enactments of games in public. Go look them up on YouTube.
So, their new skit is Metal Gear Solid 4, and they manage to squeeze in a few fantastic special guests. I won't ruin who it is, so hit the jump if you want to find out who. This video really needs no more introduction, so here you are:
Continue reading RFG Aside: Mega64 Tops Themselves...YET AGAIN
The World Ends With You (TWEWY) was released in Japan on the Nintendo DS in July of 2007 under the name of It's A Wonderful World. The game quickly became a huge sensation due to it's unique gameplay which utilized all of the DS' features as well as being an RPG which takes place in modern day Shibuya, Japan. After roughly a year of waiting the game finally made it's way across seas.
For those who don't know, TWEWY is an RPG released by Square-Enix for the Nintendo DS. It diverges from the traditional RPG formula due to it's present day setting in a familar location, it's hugely unique battle system which takes place simultaneously on two screens with drastically different gameplay on each screen, it's unique use of trends to alter the gameplay, and it's pin system. Furthermore, the gameplay diverges drastically from the typical RPG formula in the sense that the game takes place in a series of days in which players must complete a task to move on to the next day.
Upon booting up the game players are thrust into the shoes of Neku Sakuraba, a 15 year old who despises other people and only cares for himself. Neku finds himself in the center of Shibuya with no clue as to how he got there. Shortly thereafter he finds out that he is in a Reaper's game where he must survive for 7 days or face erasure. Along his quest for survival he is forced to team up with individuals to survive which leads to some awesomely hilarious dialouge and fantastic character development.
The story may seem cliche, and there's no doubt that amnesia is a silly old idea which has been used more than once, but the way in which the story progresses fully realizes the potential of such an uninteresting paradigm. Neku isn't the only one who is clueless as to the circumstances of the Reapers game and what exactly it is. The other characters in the game are left in the dark as well. Essentially, no one fully understands what is occurring. Keeping players in the dark enables the story to unfold in such a fashion that around every corner is a new and exciting piece of information or twist. The reapers' game is cryptic, and the way in which the story unfolds capitalizes on the chaos and disorder which Neku and the others find themselves facing.
Players have 7 days to survive the reapers' game or else they face erasure. Each day requires the player to perform a specific task in order to make it to the next day. Essentially, Neku and his partner wake up somewhere, receive a message containing the day's mission, are given a time limit, and must then carry out the mission. Luckily, the time limit which Neku and his partner face does not actually occur during real time- i.e. videogame players such as yourself will not have to complie with the time limit (essentially you can take your time and the time limit only exists in the story sense).
Each mission is unique. One may require you to reach a certain destination and another may be a cryptic riddle. While completing the missions players are given the oppurtunity to 'scan' the environment. Scanning the environment will enable Neku to read the thoughts of the Shibuya residents and partake in battles. Players are also able to run around Shibuya and go shopping, run errands, whatever; however, depending on the day's mission certain areas are blocked off by reapers. Reapers will issue objectives for players to complete in order to proceed to a specific area of Shibuya. These objectives range from defeating a certain number of enemies (known in the game as Noise) to making a certain brand popular (more on brands and trends later). More often than not the reapers block the paths which Neku must take in order to complete the day's mission.
The battle system in TWEWY is known as the Stide Cross Battle System and is more likely than not the most unique battle system in any RPG to date. The battles take place in real time on two different screens-- the top screen and the bottom screen. Players control two characters, one for both screens. On the bottom screen Neku is controlled via the stylus and on the top screen his partner is controlled by means of the D-pad. Needless to say, the actually combat mechanics on the top screen and the bottom screen are drastically different.
On the bottom screen Neku is controlled using the stylus. Dragging across Neku then across Neku enables him to run. From there, the other actions depend on the pins you have equipped. Pins are the games version of weapons and items which can be used in combat. Some pins may enable Neku to slash his opponents, others may enable him to fire bullets at enemies, and some may even replenish his health. The pins require specific stylus maneuvers such as touching an obstacle then tapping an enemy to throw the obstacle, slashing an enemy to have Neku run in and melee combat, drawing a line of fire, etc. There are a plethora of unique ways in which to activate a pin, and each one of these activations represents a specific action which correlates to how the stylus (or mic) was used. With over 250 pins it's needless to say that action on the bottom screen can be play out however you want it to.
The top screen is fought utilizing the d-pad (or if you are left handed the a, b, x, y buttons). Essentially players will tap left or right in the direction of an enemy. This will bring up a grid of arrows and three finishing points. Following the arrows with the d-pad enables the top user to attack-- one attack for each movement of the arrows. The ending sequence of the arrows contains a card so to speak. The cards are utilized to create a fusion attack between Neku and his partner. For example, Shiki has three different cards she can choose from as finishers. Choosing the cards in the correct order gives her stars. When the amount of stars reaches 4 a fusion attack is enabled which deals massive damage to all enemies. The card system is different for each partner Neku has and varies up the gameplay on the top screen considerably. Furthermore, partners on the top screen can jump with the up button, guard by pressing down, dodge, etc. Also, it should be noted that each partner on the top screen can perform certain actions better than others. For example, jumping and setting off a combo attack with Shiki deals more damage than Shiki standing still will attacking.
With two screens of different combat mechanics the game can seem overwhelming. Luckily, TWEWY does a fantastic job of slowly weening you into the battle system. For example, on the top screen players are slowly given more and more advanced maneuvers until finally all the features of the top screen are able to be utilized. By that point players will more than likely have gotten the hang of which screen to focus on during certain parts of battle or how to quickly scan both screens at once. A great thing to note is that by deleveling you obtain more pins and items from battles. Also, changing the difficulty changes the items the enemies drops. So... if you are going for 100% you will end up playing on every difficulty-- and luckily you can change the difficulty on the fly.
Utilizing both screens at once provides many benefits in battle. The enemies on the top screen are the same as the enemies on the bottom screen; in other words they share HP. So dealing massive amounts of damage on both screens needless to say makes battles much easier. Also, Neku and his partner share the same HP bar. Furthermore there is what the game calls a light puck which will float back and forth between Neku and his partner. Once Neku or his partner receives the light puck they want to pass it off as quickly as possible to their partner. This requires the character who has the light puck to quickly perform a combo attack to pass it. Passing the light puck back and forth creates a damage multiplier which increases with each successive passing. Coorporation between the two screens will greatly enhance Neku's chance of survival.
A great feature of TWEWY is the inclusion of various options which can make combat significantly easiers or significantly more difficult. For example, players can have the top screen controlled automatically by a computer if they feel overburdened by attempting to control two screens at once. Likewise, there are multiple difficulty options you can change at any time. Furthermore, for those who want to make the game harder they have the option to delevel, or decrease the level of their characters. Players can customize how they want the game to play out-- essentially anyone should be able to find what works for them.
A unique feature found in TWEWY is it's trend system. Shibuya is divided into multiple districts, and each district has certain trends. The trends refer to the brand names which are popular in the area. The clothes which the characters wear and the pins which Neku equips are branded. So if the brands Neku is wearing are the number one trend in the area Neku receives a bonus in battle (such as 2x more damage dealt). If the brand Neku is wearing sucks, Neku is is penalized in battle (such as 2x less damage). Also, whatever brand Neku is winning will become popular as Neku wins battles. So... it is possible to turn the worst brand in the area into the best brand in the area.
Another unique feature found in the world ends with you is the Pin system. As stated earlier pins are used in battle and they are branded. Furthering on those ideas pins are also able to be evolved into stronger pins (think Pokemon). Pins gain pin points which are essentially experience points that contribute to the evolution of a pin. Pin points can be obtained in three ways-- battle PP, shut down PP, and mingle PP. Battle PP are obtained by winning battles. Shut down PP are obtained by turning off the game; the longer the game is turned off the more PP you get. Mingle PP are obtained by interacting with other people who have TWEWY, or for those who can't do that interacting with AI in the mingle option. The type of PP which are obtained reflect what the pin may evolve into. Sometimes battle PP being dominant may be required to evolve a pin or other times shut down PP may be required. This is somewhat of a hassel but it creates variety in a standard formula.
Yet another cool feature found in TWEWY is the ability to eat foods, take vitamins, etc. Doing so will raise your characters' stats or increase their sync rate (how much they like one another). Each food has an allotted byte point value which indicates how many battles must be won before the food is digested and the stats are given to your character. Furthermore, characters can only eat 24 bytes a day. Foods such as attack plus pills which increase your attack by a lot will be much more bytes than say a soda which increases your sync rate. Choosing which foods you wish to consume each day adds much needed strategy as to how you want to build up your characters.
TWEWY contains a fairly complex game which the residents of Shibuya play known as Tin Pin. Tin Pin is a lot like battle tops-- you use the stylus to ram your pin into your opponents' pins and try to knock them off the map. There are also four different specials which stun other pins or save your pin from falling off the map. The pins which are used are the pins Neku currently has equipped. In other words, Neku can use any of the 250+ pins in the game. Also... each pin has it's own unique Tin Pin stats such as speed, weight, number of specials, and so on. For a minigame within a game Tin Pin is well fleshed out and extremely fun. It's surprising that something like Tin Pin hasn't already been released on the DS as a stand alone shovelware piece of crap game.
The game's length really depends on how much the player wants to put into the game. It took me 28 hours to beat the main quest. For those who want to do the minimal amount of battles for whatever reason they can expect the game to last about 20 hours. So... a good average is somewhere around 25 hours to complete the game. Upon completing the game a plethora of new options and events are unlocked which greatly extend the length of the game considerably (not including obtaining all the pins and leveling up your characters, pins, collecting items etc).
TWEWY is an extremely fun game with one of the best stories around. It may seem overwhelming at first but if you are willing to tough it out for a bit you will find one of the most enjoyable and unique gaming experiences around. It has so much to do that anyone should be able to find something they like; but be warned if you don't enjoy the battle system chances are you will not enjoy the game nearly as much as those who do considering you obtain money and whatnot from battles. I for one fell in love with the game and am surprised/happy to say that after 10 or so years Super Metroid is no longer my favorite game.
What is this week's Mega CD auction pick?
[img width=500 height=274]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3358/3415302831_f787f1722a.jpg?v=0[/img]
This is a real collectable that I was unable to bid on sadly. A Mega CD test disc, for 23 USD (around 15 GBP). The guy couldn't get it to work on his Sega CD or read it on his computer, I'm not sure if he tried a Datel Pro CDX or a Japanese Mega CD as it could most likely be Japanese.
Still though, the item itself was worth the pick.
(Runner ups include: Shining Force with a CD Backup cart at 67 USD, Snatcherat 122 GBP and Sensible Soccer with NHL Hockey Disk at 7.33 GBP)
This has been a long time coming, but here we go. This will be Part 1 of my blogs on this find. I didn't want to make really long so I am breaking it up into smaller parts.
Sorry for how long it is.
Sometime in Feb. I answered an add on Craigslist for Nintendo games. He had I think like 88 CIB Nintendo games. I was really strapped for cash but I had to go look at them and see. So I answered his ad. And he told me I could come and look them over first since I was the first to Email him. I couldn't believe my eyes when I showed up at his house and I was staring at 88 CIB Mostly Minty Fresh Nintendo games.
He wanted $5.00 a game. I only had $50.00 on me so I could only buy 10 games. Although he told me if I bought 10 games he would through one in for free.
So here is what I picked out. Final Fantasy, Ultima: Exodus, Ultima: Avatar, Popeye, Shinobi, Shortorder:Eggsplode, Three Stooges, Adventure Island II, Dungeon Magic, and Gremlins 2. And he gave me Willow.
Here are a few pictures of the first set of games I got. I took some different angles so that you could see the condition of the games.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES001.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES003.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES002.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES004.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES006.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES020.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES012.jpg[/img]
The maps for the Final Fantasy and others I couldn't even get them to lay flat b/c they were so crisp.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES009.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES008.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES011.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES007.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES010.jpg[/img]
This 84 page manual had been used. I guess this is one game he played a few times.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES016.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES014.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES013.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES015.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES017.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES018.jpg[/img]
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES019.jpg[/img]
Stay tuned b/c that was only 11 of the 63 games that I bought from this guy. I got 52 more to show you as I went back 3 more times.
[img width=700 height=525]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h63/railroad1/tn_CIBNESGAMES061.jpg[/img]
March. It's the month after February, and see, it's another one of these months of the year. And with each passing year comes new submissions for the site. Last month saw 2894 new submissions for the site, of which the games database saw 2818 new submissions. You know, I think you can hear the hardware database crying in the distance because it's being neglected. Won't you do something about that? Ah, I kid, I kid. Sure, submit more stuff for the hardware database, but over 2800 submissions is no small feat, and I am ever appreciative for that. Also, we added 466 new images to our databases last month. That's nice, isn't it?
So, who kicked ass, took names, and reigned as the top submitter last month? Why, it was our prodigal son, Izret101! I guess being away from staff duties for a long time made him really want to make 836 submissions last month. Although, he could just be driven. Who knows. Of course, ApolloBoy, Madir and Pop Culture Portal weren't really slacking either. They were the next highest submitters, and kudos goes to them. Of course, we want to recognize everyone who made submissions last month, and give kudos to those of you that made more than 50 submissions last month:
Izret101, ApolloBoy, Madir, Pop Culture Portal, ga5ket, Tan, audioman83, Funk_Buddy, Zenki.
Thanks goes to them and everyone else who made submissions last month!
In addition, many of these submissions need to be approved by staff members. Last month, NES_Rules was our top approver, with a whopping 390 approvals. Of course, many other staff members approved your submissions, and thanks goes to all of them, especially those who made more than 50 submissions:
NES_Rules, ga5ket, ApolloBoy, Tan
I really appreciate all of you who have reviewed the submissions and made the submissions. It is YOU guys that make our site grow. I just provide the scripts that allow you to do it. From all of us at RF Generation, Thanks!
I'm glad that now I can post blogs after around a week of waiting. As some may recognise my birthday was on April 1st, making me now 16. I was given some birthday and what do I do with it? Spend some of it!
Continue reading Happy Birthday to me!
You know, the Church of RF Generation was fantastic. It might have been a little late, but late to the party is better than no party at all. I'd like to give Den props for the idea, images, and color palette. It truly was fun.
As many of you know, we started our server move Sunday Night. It didn't exactly go to plan. Something bad happened which kept us from coming back in time. In that emptiness, I hope you found something to keep yourself occupied. If you didn't, rest assured that we are back and on a new, faster, better server. It's nice. Also, we have a better control panel and we we're saving six dollars a month. Hooray to that.
I hope you enjoyed our April Fools joke. It was fun. If you're new here, April Fools is a High Holy Day for RF Generation, and we go all out. Additionally, we do not take suggestions for April Fools, so don't even try. I'll ignore any message regarding it. Might even block you. We take pleasure in knowing that only a certain few people know the gag, and it's generally a surprise. From Composite Generation, to Pretty Generation to Toddler Generation to Geriatric Generation to the most recent Church of RF Generation... we love April Fools. Until next year!
This is just a notice to let you know that we begin the process of moving to a new server tonight at 10PM Eastern. I haven't disabled anything yet, but chances are somethings might get disabled during the move. Things might be pushed into read only mode, I am not sure yet, but I just want to give you kids the heads up before some kids start freaking out.
Every year, much like E3, there is a convention titled the Game Developers Conference. This year, it ran from March 23rd to the 27th. In that time, many new, innovative games (software) as well as hardware were announced. Two of which being new consoles, or perhaps better dubbed as pseudo-consoles, titled the 'Zeebo' and 'OnLive'. Now we shall look over these two "consoles" and examine what may or may not make them come out ahead of the competition, which is their (eventual) goal.
 First, we are greeted by the OnLive service console thingy. I am hesitant to call it an actual console, because it completely does NOT meet the normal requirements for a 'console' designation, in any respect.
Slated for release sometime in the Winter of 2009, this console/system/thingy uses a unique method of playing games; it streams them, taking DLC to a whole new level. What do I mean by stream? Well, there will be 3 ways to play games: 1) On your PC, 2) On your Mac, or 3) On your TV. To play games via PC or Mac, you download a small plug-in for your browser, which you then access an "OnLive Server", which streams your games directly to your computer, never saving them directly to your hard disk. Supposedly, this method of streaming should work flawlessly, as long as your internet connection and computer meet the minimum requirements. To play on your television, you purchase what has been dubbed a 'Mini-Console', which acts like the small plug-in for your browser. According to the developers, the mini-Console will work with all Bluetooth accessories, so you will be able to use your 360 and PS3 controllers to play their competitor's 'console'.
My own impression? Well, to put it rather bluntly, crash 'n burn, unless the streaming works as well as they advertise it. If it does do what it is supposed to, and be able to play in HD (if you have a high enough bandwith), then it might have some potential. I guess all we can do is wait and see what the base price for the mini-console and the service will be. Only time will tell...
And up next, we have *drumroll*
 The Zeebo! Now, what kind of name is that? Almost sounds suspicious... Like Swoopo... Alas! I am off topic!
The Zeebo was developed by more than 12 companies, and is released under the company TecToy, a distributor in Brazil. The console, dubbed as the "First Brazilian Developed Console", is designed to meet the needs of the ever growing middle class in the 'BRIC', or Brazil, Russia, India, and China. In the next decade, it is projected that over 800 Million will join these ranks, having more money to spend on entertainment. At a base price of only 199.99USD, the console is on par with the Wii in terms of price.
One must remember though, that a Wii in these nations costs a fortune. In fact, the Wii, or PS3, or 360 aren't even officially SOLD there! One must import one from Japan, etc. For example, a Wii costs a Chinese citizen about 1000HKD plus Customs. That's about 450USD! The basic reason for the high cost is because of rampant piracy in these countries. It isn't profitable to market in these countries.
However, the Zeebo is changing this. It will be marketed in these countries, and games will be exclusively DLC only, via a Zeebo specific 3G wireless network, like those used in Smart Phones. The perk is that you do NOT pay for this service. You get the 3G connectivity right out of the box. What you pay for is the games themselves.
While the Zeebo looks a lot more 'childish' than the OnLive, its technical specifications aren't that bad, with a 500+ Mhz Processor, 3D Graphics core, and so on. The console has had interest by many major developers seeking to place their games on the system's line up. To me, the Zeebo looks like a good deal for these people in the BRIC, and can introduce a new generation to gaming.
The verdict is... Well, I'd say the Zeebo swoops OnLive off the board. The OnLive has too much that can go wrong, with its streaming technology. The Zeebo has games that you actually download, and get to keep, even if they are digital. If the Zeebo is ever marketed outside of the BRIC, then I would probably purchase it before the OnLive service.
[IMAGE]
[IMAGE]
|
|
|
|
Blog Navigation
Browse Bloggers | My Blog
|
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.
|
|
Hot Community Entries
|
|
Hot RFG Blog Entries
| |
|
![[IMAGE]](http://static.arstechnica.com/assets/2009/03/640-zeebo-thumb-640xauto-3757.jpg){kind=link}
![[IMAGE]](http://cdn.onlive.com/images/1/web_mc_controller.png){kind=link}