|
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/banners/RFGhalfbanner02.gif[/img] 2005 was a big year for RF Generation. Members were joining by the hundreds and we had anniversaries, contests and milestones aplenty! It was also the year that our staple, the Collection Profile tool, was unveiled for registered members to use for the first time.
So, replicated here for your reading pleasure, are the significant milestones of 2005 more or less as they once appeared on our Wikipedia page. Thanks once again to the hard work of the RFGen Wikipedia team, here are the highlights from our second year of operation:
Continue reading RF Generation Timeline Part 2: 2005
DISCLAIMER: This is a work of satire. Enjoy this off the wall review, and take it to be lighthearted. I mean, it's funny. Cory in the House... amazing game? Ha. -TJ
Cory in the House
"Probably the Greatest Game You'll Ever Play"
Cory in the House is just fantastic. There is no way around it. Cory has been entertaining us for years on the Disney Channel, and finally he can entertain us on the Nintendo DS. I don't know about you but when I heard of Cory on the DS I was as giddy as when I go to church (I'm a Catholic schoolboy so I love to go to church). Cory is just, amazing. This game is amazing. This game is perfect.
Cory in the House may seem like your typical platformer but oh no, it is far from it. Cory is out to save the world from an evil scientist who has decided to turn Cory's bobble-head doll of the president, or as Cory likes to say 'the prez,' into a destructive force capable of destroying destructive things such as the world which is destructible.
Cory runs, Cory jumps, and Cory uses his kung-fu action to blast his way through 9 levels of platforming/action goodness reminiscent of a good Jackie Chan meets That's So Raven meets Cory in the House show. Players utilize the touchscreen in such was as to slide their finger across the screen horizontally in order to make Cory karate chop or slide their finger across the screen vertically in order to make Cory do a kung-fu kick. Furthermore, players can blow into the mic and make Cory shoot fireballs from his mouth. Talk about awesome.
The enemies in Cory in the House are extremely varied and well thought out. Typical enemies include ninjas and Russian scientist, but later in the game Cory begins fighting against people he initially thought were his allies. Probably the most impressive boss was the giant robot Raven in which players had to run up to her feet and breath fireballs at her chest. Being a relatively early on boss this heightened players expectations immediately and brought about the sense that this is one of the greatest games ever.
The graphics and music are phenomenal. Cory is detailed brilliantly. Every little detail of Cory's beautiful and masculine body is clearly visible and downright pleasing to look at. When Cory sweats, the sweat drips down his pecs and glistens against his tight abdominals. The music which accompanies the various action is epic and mindblowing. The score is fully orchestrated with cellos, violins, and the clashing of cymbals.
Overall, Cory in the House is a must play. Simply put, you must play this game if you enjoy videogames or enjoy having fun. With a fantastic story, insanely innovative gameplay, amazing graphics, and an unparalleled score, Cory in the House stands leagues above the competition. This game isn't a game; it is an experience, it is an art.
And who can argue? Cory in the House is one of the greatest games ever.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/treasure_chronicles/Club_Nintendo.png[/img]
Japan has know the sweet loyalty program known as "Club Nintendo" for years, Europe has had "Nintendo VIP 24:7" since the Gamecube launched over 6 years ago and "Club Nintendo" since the launch of the Wii. But, Nintendo wasn't nice enough to give North America a Club Nintendo just yet. In fact, even South Africa has had a Club Nintendo for six months already.
But, in October 2008, it was revealed that Club Nintendo was coming to North America. And to the instant relief of millions of Nintendo fans, was launched December 15. But, as anyone who tried to sign up already knows, the site was rather buggy, in fact it didn't really work at all. Many who tried to sign up for the first time couldn't get it to work and nearly everyone who tried transferring their "My Nintendo" information found that the system just wouldn't let them log in.
I know I was one of the first to be elated and aggravated with the system in the same 5 minutes. I tried at least twice a day to log in, but was always met with a "your username or password are incorrect" message. Finally, today I tried and was instantly logged in, and was given the opportunity for my first survey. I promptly gave "World of Goo" a glowing review and received my 10 coins.
So, now that I've mentioned "coins" you may be wondering what they are. Well, they're points that you use to "buy" stuff from Club Nintendo. Many people out there feel the prizes right now are terrible, but I think there are some very nice things to be had.
For 800 coins, you get the Game & Watch Collection for DS.
For 600, you get a White Nintendo DS Game Card Case.
For 800, you get Hanafuda Cards. The picture shows a huge stack, but it doesn't say how many you actually get.
500 coins get you Mario Party Playing Cards or Animal Crossing Playing Cards.
600 gets you a Mario Nintendo DS Game Rack.
600 gets you either a Black, Super Mario Bros. Theme, or Animal Crossing Theme Nintendo DS Game Card and Stylus Set.
400 gets you a Nintendo DS Lite Case (Silver).
And 300 will get you a Wii Remote Holder.
As you can see, the prizes are heavily geared towards the DS, with only one item for the Wii. Many users are complaining that Club Nintendo isn't giving North America the same awesome prizes that Japan gives away, such as a Super Famicom style Classic Controller for the Wii and unreleased games such as Tingle's Balloon Fight DS and Exclamation Warriors Sakeburein. But I feel the prizes they are offering are very good, for a program that has just started up. I know I really want three of the available items, and I'm confident Nintendo will be adding new stuff after not too long.
The only major drawback to the system I see is that only first party Nintendo games can be registered, and only new ones at that. So all the GameCube games you have won't get you any points. I think that is a big mistake for Nintendo because they should give their loyal customers something for their years of money, not just people jumping on the Wii/DS bandwagon. Wouldn't is be amazing if we could register our hundreds of NES, SNES, and N64 games 
So Nintendo fans, head on over to https://club.nintendo.com/ and sign up to start receiving your free stuff. A word of advice I noticed with the site, before you register games, it looks like you can add games to a "Intend to Buy" list first and then register them to receive 10 extra coins.
[img align=right]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/UncleSamForChat.jpg[/img]
OK, maybe the US needs more than a bunch of collectors, but what does need you is the RFGeneration Chat. You see for the past few days, the chat has been inhabited primarily by Canadians. Yes, our cousins to the North who we pretend to hate, but are really just jealous of.
Right now 4 out of the 5 users in the chat are Canadian, and since Alfador must have made it through the snow to get to work, I'll probably be the only American in there for a couple more hours.
So, Americans, help your country turn the tables and join in on the chat. You can use the wonderful chat applet provided by Dave or your own IRC program to get there, but just make sure you join in.
Click Here for our Chat Page
I'm not dead, I just took a week off to do my final exams and stuff like that. Plus, this time of year is dead anyways, so I figured it could wait. So, here's what came out last week and what's out this week.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | • Rise of the Argonauts
• Sonic Unleashed (get the Wii/PS2 version instead) | • Rise of the Argonauts | • Calvin Tucker's Redneck Jamboree
• Neopets Puzzle Adventure
• Rock Band 2
• Summer Sports 2: Island Sports Party
• The Tale of Despereaux
• Word Jong Party | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | • Dungeon Maker II: The Hidden War
PC
• Band Manager
• Lost Secrets: Bermuda Triangle
• Hidden Expedition: Amazon
• Hired Guns: The Jagged Edge
• Prince of Persia
• Rise of the Argonauts
• RPG Fantasy Action Pack
• The Tale of Despereaux
• Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate Collection | • Animal Boxing
• Australia Zoo Quest
• Build-a-Lot
• Candace Kane's Candy Factory
• Cate West The Vanishing Files
• Driver's Ed Portable
• Dreamer: Horse Trainer
• Dreamer: Puppy Trainer
• Learn Math
• Left Brain Right Brain 2
• Mystery P.I.: Portrait of a Thief
• Slingo Quest
• The Tale of Despereaux | • Rock Band 2
• Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
• The Tale of Despereaux |
 Very boring, am I right? Get used to it. That's what the next few weeks are going to be like.
The only highlight here is Persona 4 for the PS2. I don't know much about it other than it's a weeaboo JRPG with an even more weeaboo translation that keeps all the honorifics and stuff on there. Also, you commit suicide to gain powers. Apparently it's good if you're into that kind of thing, but I'll stick to Fallout 3 thank you very much.
So, next week, I don't think anything is coming out. Literally, nothing.
It's hard to believe that our blog is nearly a year and a half old already! One of the great things about a blog is that you can chronicle your history as well as step back in time on a more personal level as you read reviews, opinions and reactions to gaming news from years past. It's also where we celebrate milestones, promotions and contest winners. But what you ask, did RF Generation do before the blog was built? Glad you asked!
From the site's formation in 2004 until the unveiling of the blog system in 2007, we used a combination of front page posts, forum announcements and Wikipedia. At one time, we had the entire site history in an organized short form style split between site history and database history in our Wikipedia article. Then one day they decided to cut our article off at the knees, leaving what you see there today. Shorter and more to the point, but it doesn't detail how we got here month by month, milestone by milestone.
Giving thanks to the incredible team of volunteers who kept the ink flowing as we noted each milestone and event in RFGen's history, here in part 1 of this series, are the recorded entries for the database and site news from 2004.
Continue reading RF Generation Timeline Part 1: 2004
I bet you were wondering if this was ever going to get posted, well I am happy to report that here it is and I now have a functioning pinball machine, although it still has its fair share of problems....
Continue reading My, mostly, Lifelong Dream Pt 3
Reviewing is something completely new to me, so this will be a learning process for me, so feel free to critique my reviewing style. My reviews are based on what I like and dislike about the games, not what I think the general public will like or dislike about the game. Since I'm not a big gamer as most other reviewers, my reviews will be based on the first few levels of games instead of the entire game, so keep that in mind when reading. I'm going to try and start reviewing games that are a little less talked about and maybe even games that you've never heard of. I'm going to start with some NES and Famicom games because I've got this really cool 76-in-1 pirate cart that is full of great (and not so great) NES and Famicom games.
B-Wings [img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/J-027/ss/ts/J-027-S-02780-A.jpg[/img]
The first game I'm going to review is B-Wings for the Nintendo Famicom. B-Wings was released in 1986 and is a Japan only game, so good luck finding it if you're in the US or Europe, there isn't even a copy of it on eBay right now, but there was one on GameGavel not too long ago, so they are out there, it just may be a bit pricey.
Gameplay: The game plays about the same as any generic vertical shooter, but it does have one thing that sets it apart from others that I have played. At the start of the game, you have your choice of weapons. There are ten different weapons for you to choose from. The cannon fires three shots that shoot straight in front of you, they are quite powerful, but lack any ability to shoot in other directions. "Wide" fires 5 shots that progressively spread further from each other, they are powerful and the path of destruction is great. "Multi" fires three shots, sometimes they all go straight ahead, other times one goes straight, one goes to the left and one goes to the right, and other times they fire at an angle so they all go forward, but progressively get further form each other. "Van" fires six very powerful shots that go a very short distance, but spread around you in a fan shape. "Side" fires seven shots, one that goes straight ahead, and three on each side that fire to the sides in a fan shape. "Anti" fires two shots straight ahead and two shots straight behind. "Hammer" is my personal favorite weapon and fires two very powerful shots straight ahead and also has two "orbs" that circle your ship for extra protection. "Jump" is essentially the same as Cannon, but one of the shots explodes, but it doesn't really seem to help things much. "Dyna" is an extremely power single shot that is very wide and can destroy several smaller enemies in the one shot. "Fire" is the last weapon option and is a wave of energy that is quite powerful but has a small range, and it allows you to almost continuously fire.
Once you have selected your weapon, your ship attaches to it and you're sent into space to destroy anything that comes at you. There are several different types of flying enemies to destroy as well as stationary objects to destroy. If an enemy drives into you or hits you with a weapon, you lose your main weapon and have to rely on a very small, weak cannon. If you drive into one of the stationary objects, your ship explodes and you're dead.
Throughout the game, you have the option to pick up another weapon, you can pick it up by simply driving into it if you have already lost your main weapon or you drop your current weapon and then pick up the new one. The weapons all have a different shape, but with 8-bit graphics, it's quite hard trying to distinguish and memorize what each weapon looks like.
There is also the option for 2 players, which sadly isn't co-op, but you alternate turns when one person dies the other picks up where that person dies. It's better than no second player support, but co-op would have been even better.
Graphics & Sound:
The graphics aren't bad for 1986, but nothing spectacular either. I've only played through the first two levels, but the enemies all seem to be unique, so it's not as repetitive as some games in this genre are.
The sound effects and music are very nice. The sound effects are basically your average 8-bit sound effects, but the music is great. Though it is hard to hear when you're constantly blasting away.
In conclusion, this game is great, if you like vertical shooters at least. I could definitely see myself playing this game for hours on end if I had the time. If you're looking for a deep game to lose yourself in the story, well, this isn't for you then. It's more of a pick up play when you've got some spare time type game.
I gave this game a 90% because it is a blast to play, but there really isn't anything memorable about it.
The following exert was written a few days ago. To be honest, it was more of a personal journal type of entry rather than a full fledged blog post. For those that know me, sharing something like this is extremely out of character for me. I ask you to bear with me - pointed insights are forthcoming.
This afternoon I experienced the rare occasion where the appointment with my local physician started promptly and ended earlier than expected. This extra free time that has been afforded to me was a pleasant surprise to be honest - professional demands on me have been intense as of late. What will I do with this unexpected windfall?
There is really not enough snow for skiing so that is not an option for the new opening on my schedule. This is a probably a godsend in disguise since my slaloming (tumbling) down a snow-mud mountain (hill) would do little to help evict the killer cold currently residing within my lungs. With that alternative off the table, I turn my attention to my true passion - video gaming. The decision is made. I brew up a steaming hot pot of lemonade-infused tea (I am currently out of the 'Real' lemon juice) and sit down at my PC to write a gaming blog. I am all set and ready to go!
Except...
| .... | .... | .... | ....
The blank page and blinking cursor of Microsoft Word now stares back at me without mercy, expecting some sort of creative genius to emerge from my fingers and appear on its empty canvas. "Darn... it has been a while." I say to myself while being directly confronted with the fact that I had not written anything in quite a while. This 'vacation' of sorts has left me feeling a bit empty in a way I can not fully explain nor identify. Most of my 'hobby' time has been devoted to coding web pages - writing articles and blog posts unfortunately has almost become a distant memory.
What have I become?
At the time of the experience described above, I was struggling quite a bit while composing a new system review with the unexpected free time I had on that day. Let me beat you to the punch: "You experienced writer's block when trying to compile your standard hardware reviews that are rather technical and not necessarily creative??" Believe it or not, yes I did. Though not entirely artistic in a literary sense, they do take a great deal of planning and thought (at least for me). I reread this introspection and thought that sharing it as part of an article might provide some beneficial insight of a website administrator - me being the protagonist in this case.
As some of you may know, I have recently created and developed a fledgling website. Though I am extremely happy with the progress that has been made, I need to be directly candid with you - being a webmaster is not an easy task and does take a tremendous amount of time. The maintenance and developmental aspects of a website is very time consuming, especially with the limited technical resources that I possess. From my first hand perspective, the amount of focus on coding has taken precedence over what truly makes me happy - video game hardware and sharing my experiences with my fellow gaming aficionados (you).
A friend of mine, whom I respect a great deal, stated the following in a completely unrelated email: "...it's much more satisfying to step back and appraise one's own work and be proud of it when it has a certain formality and thoroughness about it." This rang eerily true and caused me to take a step back and reflect.
My true love is for gaming hardware and sharing the knowledge that I have acquired through the years (40 year old gamer here). My hope is that you find the articles that result from this passion of mine to be informative, beneficial and somewhat entertaining. I do not profess to be the greatest writer in the world - a public rating of 'mediocre' would be welcomed at this point in my 'pseudo' career. But as my friend pointed out, it is critical to be personally happy with the finished product, and what you are doing.
I think I have answered the internal question that I initially posed to myself in the prologue of this article - "What have I become?"
I am an average joe that loves video games - hardware and software. The sharing of information and communicating with others on our mutual passion makes me happy. I know the coding and technical aspects of running a video gaming site are necessary to accomplish this. I need to be a better juggler at times and not stray from my true love and personal callings. This brings me to my main point.
What I have learned through the writing of this editorial of mine is that I truly enjoy communicating to you as a reader - this is my true goal a webmaster. I feel safe in saying all site administrators feel the same but at times the technical demands of running our respective websites can be overwhelming. Rest assured that all are committed to providing the best platform to deliver relevant information and 'good reads' to our communities. The graitude that is felt for you as a community member can not be expressed in words - your patience, understanding and continued loyalty is the best gift one could ever receive. Santa truly delivered - the pleasant surpise of your unexpected gift.
Best regards during this holiday season to you and your families.
 |
Posted on Dec 14th 2008 at 07:54:30 PM by ( Sirgin) Posted under Magic, The Gathering, TCG, Trading Card, Game, Free, Shards, Alara, Tenth, Naya, Blue |
[img align=right width=150]http://sales.starcitygames.com/cardscans/MAGBOX/10themedeckblue.jpg[/img]
After getting the White, Green and Red Tenth Edition theme decks for free I decided to buy the Blue and Black decks. Although I'm not really getting back into Magic, I thought it would be neat to have the whole set.
I went back to the card shop where I got all the free cards a month ago, because I had some questions about some game mechanics that I'm sure that guy would be able to answer.
Continue reading Gathering The Magic: Part 2
I am seeing that Chrono Trigger on the DS is a port of the original SNES RPG with new touch screen features in the game. I also have a lot of the fans of the game on this site saying that it is a game that I have got to play. So I'm wondering...should I use this game to experience the game, or should i just track down the cart version for the SNES. It seems easier to just get the DS version. What do some of you think?
Now, generally I do not like to review something until I have completely beat the game, and as such, this post is going to be impressions of the game, which to a certain extent is probably a review.
For those of you not in the know, I got the first disbursement of my sign-on bonus this week, and promptly splurged it on a PlayStation 3. Of course, the very first game that I bought was LittleBigPlanet. Why wouldn't I have bought that game first? Everything I've seen about it on the internet suggests that it oozes creativity. To a certain extent, it shows that this generation Sony and not Nintendo has the creativity wand when it comes to games. I had to buy this game, and by golly I did.
LittleBigPlanet is based around the concept that this world managed by Creator Curators is created by the combined imagination of the world and you, as Sackboy, get to explore it. On the surface of playing the game, LittleBigPlanet is a semi 2D platformer. You can only move left, right, or back and forth in the background. But, see, just because the game is in essence a 2D platformer does not take away from the fact that it oozes with creativity and fun.
This game is customizable, and not just a little customizable, but "HAVE AT IT WON'T YOU?" customizable. As you progress through the game you are gifted and obtain lots of stickers, objects, and doodads to fool around with. In story mode, these stickers can be placed wherever, and sometimes these stickers serve as triggers. But, the real beauty of collecting these customizations is the fact that the game allows you to create your own levels. These aren't some corny shallow level but often full fledged levels limited only by the imagination of the creator, and that's really neat. Theoretically you could never run out of levels to play because the community keeps pumping them out. It's really truly amazing.
That said, the Media Molecule (developer) levels are also very cool. Basically, each creator curator has a theme and mini storyline that ties in with the other curators, and levels get harder and harder as you progress through the story. Of course, once you beat a level there are plenty of reasons to go back. See, chances are you won't be able to get all 100% of the items on your first go, so there will always be that reason to come back to the level. Secondly, you could play the level by yourself, or you could play the level with someone online. The neat thing about that is that you sometimes have to have another Sackboy with you to get certain items and cause certain events to occur. Thing is though that I am so addicted to the game that I just want to beat it through before playing with someone online, so I don't know for sure how that works, but I imagine it's pretty cool.
From customizing your own levels to customizing your Sackboy, you have a lot of freedom in this game, and this freedom makes the game so damn enjoyable. I'd say I am about 70ish% through the story mode, and this game keeps calling me back. If you have a PS3 I don't think you have to buy the game, but you'd be doing yourself a great disservice if you didn't at least try it out. After all, Sackboy is so damn lovable. Forget Home's avatars, Sackboy should be our official Sony avatars. He's just so damn precious.
Have the game? Want the game? What are your impressions of LittleBigPlanet? Is it everything you thought it would be, or is it something that you hope it will be?
Today i was out with the misses doing a little shopping for her. After a few stops and i finally found her gift, that is for another time, i proceeded to drop her off at work since her car is in the shop. On the way back home i decided to stop at goodwill since i haven't been to this particular one in months. Nothing really of interest except a bundled N64 and a few spawn comics. Right up the road is a mom and pop gaming shop that i use to visit at least 3 times a week up until i found a new job in the city we live in. So i decided to stop in there because i can't remember the last time in there. Her prices are usually high (some even higher than ebay). I have purchased a few smaller dollar items from her in the past as well as traded in a few games that i couldn't sell or trade online. A pone browsing the glass display that she has the systems in, I noticed this tiny hand held that was sitting next to a copy of Fire Emblem for the SFC. It was a Swan Crystal. I was shocked to see her actually have this since she said she doesn't except imports. It was there along with Final Fantasy II. I ask the guy could i see the "Crystal" and he pulled it out and popped in the game. He starting telling me about where it came from and all (I knew more than he knew). This is the first time i have ever seen one in person so i had to play it. I fiddle around with it for a few minutes, trying to get the button layout and all. It is a pretty neat system, aside from the fact that most of the games aren't English friendly. I remember how i had wanted one back in 2005 but things changed and i never got around to it. Now i am like a kid again, i gotta get me one soon.
The import seen is kinda dwindling in the US. I admit i stopped playing imports back in 2006 due to lack of funding. Still have a copy of Front Mission for Super Famicom but no Super Famicom to play it on. I have started playing Gundam again on my Playstation and i think the love is coming back. If you haven't at least tried some import games that were never released stateside i think you should. Can we really call are selves game enthusiast if we haven't experienced what is to offer in other countries? There are a few hidden gems out there that quite possible might be better than what is offered today. Do yourself a favor and look into imports, more so of the previous generation.
For my entire collecting "career" I've only bought stuff locally. I've never purchased anything from the internet, including eBay. I've always been very proud of this fact, because there are so few collectors out there that do it the "old school" way.
But, as my collection has grown, I've not only been having a harder time finding games I don't have, but I've accumulated hundreds of duplicate games. Now, for the past few months I've been trying my hardest to sell those duplicates. But, I've been having trouble doing that, which brings me to the point of this post. I've been considering becoming open to trading. In the past I was against trading over the internet as much as buying over the internet, but I'm not so sure anymore. Trading would essentially mean turning duplicates into new games, but I can't help but feel as though I would be going against my principles.
So, now I'm turning to you my fellow collectors, what do you guys think? Should I be open to trading or should I stick to my local roots only?
So, it's come to my attention that those of you that were using our chat client (known as mibbit) to get to our chat room may have found yourself more often than not with the wonderful welcoming sight of glined. What does that mean? Well, it appears quakenet places a temporary ban on connections via mibbit when too many users connect to the network via the program. In this case, it was almost always happening, and as such I view mibbit no longer as a viable option for our chat program.
What does that mean? Well, in short terms, we're back to using our old Java Client. Same chat room, same network, new webchat client. All the links should have been updated, and you should be able to get on easily, provided you have Java installed. Here is a link below to the new client. Again, sincerest apologies about the previous webclient dropping the ball, especially when I've been whoring out the chat in recent times. Do join, won't you?
Click Here for our Chat Page
|
|
|
|
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
| |
|
