Blogger Archive: bickman2k 
The site is going down again.
Now, breathe.
This is planned downtime and it's for the better. Our host recently merged with another company and, along with this, they are changing our server configuration. We were on a VPS with 1GB of RAM and a meager 20GB of drive space. We are moving to a dedicated server with 4GB of RAM and dual 500GB drives! More everything! This should allow us to remain stable and hopefully lessen the database connection issues we have been experiencing.
This all goes down Saturday night at 10PM Central US time (3AM GMT). We will be placing the entire site in a maintenance mode. We did it Saturday night in case there were problems so we could have Sunday to fix it, again, if needed.
If you need your fix right away, please go ahead and bookmark this page to get to the IRC room.
See you when we're back!
Well, here we are, back up again. After over a week of downtime, we feel that we are ready to give this another shot as well as explain what had happened.
Last month, we were informed that our server was hosting a PayPal scam site. Our host was working with us to close up the exploit. It seems that whoever got in may have used more than an exploit. I found a couple of new domains on the server that were not set up by us. After further investigation, it was thought that they had the root password to the server. This fear was confirmed when the site went down.
Our initial check led us to the fact that our database tables had been dropped. That's bad.
[img width=423 height=315]http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lklne4CZne1qh7oxso1_500.png[/img]
This effectively removed our forum and game databases. We have been working to try to restore the forum from the information that was left on the server, but after all of the effort, we were stuck. Eddie was able to get the game database back from early December. This also included the blogs. The forum, however, was not so lucky.
The initial forum restoration that we found was from 2009. This included the member table. I happened to attempt to make a backup back in January, but it only partially backed up. Fortunately, this was successful in including the member list and even PMs. So, while we have now lost a ton of the forum, that can be recreated. The important part is that we were able to recover a fairly recent backup of the game DB and almost all of our members (not sure how many registered in the few weeks since my backup).
Now what happens? This experience has certainly left an impression on me as well as Dave, Eddie, and Mike. We will be implementing means to do (starting off) biweekly backups and as we get things honed in, we hope to get this down to possibly daily. We will also be working to have a system in place to test these backups and make sure they are good to prevent this sort of downtime in the future as well as making it easier for us to move hosts in the future should we need to do so.
We are very sorry that this has happened and that it was down for so long. We hope that it hasn't tarnished our image for you and that you continue to come back. Personally, I appreciate everyone that came in to the IRC room during the down time to keep the conversation going and your words of encouragement really meant a lot. The community has always been fantastic here and now that we're back up, I hope we continue to get stronger as a result. Thank you for your patience with me and my stubbornness to try everything I could to try to get it back to where it was before the disaster struck.
Welcome back to Channel 3!
So, I had a broken headset around episode 12, but didn't get around to getting a new headset until after I recorded this one. But this is now fixed ($25 later...)! Unfortunately, there are also some other glitches happening that we're ironing out, but I hope none of them made it in to the episode.
But there is good news! We did get another episode out and we're calling it our anniversary episode! We have our thoughts on the passing of Steve Jobs, a new segment called "While You Were Broke", our Game Shout-Outs!, the latest contest with details, and, of course, the Top 5.
BIG EDIT ABOUT THE CONTEST! After you solve the first clue, you need to find that game in the database. In the Game Trivia section, you will find the next clue. Find that game for the next one and so on. Find all 10 games and call or e-mail us your list first to win! Probably should have clarified that, but it's my first time trying this, so I expected some glitches.
Check out the FREE Cave Story game we mentioned here: http://www.cavestory.org/
Humble Bundle site (Frozen Synapse bundle is over by now): http://www.humblebundle.com/
Get the episode here: http://rfgeneration.podomatic.com or we're on iTunes!
0:00 - Intro
1:55 - What's New on Channel 3?
3:00 - News/Feature: Steve Jobs Dies at 56
14:32 - While You Were Broke
25:07 - Game Shout-Out!
37:35 - Top 5: iOS Apps We're Still Waiting On
38:06 - Outro
Get in contact with us as well! We're happy to hear from you. E-mail us at podcast@rfgeneration.com. Call us at (318) RFG TIP 5, that's 318-734-8475.
The NEW podcast subforum is located here: http://www.rfgeneration.c...orum/index.php?board=35.0
We hit the summer post-E3 lull and it luckily gave us a good excuse to be late... We'll cover some gaming news along with our Gaming Shout Outs before hitting our Top 5.
0:00 - Intro
2:00 - What's New on Channel 3?
4:27 - Gaming News
26:42 - Game Review: Catherine
42:20 - Game Shout Out!
55:40 - Top 5 Reasons Catherine is Already Game of the Year
56:33 - Outro
As always, you can comment in the forums, comment in this blog post, e-mail us, and even call us. We hope to be able to take your quick questions over any subject via e-mail at podcast@rfgeneration.com. You can also call us and leave a message! We can play your question or comment in the episode and we'll even respond to it! That number is (318) RFG-TIP5 or (318) 734-8475.
Download the podcast at http://rfgeneration.podomatic.com or on iTunes!
E3 has come and gone and, as usual, none of the content in our episodes is going to be breaking news. But we thought it was important to talk about and give our perspectives on.
Continue reading RF Generation Nation - Episode 13: E3? That's Still Around?
Apparently, we're becoming victims of our own success. You guys are actually digging what we're putting out and requesting more! This is why I feel bad about this episode. We had to hold off on recording while Jesse moved in to his new house (YAY!) and then (after beginning to edit), I realized that it is time to hang up the SOCOM USB headset. This episode is going to be a little strange...
Continue reading RF Generation Nation - Episode 12: More Delays than 3D Realms
So, we're late. Unfortunately, right after we recorded this one, I had some personal obligations to attend to, so the episode wasn't able to get edited quite as fast as I wanted. But here it is! We have (now outdated) information on the PSN outage, our Gaming Shout Outs, and our next installment of the Gaming History Museum where we cover the RC Pro Am series. Of course, we also have our Top 5. Also, we're still looking for more votes for the caption contest. Picture reminder is after the break.
Continue reading RF Generation Nation - Episode 11: Now It is the Beginning of a Fantastic Story
Here we go again! As per the suggestion we got from Fuyukaze, we have our first industry guest! Our guest has taken some time away from a very rigorous training schedule to spend with us!
EDIT: I forgot the link to the podcast! http://rfgeneration.podomatic.com
There are links on the page to subscribe in iTunes as well!
Continue reading RF Generation Nation - Episode 10: 2D Rules! 3D Drools!
Well, as some proof that they do exist, our guest this time is a girl gamer. slackur's wife joins us for a little chat about a few news stories as well as the topics you wanted to hear about!
Continue reading RF Generation Nation - Episode 9: Under the Sea
Hey everyone! Last minute show idea popped up. We wanted to get the community's input on some quick topics that you want us to talk about. Everything and anything about games: news, retro games, social effects of gaming on society, you name it!
The only problem is that we kind of came up with this on short notice, so you essentially have until tomorrow night... yeah... We dropped the ball. But we'll be sure to mention you in the podcast right along with your topic! Thanks!
We're back and we dragged yet another willing participant in with us! den68 joins us for this episode and, as will happen when talking about your 6000+ game collection, things get a little strange. Regardless, we want to thank Dennis for joining us and we hope you enjoy the episode! Also, because of the ridiculousness that was brought up, we're going to have a little caption contest. Details inside!
Continue reading RF Generation Nation - Episode 8: Furious Iron Fist
Here we are again! 7 episodes down and we have another new feature: The Sports Page!
00:00 - Intro
01:18 - What's New on Channel 3?
01:45 - Gaming News
23:15 - Game Shout Out!
33:34 - The Sports Page
39:33 - Top 5
40:11 - Outro
Continue reading RF Generation Nation - Episode 7: You Spoony Bard!
We have a new episode out with our first interview. This is another first for us, both on our delivery and for the recording itself. Please let us know if you had any issues actually hearing anything as well as any topic suggestions, interview suggestions, or anything else you want us to talk about in the locations below.
The Episode:
- 0:00: Intro
- 0:57: ReddMcKnight Interview
- 7:39: What's New on Channel 3?
- 8:32: Gaming News
- 26:52: Gaming Shoutout!/I'm Sorry...
- 36:50: Top 5
- 37:40: Outro
You can comment in the forums, comment in this blog post, e-mail us, and even call us. We hope to be able to take your quick questions over any subject via e-mail at podcast@rfgeneration.com. You can also call us and leave a message! We can play your question or comment in the episode and we'll even respond to it! That number is (318) RFG-TIP5 or (318) 734-8475.
Here is the forum thread to comment: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=10730.0
The podcast, as usual, can be found and subscribed at http://rfgeneration.podomatic.com as well as in iTunes!
What's this? A new episode within 30 days of the last one? That's right! With the new year, we're going to try to get on a schedule!
The Episode:
- 0:00: Intro
- 1:26: Site News
- 2:23: Gaming News and Discussion
- 26:13: Gaming History Museum
- 29:39: Top 5
- 30:24: Outro
You can comment in the forums, comment in this blog post, e-mail us, and even call us. We hope to be able to take your quick questions over any subject via e-mail at podcast@rfgeneration.com. You can also call us and leave a message! We can play your question or comment in the episode and we'll even respond to it! That number is (318) RFG-TIP5 or (318) 734-8475.
Here is the forum thread to comment: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=10730.0
The podcast, as usual, can be found and subscribed at http://rfgeneration.podomatic.com as well as in iTunes!
EDIT: Going to try this. PodOmatic has an embedded player if you don't want to go to the site or use iTunes.
So, we made it. Our last episode of 2010 is here! We decided to do a little year in review episode complete with awards just as meaningful as the Spike VGAs! We have a little discussion and each of us has our viewpoint (as usual), but we also want your input on what you thought of this year in gaming! We didn't go the normal route of "Best game of the year", but once you check out our categories, we'd love to hear what you think about things. Did you agree? Disagree? Were we way off? Or do you have something else entirely that you think fits?
You can comment in the forums, comment in this blog post, e-mail us(!), and even call us(!!!). We hope to be able to take your quick questions over any subject via e-mail at podcast@rfgeneration.com. You can also call us and leave a message! We can play your question or comment in the episode and we'll even respond to it! That number is (318) RFG-TIP5 or (318) 734-8475.
Here is the forum thread to comment: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=10730.0
The podcast, as usual, can be found and subscribed at http://rfgeneration.podomatic.com as well as in iTunes!
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