Blogger Archive: singlebanana 
[img width=700 height=437]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Podcast/PlayCast_zpsmi6bsclk.jpg[/img]
As some of you may be aware, the first episode that we recorded for our podcast wasn't "Episode #1 - Phantasy Star & The Last of Us," but was instead, a pilot episode for February 2014's playthroughs of Parasite Eve and Kingdom Hearts. After coming up with the idea to do a podcast, we approached the "powers that be" about the idea and were asked to give them a sample of our proposed show. Since then, only the site administrators, a few friends who we got feedback from, and those of you who donated over $20 during the last fundraiser, have gotten to listen to the show. As a gift to all of our members here and listeners out there, we have decided to release this "Episode Zero" in full, with a new intro recorded by our very own GrayGhost81. I think you'll find it fun to go back and listen to how raw and inexperienced we were, and how much we have improved the show since our beginnings. I think you'll also enjoy the games discussion and maybe even decide to add one or both of them to your collection. Myself, Grayghost81, Fleach, and Disposed Hero would like to wish all of our members here at RF Generation a safe and happy holiday season! Thanks for listening and we hope you'll stick around for what promises to be an exciting 2016 of gaming.
Episode Zero discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=16154.0
Get the show on Podbean: http://rfgenplaycast.podbean.com/
On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/...ion-playcast/id1038953364
On YouTube:
On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/p...ation-playcast?refid=stpr
And follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rfgenplaythroughs
And Twitter: https://twitter.com/RFGPlayCast
Continue reading Happy Holidays from the RF Generation Playcast!
[img width=700 height=353]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/RFGen%20Blog/IMG_20151218_192846_zpsfzzyuaqi.jpg[/img]
Sorry guys, you won't be getting a Top Games of 2015 list from me. For one, I don't own a current generation console to play games released this year on, and secondly, my list of my favorite games I played it 2015 will be available early next year when you listen to the RF Generation Playcast (http://rfgenplaycast.podbean.com/) .....shameless plug!! Instead, I'll be focusing on a topic that has baffled and frustrated me (and probably you) for years and that is, "What import games can I play on my North American consoles without having to import systems?" I certainly won't be able to cover every system, but I'll try to cover the more well-known and most-owned consoles. I understand that some imported games can be burned or pirated for play on North American systems; however, since this method is frowned upon by a large majority of the community, I will not be covering or suggesting this method for any system here. I hope many of you will find this article useful and please think of it and my research as my holiday gift to you!
**DISCLAIMER: Please be advised that I have not tried several of these methods myself and that the great majority of the information that I have assembled here has been compiled through research. I have verified as much of the information as possible, but some of it may be incorrect. If you find that something is incorrect, please send me a PM and I can verify and edit this post. Thank you!**
Continue reading Is it Region-Locked or Region-Free?
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Playthroughs/Mario.png_zpswsknjbwx.jpeg[/img]
It's hard to believe that another year of awesome retro and modern playthroughs are in the books. Myself, Grayghost81, Fleach, and Disposed Hero would like to thank all of you who participated in the playthroughs this year for your time, effort, and wonderful comments in the threads. In 2016, we hope to increase participation for our playthroughs and offer the community many more exciting games to play along with us. If you have listened to the newest episode of the RF Generation Playcast, you already know about the upcoming changes to the playthroughs. However, for those of you who have not, we'd like to take this time to let you know about the new direction in which we are headed.
This upcoming year, we plan to do away with the retro and modern playthroughs and instead focus on one playthrough a month. This decision was made because (1) we felt like members were having to choose between the two games each month and it was spreading participation very thin, and (2) the four of us really missed playing games together and talking about them on the podcast. We think that this change will bring a better product to the community by increasing dialogue about these games in our thread, and make for a more enjoyable, in-depth, and shorter listen for our podcast followers. Going forward, we will also only announce one game at a time at the beginning of each prior month, instead of three games in advance. This should give members plenty of time to locate games if needed, prevent them from forgetting about upcoming playthroughs over time, and provide something for participants to look forward to each month. We are looking forward to these changes and we hope that all of you will continue to be a big part of it.
Now............what you're all here to read about, the January game announcement!
In January, we want to start things off BIG by playing two "blockbuster" games from a very familiar series. Next months playthrough includes what many consider the best and most iconic game on the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Mario Bros. 3. We will also be playing the follow-up game in the series, Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System; this title is hands down, one of the Top 10 games released on the SNES and at the time, was successful in transitioning the series onto the modern system. Which game do you like better? Which one will we like better? Will time and nostalgia prevail, or will this playthrough open our minds to other possibilities? Join us as we foil the plans of and take down the sinister King Bowser, and rescue the beloved Princess Peach in these Super Mario classics!!
Super Mario Discussion Thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=16136.0
[img width=700 height=437]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Podcast/PlayCast_zpsmi6bsclk.jpg[/img]
Join RFGeneration Playcast hosts, Rich (singlebanana), Shawn (GrayGhost81), Floyd (Fleach), and Steven (Disposed Hero) as we discuss November's retro and modern playthroughs. On the retro side, Rich, Floyd, and Steven discuss the first Square title actually developed in the U.S. (though it never made it to Japan) Secret of Evermore for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In the modern segment, Shawn and Steven discuss one of the most acclaimed games for the Playstation Vita, the action-packed Gravity Rush. We hope you enjoy our show, and please join our discussion on our discussion thread linked below. Also, be sure to rate and write a review of the show on iTunes to help us increase our listenership.
Episode 20 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=16118.0
Get the show on Podbean: http://rfgenplaycast.podbean.com/
On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/...ion-playcast/id1038953364
On YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/wat...AEQ6eMLA&feature=youtu.be
On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/p...ation-playcast?refid=stpr
And follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rfgenplaythroughs
And Twitter: https://twitter.com/RFGPlayCast
Continue reading Episode 20 - RF Generation Playcast
[img width=396 height=500]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/RFGen%20Blog/Han_zpsdz7xtygf.jpg[/img]
**image courtesy of Thumbs & Ammo**
It's nice to see that all of that Thanksgiving turkey didn't cause our submitters and approvers to fall asleep on the job in November. I'm once again excited to report that we had another fantastic month of submissions at RF Generation. With last month's impressive 6,174 submissions, I thought we might slow down, but I'm happy to announce that our members knocked it out of the park once again with 6,686 submissions! The submissions for November included 6,375 game submissions (4,187 of which were images) and 311 hardware submissions. We had another great effort from our international members and this month there we lots of members who contributed over 50 submissions. Top contributors for the month of November include:
Continue reading RF Generation Thanks: November 2015
[img width=500 height=322]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/RFGen%20Blog/waiting2_zpsdz3ntf7y.jpg[/img]
Like some of you, when I was a kid, I distinctly remember seeing all of the ads on television for the Nintendo Entertainment System and several of its games. Each time they came on, I was filled with excitement and longed for the day when I would own a square, gray box of my own. It wasn't until my grandparents' Christmas gift of a faulty telescope in 1987, that I was able to turn "misfortune" into gaming gold with the help of my older cousin and via the Customer Service Department at Brendle's. My parents were not pleased, but somehow my crafty maneuver paid off and I was able to keep it. And so began, not only my love for the NES, but a kind of gaming resourcefulness that would last a lifetime.
Enter 2015, a 38-year old gamer with a wife, two kids (another on the way), a new dog, a mortgage, and the same zest for gaming since he gave up the ability to look at the stars. Though unable to peer into space, several years ago, instead I began filling space with a collection that now consists of approximately 2,585 games across 35+ systems, and a great deal of accessories and controllers. Collecting has become a hobby and being able to now own systems and games I could only dream of during my very humble childhood and share them with my friends and family gives me great joy. As I've gotten older and earned greater responsibility, money has to be disbursed through various necessary channels and the appeal of buying new systems and games with my disposable income has greatly waned. Some might call this being "cheap," but that's really not the case at all. For me, there are various reasons why I choose to wait to purchase systems and typically stay a generation (and sometimes two generations behind).
Continue reading Why Wait?: A Collector's Guide to Patience
[img width=700 height=611]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Playthroughs/contra_zpslbfep54o.png[/img]
Strap on your ammo belt, grab your unlimited clips, clean your bazooka, and get ready for some sweet Run n' Gun action with the boys from the RFGen Playcast! As you know, each December we typically pick a few games to play with members of the community for a high score challenge. Two years ago, we played through the Streets of Rage series, which our own Disposed Hero came out on top of, and last year, MetalFRO was our Top Shmuper as he dominated many of the shooters we choose. This December, we have chosen the Run n' Gun genre for our playthrough and will be holding weekly high score competitions for the following games: Contra (NES), Rolling Thunder 2 (Genesis), and Metal Slug 3 (XBox and various compilations). Official rules and sign-ups here: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=16039.0
Continue reading Community Playthrough Announcement: December 2015
[img width=700 height=393]http://assets2.ignimgs.com/2014/06/24/ready-player-one-book-art-1280jpg-b68ca1_1280w.jpg[/img]
This past Christmas, I was fortunate enough to get a copy of Ready Player One from the wife as one of my gifts. She’s always been good with gift-giving and I attribute this to her knowing me pretty well after being together for 19 years, and a little thing I like to call an Amazon Wishlist (if you don’t have a Wishlist and share it with your loved ones, I highly suggest it). Anyway, I’ve had the book for 10 months now, I’ve picked it up and put it down several times and it wasn’t until recently (during my travels to RWX and a subsequent beach vacation) that I settled in and gave it a go. You see, I’m kind of what you would call an opportunistic reader. I read when a good opportunity presents itself and those opportunities are typically when I’m not around my kids or when I’m on a nice warm beach…..so yeah, pretty few and far between. It’s not that I don’t love to read, I use to do it all of the time, but a busy adult life and being heavily force-fed a lot of “classics” I didn’t want to read in grad school kind of sucked a lot of the enjoyment out of it for me. Again, I still love to read, it’s just that I’m a lot pickier about what I choose to dive into these days.
Ready Player One sat near the top of my stack for those 10 months, and did so due to strong recommendations from site members and a New York Times reviewer’s blurb on the cover which reads, “Willie Wonka meets The Matrix.” (The Huffington Post’s “The grown-up’s Harry Potter,” not so much a draw for me.) Was the New York Times right? Well, in a way. Mr. Cline takes great liberty in borrowing pieces of 70’s and 80’s nostalgia to craft a story which tugs at the core of his reader and unlocks images from the deep recesses of our childhood memories. You see, Ready Player One is more than a book, it’s a love letter—one directed at the late 30 and 40+ year old dinosaurs who grew up during the infancy of video games and helped cultivate what we now so lovingly refer to as “geek culture.” However, to limit the book to a specific audience is not only unfair, but inaccurate. Any lover of science fiction, apocalyptic landscapes, high-tech gadgets, action, and even romance, will appreciate and enjoy this book. However, it doesn’t hurt to have a good working knowledge of, or at least a healthy interest in, early video games and 80’s culture.
Continue reading Banana's Rotten Reviews: Ready Player One
[img width=700 height=437]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Podcast/PlayCast_zpsmi6bsclk.jpg[/img]
Join RFGeneration Playcast hosts, Rich (singlebanana), Shawn (GrayGhost81), and Steven (Disposed Hero) as we discuss October's retro and modern playthroughs. On the retro side, Rich and Steven discuss Sega's only U.S. Castlevania release, Castlevania: Bloodlines for the Sega Genesis. During the modern segment, Shawn and Steven discuss the first installment of the most popular survival horror series of all time, Resident Evil. We hope you enjoy our spooky show and please leave us some feedback on our discussion thread.
Episode 19 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=16029.0
Get the show on Podbean: http://rfgenplaycast.podbean.com/
On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/...ion-playcast/id1038953364
On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/w...iLsEbcV4&feature=youtu.be
On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/p...ation-playcast?refid=stpr
And follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rfgenplaythroughs
And Twitter: https://twitter.com/RFGPlayCast
Continue reading Episode 19 - RF Generation Playcast
[img width=440 height=451]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/RFGen%20Blog/goose_zpsak4hxfbu.png[/img]
I'm am sad to report that October saw a "enormous" drop in submissions from our high watermark in September. In September, there were a total of 6,480 submissions and all that we could seem to muster for October was a mere 6,174 submissions........... But seriously, you guys RAWKED it! Thanks for another fantastic month of submissions! It's really nice to see the information on the site grow and especially on the international front. The submissions for October included 5,983 game submissions (3,861 of which were images) and 191 hardware submissions. Top contributors for the month of October include:
Our top submitters (those with a minimum of 50) for October were:
FatherJack 4,042
Schlibby 799
Sauza12 385
Shadow Kisuragi 219
Raidou 84
Kam1Kaz3 NL77 76
BJoin79 67
raffa185 64
Thanks for another great month!
Top approvers for the month included:
Shadow Kisuragi 970
Tynstar 152
Flee 31
Great work all, please keep those submissions coming! Thanks to everyone who submitted or approved submissions this month. Have a great November!
[img width=700 height=591]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/collections/necrom99/Vectrex.JPG[/img]
Today is International Play Your Vectrex Day! To find out how to join in on the fun, see details below and fire up that old, black box.
To join in on International Play Your Vectrex Day:
1. Play your Vectrex today;
2. Keep track of what you played; and
3. Edit the Vectrex wiki page for it (http://vectrex.wikia.com/...nal_Play_Your_Vectrex_Day) or contact Vectorguy via either private message or in the thread on the message boards, and he will enter it for you.
4. Have fun!
[img width=679 height=393]https://ksr-ugc.imgix.net/assets/004/665/343/0f26a23fb688810b663f1096201d2e8c_original.JPG?v=1444458567&w=680&fit=max&auto=format&q=92&s=398ad457ff1ca7281c807eb03e9438d5[/img]
If you grew up in the 80's, at some point your dreams were probably plagued by images of at least one of the super iconic kings of the slasher film. Though Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers, and even Leatherface were not totally absent from appearing on the home console, most of these games (if not all) were very poor representations of their movie license. Of course, this had a lot to do with early censorship issues, which prevented fantasy blood, gore, and other forms of more "adult" content. Thanks to ESRB ratings (established in 1994), parents can now be more aware of what their kids are playing, and on the flip side and much to the joy of many modern gamers, the amount of mature content has greatly increased in modern gaming. Prior to ESRB ratings, many licensed horror games were "forced" to keep their games behind the counter or dull down the content for younger gamers. One of the most notorious (as in notoriously bad) games to come out pre-ESRB was Friday the 13th on the NES in 1989. Since then, no one has even attempted to make a more violent and mature video game based on this series.......that is, until NOW!
Check out more details, watch the project creators talk about the game, and JOIN THE KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN HERE!!!: https://www.kickstarter.c...h-the-game?ref=nav_search
**DISCLAIMER** - PICTURES AND VIDEOS BEYOND THIS BREAK MAY CONTAIN VIOLENCE, BLOOD AND GORE, AND ADULT MATERIAL THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AUDIENCES. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Continue reading Friday the 13th on Kickstarter
[img width=610 height=440]http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o736/Fleach/evermore%20gravity%20rush_zpscmt9yszq.png[/img]
November is the month to give thanks (unless you're one of those weirdos in Canadia  ), and what better way to show your thanks to RF Generation then to join our monthly playthroughs. We've got some exciting games lined up for you next month, so don't be a turkey and dine with us on a healthy portion of video game goodness. On the retro side, join singlebanana and Disposed Hero in the pet-friendly, SNES RPG, Secret of Evermore. On the modern side, Grayghost81 and Fleach host our playthrough of the action-packed title, Gravity Rush released on the Playstation Vita in 2012.
*********************************
Before we get into a brief description of our November playthrough games, we would like to take a moment to announce the games we have selected for our December 2015 Run 'n Gun Competition. These games include:
Contra (NES)
Rolling Thunder 2 (Genesis)
Metal Slug 3 (Neo Geo/XBox/various MS anthologies)
Please be sure to check our sign-up and rules thread, which will be linked on the front page game announcement in mid-November. This year's event will include a trophy hand-crafted by RF Gen's own singlebanana. If you saw the shump wrestling belt from last year, you don't want to miss out on this sweet prize! We're looking forward to another fun event and hope you'll join in.
Now back to your regularly schedule program already in progress....
**********************************
Continue reading Community Playthrough Announcement: November 2015 & December Game Announcements
[img width=242 height=330]http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/vectrex/images/8/83/Vectrexday2.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20151002043547[/img]
Looking for something to do with your favorite black and white vector console on November 1? Play it with other Vectrex owners worldwide!
To join in on International Play Your Vectrex Day:
1. Play your Vectrex on November 1, 2015;
2. Keep track of what you play; and
3. Edit the Vectrex wiki page for it (http://vectrex.wikia.com/...nal_Play_Your_Vectrex_Day) or contact Vectorguy via either private message or in the thread on the message boards, and he will enter it for you.
See you then!
[img width=700 height=437]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Podcast/PlayCast_zpsmi6bsclk.jpg[/img]
Join RFGeneration Playcast hosts, Rich (singlebanana), Floyd (Fleach), Shawn (GrayGhost81), and Steven (Disposed Hero) as we discuss September's retro and modern playthroughs. On the retro side, Shawn and Floyd discuss the tactical maneuvers, stealth, and cunning they used to take down Liquid Snake in the Metal Gear Solid segment of our show. Later, Rich and Steven discuss September's modern game, the strange, QTE-driven, 3rd person "interactive film," Indigo Prophecy. We hope you enjoy the show and please leave us some feedback on our discussion thread.
Episode 18 discussion thread: http://www.rfgeneration.c...m/index.php?topic=15970.0
Get the show on Podbean: http://rfgenplaycast.podbean.com/
On iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/...ion-playcast/id1038953364
On YouTube: https://youtu.be/kJmUDhQi8iM
On Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/p...ation-playcast?refid=stpr
And follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rfgenplaythroughs
And Twitter: https://twitter.com/RFGPlayCast
Continue reading Episode 18 - RF Generation Playcast
|
