Blogger Archive: TraderJake 
At RF Generation, we try to give the kids want they want. A few people thought it would be cool if the staff blog script was modified to allow anyone to use it. Initially, I didnt want to code it, I thought it would be a royal pain in the ass to do. Issues such as security and actually creating unique blogs seemed as though it would cause a task that simply would be a pain in the ass to do. So, I had two potential pain in the ass projects to work on, the next version of the submissions system, or community blogs. I chose to start working on the former.
Continue reading It's a Nice Feeling
RF Generation has had a lot of things added in the last year, and one of those additions, the blog, launched with the new site design. Well, some people thought that the blog was so nifty that they asked if they could have their own blogs. Well, starting today, they can.
Introducing... the Community Blogs. Here, you can find our member's blogs, or you can start your own, provided that you are a registered member of the site. Of course, this blogging system is programmed by your neighborhood friendly Site Director, so this release is a beta, some new features are yet to be added, and some things may yet work perfectly. If you catch a bug, let me know, I'd certainly love to quash it.
I've tried to add as much customization options to the blog script as I can, so please take advantage of them. Since this script is beta, I am open to suggestions, but I do not intend on adding any features that would take extensive coding. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy the blogs, perhaps you'll find the scripts of use, or you'll just enjoy reading its contents.
Cheers!
People are entitled to their opinions, but sometimes people tend to take things to extremes. This weekend, Gaygamer.net, the internet's safe haven for homosexual gamers, was the target of a massive Denial of Service attack that successfully knocked their site offline. Here is their official statement on the attack:
Hello, faithful readers:
As you might have noticed, we have had some connection issues in the last few days and now the site is completely down. I'm sad to say that we have been the target of homophobic hackers. Thankfully, they didn't get to our database so all of our stuff is still in tact. At this point we are jut waiting for our service provider to ensure everything is good before putting the server back online.
Hopefully, this will be resolved by the end of this weekend, so please keep checking back. You can't keep a good gay gamer down, so we'll be back before you know it, serving up all the sassy game content you can handle.
Cheers,
Fruit Brute
You might not agree with homosexuality, you may feel it's immoral, but to take someone's site down over the issue, that's downright awful, and it is, in fact, a hate crime. I certainly hope the best for their site, and I hope they find the idiot who committed this crime. As Bob and Tom would say, I believe I can hear the sodomy bell off in the distance in his future.
This post is a long time coming. In the past few months we've added quite a few members to staff, but as far as I am aware of we've never introduced them. Well, today let me spend the time to introduce our new staff members, and officially welcome them into the community.
First off, I'd like to welcome the new hardware contributors, Marriott_guy and ApolloBoy, their enthusiasm for all things hardware related make them a welcome part of the team. We certainly hope that the hardware database will grow with their help.
Next, we've added quite a few European Staff members to the fold. Recently, Belgarath and Magewout were added to the fold, and sharp was welcomed back onto staff. They join the existing team of Speedy_NES and AndyC. To say that we are elated with these additions to the team would be an understatement. We are truly lucky to have these five enthusiastic people on board to help make sure the PAL database grows.
We've also added a new features writer and a new blog writer into the fold. Our new features writer OatBob and our new blog writer Tondog will strive along with the existing features and blog writers to make sure that the pages of our site have substance. I encourage you all to check out their work.
In addition to these new staff members, we've also moved some editors around to satisfy needs. AndyC has elected to assist in moving forward the European Database, and we enthusiastically grant his wish. Replacing AndyC in the hardware editor position will be Tan, who will also remain the blog editor as well. We wish both of these two the best of luck in their new positions.
So, let's officially welcome these new staff members to the team. With their help, the site will truly become something great.
July 26, 2007. On this day the RF Generation database passed 30000 games. Don't believe me? Look at the stats to the right of this post. Isn't that number large? Truly this number is a milestone to be marked and celebrated. From a database of about ten thousand games in 2004 to the 30000 game behemoth we are today, truly this milestone is a great one, and it couldn't have been done without you guys, our community.
Without our community this milestone would be insignificant, and with you guys we will celebrate the occasion. With your help, we certainly are becoming the classic and modern video games database that Michael Collins, Laurel Settee, Mark Hartholt, Mike Leon, Eddie Herrmann, and Rick Kuethe set out to create. Thank all of you, from staff to regular member to programmers to editors to directors, certainly we could not have gotten to this point without your help, and we are truly grateful.
Now is the time to celebrate, but it is also a time to look to the future! Help us get to 40000 games in the database. With your help, I am sure we'll make that milestone someday soon.
[img align=right width=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/1607324664469d4fb7c9fb7P1010034-2.jpg[/img]
Earlier in the day, a vicious rumor began to surface regarding Peter Moore, the head honcho over at X-Box station. It was rumored that Mr. Moore would be resigning his position in order to take over the helm at EA sports. Well, after about 4 hours speculation this nasty rumor has been confirmed -- Peter Moore is leaving Microsoft for the publishing giant known as EA.
Of course, you may be wondering who will be taking over Peter's previous job. That person would be Don Mattrick. Previously he was an outside adviser for Microsoft, and oddly enough before that he was President of EA. Strange isn't it?
We here at RF Generation wish the best for Mr. Moore, and we certainly hope he finds himself at home at EA Sports. Somehow, I think he'll be rather quick to adjust from one monster of a company to another, but certainly we can't wait to see what Peter Moore does in his new job, or if he has any insightful comments he'd like to say about Microsoft's X-Box business.
Source: Kotaku
[img width=350 height=357]http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/fucking_blue_shells.png[/img]
I always hated the blue shells. Stupid #$^% blue shells.
Source: xkcd.com
[img align=right width=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/1000744195468d865d96cd5circuitcityflyer.jpg[/img]
Sony hasn't gotten much love in recent times. The PlayStation 3 seems to be the whipping boy of the media and consumers. The poor thing, and poor Sony. Times haven't looked good for them recently in the gaming sector. However, there is a nasty little rumor out there in the gaming world -- a price drop.
That's right people, Joystiq has posted a nasty rumor regarding a hundred dollar price drop happening for the PS3 on July 12. There's even an alleged flyer showing the price drop! So, the question arises -- is this drop real, or is it a fabrication? I am sure that lots of people are hoping that it is real. The PS3 may have been whipping boy up to now but it doesn't change the fact that there are some nice games coming out for the system.
So is the rumored price drop real, or is it wild speculation? If it is real, would it entice you to buy the PS3, or is more required to get you to spend your hard earned cash? You know you want LittleBigPlanet.
UPDATE: Kotaku is reporting that moles at Best Buy and Target also see a 100 dollar price drop in their inventory systems. This rumor just gets better and better.
On behalf of directors at RF Generation, I'd like to thank everyone who has submitted information or images over the last month. For June, we had a total of 3433 submissions made. Of those submissions, 1408 were image additions and 687 were hardware submissions. We even had 9 regional variation submissions, which goes to show that some people from Europe are reading the site, and we are grateful for their readership.
As with each month there is a top submitter of information and images. This month, that submitter is Belgarath with 745 submissions. Funk_Buddy came in second with 419 submssions, and Tan third with 387 submissions. The next highest submitters over 50 submissions, in order, are Marriott_Guy, sharp, James, briskbc, Fuyukaze, Alabama-Shrimp, Mezmoron, Malygris, NES_Rules, Izret101, Kevincal, Magewout, and Samada. Thank you all for your submissions, we'd be nowhere without them.
Many of these submissions have to be approved by someone. This month, Tan kicked everyone's butt on staff with 761 approvals. Thank you Tan and everyone else on staff for getting those submissions approved.
Lastly, I'd like to thank you all for being such loyal members of our community. Our visits in the last month were the most they've ever been by a long shot, and we are now certainly on pace to have a million visit year. Thank you all for helping this amazing milestone come to fruition, and I do hope that you all continue to keep it tuned to channel three.
[img align=right width=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/129908275246857bbdd0dd1logo_.ebs_main.png[/img]
People are passionate over things. Food perhaps, women, we all have some passion or another. Well, the fine folks at the Mother (Earthbound) fan site Starmen.net have a passion for all things related to the series, and who could blame them? Earthbound is very much one heck of a game, and if you enjoy a combination of a trippy game and amazing RPG then here is a game for you.
So, with the predecessor that was simply amazing, why has Nintendo not released the latest incarnation stateside? Well, I wish I had an answer for you, and to be honest I was greatly saddened when it was not announced that it would be localized. However, the fine folks at Starmen.net have decided to do something about this travesty! Forget online petitions, they are going all out in their Mother 3 localization drive. Not content with the online petition method, they've called for action! Call Nintendo, Mail a Postcard or fan letter -- they want you to act and act now! With a combined effort from the fans, perhaps Nintendo will gain a heart to stop releasing games aimed towards three year olds and release a game that is truly unique.
Help starmen.net out, and perhaps Mother 3 will be llocalized into Earthbound 2. We can only hope that this will happen.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/J-060/bf/J-060-S-03025-A.jpg&sizex=200[/img]
Japan is home to many things, and many of those things we embrace. Of the things Japan has given to the world are games, and this week we celebrate those games and hardware entries with a Japanese Influence.
First off, check out the featured game, Battle Arena Toshinden Remix. If I had played the game I'd say something about it, but sadly I have not touched this game. However, Kevincal has, and he submitted a wonderful review and overview back in the day. We appreciate that.
Next, the featured image goes to Akumajo Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku. Yes, that title is a Romanized Japanese title, but you may know the game as Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I hear that game is pretty darn good.
Next, the featured hardware is the Family Computer, or Famicom. This system was released by some playing card company named Nintendo. I hear they went to become something huge, even momentarily being worth more than Sony today. Guess that Nintendo does good for itself.
Lastly, the featured collection belongs to Funk Buddy. Funk Buddy has an affinity for Japanese games and hardware, epsecially the Japanese Sega Saturn. As such, he has the featured collection.
As always stay tuned, more is certainly to follow when you keep it tuned to channel 3.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/10157742314679b72fb89e5manhunt2NO.jpg[/img]
As reported by Joystiq and Kotaku, both Nintendo and Sony will refuse to license Take Two's Manhunt 2 if it retains it's current AO rating. This development comes just one day after the BBFC banned the game in the UK and the ESRB gave the game the aforementioned AO rating.
Reasons for not allowing licensing are pretty well stated. For Nintendo its policy is in the Buyer's Guide:
Please note that Nintendo does not sell or license games that carry the ESRB rating 'AO' (Adults Only).
Joystiq contacted David Karraker, Senior Director of Communications for Sony for comments, to which Karraker replied that it is currently Sony's Policy not to carry AO rated content on their systems.
It looks as though the Manhunt saga is getting more and more grim for Take Two and Rockstar. What will happen to the game? Will it see major edits to lose its AO rating, or will the game be scrapped? Given the time they put into the game, I'd expect the former, but who knows, I could be surprised. One thing is certain though, if the ESRB rating stands through the appeal process, Take Two will have to do something. Certainly now it is looking like the game won't be making its release date in three weeks, that's for certain.
According to a Reuter's Article, according to Scott Steinberg, the Vice President of Marketing for Sega Sammy. Who does he think is going to win? Well, in his infinite wisdom, he predicts the PLAYSTATION 3 to be the winner in the next console war, regardless of the fact that the wii is currently the fastest selling console of this home console generation. As Satoru Iwata would say, "It prints money".
Steinberg believes that the creative pool of Wii development will likely die within the next year. Regarding the Wii, Steinberg states,
"But how much value can developers and creative folks get out of this wrist motion two years from now, or 5 years from now, or 10 years from now?"
Well, to Mr. Steinberg my response is probably more creativity than Sega has put out since its Dreamcast days, but then Sega hasn't exactly been the most stellar publisher post-dreamcast, save for Shenmue and the handheld Sonics. Who wants to buy the 360 or PS3 version of Sonic? I bet they'd give that away.
The truth is that perhaps the Wii does have a creativity drought. How many mini game based games can publishers possibly release? Are those games really what the mass market wants, or is it more of publishers looking to make a quick buck? The truth is that there is much potential for great games on the Wii, but everyone seems to be content taking the easy way out, developing crap. If the Wii fails it will likely be because the only games ever released for it were crap.
RF Generation strives to be THE Classic and Modern Video Games Database (see the right corner of the site). This site is a labor of love of the staff and members that contribute to make it what it is, and as of today we are looking for a few bright souls to help continue to make RF Generation what it is today, and even guide it to something better. If you are interested in becoming part of the staff, the people who keep the site moving forward, I encourage you to read on, and if you are interested to apply to become a part of the team that makes RF Generation great.
If you've read on then I imagine that you understand what RF Generation is about. We strive to provide video game collectors and enthusiasts with a place to call home in the vast, dark depths of the internet. It's a scary place, that internet, but we have a cozy community here, and amazingly it is rather diverse, hosting people of many nationalities and backgrounds and interests. We are looking for people who understand the community, and are a productive member of the RF Generation community. While a person with 0 posts will not be completely discounted from consideration we do look favorably upon those applicants who are an active presence in the community, and who understand what RF Generation is. A vibrant community is important to us, and we want people who share our viewpoints on the matter.
Content addition is also an extremely important aspect of RF Generation. In the past, we let staff members go on an "add when you feel like it" policy. Well the truth of the matter is that we have members who add when they feel like it, so we are going to look for applicants that are willing to submit to a schedule and work under an editor. No, this scheme doesn't mean that you have to put work into RF Generation every day, but rather that we, the directors and editors of the site, wish that staff members would post on a consistent basis rather than once every few months. As such, we would like to find people that would be willing to work with an editor to get a schedule going. It would be up to the editor to determine how often you would be working on the site, but you probably would not have to do a significant addition / news post once a week, perhaps even less depending on what you are doing. We're not looking to work anyone to death here, we're just hoping that the front page doesn't go through a month without a news post, or a section of the site goes too long with out a significant addition. We've begun the process of rectifying certain fallacies in the system by restructuring the staff. If brought on to the staff you would be working for an editor. Each editor is specialized in making sure a certain area of the site grows. It would be your job as their staff member to help them make sure that their part of the site grows. Right now, we are looking to fill the following positions:
- Blog Writer: A blog writer is a person that wants to help post to the RF Generation blog. A blog writer must be able to find stories regarding gaming, collecting, otaku, or anything else interesting and relevant via the internet or other media and be able to post them here on the in an interesting, engaging fashion. Due to the nature of blogs, we'd be looking for someone who would be willing to post something on a fairly consistent basis, a basis that would be determined between you and the editor. If you become unable to continue on this basis, we'd have to place you On Hiatus or remove you from staff. We are looking for quite a few blog writers, each with their own specific interests and perspectives, so please, please apply. A blog writer should have a very good grasp of the English language, and should be able to write well and proficiently. Journalistic skills such as citations and the like can be taught, but having some idea how to write blogs and cite correctly would be a major plus. Once again, we are really, really looking for blog writers, so if you are interested and want to help make the RF Generation blog something to be checked every minute then do send in your application. The editor of the blog, and subsequently the front page, is Tan
- Japanese Contributor: The Japanese contributor helps to make the Japanese database meaningful. Title Additions, Page Edits, Screenshots, and Image Submissions would be a part of the things you would be doing for the Japanese database. A Japanese contributor would need to have an affinity for Japanese games, and should be able to Romanize titles. Currently, there is no editor for the Japanese database, but you would be working along with Fuyukaze to make the Japanese database better. It is greatly desired that any incoming Japanese contributor have a willingness to help craft guidelines and FAQs for this database, as currently there is no guidance on Romanization and the like. We'd really like to make our Japanese database significant and meaningful, and we highly encourage you to apply if interested in assisting with that goal.
- European Contributor: The European staff contributor helps to make the PAL database meaningful.
Title Additions, Page Edits, Screenshots, and Image Submissions would be a part of the things you would be doing for the European database. You may also be asked to help approve member submissions as well The PAL database is special in that it has the challenge of regional variations, and a European staff contributor would need to be able to deal with and effectively catalog the variations. The editor in charge of the PAL database is Speedy_NES. - Hardware Contributor: The hardware contributor helps to make the hardware database meaningful. Title Additions, Page Edits, and Image Submissions would be a part of the things you would be doing for the hardware database. The editor in charge of the Hardware database is AndyC.
- Features Contributor: This position is different from the other three in that a features contributor helps to do the weekly features. This generally entails writing an overview, review and other content for a games entry, finding an awesome collection, a neat photo, and featuring it on the front page. Additionally, a features contributor aims to add content to games and hardware pages that other people generally would not, such as Instructions, Overviews, Reviews, and the like. We have a lot of game and hardware pages, but many of those pages have only the minimum fields filed out. We'd like to remedy that. A features contributor should have an especially good grasp of the English Language, and someone with the English skills of a 9 year old should avoid applying for this position. The Features Editor is Mezmoron.
Those are the five positions we are currently looking to fill up. I should make special note that we are really, really looking for people who want to be a part of the Blog, Japanese, European and Hardware group. I should mention that since this operation is a labor of love for everyone involved any hire would be unpaid, since not even the directors of this site get paid, in fact, the directors spend money to keep this baby going, because we love the community we have here. If you are still interested in becoming a member of our staff then I encourage you to apply. How do you do that? Well, you would need to PM me. In that PM, I'd expect the following:
- A list of the positions of the you are applying for, ranked. Please note that you may not get your top choice,
- An explanation of why you should be brought on to staff in the position(s) specified. What would make you a great features writer, or European contributor? We'd like to know.
- A discussion of the RF Generation of community, and how you fit into that now and once you'd be on staff.
- A comment regarding how often you think you should be working on the site, if you are to be added to the staff.
- Anything else you feel we should know.
I'm not really expecting a novel from applicants (in fact, keep it concise and to the point), but more so something that says that you want to be on staff. So if you feel that you can do that in a concise manner than I encourage you to do so. If you have any questions you can direct them to me, TraderJake, the content director Tynstar, or one of the editors. No question is a dumb question. While we'll gladly accept applications whenever we need to review applications at some point; therefore, the deadline to submit an application for this round of hirings will be June 27, 2007. You are welcome to submit an application past that date, but we will be reviewing applications starting on that date. All applications will be reviewed by the Directors and Editors of the site, and applicants will be contacted via a PM or email should we decide to ask them to join our staff. Please note that a submitted application does not guarantee a spot on staff.
We hope that there are a few brave souls out in the world to help move the site forward, and look forward to all applications received.
Good Luck,
David Murnan
Site Director
Looking for something to do tomorrow night? Want to talk and joke around with other RF Generation members? Want to discuss games, hardware, collecting, or anything else on your mind? Well, if you do, you should check out RFG Chat tomorrow at 8PM Eastern. While we have our chat open 24/7, RFG Chat is the only time that there is guaranteed to be a hopping good time with our resident chat host, shaggy. It should be a great time for all.
You must be a registered member to enter the chat room. Not a member? Why not join? In addition to chat, we also have a nice forum to visit, a rather large games and hardware database, lots of images, and collection tools that would make the most avid game collector happy. Join today! RF Generation is always a good time and if you keep it tuned to channel 3, you'll find that there is always more to follow!
See you in chat!
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