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After a bit of a coding rest it's time for me to get the ball rolling on the next big project. This project encompasses tweaking the games database so that downloadable games can be added to the database. It seems as though digital distribution is going to be the future, and we want to continue to be the classic and modern video games database. In that sense, onward ho!
So, while we know that this is going to be the next project, we want your input regarding how you think we should actually do it. We want to do this tweak right, and I want to make sure that the tweaks are things that you all agree with. To accomplish this, I have created a forum thread regarding crafting the architecture for this project. We need your help! With your input, we can ensure that this project turns out great.
Downloadable Games Architecture
Two years. Two years since RF Generation lost a friend, and its leader. On February 1, 2006, Michael Collins, one of the founders of RF Generation, tragically passed away. He left behind family, friends, and projects, including his baby, RF Generation. Today we pause, pause to remember our departed friend, and share the memories and feelings we since have.
Some of us knew Mike for a really long time. His death hit us especially hard. In the two years since Mike died, I think we've all had time to cope with his passing. The pain may be less, but it is still there. Gone are the days of the three amigos. Gone are the trademark statements such as "Shut up Dave." Gone is the person who was a friend to many. At the same time, we take solace in who Mike was while he was alive. Mike was a selfless individual, and many of us were touched by his life. You could almost say that he helped to shape some of our personalities and ideologies. Mike was our friend. I can't imagine what life would have been like if I never knew Mike, but certainly something would have been missing.
Last year we unveiled a memorial to Mike. If you never knew Mike, then I highly recommend that you check out the page to see who Mike was and how much he is missed. If you wish to add a memorial than Mike, certainly go ahead and send me it via email or personal message, and we'll add it to the page.
We miss you Mike, we really do. You may be gone, but you are never forgotten.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-132/bf/U-132-S-01640-A.jpg&sizex=225[/img]Look to the right. Why, it's the box for No More Heroes, the Suda51 game of pure awesome. Think I am lying? Why not buy yourself the game? In fact, in the RF Generation realm, this week is now known as "Go Buy No More Heroes Damnit!" Week. Seriously. Stop reading this newspost, drive to your favorite video game seller, and buy the game. If you don't own a Wii you may want to consider purchasing one to go with No More Heroes. Not sure what a Wii looks like? If you said yes to that last question, where the hell have you been? It prints money! We forgive you though, and we've made the Nintendo Wii our featured hardware to ensure that you know what to look for when you buy a Wii to accompany No More Heroes. Still reading this? What is wrong with you? Seriously. Go buy the game. Play as Travis Touchdown, be the best damn assassin in the world. Good times to be had.
So, if you are still on the fence about getting this game, then I suggest you talk to the person who currently has the featured collection. His name is Tony, and he really likes No More Heroes. Furthermore, he really likes Grasshopper Manufacture, and has a man crush on Suda51. Who can blame him though? Look at our featured image, for Killer 7. Certainly, another Suda51 masterpiece. Tony certainly has great taste, except for his Sony fetish. But, look at the pipeline. LittleBigPlanet. Echochrome. A possible price drop. Perhaps his fetish is not so bad. Perhaps you might be joining in his fetish in the not too distant future. Regardless, check out his collection, and be sure to bombard him with questions regarding No More Heroes if my Overview and Review are insufficient.
FEATURES! BUY NO MORE HEROES! BUY IT FOR YOUR FRIENDS! And that is all, until next time, keep it tuned to channel three.
Well, we wanted some added functionality, so we switched servers, however, we are on the same host. But, for now, expect some nice new perks like lower load averages (for the time being). Of course there are server changes as well (new versions of mySQL, Perl and PHP), but we doubt you care about the nitty gritty.
If anything seems bricked after this server change, do let us know.
Enjoy!
Some of you really, really hated our previous chat client, so much so that you decided to create an IRC chatroom and lobby for the death of our previous chat client. Well, after some introspection and the prospect of having the chat server load not be ours, we now have our chat on IRC.
IRC, you say? Well, perhaps you're scared of IRC? Don't be! We've made it easy to join our chat! You could use a client to join our chat, or you could use the applet that we provide.
Interested in joining the chat? Check this page for more details and where you can find us! Hope to see you in chat!
December 31, 2007, 4:57:30 PM, Eastern. That is the date and time that will go down as the date we hit 100000 posts in our forum - our community. From 0 posts on June 8, 2004 to 100000 posts today, certainly, today is a day of celebration. Check out the stats bar as captured for this momentous occasion:
Certainly, I am humbled by the mark, and by the success of our forum. I am humbled by the community that we have. Without our community, there is no way that we could have hit this mark. We are nothing without you guys. Thank you all for fostering our community, and we hope that our community remains vibrant for years to come.
I'd like to specifically congratulate the person who made the 100000th post, Bad Enough Dude. I can confidently say that Bad Enough Dude is the oldest member (with respect to join date) on the site that is not or has not been on staff and still actively posts. That's really cool. He even joined before me, at 4AM on the date that the site launched. How cool is that? Check out the post that made 100000:
Congrats, and congrats to everyone! May the forum continue to be a success and a place for interesting musings and thoughts!
We programmers at RF Generation like to add new things. Tonight, we give you our Christmas Gift. Sure, it is not Christmas, but think of us as the side of the family you do not see on Christmas - the side who has no problem giving you that fruitcake for Christmas. In addition, similar to those gifts of old with the classic disclaimer "some assembly required", there may be some bugs. We're working hard to fix them, but if you see any let us know. Anyways, you probably would like to know what is new. Here is the short list:
- Submissions System Improvements, as told by me:
- Revamped Variations: We no longer discriminate variations. In addition, if you make a variation on one page it will make it also a variation on the other page.
- Revamped Rating Systems: Does a game have more than one rating? Is the rating only valid for a few consoles? Well, we can accommodate both of those now.
- Intelligent Submission: We figure out the region for you now. Of course, if something is realized regionwide, do let us know. We have also made the script intelligent so that selecting the country brings up corresponding countries and regions. You can now add variations across regions... because we want you to and we love you. In a platonic sense, of course.
- Animated Flags: Game or Hardware released in more than one country? Now, the flag shows those countries, rather than the overall region
- Collections System Improvements, as told by Eddie "The Black Perl" Herrmann:
- You can now mark folders as "for sale" or "owned"
- Trade Search feature now checks all folders marked "for sale"
- All Collections page shows owned game totals
- Statistics page updated with total owned game stats and QTY/BOX/MAN totals
- Settings page added - can choose default region and ignore duplicates
- Profile page added for profile stats and management
- Simplified country/regions selection
- Tools Page added - has links for random game selection, missing image search, collecton links, and trade match features
As a personal plea, please submit variation ties for games across regions. Adding it for one entry adds it for all. So please, please submit! You'll be my favorite member! Just kidding, you're all my favorite members. But seriously, do submit. It's fun.
If you find any bugs, let us know. From us to you, enjoy the new features, and stay tuned, you never know when that next new feature set will launch. It may be sooner than you think.
From our family to yours - Merry Christmas. May this joyous day be spent with friends and family, and may you find happiness in the day. May the holiday season continue to be a joyous and festive time, and from the staff of RF Generation - Merry Christmas.
[img width=600 height=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/9505236194768d0e36bc57Bloggers.jpg[/img]
The staff and programmers at RF Generation are pleased to announce the official release of the Community Blogs system, which was supposed to be two months ago. Up until this time two months ago, the system has been in beta, looking to find and quash bugs and also to add new features. At this time, we have added plenty of features that anyone interested in blogging should enjoy:
- Ability to use HTML or BBC
- Ability to customize one's blog appearance
- Ability to program the release of an entry
- A fun and exciting commenting system
- Ability to preview and look over any entry before posting
- RSS Feeds
- Other things that I probably forgot
Certainly, we've put a lot of work into the blogging system to make it manageable for all users and members, and we hope that you all will find some use for the blogging system. As you can see by the above image there are already many people have tried out our blog system. Won't you be the next? It's easy, all you got to do is a) be a registered member of RF Generation and b) click the My Blog link located under the blog section of our navigation. One there, agree to our agreement and then blog away!
It should be noted that while we call it a blog you do not have to use it as a "blog" blog. Perhaps you would like to track and chronicle your collection finds using the system. Perhaps you would like to chronicle your gaming life. Perhaps you would like to tell the world how you're feeling. What you could use the blog for is only limited by your imagination, so use your mind to create an environment that is truly special and entertaining. Who knows, you might even have fun.
It should be noted as well that we are desperately looking for people to write for RF Generation's blog, What About Channel 4? (the blog you see on our front page) If you are interested in being a blogger for us be sure to talk to me about becoming one. Just to make it known now rather than later, we expect any staff blogger to make a minimum of 2 posts a week for the RF Generation blog. If this sounds like something that you would be interested in doing, be sure to let me know.
As always, stay tuned to RF Generation, more is surely to follow when you keep it tuned to channel 3.
Ed Note: Yeah, so I wrote this post two months ago. Let me stress that we are still desperately looking for people to be blog writers. I think I've made it pretty easy, I hope you all agree. Any suggestions should be brought to the PHP Coding Monkey, also known as me. You can make suggestions in our beautiful forum known as The Thinktank. Oh by the way, do check out our forums- blah blah blah- we have a lot more to offer than just the collection tools. But yeah, our collection tools are pretty damn awesome. The Black Perl kicks ass. Damn, am I rambling, but is that purposeful? Eh, I don't know, the coding make brain mush. Hulk Smash. Enjoy the rest of your day. And Stuff.
A big round of Congratulations goes out to two of our staff members. Starting today, Ben Wilkinson (Oatbob) is now the permanent hardware editor. Ben has shown enthusiasm and determination that makes him more than worthy of being the new hardware editor. Previously, Ben has been working as the hardware editor on an interim basis. We are certainly very excited about Ben's promotion, and we can't wait to see what great things are in store for the future of the hardware database. It should be an excellent time.
In addition to Ben's promotion, we have another promotion to celebrate. Keith Brown (Tan) has shown time in and time out what it means to be an RFG staff member and editor. Currently, he sits on top of the submission roost, and has been instrumental in getting some of our policies and guidelines to a published form. Certainly, Keith is a model staff member and we couldn't be happier to have him on staff. Recently, it has determined that a fourth director of the site would be beneficial for our growth. This new director would be primarily responsible for maintaining standards and policies in addition to other, mundane tasks that the directorship partakes in. I am pleased to announce that as of tonight Keith is now the Standards Director. Keith brings a skill set and desire to this position that makes us wholly confident in our promotion.
A big round of congrats goes out to both Ben and Keith. With their help and vision, there will always be something new when you keep it tuned to channel three.
'Tis the Holiday season for many faiths and people, and here at RF Generation we celebrate the time! Kudos goes out to den68 for our festive top design, it's really awesome! Den is our graphic designer for the site, and the majority of site images you see are his design. We are truly grateful for all the excellent work he provides. Thank you, Den.
We'd like to wish everyone a happy holidays to all. It's a festive time to be had, and I hope everyone makes the best of this time of year. Anything exciting planned? Let us know! I know personally I relish the fact that I have a month off from school. It's nice.
I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who donated money to keep the site rolling. Without their donations, the site directors would have had to find the money to keep the site going, and when two of the three of us are in college, it creates a bind. As such, we are very appreciative for everyone who has donated, and I'd like to thank all who did:
- AndyC
- Cobra
- Fighter17
- Funk_Buddy
- Ghost_Soldier
- James
- Marriott_guy
- NES_Rules
Thank all of you for donating! Your donations keep this site going, and we are truly thankful for your generosity. As promised, if you donated $20 or more you qualify for a free gift. Please contact me with an address so I can get that out to you. I am fairly certain that I can get these gifts sent overseas as well, so please contact me regarding receiving your gift.
Lastly, need a gift idea? Why not check out our store? Perhaps you find something cool there.
From all of us here at RF Generation, enjoy the Holiday season. May it be a safe and wonderful time.
Edit: NES_Rules just made a lovely donation. Thanks!
[img align=right width=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/games/U-072/gs/U-072-S-02340-A.jpg[/img]Well, there are plenty of games out there, and by golly, many of them happen to be First Person Shooters. So, yeah, why not go shootin'? Here in Ohio it's deer season, after all. Don't want to shoot deer? Why not try the featured game, Timesplitters? I hear that it is made by the team who is made up of mostly GoldenEye team members. I hear that GoldenEye is apparently a good game, does not make Timesplitters de facto awesome? Don't know, but I bet our reviewer Shimra has a good idea. You should read his thoughts.
So yeah, don't own Timesplitters? Why not drool over our featured image. Someone was cool enough to submit a PAL Timesplitters 2 box front image. If you can't get into the Timesplitters carnage, then perhaps you can drool over that box.
Lastly, BadKarma has our featured collection. He owns Timesplitters. He also has images associated with his collection. By association, he has the featured collection. Congrats!
Stay Tuned to RF Generation, great things will happen once the Site Director's autumn quarter ends on December 7.
[img width=468 height=60]http://logo.cafepress.com/nocache/2/2216302.jpg[/img]
You've asked for it, and after planning and design, here it is. The RF Generation Store, in it's fully mercheriffic(R) glory. Want a RF Geneation branded shirt, mousepad, or hat? Well, we have it here. Check out our wares, you may find something you want. You can find the cafepress hosted RF Generation store here. It's permanent link is found in the about section links and also under the community quick links.
We hope you enjoy our wares, and appreciate any patronage that you are willing to give. All sales will help to fund the betterment and operation of the site.
Cheers!
[img align=right width=200]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/698338985472fde474de08flag_japan_naval.gif[/img]All hail our Nipponese Overlords. We know not where we would be if we did not have our PlayStation, Wii, or precious Sega (you know, the good, pre I whore out Sonic sega). We look forward to the day where like in the land of our Overlords, there is a Ramen machine on every street corner. Who needs crack anyways when you have ramen. Today, we celebrate our overlords and their interesting gaming culture.
First off, we have a game to talk about. It's called Radiant Silvergun. It's a shooter. Apparently, it is damn good. I also hear that it was developed by Treasure. I hear that so long as we forget around Wario World, Treasure is a damn good company. Sin and Punishment, Mischief Makers... thank our Overlords for affording us the opportunity to play games by this development house. Next, let's talk about the featured image. Look at it. It has a GUNDAM. Who doesn't like the GUNDAM!? You should be careful of how you answer that, your overlords may come and whisk you into nothingness via this behemoth. Worship our Overlord and their mightly GUNDAMS!
Next, we talk of the past of the company that prints money. You know, Nintendo. There was an add on for their hugely popular and enslaving piece of hardware we affectionately call the SNES stateside, or as they call it in the land of our overlords, the Super Famicom. Check out this add-on. Worship its might.
Lastly, we honor the collector that is truly devoted to our overlords. This one goes out to you, Fuyukaze. Our overlords command for your continued devotion. WORSHIP THEM!
As a friendly reminder, do not forget to thank your overlords for this wonderful day before you fall asleep. You never know when they may be listening.
No one should be forgotten. Such was the statement of the first webmaster of the site, and such is our ideology today. To help people get a grasp of those who contribute to our site, I have made submission stats available to view. They can be found under the submit menu as Submission Stats. Please note that these stats only are valid back to about November of 2006, when we began logging submissions. I apologize if you made a lot of submissions prior to November of last year. I wish I could say that we have logged your submission, but we just have no feasible way to determine when you made submissions. Your submissions though will always be documented on each game or hardware page.
I hope you enjoy the new toy, and stay tuned... more is to follow when you keep it on channel 3.
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This is TraderJake's Blog.
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This is where my thoughts go and are never heard from again.
Well, maybe not, but this is the repository for all of my published thoughts and rantings. It'll make my day if you find at least 10% of it amusing and enjoyable to read.
Sorry for the other 90%.
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