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Video games are expensive products to make. The multi-million dollar project is not uncommon in the modern game development industry, in fact it's become the standard. It's like proclaiming the cost of production is some kind of bragging right owed to the developer. But now it's become popular to discuss how minuscule a game's team was or how it was made of a six figure budget.
Continue reading Indie is Indie
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RFGeneration has long been a place where both retro and nowtro video game players and collectors can come together and share their love of the games. However, there has always been a little bit of overlap into action figures, toys, comics, beer (I'm lookin at you nupoile), and Table Top games. I thought it would be fun to talk about one of my favorites that I am always trying to get people to play with me.
Continue reading Please Play Arkham Horror With Me
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This May, join the RF Generation Playthrough Group as some of us knockout our backlog, and others revisit our past loves. On retro side, singlebanana hosts the Playthrough's first attempt at a turn-based, tactical RPG with Shining Force originally on the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive, and also available for the Wii Virtual Console, Sega Smash Pack 1 (DC), Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (360/PS3), Steam, and the GBA (as Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon [with additional plots and characters]). And on the modern side, join host GrayGhost81 as he plays through the wildly stylistic platformer and 10th installment of the popular Kirby series, Kirby's Epic Yarn on the Nintendo Wii.
Continue reading Community Playthrough Announcement: May 2015
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We started out January of this year with a *BANG* by shooting our way through Angel Land and the streets of some unknown Middle Eastern locale. Currently, we are tromping through Hyrule to rescue the descendants of the Seven Sages and unlocking the mystery behind the 9 doors of a sinking vessel. The month of March will be no slouch either and will be jam-packed with furious action! On the retro side, we join an unlikely, and undead, hero in his quest to defend the land of Gallowmere from the return of an evil sorcerer in MediEvil for the PSX and PSN. On the modern side, we make our first return to the Batman series (since our playthrough in April 2013) as we once again take up the cowl and cape of the Dark Knight in the third installment of the Arkham series, Batman: Arkham Origins on the PS3, 360, WiiU and PC. We hope that you will join us for one, if not two, great games next month!
Continue reading Retro & Modern Playthroughs: March - June
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Quick! Look over on the right side of your screen, we have exactly 45,000 screenshots in the Database! For those of you reading this in the future when we have more than 45000 screenshots, sorry, but you missed one of the great milestones of your life, better luck next time.
Seriously though, 45,000 screenshots is a lot of screenshots, and they were all submitted by members just like you. So thanks to all of you who have submitted one or more of those 45000 screenshots, without you, we wouldn't be here.
And a special thanks to member Aeroc, for not only submitting lucky number 45,000 but for also submitting what seems like another 20,000 or so screenshots over the years. Really though, this guy has over 11,000 images credited to him in our DB.
So now that we have 45000 screenshots, its only 5000 until we get to the really incredible 50,000 mark, why not help us reach that a little sooner and start submitting some screenshots? We're not super picky, you can use an emulator (just don't ask us where to find one or the ROMs, we can't tell you that), or use a video capture device on the real hardware, you can even set up a camera and take a photo of your TV screen, as long as its a good quality, we'll be glad to add it to the DB.
I ran out of baked goods, so here's Bob Barker instead.
And don't forget about the quest to finish all these milestones by the end of the year. We're half way there, and we have 11 days to finish the other three.
70,000 games45,000 screenshots- 90,000 scans - 1410 to go
- 3000 Collectors on our site (the number of people who have something listed in their collection) - 108 to go
- 5000 hardware entries - 44 to go
5000 members (number of people actively registered on the site/forum)
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For those of you who don't keep a constant eye on our DB's statistics, we now have over 70,000 games in our little database. I guess it ain't so little any more. Now, if you're like me, you probably want to know what the 70,000th game added to the DB was. Well, I can't tell you. Not because I don't want you to know, but because I wasn't paying close enough attention to the DB stats and let us go 150 games passed 70,000. I'll blame it on you guys though, you're the ones who added 150+ games in the last day, before the stats on the front page could update. So you all better know that I've got my eye on you and your sneaky submitting ways, we're only 78 hardware items away from 5,000 and I'm going to watch it like a hawk, so don't even try and sneak 79 passed me.
Anywho, congratulations to RFGeneration on having 70,000 games. And thank you to every one who has helped to add those 70,000 games.
We're also really close on a few other milestones, let's see how many we can reach by the end of the year!
- 45,000 screenshots - 151 to go
- 90,000 scans - 2308 to go
- 3000 Collectors on our site (the number of people who have something listed in their collection) - 146 to go
- 5000 members (number of people actively registered on the site/forum) - 49 to go
Alright... here are six tracks that I feel that completely set the mood for the areas/bosses/stages in their respective games but are overlooked. Well, here they are, and sorry if some of these aren't overlooked.
Saturos Battle Theme- Golden Sun
Heh, this entire game (series) music is ridiculously good but no one seems to talk much about it. Anyway, this song starts off strong, then gets mellow, then picks up again. Uh, I don't know how to describe it just listen to it.
Midnight Carnival- Guilty Gear X2
Every final boss needs a badass theme. This is probably the most badass final boss theme I've ever heard.
Stickerbrush Symphony- Donkey Kong Country 2
Hearing this brings back some of the fondest memories I have ever had playing games. For those who have played the game, there is no denying how perfectly the song fits the Bramble levels. And it's just so damn soothing and pleasant.
Calling- The World Ends With You
It's kind of like your typical J-pop song, nothing particularly super special or anything but it is a good song. The real reason it made the list is because of how effectively it places a sense of imminent danger, need to speed up, and frantic choices that are the main theme of the game. The lyrics 'wake up leave your hesitation, wake up time to show appreciation, wake up time to realize' could not better epitomize what Neku needs to do and how lost he really is.
The Opened Way- Shadow of the Colossus
This song is absolutely epic. It is riveting, demanding, and very powerful. Even without knowing anything about the game just by hearing the music you know there is a monstrous task to perform. And damn, is there ever.
Cornered- Phoenix Wright
There is no song more riveting in any game. You get completely pumped up and know you are on the verge of absolutely destroying the prosecutions case. No song ever in the history of games has been more pivotal to the game (excluding music games) than Cornered. If you have played the game, you know this is true.
Hope you guys enjoyed the list. They aren't really in a particular order or anything (though Cornered is definitely my favorite).
 Tomb Raider: Underworld. This game has a 78% rating on gamerankings, but the PS3 version of the game has a special designation here. See, Tomb Raider: Underworld happens to be the forty-thousandth game in our database, and well, that means we have 40000 games in our database. Talk about a milestone! When we started we had about 15000 or so entries, if not less than that. Flash forward to today and we have 40000 entries and growing. What an accomplishment.
You guys absolutely rock, and no one person and be credited for the growth we've experienced. Rather, everyone on this site is to be commended, as so many of you have made submissions to the site and kept this site as the best independent video games database on the internet!
We're all very proud of this milestone, and as the Site Director I am very proud of you guys. I am sure if Mike was still around he'd be just as proud as me. Hell, I bet he's proud up in the big pie in the sky. We couldn't have done it without you, and we really look forward to the submission that gets us to 50000 games. We know that you guys will hit that milestone someday, and when that day comes we'll celebrate the moment just like we celebrate today! Here's to the past, present and future of RF Generation!
Congrats to Tynstar for adding the 40000th game! You deserve the designation and honor! This milestone is so huge that our old RF Generation spokesman has temporarily come out of retirement!
After reading a very interesting article in a Dutch games magazine I would like to know what you guys think that should be done in the future concerning the lenght of videogames.
[img align=right width=200]http://images.bit-tech.net/news_images/2008/06/warren-spector-100-hour-games-are-on-the-way-out/article_img.jpg[/img]At the Games Education Summit (Dallas) in July, Warren Spector (known for games like Wing Commander, Thief and Deux Ex; see picture) stated that 100-hours singleplayer games are a thing of the past. He also said that only 2% of the people who have played GTA4 actually finished it. If he means by "finished it" getting 100% complete, I'm sure it's even less.
RPGs are probably the "worst" kind of games when it comes to being overly lengthy. Recent games like The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion or Final Fantasy 12 come to mind. They often take up 60 hours to finish the main storyline alone and go well over 100 hours if you want to finish all sidequests, defeat all monsters and get that strongest weapon. (Don't get me wrong, I love RPGs)
As you all know, making videogames is no longer cheap. Especially with the next generation consoles and their fabulous physics and visuals, production times get longer and the costs are getting higher. Spending $40.000.000 to develop a videogame isn't anything spectacular anymore and companies are strugling to make a profit like they used to do 5-10 years ago. Especially when your game stands in the shadow of a Triple A title, sales can't always make up for the costs.
If most gamers stop playing GTA4 at 40%; that basically means 60% of the game's content is money down the drain.
Would you like to see shorter games, knowing that most (read: the not-so-hardcore) gamers don't finish these games? Wouldn't it be great if companies could make games for less money and therefor take some more risks? It would mean more diverse games for us for sure.
Do you really want the Full HD graphics and 7.1 surround? Maybe some gamers do, but the rest of us are forced to walk the same path. I wonder why nobody seems to have the guts to make an HD 16-bit style 2D RPG for Xbox360 or PS3. If the story was good and the gameplay rock-solid, wouldn't that make for an amazing game?
Note: I've reposted this on the forums because I wanted to make a poll about it. You can find the poll here.
So, we are back! Feels good to see the homepage again. So why not start up with a new weekly article, Shadowfortes 100 Best Games of All Time. So I will post 5 a week. Here we go!
100 – Sonic The Hedgehog (Genesis, Game Cube)
So, I was never a big Sega fan when I was a kid, because Nintendo ruled my house. I think the first time I played a Genesis was after I got my PS1, so I was a bit behind. One game though that will always stick out will be Sonic. It had something that Mario would never have: Speed. It was fast and had amazing colors and graphics for it's time. And IMO, Genesis had the best controller of that time, so that helped.
99 – Phozon (Arcade, PS1)
So many things I could say about this game. The only thing the strikes me as odd though is that everyone I have asked about this game has never played it or only played it on PS1. I can also say that this is one heck of a hard game to play. But the awesome tactful game play and replay value make me keep coming back for more.
98 – Burger Time (Arcade, NES, Game Boy)
Burger Time spawned a whole new type of game play for us that played it on the NES. Who thought making burgers by walking over them could be so much fun? With funny, yet hard to fight hot dogs, falling patty's and a little chef, how could you go wrong?
97 – Rock Band (360,PS2,PS3,Wii)
What's Rock Band you say? Take the GH games, whip out four friends and Rock Band, and feel like you are on your first world tour. Rock Band steps it up to the next level with one of the best party games of all time, yet it is also a great single player game. With the options to create your band members, play online, and download new tracks each week, this game is a must have.
96 – Dig Dug (Arcade, PS1)
Dig Dug is not a game I can just pick up and play. Matter of fact, I need to be in the mood for it. So why is it on my list? Because once you are in the mood to play it, you can't put it down. This game is so much fun, you just can't get enough. I mean, whats better the blowing air into a dragon until it blows up? Priceless.
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