This week, we take a look back at the site's fourth year of operation. In 2007, RFGen underwent some major changes including a facelift to the website's look and database structure. It was also a big year for staff hirings as well as milestones which seemed to fly by faster than we could keep track of them!
Also here for your reading pleasure following the Wikipedia entries, are a selection of the most significant events / milestones for the remainder of 2007. Thanks to the bloggers whose hard work, continues the tradition of chronicling site history, which now takes place on the front page of our site. Enjoy!
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Continue reading RF Generation Timeline Part 4: 2007
RF Generation's third year in operation was one of milestones, growth and unfortunately loss. This was the year we lost Michael Collins, one of the founding members of this community. He helped set the cornerstones of this fantastic community that is heading into it's 5th year this April. Mike believed that no one should ever be forgotten. This series, presented as it originally appeared on our former Wikipedia page, is meant to remember each and every person who has helped pave the way for this website we are all so immensely proud of and every milestone earned through their hard work. Thanks to the hard work of the Wiki team, here are the people, milestones and memories of RF Generation from 2006:
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Continue reading RF Generation Timeline Part 3: 2006
Today is known around the world to many as Christmas Day, and many people of many creeds celebrate the day. From all of us at RF Generation, we wish you the very merriest of Christmases and hope that you all find happiness on this holiday.
[img align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/banners/RFGhalfbanner02.gif[/img] 2005 was a big year for RF Generation. Members were joining by the hundreds and we had anniversaries, contests and milestones aplenty! It was also the year that our staple, the Collection Profile tool, was unveiled for registered members to use for the first time.
So, replicated here for your reading pleasure, are the significant milestones of 2005 more or less as they once appeared on our Wikipedia page. Thanks once again to the hard work of the RFGen Wikipedia team, here are the highlights from our second year of operation:
Continue reading RF Generation Timeline Part 2: 2005
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OK, maybe the US needs more than a bunch of collectors, but what does need you is the RFGeneration Chat. You see for the past few days, the chat has been inhabited primarily by Canadians. Yes, our cousins to the North who we pretend to hate, but are really just jealous of.
Right now 4 out of the 5 users in the chat are Canadian, and since Alfador must have made it through the snow to get to work, I'll probably be the only American in there for a couple more hours.
So, Americans, help your country turn the tables and join in on the chat. You can use the wonderful chat applet provided by Dave or your own IRC program to get there, but just make sure you join in.
Click Here for our Chat Page
It's hard to believe that our blog is nearly a year and a half old already! One of the great things about a blog is that you can chronicle your history as well as step back in time on a more personal level as you read reviews, opinions and reactions to gaming news from years past. It's also where we celebrate milestones, promotions and contest winners. But what you ask, did RF Generation do before the blog was built? Glad you asked!
From the site's formation in 2004 until the unveiling of the blog system in 2007, we used a combination of front page posts, forum announcements and Wikipedia. At one time, we had the entire site history in an organized short form style split between site history and database history in our Wikipedia article. Then one day they decided to cut our article off at the knees, leaving what you see there today. Shorter and more to the point, but it doesn't detail how we got here month by month, milestone by milestone.
Giving thanks to the incredible team of volunteers who kept the ink flowing as we noted each milestone and event in RFGen's history, here in part 1 of this series, are the recorded entries for the database and site news from 2004.
Continue reading RF Generation Timeline Part 1: 2004
So, it's come to my attention that those of you that were using our chat client (known as mibbit) to get to our chat room may have found yourself more often than not with the wonderful welcoming sight of glined. What does that mean? Well, it appears quakenet places a temporary ban on connections via mibbit when too many users connect to the network via the program. In this case, it was almost always happening, and as such I view mibbit no longer as a viable option for our chat program.
What does that mean? Well, in short terms, we're back to using our old Java Client. Same chat room, same network, new webchat client. All the links should have been updated, and you should be able to get on easily, provided you have Java installed. Here is a link below to the new client. Again, sincerest apologies about the previous webclient dropping the ball, especially when I've been whoring out the chat in recent times. Do join, won't you?
Click Here for our Chat Page
 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!
Wow, 2000 members. That's a big number, and it's touching. I don't think any of us expected RFG to be as successful as it has been, and we could not have done it without all 2000 of you, in addition to all you lurkers that visit the site and just browse. It's you guys that make the site what it is, and for that we're truly grateful.
Of course, we want to see us continue to grow, and over the time we hope to do so. I certainly hope that over time you'll see more new things here. Of course, there are new database additions every day, but who knows, maybe you'll see a new feature or two to play around with. Maybe, someday. Of course, those of us that do the programming now have full time jobs, but who's to say we won't work on the site in our free time? See, I am writing this post right now!
What a milestone. Here's to 3000, 4000, the future! To MrMatthews, congrats on being the 2000th member. You get a big imaginary cookie. We could give you a real cookie, but we'd rather spend that money keeping the site running. You know how it is. But YES! Congrats on being the 2000th member! Here's to you, and here's to our future!
Can you hear them? Why, it's the faint sound of crickets in the distance? Is it a summer night? Nah, it's the RF Generation chat room, and it's so quiet in there that you can hear the chirp of crickets in the vast emptiness of our chat room.
Of course, chances are that you can't hear the crickets because you're not in the chat room. The question is why wouldn't you be in the chat room? The chat room loves you, and is greatly sad that you're not in the room. It's not as though we have a vendetta against anyone in the chat room. We'll talk about most anything as long as it does not violate any US laws. We're really a fun bunch, and it'd probably be a lot more fun if you were there as well?
So, why aren't you in the chat room yet? I mean, the link to join is right below? Don't want to use our applet? Well, the room is #rfgeneration on quakenet. If you're IRC saavy you'll know what that means, otherwise, we hope you'll use the applet below. See you in chat!
Click Here for our Chat Page
Sorry about that, a process went zombie and since the Black Perl and I are either going to school full time or working full time, we were not aware of the issue. Needless to say, it is fixed and all is better. Sorry of you that could not get to your beloved RF Generation.
 As you probably know, RF Generation is a community consisting of gamers, collectors, and average Joes. We're quite proud of this fact, and proud of the fact since our inception on April 28, 2004 we've been an independent site for you guys, the community, and will continue to be a site for the community well into the future.
Of course, RF Generation's success has hinged a lot on contributions of our members, and the future of the site is no different. We didn't go from less around 15000 entries to over 42000 game and hardware entries by just the submissions of our staff alone. No, without the submissions of regular members like yourself we would not have gotten to the point where were are today. It's mind blowing to think that after almost 5 years we have that many entries in addition to almost 65000 images! We have an international audience, and our forum has almost 2000 members and over 120000 posts! Of the 1112 members that track their collections on our site, we have a tie ratio 274.9 games per collection! The 1112 collectors own over 305000 games! That's a huge number! Surely we are humbled by the success our site has achieved. It truly is a site for the community.
Look where we are. It's amazing to think where we might be in the future. The continued growth of the site though can't just happen with the submissions of our staff members. That is why we need YOU.
That's right, we need YOU. Start a blog, contribute stories. Scan your games and submit them to our database. Capture screenshots. Submit missing games and hardware. Add missing information. Have fun. Be social!
Our site remains vibrant and successful because of the submissions of people like you. With continued contributions by members like you well into the future, we will ensure that the site remains THE Classic and Modern Gaming Databases that it has been now for almost four and a half years. Do your part to make RF Generation the best independent gaming database that it has been for years. With your work and the contributions of other members just like you RF Generation will always be a website by the community for the community, and I'll always be proud of that.
So, will you contribute? We sure hope you will, and when you do I know that I as well as the entire community will be grateful that you did.
[10:33] TraderJake: hooray first day of daylight standard time!
[10:33] Malygris: Yup. Whee.
[10:34] * TraderJake hates DST
[10:36] JamesF: you guys are behind the times
[10:36] JamesF: DST was last week
[10:36] Malygris: afk a bit
[10:36] JamesF: maybe the week before, i forget
[10:36] TraderJake: for you guys it was
[10:36] TraderJake: but they kicked it back a week for for the children!
[10:38] TraderJake: you know... halloween is big here in the states
[10:39] TraderJake: speaking of which, have you crafted your guy fawkes effigy yet to be burned at the stake on wednesday?
[10:40] JamesF: nah
[10:40] JamesF: its too wet to bother celebrating anything
[10:40] TraderJake: but bonfire night seems like such a fun holiday to celebrate
[10:40] TraderJake: what could be more fun that burning things?
[10:41] TraderJake: aside from plotting to blow up parliament, of course
[10:41] JamesF: chavs using fireworks?
At #rfgeneration, we like to have interesting discussions. A lot of time they are random, and periodically they are related to gaming, or in James' case, letting the room know that he is going to go and listen to music in his Mini. See, it's truly a fun time, where we don't really have a set topic and things just go with the flow. So, that said, why aren't you in the chat with us? It's easy! #rfgeneration on quakenet is our location, and if that's too hard for you why not check out this page for the nitty gritty on joining. Won't you join us? JOIN US, WILL YOU?!
When I sit back and think of some of my top games of all times, one of the first games that come to mind is Resident Evil 4. Don't get me wrong, the first three are great, but everything that they reinvented about this game for the series is amazing. Now I know some of you will say that the old camera views made the game what it is, and with the over the sholder view it does not feel like a RE game. While I will say with the fixed camera the game is a lot less scary, the game did have me on the edge of my seat for a few parts.
So the question I am posting for the members of RFG today is: Can RE5 match the awesomeness that RE4 brought us when it first came out? Now, let me make sure you understand what I am saying. I am not talking about taking RE4 in one hand and RE5 in the other and talking about which one is better at this time. No, I am talking about looking at RE4 when it came out and looking at RE5 now. So, what do you guys think?
Wow, two years ago the hardware database did not even exist, but some of you persisted and since October of 2006, we've had a hardware database. In the beginning, there were zero entries for this database. Truly it was something that would have to be nurtured into a viable database. Sure, growth of this database seems at time slow, but on the plus side it's still growing. That said, I am pleased as punch to inform the masses that our hardware database now has over 3000 records. For a database created from scratch, that's a huge accomplishment. I'd really like to thank lots of people for this achievement, but for now I'll just thank the three staff members that truly have made the hardware database what it is today - Marriott_guy, Tan, and Apolloboy - thanks. Of course, they are not the only people who have allowed for this occasion to occur, and I am certainly thankful for all the submissions that you, our community, has made for this database to reach this milestone. Thank you all for your help in getting to this point!
So, it took two years to get to 3000 hardware records... how long will it take to reach 6000? Here's looking forward to the continued health of our databases!
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