The Coop

I'm glad VGMix is still around. But I have to admit, the song browsing for the site is a bit of a mess, and with nothing to tell you when a new song has been uploaded, I can't imagine new tunes get that much exposure once they're there. I know VGMix X is basically just a stop over until VGMix 3 arrives in 2101 when war is beginning, and I completely understand that the folks building it are busy busy busy. But when you apparently can't browse by game name, something's amiss. I had a hard enough time trying to get people to listen to my remixes before on VGMix 1 and 2. God only knows what would've happened had those two sites been using the same type of setup

As long as hackers are breathing, they'll make the PSP ROMable.

Finally, little Shawn gets herself a Gold. You could tell she just wanted to explode when she was officially in first after the final gymnast went on the balance beam. Good for her.

As I said elsewhere, it's amazing that Béla hasn't run out in the middle of competitions, and started strangling judges right there on the arena floor.

Seems Nastia is going to join Alicia in the upcoming shooting spree. The sheer amount of nonsense and fishiness involved with the women's gymnastics judging this year is astounding... and the US seems to be taking the brunt of it all. A tie is no longer a tie? A girl practically falls on her face, yet beats others who didn't? A near flawless balance beam routine is bested by one with regular balance checks? What kind of idiocy is that? And those are just three of the iffy calls that have been made. There are plenty of others. Tack on the questionable age of the tiny Chinese girl who just won the unevenbars (and medaled elsewhere), and it's hard to not feel something is very wrong with the Olympics this year. If there isn't some kind of investigation when the Olympics are over, I will be truly surprised.

Sacramone must feel like shooting someone. Another Chinese gymnast makes a serious mistake, gets a penalty that was unusually minimal, and poor Alicia misses out on getting a bronze because of it. Even Béla looked torn between being pissed off and tearing up.

Heh. Well, now that Phelps is done with his races, hopefully we're done hearing about it every ten minutes. The coverage of his historic eight golds was getting the point of being the OJ trial... it was talked about by everyone, and the constant replayed footage was everywhere. It's great that he pulled it off, and he should be pretty damn proud of himself, and his team mates for helping him do it. But I have to be honest, I'm pretty much done with the whole thing now. I'm sure we'll go through it all again at the end of the Olympics, and when Phelps gets back in The States. But it would be nice to at least get a break from it between now and then, before it becomes "The Phelps Show, with special guest, the rest of the Olympics".

Just wanted to show off Photobucket's logo?

This is a good point, except for one important detail... this isn't an official OCR album release. It's just something thrown together in about a week's time for bLiNd to lift his spirits. So the albums of OCR don't (or at least, shouldn't) have anything to do with the timing of this musical get together's release To all the impatient OCRians, there's an old(ish) phrase that's been used in game making a lot, that also applies to this... that being, "It's done when it's done". This isn't going to be a Duke Nukem Forever-type thing, so just chill for a while. Once the mirrors are loaded and the site's finished (and everyone has sent in their track info), it'll come out.

And in our next act, the role of "Cranky Dad Behind the Wheel" shall be played by Darkesword, while the roles of "Kids in the Back Seat" are played by various OCR posters... OCR- Is it done yet? DS- No. OCR- Is it done yet? DS- No. OCR- Is it done yet? DS- No. OCR- Is it done yet? DS- NO! OCR- Is it done yet? DS- No. OCR- Is it done yet? DS- No. OCR- Is it done yet? DS- NO! OCR- Is it done yet? DS- NO!! OCR- Is it done yet? DS- NO!!! OCR- Is it done yet? DS- NO!!!! **DS drives car into tree just to shut kids up**

I'm surprised Serena lasted as long as she did. She looked noticeably heavier. She's never been a svelte woman, but... Anyway, the judging inconsistency seems to be continuing (in favor of the Chinese gymnasts more often than not from what I've seen). Other countries make small mistakes, and they lose a full point off of their score. The Chinese make similar (and sometimes more as we've seen tonight) mistakes, and they lose less in the way of points. The commentators have been left wondering "WTF?" a number of times just tonight. Granted, the floor exercises seem to be judged well enough, but stuff like the pommel horse, uneven bars, vault, and balance beam have seen some pretty strange judging calls made over the entire gymnastics program.

Pssshhh... he couldn't even stick the landing. It's a simple ragdoll sideways tumble with a quarter twist. C'MON!

And that fast, the video's no longer available. I did see a trimmed down version though. It happens so fast at full speed, I couldn't tell just what took place. At first, I thought he dislocated his shoulder or something. Then they showed the slow motion footage from behind him. Just... ow.

Sophitia is easy to find in all her "soul" forms... very easy in fact. It's screenshots of her in the outfit you spoke of that was the issue.

You speak of this, yet provide no links or images of said character for proof. How mean spirited

The Chinese scored 188.900, while the Americans got 186.525.

True. But even if she'd hadn't fallen twice, I don't believe the US would have beaten China. The Chinese team was ahead in the end by roughly two and a half points, and I don't think the points Sacramone would have gotten amounted to that much. Like her healthy chest, Sacramone'll bounce back once someone shows her the math. It would have been heartbreakingly close, but I think the US still would have placed second because of the other little missteps the whole team made along the way.

A number of games come to mind, but none of them featured a transforming cyborg/robot thing that recharged through the brain.

Damn. This has been a bad week for black celebrities. First we lost Bernie Mac, a comedian who had an enjoyable style of presenting his stand up, and now we lose Isaac Hayes, a great voice in the soul/funk world. RIP guys. And thanks for the laughs and wonderful music.

4.5-5.5 is usually seen as average in reviews. 7 is generally regarded as good, with 8 and above being very good/great. 3 or lower is just seen as garbage, with 4 and 6 being a bit below/above average. At least, that's how I remember the scores being labeled.

Not attacking here, just trying to have a conversation... I think that depends on actually liking the CGI look. I knew people who thought games like Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Country and others look like hell because of how the CGI technique was being used then. They hated the "shiny" look, and felt that while the movements were smooth, they also looked stiff and unnatural. Is that really a bragging point? There were games like Human Cannonball for the Atari 2600 that featured the idea of shooting the player from a canon you could control. And other games like Sonic 2 and Sonic Spinball in 1992 and 1993 respectively, which featured a similar idea of shooting the player around, even if you couldn't shoot at angles. I'm sorry JCvgluvr, but you're crossing into very subjective waters here. There were a number of games released in 1994 that feature soundtracks just as memorable (if not more so to some). Earthworm Jim, Final Fantasy VI, Super Metroid... I'm sure there are people who would argue those games had more influential soundtracks. There might even be someone who would argue in favor of Alfred Chicken Charm is also a subjective thing. It could easily turn into an argument centered solely around personal preference and stylistic taste. I can virtually promise you, that there are people who would place games like Earthworm Jim above DKC... not to mention other titles that came out shortly before or after DKC (like Clayfighter 2 and Ristar). I know you enjoy the series, JCvgluvr, and I'm not knocking you for liking it. But some of what you're arguing really is a matter of personal taste. When you state such things like they're cold hard facts in a textbook instead of opinions, you're going to get lambasted (as you've seen). By all means, stand by your opinions, and defend them with your hows and whys. But try not to let the opinions that differ from your own get you to the point of challenging people like they somehow insulted you in a way. I mean hell, I love Thunder Force IV, and I'll stand by every glowing comment I've ever made about its awesomeness. But if I got argumentative with the people who didn't like it for this or that reason... well, I'd be a busy and angry man with an ulcer by now

Is that the Japanese version of Meatloaf?