The Coop

That was only part of it. There were quite a few systems around in the early 80s, but the crash also came about from an extreme lack of software quality control on the part of the console makers. Piss poor games, and horrid games that got way over-hyped, just turned people off... as did the supposedly "superior" consoles people bought into that got no real backing (thus very small game libraries... like Vectrex and the 5200). So, the crash came about.

Actually, as far as I know, that wasn't a "video" upgrade at all perse. It was just an extra 4MB of memory that allowed the system to run in a higher resolution (640x480), use a better color depth, or use larger/improved textures (all of which required more memory to be used, which made implementing them without the expansion pack tricky due to the N64's rather low RAM count). It didn't do anything but provide more storage space for data, which enabled the game makers to use more of the N64's already existing features (bad planning on Nintendo's part there). It didn't add new abilities, it just made it so the pre-existing ones could be used more easily. So really, it was basically the same thing the Saturn used with it's 1MB/4MB memory expansion carts, or that the TurboGrafx-16 used with its various memory upgrade cards.

Who says we haven't? As I said earlier, donations to charity aren't about publicizing yourself, making yourself look better in the eyes of others, or (in the potential case of this) bringing in a few more dollars for yourself. It's about giving. If someone feels the need to brag and point out what they're giving, then you start to question just how focused they are on the giving aspect. Yes, that's a somewhat cynical way of looking at it, but that's my stance. Give, and leave it at that. Why boast about it? herograw- It's not difficult to assume the worst these days. Someone's always trying to scam people out of money, and using the concept of "This is for charity" as a means to pull in more money for the scam has been done plenty of times. You want to believe that someone's doing something straight from the heart, but it's not always easy to do this... especially over the last few years. As I mentioned in a previous post, with the way this thing's set up, it simply doesn't come across very well. If this guy's having to give the other 80% to EA, SquareEnix and them, then kudos to him for giving what little he was getting from the deal. As far as I know, no one's taking anything away from the previous donations he's made, or his willingness to give. What some people are questioning however, as I said before, is his tacking the charity on to his site as a selling point. Whether it's intended to be one or not, it is a selling point, and that doesn't sit well with everyone. It can easily come across as using the charity portion of the sales, to increase what he gets to pocket. Whether or not that's the case, no one knows, but that's how it can be interpreted. Edit: Cleaned up my thoughts a bit.

Well, not everyone is peachy with the concept of remixers selling what so many others give freely But regarding the charity, it's not so much him being a scumbag, as it is the whole thing coming across as using a charity as a selling point. We've seen it constantly over the years, as people use charities for a photo op, or they publicize their donations on national TV or what have you. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people give to charity each year, but most of them don't say a word about it, because they're not after the notoriety or publicity. They do it to help, and leave it at that. If he wants to give to charity, then he should just do it, and not tack it on to his site as an announcement and selling point... especially with him potentially keeping 80% of the sales. I believe that's what part of the issue is.

Every face. Muting the colors of some backgrounds and not others would result in an uneven look to the set. And since even an intense maroon can still detract from the face, doing this to all of them would benefit the each face, and keep them looking like they belong together.

Not particularly, no. While I give them credit for the success they've had, Corgan's voice grates on my nerves far too much to listen for very long.

Personally? The background colors are so bright and/or intense in Polo's group, that they've become the focus. Why not try dulling the backgrounds a bit... especially those intense light greens and middle blues? The more muted green in the first three images on the top row work better than the rest, as the gray in them makes the more vibrantly colored faces stand out.

Pretty much, but I think 90%/10% would be better. It's cool that he's willing to do this and all, and recouping any production costs is fine, but uuuhhhhhh... charity's about giving, not making money for your time on top of it. If he wanted to make money from it, then he should have done something else for the charity, and saved these tunes for normal release. Or better still, split it in half so that one nine song CD was for profit ($8.99), and the other was for charity (also $8.99).

**grabs popcorn**

In the olden days, right about here would be where the barge image macro "I like where this thread is going" would show up.

Here's my signature ... Edit: Slightly touched up version.

I thought Arn Anderson and Ric Flair were in the Four Horsemen. Or am I getting my eras mixed up?

So... since it would seem that Benoit did indeed choke his wife and son to death, should it be changed from Rest In Peace (RIP) to Rot In Hell (RIH)?

Gamespot/EB is pretty much a "current systems only" store chain now. XBox, PS2, Gamecube, Wii, XBox 360, PS3, GBA, DS, PSP, and (for the moment) GB/GBC are all they take back game-wise. They won't accept games or systems that are older than the ones listed, and they no longer take PC trade-ins (they don't sell them used anymore either). Also, as others have stated, most game series that gets regular updates aren't worth the gas it would take to drive them over there, since at most you'll only get a buck or two. So as long as what you have to trade in doesn't fall into those areas, you might (key word there is MIGHT) get some decent money for it. Otherwise, save your gas and just hang on to them.

Ya here that boys? The jig is up! The cops are onto us and we gotta scram outta here, see? Myaa.

Well, a good number of the ones I listed in my first post are as blatant as the E3M3 example you just mentioned, if that gives you any indication about how similar they are. And yeah, I know the whole "OMG DOOM MUSIC IZ A RIPOF" thing is older than dirt, but it's interesting to see to just what degree this whole thing went.

Greetings all. About a week and a half ago, John Romero of id fame released a zip file filled with unused tracks from the original Doom game. Some of the tracks are early versions of ones that would later get used in the game, but as I listened to the others, I couldn't help but notice how similar they sounded to songs released by well known bands... like various riffs or rhythms had been taken out nearly note for note, or partially changed, and then used for part of the midi. For example... un46- Alice in Chains' "Angry Chair". un45- "God Smack" by Alice in Chains. un44- shares a number of similarities to "Dirt" by Alice in Chains. un42- quite similar to "Junkhead" by Alice in Chains un41- feels a little like "Rooster" by Alice in Chains in the beginning, but possibly only because I'd been hearing so many AiC riffs up to this point. un32- "Outshined" by Soundgarden. un36- I can't place this one, but it's rather familiar. un28- "Them Bones" by Alice in Chains (wound up in the game) un23- blatantly "Sex Type Thing" by the Stone Temple Pilots un20- "Man in the Box" riff by Alice in Chains So this got me thinking... how many other riffs, bass lines and such are in here? How many others can you guys recognize?

Did Sensational Sherry get a tribute? She died just a bit over a week ago.

Yes. They "blew up" Mr. McMahon a couple weeks ago. I imagine that story line's been canceled.

Guess you should have fought more with UnMod

Silly judge. Everyone knows that CAPS LOCK IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL!

So you're saying you're not a little lad who loves berries and cream?

Really? All I got was a big, bi-ped robot telling me to drop my mail, and that I had twenty seconds to comply.

Redemption: Granted. A long time ago, back when I first bought Doom Collector's Edition, I played the games within a lot. But I'll be the first to admit... I cheated. Not on Ultimate Doom, but on Doom II. Why? Because the Icon of Sin was pissing me off to no end. So for those not in the know, here's the scoop. It's a huge demon head, with part of its brain exposed. You have to fire somewhere between 2 and 5 rockets into that exposed brain area to kill it. However, there's a catch. To reach that area, you have to activate a tall tower that will slowly come down, and then ride it as it slowly goes back up. However, you can't fire when you reach the top, because you'll be too high to get a rocket into that brain area. Instead, you have to time it just right before the tower stops raising. Whether you succeed or fail, you then have to jump down, reactivate the tower, and wait as it slowly lowers again. Sounds fun, huh? BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! As you're doing this, the demon head it firing out cubes that travel varying distances, then spawn a random monster. This monster can range from a simple zombie gunner, to a nasty Arch Vile, and everything in-between. It does this about once every seven or eight seconds roughly. Needless to say, in a very short period of time, the area you're running around in becomes very, very crowded. Pain Elementals get formed, and they fire off Lost Souls, Arch Viles start resurrecting all the beasts you killed, Revenants fire homing rockets left and right... fun stuff. There's not much in the way of ammo replenishers, so you've gotta be careful what you use to deal with the ever growing number of hellspawn. Anyway, yes, I cheated to beat this bastard, and it still took forever. I kept getting knocked off the platform by Lost Souls and homing rockets, or knocked askew by something else (which resulted in my rocket going off course). But a short while ago, I redeemed myself. Being on a retro kick lately, I've been playing the Doom games in DOSBox (original control options, resolution, etc.). And though I had to restart the level over and over, I finally beat the Icon of Sin on Ultra Violence. No cheats, no tricks, and no exploits. Just a lot of running, a lot of timed BFG-9000 shots, and a whole lot of hiding around edges. Damn nasty, but what else would you expect from the final boss?