The Coop

Really? I've read differently. Supposedly only the analog stick was usable on the GC controller, and the blood was supposed to be in as well... at least according to IGN and wikipedia.

In truth, I didn't think an apology was ever really going to come to pass, Bahamut. What where the chances of the more vocal UnModders apologizing to the judges or mods for all the things they said? Not very high I'd wager. As such, having the various outspoken mods and judges apologize for the things they said didn't seem likely to happen. After all, why should one side apologize if the other side isn't going to? Not a really fair and balanced system there. Plus, why should someone apologize for their opinion? Both sides of this had people who said some nasty things along the way, and perhaps for the more direct person-to-person insults, I could see an apology being made if the person felt bad about it afterwards (not likely... on either side). But having them give an apology for how they felt on a subject seemed odd. And forcing them to give one... well, that's never a good idea. I'd personally rather have no apology, than one I knew was bullshit.

At long last, Metal Slug Anthology came out for the PS2. I went and picked it up late this afternoon, and I have to say, it's about as good as it can be. Yes, all the games load. MS-1, MS-2 and MS-X keep the loading to a relative minimum, with between stage loadings that are pretty quick (especially if you play the same game a second time in a row). However, MS-3 to MS-6 load between basically every section and subsection of each stage. It's usually not longer than 2-3 seconds, and at times it isn't even a second. So it's really not too bad. I have a feeling this comes from completely redoing each game as opposed to using the "already out" versions of 3-6. On the disc, you can see that it looks like all the game data was merged into one big file, so these things don't appear to be individual ROMs, but rather one big one. The "shimmering" effect seen in a lot of the PS2's 2D emulation packs looks to have been reduced with Metal Slug Anthology, and this is a good thing. The original MS-4/MS-5 PS2 pack had a pretty bad shimmering to it, so it's nice to see that SNK worked on reducing it with this compilation. The music seems to be the original Neo-Geo tunes (nice), and much to my surprise, there are some hidden goodies. One's a text interview with the makers of the MS franchise, another is being able to listen to the music of each game, and the last one's a big artwork museum where you have to complete each game to unlock sections. For all you folks who don't like the idea of unlimited continues, this game's got you covered. You can choose from 5 credits, 10 credits, 20 credits, or if you're not feeling particularly adventurous, "free play" (unlimited credits). Regarding the lag a few people are talking about, the MS series has always had some control lag. MS-1 had it the worst, and that control aspect hasn't been "fixed" in MSA. The sequels cleaned it up a bit, and that holds true on MSA as well. I compared MS-3 on "Anthology" to the XBox version, and there does seem to be about a 1/4 of a second lag. I don't know if this is how the arcade game was and they "fixed" it for the XBox release, or if this is strictly a fault of the compilation. I'm quite happy with it. All the games on one DVD, and you can choose digital or analog controls (ya hear that Nintendo?). The XBox version of 3, 4 and 5 have an edge thanks to the XBox's better handling of the visuals and load times, and if I recall, the PS2's MS-4/MS-5 pack didn't load during the levels either. Not sure why these do, but perhaps it has something to do with how the games are emulated from scratch in this compilation. Regardless, everything from the blood, to the tiniest animations are all there, and little (if anything) looks to have been cut. So while the loading's a bit disappointing, it was expected since the Wii and PSP versions of MSA had it. These are still 2D sprite masterpieces, and they're all together. Nice work SNKP. It sure took you a while to get this version out, but the wait was worth it. Now... if only they would give an explanation as to why the PS2 instruction manual seems to actually be the PSP instruction manual Edit: Updates

From what I've come to understand, the music is the arcade's, there's no online play, and the game sells for $39.99. It has all seven 2D MS games on it, and is supposed to have nothing cut out (i.e. boss flashes, blood, etc.). No word yet on whether it suffers from the mid-stage loading pauses like the PSP version did, and no mention of any bonuses like artwork. No one's reviewed it yet, so there's not a lot of info on it at the moment. That, coupled with SNK's lack of info (they didn't even confirm it existed until a month ago), and basically it's a crap shoot.

For sig pictures, all you need is to do a few things... 1) Create an account on a free hosting site like Geocities, Freewebs, Imageshack, or another freebie site. 2) Either make a sig yourself, of visit the sig making threads here and here and ask someone to make one for you. 3) Once you have your image, upload it to your free hosting site, and then put that image's url in your sig box using the "img" tags (this is done in your "User CP", by clicking "User CP/Edit Signature") so that it looks something like this... Just don't use any spaces like I did, and your image should show up.

Wow. I never knew about that thread. I figured all the discussion and flaming was kept to just this one. [K]- Unless you changed your settings for viewing the forums, there was no way for you to have seen this thread. It had been inactive for over two months before it was bumped by LT when he merged another thread into it. Frankly, I'm surprised it was still here at all after such a long time.

Sonic Advance 2 is likely the best of the group, Aria of Sorrow would likely be the best in that group (buy the double pack with "Aria" and "Harmony" on one cart), and while Gunstar Super Heroes plays a bit differently than its prequel, it's still quite the game. And a good number of the ones I listed are either at, or below, ten dollars now. Picking up a nice selection of them shouldn't be too hard, especially if you get them used.

Castlevania (GBA port of the original) Castlevania: Circle of the Moon Castlevania: Harmony of Dissonance Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow MegaMan Zero MegaMan Zero 2 MegaMan Zero 3 MegaMan Zero 4 MegaMan & Bass Sonic Advance Sonic Advance 2 Sonic Advance 3 Phalanx Iridion II Gradius Galaxies Astro Boy Gunstar Super Heroes King of Fighter EX2: Howling Blood Metal Slug Advance Metroid Fusion Metroid Zero Mission Shining Force: Resurrection of the Dark Dragon Shining Soul Shining Soul II Sigma Star Saga Super Ghouls and Ghosts Grab Iridion as well, as it's dirt cheap, and a fun old-style 3D shmup (think Galaxy Force II, but prettier).

That worked out smashingly, didn't it?

Um, what avatar?

Arek "left" here, but he's supposedly posting on Remod now. I believe he made a rather large post about wanting to continue being there. And if I wasn't the first one to have their thread moved, who was? Inquiring minds like mine wanna know. And it's "POWAH!" I believe

I believe I was the first "victim" of this. A mere hour or two after I made the new freeware thread in OffTop, it was moved here (back when OffTop was just a couple hours old). EdgeCrusher's "How many songs" thread got moved last week, and SOC's "djp" thread was moved just a short time ago. These mods... they're going power mad. Someone should put an end to their nefarious plans.

Aldo Nova. Anyway, I have a feeling this is supposed to be hokey kids fun. I haven't seen one commercial yet that didn't present this movie with a light-hearted attitude. Of course, that's not really shocking. It's talking turtles after all. It'd be interesting to see a serious take on this, but something tells me that at best, any seriousness is going to be momentary with the TMNT movie/cartoon side of things.

Not a fan of broken layouts, eye/screen burning colors, and images plastered everywhere with little to no rhyme or reason?

No he doesn't. If he did, it would be on "Our Space", not "My Space". He won't even share space, and you can't be very friendly with that kind of attitude.

Wipeout 64? And Conker deserves mention for the "Poo" song alone.

Giving this a bump after nearly a month. Battle Chess Now now, I know what some of you are thinking... "HEY! THAT'S STILL COPYRIGHTED!" Well, yes and no. The Windows version which everyone is more familiar with is still illegal to download. But this here DOS version isn't. Why? Because Interplay released it as freeware. Yes, it's the original version. It's not as colorful as the Windows version, and it doesn't have as many sound effects. But it is still the chess game where the pieces fight, the animations are still intact, and while the walking noises are gone, the battle effects are all still there. So if you wanna play a game of chess that's a little different, and you haven't taken on a "Fewer colors?! BLEH!" mentality, give it whirl. Note- You'll either need DOSBox to run it, or the program VDMSound. Just hit "Enter" three times after you start the game, and then hold down the right mouse button to be able to change the difficulty settings and whatnot.

Well, I've been here for close to five years, and I've been through wringer to be sure. I've been accepted and rejected by the judges, watched a lot of drama play out on the boards, and hopefully helped out a few people along the way. I've seen this place grow in spurts, and go through a good number of growing pains as it did so. Judges and the site staff have fought amongst themselves, the staff and the forum goers have gone toe to toe on occasion, and hell... we've even had a chatroom/forum conflict or two. It's been hacked, spammed, broken, fixed, broken again, and had enough rollbacks to give Walmart some serious competition. But somehow through it all, this site has managed to continue moving forward. Now, I don't consider myself to be a part of the remixing community. My presence in it has been very minimal over the years, and my contributions to it are equally small. But I have seen the effects this place has had on it. It's played a good sized role in shedding light on the notion of game music being more than a random series of digital noises. It's also brought people from all over the world together (both online and off), and even drawn attention from some of the very musicians that have been remixed. That's quite an accomplishment for something that started off as basically just a small emulation site. A feat to be proud of to be sure. From all I've read over the years, it's been a labor of love to get OCR where it is today (for all the shit that has gone on just in the time I've been here, it would have to be )... and it does show. A lot has been done to make this place run better from both a design aspect, and a functionality one. While it's true that some of the ideas were not popular ones at first, it's safe to say that the changes made have become accepted, and useful as they got tweaked. It's gone from a small "family business" as it were, to a recognized fixture in its realm. Thus far, it's handled that growth pretty well, and it'll hopefully continue to do so as the years go by. OCR's gone through quite a bit as it made its way to becoming one of the more recognizable hubs in the video game remixing world. Its success has come from the time, effort and money that djp and his staff have put into it, and from the work of those who felt the need to express their gaming memories in musical form. For that, you all deserve a big "CONGRATURATION!". And of course...

UnMod Music Festival? I'd go, but I can't seem to find it anymore.

Gradius V R-Type Final Gradius III & IV Final Fantasy XII Dragon Quest VIII Ace Combat 5 Alien Hominid Soul Calibur III Silpheed: The Lost Planet Guilty Gear X2 Wipeout Fusion Onimusha Onimusha 2 Onimusha 3

Same thing happened with my Freeware thread. I guess we're just not making off topic enough topics.

It depends on the type of retail working really. Some places like Wal-Mart and Target generally give you a whole different experience from someplace like Electronics Boutique or another chain of stores. I have friends that work in both types of retail, and frankly, working for a place like EB is not that great unless you know the people working there. I say this because EB (well, Gamestop really) has quotas that have to be met. You have to sell a certain number of preorders, a certain number of subscriptions, a certain number of UPTs (units per transaction), a certain number of "game of the month" titles, a certain number of used games, blah blah blah every week. If you don't meet your numbers, you can be written up. Get written up three times, and your ass is fired... all because you didn't sell enough used games, or get enough people to buy their "discount" cards. And here's the kicker... if you meet every quota, guess what? You get nothing. Not even a "good job". Do well, and you hear nothing. Falter a little in one area, you get your job threatened (be it by your store manager, or a regional one). The company gets the cash from your quotas, and you get to keep your job and not be in trouble as a thank you. Nice huh? Not exactly a good way to make for a great working atmosphere... especially when you're reminded of low numbers every day (again, unless you're friends with the people you work with). Thankfully, I've never had to work in a quota-centric retail job. Retail, yes, but not a quota-based one. Now obviously, Gamestop/EB aren't the only types of retail store that has quotas to meet. There are plenty of them around. Some quota-centric store chains do offer you incentives to meet the quotas (bonuses, extra discounts if you by from the store, etc.), but compared to places that don't require such things, it's not hard to imagine why some people prefer non-quota retail over quota-centric retail. So in your hunt for a retail job, take note of whether or not weekly/monthly quotas are a part of the deal you're trying to be hired into. Do some research if you can, and don't be afraid to ask about them in your interviews. Try not let them think you find quotas horrid (be it vocally, or through body language), as not every place is as big a stickler on them as others (some may just encourage you to try harder, without actually threatening your job). But as the old commercials used to say, "The More You Know"...

I don't make too many threads about celebraties who have passed on. But this time, I feel the need to. Richard Jeni died of a apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on March 10th. Nothing's been released as to why, or even if it really was suicide. But the comedic world lost a great member in its cast. I remember the first time I saw him was on The Tonight Show long ago when I was younger. He was making fun of the horrid movie "Jaws 4: The Revenge", and I remember laughing at his observations and jokes at that movie's expense. Fast forward a number of years, and after seeing him make quick TV appearance on various shows, I saw Jeni's "A Good Catholic Boy". I laughed my ass off through the entire thing, and laughed a lot at his "A Big Steaming Pile of Me" that came about years later. I've always enjoyed his comedic mixture of sarcasm and commentary as he talked about everything from the absurd, to the every day. While I have negative feelings towards those who choose suicide over trudging through whatever is giving them problems, I still can't help but feel saddened at the loss of a comedian who, while not always in the public eye, was constantly enjoyable to watch and listen to. So rest in peace Richard Jeni. Don't know what brought you to this end, but thanks for all the laughs over the years.