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1
Gaming and Grazing / Backwards Compat Questions
« on: April 28, 2012, 06:38:46 pm »
Oh hey look, Minus isn't dead yet. Yay.
Anyways ... instead of doing any, yanno, competition, I've been looking at, let's just say my gaming todo list. Got a job, moved states, now have my own place where my "I hate video games" mother isn't here to tell me what to spend my money on. Time to work on expanding my collection to stuff other than PC and Wii.
Thing is, there's a lot of old games on this list, and it's hard to tell what systems are backwards compatible with other systems. Ideally, I'd like to do this as efficiently as possible, by investing in as few systems as possible.
I think I'm pretty well covered with how the Nintendo consoles work with backwards compatibility; there's a grand total of one game in that list that isn't Wii, GC or on the Virtual Console (frigging DK64).
How do the Nintendo handhelds cover backwards compatibility? There are games as old as the original Game Boy that I'd like to try to find. I'm aware that the GBA can play GB/GBC games, and that the DS has some degree of GBA compatibility? And what about the 3DS?
I've heard that while PS2 and PS3 can generally play all PS1 games, but that only certain PS3s can play PS2 games (ones with 4 USB ports). Does that mean those PS3s are good for all PS2 games or only a selection? And do PSP games work on the Vita?
I don't think I have much of a question with the XBox/360 ... there are only a couple games on the former that I can't get with Steam anyways. Any help or comments are appreciated, thanks.
P.S. I'm trying to avoid emulators if I can ... those of you who remember me when I was more active here already know this. I'm okay with using an emulator for something I own legally, but not for something I don't own myself.
Anyways ... instead of doing any, yanno, competition, I've been looking at, let's just say my gaming todo list. Got a job, moved states, now have my own place where my "I hate video games" mother isn't here to tell me what to spend my money on. Time to work on expanding my collection to stuff other than PC and Wii.
Thing is, there's a lot of old games on this list, and it's hard to tell what systems are backwards compatible with other systems. Ideally, I'd like to do this as efficiently as possible, by investing in as few systems as possible.
I think I'm pretty well covered with how the Nintendo consoles work with backwards compatibility; there's a grand total of one game in that list that isn't Wii, GC or on the Virtual Console (frigging DK64).
How do the Nintendo handhelds cover backwards compatibility? There are games as old as the original Game Boy that I'd like to try to find. I'm aware that the GBA can play GB/GBC games, and that the DS has some degree of GBA compatibility? And what about the 3DS?
I've heard that while PS2 and PS3 can generally play all PS1 games, but that only certain PS3s can play PS2 games (ones with 4 USB ports). Does that mean those PS3s are good for all PS2 games or only a selection? And do PSP games work on the Vita?
I don't think I have much of a question with the XBox/360 ... there are only a couple games on the former that I can't get with Steam anyways. Any help or comments are appreciated, thanks.
P.S. I'm trying to avoid emulators if I can ... those of you who remember me when I was more active here already know this. I'm okay with using an emulator for something I own legally, but not for something I don't own myself.
2
Gaming and Grazing / The TSC MMO topic
« on: June 18, 2009, 08:24:47 pm »
Oh snap, I'm making a topic. Long time, no did.
Anyways
Why do we not have a topic for all MMOs that we're in, and our nicks in each?
GunBound: IMFearless
KartRider: IMFearless (but I think it's out of beta now anyways)
DANCE!: EngiNerd09
Puzzle Pirates: Login EngiNerd13, Pirate Foxcroft
Particularly the last one because I haven't played the others in awhile, and because I'm trying to find a crew to join. Thankys!
Anyways
Why do we not have a topic for all MMOs that we're in, and our nicks in each?
GunBound: IMFearless
KartRider: IMFearless (but I think it's out of beta now anyways)
DANCE!: EngiNerd09
Puzzle Pirates: Login EngiNerd13, Pirate Foxcroft
Particularly the last one because I haven't played the others in awhile, and because I'm trying to find a crew to join. Thankys!
3
Leaderboard Disputes / Calling out Miles9999
« on: May 01, 2009, 01:14:58 pm »
I know I normally don't call people out, and normally don't have the right to, but:
Sonic 2 Metropolis Rings
You hold both Metro 2 ring records. BY YOURSELF. You have somehow managed to find 3 more rings than anyone else, and there's some good players right underneath you. I am *very* intrigued about this - I know that I for one scoured this level, and while I can't vouch for my own skill, I'm sure others have done the same. Proof will be nice; I don't want to see the other three rings myself (don't ruin the surprise) but I'd kinda like you to show a more impartial party what's going on. In the meanwhile, I'm going to look through my own stuff to see if maybe I actually did miss something. Thank you!
Sonic 2 Metropolis Rings
You hold both Metro 2 ring records. BY YOURSELF. You have somehow managed to find 3 more rings than anyone else, and there's some good players right underneath you. I am *very* intrigued about this - I know that I for one scoured this level, and while I can't vouch for my own skill, I'm sure others have done the same. Proof will be nice; I don't want to see the other three rings myself (don't ruin the surprise) but I'd kinda like you to show a more impartial party what's going on. In the meanwhile, I'm going to look through my own stuff to see if maybe I actually did miss something. Thank you!
4
General Sonic / What in Sonic 06 needs fixing?
« on: February 21, 2009, 04:00:09 pm »
I know, I know, it already sounds dumb enough to be nuke-worthy. But I'm seriously asking here.
If Sonic 06 was re-released SADX style, what exactly in the game needs to be fixed for it to be good? I mean, I know the game can't be COMPLETE junk (uh, I like the music?) so there has to be some redeeming qualities. For instance, I've been watching videos lately - the stages themselves seem to be pretty well designed (too bad the gameplay mechanics are horrid). So yeah, what needs fixing and what shouldn't change?
If Sonic 06 was re-released SADX style, what exactly in the game needs to be fixed for it to be good? I mean, I know the game can't be COMPLETE junk (uh, I like the music?) so there has to be some redeeming qualities. For instance, I've been watching videos lately - the stages themselves seem to be pretty well designed (too bad the gameplay mechanics are horrid). So yeah, what needs fixing and what shouldn't change?
5
Gaming and Grazing / (Possibly) free video cap software
« on: February 21, 2009, 09:37:53 am »
http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/
Today's offer is PlayClaw, which claims to be able to capture stills and videos of the computer screen. I can't QUITE get it to work myself though ... if you can get it to work, it looks promising, let me know.
Today's offer is PlayClaw, which claims to be able to capture stills and videos of the computer screen. I can't QUITE get it to work myself though ... if you can get it to work, it looks promising, let me know.
6
Gaming and Grazing / Passively Multiplayer Online Game
« on: February 15, 2009, 09:14:54 pm »
http://pmog.com/
Found this earlier today. It's a plugin to FireFox that turns your internet browsing into a MMO - people can put items onto webpages and create missions linking them. Cool both as a game, and as a way to find cool websites you've never heard about. It only works on FireFox though.
First ten people to sign up and come back to this thread get an extra 10 coin! (Not much, but it's about all I can give)
Found this earlier today. It's a plugin to FireFox that turns your internet browsing into a MMO - people can put items onto webpages and create missions linking them. Cool both as a game, and as a way to find cool websites you've never heard about. It only works on FireFox though.
First ten people to sign up and come back to this thread get an extra 10 coin! (Not much, but it's about all I can give)
7
General Sonic / Vote for me please!
« on: January 23, 2009, 04:42:18 pm »
A good few of you know that I've been interested in this Mirror's Edge game for awhile. Turns out there's a contest for it: photoshop/photomanip the lead character Faith into a ... unique ... background. So I entered it. You may just recognize the background I chose....
:D
Vote Link
:D
Vote Link
8
General Sonic / Unleashed Wii/360 comparisons
« on: December 27, 2008, 09:38:53 am »
OK, I'm just curious here. Other than the graphics and the length of the levels, how do these two compare? It took me awhile to get used to the item system here, and I'm curious how much of this also appears in the 360 version.
THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD
Each of the continents (save 1) has one temple where the levels are accessed; said temple includes three doors at the back for day levels, night levels, and boss stages and three/four doors on the sides to subchambers. All day/night levels are accessed through the same two doors; as far as I am aware, the game just picks the next unfinished stage. Particular stages can be selected from the world map. Only exception thus far (I just completed Shamar Day) is the first continent; this has two temples, one in Apotos with the day and night doors (four subchambers) and one in Mazuri with the boss (star) door (three subchambers IIRC).
Apotos temple is the only one that is lit; all others are dark and are accessed by the werehog. Subchambers consist of small "puzzles", mostly in the dark, which have some bright lights - these are solved with a combination of the day and night gameplay; every one I've tried thus far is mostly night, step into a light beam and Sonic reverts to hedgehog form for a small period of time before transforming back. These contain item boxes; I've seen two to four in each room, and each box has a slightly different puzzle to it.
Doors are opened by tablets; sun tablet opens sun door, moon tablet opens moon door, planet tablet (made of the red and blue tablet fragments, assembled by someone in the village) opens star door to boss stage. Boss stage may be either day or night; completing the boss stage restores one Chaos emerald and restores one continent.
Day stages consist of the main stage with the goal at the end, and a selection of missions. Main stage has up to three moon medals, which are given for rank - one for B, two for A, three for S. Rank is determined entirely upon completion time. There are no medals in the stage itself; only item boxes and rings. Missions are time-counts-backwards, unranked, and give one moon medal for completion. Complete a certain set of missions with the main stage to get the red jewel tablet fragment.
Night stages consist of three stages (so far I've found; I know there are charts for four or five per continent). I have yet to see/notice any smaller missions, though I know they probably exist. Each stage has three sun medals, also upon rank, but this time criteria is different. Best time, number of rings, and Gaia force collected are each tracked; each is compared to some threshold at the end of the stage, and each goal passed is worth one medal and a higher rank. Again, no medals within the stage, just rings and item boxes. Also worth noting that the grabbable surfaces in each level have a different pattern for each continent. Complete these stages to get the blue jewel tablet fragment.
Each level is started with the same number of lives; you do NOT earn a free life at 100 rings, or anywhere in the level in fact. (This is the part that really confused me at first.) Start with two; more lives are obtained in item boxes. In other words, at the beginning of the game, you start with two lives at the beginning of each stage; find a free life in an item box, and you then start with three lives at the beginning of each stage.
Item boxes appear to be the only collectable things in each stage other than rings. Most contain stuff like concept art or game music that can be accessed in a gallery from the world map. Daytime stage item boxes appear to be entirely of this type (though I've only actually gotten two so far). Nighttime item boxes are either this (with a question mark) or contain Gaia force (a red orb). The item boxes in the subchambers of the temples, however, may contain stuff like gallery items, but I've also found free lives (which is why you should investigate these chambers as soon as you've unlocked them) and keys to bonus stages (none of which I've tried yet). I don't think free lives or level keys are found in the day or night stages.
Finally, the town areas (as you probably already know) consist of pointing to different places and talking them in a map form (not an explorable area). Some villagers hold items; others give you information. Said items are typically the gallery stuff that I mentioned before, or sun and moon tablets. Also, once in Spagonia night, Sonic came across a bunch of people acting weird, and "fought" a number of Dark Gaia minions (done entirely with quicktime sequences). I have yet to see this happen again, so I don't know what that was all about.
END SPOILERS
So, what is the 360 version like?
THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD
Each of the continents (save 1) has one temple where the levels are accessed; said temple includes three doors at the back for day levels, night levels, and boss stages and three/four doors on the sides to subchambers. All day/night levels are accessed through the same two doors; as far as I am aware, the game just picks the next unfinished stage. Particular stages can be selected from the world map. Only exception thus far (I just completed Shamar Day) is the first continent; this has two temples, one in Apotos with the day and night doors (four subchambers) and one in Mazuri with the boss (star) door (three subchambers IIRC).
Apotos temple is the only one that is lit; all others are dark and are accessed by the werehog. Subchambers consist of small "puzzles", mostly in the dark, which have some bright lights - these are solved with a combination of the day and night gameplay; every one I've tried thus far is mostly night, step into a light beam and Sonic reverts to hedgehog form for a small period of time before transforming back. These contain item boxes; I've seen two to four in each room, and each box has a slightly different puzzle to it.
Doors are opened by tablets; sun tablet opens sun door, moon tablet opens moon door, planet tablet (made of the red and blue tablet fragments, assembled by someone in the village) opens star door to boss stage. Boss stage may be either day or night; completing the boss stage restores one Chaos emerald and restores one continent.
Day stages consist of the main stage with the goal at the end, and a selection of missions. Main stage has up to three moon medals, which are given for rank - one for B, two for A, three for S. Rank is determined entirely upon completion time. There are no medals in the stage itself; only item boxes and rings. Missions are time-counts-backwards, unranked, and give one moon medal for completion. Complete a certain set of missions with the main stage to get the red jewel tablet fragment.
Night stages consist of three stages (so far I've found; I know there are charts for four or five per continent). I have yet to see/notice any smaller missions, though I know they probably exist. Each stage has three sun medals, also upon rank, but this time criteria is different. Best time, number of rings, and Gaia force collected are each tracked; each is compared to some threshold at the end of the stage, and each goal passed is worth one medal and a higher rank. Again, no medals within the stage, just rings and item boxes. Also worth noting that the grabbable surfaces in each level have a different pattern for each continent. Complete these stages to get the blue jewel tablet fragment.
Each level is started with the same number of lives; you do NOT earn a free life at 100 rings, or anywhere in the level in fact. (This is the part that really confused me at first.) Start with two; more lives are obtained in item boxes. In other words, at the beginning of the game, you start with two lives at the beginning of each stage; find a free life in an item box, and you then start with three lives at the beginning of each stage.
Item boxes appear to be the only collectable things in each stage other than rings. Most contain stuff like concept art or game music that can be accessed in a gallery from the world map. Daytime stage item boxes appear to be entirely of this type (though I've only actually gotten two so far). Nighttime item boxes are either this (with a question mark) or contain Gaia force (a red orb). The item boxes in the subchambers of the temples, however, may contain stuff like gallery items, but I've also found free lives (which is why you should investigate these chambers as soon as you've unlocked them) and keys to bonus stages (none of which I've tried yet). I don't think free lives or level keys are found in the day or night stages.
Finally, the town areas (as you probably already know) consist of pointing to different places and talking them in a map form (not an explorable area). Some villagers hold items; others give you information. Said items are typically the gallery stuff that I mentioned before, or sun and moon tablets. Also, once in Spagonia night, Sonic came across a bunch of people acting weird, and "fought" a number of Dark Gaia minions (done entirely with quicktime sequences). I have yet to see this happen again, so I don't know what that was all about.
END SPOILERS
So, what is the 360 version like?
9
General Sonic / NEW BLACK KNIGHT SCREENSHOTS (WITH KNUCKLES)
« on: December 02, 2008, 06:20:09 pm »
http://media.wii.ign.com/media/142/14268379/imgs_1.html
Some (admittedly blurry) pics of Knuckles in battle armor are on Page 3. If Secret Rings has told me anything, Knuckles is probably Lancelot or Gawain.... Either way, that's quite the blade he's holding....
You all can thank me later.
armor on his hands look like shovel claws lol
Some (admittedly blurry) pics of Knuckles in battle armor are on Page 3. If Secret Rings has told me anything, Knuckles is probably Lancelot or Gawain.... Either way, that's quite the blade he's holding....
You all can thank me later.
armor on his hands look like shovel claws lol
10
Wikkity! / Sincere Apologies
« on: November 20, 2008, 08:18:09 pm »
I have an unfortunate confession to make.
I, Minus the Antiporcupine, confess to not BSing on my stats.
I know this will come to a shock as you all, but I have refrained from the honorable task of making numbers up on the spot. I have forced myself to spend hours actually receiving these numbers for real, and I am now ashamed of myself. Even a few times I accidentally was brave enough to make a mistake, but I have never been brave enough to let it stand. I sincerely apologize, and I hope this does not diminish your opinions of me.
:(
I, Minus the Antiporcupine, confess to not BSing on my stats.
I know this will come to a shock as you all, but I have refrained from the honorable task of making numbers up on the spot. I have forced myself to spend hours actually receiving these numbers for real, and I am now ashamed of myself. Even a few times I accidentally was brave enough to make a mistake, but I have never been brave enough to let it stand. I sincerely apologize, and I hope this does not diminish your opinions of me.
:(
11
Competition Central / Idea for some challenges
« on: November 19, 2008, 08:12:41 pm »
I'm not usually the type to suggest new challenges, but this caught my eye:
http://www.sonicstadium.org/community/play-sonic-3d-blast-flicky-free
Anyone up for TAing this? I may check it out myself (time dependent).
http://www.sonicstadium.org/community/play-sonic-3d-blast-flicky-free
Anyone up for TAing this? I may check it out myself (time dependent).
12
General Sonic / Sonic Unleashed - Wii Gameplay Video
« on: October 10, 2008, 08:28:57 am »
Possibly old, but still worth pointing out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x8wrnea7ak
Wii Gameplay. Doesn't look all that much different from the PS3/X360 version ... I'd say the graphics are pretty well up to speed (so to say). The only way I could even tell it was the Wii/PS2 version is the HUD. Also note that for the clocktower spiral, the camera doesn't immediately trail Sonic like it does in the original High Europe trailer. For awhile I was wondering how bad this would look compared to the special graphics version ... I gotta say, I'm not disappointed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x8wrnea7ak
Wii Gameplay. Doesn't look all that much different from the PS3/X360 version ... I'd say the graphics are pretty well up to speed (so to say). The only way I could even tell it was the Wii/PS2 version is the HUD. Also note that for the clocktower spiral, the camera doesn't immediately trail Sonic like it does in the original High Europe trailer. For awhile I was wondering how bad this would look compared to the special graphics version ... I gotta say, I'm not disappointed.
13
General Sonic / Sonic Chronicles SPOILER THREAD
« on: September 30, 2008, 02:31:29 pm »
Because I will probably never play this, nor be interested in watching cutscenes, I'm hoping that someone here can completely spoil the story for me. I've heard stuff like
SPOILERS BEGIN
Shade is an Echidna
Eggman is on the home team
The civ. that made Emerl is still alive
So I just want to know the full story without playing the game. I know SOMEBODY must have gotten pretty far through it by now.
SPOILERS BEGIN
Shade is an Echidna
Eggman is on the home team
The civ. that made Emerl is still alive
So I just want to know the full story without playing the game. I know SOMEBODY must have gotten pretty far through it by now.
15
General Sonic / Either this guy is an idiot, or certain fanboys are passing out.
« on: August 19, 2008, 07:02:30 am »
Possibly leaked Unleashed story
...
Riiight.
Dream on. I highly doubt he's coming back. Unfortunately, the rest of the information is typical Sega, so I dunno.
...
Riiight.
Dream on. I highly doubt he's coming back. Unfortunately, the rest of the information is typical Sega, so I dunno.
16
General Sonic / UNLEASHED BOX ART (possibly) FOUND
« on: August 13, 2008, 06:33:49 am »
According to TSS, this box art is appearing all over Amazon. Looks official, but who knows? I know I like it.
17
General Sonic / Even more music LOLness!
« on: May 13, 2008, 09:22:00 pm »
OK, check this out:
Beat It.
recorded by Michael Jackson.
<_<
For the confused, there's a long story about how the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 soundtrack was originally to be a joint effort between Sonic Team's music peeps and Michael Jackson's songwriters, until the whole "I sleep with young boys" scandal broke loose. While Jackson's songwriters were removed from the project, almost all of the music in the second half of the game bears similarities to later Jackson songs (particularly the credits music to Stranger in Moscow. The offending music was changed for a couple of the re-releases of the game, but is still intact in every GeneDrive cartridge and full emulation. I see this as a joke amongst Sonic Team about the "old days". I wouldn't even have noticed this except for Fall Out Boy's new cover of the song. What do you all think?
Quote
Showin' How Funky Strong Is Your Fight
It Doesn't Matter Who's Wrong Or Right
Quote
There is no way to stop me from going to the very topPretty similar, huh? The second one is probably familiar to everyone, it's from It Doesn't Matter, Sonic's theme from SA/SADX. The first one? A little less obvious. But it's the source that makes this truly amusing, and really leads me to believe that this isn't a coincidence.
It doesn't matter who is wrong and who is right
Beat It.
recorded by Michael Jackson.
<_<
For the confused, there's a long story about how the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 soundtrack was originally to be a joint effort between Sonic Team's music peeps and Michael Jackson's songwriters, until the whole "I sleep with young boys" scandal broke loose. While Jackson's songwriters were removed from the project, almost all of the music in the second half of the game bears similarities to later Jackson songs (particularly the credits music to Stranger in Moscow. The offending music was changed for a couple of the re-releases of the game, but is still intact in every GeneDrive cartridge and full emulation. I see this as a joke amongst Sonic Team about the "old days". I wouldn't even have noticed this except for Fall Out Boy's new cover of the song. What do you all think?
18
Competition Central / Idea for version differences
« on: May 11, 2008, 04:52:01 pm »
OK, I think I sent this to GS a couple of weeks ago, but he hasn't responded, so I'm not sure. I thought I would put this in public then as an idea. It concerns version differences; the same game (or very similar) on different consoles. I.E., MS or GG, or SA/SADX, or SA2/SA2B. NOT PAL or NTSC; while it may be arguably slightly easier to play, you won't see a difference between the top ranks. It works like this:
Find the stats where the current record can not be performed on every system. Big example: Final Egg from SA. I doubt this one needs explaining.
Send a notification to every player in the chart by PM. I have a feeling that this could be automated pretty simply, though I could be wrong. Let them know all of the following information, and advise them to save their stat somewhere else.
About a week later, purge the chart. Hopefully, everyone who really wants to keep their stat can, because they paid attention to the PM and wrote their stat down. Reopen the chart to submissions.
When a competitor submits a new stat to the chart, include a checkbox on the submissions page for which system the competitor used. They check the appropriate box and submit.
Now the stats can be simply sorted by which system/version used.
Rank the systems separately; when a user brings up the chart, show it all on one screen but separated as to which system.
Here's the important part: calculating points.
The player's point count is determined by ONLY the other submissions for that system. If a player has submitted for both systems, the best of the two works.
Example: Say five people submit to the new Final Egg charts in the first day: mike89, SM, RPG, Thorn, and DsS. Their times are as follows:
mike89 got 9 seconds on the DC version
SM got 2 minutes on the GC version
RPG got 2 minutes 10 seconds on the GC version
Thorn got 8 seconds on the DC version
DsS got 7 seconds on the DC version AND 2 minutes 5 seconds on the GC version
And all of these times were submitted.
The points are distributed as if:
DsS and SM are tied for 1st
Thorn is 3nd
mike89 and RPG are tied for 4th
Explanation: DsS and SM hold the records for their respective systems, so they each get 1st. Second place for each system is Thorn and DsS, but DsS is already first for the DC version, and is already in 1st; Thorn is thus alone at 3rd. mike89 and RPG hold third for each of their systems, and there are a grand total of three people ahead of them, so they are tied for 4th.
Why this is good: I think it would help competition and not give an unfair advantage to someone with a particular console. I know I personally am that less likely to compete actively in Final Egg, because I only own the PC SADX version and therefore have no chance of coming close to the seven-something-second record for the original Dreamcast version. I also know that there is a 99.9% chance that I will never own a Dreamcast, and that most people won't own the same game on multiple systems unless they were (no offense) clueless enough to buy SADX when they already own SA. I feel that this could greatly help competition in a few areas; it might be a tad difficult to implement but I don't think it would be all that bad once people understand it. As far as I am aware, this would help for the following:
Sonic 1 Game Gear/Master System (Bridge 2 rings comes immediately to mind; I think there are a couple other GG/MS titles that also have differences)
Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles/S3K (someone owning S3 but not SnK has a severe disadvantage on Launch Base 2 times)
SA/SADX (the large majority of the time-saving wall glitches only work in SA for Dreamcast; IIRC SM has a guide to such differences)
SA2/SA2B (the differences are pretty well spread for this; each system has its own advantages, though the big one is the extra ring in every SA2B stage)
SH (I vaguely recall something about boss times being slightly smaller in the PS2 version but I'm probably wrong)
I know, this is a lot, but any suggestions would be welcome too. Thanks!
Find the stats where the current record can not be performed on every system. Big example: Final Egg from SA. I doubt this one needs explaining.
Send a notification to every player in the chart by PM. I have a feeling that this could be automated pretty simply, though I could be wrong. Let them know all of the following information, and advise them to save their stat somewhere else.
About a week later, purge the chart. Hopefully, everyone who really wants to keep their stat can, because they paid attention to the PM and wrote their stat down. Reopen the chart to submissions.
When a competitor submits a new stat to the chart, include a checkbox on the submissions page for which system the competitor used. They check the appropriate box and submit.
Now the stats can be simply sorted by which system/version used.
Rank the systems separately; when a user brings up the chart, show it all on one screen but separated as to which system.
Here's the important part: calculating points.
The player's point count is determined by ONLY the other submissions for that system. If a player has submitted for both systems, the best of the two works.
Example: Say five people submit to the new Final Egg charts in the first day: mike89, SM, RPG, Thorn, and DsS. Their times are as follows:
mike89 got 9 seconds on the DC version
SM got 2 minutes on the GC version
RPG got 2 minutes 10 seconds on the GC version
Thorn got 8 seconds on the DC version
DsS got 7 seconds on the DC version AND 2 minutes 5 seconds on the GC version
And all of these times were submitted.
The points are distributed as if:
DsS and SM are tied for 1st
Thorn is 3nd
mike89 and RPG are tied for 4th
Explanation: DsS and SM hold the records for their respective systems, so they each get 1st. Second place for each system is Thorn and DsS, but DsS is already first for the DC version, and is already in 1st; Thorn is thus alone at 3rd. mike89 and RPG hold third for each of their systems, and there are a grand total of three people ahead of them, so they are tied for 4th.
Why this is good: I think it would help competition and not give an unfair advantage to someone with a particular console. I know I personally am that less likely to compete actively in Final Egg, because I only own the PC SADX version and therefore have no chance of coming close to the seven-something-second record for the original Dreamcast version. I also know that there is a 99.9% chance that I will never own a Dreamcast, and that most people won't own the same game on multiple systems unless they were (no offense) clueless enough to buy SADX when they already own SA. I feel that this could greatly help competition in a few areas; it might be a tad difficult to implement but I don't think it would be all that bad once people understand it. As far as I am aware, this would help for the following:
Sonic 1 Game Gear/Master System (Bridge 2 rings comes immediately to mind; I think there are a couple other GG/MS titles that also have differences)
Sonic 3/Sonic & Knuckles/S3K (someone owning S3 but not SnK has a severe disadvantage on Launch Base 2 times)
SA/SADX (the large majority of the time-saving wall glitches only work in SA for Dreamcast; IIRC SM has a guide to such differences)
SA2/SA2B (the differences are pretty well spread for this; each system has its own advantages, though the big one is the extra ring in every SA2B stage)
SH (I vaguely recall something about boss times being slightly smaller in the PS2 version but I'm probably wrong)
I know, this is a lot, but any suggestions would be welcome too. Thanks!
19
General Sonic / Unleashed in Play Magazine
« on: May 11, 2008, 08:44:23 am »
OK, so I know the Sonic Unleashed article in ONM/NOM (don't ask) didn't have any new information. Well, I was flipping through Play Magazine in the local Borders and they had a couple of interviews, one with the director and another with one of SoA's higher ups (I want to say producer but I don't remember for sure). There was some info there that I hadn't heard/seen, so I figured I'd relay it along.
Oh yeah, and allow me to remind you that this is Play Magazine. I.E., the magazine that initially gave Silver the Hedgehog 9.5/10. And these interviews were, by the tone of them, done by the same reviewer that gave Silver such glowing reviews. Don't say I didn't warn you.
* In my eyes, the biggest piece of new information: reportedly, the one problem with past games that Sonic Team has been focusing the most on? Removing cheap deaths from falling down bottomless pits. Finally. Also, second on their list of problems-to-fix was loading times; apparently Sonic Team spent a lot of time fixing those. I take it a few lessons were learned from Silver the Hedgehog.
* Some of the levels will be at LEAST six miles long, so long that the levels will actually dynamically load while playing. Why? Because that's even too much for the PS3 and X360 available memory to handle. Though, if you consider Sonic's supposed top speed, that should take - just over 28 seconds. I dare SM to try THAT one.
* There will be hub areas. Though the director promised that there would be few annoying NPCs to talk to. These were emphasized to be more Sonic-like free roaming than past incarnations of the game.
* New abilities will be found with items in the stages. Odd, because even though this has been done multiple times in the series, they will be in the stages themselves, not in the hubs. Such abilities include a "Sonic Boost" (sounds similar to Speed Break/Chaos Control, he even said it has separate music - boo, Hero-type music is never as good as level music) and a wall-jump.
* The stages in the Wii version will be different enough from the PS3 and X360 versions (as the Wii levels will be designed by Dimps) that Sega is expecting a few people to even go to the point of purchasing both the Wii and one of the other versions to see the differences. Expecting it, not banking on it. (Come on, even Sega isn't that stupid.)
* Silver WILL. NOT. be in this game (because the Play reviewer was practically begging for it <_<). The director seemed to suggest that there would be few other characters in the game, but also mentioned the need for Sonic Team to create new, interesting, and compelling charas. Right.
* The director confirmed that Eggman/Robotnik will not be the final boss, but he also said that Eggman is much more evil in this game, and does something much worse than usual (blowing up the earth, anyone?)
* The music will be done by Tomoya Ohtani (sp?). Yeah, you can go ahead and act surprised now. Personally, I think this is good; Ohtani was junk for Billy Hatcher but pretty good otherwise. Though I am disappointed that Jun Senoue has left the building.
* Images with the article included a more modern city street in gameplay (as compared to the Mediterranean city). The view was actually from inside a small shop (the window writing was in a foreign Latin-based language but from what I understand was a deli perhaps) looking out through the glass to see Sonic running in the streets. A few other images of this area were present as well. There was also a castle/cathedral-like area that also showed Sonic's wall jump. Finally a concept art of a far-east grove with buildings similar to the Gigan Rocks from Zero Gravity (either Chinese or Japanese and I didn't feel like guessing wrong).
* Finally, not a word was said about the werewolf or time changes, so we're still all in the dark about that. Also nothing was said about Super Sonic, even though he's already appeared in cutscene screencaps.
Speculating away. Please no flame wars. Note the flame barrier as the message icon. Meaning this topic is protected from flames. Kthx.
Oh yeah, and allow me to remind you that this is Play Magazine. I.E., the magazine that initially gave Silver the Hedgehog 9.5/10. And these interviews were, by the tone of them, done by the same reviewer that gave Silver such glowing reviews. Don't say I didn't warn you.
* In my eyes, the biggest piece of new information: reportedly, the one problem with past games that Sonic Team has been focusing the most on? Removing cheap deaths from falling down bottomless pits. Finally. Also, second on their list of problems-to-fix was loading times; apparently Sonic Team spent a lot of time fixing those. I take it a few lessons were learned from Silver the Hedgehog.
* Some of the levels will be at LEAST six miles long, so long that the levels will actually dynamically load while playing. Why? Because that's even too much for the PS3 and X360 available memory to handle. Though, if you consider Sonic's supposed top speed, that should take - just over 28 seconds. I dare SM to try THAT one.
* There will be hub areas. Though the director promised that there would be few annoying NPCs to talk to. These were emphasized to be more Sonic-like free roaming than past incarnations of the game.
* New abilities will be found with items in the stages. Odd, because even though this has been done multiple times in the series, they will be in the stages themselves, not in the hubs. Such abilities include a "Sonic Boost" (sounds similar to Speed Break/Chaos Control, he even said it has separate music - boo, Hero-type music is never as good as level music) and a wall-jump.
* The stages in the Wii version will be different enough from the PS3 and X360 versions (as the Wii levels will be designed by Dimps) that Sega is expecting a few people to even go to the point of purchasing both the Wii and one of the other versions to see the differences. Expecting it, not banking on it. (Come on, even Sega isn't that stupid.)
* Silver WILL. NOT. be in this game (because the Play reviewer was practically begging for it <_<). The director seemed to suggest that there would be few other characters in the game, but also mentioned the need for Sonic Team to create new, interesting, and compelling charas. Right.
* The director confirmed that Eggman/Robotnik will not be the final boss, but he also said that Eggman is much more evil in this game, and does something much worse than usual (blowing up the earth, anyone?)
* The music will be done by Tomoya Ohtani (sp?). Yeah, you can go ahead and act surprised now. Personally, I think this is good; Ohtani was junk for Billy Hatcher but pretty good otherwise. Though I am disappointed that Jun Senoue has left the building.
* Images with the article included a more modern city street in gameplay (as compared to the Mediterranean city). The view was actually from inside a small shop (the window writing was in a foreign Latin-based language but from what I understand was a deli perhaps) looking out through the glass to see Sonic running in the streets. A few other images of this area were present as well. There was also a castle/cathedral-like area that also showed Sonic's wall jump. Finally a concept art of a far-east grove with buildings similar to the Gigan Rocks from Zero Gravity (either Chinese or Japanese and I didn't feel like guessing wrong).
* Finally, not a word was said about the werewolf or time changes, so we're still all in the dark about that. Also nothing was said about Super Sonic, even though he's already appeared in cutscene screencaps.
Speculating away. Please no flame wars. Note the flame barrier as the message icon. Meaning this topic is protected from flames. Kthx.
20
Wikkity! / Music wierdness
« on: May 02, 2008, 07:54:50 am »
Hold tight, this is one of the strangest computer glitches I've ever seen. Viewer discretion advised.
You still there?
Good.
OK, so I'll freely admit it (not to bad of an admittance here anyways), I have a large amount of videogame music, about 90% of which is Sonic BGMs and remixes. I use Quintessential as an audio player for that. Now, I recently reinstalled and returned to playing a fairly old game, Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge (I'm preparing for a potential SDA run). Now, I have all of the music for this game saved in My Music as well, titled normally. The game typically has an odd glitch where, if you exit the game, the music continues to play. Here's the oddness:
I have QCD player running in the background but paused, as I typically do.
The current playlist on the player is entirely my Sonic collection, nothing more, nothing less.
I play the Frogger 2 game for awhile and exit, still can here the background music play.
I pop the disc out and back in to get the music to stop (always do that, always works).
I turn my music back on.
All of the music from Frogger 2 has been added to my music player.
The artist is listed as Jennifer Lopez.
WHAT.
THE.
HECK.
While yeah, I do own a lot of common music, like the stuff you'd hear on the radio, I have NOTHING from J.Lo. And no, the Frogger 2 music has NOTHING to do with her. Furthermore, each of the tracks has a different title, different from the standard title of the audio file. I open the playlist window and simply reload the Sonic playlist, the extra tracks are gone.
I'm not particularly asking for help here, I just thought it was one of the strangest things I've ever seen a computer do, and I wanted to share it. But, anyone who knows where this could be coming from, I'm still extremely curious.
You still there?
Good.
OK, so I'll freely admit it (not to bad of an admittance here anyways), I have a large amount of videogame music, about 90% of which is Sonic BGMs and remixes. I use Quintessential as an audio player for that. Now, I recently reinstalled and returned to playing a fairly old game, Frogger 2: Swampy's Revenge (I'm preparing for a potential SDA run). Now, I have all of the music for this game saved in My Music as well, titled normally. The game typically has an odd glitch where, if you exit the game, the music continues to play. Here's the oddness:
I have QCD player running in the background but paused, as I typically do.
The current playlist on the player is entirely my Sonic collection, nothing more, nothing less.
I play the Frogger 2 game for awhile and exit, still can here the background music play.
I pop the disc out and back in to get the music to stop (always do that, always works).
I turn my music back on.
All of the music from Frogger 2 has been added to my music player.
The artist is listed as Jennifer Lopez.
WHAT.
THE.
HECK.
While yeah, I do own a lot of common music, like the stuff you'd hear on the radio, I have NOTHING from J.Lo. And no, the Frogger 2 music has NOTHING to do with her. Furthermore, each of the tracks has a different title, different from the standard title of the audio file. I open the playlist window and simply reload the Sonic playlist, the extra tracks are gone.
I'm not particularly asking for help here, I just thought it was one of the strangest things I've ever seen a computer do, and I wanted to share it. But, anyone who knows where this could be coming from, I'm still extremely curious.
21
General Sonic / THE (not really) OFFICIAL SONIC UNLEASHED SPECULATION TOPIC
« on: April 06, 2008, 12:43:35 pm »
OK, I figured we'd might as well. I know I'm already psyched for this game.
First, I would actually guess that we've only seen two "continents" in the gameplay video. I don't know about the rest of you, but I think the background of the desert-city-thing looks far too similar to the background of the giant trees. Could that really be one large stage?
I also want to know what Antarctica would look like, I don't know if they're specifically going with Earth's seven or if they're trying a different tack.
I would expect Werewolf Sonic to be a far slower but far stronger version. That probably isn't a good thing, we've had far too much slow lately.
I also have a feeling that not many other characters will appear - it just doesn't seem like they will. I even further doubt that any other characters would be playable.
I think we can infer that Super Sonic will NOT be playable in this as well.
That's all I have for now, let the speculating begin!
First, I would actually guess that we've only seen two "continents" in the gameplay video. I don't know about the rest of you, but I think the background of the desert-city-thing looks far too similar to the background of the giant trees. Could that really be one large stage?
I also want to know what Antarctica would look like, I don't know if they're specifically going with Earth's seven or if they're trying a different tack.
I would expect Werewolf Sonic to be a far slower but far stronger version. That probably isn't a good thing, we've had far too much slow lately.
I also have a feeling that not many other characters will appear - it just doesn't seem like they will. I even further doubt that any other characters would be playable.
I think we can infer that Super Sonic will NOT be playable in this as well.
That's all I have for now, let the speculating begin!
22
Wikkity! / Help with a school thing - funny warning labels
« on: March 30, 2008, 01:23:28 pm »
OK, so on Tuesday my ethics class is going to have these discussions, and I was asked to do something about extensive warning labels on products. Whilst Googling (<_<) for some amusing ones, I figured I could ask here. So, post any really amusing warning labels that you've seen, including what they were on. Real ones please.
To start, I'll post some of what I've found. I got this list of ten from some random person's blog:
1. On a can of bug spray: "Harmful to bees".
2. On a life-saving device: "This is not a life-saving device".
3. On a children's cough syrup: "Do not drive car or operate machinery".
4. On a motorcycle mirror: "Objects in the mirror are actually behind you".
5. On a box of sleeping pills: "May cause drowsiness".
6. On a milk bottle: "After opening, keep up right".
7. On a bag of peanuts: "May contain nuts".
8. On a water heater: "If the building in which heater resides is on fire, do not enter the building".
9. On a mattress: "Do not attempt to swallow".
10. On a TV remote control: "Not dish washer safe".
To start, I'll post some of what I've found. I got this list of ten from some random person's blog:
1. On a can of bug spray: "Harmful to bees".
2. On a life-saving device: "This is not a life-saving device".
3. On a children's cough syrup: "Do not drive car or operate machinery".
4. On a motorcycle mirror: "Objects in the mirror are actually behind you".
5. On a box of sleeping pills: "May cause drowsiness".
6. On a milk bottle: "After opening, keep up right".
7. On a bag of peanuts: "May contain nuts".
8. On a water heater: "If the building in which heater resides is on fire, do not enter the building".
9. On a mattress: "Do not attempt to swallow".
10. On a TV remote control: "Not dish washer safe".
23
Gaming and Grazing / ITT we help get music
« on: February 16, 2008, 09:19:21 am »
Hokay, so. Here's the deal. I really like video game music. I have a number of computer games with good music that I would like to extract from the game for use in an audio player.
The problem? I have little idea what these files are and less of an idea how to run them. My goal is to convert them into MP3, OGG, or WAV files. I know Guncam can extract played audio and convert to WAV, but I'd rather have just the BGM and no sound effects. However, this does mean that all I need is an audio player and I could capture the music from that. Any help would be appreciated.
I'm currently looking for SND and SD3 players/converters. Just to point out, these particular files are at least 5 years old. There are many other files but those are the only ones I remember at this moment.
Oh yeah, and allow me to remind you that my budget is $0. So yeah, freeware would be awesome, shareware less so but could work.
EDIT: No, the SND files don't work in QuickTime. I already tried that.
The problem? I have little idea what these files are and less of an idea how to run them. My goal is to convert them into MP3, OGG, or WAV files. I know Guncam can extract played audio and convert to WAV, but I'd rather have just the BGM and no sound effects. However, this does mean that all I need is an audio player and I could capture the music from that. Any help would be appreciated.
I'm currently looking for SND and SD3 players/converters. Just to point out, these particular files are at least 5 years old. There are many other files but those are the only ones I remember at this moment.
Oh yeah, and allow me to remind you that my budget is $0. So yeah, freeware would be awesome, shareware less so but could work.
EDIT: No, the SND files don't work in QuickTime. I already tried that.
24
Bugs / Bottom of Member List
« on: January 29, 2008, 08:10:38 am »
http://www.soniccenter.org/members|page:0
Err, the last four names on the list were updated December 31st, 1969. I sense a -1 glitch.
Err, the last four names on the list were updated December 31st, 1969. I sense a -1 glitch.
25
General Sonic / Blue Sphere Algorithm?
« on: January 16, 2008, 09:35:38 pm »
OK, not a typical competition game. I was looking at this:
Blue Sphere Maps (BTW Thanks Rolken for posting this way back when)
Just by the way the site seems to work, this quite obviously isn't a database of any kind. (Besides, by the sheer number of ... well ... numbers, such a database verges on the gigabyte range.) There must be some kind of algorithm that relates level number, stage number, password, and four level tiles. I also noticed that it probably wouldn't take much work to make a simple flash/C version of Blue Sphere (possibly even a mobile version), and that if it was to recreate that game, the least obvious part to implement is this setup of levels. I could actually be up to programming something like that if I have the spare time. Does anyone here know either (1) the algorithm itself or (2) how I would find this algorithm?
Blue Sphere Maps (BTW Thanks Rolken for posting this way back when)
Just by the way the site seems to work, this quite obviously isn't a database of any kind. (Besides, by the sheer number of ... well ... numbers, such a database verges on the gigabyte range.) There must be some kind of algorithm that relates level number, stage number, password, and four level tiles. I also noticed that it probably wouldn't take much work to make a simple flash/C version of Blue Sphere (possibly even a mobile version), and that if it was to recreate that game, the least obvious part to implement is this setup of levels. I could actually be up to programming something like that if I have the spare time. Does anyone here know either (1) the algorithm itself or (2) how I would find this algorithm?
26
General Sonic / Music similarity?
« on: January 09, 2008, 10:46:12 am »
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiSP3kWiTPs Volcano Valley 1 Genesis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qZLTYb7mvA Sky Troops
O_o
Am I the only one who sees the resemblance?
And, post any other music similarities. There are the obvious S3D/SA ones (Green Grove/Windy Valley and Panic Puppet/Twinkle Park) and I read one here about Electric Egg matching His World.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qZLTYb7mvA Sky Troops
O_o
Am I the only one who sees the resemblance?
And, post any other music similarities. There are the obvious S3D/SA ones (Green Grove/Windy Valley and Panic Puppet/Twinkle Park) and I read one here about Electric Egg matching His World.
27
General Sonic / SSBB Sonic Music
« on: January 07, 2008, 09:10:51 am »
Hadn't seen this discussed here, but it was on SSN so I wouldn't be surprised if most of you had heard this.
http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/music/music19.html
This is the Sonic music to appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it's actually an Angel Island remix by none other than Jun Senoue, and it KICKS. I think we may have a good idea which stage is appearing now?
Interesting question: What other music would you like to see redone like this? I know there's already a ton of unofficial remixes out, but Jun Senoue is about as official as it gets. I personally would like to see Chemical Plant and Launch Base have some kind of official remix of this vein.
http://www.smashbros.com/en_us/music/music19.html
This is the Sonic music to appear in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, it's actually an Angel Island remix by none other than Jun Senoue, and it KICKS. I think we may have a good idea which stage is appearing now?
Interesting question: What other music would you like to see redone like this? I know there's already a ton of unofficial remixes out, but Jun Senoue is about as official as it gets. I personally would like to see Chemical Plant and Launch Base have some kind of official remix of this vein.
28
Information Kiosk / AntiRecords
« on: December 12, 2007, 08:45:00 am »
Just asking, I'm probably in the wrong place here, but I was glancing at my AntiRecords page. How exactly are the AntiRecords sorted on that page? There's been times that I've started at the top of that page and just tried destroying them all in succession. It doesn't seem to do with rank....
I remember first looking at the AntiRecords and going, "woah, did they name a set of records after me?" They probably did, and for good reason, but I'm not as proud of it anymore....
I remember first looking at the AntiRecords and going, "woah, did they name a set of records after me?" They probably did, and for good reason, but I'm not as proud of it anymore....
29
Wikkity! / Where'd ya all go?
« on: August 04, 2007, 10:07:01 pm »
Am I the only one here somewhat disturbed by the, what, THREE WEEKS absence of this website? For some reason, I didn't even get the OSNAP BRB GUYS message when the board usually fails. Is there something wrong? Perhaps something that I might be able to help fix?
30
Competition Central / Game Saves in Mega Collection Plus
« on: July 07, 2007, 10:12:54 pm »
This is kinda bugging my conscience (sp?) so I thought I would check. I use the saves on Mega Collection Plus extensively when doing my runs. Like, I save every 50 or so rings in a RA in case something stupid happens and I lose my progress. Is this wrong? If so, then most of my ring and score counts are voided, and I really hope that doesn't happen. I personally would be okay with it, as it simply saves time, and it doesn't actually affect the game itself, but I just don't know. Thanks.
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