James

[b]Mario versus Sonic CHAPTER 1: THE NOT SO NORMAL BEGINNING[/b] The calm, blue ocean glistened in the morning light. From above, it looked as blue as the sky. And it was so fresh, that people came from all over the globe to take a dip. On this particular day a rumbling sound, deep within the clouds above, broke the tranquil silence. And soon enough, a large shape emerged from the billowing white expanse. It was a plane. Not just any plane, mind you; this plane was pink. Yes, pink. And not only was it pink, but on its roof was painted a large symbol that, to the common slack-jawed-joe-six-pack, resembled a large brown mushroom. And suddenly, without warning, the plane stopped in mid-air. The waves below stopped moving and the air stood still. Part of the cloud behind the plane began moving? A small chunk of cloud floated away from the rest. And within this small chunk of cloud was sitting a small, orange turtle with glasses. The turtle began moving closer and closer, with what appeared to be a camera attached to the end of a fishing line. He moved closer and closer until? [b][i]SMAAASH!![/i][/b] The turtle promptly adjusted his glasses, before turning to face the audience. Yes, he is now facing the audience. Oh, wait?he?s coming closer to me?OUCH! What did you do that for? I?m trying to tell a story here! [b]Turtle:[/b] Not on my time, buddy! Move along, now. And just like that, the turtle managed to extract the original narrator from the scene. Amazing, huh? [b]Lakitu:[/b] Ahh, much better. No more of this ?turtle? business? The turtle bowed as best he could inside his cloud. [b]Lakitu:[/b] Welcome to Mario vs Sonic, a tale of espionage, intrigue, sex, lies and videotape? The sound of crickets could be heard in the background as Lakitu wiped the sweat from his bald little forehead. [b]Lakitu:[/b] Okay, well?it?s not quite like that. But nevertheless, I?m sure you?ll enjoy the story. As you?ve probably guessed, I?m the narrator. And yes, I am currently speaking in the present tense?despite the fact that this story is actually being told in the past tense? Lakitu went cross-eyed for a brief moment, as if he were confused by his own words. [b]Lakitu:[/b] Now that we have that business sorted out, let me give you a little background on the current situation. Lakitu turned and pointed to the pink plane behind him, which was still in a state of suspended animation. [b]Lakitu:[/b] That, my friends, is the plane of Princess Toadstool. Or, in ?new school speak?, Princess Peach. Where are they going, you ask? Well, as a matter of fact, they are going on a vacation. You see, Mario is sick and tired of constantly saving that ungrateful Princess. And considering that she won?t give him any of the good stuff? The crowd boos loudly. [b]Lakitu:[/b] Erm, by good stuff I mean?cake. Yes?cake. Ahem. Anyway?as a kind of payment for all his hard work, the Princess has decided to pay for this vacation. Just where are they going? You?ll have to read on and find out! Lakitu bowed once more and added a wink for good measure. He then calmly made his way out of the scene? ? ?? And then, he flew straight back into view. [b]Lakitu:[/b] Oops! I forgot to start it up again?sorry. ^_^;;; He clicked his fingers and then flew back behind the clouds from whence he came. As soon as he did so, the pink plane rumbled to life again and continued to make its way over the ocean below. There were only three people inside the plane itself; Princess Peach, Mario and Sir Shroom. Sir Shroom was Peach?s loyal butler. Mario was somewhat annoyed that Sir Shroom had invited himself along on this particular vacation, as he was hoping to get some of the good stuff whilst relaxing on the beach. And by good stuff, I mean cake, of course. Mario and Peach had spent the last hour discussing what they would do when they reached their destination. Mario wanted to visit the beach first, while Peach wanted to visit the local market. As for Sir Shroom, well, he was a big fan of magic mushrooms. And he greatly anticipated a visit to the local mushroom stall. And yes, by ?magic mushrooms?, I mean pudding. After several hours in the air, both Peach and Mario had been laying back in their comfortable mushroom-embroidered chairs, thinking of the kind of fruit they would like to taste test. The island they were visiting was known as Dolphic Island. It was a small, out-of-the-way place, far from the hustle and bustle of the Mushroom Kingdom. It was famous for its local fruit. [b]Peach:[/b] Ah! I can just picture it now! A big, tasty cocamelon! [b]Mario: [/b]Cock-a-what?! o_O; [b]Peach:[/b] Cocamelon! Haven?t you ever heard of them? They are delicious. I used to get them shipped in by the container load to my castle?but for some reason, the shipments stopped? Sir Shroom, who was rudely overhearing everything that was being said, leaned over to Mario and whispered in his ear? [b]Sir Shroom:[/b] Yeah, the shipments stopped because Princess Peach bought some non-see-through blinds for her bedroom. The couriers weren?t able to peek at her underthingies while on their lunch break? [b]Peach:[/b] Did you say something, Shroom? She raised her eyebrow. [b]Sir Shroom:[/b] No?nothing. She nodded. [b]Peach:[/b] Very well. As the hours went by, Mario and Peach began talking of Mario?s previous adventures. Peach just loved to hear about Mario?s bravery in saving her life time and time again. Sir Shroom blocked his ears with some large, fluffy earmuffs during the rest of the trip. He was sick and tired of hearing the constant flirting; he just wished they?d get a room and leave him alone. Finally, after many hours in the air, the trio could feel the plane landing. Peach looked out the window and saw the runway; they were landing on Dolphic Coast, which was directly adjacent to Dolphic City, the capital of the island. Beyond the runway, Peach could see colorful huts and strange, sandy-colored buildings. There were many of them ? maybe hundreds. And they seemed to be clustered in little groups, going back as far as the eye could see. The streets of Dolphic City were populated by friendly townspeople, who were certainly not very modest; they were nothing but grass skirts and ?coconut-boulder-holders?, as Peach referred to them. Peach was brought up as a Princess, so of course, she felt a little uncomfortable seeing so much bare flesh. Of course, matters weren?t helped by the fact that she?d been wearing the same pink dress for the last decade or so. As soon as she exited the plane, she planned on making a change of clothing one of her first orders of business. As the plane came to a halt, the large door on one side opened slowly. Warm sunlight poured into the plane?s little cabin. Mario, Sir Shroom and Peach all shielded their eyes ? they weren?t used to such bright light! Mario jumped out the door of the plane, followed closely by Peach and Sir Shroom. As they stood by the plane, they carefully surveyed the local area. [b]Sir Shroom:[/b] My, my. There is a lot of bare flesh here! O_O [b]Peach:[/b] Tsk tsk. Sir Shroom?you?re my butler. You should have more dignity! Sir Shroom hung his head low and quietly whispered a few choice phrases that won?t be repeated here. Mario looked to his right, across the white sand of the beach. On the other side of the beach he saw a familiar figure laying in the sun. But who was it?

[color=royalblue]Yeah, I think most people have guessed what ShineGet.com is all about (given the Mario images and stuff). It is indeed a Mario site -- specifically focused on Super Mario Sunshine. Although other titles might be included in some form. My aim is to produce the world's largest Super Mario Sunshine website. Most Mario sites focus on many Mario titles; with a lower focus on each game. My goal is to have a very in-depth focus on Mario Sunshine. It is, afterall, quite a big and extensive game. Having said that, I have some other plans for the site which will significantly expand it. But those are not to be discussed until after the site has been running for a little while. When we get closer to launch, I'm going to be making some official announcements and going into a little more detail. :)[/color]

[color=royalblue]Taking prozac and alcohol was [i]very[/i] stupid. I hope you've learned your lesson. ;)[/color]

[color=royalblue]Well, the more I read about Mario Sunshine, the more I want it. Billy of PGC took about 40 hours to complete the game, but that doesn't include all 120 Shines -- he's still [i]50 Shines[/i] from the "true" end of the game. That is really exciting -- Luigi's Mansion was painfully short, despite being very enjoyable also. Super Mario Sunshine seems to be exactly what old school Nintendo fans want; a modern Nintendo classic that is actually as hard (and probably harder) than any or all of its original 2D counterparts. Even for those who are new to the Mario/Nintendo universe; you can buy this one game and spend a great deal of time on it. Some felt that Luigi's Mansion wasn't worth the price, because it didn't last long enough/wasn't challenging enough. I don't know if I agree with that (I'm not very concerned with a game's length), but the knowledge that I can buy this game and spend a long time fully exploring it and getting everything out of it, is very pleasing for me. Funnily enough, one of my most played PS2 games is actually Gradius III & IV. Gradius IV has "new school" shooter graphics, but retains that incredibly difficult original 80's gameplay. It's a wonderful game to spend a rainy afternoon with -- it challenges the player in so many ways, but the difficulty is never [i]bad[/i]...it's an asset more than a liability. Blegh, I know I'm going on and on about difficulty lol. I guess I'm just pleased that the [i]right kind[/i] of difficulty is used here. Not the difficulty that is the result of very bad collision detection or shoddy framerate.[/color]

[color=royalblue]It hasn't been on year yet... I'm not sure of the exact date -- but I think it was mid-August.[/color]

[color=royalblue]Okay well, to answer Justin's comment -- I've already stated my reasons for a board on that site. ShineGet.com will not fit into the "Otaku" group of sites, as such. All of the sites that O3 has produced so far have been revolving around the "Otaku" theme. This site will be fundamentally different and will be an extension of the network. There is certainly an argument for directly bringing ShineGet.com visitors to OtakuBoards. But at this point, I feel that if we are able to produce a ShineGet-exclusive community (which is directly gaming related), we can attract more visitors to theOtaku.com and other sites in the network. The idea here is to have a second, smaller community. ShineGet.com's boards will not be as large as OtakuBoards in terms of features or physical size. It will be more of a niche discussion area, to be focused specifically on what that site is all about. In time, if the boards become very popular as a standalone boards, then it might be worthwhile for us to "merge" the communities together. Still, OtakuBoards is a fairly tight-knit community. A massive influx of new members would not necessarily be the best thing for the site. But this way, we kind of have a buffer -- the most hardcore, gaming-specific fans will probably stay at the other boards, but hopefully, by advertising sites like OtakuBoards and theOtaku.com on ShineGet.com's boards, we can also attract some of these people to OB. And vice versa. So, I think the main issue is that ShineGet.com is not what we have done before. It's not a traditional "Otaku site" in that sense. It is something entirely new and fairly niche, as it doesn't cater to a very wide audience...only a fairly specific audience. Still, it all depends. If the boards are a total flop, I will probably just divert visitors to OtakuBoards instead. A lot is dependant on the visitor base.[/color]

[color=royalblue]Well, if you're good at pictures...ShineGet.com will have an area for fan submissions and such. So don't worry; everyone will get a chance to contribute. :) As for being a mod...I need to wait until the boards are actually running (and the site has to be running first and foremost) before I start considering mods. [/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Aries [/i] [B][color=darkblue] IWill you still be admin on those boards? Just wondering, since you're resiging here, and we'll be sure you won't leave :p [/color] [/B][/QUOTE] [color=royalblue]Yes, I'll be an admin on those boards. I will remain the active admin on OtakuBoards until someone suitable is found to work alongside me. Unfortunately, I haven't really found anyone suitable just yet. Shine Get is kind of a recent thing. So by working on that site, my time with O3Online as a network is probably going to extend longer than I thought. And I had mentioned to staff that I'd be "retiring" from OB well before the concept of ShineGet.com came about. So, having said that, once a replacement is found for OB...I will probably remain an admin here, but more in the capacity that Adam is -- meaning, I won't be actively running the boards anymore, but I'll still be around. So my situation will become similar to Adam's. He runs theOtaku.com, so doesn't have time for running OB. If I'm running ShineGet.com full time, I will be in a similar situation. I'm very pleased that so far I have a couple of really great people working with me on ShineGet. So those people may take more of a role in O3's network in the future. Who knows. Anyway, I'm getting off track a bit much here. With OB, our gaming sections are less active than anime sections. This is because many of our members join after already being a visitor of theOtaku.com. So, ShineGet.com will aim to bring in [i]gamers[/i] to the network. Thus, the gaming portion of OB will grow. And at the same time, ShineGet.com would have its own boards that would continually bring in more people to the community...while also being somewhat independent. So, I'm still thinking about it. It's a pretty big task (on top of the site itself, which is already a big task). But I'm pretty confident that if I choose to do it, it can be done. EDIT: I thought I'd add; I [i]will[/i] be looking for Moderators for the boards. And the boards [i]will[/i] use the exact same rules as OB, given that they are both a part of the same parent network. I do not know if I want 100% of the Mods to be people who currently mod at OB. The main reason is because most mods here already moderate other boards and I don't want to further strain their time. Plus, it's always good to open the floor to new Moderators. Ultimately, it'll probably be a combination of both old/new Mods. So for those who aren't Modding here but would like to...you may have a chance yet. lol[/color]

[color=royalblue]I'm still a little bit unsure about the following...so I thought I'd post a general thread here, rather than actually create an announcement. Basically, I'm considering launching an all-new boards exclusively for ShineGet.com. There are several reasons for this. First, it is very inefficient to simply clone OtakuBoards. Having two seperate vBs on our server would simply take up too much bandwidth. There are also various technical problems that could be encountered with that kind of arrangement. Second, even though ShineGet.com will be owned and operated by O3Online, the primary aim will be to encourage new visitors to the network. So, the site will most likely initially rely on visitors from the current community...but in time, the aim is to attract new, non-anime visitors to O3Online (who will also hopefully be attracted to sites like OtakuArtist and OtakuBoards). Currently, I'm considering going with Ikonboard. Why? Because it's very easy to customize...and I can build a really awesome Shine Get skin from scratch for it. Plus, most people here are familiar with the operation of iB code and such (it's quite similar to vB). So basically, I'm partly looking for a few people who might be interested in working on the boards with me (adding hacks, dealing with some installation issues, adding skins etc etc). I'm also wondering what people think about Shine Get having its own boards (even though many of you don't know the specific details of ShineGet.com -- though it doesn't really matter). So, yeah. A fairly general thread...but I wanted to put it here now just to gauge the response. Depending on what people say (and depending on the enthusiasm), I'll either source some tech people from outside the OB community...or I won't produce any new boards at all. So, fire away. :)[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by GhostofSalvtore [/i] [B]Well then why would anyone get MGS2 Substance alls that really is that you can play as Snake its not like there are any extra missions cept VR which aren't that great its going to be the same story. [/B][/QUOTE] [color=royalblue]Apparently MGS2 Substance will actually have quite a few new additions -- including quite a few extras within the main game itself. By being able to play as Snake all the time, there will be a lot more dialogue and some new gameplay sequences. I've read that there will actually be quite a few new additions. This is partly why I haven't yet bought MGS2. I might buy Substance instead.[/color]

[color=royalblue]Heh heh. How do you like my new banner? ;) Semjaza gave me that picture...so I HAD to make a banner out of it. lol Anyway, here is my first member banner. The animated ones are hard to compress, but I try not to go over 100KB. This banner is about 65K I think. So it's not too bad. [IMG]http://www.itsmysite.com/shineget/images/shinebanner_1.gif[/IMG] Anyone is free to use the banners that I post up here. ;)[/color]

[color=royalblue]Well, Ginny...I think sometimes life can be depressing. I mean, it can't be helped. But it's possible to get over these periods and to think about what is positive in your life and focus on that. I don't know what help I can be...but if you ever want to PM me to discuss your problems, I would be happy to help in any way that I can. I understand how you feel -- and I know that you perform a very valuable service to the entire community here. But I do feel that people here truly like you for who you are. I know I do. :)[/color]

[color=royalblue]Where do I start? 1) This topic doesn't make a great deal of sense. Thus, it is considered spam. 2) You obviously haven't read the rules whatsoever. READ THEM. 3) Your post quality (spelling, grammar) is horrible. Take more care when posting. That's about all I have to say. It seems to me that you are probably just a mass spammer, but I'll give you a chance. This is the last warning you'll get from me though. Please read our rules and take more care when posting.[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Aries [/i] [B][color=darkblue] Half-hearted? Wow, that's better than I could do no matter how hard I tried. Very nice ;) [/color] [/B][/QUOTE] [color=royalblue]Yep. I'm very glad to have Semjaza working on this site with me. I think people will be pleased with the end result.[/color]

[quote] keep wondering if people really like me for me, or if they only like what I do...if they are only nice to me for as long as it takes for me to go away. [/quote] [color=royalblue]I frequently wonder the same thing...[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by HyperShadow [/i] [B]ok then but are you just gonna make 1 banner 4 everyone or you gonna put up more that we can choose? [/B][/QUOTE] [color=royalblue]I'll make a few and post 'em up. :)[/color]

[color=royalblue]Here are a couple more ShineGet wallpapers. Once again, very simple. They also gives a hint at how the new site will actually look. ;)[/color] [URL=http://www.itsmysite.com/shineget/images/Wallpaper3.jpg][IMG]http://www.itsmysite.com/shineget/images/Wallpaper3_Thumb.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://www.itsmysite.com/shineget/images/Wallpaper4.jpg][IMG]http://www.itsmysite.com/shineget/images/Wallpaper4_Thumb.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [color=royalblue]Sensei-San, to center an image in your signature, you simply use the < center > tag. I put a space so that the tag doesn't actually work, so you can see it. As for those who wanted banners...rather than make individual banners for everyone, I've decided to use this thread as a kind of ShineGet promotional thing... I'll just keep posting wallpapers and banners here for those who want to use them. Then, you can just choose what you like and use it. :) The site itself is coming along very well. We are still on target for a late August launch. :)[/color]

[color=royalblue]I definitely encourage people to read PlanetGameCube's SMS review -- it was stated that an average gamer would need 30+ hours to beat the game, whilst an experienced player would need 25/25 hours. I think that's excellent for a platformer. The addition of new abilities (the water pack, for example) really helps to expand gameplay in ways that have never been done before. This also potentially adds greater life expectancy to games.[/color]

[color=royalblue]I don't know how I feel about it. On the one hand, I think some are too paranoid and unrealistic about it. On the other, America was always behind the 8 ball when it came to internal security. So at the very, very least, security is now being taken a lot more seriously.[/color]

[color=royalblue]Let's keep this to PMs if possible, everyone. I'm not sure that a "Hi! I'm Christian, are you?" style topic is really appropriate/worthwhile. If people want to continue the discussion, I encourage them to PM the Gohan's Gurl. :)[/color]

[color=royalblue]I like the limited ammunition idea in RE, if only because it adds difficulty. As for Silent Hill...I find that you encounter enemies a little bit less in the SH games. Silent Hill is less about combat and more about puzzles and atmosphere, in my opinion. Silent Hill manages to capture that sense of urgency and panic more than Resident Evil. It also manages to make you think that you are all alone...and that if you're not careful, you'll probably go crazy. Resident Evil provides that in some cases, but for the most part, it can't come close to providing that same feeling overall. I think Silent Hill is the [i]scarier[/i] game (more effective at being scary), though not necessarily the [i]better[/i] game. I was annoyed that SH used the same controls as Resident Evil -- they are very outdated and not really appropriate. They are just too cumbersome...and I'd really like to see a big revamp of controls for RE0 and RE4.[/color]

[color=royalblue]Well, PGC gave SMS a 10/10...a perfect score. So it seems that the addition of the water pack was more a stroke of genius than an error. ;)[/color]

[color=royalblue]Oh no...I think very few people could make those characters from scratch. That is expert, in-house Nintendo stuff. :) Here is a very large image of the newer generation logo (as a wallpaper): [URL=http://www.itsmysite.com/shineget/images/Wallpaper2_Logo.jpg][IMG]http://www.itsmysite.com/shineget/images/Wallpaper2_Thumb.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Hopefully I'll have a final logo cobbled together soon enough.[/color]

[color=royalblue]My greatest accomplishment would be an article I wrote last year. It received some pretty massive praise industry wide -- even the EIC of EGM, Dan Hsu, congratulated me and commented on it. So, I'd say that was my greatest achievement so far. But there are many more to come, I hope. :)[/color]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by agent_OBFS [/i] [B] It'd take a space object at least a few miles wide to destroy all human life. Stop making up ****. I watch the ****in discovery channel. [/B][/QUOTE] [color=royalblue]Watch your language. I'd also advise you to read our rules (since you either haven't or are ignoring them). Rules are required reading for all those who register.[/color]