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Website Sickness
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By: Mike
Website Sickness
I am sick. I am sick of NES websites. (I told you I was sick!) I am tired of encouraging others to start their own and fed up constantly after cruising around the few good NES pages still active today when shunned with either no update at all or a randomly dished-out ramble placed strategically by webmasters.
You cannot tell me that this community is dying! E-bay is perhaps hotter than it has ever been before, and my raw log files are enough proof that many people still feel strongly about the system. Re-visions and updates to classic NES franchises are being translated to newer systems nearly every single month! So then, what exactly is the problem here?
8 Critiques and a Funeral
I normally do not mention sites by name, but since the list is fairly small and fits with this editorial of mine, it deems necessary. Before I get started, if the webmasters of the sites are reading: Take my advice. Please. I am doing this to help, not hurt, the community.
Minkis, MacDaddi, Rick, and FM are the unsung heroes of the webmaster community (Minkis especially). Chedda has gone through hackings, board troubles, staff changes, servers, and unnecessary criticism from others. They work hard to keep an update a week (just like us) and are dedicated to what they do.
If I had to pick one NES site out there right now that brings home the message of keeping the NES flame alive most accurately and diversely – Chedda would no doubt be the winner.
The Warpzone
TRM gets slack. He gets a whole lot of it. Some of it is deserved, much of it is not.
The Warpzone, deemed “a smaller version of NES World”, is the little engine that many said couldn’t. He is- was determined to break free from the mold the rest set to rise above giants like tsr. I admire that. Not limiting his boundaries to only information, TRM dips into humor… and falls flat. Nonetheless, he attempts it.
After a harsh ‘investigation’ and later condemnation of character, Dave is no longer updating the site that I have been watching for some time now. Man, forget about it, and get back on TWZ.
Counting back on RR’s updates, roughly the last 5 consisted of almost absolutely no material. Nada. Polls? Polls are extraneous- the condiment to make the main course go down better. However, the dish is missing altogether which leaves me eating ketchup packets. I don’t care to eat ketchup packets, RoyalRanger.
Flash movies. Need I say more?
This Old NES
Sheik… can you hear me, man? We need updates! Like, soon.
It saddens me to see a Christmas layout and promised projects delayed indefinitely.
I was once a huge fan of the site and semi-frequent poster at the boards. Now, maybe because the site is “big enough”, sufficient updates are barely made monthly. Sure there are gobs of information and articles up as it is, however, if *I* can come up with some fairly uncharted material on the NES — the grand wizard that is Martin can surely do the same and then some.
No more busting on TRM. Please! Maybe it was entertaining for some, but for me and many others I have talked to, it was nauseating. To put together 2 pages just to badmouth one person (if it is called for or not) is downright scandalous, and in fact, hurts your character just as much as the accused. The NES scene is run by “immature teenage jerks”? Maybe that phrase needs to be tweaked to allow a wider age range, pal.
ODMC, I love your writing. I hate your update frequency. You have the magic fingers when it comes to typing out ingeniously love-hate ramblings and coverage of both modern and classic gaming.
The PG-clean writings entertain and manage to brighten me just a little, something that very few writers on the Internet have managed.
Yochi’s Temple of Friends Revisited
I rarely have any problems with this site. Yoichi seems to appreciate RPGs a little more than I care to but I can’t criticize him for his opinionated taste. Or can I?
We need another good VG article. No review. Article. No RPG FAQ and walkthrough. Article. The basic site layout cannot deny the great writings I have gobbled up in the past. Yochi is a skilled writer with a solid humorous trait going on. Work it, therefore, girl.
I have been silent ever since this site first launched. The darker, unwelcoming layout was a drag.. but the writing made up for it. Well, until they decided to bitch about every particle of the community and anything else under the sun. Many of the “articles” really did not go so well with me (and many other visitors). Were they aiming for that kind of reaction? Probably.
The archived commercials, although none of the video transfers were done by them, are nice. However, in the same section, showing other people’s Flash work and labeling the addition of new movies as updates, pisses me off being a Flashtier. Why can’t they put together their own movies instead of posting other people’s works?
Some have gotten attached (RR), the site even hooked me in once before, but I wouldn’t like to think I get most of my hits from visitors just because I project every lil “controversial” thing that pops in my head. Fortunately the new articles have been interesting reads and caught my attention again. No more “8 bit graphics are ugly” arguments, ‘kay?
I need some Tylenol.
