Shapermc

I got a friend from the bemani community into shmups... now he attacked me with the shmup virus and I am wanting to play again... I weep for my wife as I have hooked the MAME cab back up.

I am doing it. The idea has been brewing for a while, but I want another option out there. A quarterly gaming publication. No numbers allowed. No system or topic taboo. I want everything to be heavily opinionated and I want depth damnit.

The problem: I cannot do this alone. I know a bunch of people who can write, but I just know you all, not know-know you. So I am asking for interest. I will be willing to do just about everything for this but I can’t write the whole thing myself. If you’re interested in helping on this project please let me know.

For those interested here is what I am thinking; in depth articles on gaming that are at least 2000 words. No number grading system, plot analysis, editorials, strategy, score system breakdowns, genre discussion. Currently I have a small group of people (including a copy editor, artist, comic strip, and writers) but am looking for more help still.

I would like to get the ball rolling with this to have the first .pdf available by March next year at the latest with an aimed release of January. I can’t really offer to pay, but I will set up a cafepress account with options to buy with profit going to web space first, and then spread out to everyone else. Based on the first issue I will gauge if a real printing would possibly work.

Any questions/comments/concerns are very welcome for this project. Please email me for more info about this so that I don’t bog up the journals: shapermc(a)gmail.com

Honestly there are a few people here who I am hoping offer their talent up. Rando, I would love to put your strategy guide out there on Border Down, that is amazing. I would also love to see other things like that.

No, I am not dead. A few people here may read my live journal and would know that a lot has happen since my last post (over a month ago on Sept. 8th). So let us get the ball rolling:

Reason for no me: I had to evacuate New Orleans because of a hurricane. This kind of sucked and knocked me back from posting here for a while and I just never caught back up. I at least skimmed though all the posts since my last visit so I am somewhat caught up with everyone.

Pop'n Music: Wow, lots of progress. As of my last posting I was struggling with a few low level 30 songs. Well as of Monday I have moved up to about level 34 competency and have beat as high as level 37 (Oi Punk 0 [H]). I really need to start opening up some EX songs just so that I can get some more practice. Most of my progress is strange and is jumpy. There are still a few level 30 songs I cannot beat and then there are level 34 songs that I beat on my first try. Hopefully I can beat all 9-Line and Hyper song up to level 34 by the release of Pop’n 10 (about a month away)… not too hard.

Beatmania IIDX: I have maybe played a handful of times since my last post, but I don’t really seem to need to. Getting my fingers on all the right keys is my only problem as the patterns are pretty similar to Pop’n. It takes me about a half hour every time I play to get into the groove and find the right finger placing. So anyways, I beat my first 7 star, 7 Key song (poor score though):

Gradius 5: Yes I had this pre-ordered. Unfortunately I did not take the score challenge seriously. (Congrats on that BTW rob). Currently I am working on level 3 and can get to the downward vert scrolling and through most of it. Anyways, I am using type 1 as I was having problems with the bosses (never a previous problem with Gradius games) so this one took them out the quickest.

Others: I bought Katamari Damacy, and have “finished it”. There is still a lot to go back and improve on. One of the best new games I have played in a while. I am also working on the SNES Yoshi’s Island. I have had this game for over 5 years now and still not finished it; I’m just playing it to relax. I also (because of work) needed to get into an exercise program so I bought DDR and a Red Octane Ignition pad. I guess I am good at it since it only took me about 2 weeks to be able to beat most Standard difficulty songs and a few Heavy. Thank god I am just working on this game to exercise to because I have so much else on my plate right now.

--Well your all caught up now. I should go back to my weekly or so posting now :D

Well I entered most of my PnM9 scores :( Yea, I need to work on score. I also removed my 9-line scores from public viewing. I just don't have the heart to defend them...

Anyways recent accomplishments: Cossack [H] Energy Rock [H] Super Euro Long [H] (only because of a simple ending) Trance - Colors [H] (finally fugging fell down!)

There were a few other songs that I came close to beating (only one or 2 bars off), but alas, nothing else. So my focus for a while will be score because I kind of suck.

Going through with my Pocket PC and copying down all my scores I realised that most songs I only played 1 - 3 times just enough to beat them. The songs that I scored decently on were ones with 5+ tries... Man I am lame.

PS: It seems dead here recently.

I only got a little more than an hour to play Beatmania IIDX last night... still I managed to crank out a few more A's and one new AA :D YAY!

Beautiful Days
Doigts De Fatima
Holic (Yay!)
Jelly Kiss
Romeo & Juliet
...
Comment Te Dire Adieu (close to the AAA)

Yea 6th Style... -_-;

2004-09-02 07:58:00 IIDX

I played a bit of IIDX last night. I got 6 new A's and improved quite a few scores. I did not realise how much I have improved the last time I played. Now I see that I may not be able to beat anything new, but my ability to beat alot of the L7 stuff has improved. Like I said 6 new A's:

Deadline
era(Nostalmix)
Love Again Tonight(this is close to a AA)
Ride on the Light (Hi Great Mix)
Still My Words (BORDER BONUS! OMG! >.>)
TenGoku No Kiss

Did I mention that I played 5th Style? I know I can do better, but for only playing like twice in the past month or more, not bad.