Twingalaxies down

[thetedster]

Pardon my french, but I'll never spend 40 dollars to be "A Part of History"... they're out of their minds.

I play a lot of professional magic: The Gathering, and I could spend 40 dollars on a legitimate Pro Tour Qualifier, not on a world record that needs to have, at most, 30-45 minutes of time done watching the video to verify; then placed into html code onto a web site.

At that rate, can I make a web site called "Big numbers game"? You send me a dollar, and a number, from 1 to 2 billion. I take that number, use a "Hidden formula" and place it on the wall. who knows who will have the bigger number, but if you do, it'll have bright shiny lights around the number and your name!

I'm sorry, but people who make no business sense blow my mind. (I'm a business major with a marketing minor)

[Jack Bando]

The more I think about the two parts I dislike (no forum and $), both can be salvaged perhaps

No forum-An unofficial one will probably pop up and everyone will let people know where it is. Not as good as an official one though

$-Since it's $15 for an hour and $25 for anything longer it means that the price is not tied to an hourly fee. So first I'm hoping it's not per record cost but per disc. (If I send in a disc with 10 records 6 minutes each I give them $15. If I give them $150...hahahahah..no.)

If it is per disc and you can request no certificate the fee goes to about 8 and 17 respectively. 17 for sending in a full disc doesn't sound terrible, and maybe they can drop it further.

I hope.

[Mary McManus]

Don't forget, even if one does follow the rules for submitting scores to TG and the score is verified by TG, officials can always latter lie and say the score was "constantly disputed" and impossible to verify" if a player with connections in the movie business shove enough cash under thier noses. If movie producers (ahhh...hmmm. Seth Gordon, Ed Cuntingham and "thier boy" Steve Wiebie) wish to disenfranchise the player out the accomplish ment. Yes, TG has done this and the con job that has become KOK is a prime example of lies and disenfranchisement by TG. This is all documented fact! Noone can offer any response against.

If anyone doent believe this the I dare anyone to ask Steve at one of these public events he attends who actually had The DK record before him and see what he tells you.....then ask him how much money he and his cronies made off the disenfranchisement......then ask how he sleeps at night!~

[thetedster]

you realize you would be paying money for something that should be celebrated by gamers automatically right?

It would be like if Michael Jordan had to pay to play basketball, how much sense does that make.

EDIT: What I should say is Michael Jordan Paying to show others his replays and paying for his own awards

[Jack Bando]

True Ted. The problem from what I understand is when Walter sold TG it was no longer a non-profit, making it almost impossible to have volunteers on staff, which means they need to be paid, I was hoping 1Up/Richie would just eat the costs or sell a lot of shirts, but that looks unlikely.

[Mary McManus]

theperfectfraudman Informative info here! Step into the reality behind some of gamings greatest controversies and cover-ups here.

[SMASH]

Dwayne is just mad that billy broke his gentlemens agreement and got a perfect pacman score before the rest.

[Barra]

From TGI's Facebook:

I would like to thank the gaming community for coming together and being a part of such an incredible weekend. The Kong Off 2 ended up with national news coverage, and it was well deserved. It will be remembered as a monumental weekend that was much larger than just a Donkey Kong Competition. It is the hope of our organization to continue to bring the community together, and we plan to do that through multiple live events in 2013.

The Twin Galaxies Masters Tournament will begin this coming February and Conclude in September of 2013. There will be a full rundown on the format of this Tournament/Series when the TG website launches.

I am pleased to announce a few changes to my statements made this past Saturday on “Arcade Culture”.

The Kong Off 3 will take place the weekend of November 15th-17th 2013 at The 1up in Denver, Colorado.

Regarding the submission process:

I have been following the numerous threads and have done my best to take everyone’s opinions into consideration.

The cost per submission to Twin Galaxies will be $15 no matter what the length/duration is.

I would like to breakdown the cost per submission:

As of January 1st 2013 Colorado “Minimum Wage” is $7.78 per hour. There is the cost of the certificate, and in addition to that, each certificate will be returned in a USPS Priority Mail Envelope, with Delivery Confirmation at a cost of $5.75. Once the score is verified, there is still time that must be spent updating the database, and ultimately a fee associated with processing the transaction.

We hope that you can see that the fee associated with each submission is to help us offset the cost associated with verifying each record. There is simply no way to effectively verify submissions in a timely manner without having a fee associated with it.

We will no longer be accepting online/uploaded submissions as in the past the paperwork required for each submission would never arrive or correspond with the uploaded content. All submission must be mailed to Twin Galaxies headquarters in Denver Colorado.

We will begin verifying/accepting submissions as of Monday December 3rd 2012.

We will be accepting “Top Ten” submissions for the “Arcade” platform only.

Due to the amount of console platforms, the number of games available for each, and in some cases the number of games/records available for each game; the only way to properly verify console scores is to accept record breaking/setting submissions only. This is our position for now, and we hope to expand this to mirror the Arcade platform as our organization grows.

We will “Not” be dropping any platforms that have been a part of the Twin Galaxies Database.

Again I would like to thank everyone for their patience, and please know that we are diligently working to get the scoreboard and Twin Galaxies back online.

J-O

Some good news. Glad they will now include top 10 for arcade and I can understand where they are coming from with the consoles.

[Mary McManus]

Finaly glad to hear someone admit! Thank You. Yea Billy just broke a gentelmans aggreement and cheated Rich Fothergill out of the opprutunity, Walter was in on it to. So what are you saying its ok for these score keeping officials to conduct business like that and turn a profit at the expense of cheating others. If one persons scores are not safe than neither is yours....

---------- Post added 11-21-2012 at 12:47 AM ---------- Previous post was 11-20-2012 at 09:17 PM ----------

Why not have people set up to play right here via RU for the next kong off? Not everyone who would like to participate can afford the travel and lodging expense.
Some of us like to play for fun and friendly competition, the only ones allowed to exploit KOK for monetary profit are Steve and Billy anyway (I saw thier newline cinema contracts) .not like anyone else will profit from it anyhow..no matterhow good they are.

A seperate designation for those at RU would be nice................this will eliminate unaffordable travel expenses, TSA grope downs/rapes at the airports, not having to go through radiation maches at the airport and I can avoid having my possessions stolen out of my luggage from the same TSA goons that enjoy the power trip of groping the air travelers and radiating them in microwave ovens...........on second though even if I had the money I wouldn't fly anyway.


Again a catagory for RU would be nice next time.

[Jack Bando]

Barra, they also said there will be a reduced rate if someone doesn't want a certificate

[Barra]

Yeah just read that on facebook.
Thats good news to me (if I ever deciide to submit) as there would have likely been an increase in rate since Im international.
Like it or hate it, these guys are far better than the last lot already.

[SMASH]

Well, long live RU. Kong and you all you admins that verify scores are under appreciated. Thanks for all your volunteer time.

---------- Post added 11-26-2012 at 06:47 AM ---------- Previous post was 11-21-2012 at 10:19 AM ----------

From TG's FB page

Thank you all so much for taking your time to post on our Facebook Page. I will be the first one to admit that someone’s (my own) idea is not always the best idea. Twin Galaxies is a very near and dear organization to many people and it is our goal to be as accommodating as possible.

When we purchased the company we were assured by the prior owners that scoring was current to within a couple of months, and in addition we were told that there were no outstanding obligations such as certificates, posters and other financial items.

In addition to the above not being the case, we knew that there were flaws in the scoring/submission process. Please understand that the prior ownership was running a for profit business by using volunteer labor to service the core of the business, which is the scoreboard. When you leave something so serious to the community, up to a volunteer group, it’s only a matter of time before there are flaws associated with it, which devalue the brand. While there only may have been just a few rouge referees or volunteers working under the prior ownership, their actions were enough to devalue the company to just a name, and the legacy of Walter Day.

Without Walter Day, who was not even a part of the prior ownership or a volunteer in any form or fashion, there wouldn’t be much left to the Twin Galaxies name. Walter’s Trading Card project is the only thing that has kept the legacy of Twin Galaxies and the history of Competitive Gaming in the public eye. We are really thankful to be working with Walter on a day-to-day basis to return Twin Galaxies to what it once was.

We really enjoy reading everyone’s feedback online no matter if its positive or negative. The positive helps us shape our vision as we do not have all of the answers, and all of the negative feedback we hope has become as comedic to you, as it has for us.

Now that a week has past since announcing the initial submission/scoring process, we would like to update you on where we stand for now. We know that together we will get to a model that is viewed as fair for the community and also sound from a business perspective. It is our hope that the scoring system is at least a “break even” for Twin Galaxies.

We want to be able to supply the community with a service that is fairly priced, has a fast turnaround, and is honestly scored. There is no way to do this without associating a fee with it. The fee associated with each submission will be $15 USD. This is a flat fee no matter what place, platform or length of the submission for a single game title.

We will be accepting ALL SCORES (no matter what place) on EVERY PLATFORM. Record breaking scores will receive a “World Record Certificate” returned to the player, which is included in the submission fee.

For titles in which a player can achieve multiple scores/records we will be allowing players to submit as many scores/records on the same title that fit into “1-hour” of content for the single $15 USD submission fee.

When we begin to accept submissions we ask that all submissions be sent by snail-mail for the first 30-days. At the beginning of 2013 we will open up for online submissions. The online submission process will allow us to accept MAME scores, International scores and traditional scores at a lower cost to the player.

Once a new “World Record” is verified, a snippet of that submission will be made available so people can share their achievements with the community via social media. If the past/prior record holder and “other competitors” within the current rankings of that specific title challenge a record, the submission will become public domain to be refereed by the community. If a competitor is found to be cheating he will be banned from the TG rankings and all prior score submissions will be revoked.

The scoreboard as of October 3rd, 2012 is grandfathered in. We would also like you to know that all of the media associated with the submissions documented on the scoreboard as of that date were not transferred from the prior ownership of Twin Galaxies. Therefore records set prior to October 3rd, 2012 may not be challenged.

Beginning in 2013 you will see some changes to “Mature Scores”. Every score that is currently part of the database WILL remain a part of the database as it is a part of gaming history, but there may be new requirements for titles so we can get new scoring associated along side “Mature Records”. A good example of this is “Turbo” by Sega. There are the OLD/EASY requirements and then those scores, while the still exist on the scoreboard, have been abandoned for the NEW/HARD settings. I tried to pick as non-controversial an example as I could.

Please know that everything above is where we are "at this time".

We hope to have all of this information up shortly on the Twin Galaxies website, and everything will be covered in greater detail.

Again I would like to thank you for your input and patience.

J-O

[Kong]

Originally Posted by SMASH

When you leave something so serious to the community, up to a volunteer group, it’s only a matter of time before there are flaws associated with it, which devalue the brand.

I would like to thank our mods for proving that is not always true.

We would also like you to know that all of the media associated with the submissions documented on the scoreboard as of that date were not transferred from the prior ownership of Twin Galaxies. Therefore records set prior to October 3rd, 2012 may not be challenged.

Twin Galaxies' screenshots, INP, and videos prior to June 2012 will be made available on chamPOW.com and you may challenge them from there.

[Fellowroot]

We all know that Twin Galaxies has been down for a while now. Apparently it is because it now has new owners. I understand that.

Now, what I do not understand is that Twin Galaxies on their Facebook page said that they would have the site back up in early December. In fact they stated that it should be back by December 3th. Now, I don't have a problem with delays and I know that sometimes when you make plans for something to happen there are of course delays and setbacks, but why the heck is their Facebook page down too?

I really don't understand this. Their site goes down and now their Facebook page is down too! What the hell is happening? Are they trying to avoid talking to the community about what's going on? Can somebody fill me in? Where is my damn Twin Galaxies?!?!!?

[Slime Slayer]

Originally Posted by Fellowroot

We all know that Twin Galaxies has been down for a while now. Apparently it is because it now has new owners. I understand that.

Now, what I do not understand is that Twin Galaxies on their Facebook page said that they would have the site back up in early December. In fact they stated that it should be back by December 3th. Now, I don't have a problem with delays and I know that sometimes when you make plans for something to happen there are of course delays and setbacks, but why the heck is their Facebook page down too?

I really don't understand this. Their site goes down and now their Facebook page is down too! What the hell is happening? Are they trying to avoid talking to the community about what's going on? Can somebody fill me in? Where is my damn Twin Galaxies?!?!!?

Why don't you just make Retrouprising your new home? I find it better in every way. Sorry I don't have an answer to your question though.

[Dudebro]

We have no affiliation with TG. Some of our members also post/play there but that's it, as far as I'm aware. We know as much as you do.

[Fellowroot]

Originally Posted by stevencassidy13

Why don't you just make Retrouprising your new home? I find it better in every way. Sorry I don't have an answer to your question though.

Yes, this is a totally cool site and I love it. I could play and set scores all day, but there is only one thing that I care about and that is setting official world records.

If its not official then what is it worth?

[D.B. Cooper]

You think just because TG calls something a World Record that it really is? Sad

[Slime Slayer]

Originally Posted by Fellowroot

Yes, this is a totally cool site and I love it. I could play and set scores all day, but there is only one thing that I care about and that is setting official world records.

If its not official then what is it worth?

Believe me, you'll find plenty of wold class scores here.

[Fellowroot]

Originally Posted by unclechicken

$15 out of your hard earned cash per score according to Twin Galaxies when you submit

Here at Retrouprising, its $0.00

I can see where I will be setting scores in the future.

I've been telling everyone I know about Kongs champow.com site, when that site gets really going it will be better than any other multi platform gaming record site.

I wish Kong every success in champow.com and hope it takes off and becomes more recognized as the site to go to for records.

P.S. Its Free

---------- Post added at 05:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:20 AM ----------

Also, the twingalaxies.com site STILL has old news from October 17th.

I found twin galaxies after watching The King of Kong, probably like most newcomers. Imagine you watched the film in the last 2 weeks, got interested, and read that information on Twin Galaxies website. Waited till the end of November, still the same information.

Its now the middle of December, still the same information. You would find elsewhere to play games and submit scores. If that happened when I watched KoK years ago, I wouldn't have bothered.

Regarding the 15 dollar fee. This is what I've been told or read from Twin Galaxies.

The $15 dollars you have to pay includes up to 1 hour of video footage. Meaning that if you have a score that is 10 minutes in length you could send it in for a fee of $15 dollars or if you had several submissions that were 10 mins in length then you could send in 6 scores that were 10 mins each for a grand total of $15. Basically you cram as many submissions as you can into a 1 hour time slot for a $15 charge.

Also if you have a tape that is 5 hours then is the price 15(5) = $75? Apparently no! The price is $15 for an hour and if your run is many hours its still just $15.

So what you do is just wait until you have an hours worth of footage then you send it in for $15 and if you happen to have a really long marathon run then its still just $15 dollars.

Also on their podcast they said that the $15 includes a certificate and if you don't want a certificate then the price could even be less than $15.

All this information came from their facebook account and the podcast that was at the Kong Off 2. Now whether the info still reflects their current practice or not, well, we will have to wait and see.

[bearhawk72]

I don't see the point in world records anyways. Why? Because it involves not playing the game the way it is designed, but more exploiting the game system for points and playing as long as you can. Sounds rather boring and tedious to me.

[Fellowroot]

Originally Posted by unclechicken

$15 is still $15 more than nearly every other "send us your record" site charges.

I'll be using RetroUprising, MARP, Retroarcademagazine, aurcade, recordsetter, and any other site that lets me upload my score rather than a site that isn't currently working since October 17th. The only advantage TG has over all these sites is that you can get your name in the Guinness book, and that will go if TG doesn't get the scores they need (300 new records/year) is what I understand.

For 2013, with the downtime and the lack of a website from when it went down, I think that would be quite impressive if they pulled it off...

They are concentrating more and more on live Arcade scores, which means people outside of the USA have to spend at least $1500 to attempt to get a score on an obscure arcade title. Good luck with that.

And I really do hope that Donkey Kong gets maxed out soon, I am sick of hearing about that game on the gaming news sites.

If you have watched the King of Kong, you will eventually realise that every single person on there only specialises on ONE GAME.

Billy Mitchell, Steve Wiebe - Donkey Kong / Donkey Kong Jr
Greg Bond - Mappy
Billy Mitchell - Pac Man
Mark Alpiger - Crystal Castles
Robert Mruczak - Star Wars

They are all (nearly) one game people, too much publicity gets shown for one game, the new TG needs to change this. There are loads of people on here (RU) that play a lot of different games and hold WR's, we need more people that are not a "one trick pony", and that prove themselves on different games, not just one "well known" game.

Well I certainly will agree with you in the fact that Twin Galaxies needs to expand to promote other players other than like for example the ones you listed.

Tom Votava is an excellent player.

Peter Gatland seems to have to excellent scores.

Rodrigo Lopes seems to have his name littered all over the MAME scoreboards.


And Saulo Bastos is pretty excellent as well.

Yet you hardly ever hear anything about these guys in the form of news media.



---------- Post added 12-16-2012 at 03:20 PM ---------- Previous post was 12-15-2012 at 02:59 PM ----------

See normally you just go here.

http://www.facebook.com/twingalaxies

and that should get you to the their facebook page.

but when you try to go there you get his

http://www.facebook.com/home.php

as if their pages doesn't even exist.

Why the heck did they take it down?

Facebook isn't down! There should be no reason why Twin Galaxies has their facebook page down.

[Dudebro]

From the sound of things they're restructuring from the ground up and changing everything. They probably have to change their facebook to reflect the new pay to post model.

[Fellowroot]

Originally Posted by unclechicken

Or the asshat(s) that hacked the old site have been messing around again.

If thats so,. I hope they leave them alone at least till they get their site back up again.

Yeah, I remember when the Twin Galaxies forums got hacked and then there was a follow up post stating to change your password and such.

And if they are going to completely redo the Twin Galaxies facebook page then I would at least expect a temporary page setup that states that they are in the process of rebuilding the site and the facebook page from the ground up and give some kind of expected finish date.

You can't just disappear off the planet and leave thousands of players hanging.

---------- Post added at 03:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:39 AM ----------

Hold the Phone!

Okay, so I was reading about how to play the games on your site just because I might well maybe set a new high score on a game and I read the following in the rules section.

"If you do not log in at least once every 2 years then your account along with your scores and save states might be deleted."

Wait a minute, for some reason this doesn't make any sense to me. If I don't log in during a certain time frame then all my scores could be deleted! What?

I know a lot of people here are saying that this place is a lot better than Twin Galaxies and all, but I don't really see why anyone's scores should be deleted simply because they are inactive for a while.

At Twin Galaxies I can set a score in the 80's and forget about it and then what do you know, its still there now in 2012!

To me that's the whole point of setting world records. When you set a record it should be there forever! No one should be able to take it away from you.

[Slime Slayer]

Originally Posted by Fellowroot

Yeah, I remember when the Twin Galaxies forums got hacked and then there was a follow up post stating to change your password and such.

And if they are going to completely redo the Twin Galaxies facebook page then I would at least expect a temporary page setup that states that they are in the process of rebuilding the site and the facebook page from the ground up and give some kind of expected finish date.

You can't just disappear off the planet and leave thousands of players hanging.

---------- Post added at 03:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:39 AM ----------

Hold the Phone!

Okay, so I was reading about how to play the games on your site just because I might well maybe set a new high score on a game and I read the following in the rules section.

"If you do not log in at least once every 2 years then your account along with your scores and save states might be deleted."

Wait a minute, for some reason this doesn't make any sense to me. If I don't log in during a certain time frame then all my scores could be deleted! What?

I know a lot of people here are saying that this place is a lot better than Twin Galaxies and all, but I don't really see why anyone's scores should be deleted simply because they are inactive for a while.

At Twin Galaxies I can set a score in the 80's and forget about it and then what do you know, its still there now in 2012!

To me that's the whole point of setting world records. When you set a record it should be there forever! No one should be able to take it away from you.

I don't think that is the case anymore, and the rules need to be updated. Pretty sure anyway.