Wow, thanks dude. I just saw your recent post.
It's funny because I thought you didn't understand exactly what I wanted but now I realize I didn't understand what you were trying to help me with. I don't have photoshop (you have to pay for it I believe) so I tried using gimp (a free thing). I'm not very good at it since I'm self taught but I managed to do some n64 covers before. It was time consuming though. I wish someone would teach me how to use photoshop (can't learn from the youtube videos, don't have very good hearing so I wouldn't be able to listen to the people on it). How expensive is photoshop anyway?
No problem man, glad you like it and also get that I wasnt trying to
FORCE you into adopting my black and orange spine preference! lol.
Photoshop costs
A LOT of money yes, typically around £250/$370 new.........
BUT..........like most things digital, it can be downloaded for free via torrents and such but I wont go into that in case it breaches forum rules or something here.
You could pick up and older version of Photoshop a lot cheaper though, I actually still use an early version of Photoshop CS3 which I think came out over 10 years ago! and it serves my purposes exactly.
Plus, and linked to your thoughts about learning it, as you probably gathered it is not an easy thing to get to grips with at first but in all honesty, if you have any kind of creative bones and are even vaguely proficient in using computers, then anyone can pick it up and become good with it. It just takes time really, I dont think anyone would learn how to properly use it from a Youtube instructional video (maybe little functions and what little tools within it can do)........as with most things in life, for me you just have to dive right into it and learn as you go! just can be and is quite daunting at the start.
I have been casually messing around with it for a couple of years but only really in the last 6 months have I really knuckled down to becoming better with it and I have improved a lot (thanks to feedback/pointers from people here via covers I made at the start and having them point all the flaws I need to address and focus on! lol).
So my best advice is to try and get hold of a cheap older version of Photoshop and just stuck into it! noone can teach it to you as far as Im concerned, and if they did it would be teaching you
THEIR way and that might not fit with how you want to use and learn with it.
You cover of Mars Matrix is cool. Now that I've printed out like 10 dc covers in all white spine, I feel like I can't go back and use other spines (need uniformity!). Totally understand about you fulfilling other needs first. I can wait but I definitely will print as soon as I receive them! I'd do them myself but like I said, I don't really know how.
Man, totally understand about uniformity! lol, I am precisely the same........you should see my various collections, I dont even order them alphabetically but by production company logo as I simply
HAVE to have the uniformity of seeing "Capcom" and "Konami" etc. all lined next each other!
So with these DC covers, not only could I do that but I could also ensure that every colour scheme of every spine matches and is uniform, hence why I have spent time adapting and re-doing perfectly usable covers to suit what
I WANT..........whats the point of collecting and displaying the games you love if you cant also enjoy the ordering and displaying of them as well!!?? thats pretty much what this site is all about.
So, you're a fan of Giga Wing, also? If you had to rank the DC shmups, 1-10 or whatever, what would your rankings look like? 1. Ikaruga, 2. ? , etc. I like Shmups but I never played them much as a kid and am going to try and get into some now. I'm guessing you can burn games for homebrew? Most of my DC games are all real copies (I have 19) but I didn't realize until recently that burning them was so easy and that it made getting "rare" titles much easier.
Man, tough to rank my DC SHMUPS, so many great ones but a tentative go would be =
1 - Ikaruga
2 - Giga Wing
3 - Giga Wing 2
4 - Border Down
5 - Under Defeat
6 - Gunbird 2
7 - Zero Gunner 2
8 - Chaos Field
9 - Radirgy
10 - Karous
But that can change a lot depending on how Im feeling but that top 5 is pretty much constant. Ohh and another thing, you have to get yourself a arcade stick for the DC!!! not many choices but thankfully, the official (Hori or Agetech made) stick is one of the best sticks of all time (for me) and is an absolute
MUST for any SHMUP fan, especially as the standard pad for the DC is one of the worst of all time (again, for me, lol).
Also on the burning of games..........ohh yeah! most of these are burnt due to the popularity and expense of their real counterparts, so being able to play and have a physical copy of a game I could only have if I forked out £60/$95 to buy! makes the DC and its ability to play burnt games, un-modified in any way, such a great console (for us, not Sega! lol).
Oddly though, most of the really great homebrew games (including pretty much
ALL of the best new SHMUPS, that would feature heavily in my top 10 if I could play them) are actually only obtainable via the purchasing of the physical copies from the homebrew developers!!! lol
So yeah, these are people who exploiting the DC's ability to effectively be hacked right out of the box due to a lack of DRM.......but then when
THEY produce an awesome game that people want, they DRM the f*ck out of it so it is not able to be copied and put as a digital download!
So, although I cannot get hold of those awesome games (will save those for another post as this one is long as hell already, lol) as they go for a lot of money too (like £50/$75).......I have to respect the fact that these "hackers" so to speak, are putting in measures to ensure their games are not "hackable"........whilst they hack a system to make the game in the first place!
It's funny you mentioned them because I already have Hydro Thunder and Jet Set Radio for the DC. Some other titles I have and love for the DC are:
Crazy Taxi 1/2
Skies of Arcadia
Grandia 2
Sonic Adventure 1/2
MvsC2
They are pretty obvious though to anyone who is well versed with the DC. Skies of Arcadia is my favorite rpg ever (was the first I ever played). Can't recommend that enough and Grandia 2 is also great.
Cool games their yep, not an RPG fan at all to be honest (Zelda is as far as I go and even with that I get annoyed by the requirement to talk to people and read a lot of text! lol)........SHMUPS are my favourite genre simply because they are pick up and play, no bull shit, high adrenaline, and requiring of fast reflexes and skill.
I do like a lot of other types of games, as long as they have a steady pace to them, so many platformers, adventure, racing and action games are good for me.......probably the furthest I go into RPG territory whilst still loving a game would a Castlevania: Symphony of the Night kind of thing, of Metroid games, where there is a lot collecting of items and exploration but not a real linear narrative, so lots of choice and crucially not a lot of dialogue and talking to people involved.
