Starmen.Net

<div style="float: left; margin-right: 1em"><youtube src="Q7hCNq85afY " /></div> <a href="http://starmen.net/ebsiege/pktuben"><img style="position: relative; top: -10px; border:0;" class="subhead" alt="PK Tube'N Logo" title="EB Siege - PK Tube'N YouTube Contest!" src="http://starmen.net/ebsiege/banners/ebsiege_pktuben_S.png" /></a><br /> <p>That's right -- this is the last leg of the Siege. Why now? Because Nintendo of America seems determined that they will NOT release EarthBound on the Virtual Console. They pulled the EarthBound demo from the Masterpieces section of Smash Bros Brawl. Why would they do that? Nobody knows for sure, but we're pretty sure about one thing: it's not good news. If EB doesn't come out on VC, then the series is officially dead in America.</p> <a href="http://starmen.net/forum/?t=msg&th=45866">Click here to find out how you can help...</a>

<p><img src="http://starmen.net/ebsiege/pktuben/tuben-prizes.png" alt="Prizes" title="Prizes which you can win by going tuben." class="picright" />So not only are millions of gamers missing out on EarthBound (do you realize that it sells no lower than $70 and as high as $450 on eBay?), but Nintendo of America is taking away our only chance to prove how well MOTHER 3 could perform outside Japan. <em>Lame.</em> But we've dealt with this kind of disappointment for 13 years, so instead of moping and complaining, we're doing what we do best -- kicking up a creative dust cloud. And in the center will be prizes, including a copy of the <a href="http://starmen.net/ebanthology">EB Anthology</a>, <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/meeellla/2301807953/">Fobby</a> and <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/meeellla/501019624/">Starman</a> figurines, and one of the rarest pieces of EB Merchandise in existence: a <a href="http://starmen.net/merchandise/misc/airfreshener.php">Mach Pizza air freshener</a>.</p>

<p>More info on the newly-created <a href="http://starmen.net/ebsiege/pktuben">PK Tube'N Information Page</a>, or hit up the brand new <a href="http://starmen.net/forum/?t=thread&frm_id=94">PK Tube'N Forum</a> to post/promote your entry.</p>

Sounds interesting. I regret to say my participation in the Seige has been minimal, but I should definitely participate in doing this. The problem is, I have no experience in making videos. I have no cameras or capture cards and no experience in editing and getting them on Youtube. My only video experience involves ripping DVDs, encoding them into .avi so they're not 800+ MB, and fanankling with subtitles.

In short: how to youtube

But the Japanese version of Brawl had Masterpieces for both MOTHER 2 and one of Marth's Fire Emblems.

If I recall, someone ripped all kinds of graphics in Brawl. Among these, was the screenshot that EarthBound would have had in the Masterpieces section on the menu. Personally, I think that EarthBound and Fire Emblem are still on the Brawl disc, but there's no way to actually access them. Removing the method to play them would be easier than just removing the game itself.

Of course this doesn't mean that EB is still in Brawl, just that the screenshot remained. Even if it was, there's no way to play it short of crazy Wii hacking voodoo.

PsychicKid wrote on Sat, 26 April 2008 10:23

Sounds interesting. I regret to say my participation in the Seige has been minimal, but I should definitely participate in doing this. The problem is, I have no experience in making videos. I have no cameras or capture cards and no experience in editing and getting them on Youtube. My only video experience involves ripping DVDs, encoding them into .avi so they're not 800+ MB, and fanankling with subtitles.

In short: how to youtube

I'm in the same boat here. I have a bunch of movies I made on DVDs, but I have no clue how to make that into a YouTube video. What format does it have to be in? How do you do it?

Mommy, I'm scared!

If they get popular enough to mainstream, then someone important may watch it, and be like "ok why the hey not?"

So has Nintendo actually come out and said "No EarthBound for Virtual Console"? If so, then we have a lot of work to do. It's a good thing I recently got a YouTube account. I'll probably make some EB video thingy.

I'm going to go with new separate info.

Can someone enlighten me as to how posting a bunch of YouTube videos is going to get NoA's attention at all?

Not to be pessimistic but this is a really desperate idea if that is all there is to it.

Just because Nintendo removed Mother 2/Earthbound from SSBB's masterpieces doesn't mean that it's not coming to VC. Maybe they just had some other plan for the game.

I still think it was stupid to take the demo out, especially since Ness is in SSBB, but whatever.

Is that all you guys are going on? Are there reliable sources that are actually disconfirming EB's release on the VC? Hell, what if the NP poll actually worked, and EB was in the top five? How could Nintendo just ignore it at that point?

Yeah, again, to reiterate what some others have said... this is a nice idea, but I can't really see this doing much of anything in terms of letting Nintendo know what we want. As far as the Siege goes, this "last leg" appears to be the weakest. I mean, if gigantic, bound (lol) copies of what is essentially a Mother series love letter being sent to its creators all over the world isn't enough for them to "get" it, then I doubt 30 YouTube videos are going to do much of anything. I don't mean to sound pessimistic or unsupportive, though really, this is the last-ditch effort to tell them we love this series? Once the videos are posted, do we just... email them links or something? I mean, seriously. And not that the prizes aren't, well, pretty great, but do we really need the whole stick-and-carrot technique to get people to show their support? Shouldn't we make this videos, if at all, because we love Mother?

As a contest, I'd say it's a pretty all right idea. But as our final plea in a so-called "Siege," it just seems awfully weak.

I know everyone here understands this, but Nintendo really doesn't care. The Virtual Console exists simply to profit off of our childhood memories, and to sort-of-but-not-really sate the "hardcore" crowd that they've made every effort to ignore and deem insignificant. With Wii Fit on the horizon -- and the fact that Mom and Grandma are more important components to the "new Nintendo" ideology than their actual fans, there just isn't much room for the Mother series, anymore. Sure, every now and then they'll throw us a couple table scraps (Ness and Lucas in Brawl, et cetera), but for the most part, they've largely ignored every heartfelt plea we've thrown at them. Who else besides the Mother community has gone to such lengths to display their affection for a videogame they love simply because of its brilliance? Not many. I wouldn't ever consider a half-assed petition from petitiononline.com a true sign of dedication so much as an idle, lazy sign of affection towards any given franchise.

The "final leg" of this Siege should be us, I don't know, firebombing. We should be sieging Nintendo. I don't mean literally, oh, lord no. Well, maybe.

Again, not to sound like I don't support the idea, as I'm sure this is better than doing nothing at all, but this seems better suited for a contest or a way of getting rid of crap from Reid's office. I'm just being honest.

So, uh, let's, I don't know, get a hold of Atlus for the 100th time or something. I just see this being more effective than dressing up as Ness and pulling REAL hamburgers out of REAL trash cans. If Nintendo didn't give even so much as a passing notice to a fan-made translation to a game that they've refused to release or allow publishing rights to -- or to anything this community has done over the last decade or so, I highly doubt a barrage of home movies that they're likely to never even see is going to do much to change their minds.

Mitchell_XD wrote on Sat, 26 April 2008 12:11

Can someone enlighten me as to how posting a bunch of YouTube videos is going to get NoA's attention at all?

We've already tried to get NoA's attention directly -- this campaign isn't about that. The goal here is, simply, to get as many people to hear about EarthBound as possible. YouTube is a great way to use our community's talents to make that happen.

With more people interested in EarthBound, we're hoping to increase the level of dialogue about the game and its inclusion/exclusion from the VC. For example: Yahtzee, the Zero Punctuation guy, has been really awesome about jamming EB/M3 references into his videos from time to time. That kind of stuff keeps EarthBound at the forefront of people's thoughts, and it manifests in posts, topics, and comments all across the gaming scene. Hopefully it also bubbles up in conversations with Nintendo employees.

Rash wrote:

Is that all you guys are going on? Are there reliable sources that are actually disconfirming EB's release on the VC? Hell, what if the NP poll actually worked, and EB was in the top five? How could Nintendo just ignore it at that point?

The removal of EB from Brawl's Masterpiece pretty much confirmed what our source told us -- the way things are looking right now, it's not going to happen. It was scheduled for summer of 2007 and it got delayed over and over again. If I was free to share more details, I would, but I'll say this much: it's ready to go. They simply haven't released it, and it sounds like they don't plan to.

Listen, I'm not trying to trick anyone into participating in some random contest, and this isn't some pre-planned event like the Funfest. This is an impromptu contest that we've prepared in response to information we've received. Let me make this clear:

The goal isn't to get Nintendo's attention with our videos -- we know they don't care. The goal is to get EarthBound into the thoughts of the general gaming public. We need more people who want EarthBound, because apparently tens of thousands of people aren't enough to catapult us over smash hits like Yoshi's Cookie and Columns III: Revenge of Columns.

If you guys have better ideas, I would (honestly) love to hear them. We need to do anything and everything we can. I created this contest as a rallying point, and I think it can work, but only if people get into it and get creative with it. I'm not asking for you guys to create videos of yourselves playing EarthBound. I want you guys to do stuff that will get noticed outside of this community -- I know you're capable of it.

Thanks!

Not borange?

;_;

you stab my heart multiple times with fork, reidman. multiple, multiple times.

Holy crap, today that was seriously one of my ideas for a video. Do you mind if I plagiarize that entire paragraph for an entry possibly?

Sounds like a great idea to me, but I have this itching feeling that NoA purposefully ignores this community of fans.

FINALLY I can make another EarthBound video. I will film soon hopefully. I shall generate ideas in my sleep!

reidman wrote on Sat, 26 April 2008 18:50

[quote title=Mitchell_XD wrote on Sat, 26 April 2008 12:11]We need more people who want EarthBound, because apparently tens of thousands of people aren't enough to catapult us over smash hits like Yoshi's Cookie and Columns III: Revenge of Columns.

Oh man. Now that you mention it, that's another one of my biggest problems with the VC.

First, Nintendo keeps releasing what, 1-2 games per week instead of the three that it started out with? Also, it seems that, with every good game, there are always a bunch of "meh" games. Nintendo has released some of their big games for NES, SNES, and N64, but they've still just barely scratched the surface. There are so many more gems that they haven't released yet; it's almost as if they're avoiding it. Also, Earthbound in particular is a real gem, a fantastic game that didn't get good reception here in sales, but has built up a fan community because of its awesomeness. Not putting the game on VC is just a complete WTF move on Nintendo's part. It's as if they see no point in putting it out there; as if they have no interest in even seeing how the game will sell in comparison to how it did in 1995, even though they really have nothing to lose.

I just don't see any good excuses for what Nintendo' doing with Earthbound, and the VC in general. It's nearly infuriating that they've been wasting so much potential in the service.

Pandalux wrote on Sat, 26 April 2008 22:52

Sounds like a great idea to me, but I have this itching feeling that NoA purposefully ignores this community of fans.

That is EXACTLY why making these videos is SO. INSANELY. IMPORTANT.

Nintendo may not have listened to out previous demands... THIS is to get the word out through one of the biggest internet venues that currently exists: YOUTUBE.

YouTube is SO widely used, that if we're able to inform more and more people about these great games, why they should be released on the Wii virtual console, and why we've loved them all so much for so long, then they'll no longer simply be hearing the demands of starmen.net. If we're successful, they will be hearing the demands of more people that are interested than ever, ever before.

In the wake of Brawl's release with Lucas AND Ness as playable characters, and a slew of other Mother-series related stuff thrown in there for good measure, the time to get the word out is NOW MORE THAN EVER!

There is NO reason we should see 30 YouTube videos.

EVERYONE WHO HAS A COMPUTER should be getting involved in this! If not for your love of EarthBound, then for the love o' GOD just LOOK at those prizes!!!

What? Did I hear you say your don't have a video camera or fancy video software?! NO PROBLEM!!! You can pick up a FREE program like CamStudio or a trial version of something like WebcamMax, or [http://www.etrusoft.com/screen-recorder/]Screen recorder[/url] and record stuff that you see on your screen, and the audio that your computer is putting out. With a little creativity, you too can make something awesome!! And don't forget that you can always put together some still pictures and/or do an awful lot with Windows Media Player, which comes with most versions of Windows.

This is one of those things that, if you're a fan of EarthBound, of Mother 3, of EarthBound0 or of anything Mother-series-related that you need to be putting an all-out effort into, and tearing the roof off this mofo and letting every person on the internet that you possibly can know that WE WANT EarthBound on the Wii virtual console, and that EarthBound, Mother 3, and the whole dang Mother series is absolutely freakin' incredible.

Ladies, gentlemen -- the prizes are incredible. The situation is dire. The cause is one that we've been fighting for for over a decade, and the final battle is at hand.

Great idea! I just can't comprehend why Nintendo is avoiding EarthBound so much... it's like they're ashamed of it, when it really is quite the treasure. We must recruit as many gamers as possible!

I'd love one of those prizes, but I don't have a video camera or any video editing skills... I guess we'll see.

Mr. Sword wrote on Sat, 26 April 2008 20:41

Well, they can't release all the AAA titles at once. Then nobody would bother with it after that. They have to pace it.

Speaking of which...

Would it be possible to forgo the air freshener for the Anthology if you get first place? I know it's rare EB swag, but...

To my understanding, you choose your prize. The first place winner picks first, then second, and so on.

It's a cool idea,but afterwards maybe we take the larger fanbase and do another Call'N?,we would tell our freinds,our family,our next-door neighbors(Well...maybe just freinds and family)to join in on the fun.Then we do another Mail'N.repeat what I said about the Call'N(Freinds,N' Family)

And I end this message by saying that I'm probably pretty out of place saying this due to the fact I left about a year ago :blush:

Please Don't kill/hate me... :blush:

how i can participate?

To everyone that's naysaying this ideas to the effect of "why do you think youtube videos are going to make a difference?" what does it matter? It's fun and even if Nintendo doesn't notice, if one person on youtube stumbles across one of these videos and decided to play the game as a result, i'd say that's a win. In my opinion, as a fan of the franchise even if Nintendo doesn't do anything more with it in the U.S. it's just as important to do everything I can to make the memory of the series live on and introduce new people to something that has given me hours of joy over the last 13 years.

That being said, I can't wait to see what some of you come up with I wish I could do something to participate but I'm just way too slammed getting the final arrangements together for Anime Central

I am afraid I have not the equipment to participate in this siege... sigh So much I miss out on because money is tight in my family. I'd desperately like to participate for both Earthbound.. and that sweet, sweet Anthology that I've been drooling over since it was first shown.

I also still can't understand why yet again, Nintendo refuses to place a highly asked for game out on the market simply because it doesn't feel like it. That's very unlogical from business standpoint. The game is in English (Mother 1 and 2 is), and there is demand for it. Simply place it on a medium with little or no cost requirements on their part, and the money flows in like candy.

Then again, there are many games out there which I'd desperately love to get my hands on... like the Kunio-kun series...