|
« June 2003 |
Main
| August 2003 »
|
I'M BACK WITH A VENGEANCE!
HAAAAAAAYOLE YEEEEEEE-UH! SHUT DOWN THIS, SEGA/VC!!!
So you thought I was just supposed to go run and hide cuz you sent me a letter from a lawyer?!? Well, the fight is back on, bitches!
to those of you new to beta-7.com, you can read about my struggle against the lying, deceitful, corporate mindwreckers at Sega and visual concepts in my blog ARCHIVES, starting on march 21, and look at the evidence I've compiled in the SEGASWINDLE and BLACKOUTS sections.
And to recap the events of the last week during which MY VOICE WAS ROBBED FROM ME BY THE ASSHOLES AT SEGA AND VC...
Last thursday night Janine talked me into going to 2 phish shows with her, in charlotte and atlanta. We left early friday morning. I got online saturday morning in charlotte to find that my site was down. Also found out on the board at nfl2kx.com that a sega rep had posted on sega.com , claiming that my site was all a hoax, and there was NO WAY THE REVISION DISCS I SPOKE OF COULD HAVE GOTTEN OUT (?!?!?)
I couldn't get ahold of rob all weekend to find out what was going on with beta-7.com. Finally found out from him that he didn't turn the site off, but he couldn't get ahold of the web server to find anything out. He knew something weird was going on though, and started putting the wheels in motion to get the site hosted on another server, and found somebody who was down with the cause and willing to hook us up. Finally on wednesday Rob heard from rackspace that our service had been suspended for violating their terms of service. Then later in the day, I got a cease and desist letter from visual concepts, claiming I'd been "distributing stolen goods" (which contradicts sega's claim that there's no way these discs could of gotten out!); I posted the letter on a free angelfire site in the meantime, and posted my "written assurance" to sega/vc on their discusion board.
Tuesday my mom took me to the hospital, where I had an EEG and a MRI (which were quite expensive, a fact that ill be hearing about from my mom for the next 7 lifetimes). Got the results back yesterday, everything's normal. Apparently the doc called my mom and told her that he thinks I should get psychiatric counseling, but I told her I wasn't going to see a shrink just so he could tell me to stop playing video games.
The trip out of town with Janine gave me some much-needed perspective, and I realized that after days and days of looking through game footage frame by frame, trying to figure out what caused my blackouts, that I'd been spending too much time looking inward, and that my time was better spent bringing the fight right up in sega's face, spreading the word about their misdeeds even more, and forcing THEM to come clean about whats been causing these blackouts. Beta-5 said he'd start looking through game footage for clues, and will keep me posted if he finds anything, and Janine is going to continue to help me piece shredded documents together. Beta-13 has still been crashing at friends houses and he's REALLY fucking sick of running and hiding from thes people who are after him, and he's got some plans in the works. My focus now, which I had lost sight of while obsessing over gameplay footage, is to shout from the mountaintop about sega/vc's lies and deceptions, and to expose them to as many people as possible, until they cant ignore it anymore. They can try to silence me as much as they want to, but it doesn't really matter cuz once enough people realise the truth, its gonna snowball into an avalanche that knocks them on their ass!
So you'd better watch your back sega/vc, cuz ROUND 2 JUST BEGAN!
|
|
|
SEGA "RESTRUCTURING"
Found a couple articles from nfl2kx:
http://www.gamespot.com/all/news/news_6072181.html
http://ps2.ign.com/articles/430/430008p1.html
More corporate double-speak from the masters of bs. Apparetnely sega is "restructuring" which i find encouraging, cuz that usually means a company's in trouble...found this part interesting: "Sega will go through a vast internal restructuring in hopes of dissipating internal oppositions that have had a negative impact on the company and in hopes of making the responsibilities between executives and developers more clear." Internal oppositions, huh? care to elaborate on that, sega?
lol at this part of the ign one: "According to new company president Hisao Oguchi, Sega is now "The Excitement Company."...yeah, okay... i guess "The Mind Wrecking Company" would of been a little too obvious, eh Mr. Oguchi?
|
|
|
WHASSUP, DOC?
Just got back from the doctor. Had a regular physical in his office, and all that was normal, but he wants me to go to the hospital next week for some tests. I tell him ive been having episodes that I don't remember afterwards, and as soon as I mention "video game" he starts asking me if ive ever had seizures before. I tell him no, and I don't think its photosensitive epilepsy either, and he just kinda tilts his head to the side, raises and eyebrow and says, "let's let ME figure out what it is, okay?" Whatever. This doctor was kind of an asshole and really creeped me out. He's got these really short, stubby chewed up fingernails, which I was trying not to think about as he had his hands on me, but it still grossed me out.
So the whole ride back my mom is going on and on and on about how much all this is going to cost, and so finally im' like, look mom, I never asked you to take me to the doctor, and if these tests are to expensive, then fuck it, I just wont go. Immeidiately I regreat blurting out the F-word, cuz then she starts bitching at me even louder. she says, if the doctor says you need these tests, then you need these tests, and your going for them, end of story.
The ride home, so much of my energy went into fighting with my mom that it wasn’t until I got home that all this really sank in. I mean, the hospital. Damn. ive always had a fear of hospitals, and all this time ive figured it was something in the game that messed me up, and ive been hoping somehow I could find like the "off" switch or somehting and everything would be ok, but what if theres something wrong with me, like a brain tumor or something? I know I should think positive like janine always seems to be able to, but all this shit with doctors just puts my mind in "worst case scenario" mode or something.
|
|
|
JANINE FOUND A MEMO!
 Go Janine! She just brought over a memo she pieced together that seems preeeetty interesting…it's dated 1/14/03, from The Big Guy himself, Greg Thomas, to "SOJ OMC" (Sega of Japan, im guessing, not sure about the OMC). Says they've "underestimated" the time it'll take to complete the crashcam technology, so it won't be ready for an August release date, late September "will be more realistic." Yet when I played this game in MARCH, the crashcam mode was fully functional! So why do they need 6 more months? Now, I'm no programmer or anything, but it seems like 6 months would involve more than just tweaking.
Keep on digging janine, you rock! My moms pickig me up in a little while to go see the doctor...wish me luck.
|
|
|
SURVEILLANCE VIDEO: IS THIS YOU?
Janine picke up that video for me from that shop owner this morning...damn you, sun! Even at 93 million miles away, you still burn so bright…this video is so blown out in the background that it could be elvis tackling that chick for all i know!
Couldn't see any better on a 36" tv either but figured what the hell, somebody out there may be able to identify him. I emailed the store owner back asking for more details, but she said she didnt really remember what he looked like since it was a while back. AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGH!!!
|
|
|
ANOTHER BETA TESTER?
Got an email from the owner of a small shop here in town. She said somebody emailed her one of the blackout videos from my site, and she thought it was weird because it was a lot like somehing that happened outside her shop a couple months ago…
So she checked out the site and emailed me, asking if i wanted the surviellance tape. I asked her if she'd mail it to me, but she said id' have to come pick it up. At first i thougt it might be some kind of trap or something, but janine was just like man, you're waaaaaay to paranoid. So she says she'll go pick it up tomorrow, and I'm like, ican't ask you to do that, and again, "you didn't ask, I'm volunteering. besides I need some inscense anyway."
god that girl is amazing. She was laying on the floor piecing together memos for hours, and she actually seemed like she was having a good time! And Lucky loves her! (althoug he was kinda pissed when I put him outsied so she could work on the memos.) I was like thanks so much I appreciate your help, and she was just like, no problme, I love puzzles! She's just so positive and cool, she really makes me feel more energized and positive myself, which is good, cuz I thik all this isolation and worries and everything lately has been getting me down.
Can't wait to see this video! since its from here in town there's a good chance it could be from one of the original beta testers from march 22. Hopefully i'll be able to get some leads on how to track this person down.
Read an interview with Greg thomas on nfl2kx…"We have a very dedicated - some say insane - artist who loves to get every single jersey of every NFL football team in the game." Insane, huh? Insane enough to mess with beta testers minds? Care to tell us more about this guy, Mr. Thomas?!?
|
|
|
GOD BLESS JANINE!
 Janine showed up at my place to see how iwas doing and help me out, which was really cool of her, I figured she was just sayig she'd help me out the other night cuz she was just trying to be nice. I showed her the site and all the stuff I've been working on, and I realized as I wsa looking through it that a bunch of stuff never went up on the segaswindle page (thought I gave rob the files to upload weeks ago, but he says he never got them. me and my oh-so-excellent organizatioinal skills) So he added the scans of the memos I put together on May 28, May 31, June 3, and June 11 and the email I got back from "Thomas" at sega tech support on May 12. Realized I never gave Rob the proper shoutout for redesigning the segaswindle page a couple weeks ago, because ive been so obsessed with all this other stuff that I never even noticed he did it. Sorry rob, you rule!
Realized too that between getting th site up and running, worrying about Beta-13, and my obsession with the revision discs that ive really been neglecting my memo shred duties for a long time. Janine said she could help me with this, and I was like, I can't ask you to do that, do you realize how excrusiating of a process it is? She said, your not asking, I'm volunteering. She's really passionate and I think enthused to have a cause to get behind, but we'll see how she feels after she actually tries taping these pages togethre for a few hours. She said shes got some free time she can help me most of this week, but she's leaving friday to go see 2 phish shows.
|
|
|
MOM INTERVENES
Woke up with my neck, back and shoulders aching like a bitch. My brother must of really threw me down pretty hard when I blackked out and went all apeshit on my grandma yesterday.
My mom called and said she made an appointment to see a doctor on wednesday. Said she'd pay for it, but I'm sure I'm going to be hearing about it for like the next 7 lifetimes. never really liked going to see doctors, but maybe he'll be able to help me. Mom said she told grandma I was sorry,but said I should really call her and tell her mnyself. I know I should, but what the hell could I even say to her?
Talked to janine last night, ended up telling her about the whole birthday fiasco, and she couldn’t have been nicer or more sympathertic about it. she said its not my fault, at least my grandma didn't get hurt (thank god my brother was there) and I shouldn't beat myself up about it, but I still feel shitty about what happened.
|
|
|
15TH BLACKOUT: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA!
Well today was another one of those up and down kinda days. Woke up thinking about janine, feelig pretty good, did a few posts. then it was on to the drudgery of looking for more subliminals, which is never fun. Then my mom calls me. damn. Totally forgot today is my grandmother's birthday, and my mom wants me to go out to lunch with her, my brother and my grandma and then back to mom's house to open presents. shit. presents.
She says don’t worry, she already bought a present to be from me, I just have to sign the card. I ask what it is im giving her, she says a "pantsuit." I'm like yeah, grandmas really gonna believe I bought her a pantsuit, I don’t even know what that is. I tell her I'm not feeling well, but my mom says okay, then you'll just have to call your poor old grandmother up and tell her yourself that you don’t care enough about her to come see her on her birthday. DAMMIT! I think my mom must of got a phd. in guiltology. I tell her okay, but my cars not working so she has to come pick me up, and she just sighs.
So we all go to Sonny's bbq, and I'm thinking yeah, real special birthday place, but that's what she wanted. I'm freaking inside cuz the place is packed with the after-church crowd all in their sunday best and there's like a million kids all over the place, and I'm just praying I don't have a blackout here. there's some big-ass dudes here, and sonny's wooden benches are welded in pretty tight. then I decide to think positive like rob, so I just relax and look forward to a real meal of actual food items (2 days in a row even!). got the all-u-can-eat bbq pork and ended up eating 4 plates full with fries, slaw and like 6 pieces of garlic bread. my mom said I wsa like the wild man of borneo, whatever that means.
We go back to my moms house, we open presents, have cake. the last thing I remember thinking was, "geez, how am I eating this cake, I'm already so full…" and then I blacked out. I wake up on the floor with my brother holding me down by the shoulders. my throat is burning. I hear screaming, crying, the end table lamp is smashed on the floor. then I smell puke. I look up and my mom is wiping down the front of granmas shirt with a towel, and they're both crying hysterically. there's barf all over the front of grandma, on the couch, and the carpet in front of it. Tommy lets me up, and my mom just starts SCREAMING at me, how could you do this, leave it to you to ruin grandmas special day, this is the lowest thing you've ever done… She tells tommy to take grandma home because she needs to talk to me alone. Grrrrreat.
So she just says, okay explain yourself. I say, what did I do? WHAT DID YOU DO?!? she screams, you know what you did. I said no mom, really I don't remember, what did I do?
"Are you on drugs?"
"Yeah, I wish."
"That's not funny! What is wrong with you? Pitching a fit like that, breaking my lamp, calling grandma a bitch?"
"i called grandma a bitch?"
"You got right up in her face and yelled BRING IT, BITCH! Tommy had to pull you off because you were about to headbutt her, and then you threw up on her! Does any of that ring a bell, you little prick?"
actually mom, not really. She's crying again, asking, what's wrong with you. she keeps stretching out the "o", what is wrooooooong with you, and the sound is like a knitting needle in my eardrum. I tel lher it’s a long story. she says look at you, ever since you and Karen broke up you've been moping around that apartment, not working, not going to school, not doig anything. you need to just grow up, get over it, and quit feeling sorry for yourself. I tell her no that’s not it, that i haven't even thoght about karen for along time, i thinkg there's something wrong with my brain. She says, well if theres something wrong with your brain then we need to see a doctor. "We" need to see a doctor. great.
She drives me home and doesn’t say a word the whole ride home. I'm getting out of the car, and she says, "are you eating?" I say, yeah, didn’t you see grandmas shirt? We both kind of laugh, and then she just says, I'm worried about you,honey. then she gives me $40 and says make sure your eating. I told her to tell grandma I was sorry. At least she got that nice pantsuit though.
|
|
|
FEMALE ACTION! SORT OF!
Spent most of the day checking for more subliminals frame by frame, taking breaks here and there to check the boards. Apparently I've been banned from gamespot, and I don't know why. could it be that sega's gotten to them? it'll take more than that to shut me up, folks! anyway, didn't find any other weird stuff in the f-b-f, but after a while my eyes start to get blurry, so i don't know if i'm missing things or not. a couple times i thought i saw something, but realized it wsa just wishful thinking.
Rob came by this afternoon to see how i was doing. I opened the door and he actually like flinched when he saw me. he was like dude, you look like shit, you need to get outta the house, this obsesson is driving you nuts. I looked at myself and realized I really did look like shit, wearing the same shirt ihad on yesterday, hadn't even taken a shower yet. he dragged me over to his place, his parents are gone all weekend, so we had the place to ourselves, which was nice. actually, even just the car ride over there was nice, ive been cooped up here so long.
Janine had called me late last night asking if I wanted to meet her downtown. she sounded a little drunk and goofy, which kinda turned me on even more ina weird way, like I could of totally gotten somewehre with her if I wanted. god that sounds so scumbaggy of me, but keep in mind, its been a while. I told her I'd love to but couldn’t since I had a special "project" I was working on, and she was like, "oooh, the man of mystery as always." I must really like this chick, cuz I didn't even realize I was talking about her with rob for like the whole ride over to his place. finally he was like, look dude, either ask her out or shut up about it! iwas just like, yeah right.
Rob wanted to go in the pool, but I told him no way man, out of the question. if I had a blackout in the pool, I could end up drowning and besides, after all this frame by frame stuff, a good shot of chlorine is the last thing my eyes need. Fortunately it was raining pretty bad by the time we got over, so he didn't bug me about it.
his parents have a nice house with all these expensive sculptures and stuff, and I was like dude, what if I blackout and break something, or even worse, skewer myself on one of these things? He just said don'tworry about it, relax, chill, you're not gonna have one tonight. That rob, always the positive one. he ordered us a pizza, which was AWESOME, it's been so long since I've had any kind of real food, it was like the best pizza I ever had. So I go sit in a chaise on the patio, I'm just chilling, dozing off, when the doorbell rings. Rob grins and says, "Gee, I wonder who that could be." I'm like, dude what's up, but he doesn't say anything, so I follow him to the front door. He opens it, and it's Janine! She looked even better than I remember her. My stomach dropped through the floor and i shot Rob this "i'm going to kill you" look. He invites her in.
So we're all hanging out, listening to some tunes, talking. Janine starts talking about phish and string cheese and all these other hippie noodle-jam bands and she asks me, "do you like phish," and before I could even think about it, I heard myself saying "yeah, they're pretty good." WTF?!? I must REALLY like this chick to say I like phish, and I could see Rob grinning at this.
Eventually she turns the conversation to the "special project" I'm working on, and she's like, i thought you weren't in school right now? I just keep telling her i don’t want to talk about it, but she keeps nagging me cuz she thinks im' playing, so finally I just gave up and figured what the hell, and just told her everything, showed her the site. figured she;d probalby think I was some freak or something, but at least I'd have it off my chest.
By the time i finished telling her about my battle with sega, she's got tears in her eyes, and she just comes over and gives me this huge hug. She's so hot, and it's been so long since i've had any kind of female action, that i feel this like shutter of electricity through my body. She tells me, i'm so sorry, these big corporations can't be allowed to step on the little guy, i'll do whatever i can to help you, etc. Janine is so nice and so cool, and she really seems sincere about wanting to help me out. I don't know how cool she'd actually be if she experienced one of my blackouts firsthand though. I dunno though, I really really like this girl, and she seems to dig me, so we'll see what happens. At least i got a hug out of her, what's that, not quite first base…um, the on-deck circle? Probably more like still in the dugout, but to me it felt like a home run. god that sounds corny. yep, i'm into a hippie chick. god help me.
|
|
|
A ZILLION FRAMES LATER, AND...NOTHING
omg, my eyes are actually twitching now. this freaky-ass lightning storm that was raging most of the night didn't really help things either. looked at more frame by frame for pretty much the whole night and couldn't see anything else, but at this point i don't know if i'd see a 747 if it landed right on my face, so i don't know if im missing things or not. i'll keep you posted though.
|
|
|
FOUND A SUBLIMINAL MESSAGE!!!
OH MY GOD! This could be the answer ive been looking for!!!
Click here to see the video
Got some insight on the boards last week from ISF about the possibility of subliminals hidden in the game (click here to see the thread), so for the last few days ive been pouring over gameplay footage frame by frame by frame, and today I found this! I must of been looking at this frame for a good 10 seconds before I saw it -- I was just about to go to the next frame when I noticed it. at first I thought I was losing my mind, since I've been looking at these frames till im crosseyed, ithought maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me, but I looked at it again, and the word "DESTROY" is definitely hidden in the grass!
I know that this means something, and im now evenf more inspired to look even more carefully to find more nails in sega's coffin. this is the big break ive been hoping for!!!
|
|
|
CAN I BORROW A NEW PAIR OF EYES?
Man, this frame by frame shit is driving me nuts. It takes so damn long I've only gotten through 1 game so far. You really learn to not take the old "PRESS A TO SKIP" feature for granted when you're going through it like this. Finished going through packers @ bucs a little while ago. didnt find anythig out of the ordianry as far as I could see. just finished recording jets @ chargers. the gameplay time seems to just zoom by even faster when I know I'm gonna be crawling thru it all in a little bit. gonna take a nap for a few mins and give my eyes a rest before I start into it. gotta set the alarm though, cuz I feel like I could sleep for days once my head hits the pillow.
got some good info on the discusson board today about subliminals, fp mode, and flashes that can cause seizures. I'm wondering if there could be a connection between them, like maybe if your mind is more open to suggestion when your brain confuses virtual movement with real movement, which can happen with fp stuff. god, my eyeballs are throbbing.
|
|
|
BETA-13 IS BACK!
Just heard from Beta-13!!! He's alright, but there's been some pretty messed up shit going down. He doesn't want me to say too much because there are still people looking for him, but he's ok. He had to take off in a hurry on thursday and get out of town (waaaay out of town, actually) for a few days and didn't have a way to reach me. He's not using the phone at all anymore, and will be staying in a different place every night like Saddam or something. man, that sucks.
Me and Beta-5 were VERY relieved to hear he was ok. I even found myself channeling my mother for a few seconds, giving him the "don't ever do that again, you had me worried sick" routine. It kinda scared me.
Been playing fp and taping it, then looking frame by frame for subliminal stuff. I haven't seen anythig weird yet, but I don't even really know what it is I'm looking for. I've been studying every frame like it was a playboy centerfold, looking at the screen from up close, far away, at different angles, looking for patterns, words, I don't know what. it's pretty damn frustrating and my eyeballs feel like they're on fire.
Doe anybody out there have any expertise on subliminals? I could use your help. thanks.
|
|
|
WHILE I WAS DIGITIZING...
 Decided while i was digitizing b10's video that i'd do this one too, from April 25.
started recording fp footage and watching frame by frame, which is turning out to be an even bigger time consuming pain in the ass than i thought. whatever it takes though, right? just gotta keep telling myself that as my eyeballs start to get crusty.
still no word from b13, and i'm really worried...
Thanks to all the people who emailed me for copies of the game! I know you are taking a big risk doing this and i really appreciate it.
|
|
|
BETA-10 VIDEO!
Beta-10 must of seen the site and realized i'm on his side after all, cuz he finally gave me permission to put his video up! he still seems kinda sketchy about helping out any more thatn that, but hey, its a start. 
|
|
|
NO MORE DISC ORDERS
Got a lot of emails regarding discs, and Rob's computer is gonna be tied up for a week if we take any more requests, so I'm gonna have to put the kibosh on any more emails about this for now. I'll keep you posted when we get enough time to do another batch. If you already emailed me about this tonight, I'll get back to you.
Thanks everybody!
|
|
|
DISC INSTRUCTIONS
Hey everybody. I really appreciate all the responses people have been sending me about helping me out by testing copies of the game. You all need to realize though, that I'm a man on a mission with limited resources. I'm sending this game out so people can play it and see if it affected them the way it affected me. I'm trying to figure out what caused this affliction of mine and hopefully find a way to solve it, not just send out free copies of the game so the fanboys can brag to their friends. These discs take about 40 minutes a piece to make, and while they're burning, Rob can't really use his computer for anything else, so I don't have the time or money to waste sending them out unless you're REALLY SERIOUS about helping me. And unfortunately, we don't have the money to send out any more copies on our own dime.
SO…if you want one, you must agree to these terms:
1. You must PROMISE (on the honor system) that you ALREADY HAVE a modified xbox or ps2 that can play unsigned code (not, "I'm getting one in a couple of weeks," etc.)
2. You must promise that you are getting this game to help me find out what is causing me and the other beta testers to have these blackouts, NOT to just get a free beta copy of the game before it hits the shelves.
3. You must promise that after playing the game, you will report back to my site with DETAILED feedback on the game and how it affected you. THIS IS IMPORTANT! I need more than just "I felt ok," or whatever. I need to know as much as possible to see if we can make any connections.
4. You must agree that I, BETA-7 WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY EFFECTS THIS GAME MAY HAVE ON YOU. Play at your own risk. Do not enter into this lightly, as playing this game may cause mental and physical damage, as it has done to me and several other beta testers. DO NOT ask for a copy unless you are prepared for the consequences of what may happen to you.
If you SWEAR that you agree to the above terms and live in the CONTINENTAL US, then send me an email stating that you have read, understood, and agreed to all of the above terms, and I will give you instructions on how to receive a copy.
Thanks,
Beta-7
|
|
|
BETA-13 STILL AWOL; SUBLIMINAL SUGGESTIONS
Still no word from Beta-13 all weekend, and still no promising leads on who that was in that rollerblading video. Got some good suggestions from the boards today about possibilities of subliminal stuff in the game. Maybe if i check out vids of gameplay frame by frame. That sounds almost as much fun as taping shreds together, but at least its a good jumping off point. been playing this game almost non-stop this weekend in fp mode and haven't seen anything really unusual yet, other than a few animation glitches and some of the players having blank white faces, but maybe frame by frame will find someting.
Got an email from a guy from Australia today who has a mod xbox, but i'm not sure if the disc will work on his system or not. Hopefully it will. Rob sent another batch of discs out yesterday, so more people should start getting them next week, which is cool. It'll be good having a whole team of people helping me on this.
I actually ended up calling that chick Janine from the 4th of july party tonight. Been thinking about her a lot lately, and figured what the hell, i'll just call her. As soon as it started ringing i wanted to hang up, but she picked up befoer i could, and plus I didn't know whether she has caller id or not. I said hey, this is --------, and she acted like she did'nt remember me for a while, then said, "Oooohhh yeah, Mr. Playin hard to get. Still wearin' that helmet?" We ended up talking for like 40 mins, which was cool, cuz besides Rob lately, i've been pretty starved for human contact. She's really cool and easy to talk to. There were a couple of weird pauses, like i could kinda tell she was waiting for me to ask her out, but I just don't think i'm ready. Don't know if I'll ever be ready, until i can keep Mr. Quarterback from showing up at random.
|
|
|
JUST GOT A TACKLE VIDEO!
 Somebody just anonymously emailed me this video, saying:
"A friend sent me one of your "blackout" videos because back in April we were rollerblading and this guy tackled my friend. It was pretty weird. No one was really hurt but when the guy came to he acted like he had no idea what had happened. Was this you?"
If anybody out there knows the tackler in this video, PLEASE have him contact me!
|
|
|
UPS AND DOWNS
So today was a day of ups and downs, mostly ups, but one pretty major down. Sleeping in late was definitely an up, as was getting all the stuff sorted out between me, Rob and the site. It's amazing, the clarity that 8 uniterrupted hours of sleep can give you. My head still hurts today from the blackout I had yesterday, but at least it's just a dull, nagging pain and not the jackhammer in my skull that I was feeling before.
Fldude2k1 got his disc in the mail today, and he was able to take a lot of the pressure off me that I was feeling, which was great (thanks, bro!) Seems like he's been playing it all day, and he says so far, no blackouts have happened to him, just a little dizziness. I don't know if that means the bugs have been fixed, or if he's just one of the lucky ones who's not affected by the game. Hopefully I'll find out more as the other discs go out.
The one major bummer today was Beta-13. I've been getting really worried about him, since he hasn't posted on our board since yesterday morning. We've been mostly communicating that way for while now, since the heat is on him, and I've been avoiding calling him on the phone. Late this afternoon though, I broke down and called his cell, and it said his number is no longer in service, which REALLY freaked me out. WHERE ARE YOU, BETA-13? Me and Beta-5 are really worried about you!
This has been a crazy week, and I'm hoping the weekend will see some good news. We're starting to get some attention to our cause, which is good, but I just can't stop thinking about B13, where he is right now, what he must be going through. I'm going to try to relax as much as I can, since worrying about B13 when there's nothing I can do about it doesn't really do either of us much good, but still, it's hard. If I've got anything to report, I'll keep you all posted.
|
|
|
I'M BACK
First off I want to thank Rob for being the best friend a guy could ever have. I know I said some ugly things last night, and I know I already apologized, but again, I'm sorry. You are a true friend who has always had my back and I love you like a brother.
Rob and I stayed up well into the wee hours last night, talking, yelling, crying, screaming. At one point I wanted to punch him. In that time though, we sorted a lot of shit out, and for the first time in a while, I was able to take a step back, get some perspective and do some real soul searching.
Yesterday started out pretty good. Got almost 7 hours of sleep, woke up, did a few posts, answered some emails. Rob had been working on some other stuff for the site, but I told him to shift his priority to the crib quicktime since that's what a lot of people were asking about. When he called me in the morning and told me he wouldn't be able to finish it before class, I exploded, cursing at him, telling him I HAD to have it. He just said sorry man, I've got a life, and hung up.
Now, understand something about me, I've always been a people pleaser, oftentimes to a fault. When people started coming to my site and asking me questions about the game, I felt like it was my duty to answer them. It's just the way I am. In the last few days, I've been getting caught up in all the attention my site's been getting. When people started making me the center of attention and treating me like I was special, it felt good. Especially after being cooped up in my place pretty much 24/7, for the most part alone, hour after hour, day after day. So as more and more people visited the site, I felt more and more pressure to make them happy, to give them what they wanted, and it became overwhelming. This stupid bullshit with the crib, something I only even mentioned as an afterthought, ended up snowballing into a major issue. I felt like I had to get this video up or I'd be letting everybody down.
So when Rob said he didn't have the qt done, I freaked out on him. In hindsight, I shouldn't have let it become such a big deal, but sometimes I have trouble seeing the forest for the trees. After stewing for a while, I decided I needed to get out of the house. I needed to get some mailers, dvd envelopes and go to the post office anyway, so I hoofed it on down the road (I haven't driven for months because of the blackouts.)
Like a dumbass, I didn't bring any water with me, and after a couple miles in the near 100 degree heat, I was drenched with sweat, so I stopped in at the bookstore to get a drink. There were quite a few people there and I was nervous about having a blackout, haven't really gone out in public much, but it was just too damn hot out to keep going. I decided to just relax and enjoy the moment, being out of the house, chilling with an iced coffee and a magazine, feeling like a human being again. It was nice. Made me almost forget about my problems. After a while I bought a bottle of water, went to the office supply store, then went to the post office to mail out the first batch of revision burns, then started the long trek back home.
By the time I got home, I was drenched again, pretty exausted, but at the same time, feeling pretty upbeat and positive. Then I got online and saw an article on football-gaming.com:
"Answering questions? Beta-7, what happened to fighting The Man? It sounds like you're trying to promote his product. Oh right, you are promoting The Man's product, because that's what beta-7.com is designed to do. Not that there's anything wrong with that."
When I read this, I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. I was angry and hurt, and then I realized the reason I was so angry was because…he was right. I HAD become a fucking shill for The Man. In trying to keep my site vistitors happy, trying to answer the flood of questions about gameplay details and all this superficial bullshit, I had completely lost focus on the matter at hand, which is trying to figure out how this game fucked me up, and get Sega to take responsibility for it. I felt so angry and disgusted with myself that my stomach was in knots and my head started pounding. And then I blacked out.
I don't know how long I was out for, but I woke up to Rob shaking me. My head was still pounding. Then he told me he turned the server off, and I just went apeshit on him, said how dare you, you stabbed me in the back, called him a pussy, told him we're taking on Goliath here and can't just turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble. We argued for hours and hours. I know Rob cares about me and is worried about me, and just did it to protect his best friend, but we can't just give up like this. He realizes this now.
So I'm now back, with a renewed sense of purpose. From now on, I'm not answering any more inane questions about the crib, franchise mode, uniforms, or any of that other bullshit. I'm not a VJ, and I don't have time to take "requests" for video. Maybe the people I sent the game out to have time, but I don't. In this game, I'm only concentrating on trying to figure out the secrets behind first-person mode, because that's what fucked up my head. If that pisses some people off, then I'm sorry, but that's just the way it's gotta be. I'm on a mission here, and there isn't enough time for me to dick around with all this other shit.
|
|
|
HERE'S YOUR FUCKING CRIB VIDEOS
|
|
|
I APOLOGIZE
Hey, this is Rob. I straight up want to apologize for taking down the website last night. Things are getting so out of control, and I freaked, and I owe Beta-7 and all of you an apology.
I got home from classes yesterday afternoon to THREE phone messages on my PARENT'S answering machine from someone at the hosting provider, wanting to ask me some questions about one of sites on my server. You can guess which one she wanted to talk to me about, right? So I call them LONG DISTANCE in Texas to talk to some AUP something or other and she's asking me all these questions "What is this site Beta-7.com?" and "Do you have illegal or pirated software on your site?" She wouldn't tell me why she was asking, except that she had received some "complaints via email" from people about the site.
My hands were shaking by the time I got off the phone. While a friend is certainly worth more to me than the few hundred bucks a month I make do piddly-ass website work, this website was just making everything even more stressful for Beta-7. So I turned off the webserver and drove over to his house, only to find him blacked out on the floor! Like when he wasn't obsessing over this site what was he doing? Playing that game again! So he can obsess about more on the website!
Beta-7 and I talked for a long time (and that's between us, his website is his obsession not mine) and I realized among other things that I screwed up when I took this website down.
The real funny part? I did a crappy job of taking down (probably because I was so shook up) and while Beta-7 and I were having our heart to heart, part of the site went back up all by itself. Ends up the trusty backup script put the server back up like it was supposed to, minus the pieces I had renamed. So I had to take it back down for a bit to fix those pieces and now it's back running the way it should.
I promised him I'd apologize, and now I have. I'm behind my friend, no matter what: the website stays up.
|
|
|
BEDTIME
Man am I tired. I've been sorting through emails and shit all day, trying to keep up with people who are checking out the site, trying to answer questions about gameplay, doing a million things at once and I'm beat. All this shit is taking away my focus on the task at hand which is to figure out how this game messed up my head, fix it and get sega to take responsiblity. Period. I don't have time for all this "is he or isn't he" bullshit. if you don't believe me, fine. i don;t give shit. if you're on my side, great, i can really use your help.
I'm going to bed.
|
|
|
FP MODE
The commands in fp mode are the same the same as in regular gameplay mode. The only difference seems to be that the right analog moves the player's head to the left or right. You can't move the head up or down, just side to side. You can move your head while you're running, and the indicator bar at the bottom lets you know if someone's approaching you from the side (you can also hear their footsteps.) You can turn the head a little, or all the way to the side, and if you let go of the stick, the head automatically goes back to the center.
You can switch players just like in the old version (QB to RB or reciever, or in D, you can switch to the player closest to the ball), and this is where that "bullet time" comes in. Time only slows down for a couple seconds while your switching from player to player, to give you a chance to orient yourself in the new helmet. You can't use it to "cheat" around things, in other words, it's not like you're Neo on the football field or something.
Going back to play some more, I'll keep you posted.
|
|
|
"THE CRIB"
I'm still working on emails and answering your questions about fp gameplay, but for now here's a little info about The Crib, since a lot of people have been asking about it.
It's a side feature, not a gameplay mode, although it is tied into gameplay. You can navigate around inside a 3D model of your house, and you can change it around, like the type of flooring, rugs, decorations, furniture, etc. (Yeah, cuz every football fan I know has a secret desire to be an interior decorator…) It looks like you get more options to change the crib around based on the number of "milestones" you have as you play (points, wins, yards rushing, etc.) There's also a jukebox; it only had a few songs on it that were pretty lame, but I'm assuming you have more options as you win more games (or maybe you get to produce your own music, I dunno…doesn't every millionaire baller have his own record label?) There's also side games you can play -- a football trivia game, an air hockey table, and a paper football table (the old "flick the triangle" deal).
It's kind of an interesting idea I guess, and the side games are kind of fun, but overall I can't see getting real excited about this mode. I guess some people will get into the competitiveness of it, to see who has the phattest crib, but I wasn't blown away by it. I mean, it's kind of a cool diversion, but it's not something I'd necessarily get into regularly.
|
|
|
THE DAY AFTER...
Hey friends of Beta-7! Thanks for all the great feedback on the video -- more coming later today. I'm also going to post a blog later today that will try to answer your questions about the game. From what I can see, it looks like the next "big feature" they're going to announce is probably this thing called "The Crib," but I haven't really gotten into it yet, since I've been mostly checking out the fp mode.
Oh, and another little tidbit...ROB BURNED A COPY AND IT WORKS!!! If any of you out there ALREADY HAVE a modified console, email me and I'll see what I can do. I especially want to get out some of the ps2 revisions to see if they work.
More later.
|
|
|
NIGHTY-NIGHT, SPORTS FANS
Rob just came over and yanked the game away...but not without a good deal of kicking, screaming, and insults to his poor mom first ;)
He took it home to see if he can make copies. I'm beat. More tomorrow.
|
|
|
IT WORKS!!!
 HELL YEAH! GOT MY MOD XBOX AND THE REVISIONS WORK!!!
Videotaped myself playing the game a little while ago. Sorry about the rollbar -- I taped it off the TV so you could see I'm really playing and it's not some BS video or something. I'll try to patch future clips in through the VCR for better quality.
I've been anticipating the mod box's arrival for so long, I kind of forgot about the nature of what it is I'd be playing on it. When I actually put the disc in the box, my stomach dropped and I was suddenly overcome with this feeling of...I guess you could say dread. I mean, this is it. A revisit to what fvcked me up in the first place. So far, no blackouts or anything out of the ordinary. I'm going back to play some more and see what I can find out. I'll keep you posted.
|
|
|
IT'S HEEEEEERE!
HAAAAAAAAY-OLE YEEEEEEE-UH! Just got the mod xbox! I'm gonna hook it up, and post an update a little later. AWESOME!
|
|
|
HAUNTED...
 Those revision discs were calling my name from the drawer, so I took them out and took a pic of them. (Finally figured out how to post pix within the blog entries) I'm starting to feel like Gollum with these damn discs, although I haven't started referring to them as "my precious" yet...
HURRY UP, MODIFIED XBOX!!!
|
|
|
VC'S NEWS DOESN'T MENTION "PSYCHOTIC EPISODES"...SHOCKER!
So VC's "big announcement" today was about the first-person mode. BFD. For about a nanosecond there, I was hoping it was going to be that they were shelving the game, but I should know by now not to get my hopes up with Sega. The site is starting to get some hits though, which is cool, and people seem to be digging it (thanks, nfl2kx.com!)
Still waiting on the modified xbox to be delivered, and it's like every day feels like a week. I finally had to put the 2K4 revision discs in the drawer, cuz it was driving me crazy seeing them every time I walked by, and not being able to get at what's on them. God, I hope they work. Maybe if I can play the game again, and have Rob or somebody watch me, maybe we can figure out what's triggering these blackouts. Hopefully I'll be able to make copies of them too.
|
|
|
VC'S "BIG ANNOUNCEMENT"; 4TH OF JULY HIJINKS
Greetings, friends of Beta-7! Hope your 4th of July holiday was a blast! Mine was, well…interesting anyway, but I'll get to all of that in a bit.
First off, some news...just saw on ign that VC has some "big announcement" about ESPN NFL Football planned for Monday. Hmm...when I saw that, my "glass half full" side thought, wow, maybe they're actually going to come clean and admit that this is a dangerous product that messes up people's minds. I mean, there's been like zero advertising for it, so maybe they're planning to shelve this thing after all. Then I realized, who am I kidding, these are the same people who have been giving me the runaround for three months now, and who have surely already pumped millions of dollars into this thing, and as we all know, money is more important to these people than the safety of the public. So...it'll be interesting to see what kind of corporate double-speak comes out of their mouths on Monday...
So Rob invited me to this BBQ yesterday, which was thrown by a friend of this guy he works with. When he asked me at first, I was like, you're kidding right? I mean, I've barely left the apartment since these blackouts started, and now he expects me to actually go to a party? He said come on, you need to get out and have a good time for a change. I said yes, I could absolutely use a good time, but getting arrested for tackling someone at this party was not my idea of a "good time." He said, come on man, you just had a blackout the other day, so you probably won't have another one for a while. Then I tried to explain to him the whole concept of "random" and how I haven't figured out what triggers these blackouts and that I could have one at, you know, ANY TIME.
He kept nagging me, so to get him to shut up, I said, "Okay Rob, I'll go to this party, but I'm wearing elbow pads, knee pads, and my bike helmet just in case," thinking there's no way he's gonna want to be the guy who shows up with a short-bus-lookin' mofo like me, but he just said, "Alright, get dressed, I'll be there in 10 minutes." Click. Damn.
I was so nervous on the way over I had stomach cramps. I kept telling Rob I changed my mind and to turn around, but he was just like, no way man, you're having some fun today if it kills you, and I'm thinking, great wording there, jinxmaster. In the dude's driveway, I'm practically hyperventilating, thinking there's no way I can do this. I mean, going to a party where I don't know anybody is hard enough, even without wearing a helmet and having a tendency to random fits of uncontrollable violence. Rob said don't worry though, these people are all cool, and he'll stick right by me the whole time in case something goes wrong.
So we go in and most of the people there are already hammered. This one big sweaty guy runs over, puts his arm around me, yells, "YEAH! THIS MOTHERF***ER IS READY TO PARTY!" and knocks on the top of my helmet. It was kind of embarrassing at first, but it also kind of broke the ice and made everybody laugh, which was cool. I laughed too. After a while, I was kind of having fun messing with these wasted people's heads, telling each person a different reason for the helmet and pads ("Thought it was a Halloween party"; "Top secret NASA experiment"; "I parachuted into this party, didn't you see?"; "What helmet?" etc.) After a while I realized the real reason probably sounds just as ridiculous as these made-up ones, so I said to one guy, "I beta tested a video game that messed up my brain and now I have these blackouts where I think I'm a football player and start tackling people," but I don't think he even really heard me, cuz he just said, "That's cool, man," and went back to twisting fuses together so he could light 10 fireworks at once.
Actually met a really cool girl at this party, or I guess I should say "woman" since she's 24 (!) Her name is Janine. I was off in the side part of the yard, just talking to Rob, and she came up and said, "I dig your look, man. I like the statement that it makes." I was like, you do? Rob kind of eased away, and I gave him this look like "Don't you dare leave me here alone," but he just winked and nodded. He wasn't too far off though, and I could see he was keeping an eye on me, so after a while I actually chilled out and talked to this girl for a while. Actually, she did most of the talking, saying how on this day of independence, we're really not so independent at all, and my "statement" of needing to be "protected" from our own government was "right on." I was like, cool, thanks, I'm glad at least one person here gets it (?!?). Then she said, "I can see in your eyes that you have an artist's soul." Uh, yeah, oookay. This chick is totally not my type, kind of a hippy-dippy, but she's pretty hot and really nice, and I must admit the whole "older woman" thing does intrigue me...and at least she doesn't smell like b.o. and patchouli...
Janine ended up giving me her phone number, but I don't know if I'm ready to really get into something like this with all the other crap that's going on in my life right now. Doesn't seem like her whole "peace and love" vibe would jell with my whole "random violence" thing, but we'll see what happpens. At the very least it was cool to be out of the apartment, talking to a girl, getting digits...for the first time in a very long time it felt almost like I was normal again.
|
|
|
BROTHER'S KEEPER
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY, FRIENDS OF BETA-7! Hope you and yours have a great one. Just don't get so wasted you forget that all-important 2nd step after "LIGHT FUSE," which is of course…"GET AWAY!"
But please don't "get away" from my site until you've read all about my fight for independence from the mind-destroying tyrants at Sega…read a brief overview of my battle in the WHY FIGHT? section and then get the full story in my journals, starting with March 21. Then, please join the battle by linking people to my site -- we need all the help we can get to shine the light of truth into the dark cave of Sega's lies! And now, the latest…
Rob, I know I said before that you were officially the coolest guy in the world, but now I just might have to bestow that title upon my big bro Tommy (on second thought though Rob, you never held me down and farted in my face when I was a kid, so maybe the jury's still out…)
Nevertheless, THANK YOU, TOMMY!!!
Ever since Beta-13 sent me the 2k4 revisions that he stole from Visual Concepts, I've been jonesing to get my hands on a modified console so I could take a look into the chamber of Sega's smoking gun. Seeing these discs just laying there dormant, knowing what's on them has been just about KILLING me these last few days. But seeing as how a mod console costs over 3 bills, and there's the matter of that pesky littly nuisance known as RENT…
Then comes Tommy to save the day! Not only did he hook me up with the rest of the rent money (plus the $50 late fee), he also BOUGHT A MODED XBOX ON HIS CREDIT CARD FOR ME!!! HAAAAY-OLE YEEEEE-UH! It wasn’t easy though, it took a 2-hour phone conversation and LOTS of explaining.
I told him about my "predicament," and his first thought was that I should call the cops. After hearing about the shady, fly-by-night "Sunshine Survey Systems" (now apparently non-existent), the stuff with Beta-13, and the fact that it comes down to the word of some 19 year old "punk kid" vs. a huge, international corporation with an army of cutthroat lawyers, I'd probably end up getting MYSELF into more trouble than Sega. So he understands the importance of me being able to get at what's on these revision discs.
And seeing as how he was raised by the same worrying, neurotic mother I was, he also understands how I can't tell her about all this stuff, or ask her for the money for the moded box (I can imagine that conversation:"You already have a playstation AND an xbox, whaddya need ANOTHER goddamn xbox for?" "Well, Mom…")
My bro is worried about me though (join the club, I'm worried about me), and said to be careful. He also gave me a $100 gift card for Winn Dixie, to make sure I'm actually eating and not blowing all my money on this sega war. He also said he'd tell Mom that he gave me a good "talking to" and that I'm just going through ordinary 19 year old angst and trying to "find myself" (which ain't too far from the truth, I am trying to find the part of "myself" that Sega stole from me!). He said it was more for her benefit than mine, since her having a heart attack really wouldn't help either of us.
Because of the holiday weekend, I probably won't get the moded xbox until the middle of next week, which sucks because I WANT IT NOW!!! Beggars can't be choosers, though, so I'll just have to wait…
|
|
|
WELCOME, FRIENDS OF BETA-7!
FINALLY got the site up! (CUE MAJESTIC HORNS AND ANGELIC CHOIR...)
Thank you and welcome, friend. I'm glad you're here to support the cause.
To get the full story of my battle with the greedy corporate mindf***ers known as THE SEGA CORPORATION, read my journal entries, starting with March 21. Some of it ain't too pretty (at one point I even "burst out crying like a little girl"), but I thought it was important to post my journal entries to this blog unedited, in their entirety, warts and all.
In the blog entries are links to quicktime videos, documents, and other evidence that Sega doesn't want you to see. More dirty laundry will be aired as we uncover it... WITH YOUR HELP! If you or anyone you know has beta tested Sega's "NFL 2K4" (now known as "ESPN NFL Football"), PLEASE contact me. If you have been contacted by Sega, or coerced by them into keeping silent, have no fear - your anonymity will be protected with the utmost care. Also, please contact me if you have been approached by Sega or a company called "Sunshine Survey Systems" to beta test any games.
By the way, extra-extra-extra-to-the-tenth-power special thanks to my buddy ROB, whose long, tiring, unpaid hours went into the making of this site. You're a true friend indeed, and I couldn't have done it without you.
Mad props as well to my brothers in the trenches, Beta-13 and Beta-5. The revolution has begun!
|
|
|
|
