Gameplay videos? Any interest?

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I'm not sure how emulation is viewed on this site but I was thinking if anyone(specifically Melf of course) would be interested in gameplay vids.

The vids themselves are recorded using an emulator called Gens, Or more specifically a version of it that's used to record game videos. The vids themselves are in a .gmv format and average about a meg in size(though longer vids will be larger).

Aside from a few issues the recorder works great and I've already made videos in various games. For example I've been recording Beyond Oasis speedruns and did a few runs of Bare Knuckle 3 on Hard without using continues(but many lives).

So anyway just throwing this one out. Would be happy to hear any comments/suggestions.

[Melf]

Videos like speed runs? Those would be pretty cool. I've been considering including comprehensive guides for specific games, but never got really far with the idea, since you'd have to have screen shots for each part. Anyone who's willing to go forward with it is welcome, and I'll be glad to post any guides submitted (so long as they're original). A video of the game would compliment them nicely.

Gameplay videos of obscure titles are always welcome, as are any video commercials, promo or training videos, etc. I'm specifically looking for those but am open to anything else.

[GeckoYamori]

Are you sure the server can handle an archive of speedrun videos?

[Melf]

How big do they usually run? I've never noticed the file size of the few I've seen, so I have no idea what what size the typical speed fun video is.

[GeckoYamori]

They could range from below 50 to over 500 depending on the game.

[Melf]

[Obviously]

As much as I love watching speed runs I don't think it'd be worth the bandwith and they're best left to websites that specialize in hosting them.

[GeckoYamori]

There's always torrents, of course. But I'm not sure we'd have enough seeders.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Alright about the size issue. The thing to take into consideration is that these speedruns are in a .gmv format. These files can only be played by using the Gens emulator and you must have the original rom(Which is why I brought up the issue of emulation since you would need these things in order to view the video).

For example my Beyond Oasis speedrun is about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The actual file that holds the movie is just under a meg. Shorter games take up less than 500 kbs.

[Melf]

That wouldn't be a problem at all. All we'd need to do is offer the emulator on the speed run page (which can be easily added to the nav bar) and simple instructions.

How many videos do you have?

[GeckoYamori]

I don't think It'd be that simple, considering how many versions of the same ROMs are out there that might be incompatible with the specific replays.

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I tested the various roms under certain videos. It seems that as long as the movie and the game match in terms of region (U,J,E) then there should be no problems. Although I'd still recommend that the rom used for the recording is named so others can find the rom if they want to see the vid.
As far as I can tell the emulator bugs out whenever I use videos from one region for a rom in another region. I tested the El Viento(the video is from the US release while the rom is the JPN version). The first stage ran fine but as soon as the second stage the girl ran onto some spikes and killed herself.

So far I've recorded:

Three playthroughs of Bare Knuckle 3 on V. Hard with default number of lives. I manage to beat the game with Zan, Blaze, and Axel without continuing.

A speedrun of Beyond Oasis clocking in at around 1 hour and 15 minutes. I also don't collect any hearts and there are no deaths(but there are still a ton of time-wasting mistakes).

A normal difficulty run of Ranger X with no deaths but many close calls and lots of time wasted waiting for health to recharge.

A run of Pulseman with many deaths on a rather glitchy rom(I don't seem to have the correct rom as there are many bad graphics throughout).

A run of El Viento with no deaths but some very close calls(especially the last boss fight).

None of the recordings are perfect(aside from ingame mistakes there are also times when I pause the game thus causing further annoyance) but they show the capability of this emulator and with some work it could be an interesting addition to the site.