Letters to the Editor - Contact: Brad

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This section will be devoted to any correspondence received by me the editor, NOT author of these documents. Note that the original email will be black text while my editorial comments will be in blue. All correspondence will be left intact as received. So happy reading and let the discussions commence.

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Author:Erick Brown

I'll get right to the point, you're pathetic. Before I go further, I suggest if you have any confidence in your opinions that you start a public forum. I have read through several of your "Letters to the Editor" where your responses have been lame and irrelevant to the point that the original author was trying to make. I find it especially amusing how you take an exaggerated example so literal. It's almost as if you have no comprehension at all. It is obvious that you like to proclaim yourself a winner by default simply based on the fact that you get the last (public) word in (regardless of how empty your responses are).
LMAO! Don't pull any punches do you? Lets address the public forums first shall we. You do know laughingboy that there IS a dedicated forum for this and has been available longer than "The Razoola Files" existance. I would suggest that you try here to air your grievances and we'll see if we can make you feel better huh? Oh and in case you miss it the forum title is RAZOOLALA XOR-Whoreing 101. As to responses, most of my replies have been informative, forthright and also provide an alternate possibility or if you must speculative opinion, much like your own. Feel free to disagree all you want but at least make it valid and constructive as I have endeavoured to do. Comments such as lame just show how entrenched you are in the vernacular of the emulation scene, such as it is.

I'm not going to bother going into excessive detail here because I would end up wasting hours attempting to pre-interpret all of your inane, possible responses that I would usually expect anyone remotely intelligent to grasp the first time.
And yet laughingboy as "pathetic" as my responses are you still feel the need to respond albeit with thus far almost zero relevance and I also note a hint of a "winner by Default" attitude. Tsk, Tsk, Tsk! Was that inane enough for you?

CPS-2 Shock is providing a service. More over, it is a FREE service. Donations are purely voluntary. If you don't like it, DON'T DONATE. The team has busted their ass on the project. They have done what no one else (to this very day) can do. ...and all they're doing is ASKING for support. Do you honestly think all the donators are so anal as to whine and complain like pre-adolescent children because ALL the money wasn't spent specifically on the project? ...you know, like you're doing. The money was donated in order to SUPPORT the project. If the team needs to make a car payment... but they didn't get support, they would have to take time AWAY from the project in order to earn the money some other way. That means that the project is STILL being supported in an indirect way. Are you really so ignorant and naive to think they're making enough "dirty money" to buy a new BMW or something? I can't even begin to conceive how many projects I've seen put on hold or even canceled because the people behind it need to concentrate on work or "real-life".
You see right here laughingboy that you touch on the core of the problem. Donations are called for to purchase equipment, boards and pay for shipping fees as described by the CPS2 Shock page and yet despite a number of claims of plenty of funds, many boards are yet to be returned. Bottom line is none of this would be an issue if the team were open and honest about what exactly the funds were being used for. If Raz and Co stated that a chunk of the next round of donations were for a mortgage payment, I'm sure any donators wouldn't have a problem with this. You use the term FREE service but that is hardly the case is it? As too whining LOL!  I don't give a toss for tha games or CPS2 Shock itself. I just don't like bullshit. As to purchasing a new BMW where have you seen that? I didn't make the calculations but even upon cursory inspection they'd hardly qualify as the purchase price of a BMW. (How's that for literal?)

The point is... it is jack-asses like you that kill projects. Because you can be damn sure if I had to put up with your crying and complaining about a project I was working on in MY FREE TIME, I wouldn't do a damn thing for you either.
Yet still more abuse. Surely laughingboy you can do better than this. Exactly how much crying and complaining have you seen me do personally? I still find it amazing that to question something means to kill it. Do you think it will rain today, fuck no the skies falling in! <----ooohh sarcasm :P Have you seen me haunting IRC or Message boards crying out for the killing of this project or that. This sort of generalisation is very sad. Heaven forbid we should question or speculate anymore, I mean we may actually see the end of something. Wake up and smell the coffee laughingboy! Projects are killed by their members, no one else. Simple really. If you don't like to read don't. If you can't handle public critisism, don't wade through the public cesspool.

I'm sure you were first in line to harass the Ultra-HLE team about OpenGL support. These people DO NOT have a requirement or responsibility to fill your demands! I find myself retching in disgust of the obvious amount of time you've put into this. The fact that you actually spent the time to come up with actual estimated figures... I just have to laugh at you.
Wrong again laughingboy. I have run exactly one N64 rom and it wasn't with UltaHLE. I don't give a shit for console emulation or new arcade games. I'm an old games player not one of the plethora of console and fighter kiddies clamourinf for the latest and greatest new game. If you feel like retching go for it. All that useless bile must go somewhere. Also could you do me a favour and give me a list of my demands. I wouldn't presume to demand anything from anyone so it intrigues me that you would assume this.  If you call the maintenance of this small page whining, I don't believe you've seen the message boards at retrogames. As you can see by the 4 responses I've had as Editor, I'd hardly call it onerous either. As to the calculations, I state again, I didn't come up with them but they've all come from the official CPS2 Shock site and simple maths may be beyond you but certainly not to most.

How about you take that energy and try applying it to program decryption? I'd like to see how well you do... and without asking for those exceptionally greedy donations. That was called "sarcasm", by the way. I end how I started; you're pathetic.
LMAO! Another cliched response laughingboy. "If you don't like it do it yourself". You've finally ended your almost pointless rant and still you call me pathetic.

Author: Ben F**ddy

Hi,

I just read your 'The Razoola Files'. I only casually follow the emu scene, but I found the link to your site on the cps2shock site.I find it weird that your site has a list of people trying to disprove to you that Razoola is spending the donation money, and holding XORs back from everyone but the board owner. I don't see how you could find anything wrong with that! I don't find any of the charges you lay against Razoola even remotely bad.
Howdy =), by your own definition you've just joined the weird club which to me is even more amusing given that by your own admittance you only casually follow the emulation scene.

1) Cps2shock performs a service which is in high demand and apparently NOBODY ELSE in the world is capable of doing. You and I get our xors for free. Consider other services which are unique. Would you expect to get the best brain-surgeon for free? Would you expect to get the U.S. airforce to bomb your enemies for free? Even if Razoola spends ALL the donation money, and ALL the money raised from selling boards, he's getting JACK SHIT, my friend. And the money doesn't come from you or me, it comes from donators, who apparently don't mind if he spends the money because they are *donating money*, not buying something.
Yes apparently it is in extremely high demand, from a pure leechers point of view at the very least. Though obviously not in demand enough from the comparitive list of donators huh? Your analogy regarding brain surgery is slightly twisted though as everyone knows that services are paid for with FULL disclosure and UNDERSTANDING of what they are purchasing. However in the case of CPS2 Shock is it a service or a charity? Also add the fact that the original charter of CPS2 Shock was full disclosure of findings. Wonder how the original donators? felt about that? What the hell has the US airforce got to do with anything here? Is Raz bombing US cities or taking over someone elses oil fields?

2) Yes the board donators are 'special', as you put it. If Raz gets tired or pissed off, and doesn't want to release stuff to ungrateful people for free, that's his choice. But he has to give the donators something back for their generosity, so they aren't left with nothing. If people piss Raz off and he wants to stop, that's his right - but you can bet it's not the donators pissing him off.
Very valid point apart from the fact that some donators have admitted to getting early XOR releases, no complaints here while others have received none and had to wait like everyone else. Hardly fair is it? Do you have to be Raz's "special" friend to get xors for a board YOU donated?

3) It's not a government agency, where every penny needs to be accounted for and you have a conspiracy if a cent goes missing. It's some nice guy who makes the emu scene better for everyone else, and if he makes a couple of thousand dollars for three years of work, good luck to him. If I make a donation, I hope he spends it on a bong or too, and forgets about ungrateful people who criticise him.
Again the question of where the money go's isn't a problem if he's honest about it. You see the dollars are supposed to go to returning boards, buying new ones and yet we have this discrepancy and secrecy surrounding it all. If Raz stated that he was going to use the "donations" for recreational purposes, there wouldn't be an issue, it's the fact that it appears that the money "may" be being used for purposes than otherwise stated. This is the ulimate core of the issue.

On your page, you seem to forget that Razoola doesn't owe you anything. He doesn't owe anyone anything, except that he owes xors to the board donators. I don't know about you, but I'd feel embarrassed having your page in my name.
No one here or on the pages has stated that Raz has owed me or anyone anything EXCEPT for board donators/lenders as you have stated, oh and a little honesty wouldn't go astray either. They are the real losers in this scenario it seems and we agree on this, so I truly wonder what the point of your message was? As to being embarrassed to see my name here, your joking right. Why the hell would I care if my name was here or not, its asking legitimate questions with a tongue in cheek attitude.

Bennett

Hi, My name is SaiyanAce, and I am on of the board collectors/donator of CPS2 Boards.

After reading this site and "the Raz files" I feel The need to rectify some things.

A bit about myself: I collect Arcade boards mostly CPS1,2 and 3, I have donated and bought boards of and from Razoola.

I have Donated Street Fighter Alpha (Euro Blue) to Raz,from wich he made two revisions since I send him a board with an old revision wich he dumped and XOR'd then he upgraded my board to the latest revision and dumped & Xor'd too, so both releases are thx to one board.
Excellent work! You've successfully backed up a board that you own, even though as you say later on that you don't need it cause you're a wiz with a soldering iron ;) Still I thank you on behalf of the Fighter junkies everywhere!

I have bought 3 boards of him, being:

X-men Vs. Street Fighter (USA Blue) ($50 USD)
Super Street Fighter 2 X (Japan green) ($50 USD)
Super Street Fighter 2 (USA  Blue ($50 USD)

So do the math and you get a grand total of a $150 USD with $30 USD shipping and handling costs you get to a $180 USD. (wich is a pretty darn good price if you ask me)
I'll address shipping costs first. In the calculations, the author of this document used a figure of $30.00 per board when if fact as stated on the CPS2 page its actually $25.00. The author also applied this cost per board. Since you have proclaimed that the cost for shipping 3 boards all together to be one shipping cost only, we can rectify that error as well.

Alternative Game Pricing
Super SF2 Turbo cps 2 - 150 UK Pounds
Marvel Super Heros (cps2) - 150 UK Pounds
Marvel vs SF cps 2  - 180 UK Pounds
SF Alpha 2 (cps2) -200 UK Pounds
SF Alpha 3 (cps2) - 220 UK Pounds
SF Zero 2 (cps2) - 170 UK Pounds
Super SF2 Turbo cps 2 -150 UK Pounds
Vampire Savior (cps2) - 200 UK Pounds
Xmen Children or Atom (cps2) - 170 UK Pounds 

Source - http://www.arcadeheaven.co.uk/games.html

Alien Vs Predator - $295.00 USD

Source - http://www.vektorlogic.com/

CPS2-A Board-Blue - $210 USD
CPS2-A Board-Grey - $180 USD
CPS2-Dungeons & Dragons 1 - $90 USD
CPS2-Marvel Super Hero - $95 USD
CPS2-SF Alpha - $65 USD
CPS2-SF Alpha 2-Grey B - $95 USD
CPS2-SF Alpha 2:Blue - $100 USD
CPS2-Super SF2 - $50 USD
CPS2-SF Alpha 3:Green - $200 USD
CPS2-Xmen COTA - $70 USD
CPS2-Xmen Vs SF - $190 USD
CPS2-Xmen Vs SF-Grey B - $180 USD
CPS2:SF Alpha 3 B - $360 USD

Source - http://www.thefunfactor.bc.ca/PCB4SA~1.HTM

Daimahoo Blue - $495 USD
Marvel vs Capcom Blue - $495 USD
Marvel Superheroes Blue - $175 USD
X-Men vs SF Blue - $275 USD

Source - http://64.176.80.208/kits_and_pcbs.htm

Super Street Fighter 2 Blue - $260 AUS
X-Men COTA Blue - $260 AUS

Source - http://www.arcadegames.net/pcbs.htm

D&D TOD Blue - $100 USD current bid
SF Zero 2 Alpha - $150 USD current bid
Marvel Super Heroes - $31 USD current bid

Source - www.ebay.com

Now if we look at this list of prices and use a nice average, hell yes you've got a GREAT price! No wonder Raz needs donations cause he's practically giving the boards away.

The following rectifications will be pure facts and experiences on my part with Razoola and CPS2Shock, nothing will be speculated or opinionized. I will however refer to you as Emuchrist since thats the main name of this site and you don't leave a name on the bottom of your writings (hmmmmmmm)
Thats okay, though you can call me Brad as I'm the editor for this piece, not that that's been a lot of work =)

1. Emuchrist:"Mind you I haven't seen any purchases mentioned so far"

SaiyanAce: so now you've seen:P, And I am currently in negotiation with Raz for buying a 4th board.
Seeing as you're a true collector I'd negotiate to buy any boards you don't have for that price. Hell, $50 bucks a board IS a bargain!

2. Emuchrist:"I'm also sure that most could shop around and get better pricing"

SaiyanAce: better price then $50 USD for X-man VS. StreetFighter? I don't think so and I speak from experience.
Check the prices above! 

3. Emuchrist:"Now remember that current status indicates that Xor releases will be slow or non-existant until donations increase. I'm sure this is more than okay with board donators waiting to play the game that they so generously donated huh?"

SaiyanAce: The donators get the roms and XORs from the boards the donated as soon as they have been done and are EXPLICITELY told NOT to give them to ANYONE else! (speculation: wich is where some files get floating around the net)
Now that is interesting, especially with the exception of a couple, Raz denies distributing Xors to even the donators early. In fact several have stated categorically that they have never received early Xors. You must be "special".

4. Emuchrist:"By definition any form of playing arcade game roms on your computer is illegal but we will leave that discussion for another day shall we."

SaiyanAce: no we shall not, that is exactly what this is about, people like you bitching about releasing dumps and XOR's to people like you who don't OWN the boards, and wanting to play them anyway and if you don't get it fast enough you bitch about it. ( my 2 cents worth anyway)
Your certainly entitled to your opinion, and it is relevant though not to me. In fact in this part your throwing the old line at me that all the sheep do. If anyone questions anything concerning CPS2Shock we get

"Your just pissed cause you want Marvel vs Capcom released lamer!"

Let me repeat myself here. I hate fighters. To me and this is MY personal opinion, they have almost zero redeeming features. Its the same tired old concept with a few extra characters if your lucky with each release. I personally would rather see all of the old eighties stuff completed rather than unending supplies of regurgitated trash. I don't hold this against anyone who likes them, its just me!

5. Emuchrist:"You would find completed drivers for late games that have been commented out"

SaiyanAce: Yes, and what is wrong with that? you don't have them roms/xors, mame knows the crc's so implements them in the drivers already for donators who have the roms/xor's and testing purposes, needless to say for CPS2Shock to test and verify it will work in MAME.
If you are referring to CPS2 games alone you are certainly correct, but I am including all games in this. Many older versions of Mame have had many late games commented out. This has nothing to do with 'test drivers" at all rather an over anxious coder adding his favourite game maybe.

6. Emuchrist:"This would indicate that the elite in the scene have the roms and are playing them as we speak"

SaiyanAce: testing purposes anyone? Need I remember you about the faulty XORs of Powered Gear? so CPS2Shock members and Emulator authors need them in order to verify if they would work ok.
Read above! 

7. Emuchrist:"I submit this proof to you of this scandelous state of affairs."

SaiyanAce: I don't call this proof, 1st Photoshop Anyone?

we all know what a little photoshop can do so this pic is made easily, second do you have actual proff that this is IN FACT Razoola? 3rd I know alot of CPS2 collectors and all of em have a admirable amount of CPS2 boards so it could be anyone of the also with a little photoshop. 4th Bong? what if it is? we all deserve a little rest and relaxation at times, I'm sure you drink something to relax too, don't be so uptight.
1) Raz uploaded this pic himself! No photoshop.
2) Yes it is. Everyone knows this, well except you ;)
3) I admire all collectors for their passion and ability to collect these games, however we all know this IS Raz, ask him!
4) No one is castigating Raz's leisure time, merely how its being funded. 

8. Emuchrist:"Afterall, you need to get to them before the suicide protection rolls on in"

SaiyanAce: No you don't need to, the batteries last 5 years, I change them after 4, it takes 5 minutes to change them and can be bought at your local electronics store and can be done with anyone with some soldering experience.
Good for you, I just hope that you don't forget to change one of them before it dies. 

9. Emuchrist:"Gigawing on your PC. Well I've gone to the hard work of dredging the internet to try and give you some form of indication. Have a look at this photo"

SaiyanAce: Again, photoshop anyone? this could be just a snapshot from the arcade implemented in this pic, 2nd I explained testing purposes, so sorry dude still no proof.
Your a real fan of Photoshop aren't you? Again this is an authentic pic, though its questionable in what capacity that Gigawing is playing. See the letter below! 

Thats enough for now to think on, as I said these are all facts and based on my experience that is why I have not commented about money donations because I do not know what will be done with the money, and I haven't donated money myself.

Final Thought: without razoola and the CPS2Shock there would be no CPS2 emulation for the time being, so be content with what you have now (especially if you don't own the original boards) and stop bitchin, if you don't trust a money download then just don't do it, it's that simple.
I agree on the CPS Emulation aspect no problems. And I don't donate, but thanks for the advice. This piece of literature? was hosted here to raise questions that are shouted down or deleted elsewhere. That is the ultimate purpose of this speculation. 

In the words of raz: "peace"

Author: Robert Petersen

This email was written to disprove, point by point your page at:

http://emuchrist.com/therazfiles/therazfiles1.html

Let us start.

Regarding donations.

You make alot out of adding up an imagined sum of total donations over a long period of time. You come up with a total of : $5760.00 Wow, big number right? Nope, as I said these donations took place over a long period of time, and were spent on various things like, buying dumping equipment, shipping boards to Raz, and shipping boards back. Boards were sold if the donator did not want the board back. If yo consider even a one year period $5760.00 / 12 months = $480/month. Have you ever shipped arcade boards, insured over sea's? Do you fathom the cost? And that is based on your completly guessed average donation. Id think there would be alot of $5 and $10 donations myself. Also, donation does not = money necisarily. DOnated webspace (xor mirros) may also be included.
Interesting points you raise here. If in fact you are correct, why not detail it. I mean all the board donations are detailed but nothing else. Why is this so hmmmm? Secondly, the author of the article has even made an obvious mistake in the assumed cost of shipping. The CPS2 Shock page actually puts the cost at $25.00 per cart not $30.00 so I think the author was being generous. Add to that the fact that most of the boards are yet to be returned, the balance is even higher in favour of the CPS2 Shock team.

" . A case in point would be Mame itself. If you take the trouble to download the mame source and look at it. You would find completed drivers for late games that have been commented out. This would indicate that the elite in the scene have the roms and are playing them as we speak. "

Complete bullshit. Name one TESTDRIVER in MAME newer than 1995 that, when enabled allows a new game to fully work. There are none. They are either incomplete drivers, buggy/unplayable, or incomplete / bad dumps / no known dump at all. There is no hiding of anything, turn on the driver and try for yourself.
I point you out to emulation of certain NeoGeo games. Also just to point out that not all commented out games are unplayable. Sure they may not be entirely correct or accurate but some most certainly playable, but even that is beside the point. If there is a "rule" why include them at all? Also, yes current source may not include newer games but older versions certainly did. Add to the fact of including dumped but publically unavailable roms just eggs people on. It basically says that we have them and you can't :p. Pretty sad in my opinion. None of this proves or disproves that Raz & Co are not playing games from 1999, 2000 and 2001 though.

Regarding: http://emuchrist.com/therazfiles/cartbedimage.html

I believe this picture was taken at a time when Raz had a lot of boards that needed to be shipped back and needed donations to do so. The picture was meant to illustrate that. Do you honestly think the man loves arcade boards lying around all over his house?
Who really knows, though I point out that Raz is a huge fan of CPS2 hence the very reason for his project. Anyone with a passion usually go's out of their way to collect whatever they can.

Regarding: http://emuchrist.com/therazfiles/gigawingplaying.html

That is not gigawing playing via XOR's on a PC. Raz was using his SuperGun +an upscan converter to play on his monitor. Buy one at: http://www.gwtrading.com/hga.shtml . They are pretty cool. Can we say hook line and sinker? kthnx.
Cannot argue this point at all, I merely point you to the picture and let the reader make there own assumptions.

Regarding your theory that Razoola is selling newer boards on eBay, your out of your minds unless you can honestly believe Raz has a few dozen eBay accounts in various countries.
I believe that this was pure speculation and the disclaimer on that page pretty much says so. However, even you must maintain that in theory it's entirely possible.

As far as the donators getting nothing back, again complete bullshit. We are playing CPS2 games on our PC's that *is* the reward. No one was tricked into donating, and everyone knew what thier donations were for.
Exactly how long should a donator wait to be able to play a game that they paid for and generously donated? 

Do the "sk3n3" a favor. Don't look for conspiracies where they don't exist. Try to find honest things that are wrong and help to correct them. But posting biased unresearched 'news' makes you no different than " The National Enquirer " or " The weekly world News " or other trashy $1 supermarket tabloids.
Emuchrist decided to host this after it was submitted to provide a discussion point that is NOT allowed at other sites due to politics and the usually uninformed opinions raised. We don't necessarily agree with all of the points raised but feel it is worthy of open and honest discussion without the threat of deletion.

I look forward to your response and any note you make of this on your news page. You guys are supposedly champions of free speech right? We'll see.
You know it never ceases to amaze me that people continue to DARE us with our free speech ethics. EC always has and always will be a centre for free speech and its laughable that people would assume otherwise. We have a long history of this ethic and to date will continue this tradition, which is why your correspondence is published. We welcome and applaud well thought out discussion and debate. Again try and get that elsewhere.

Incidently, we actually have discussion forums for this and welcome discussion on this topic. We even have a board devoted to it. Don't be afraid to use it.