LATEST NEWS: -February 28th, 2012-

This update is small, but it does have a couple of things in it. The first thing is that I lost some files and that slowed down the update process. The next thing is that I will no longer be providing audio samples in the articles. With video samples for our articles, it's not necessary to have audio samples. The main reason I'm removing the audio samples is because the download links die over time if they aren't accessed a certain amount of times over a certain period of time. Some links are still active, but I've encountered a few dead links already. I have a fixed review for Great Greed and I've added a couple of things to it. We're also sharing links with Video Game Reviewers in our Links section. Lastly, I've fixed a few typos and did some code clean-up as well as upload more videos to our YouTube page. See everyone later!

-November 23rd, 2011-

Greetings all! I come bearing news and it hasn't been over a month! Well, I'm getting better...especially considering that two people are working on YouTube, two people are creating the code for the website, making backgrounds, working full-time jobs, etc. However, I want to try to be a little more frequent. At any rate, this update isn't huge, but it's pretty neat anyway. I've got two reviews in this one. The first is for Samurai Kid (for the Game Boy Color) and the other is for Sumo Fighter (for the Game Boy). Samurai Kid has been re-written (or typed) and is essentially a brand new article with lots of images, a new credits page, and various other tweaks. More importantly, you'll notice a significant change in the reviews now; I'm going to be using my YouTube videos and showing them here too. It looks pretty neat and seems like it will work well. You can read an article and if you're curious about it, you can play a video for the game (should one exist) too. This does two things: it allows me to further articulate my reviews and it kinda forces me to make videos for games I might not make videos for otherwise. Furthermore, I've gotten a small spike in my Twitter account (now that I've started actually letting people know it exists). In less than a month, I've gotten about 10 or 11 new followers! Good stuff...I just hope I can maintain that momentum. Space-Net: Cosmo Blue is! It will be interesting to play that game in its entirety. Till next time!

-October 25th, 2011-

Welcome all! Gaming Sanctuary is finally at a point where the new look can go live! I should point out that I've decided not to remove the non-updated URLs from my FTP; the reason being is that there are numerous places linking to the old pages (Wikipedia articles, forums, etc.) and they can still visit those old pages through the URLs that they are using. As my new articles will use the EXACT same URLs as their original counterparts, I could update specific pages, but it would mess up the order in which I am proceeding with my work. For example, if I were to update Arrow Flash for the GEN/MD with new images, a new write-up, and other stuff, the link on Wikipedia would still work fine, regardless of how I edit the content. You can also visit the older pages, on the "Older News", but know that those pages will not get any modifications whatsoever...until I get around to updating them. Also...regarding the Older News...I would disregard every piece of news up until now. This is more of a clean slate, after all. The "current" review archive only links to three reviews (reviews that I deemed keepable).

Truth be told, I love being a gamer first and a collector second. All of this constant coding has been wearing me down and while I'm more inspired to work on the website than ever before, I really want to PLAY some games to write about them. While updating older pages, I want to play more games and add new articles to the site in the process. I want to get back to scanning covers and artwork. I want to get back to capturing quality screenshots. I want to get back into the swing of diving deep into research (like I do every so often on my YouTube write-ups). I've gotten a general template for every single page on the site; I can now apply it to any and every article that I do. Let me tell you right now that it's pretty sweet.

As you may have noticed, GS is attempting to be more "sociable" now. We will start a blog for anything that doesn't require a homepage update. Remember our "Other News" that we had? A blog is a much more pratical way to go about talking about "Other News". GS will also have a Facebook page dedicated to it as well as a Twitter page (which is linked to our YouTube account). I have our YouTube button on the top of the page now too. I think these extra outlets will work well since there have been many times where I've wanted to interact with others on my projects or "Going-ons" without interrupting the work that happens here...so what does any of this mean? Well, "some" articles will returning quite quickly. It will sorta be like how Gaming Sanctuary was first born with lots of "new" reviews on one update. Actually, there are quite a few reviews that actually meet my standards already. They just need to be coded. New articles will take longer. I will tell you that I intend to play some Samurai Kid for the Game Boy Color. It is one of many older articles that need some rework. As for anything else, I won't say. I can tell you that there is lots of interesting things coming down the tubes. Till next time!

-September 21st, 2011-

Oh my goodness, how time flies! It's been quite a while since we've been around the main site hasn't it? First of all, if you haven't heard it from me or my brother yet, then "Happy New Years!", "Happy Black History Month!", "Happy Easter!", "Happy Birthday!" (our birthday, which already passed), etc. A lot of people probably thought we just went and died or something, but it's quite the contrary; we've become even more diverse with new gaming platforms, more video game software, more technology, and just more of everything, period. Yup, 2011 is looking pretty great so far... but you're probably wondering: Just what WERE we doing all this time? After all, one can only wonder what's been going on to see an update on this page after two years, right? Typically, it's fairly rare that people go back to a page after having no news in two years or more.

Well, for starters, I'm not ashamed to admit that we have spent a lot of time on YouTube. We have a new HD digital camera and Windows 7 computer to partially thank for that. Me and my brother weren't just uploading videos like usual though, we were re-uploading videos too. We migrated our material to a new YouTube account aptly titled "Vyse the determined 2" due to mounting flags on videos during some of YouTube's darkest hours. There was so many false claims thrown left and right last year and people were suspended without the opportunity to rebuttal. We didn't get suspended but didn't want to take the risk. We've now had that channel for over a year and it's got loads of new content and over 2000 videos, so have fun with all that.

Bel Cain The Eternal will help in keeping things pretty active since I'm pretty busy these days. He's the one responsible for the winter designs on YouTube and this lovely new redesign of the main site, not to mention he makes videos and writes excerpts fairly often (you just won't recognize it on YT as we both upload videos to the same account, though he has his own channel), so let's all be grateful for that! While the redesign and numerous code changes were done by Bel, I took it upon myself to heavily code the pages and the site is actually aiming for a complete overhaul. I want the code to be "free" of errors, so I'm officially validating every single page of this site to be more "web friendly" while still keeping the layout original. My original vision of Gaming Sanctuary was to code a website that I could truly call my own; not a template that I borrowed from someone or had someone do for me. While the process was difficult to grasp at times, it was also interesting and the acquisition of knowledge and the ability to grasp a new concept have been very rewarding. I've been personally going in and coding just about everything...alts, titles, meta tags, typos, page edits...the works. Like Vysethedetermined2 of YouTube, think of Gaming Sanctuary as Gaming Sanctuary 2. That being said, I intend to establish a definite connection between Gaming Sanctuary's YouTube work with the workings of this website and continue to develop my writing abilities while sharing my experiences with my audience.

As for new material, there is nothing available... yet. We've compiled various notes over the absence to upgrade past articles and the sky's the limit as far as what we can discuss right now but don't have anything specific planned for new articles. Sounds awfully vague right? Don't worry; whether it's more of those crazy obscure oldies from Japan, independent games on a international level, some of the latest games of 2011, or some random diatribe you couldn't care less about, we'll be here to cover it. Do we have to? Nope. Do we want to? Not all the time. Do we need to? No, but we're paying for it so we should use it. Do we enjoy it? You bet, and the continued support from fans old and new means a lot to us, so we're definitely not going to abandon it. We can take our YouTube write-ups, add more to them (since YT has text limitations), grab a load of screenshots, and guess what? You got yourself a new article...so until next time, this another announcement from Vtd!

-September 21st, 2009-

Well now...another update! This time, this update was finished a long time ago; I just didn't feel like making any news, and without news to update the homepage, I have no update...I know, I'm just too cruel, aren't I? This tasty update is brought to us by chocolateburgers (A.K.A. chocolateburger) for an obscure Human-published title known as Twilight Syndrome Omen: Tansaku-hen. I have never eaten a chocolate burger before, but I like both chocolate and burgers, so it was awesome to receive a review contribution from someone whose alias contains two things that I enjoy eating. CB also contributed a few screenshots and I basically just coded in the review to fit the website.

However, while the review was great, Vyse the determined of Gaming Sanctuary (it's been a long time since I've went third-person on myself) was intrigued by the submission, soooooo...in typical GS fashion, I went out of my way to dig up lots of additional trivia and such and added it to the article. For starters, it may interest some that Suda51 (Goichi Suda) of Killer7 and No More Heroes took part in the creation of TSO...and well, just read the article. I've added a few side images and dug up some info and all that stuff. Unrelated to the article, I must say that the code of the site has gone a little crazy since I got Internet Explorer 8. Many would consider that a bad thing and just use this opportunity to bash Microsoft yet again. However, I thank Internet Explorer 8...because it revealed more faulty code that other browsers might have displayed as if nothing were wrong. You do know what that means right? MORE SITE FIXING HAD TO BE DONE BEFORE THIS UPDATE, YAAAAAAY! God I hate site fixing! However, I love gaming and my work, even if I am overly self-critical at times. I sat around for a few hours fixing bugs...however, for everything I fix, I get one step closer to bettering myself. Just so everyone knows my business (GS business, of course), I am currently working on updating (very SLOWLY) my Aretha 2 and Rejoice articles to match the excellent revival of my Aretha: The Super Famicom article. The site has also been long overdue for some new "GGI" (General Gaming Interests for those who don't know).

There are a bunch of smaller sections that would benefit from a little love (the advice section, for example). However, life has gotten a hold of me. I haven't been able to buy more imports like I would want too (though that may change in the near future with any luck). Sure, I'm still buying North American games, but I like to discover unusual games overseas too. If it brings anyone any sort of comfort, I am still at least trying to get one of my New Year's goals done; I've been doing a lot of exercising and all that good stuff...hmmm? You say that isn't game related? Uhh...sure it is! My finger strength to play action games is tougher than it has ever been! Seriously though, I will be focusing my attention on lesser areas of the site. Hopefully, there will be a "big" update before next year. I would like two or three within that time, but I'm super busy as of late. Take care everyone! Until next time...

-June 04th, 2009-

Hello ALL! It has most certainly been a long time, but I actually have some kind of news today; there is an update of some kind! I'll be honest with everyone; I've been extremely busy these past few months. We've moved into one new home, took a while to set up the new room, and for a minute, everything was good...however, due to circumstances ONCE AGAIN beyond our control, we are forced to relocate yet again. It's a real pain. Actually, this update comes two days before we actually move into the new home, but I wanted some kind of update before I lost internet service...which can be for as short as four days to as long as a month.

I've been busy at work with the technical aspects of the site, only to discover that File Front doesn't appear to have any of my music samples that I've uploaded. Therefore, I had to spend time changing all the links all over the place that were in various articles...which is time that could have been spent making a brand new article in the process. I will now be using MediaFire for the game music samples. Also, due to the increasingly difficult economic times, I've been hard at work trying to make as much money as possible. In fact, I even have a second job (of sorts) on top of all the other various things that I do. After I move, I will be writing a good deal more articles, but I only have one up at the second.

For those who aren't aware, GS Tube has been absolutely booming! There are plenty of videos there (many of which I would like to make articles for eventually) and videos are frequently added to our database. To our visitors, friends, and subscribers, I would like to express my gratitude for all of your generousity and constructive criticism by saying thank you. It truly does mean a lot to me as well as Bel Cain The Eternal. Once again, thank you very much...and if any of you on YouTube (or this site) have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask...and well...urhmmmmm. What else?

AH YES...I would just like to point out the new additions. Puzzle fanatics on a budget can rejoice! Play with the adorable Tia (or Sitora in Japan) in Puzzle Star Sweep and be merry! You can pull off hectic chains and rack up a sweet high score without the high price tag and "fluff". Also, if you don't understand a thing about Aretha for the Super Famicom, I don't blame you; neither did I...or rather, I covered it in such a vague fashion, I didn't necessarily say anything wrong, but I didn't really say much at all. That brings me to another thing; I'm really trying to go back and really PLAY all the RPGs on this site. Some are good, but I've still got too many mini-reviews from my GameFAQs postings. I have nothing against GameFAQs or my postings, but I really need to add meat to those articles, especially if my focus is to cover obscure games in as much detail as I possibly can. Lastly, I've added a few new scans, generally for Playstation stuff (Ghost in the Shell, Mr. Domino, Puzzle Star Sweep, etc.) and as for the videos, it's just easier to visit our YouTube page at this point...there's a lot of stuff in that badboy. Until next time everyone!

-January 29th, 2009-

There's not much to say in this one. We've got about eighty percent of our stuff packed up and we've fixed a few more errors on the site. We've added two more links to our links section... well, technically only one. We wanted to get this taken care of before we move for pretty obvious reasons, but we've added GamerFreak, another new video game site that drifts in the vast interlinked hypertext ocean that is the World Wide Web. We'd like to think that you can never have enough. The next link... is the return of the Video Game Den!!! We were contacted by Laurent Kermel a few days ago about the return of his great site. The references were never taken down, but the links were deactivated, but he has a new host now and you can go there and dance and be merry! Take care everybody, and until we meet again.

-January 07th, 2009-

Wow, a GS update after HOW LONG? This absence was even longer than last years' absence! Many have been curious about what we've been doing and where GS stands right now and we feel you have the right to know as our viewers, so we'll let you know what's been going on.

We've been doing a lot lately, most importantly is packing up for our big move (again). The reason is because we're getting notices for our landlord that hints at the house we're living in being foreclosed. This means we're paying our rent, but we suspect that the owner isn't paying their mortgage... and we want to be safer rather than sorry. We'll likely make our move at the beginning of February, so there may be another absence period (but that doesn't mean we aren't working on the site). We've been slowly packing up all our belongings and tidying up the place, and that's part of the reason we haven't been making regular updates, since we need access to our material for scanning purposes and a whole slew of other reasons. Instead, we've been making videos, since we don't need a lot of material to make them.

With that being said, we've made A LOT of new videos, about three hundred since our last update (*laughs*). That's a lot of hours of footage! Many of the videos are for games we've covered on this site as well as games we plan to cover. We've got the Dazzle up and running, so we can make videos and articles for pretty much anything we want, but we want to polish up the old stuff before we ring in the new. Actually, some people may have noticed, but the site you're viewing right now is "under construction", since we've devised a little code to make the site viewable under what we believe to be any resolution. There are other tweaks in progress as well. We've also been attempting world domination... nah, not really, but we've added a few more links. One of them belongs to an uncommonly polite YouTuber known as psychoapeguy, owner of "A Video Game Website", whose site is very neat and organized. You can find material from a wide range of gaming platforms and it looks like it will become one of the greats with time. Just check out the Astro Robo Sasa (NES) review for an example of what you can expect in terms of form and function. If you like what you see, you can contribute or join the forums.

That's all we can really say for now. We'll still be working on the site regularly, filling in YouTube requests and seldomly hanging out on various forums, but there isn't much more that can be said at the moment. We're looking into a good camera that can record decent footage of the real world and we'll probably come up with a list of all the videos we've made since the last update, but stay tuned! Thanks for the support!