Darklight93's return / Cowen Hames the Legend

04/06/2013 03:53
Bismuth
Hey, I'm a big fan of your work in the speedrunning community, especially on 007 nightfire, you're a legend man!


10/10/2013 20:41
Cowen Razer Hames
Thank you.

Bismuth
so are you ever speedrunning again?

Cowen Razer Hames
I just recently quit, and honestly I dont know. I'm not liking the way the gaming world is going, Tablets and smartphones have a serious chance of taking over sales in front of home consoles, and that really bothers me. I'm old school you know? N64-360. I dont really like all this new stuff like the ipad.
Another thing is not a whole lot of people speed run anymore, at least not any of the "veterans". A lot of people quit like 3-4 years ago. I quit last year.
Did you read my article?

Bismuth
I think I know what article you're talking about, yeah
well lately speedrunning has regained a lot of popularity with livestreams and speedrunslive

Cowen Razer Hames
So I've heard.

Bismuth
nothing prevents you from making a return on old school consoles with a stream and races

Cowen Razer Hames
The question is how many people would watch it?

Bismuth
well weren't you world champion? you'd be pretty popula
*popular

Cowen Razer Hames
I still am World Champion of Nightfire, was World Champion of a few others too.

Bismuth
well based on that I believe you would get a pretty solid viewership
the champion of Wind Waker has over 10000 viewers on good days
he has made world record speedruns under the eyes of over 18k people
you could achieve rockstar status with livestreams

Cowen Razer Hames
Maybe somebody grabbing the title of NightFire would spark some vids.
I've got the title in 2008, and have been inactive since Summer 2011. Nobody has grabbed it since
I don't even have the game anymore actually. So people have had 2 years to literally "steal" it. It just doesnt seem popular enough.

Bismuth
I'm sure you could hunt for more records on other games and start your own livestream
with such a past behind you you definitely have the potential to crush the competition
I've seen much worse players get much more praise

Cowen Razer Hames
It'd take some practice for sure.

Bismuth
I can already see the headlines in the speedrunning community boards

Cowen Razer Hames
I was about to say that lol, there seems to be a lot of newbies out there

Bismuth
the great return of darklight93
people would talk about that for weeks
your livestream would definitely be hot stuff

Cowen Razer Hames
Who are our "main" runners right now? top dogs?

Bismuth
well if you go across every game, CosmoWright is definitely top 1, he's a legit guy
co-founder of speedrunslive, record holder in ocarina of time, wind waker, castlevania symphony of the night, comander keen

Cowen Razer Hames
never heard of him, was he around when I was?

Bismuth
I think he probably came around when you left, somewhere around 2009 I believe
he has founded SRL with Jiano, who's a bit more of an oldschooler

Cowen Razer Hames
Yeah because I was the main guy in 2007-2008, and i never heard of him then. Jiano sounds familar

Bismuth
used to speedrun SM64 and some other games, he's more distant now, he isn't seen around often
there's siglemic, he came in extremely strong with his streams every single day for a long time in 2011-2012
he smashed the world records in sm64
but I think he burned himself down and now his popularity has died down a bit
last year those two guys were top 2 most popular speedrunners

Cowen Razer Hames
Okay well now that I know some info, I might be able to start looking around

Bismuth
now there are more, there's always been trihex, guy runs yoshi's island
and like, nowadays about a dozen of runners often get over 1k viewers

Cowen Razer Hames
Heres the problem though, my group is gone. It's just me and DR that are still around, and I don't think I have very many supporters out there anymore, unless you know of a website or something where people still remember who I am

Bismuth
werster, adamak are very popular
well I still see your name being thrown around now and then
true old schoolers haven't forgotten about you I'm sure about that
I'd recommend you to pick up a game you used to kick ass at and start streaming it

Cowen Razer Hames
What are the hot games right now that you know of. I could build my library back up.

Bismuth
post around places like speeddemosarchive, reddit/r/speedrun, the IRC channel of speedrunslive
get people to know you're back and who you are to the newbies

Cowen Razer Hames
SDA is still going?
Wow, feels like i havent been around in an eternity lol

Bismuth
the hottest games right now are probably zelda OoT, Super mario 64, Pokémon Games, old GTAs are going very strong, Zelda a link to the past, wind waker, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Banjo Kazzoie with Stivitybobo (that guy is a machine)
lemme think
super mario world and sunshine are popular racing games
people race them a lot, and I know the record holders can get over a thousand viewers on their stream
super meat boy is pretty big, that's one of the good fairly recent games
then you also have majora's mask, mario kart 64, super metroid, megaman, portal, they aren't as big but they're there and they have their viewers

Cowen Razer Hames
Old GTAs? I was one of the first people to show a legit 100% SR for San Andreas, that was a legend in its own. If we're talking about VC, SA, LCS

Bismuth
yes, GTA 3, GTA SA, VC
I don't know if LCS is getting much love
but GTA 3, SA, VC are insanely popular

Cowen Razer Hames
I'd have to build my library back up, and set things up
which of those websites do people still throw my name around once inawhile?

Bismuth
mostly stream chats
you're kind of a legend now
people know your name
but they don't know who you are
because almost no one was there back then
I know Cosmo Wright talked about you once when I was watching his stream
he took like 10 minutes to explain to his chat who you are
you're definitely getting respect from the top speedrunner in the world right now
he's been world class in many games, a pioneer in the community by founding SRL and the #1 most popular streamer for about 3 years now, and he recognizes your feats from before his time

Cowen Razer Hames
That's always a good thing to know. Do you have Xbox Live? That's really the only place I'm at right now. Oh, and has he speed runned Nightfire?

Bismuth
I don't think he has been in nightfire, he's been playing mostly N64 and GC games
I get the general feel that those two consoles are where most people's attention for speedrunning is
that, plus the GTA games

Cowen Razer Hames
do you have a link to cosmos main channel/profile, whatever it is? Somewhere where I can talk to him?

Bismuth
actually he's so popular you might have a hard time reaching him but I can link you a thing or two
his twitch channel is www.twitch.tv/cosmowright
IRC information
Server— irc.speedrunslive.com
Server 2— irc2.speedrunslive.com
Channel— #speedrunslive
here you have the IRC channel of Speedrunslive
where you can race people, that's what Cosmo has founded with jiano
you can PM Cosmo on IRC there
I believe you can reach him on SDA but that'd probably be a bit more unreliable
I can't wait to see you get world records back on GTA, I hope you make a huge comeback
the speedrunning community has been too stable, there's a need for a big name to turn the tables

Cowen Razer Hames
I sent him a message. We'll see how it goes, do you have xbox live?

Bismuth
I have an xbox 360 but I don't have xbox live
I really am not a 360 guy
http://www.twitch.tv/team/srl
right now none of the big names are streaming, still a lot of people have hundreds of viewers

Cowen Razer Hames
ah alright. Well another thing too, im a full time xbox support guy, Mon-Fri. So if i come back i'll be doing the vids on the weekend

Bismuth
yeah, we don't have as much time as we used to
it's normal
but hey, you should look into getting OBS and start your livestream
that's really where things are now

Cowen Razer Hames
whats obs?

Bismuth
open broadcaster software I think is the name?
it's a free open-source streaming software
with a proper capture card you can stream anything with that

Bismuth
http://obsproject.com/
Open Broadcaster Software
obsproject.com
Open Broadcaster Software is free and open source software for recording and live streaming. Both 32 and 64 bit versions are available and it's absolutely free!

Cowen Razer Hames
wowwww

Cowen Razer Hames
I'm looking at this guy's youtube, I can't believe how nooby it has gotten out there! I've seen like 30 ppl comment on his page asking how to start speed running and other things, I just can't believe it. I guess you werent joking, the best out there right now is Cosmo? What happened in the last 3 years?

Cowen Razer Hames
I'm gonna look into this OBS and live streaming, you should keep me posted about things. I'll be visiting those sites too. I appreciate you sending me a message and letting me know all this stuff.

Bismuth
in the last 3 years, speedrunning has exploded
it used to be pretty underground, but now with twitch it's really mainstream
I used to follow some speedruns back in 2004
but I was kinda off the scene from like 2009 to 2011, didn't really watch any runs, didn't go to sda much
and then I discovered SRL and twitch, and I saw speedrunning had a second life
now it's gotten crazy, it's about 20 times as popular as it was in 2011
SDA organizes Awesome Games Done Quick and Summer Games Done Quick, two marathons per year that last one week each and get 60k concurrent viewers
they get donations for cancer research and other good causes, they've gather more than one million across their marathons since 2010
there is a fierce competition in a lot of N64 games for RTA world records
segmented runs are a thing of the past, ILs pretty much the same
now it's mostly about RTA records

Cowen Razer Hames
RTA? Is that Real Time Action or something?

Bismuth
like Super Mario 64 16 stars, 70 stars, 120 stars are extremely popular, as well as Ocarina of Time any%, MST, 100%, all dungeons, all sorts of categories
Real Time Attack, yes
start the timer, start your game, beat the game, stop the timer

Cowen Razer Hames
no more beating 10 missions, or getting to the mid-level checkpoint, and finishing it later anymore huh?

Bismuth
that is kinda gone, yeah
but real time also means real hype, you know what I mean
with livestreams, people do this shit live in front of you, and you witness the world records happen before your very eyes

Cowen Razer Hames
Aren't there still full runs of just one mission or one level anymore?

Bismuth
that appeals to much broader audiences
yeah there are on certain games
like you know, racing games, bond games and stuff still have those
and people compete on them
but now you also see RTAs
Goldeneye has Agent, SA, 00A, All 60 levels runs
it's a new layer of competition

Cowen Razer Hames
Well we had full game runs back in the day too, but it was more focused on specific missions, 1 at a time

Bismuth
you become a true master once you become the best at both

Cowen Razer Hames
Don't you think I've been at that level?

Bismuth
well I think you once were the uncontested best, but nowadays things have changed, and that is why you need to get back before people forget your name and you start sinking
for that you need to claim RTA world records
get those games, beat them in one sitting faster than everyone, that would prove that you are the ultimate best
I mean, you have a shit ton of records for individual levels and missions

Cowen Razer Hames
whats the WR for SA right now?

Bismuth
SA goldeneye?

Cowen Razer Hames
San Andreas

Bismuth
oh right
I need to check that out, I haven't followed GTA games in a while
I believe it is 6:12:14

Cowen Razer Hames
You've gotta be kidding me.
I could smash that into a million pieces.

Bismuth
the RTA WR that is
apparently from august 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B-Qw_tgdcU
that is part 1
I need to go now, but keep me updated on your comeback
so I can start spreading the word

Cowen Razer Hames
Go ahead and start tellin them to watch out, I'm gonna save up cash and get some equipment. That SA record aint nothin. Cya