[Gotenks13]

Gotenks13: what costs so much ?? well... let me try and break it down (again)...

at the heart of the problem is web-space for the 8 meg shockwave file (ie: the main game file)... the game gets about 35,000 hits per week... @ 8 megs each... that adds up (to about) 900+ gigs of transfer PER month...

now you may say "so what... get one of them $5 hosting plans i heard so much about.. u know... the ones with unlimited bandwidth !!" ... guess what... "unlimited bandwidth" truns into "your account is termiated for over-usage" when it comes to 900+ gigs per month...

that is (and always has been) our #1 problem...

now lets look at the back-end of the game... u have leftyfb and myself @ the heart of it all... lefty who needs to be able to handle 35,000 hits weekly for the HTML web site... plus, whatever hits the forum gets (which is quite a bit as well... even though so few of the users post)... all this drains lefty's internet connection (not to mention server/cpu resources.. but lets not even get into that)... his internet bill (which is MUCH higher than mine) ... u guessed it... has to be paid from his own pocket...

then you have me... same problem... u need to have server(s) for authentication, top scores, and whatever else is needed for security and to let everyone login/access the database/"check/create/edit their scores", etc...

.. bandwidth for that + server/upgrades/maintenance cost... (u guessed it again) ... straight otta my own empty pocket...

... for the record... the crappy/cheap machines that i'm forced to use (i dont' have cash for a shiny-new Dell server+) die every few months and need to be replaced with new junk... $40 for a power supply here, $300 for a new mother board there... every few months its something new... and every few months, all of that adds up... (i won't even bother puttin in number for lefty'z equipment, they are much higher... but unlike myself, his are not use 100% for the game)...

and then... last but not least... u have the chat servers... we have 2 now (the 2nd server... "projectx server" is the backup chat server that i host and only bring up when everyone else is down) ... each person that decides to run one has to have SOME sorta' server to host it on (all 24/7)... and, they have to give up about 300-600 megs of transfer PER DAY... (which is quite a bit if you think about it)

ALL of this is 110% essential... and i do mean ALL... nothing is wasted... and the corners have been cut so much, there is noffin left to make the game even close to "pointy"...

so.. there u have it...

(2000warrior: feel free to quote me on this each time this q is asked... i know u'r good @ that)

Well that explains a lot...you guys are some of the nicest people in the world...

Hey, I think that Capcom should help you out...they did create the actual game. They should assist you in some way. This whole thing can be considered an advertisement for them. You need pay...from them...