I would like all to be aware that Chudah's Corner will officially be closing as of April 22, 2007.  All information, reviews, lyrics, scans, etc. will no longer be available to the public.

I apologize to those who have genuinely supported Chudah's Corner.  I appreciated your kind comments and encouragement through the years, and wish you the best in your future game music endeavors.

http://www.chudahs-corner.com/

Sad
Isn't there any solutions ?

What a shame. I've consulted CC many, many times in the past for information and just the pleasure of reading the quality reviews.

Chudah's was really the first place that got me into VGM and I've always considered it my home base. I will say I have been disheartened by the recent lack of activity in the forums there recently, whether or not that's why it's still sad. Anyway, I wish her luck in whatever her future endeavors bring although I feel this is a major loss for the VGM community.

Edit:

Speaking of reviews I was going to send some over there I've been working on, but that seems kind of like a moot point now...

Nevermind my question up above, I guess I should have read the statement on CC first but it pretty much answered my question.

Edit: Sorry, wrong topic!

Well, I suppose this means I can abandon my efforts at translating some of my rarer soundtracks... though I was happy that I could finally start contributing information after years of benefiting from the site.

I wouldn't have the collection I have now if it weren't for the information CC has collected, but I know the feeling of having someone rip off work that was published for everyone's benefit, so I can't say I don't respect Chudah's decision.

Best of luck to you, Chudah, in whatever you choose to do after this.
I'm sure none of us will forget the service you provided to the community.

Well there's always archive.org...

It's been the first site I goto for tracklists (used it this morning in fact) and I'm sad to see it go.

-Joshua

Damn, sorry to hear that...Chudah's Corner was my first ever site to consult for tracklists.

Isn't there anything you can do? Isn't there any way you could've protected the information on the site from theft?

Geez, that's terrible. Both myself and my boyfriend have frequently refered to all the different information available on Chudah's Corner, and I can't imagine suddenly not having that resource. I actually have a somewhat similar site myself (although much smaller and cruder), that focuses on the products related to tri-Ace's games, with scans, information, and reviews, and I understand just how much work goes into making that information available. I too have often bought products largely with the intent of getting something up on my site about them. I would definitely be very upset to see another site rip-off all of my content. I do refer to a lot of sources online to create my content, but I would NEVER steal from a personal site and doing it on a mass scale just makes it that much worse.

I just sincerely hope that this can all be resolved and Chudah's Corner can continue to be an invaluable resource for all fans of video game music.

First, I think Chudah and the other folks over at CC have done a SUPERB job over the years, and I know all of us appreciate it. I also think they have a right to be very upset, however I don't think that closing down CC is the right move. Granted, I don't know the whole story, but here's my take...

For the record, I would like to say that I submitted some review pieces to CC. Granted, it's not nearly the same time and cost commitment Chudah contributed, but nevertheless it's something. I also scanned some covers, sent those as well, and yes everything takes a LOT more work than people realize. Still, we do it because we enjoy the music and hope others will enjoy it too

That being said, who are the real people who are supposed to benefit from CC? I think the answer is the community. Simply put, it's a non-profit site run by people who are fans of game music and want to share their enthusiasm and knowledge with others. Some people have stolen the hard work that has gone into the project. But why close down CC? it seems pointless in my opinion. To me it seems like Chudah is saying "If I can't have the credit I deserve, then NO ONE will get to enjoy what we've done"! And I do say "we", because although Chudah has done the majority of the work (as far as I can tell), I know that lots and lots of others such as Zane, have contributed TONS of hours too! I know this isn't quite the same thing, but what would happen if all CD manufactorers in Japan said "We're not going to make any more game music CDs, because EverAnime and Son May keep stealing our works, they make copies of our CDs, and then they claim their CDs are original [which of course they do]!" Then what do you have? Basically everyone suffers.

Anyway, bottom line, I think MANY of us really appreciate Chudah's Corner, and I simply see no reason to have it closed. I totally understand why you (Chudah) are upset, but it seems to me like you're trying to punish everyone.

As others have said, I do hope things get resolved, because many people have contributed lots of hours to CC, and MANY more appreciate all the work that has gone into it. As for those people who stole from CC, I see no reason for it, and hope things get resolved in a peaceful and productive way so that those of us who enjoy gaming and game music can continue to enjoy it in this rather nice online community we have. Anyway, those are my personal thoughts.

cheers,

-avatar!

edit: fixed typo

The matter is being discussed between CC and the people in question. Although there are some people that are trying to make the situation worse I don't think many people are paying attention to them anyway.

Hopefully discussions end on terms so that everyone is satisfied and most people will let the thing go to rest

I couldn't agree more.  Closing down the site is pointless, and punishes everyone.  I understand being upset, as I would be too, but you should be flattered as well that so many people are posting on this topic, and that people are actually making use of the materials.  This stuff happens all the time, even more so in business where more money and more time are at stake.  As long as it's your hobby and you enjoy doing it for you, you shouldn't care where it is distributed.  I'm sure they'll be willing to listen if everyone confronts them about it.

The decision to close the site was made in an effort to prevent any more information from being used.  I am still in the process of determining whether the closure is permanant or temporary.

I apologize to everyone who regularly visits us for their information.  The closure of the database was a very difficult decision, but in the end was needed in order to protect the site's information.

Protect it from who?  It's for the community, no matter where it's distributed.  We know where the information came from, and it looks like you may be able to work something out with GFA.

If it's really a hobby to you, it shouldn't really matter if it is stolen or not.  You still had fun generating the content, and have fun hosting it too.  Just sort it out and keep doing what you've done.

You could think of it that way, but I don't think the "credit" is the real issue here. Have you ever had anything stolen from you? I have, and it feels like your soul has been torn out - and it's not really even about the property that was taken - you just feel violated and betrayed as a person. I think given a little time Chudah will know were she wants to go from here... in a situation such as this one make say and do things that seem rather hasty to others, but eventually when the clam after the storm arrives things quickly come back into focus.

Edit:

If all the information from Chudah's site was avalible on another website, would you still visit as regularly? I don't think this is really about "protecting information" as much as is it "protecting the website's future".

Until I can sort things out with GFA, I would prefer that the site remain closed.  It may be hard for some to understand my actions, but I quite literally feel like all the effort I've poured into Chudah's Corner was for naught.  And it's very difficult for me to continue adding new information when the possibility exists of it being taken right out from under me and claimed by someone else as their own.  While the information contained therein is not my property, the thousands of dollars I've spent on the server, program licenses, and soundtracks I've purchased for the benefit of the website alone, is something that cannot be replaced or refunded.

For my own peace of mind, CC will remain closed until further notice.

It depends on the situation. If a "friend" stole something from me, then I would feel betrayed. However, this is a completely different situation. Here we have public information which is meant to be free to anyone who wants it. I agree with you that "credit" should NOT be the issue, but it seems to me like Chudah IS making credit the issue. Let me put it like this, I wrote the Super Mario World review (as well as some others) on CC. If some site had stolen my review and published it as their own, I would certainly email them and be upset, but I wouldn't demand that all my reviews be taken down from CC so that no one could "benefit" from them. To me that seems pointless, because again, this is a non-profit site, whose goal (if I'm not mistaken) is to inform others and share some gaming love.

Therefore,  what's the point of closing down CC? We all should be mature here, but I just can't help but think of the time years ago, when I was a child...  One kid I knew always seemed to have the best toys and would show them off to everyone in school and around the neighborhood. One day, another kid got basically the same new and cool toy the first kid had, and so what did this kid with all the toys do? He took ALL his toys to his room and refused to play with the other kids... of course kids will be kids, but what about adults?

cheers,

-avatar!

edit: fixed typo

Actually, when you put it that way I can see where you are coming from... still this is just a pretty sticky situation any way you slice it.

Edit: I don't think there is any easy answer to be found here though...

All of you people that think it wouldn't be "any big thing" for Chudah to leave his site up can offer to pay the related costs for webhosting, and spend your time keeping it online.

I can definitely understand that if he was backstabbed, why should he continue to use his resources to keep the site running, especially if it means more of his work will be abused?

If running a VGM site was my hobby, maybe I would.  As long as things get sorted out, I don't see the big deal.  I run a netlabel where I release my friends' and my music, and if somebody 'stole' that material, I wouldn't give a crap as long as they weren't making money from it.  I still enjoy making the music and running the site, regardless of how the music is distributed.  If anything, I'd be flattered that somebody thought the music was good enough to steal in the first place.

I would (But that's my mentality, when I stick to a site, I'll stick to it, to the bitter end usually.), but CC is more than a information website. I like the forums there as you do also.

This scenario blew up like fire on gasoline, so my 2-cents will be short and to the point.

It's her site, and her choice to do what she wants with it, no explanations obligated.

Chudah: Yes, personal well-being & family & financial priorities take precedence over any hobby, so taking stock of your priorities is fine.

Good luck,
-Carl

You always seemed like a nice person, and I wish you the best in your personal affairs, but I'm not all that sad to see the site go.  For some reason it had a tendency to attract some elitist pricks.  For every nice guy like Dragon God you had someone who was more interested in showing off their VGM knowledge and discrediting the opinions of others.  It just isn't enjoyable posting with people like that or having to tolerate their self-absorbed reviews.  A good knowledge of VGM isn't enough when a smug superior attitude turns people off to visiting the site.  I believe that aside from the lack of updates, that also contributed to the almost complete lack of activity on the forums the last few times I visited.  It's also why I made the personal decision to stop being an active member there altogether.  Seeing honest people like GoldfishX get forced out just confirmed the rightness of that choice.

I still hope that this thing with GFA gets worked out though.  It isn't right to steal material, and Chudah's Corner was a great information resource.  Right color too.

Thanks for the thought MV, but I prefer to distance myself from this fiasco (and any past fiascos involving CC) as much as possible and don't wish to be associated with either side in a right-wrong battle. I figure whatever happens will happen for a reason.

From what it sounds, there should be more communication between the two sides. I don't think GFA was in the right at all, but I also don't think the people behind it are insidious and thoughtless criminals either, as I've dealt with SS in the past and I know Bigblah is one of the more stable GFF senior members I've seen (I'm not at all familiar who else is involved with the GFA project).

As an outside observer from GFF, I have to echo Goldfish's sentiments that the individuals running GFA are sensible people. Obviously I have no idea what's been discussed between Chudah and them so far, but I have to imagine a solution that would be acceptable to both sides should be possible.

EDIT: Just read the other thread. I guess it's just a matter of e-mailing between Chudah and SS now.

Pardon my knowledgeability or lack of, but what's GFA (other than another site), and who's SS (other than maybe the director of GFA)? What do the acronyms stand for?

GFA = Gamingforce Audio
SS = Secret Squirrel.  He is the music administrator at Slightly Dark.

http://www.gamingforce.com/audio/gfa.php

Well, GFA seems to have closed down, at least for now...problem solved?

Matters are being worked out between both groups.

It was deemed fair that GFA shut down until a solution was reached.

Good riddance to bad rubbish, as they say.