MKDS Players' Page

Standards

Fried @ Sunday, August 27th [link]

Everyone check out the new standards! If you don't know what standards are, basically it's just another way to track your progress in the game as you improve, and your ARR improves each time you beat one of the standards. Many people like standards because they don't change (or at least not often), so you can still see yourself improving even if everyone around you is also improving.

All the standards have the same names as in MKDD (though that might be changed soon), except that there are 5 sub-standards, A-E, instead of just 4. We start out with the current world champion Sascha Brauninger being ranked Titan B, and the best standard reached so far in any track is Myth C. The sum of all the God times is 44:13.250, almost a full minute faster than Sascha's 3lap total, so it'll be a long time if ever before anyone reaches God.

Edit by Sully:
Please consider these standards in a beta phase. It is apparent that the standards will need some tweaking to help balance and ensure that the standards stand the test of time. I urge you not to get too attached to your current ARR score and the current God times, as some of these may change in the coming days and weeks.

PRB

Sully @ Monday, August 21st [link]

Thank you all for your email responses and message board discussion regarding the use of PRB-racing on Mario Kart DS Players' Page. While their were detailed and well constructed arguments given by both sides and numerous votes cast on each side, we obviously couldn't make everyone happy with a decision.

We've decided to continue with the site as it is now. There simply weren't as many people as we were expecting who favored the use of PRB-racing and this turned out to be an easier decision for us than we expected going into the debate.

We will consider adding PRB-rankings to the site at some point in addition to the current non-PRB ranking, but there are many logistical challenges to overcome before we can do so. Please remain patient while we try to work something out. For now, we are asking all members to continue to send their non-PRB records. We will not remove the non-PRB rankings, so dont worry about all of your efforts going to waste.

Thank you.

Sascha takes #1!

Sully @ Friday, August 18th [link]

#1 Sascha Brauninger had an awesome 1.06 point AF cut this week to jump pass #2 Thomas Bolton on the AF chart. Sascha now leads him there by 0.06 and also has 21 Site Records to Bolton's 17. Sascha obviously PR'd on lots of courses this week to make such a huge move, and his Site Records included 42.927 / 13.626 on Koopa Beach 2 and 28.804 on Peach Gardens. Sascha is our Player of the Week for being the player to finally get to Bolton.

#3 Michael Fried lost 0.5 in AF this week because of Sascha's run, but his some records of his own. He took both Bowser Castle SRs with times of 1:55.870 and 37.263. The 3lap just barely beat Robin's 3 month old Site Record on that course.

#6 Josh Griffin and #6 Milan Pacino both jumped over Miguel Rodriguez this week with AF cuts of 0.48 each. This is the 2nd week in a row that they've been tied! Josh hit a nice new Site Record on Peach Circuit with a time of 18.169.

#9 Simon Birker was also active and jumped over #10 Paul Gourdon this week with a 0.3 point AF cut.

The top Australians are also keeping active. It settled down a bit this week but Australian Champ #13 Jerome Francois had a 0.4 point AF cut and #14 Thomas Rielly had a 0.3 AF cut but still trails Jerome by more than 2 AF points.

#16 Nick Welch stayed active and cut 1.6 off his AF score but wasn't able to move out of that #16 spot in the rankings.

#19 Brandon Yauch broke into the top 20 this week with a 3.9 point AF cut.

#29 Kevin Barbieux and #33 Jordon Ward both had solid weeks with 2.6 and 4.6 point AF cuts. Barbieux moved up 2 spots in the rankings and Jordon was able to pass 4 people.

#30 Cole Gilbert took back the Canadian #1 spot this week with a great effort and 15 point AF cut to move up 11 spots in the rankings. #38 Matt Ellis also had a 7.2 point AF cut and showed his potential for top 10 times with a score of 13.779 on Koopa Beach 2 for 4th place.

#37 Louis Vivares and #41 Davide Valgimigli also had strong weeks with 12 and 9 point AF cuts of their own.

#58 Wesley Bester and #76 Chase Peleshaty are looking to get into the Canadian rivalry. They had AF cuts of 15 and 11 points this week and with a few more active weeks could challenge Cole and Matt.

#43 Josh Habben didn't do anything in AF but he again showed off his RR skills by breaking the 2 minute barrier with a Site Record 1:59.993 3lap.

Kart veterans #66 Sami Cetin and #98 David Taylor both made nice comebacks this week with 14.8 and 10.5 point AF cuts. Let's see if they can keep it up!

Happy karting smile

Wild top 5

Sully @ Thursday, August 10th [link]

Everyone in the top 5 as active this week and we finally had some shakeup in the top ranks.

#1 Thomas Bolton cut 0.25 off his AF score to get to 2.53 there. He was also active on the Site Records page, as usual. He took Site Records including 2:02.082 / 40.069 on Waluigi Pinball and 28.317 on Yoshi Circuit, among others.

#2 Sascha Brauninger gained a spot this week and cut an incredible 0.84 AF points to get his AF score under 4. Sascha currently holds 16 Site Records and took a number of them this week. He notably took out both Figure 8 Circuit records with times of 1:15.430 and 24.847. Sascha is our Player of the Week.

#3 Michael Fried lost a spot in the ranks but still cut 0.2 AF points. He hit a new SR on Sky Garden 3lap with a time of 1:10.432, which is 0.25 ahead of 2nd place.

#4 Lars Stelzig cut 0.3 off his AF score as well this week although he's all the way down to 1 Site Record now.

#5 Giulio Centrone finally got past Miguel Rodriguez with a 0.7 point AF cut of his own this week. He's 3rd place in Site Record tally and hit new SRs this week including 28.313 on Cheep Cheep Beach.

#7 Milan Pacino cut 1.59 points off his AF score this week to get into a rare tie with Josh Griffin for that position. He hit some impressive times this week including a pair of 4th placed times on DK Pass of 1:50.831 and 35.990. He jumped up 3 spots in the process.

#10 Simon Birker and #12 Kevin McAteer were also both actie this week with small 0.3 and 0.4 AF cuts. Simon moved up from #11 to break into the top 10 again.

Top Australians #13 Jerome Francois and #15 Thomas Rielly were both very active this week with AF cuts of 2.5 points each. The result was Jerome keeping the Australian #1 spot and moving up 1 spot in the rankings and Thomas actually staying stuck at #15.

#16 Nick Welch and #17 Mark Schmidt were both active as well but Nick's 3.7 point AF cut moved him up 3 spots in the ranks and Mark's 0.7 point cut wasn't enough to keep him ahead of Nick.

Rounding out the top 20 was Nicola Gatti, who cut 3.5 points in a strong week to squeek into the club.

That leaves us with 13 of the top 20 karters having AF cuts this week and others obviously active (Griffin, Sacco, Nelson). What a week!

#30 James Leare cut 0.7 points this week and is again at that #30 spot! I wrote 3 weeks ago when he was #30 that he seemed to be spending a lot of time there. I guess he's found his niche.

#31 Kevin Barbieux also moved up a spot this week with a 1.8 point AF cut.

#37 Jordon Ward and #43 Mark Engelsman were both slightly active this week with 0.2 point AF cuts.

#40 Matt Ellis cut 9.3 AF points this week to barely beat out #41 Cole Gilbert for the Canadian #1 spot in their ongoing saga. Matt leads by only 0.3 AF points over Cole at the moment.

#48 Davide Valgimigli and #52 Ben Stoneman also had great weeks with 6.6 and 13.6 AF point cuts to jump up the ladder a fair amount.

Another shoutout to #39 Josh Habben, who seems to only focus on Rainbow Road. Josh hit 2 more Site Records this week with times of 2:00.253 and 39.278. He's got almost a full second lead over 2nd place on the 3lap now.

Happy Karting!

Proof Call #2

Fried @ Thursday, August 3rd [link]

Edit: A few more people validated and cooperating.

Proof call #2 has officially started. Everyone in the top 50 in AF or with at least 1 top 25 time and wasn't in the previous proof call needs proof for this proof call. An email was sent to all of these people (19 in total) to the email addresses listed in their profiles. If your name is on the following list of people, please respond to the email as soon as possible by emailing mjf314_at_gmail_dot_com. If the email address in your profile isn't the one you normally use, then just send me an email from the email address you want to use to communicate with me. Feel free to ask me any questions you have through email or by posting in this topic on the forum. If you're not on this list but would like to provide proof anyway, then feel free to contact me, everyone is allowed to provide proof and there's no such thing as too much proof.

Abdulaziz Alhomaid (validated)
Andrew Jones
Andy Lau (cooperating)
Benjamin Lorthioir (cooperating)
Damien Jeunesse (cooperating)
Davide Valgimigli (cooperating)
Enrique Wilde (validated)
Fabien Da Silva (validated)
Florian Collet
Julio Cesar Morales (cooperating)
Kevin Barbieux (validated)
Louis Vivares (validated)
Matteo Sorgiacomo (cooperating)
Micheal Long
Nick Nelson
Nicolas Barco (cooperating)
Richard Bowen
Sam Buchanan (validated)

Here's the text of the email in case anyone didn't receive it:

Hello MKDS player,

I'm Michael Fried, proof moderator for the MKDS Players' Page. Based on one or more of your times, we've included you among the people we would like to provide some proof in order to maintain the integrity of the site by ensuring fair and honest competition. For each player, we've created a personal set of proof requirements. Before I send you your requirements, please reply to this email to let us know that you agree to cooperate with us. Choosing not to cooperate or failing to reply to this email will result in your removal from the site.

But don't worry, proof requirements are leniant and we will try to help you or find alternate proof methods if there are any problems. The most common proof method is using a digital camera or a webcam to record a video of the bottom screen replay (better than top screen replays). Live videos are better of course, but many people find them too difficult to make so they aren't required. The requirement for most people is 1-3 videos close to your personal records depending on your skill level. Other options include mailing your MKDS cartridge to a proof moderator so he can race your ghosts and then mail the cartridge back, and another option is being witnessed by a trusted member of our MKDS community who lives close to you.

Once you reply, I'll send you a list of your exact requirements and any other necessary information depending on your choice of proof method. Feel free to email me at any time if you have any questions. If you have already provided some proof, please send me a list of the proof you already have or a link to where your videos are uploaded, and your remaining requirements may be reduced or possibly completely fulfilled already.

Thank you for reading. Please reply as soon as possible.

Happy Karting,
Michael Fried and Sean Sullivan

Look, a new guy!

Sully @ Wednesday, August 2nd [link]

Mathieu Lavoux, a member over at the French MKDS site, sent over some times this week and took out both of the YF SRs with times of 47.972 and 15.669. He hasn't submitted a full set of times yet, but hopefully he will so we can see how he ranks.

#1 Thomas Bolton went a bit backwards in the AF rank this week even though he submitted Site Records as usual. He hit 1:10.681 in SG and 36.084 in CM, which is 0.22 ahead of 2nd place.

#3 Sascha Brauninger had an excellent week as he cut 0.33 in AF and trails #2 Michael Fried by only 0.4 points now. He hit 6 Site Records this week as well, including 1:14.098, 24.319 on GCN Luigi Circuit and 1:11.664 and 23.538 on Mushroom Bridge. He's got 15 SRs now, which is 2nd place in that catagory, a full 9 SRs ahead of 3rd place. Sascha is our player of the week.

#4 Lars Stelzig managed a small 0.1 point AF cut this week even with all Sascha's activity. He took the tightly contested SG flap SR with a time of 22.222. After Miguel's SR stood for 3 months, 3 players have beaten it in the last 10 days.

#6 Guilio Centrone had another great week with a 1.2 point AF cut and SRs of 18.308 on Peach Circuit and 37.582 on Bowser Castle. He jumped over both Josh Griffin and Paul Gourdon in the rankings and is 3rd place in SR tally with 6. For probably the first time in MKDS history, the top 5 stayed the same throughout the month, but Giulio moved up from 9th to 6th and is our July 2006 Player of the Month.

#10 Milan Pacino and #11 Simon Birker were both active again this week with 0.5 and 0.3 point AF cuts.
Milan pushed his F8C flap down a bit to a 6th placed time of 25.080.

Australians #15 Thomas Rielly and #17 Adam Nelson both had big weeks with 3 and 4 point AF cuts. Thomas and Adam are in 2nd and 3rd place among Australian's on the site, but Thomas only trilas #14 Jerome Francois by 2 AF points for that Australian #1 position now.

#19 Nick Welch maintained his top 20 status with a 0.8 point AF cut and #22 Fabien Da Silva moved up a bit more with a 0.5 point AF cut.

#32 Kevin Barbieux had an awesome 6 point AF cut to jump a bunch of people and #33 Sam Buchanan cut 1 point as well.

#39 Josh Habben had a small AF cut but hit another RR SR this week. This time it was a 2:00.698 3lap to give him a 0.6 second lead over Thomas Bolton.

#42 Mark Engelsman will be stepping down as a times updater so thank you to him for his service. He also had a 5.4 point AF cut this week to move up in the ranks.

After Matt Ellis took Canadian #1 away from Cole Gilbert last week for a short time, Cole fired back this week with a huge 16 point AF cut to move him up to 40th place and solidify his Canadian title once again. Cole also showed off his raw skills taking the DH flap Site Record with a time of 23.134, just 0.02 ahead of Bolton, wow!

#49 Matt Ellis promised us at the start of the month (when he was ranked 98th) that he would reach the top 50 by the end of the month and he did it. He squeeked into the top 50 in the last few days of July with a 6 point AF cut this week to accomplish his goal. Matt also joined the site staff as a times updater, thanks!

Honorable mentions go to #52 John Ahlfield and #65 Ben Stoneman.

Happy karting.