10 replies to this topic

[MrBland]

It looks like B&C Computing Visions is selling off the last of their Daemon's gate carts on ebay for 35 bucks. Two left if you want one.

...... maybe I misinterpreted I just noticed several of the proto's for sale listed as only three left, he isn't going to stop producing them is he?

Edited by MrBland, Fri Jul 6, 2012 5:06 AM.

[theloon]

I'm not even sure that site wants to sell anything.  Their price list that mentions Demons Gate says:
Last change 01/31/2012

[MrBland]

Maybe that is the last of that stock then....

[GadgetUK]

Ive tried the rom image on handy and it seems ok but not worth the money imo.  Some of these prototypes for sale annoy me.  The authors get none of the proceeds and they cost about £5 to make, yet they sell for £30 to £50.

Its easy to overlook it saying it benefits the scene and collectors, that being the case why arent they selling them at reasonable prices?  Because it easy to sell some buggy protype that they are effectively illegally copying, that cost very little to make and make good profits by 'controlling the market' with very few releases.

That said i still want EOTB, but if a rom image was released to the scene I wouldnt need to be buying a knocked off EPROM from EBAY.  Which is what should have happened rather than the 'lets limit release of this illegall image' and make people pay big bucks for it - hence the £100 one I couldnt afford on ebay the other week...  I respect what eric has done regards his 'proper release', but that said I am suprised the ROM hasnt been uploaded for all.  I would still buy erics version even if rom was released.  The same holds true of relief pitcher, ive seen a knock off of that already (Not the ver someone did a batch of on here), and again the rom is kept under control of the few so prices remain high.

I realise there are some 'original' of these protypes knocking about but 95% of the ones ive seen have very likely been produced by people wanting to cash in on the collector market.

Thankfully Daemongate ROM is In the public domain, which is where a few others should be...

Edited by GadgetUK, Fri Jul 6, 2012 1:00 PM.

[MrBland]

Well I can't speak for legal or illegal; I thought I read somewhere that B & C ComputerVisions had permission from Atari to do what they (it is him and his wife right ?) wanted with what ever he came across in the stuff he aquired from them. Personally I like being able to obtain peices of Atari history that I can run on the original equipment. Since I can't create the carts myself I'm willing to pay someone else a premium to do it for me. As far as them making a buck or two off it.... more power to them. Maybe they can make enough of a living to continue to support the Atari community.

That being said, I do dislike "knockoffs". When hard to get releases are cheaply redone, without proper permission, in an effort to cash in.

Edited by MrBland, Fri Jul 6, 2012 2:09 PM.

[GadgetUK]

MrBland, on Fri Jul 6, 2012 1:59 PM, said:

Well I can't speak for legal or illegal; I thought I read somewhere that B & C ComputerVisions had permission from Atari to do what they (it is him and his wife right ?) wanted with what ever he came across in the stuff he aquired from them. Personally I like being able to obtain peices of Atari history that I can run on the original equipment. Since I can't create the carts myself I'm willing to pay someone else a premium to do it for me. As far as them making a buck or two off it.... more power to them. Maybe they can make enough of a living to continue to support the Atari community.

That being said, I do dislike "knockoffs". When hard to get releases are cheaply redone, without proper permission, in an effort to cash in.

Lol, if i hear that story about how 2 or 3 companies bought all the stock and apparently rights to reproduce material that they didnt actually own one more time (I might sell it =) )...

Copyright doesnt work that way, neither does licensing.  They have become a law unto themselves.

Edited by GadgetUK, Fri Jul 6, 2012 2:47 PM.

[MrBland]

Well I'm not very knowledgeable in the area of copyright and licensing so can't comment much on that; but I have been reading about Atari cracking down on people who are infringing on their intellectual property rights. So if B & C aren't on the up and up I'm sure they will be hearing from Atari. In the mean time I really appreciate the support they have given to the Atari community; one of only a handful of reliable companies Atari enthusiast can turn to.

[davidcalgary29]

MrBland, on Fri Jul 6, 2012 1:59 PM, said:

Well I can't speak for legal or illegal; I thought I read somewhere that B & C ComputerVisions had permission from Atari to do what they (it is him and his wife right ?) wanted with what ever he came across in the stuff he aquired from them. Personally I like being able to obtain peices of Atari history that I can run on the original equipment. Since I can't create the carts myself I'm willing to pay someone else a premium to do it for me. As far as them making a buck or two off it.... more power to them. Maybe they can make enough of a living to continue to support the Atari community.

That being said, I do dislike "knockoffs". When hard to get releases are cheaply redone, without proper permission, in an effort to cash in.

ChrisLynx probably knows the whole story about this. From what I recall -- and this was some years ago -- the situation was very complicated for the longest time and it wasn't clear who legally had the right to publish most of the lost demos/games/protos after the JTS reverse merger. Loopzis an exception for a proto because Carl actually acquired the rights to sell it after many years of bootleg distribution (and not by Songbird). I do know that some individuals were still selling  Loopz after Carl legally acquired the rights several years ago, but this seems to have stopped. I don't know what the actual legal status of the other protos/demos are at this point in time.

[chris_lynx1989]

The stuff was all sold as "salvage" to Video 61,Best Electronics and B&C ComputerVisions as early as 1994 by Mr. J.S.
It was done with the provision that the stuff found in the old Atari "junk" be sold as for "Demonstration only" or as "Unreleased prototypes" with no express warranty or ties or recongnition by the Atari Corp/Atari Intreractive bunch.So,technically copyright issues could  be a "grey area".Royalties were paid at times and/or a game got turned over -- as was the case with Hyperdrome in 1998 to Telegames USA.

Peace out

[MrBland]

Thanks for the info Chris. I see in you sig. a "LARGE Lynx collection", do you have any photos? I'd like to see it, see what I'm competing agianst

[chris_lynx1989]

MrBland, on Sat Jul 7, 2012 10:46 PM, said:

Thanks for the info Chris. I see in you sig. a "LARGE Lynx collection", do you have any photos? I'd like to see it, see what I'm competing agianst

I've had folks ask me that before and I've never taken any photos of stuff.All my boxes/cases are put away though.I do have most of my carts in their kit cases and one pouch case available now to possibly post some scans here,I may give it a try here with my PSVITA camera.