bojay1997

The second a single character of code was entered, it was under copyright. Registration is a formality that has no relevance in this situation.

I agree, unless as mentioned somebody buys both of them. lol Actually, in order to reproduce the cartridges, you will need the authors permission to do it. I am sure that he is aware of these auctions and realizes that he has the opportunity to profit from his game. Currently in the United States the term for software copyright is the life of the author plus 70 years. He can file suit against anyone who infringes on his copyright. Given the auction values that might be realized on these games, he would likely recover substantial damages (up to $150,000.00 per instance!). I'm sure your joking but if not I would be absolutely amazed if something actually happened. The legal fees that Steve would have to pay just explaining the situation to an attorney would probably be $1000. I can just picture the lawyer now.. "so...whats an Atari?" lol Actually, under Federal law, the prevailing party in a copyright infringement lawsuit can recover not only their costs, but also attorney's fees. As such, it would be pretty easy to find a lawyer that would take it under contingency assuming they could be convinced that the person doing the infringement has some assets they can go after.

Is there a reason anyone bothers to respond to this troll? Every post he makes is bitching about what some game or other is selling for. Who cares what stuff is selling for? If there wasn't a market and a perception that the stuff had value, people wouldn't be paying what they are paying for it. Get over it. People sometimes think things are worth more than you might. All that means is that you shouldn't pay the higher prices and let those people buy what they want with their money.

Is this your auction? The only reason I ask is that the description and responses to the questions being asked seem to be misleading. The outer cover obviously suffered damage in transit and it's likely that the magazine did as well. Similarly, the outer sleeve does appear to have what looks like mold or mildew spotting which is pretty common with paper goods that aren't properly stored. It's very possible that the magazine inside is nowehere close to mint condition given the damage from transit and the apparently poor conditions in which it has been stored.

A few points here. SNK is not doing anything. A third party company that has released other handhelds manufactured very cheaply overseas simply licensed the SNK name and design elements and is slapping that on an emulator and ROMs for $200. Also, nobody in a position to provide a real review has actually handled the real final system yet, so nobody knows if it's total garbage or actually good quality. Certainly, their older systems were junk. Perhaps this one will be nicer, we just don't know.

If i'm reading the article correctly, I think they will be selling physical carts and inventory, but only online. The one part i find interesting about this is the mention of refurbishment. Ahhhh... so it'll look like all the ebayers who don't actually have their stock on hand... the 3rd party type sellers... Gamestop is waaaay late to this party imo, and will not make any serious money with it. I'm no big fan of Gamestop, the fact they sell opened games as new is offensive to me. They do have fairly reasonable online prices, a decent return policy and some customer service. which is better that you'd get from most craigslist or ebay sellers. If anything it may force retailers to undersell them. The old argument of retailers argument of "that's what the charge on ebay" works aginst them if you answer, "then i will buy from ebay" That's why you should save yourself the time and simply ask them to print out a list of everything they 'actually' have behind the counter, sealed... for $20 or under. They'll look at you like they're retarded, at first... but then they'll understand that you're one of the few that understand how things work. I've literally had a couple suckers ask me why I was in front of them in line, for a 'list'... I've laughed at people to their face before at Gamestop stores for paying what they pay, even had a manager ask me not to hurt their sales once... to which I laughed at him. As long as you buy with Plastic, you are your own Return Policy. I've had Retro stores try to tell me I couldn't return something before, I've left it on the counter, and was on the phone with my bank before I made it out of the parking lot. The Customer is always right, and with Credit, you have all the power/flexibility in the world. There are plenty of Sellers on ebay who have had to learn this the hard way. I'm guessing you haven't ever actually done a chargeback against a retailer as it is a really lengthy and difficult process no matter how awesome your bank or credit card company happens to be. If you do it repeatedly, your bank or credit card company will also drop you as constantly causing them the cost and hassle of reversing charges makes them zero money. Ebay/Paypal is a different story and I would agree that it's easy as long as you are being reasonable and legitimately try to resolve things prior to filing a claim.

While you raise some valid points, 3do isn't that old and a number of the games on the system were actually developed and published by large companies like EA that are still around and will aggressively enforce their rights. From the legal perspective, you're correct that there is no difference between this and multicarts or any other unauthorized duplication and sale other than perhaps the age of the hardware involved. Having said that, it seems like the community frowns on straight up piracy of this type, especially when the seller is doing nothing to add to the value of the product itself and is simply copying a commercial product for resale and profit.

No legitimate duplication or replication company is going to allow you to copy games or anything else still under copyright. How is this thread still going? The guy is talking about pirating games and then selling them for profit. These aren't unreleased or homebrews, they are copies of commercial games he is talking about.

Well, it's probably because CGE was so low key this year. I don't think CGE Services actually did any new releases as far as I could tell. Atari Age also wasn't present this year. There were a surprising number of professional vendors (16 total I believe), but a lot of just bulk junk at some of them unfortunately. There also wasn't a swap meet as far as I could tell and attendance seemed lower than in the past, although I can't really be sure since it's always a personal visual measurement and I've never seen any real numbers released. The museum was nice, but the speaker panels were almost all duplicates of past panels and the room was weird. I would rank this below average among the CGEs I have attended and I have attended all but one since the beginning.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you the second highest bidder on several of those auctions including the $301 Adventure and the $100+ Tennis? You bid $107.51 on the Tennis and $296.00 on the Adventure. Are you just doing it to drive prices up or do you really need the items so bad that you also overpay all the time? How about explaining to all of us what the motivation of someone like yourself who should know better is for bidding these crazy prices? Ordinarily I wouldn't care and would say it's none of our business, but since you seemed to have no issue with calling this other idiot out, it seems like you have some explaining to do.

Those games from Venezuela are 100% legit. They are identical in every way to the sealed Intellivision games I have from many other reputable sources and a couple I bought off the shelf in the late 80s. People who are resealing stuff are not wasting their time on common classic games, they are doing it on NES and SNES stuff worth hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Do you mind sharing how you can be so sure? Between Best Electronics, Video 61 and B&C all having access to original Atari prototype parts and frankly all three of them having no concerns about building their own protos and selling them, I can't see how anyone can be sure. Similarly, that seller on Ebay, Misfit Toys had a lot of Video 61 stuff mixed in with his other items, so it's clear he at least bought some items from them and perhaps other vendors. He also never really explained what he did in the 15 years he claimed he worked at Atari. In any event, unless you find something that comes directly from the programmer or someone else that can establish a chain of custody back to Atari, I would be very skeptical of any Lynx protos out there.

I have played it on disk on my Atari 800 and thought it was very clever. According to Wikipedia it was originally a cartridge game? That doesn't sound right as I don't recall APX games ever coming out on cartridge. Was it ever officially released or distributed?

Yea, and I've even seen where it's gotten picked up by some gaming news organizations, like GameBeat and some others. So for funding to be this anemic (though granted, it's early) doesn't bode well. Developers need to realize that you need to have a compelling pitch to make these work! Agreed. As time has gone on, I have gone from being very generous and willing to back almost anything that involves a developer or game I like on Kickstarter to really thinking about the details of what is being promised. In the past six months I think I have pledged over $2K on various Kickstarter gaming projects and all I really have to show for it is a bunch of update e-mails and a poster from one of them (Double Fine I think?). I am starting to get nervous as I see more and more updates indicating that release dates will be pushed back and the scope of the games will change, etc...In any event, I need more details and specifics to back anything now, regardless of how much I admire the developer or person behind the Kickstarter.

I think touch video displays on controllers will be pretty standard this coming generation and I also think we might be seeing a new attempt at VR headsets. I have been closely following the Occulus and it looks like it could be great if its specs and actual functionality are for real. I think Holograms are definitely years away but I do recall reading about a volumetric holographic display that the Navy had developed and Sony had actually entered into a licensing deal for it. . I could see some sort of headset or glasses in the next gen or maybe the after. As far as Holograms I remember playing these games twenty years ago. http://kotaku.com/59...gram-video-game

I've been seeing a lot of the 'Ouya isn't really indie' talk, and I'm just not sure that I follow. Gaming definitions of 'indie' may differ from my understanding, but in the more familiar, movie industry use of the term, it's a film made without the backing of a major studio. None of the big 5. Quasi-indie films would probably be those 'arthouse' studios set up under larger ones. It doesn't have to be made in a shed to be indie--though looking at the new Ouya website, I start to wonder if they've really got a shed to their name. Well, I think much of it stems from the fact that in an interview, one of the founders indicated they had been in talks with VC firms alongside the Kickstarter effort. The company quickly backed off the statement, but there has been some discussion on various VC and start-up boards that Ouya may have already had a pretty substantial amount of investor seed cash even long before the Kickstarter. These also aren't a bunch of dreamers who have never been down this road before, many of them have worked in gaming and technology for many years. I just think some people have concluded that this really isn't some tiny little start-up, but really a savvy VC backed company that is using the Kickstarter model to lock-in pre-orders and generate early revenue on something they already have the funding to produce. Yes, Ouya is independent of the big three gaming companies, but I just don't see it as truly an "indie" business model as it is dependent on the same exact business model that is causing many small developers to struggle with Apple and Android. People want to project a lot of things good and bad on the company that none of us really have any way of knowing. As one PC Week columnist pointed out, this could be one giant scam just like several other hyped technology projects that were Kickstarted and never have appeared. It could also be exactly what it claims to be, an Andorid device that can be played on a TV using a controller. Personally, I think it could be a neat collection piece and maybe even a fun game unit, but I don't share the wide eyed optimism of many here that this is going to revolutionize the gaming industry or change the business model for games being created by start-up or smaller developers.

You can already buy much of what was on the Flashback on iTunes and other PC based download services. I imagine if Ouya is successful, Atari will simply license the same content for the Ouya store. Why would they need to release something like the Ouya if it's already going to exist and when it's much more expensive than a Flashback type device?

I'm very excited about this. In fact, I have a whole shelf in my collection dedicated to Chris Crawford games. I hope when this Kickstarter is successful it also means there is a possibility of an updated version of Balance of Power or Legacy of Siboot.

I diagree. Kickstarter should be a tool for truly independent entrepreneurs to do things traditional financing or investment won't allow. Using Kickstarter as a means of taking pre-orders for a well financed commercial product is an abuse of the premise in my opinion. If this was a team of well intentioned dreamers who really were trying to address the problems in modern console gaming, they would have my whole hearted support and wishes for success. Unfortunately, it's a group of well seasoned technology industry types and venture capitalists and all they are doing is creating one more platform based on an already very successful platform which uses the exact same business model as that existing platform. Frankly, I'm not sure how this can even be a viable business model since most of the people I am seeing posting here and elsewhere are wanting to immediately root the thing and use it for free applications, games and video. Ouya and indie developers aren't going to survive if a significant portion of the 55K pre-order customers take that approach, let alone any other customers that pick it up once it gets a more public launch. Heck, the vast majority of indie developers can't even survive in a more closed system like iTunes so what makes this beneficial to them?.

No, I think many of us are just a little more savvy than falling for the initial hype and there is nothing wrong with openly debating a commercial venture of this type. People are acting like this is some amazing grass roots indie movement but really it's a group of venture capitalists using Kickstarter to finance something they already have financing to produce. There is nothing "open" or indie about this at all. If you want to release games on Ouya and actually receive payment for them, you are going to have to use their store and do the exact same revenue share Apple and Google already permit in their respective stores. You can already become a iOS developer or an Android developer and sell to millions upon millions of people around the world with little or no upfront investment other than a working PC. Yes, the fact that this device can easily connect to a TV is an interesting angle, but every console already out there and most modern PCs can do the same exact thing and their technical capabilities are far in excess of this hardware. Similarly, for the product to be a financial success, the majority of users will have to pursue a traditional smartphone or console model of buying lots of content. If the majority of users root the device and only use it for free content, there is no way Ouya or indie developers will be able to stay in business. Unlike a smartphone, Ouya isn't going to get a wireless carrier subsidy that will offset any losses they experience selling this at just above cost. So, yes, I am very skeptical and I don't think there is anything wrong with being critical of a product that is seeking crowd financing and is really unproven in any way.

I just don't see it. He was selling them for between $20 and $30 for most of the time, so assuming 200 sold that's only $5K gross revenue minus 13% Ebay and Paypal plus raw materials and time, etc...That's maybe $2K-$3K net in two years on something that he wants to sell without a qualified techician or expert in injection molding to go along with it for $4500. That seems like a pretty poor investment. Not so true. People are after those white shells for the Jag, and would buy CD and controller shells too. I wrote him and he said he just doesn't have time to make them. If you look at his history, the white system shells have sold THOUSANDS of dollars worth. The current listing he has up (due to popular demand) has sold $1000 in shells alone. I'm not sure how many listings there have been in two years but as far as I can tell on my own from observation he has sold no less than 200. I'd be willing to bet that every one of those people would be interested in other white jag stuff. If the lot includes the cartridge molds, I don't see how an investor could go wrong. I hope someone within the community grabs it and starts making stuff. I don't know what the plastic costs beyond the molds other than the color Coleco carts that were made ran around $1 - $2 each once done. Having the molds is half the battle.

But how big is that market and how much did it cost to make those shells? Even if his gross was $1K, after Ebay and Paypal fees and the cost and time of actually making those shells, shipping them out, maintaining his listings, dealing with picky buyers, etc...he's lucky if he cleared a few hundred bucks. Not so true. People are after those white shells for the Jag, and would buy CD and controller shells too. I wrote him and he said he just doesn't have time to make them. If you look at his history, the white system shells have sold THOUSANDS of dollars worth. The current listing he has up (due to popular demand) has sold $1000 in shells alone.

Why wouldn't this guy just offer to donate it to the Video Game Museum or other non-profit? I can't imagine a private collector wants or needs it and the tax write-off must surely outweigh the scrap value.

The average consumer isn't even going to realize that this runs on Android and will have similar game capacity/etc. Most won't even associate it with a smartphone. Heck, it won't even have a wiimote so they won't associate it with a Wii either. It'll just be a cheap console that can download free (and paid) content. If they have a smartphone that can play games, they've already done this at least once. There's no reason to assume they wouldn't do it again. Except for the average consumer, there won't be any free games. The stock unit has to be rooted to work with anything outside of what's in their version of the Android store. So, you have to convince consumers to spend $100 for the unit, they have to have broadband and they have to have a credit card or other means of buying downloads plus a willingness to do so. Is there a market for that? Sure, but the vast majority of that market already owns tablets and smart phones and I just can't see those same non-tinkering consumers flocking to this thing just like they haven't to the On-Live, despite the fact that for the last year, the console has essentially been free if you bought one full price game. It really is a product in search of a market and it's frankly too little too late.

I understand, but I think it's absurd for Brad to take the position that somebody else should assume the risk for this considering that he could have just provided the cheaper shipping if he was really that concerned about the price and thought there was no risk involved. As far as Canadian postal problems, I have been buying and selling internationally for probably 20 years now and the few problems I have had with items being stolen, damaged, lost or delayed have all been with the Canadian postal service. In fact, I won't use any service but FedEx or UPS for Canada simply because I have had so many issues with the Canadian postal system. I'm assuming that's why Best and other retailers charge for more expensive insured and tracked shipping to Canada simply because of the number of losses they have had there.