My Last Original 1983 GAMMA-ATTACK on EBAY Again

[Shawn]

Noticed that it is still at $455. I really believe that it would be higher had the seller just put in the title Atari 2600. Heck even Atari would of been better. The only people who know about this auction are the people on this site. Although this site is big for collectors, there are collectors who could care less about video game forums to begin with, and only care about collecting. Major auction title fail in my opinion.

 

 

Be real careful on this one folks, I can't say much more about it but when it all comes out in the wash (and it will) your gonna be shocked and disheartened.

[homerwannabee]

Noticed that it is still at $455. I really believe that it would be higher had the seller just put in the title Atari 2600. Heck even Atari would of been better. The only people who know about this auction are the people on this site. Although this site is big for collectors, there are collectors who could care less about video game forums to begin with, and only care about collecting. Major auction title fail in my opinion.

 

 

Be real careful on this one folks, I can't say much more about it but when it all comes out in the wash (and it will) your gonna be shocked and disheartened.

I think you just opened a can or worms Shawn. My intuitive mind is going at 100 MPH on this one. And many questions are coming to formulation.

 

Such as question number 1) Why is the person who agreed to make 100 Repro copies of Gammation with Phantom saying this?

 

Question 2)Is the words Shocked, and Disheartened words to imply this whole game is a fake from day 1?

 

Question 3)If this is a fake, than does that make it a homebrew instead of an actual game?

 

Question 4)Shawn has the knowledge to make a homebrew, was he involved with the homebrew if it is a homebrew in any way?

 

In this instance I really hope my powers of intuition are Way, Way off.

[gamecrawler]

Noticed that it is still at $455. I really believe that it would be higher had the seller just put in the title Atari 2600. Heck even Atari would of been better. The only people who know about this auction are the people on this site. Although this site is big for collectors, there are collectors who could care less about video game forums to begin with, and only care about collecting. Major auction title fail in my opinion.

 

 

Be real careful on this one folks, I can't say much more about it but when it all comes out in the wash (and it will) your gonna be shocked and disheartened.

I think you just opened a can or worms Shawn. My intuitive mind is going at 100 MPH on this one. And many questions are coming to formulation.

 

Such as question number 1) Why is the person who agreed to make 100 Repro copies of Gammation with Phantom saying this?

 

Question 2)Is the words Shocked, and Disheartened words to imply this whole game is a fake from day 1?

 

Question 3)If this is a fake, than does that make it a homebrew instead of an actual game?

 

Question 4)Shawn has the knowledge to make a homebrew, was he involved with the homebrew if it is a homebrew in any way?

 

In this instance I really hope my powers of intuition are Way, Way off.

 

What is the problem here????

I started a company GAMMATION in 1981-82 making rapid fire adapters for the 2600 & then later for the Colecovision.

I payed good money advertising them and one ad with the GAMMA-ATTACK in "Electronic Games" & other gamer pubs.

I came across CommVid ad for the magic cartridge, bought it and spent a year making the GAMMA-ATTACK game based on it's info.

I found out last year somebody found one of my 1983 sold cartridges, started making repros, called me a fake, pushed

a BIN out there without having the rights.

A year later,

My copyright has been U.S. registered, finally, My trademark has been U.S. registered , I have incorporated as a LLC, and you are implying that I'm trying to sell a fake?

[Shawn]

 

 

In this instance I really hope my powers of intuition are Way, Way off.

 

 

It has nothing to do with the actual game program itself, it's all about this cart being made recently with parts bought recently. This is not a chip or a cart from back in the day AT ALL. The only one that fits that bill is the one owned by Wonder007. Thats as much as I can say for sure. The rest will have to come out in the wash. All I know is I wouldn't look at this copy of Gamma Attack with anymore instrest than one of the repro's made last year aside from it having NOS lables on it.

 

you are implying that I'm trying to sell a fake?

 

 

This cart was made with parts recently bought including the eprom & PCB is this not true?

[CPUWIZ]

Why would you say that?

[Shawn]

Why would you say that?

 

 

Just wait to see what Bob E says about when the chip was burned and the cart was built.

[homerwannabee]

 

 

In this instance I really hope my powers of intuition are Way, Way off.

 

 

It has nothing to do with the actual game program itself,

Thank you so much for clearing that up. When you leave things up to be interpreted, sometimes people get a message you weren't intending.

[Shawn]

Heck even if this "chip" was programmed back in the day, which I don't believe it was, the best it could be looked at is like when Joe Blow takes one of those Answer PROM chips and slaps it on a recycled PCB, I don't know a single person that veiws those frankencarts as legit Gauntlet or Malagi R9\R10's do any of you?

 

I'm all for Bob E turnin' coin on this game from back when VIA reproductions but I also don't want to see someone get roped into buying this cart thinking it's something that it's not.

[RangerG]

So - is this made with vintage parts or new parts? That's what makes the difference to me. It's like the Starcon 5200 stick I have. The engineer a few years back sold around 12 to us here (with the help of Mr. Retrogamer as the origial go-between). Rubitino (I think that was his name?) was the original designer and all the parts were new old stock. The is a collectible in my mind. If he had molded new parts and made the joysticks, these are reproductions and worth much less.

[djpubba]

the best it could be looked at is like when Joe Blow takes one of those Answer PROM chips and slaps it on a recycled PCB, I don't know a single person that veiws those frankencarts as legit Gauntlet or Malagi R9\R10's do any of you?

 

My name is Tim not Joe and please don't compare me to someone you're trying to say is scamming people. I know what you're saying but how about not associating me and my legit chips/sales with this situation?

[gamecrawler]

Heck even if this "chip" was programmed back in the day, which I don't believe it was, the best it could be looked at is like when Joe Blow takes one of those Answer PROM chips and slaps it on a recycled PCB, I don't know a single person that veiws those frankencarts as legit Gauntlet or Malagi R9\R10's do any of you?

 

I'm all for Bob E turnin' coin on this game from back when VIA reproductions but I also don't want to see someone get roped into buying this cart thinking it's something that it's not.

 

I give my word these are all parts from my 1982-83 stock. The EPROM was programmed as my last test cartridge in

1983. I then soldered it into my last APOLLO cartridge. bob e

[+Wonder007]

Hello All,

 

As many of you know, I do not like to make waves on iffy subjects. I am also known as a serious collector so you know that my comments are written without any prejudice and "hidden/personal" agendas. I did not want to get involved in this conversation. However, I have been asked via PM's to clear up this situation so I will just give factual information based on what I know and have. Then, I will give my conclusions. I hope this clears up any questions.

 

A) What Wonder007 knows.....

 

1) The parts from my original Gamma Attack do not match with what is being offered currently on ebay.

 

2) My understanding based on the public threads I have read is that the programmer did not have the code of the game (maybe he lost it or something).

 

3) I also understand that the programmer at one time said he did no have any more copies of this game.

 

B) Wonder007's conclusions.....

 

1) Why is the game being offered now? Why not before?

 

2) All of a sudden another copy pops up.

 

3) Why has the game popped out again on ebay?

 

4) Why did the programmer put a black bar over a part of the cart (the pics of the guts that he put up on this thread)?

 

5) Why was the copyright granted after the release of the repro run?

 

6) I thought a copyright cannot be granted after the product that was copyrighted has already been released?

 

7) What is the point of copyrighting something if there is no value to it anymore since the game was released before the copyright was granted (in repros)?

 

If the copyright was issued, I would be interested to know what the copyright # is and when it was issued? That would answer a lot of question. I am surprised that the copyright office did not investigate this game more since 100 of them were released already.

 

9) And, finally, the biggest question of them all, if this is the last copy, why is the sticker coming off....my copy does not suffer from that fate?

 

C) Wonder007's overall comments....

 

Some of my comments/conclusions might be way-off, but one thing is for certain, there are many variables that need to be cleared before I put in a ton of money to purchase this copy that has many question marks.

 

I hope this answers a lot of the PM's I have received based on this game. However, I might have created more questions based on my comments/conclusions. I hope I have not caused any problems for anybody but I needed to clear this up based on the questions/comments I have been receiving from various people on my personal messenger. I did not answer back questions because I wanted to do a general reply on this thread based on the combination of questions I received privately.

 

If you have any questions, please PM me.

 

Thanks,

 

- Wonder007

[holygrailvideogames.com]

Hello All,

 

As many of you know, I do not like to make waves on iffy subjects. I am also known as a serious collector so you know that my comments are written without any prejudice and "hidden/personal" agendas. I did not want to get involved in this conversation. However, I have been asked via PM's to clear up this situation so I will just give factual information based on what I know and have. Then, I will give my conclusions. I hope this clears up any questions.

 

A) What Wonder007 knows.....

 

1) The parts from my original Gamma Attack do not match with what is being offered currently on ebay.

 

2) My understanding based on the public threads I have read is that the programmer did not have the code of the game (maybe he lost it or something).

 

3) I also understand that the programmer at one time said he did no have any more copies of this game.

 

B) Wonder007's conclusions.....

 

1) Why is the game being offered now? Why not before?

 

2) All of a sudden another copy pops up.

 

3) Why has the game popped out again on ebay?

 

4) Why did the programmer put a black bar over a part of the cart (the pics of the guts that he put up on this thread)?

 

5) Why was the copyright granted after the release of the repro run?

 

6) I thought a copyright cannot be granted after the product that was copyrighted has already been released?

 

7) What is the point of copyrighting something if there is no value to it anymore since the game was released before the copyright was granted (in repros)?

 

If the copyright was issued, I would be interested to know what the copyright # is and when it was issued? That would answer a lot of question. I am surprised that the copyright office did not investigate this game more since 100 of them were released already.

 

9) And, finally, the biggest question of them all, if this is the last copy, why is the sticker coming off....my copy does not suffer from that fate?

 

C) Wonder007's overall comments....

 

Some of my comments/conclusions might be way-off, but one thing is for certain, there are many variables that need to be cleared before I put in a ton of money to purchase this copy that has many question marks.

 

I hope this answers a lot of the PM's I have received based on this game. However, I might have created more questions based on my comments/conclusions. I hope I have not caused any problems for anybody but I needed to clear this up based on the questions/comments I have been receiving from various people on my personal messenger. I did not answer back questions because I wanted to do a general reply on this thread based on the combination of questions I received privately.

 

If you have any questions, please PM me.

 

Thanks,

 

- Wonder007

 

The seller of this original Gamma Attack did purchase a copy of Gamma Attack from me last July that originally was purchased from Ant.

[+Wonder007]

Hello All,

 

As many of you know, I do not like to make waves on iffy subjects. I am also known as a serious collector so you know that my comments are written without any prejudice and "hidden/personal" agendas. I did not want to get involved in this conversation. However, I have been asked via PM's to clear up this situation so I will just give factual information based on what I know and have. Then, I will give my conclusions. I hope this clears up any questions.

 

A) What Wonder007 knows.....

 

1) The parts from my original Gamma Attack do not match with what is being offered currently on ebay.

 

2) My understanding based on the public threads I have read is that the programmer did not have the code of the game (maybe he lost it or something).

 

3) I also understand that the programmer at one time said he did no have any more copies of this game.

 

B) Wonder007's conclusions.....

 

1) Why is the game being offered now? Why not before?

 

2) All of a sudden another copy pops up.

 

3) Why has the game popped out again on ebay?

 

4) Why did the programmer put a black bar over a part of the cart (the pics of the guts that he put up on this thread)?

 

5) Why was the copyright granted after the release of the repro run?

 

6) I thought a copyright cannot be granted after the product that was copyrighted has already been released?

 

7) What is the point of copyrighting something if there is no value to it anymore since the game was released before the copyright was granted (in repros)?

 

If the copyright was issued, I would be interested to know what the copyright # is and when it was issued? That would answer a lot of question. I am surprised that the copyright office did not investigate this game more since 100 of them were released already.

 

9) And, finally, the biggest question of them all, if this is the last copy, why is the sticker coming off....my copy does not suffer from that fate?

 

C) Wonder007's overall comments....

 

Some of my comments/conclusions might be way-off, but one thing is for certain, there are many variables that need to be cleared before I put in a ton of money to purchase this copy that has many question marks.

 

I hope this answers a lot of the PM's I have received based on this game. However, I might have created more questions based on my comments/conclusions. I hope I have not caused any problems for anybody but I needed to clear this up based on the questions/comments I have been receiving from various people on my personal messenger. I did not answer back questions because I wanted to do a general reply on this thread based on the combination of questions I received privately.

 

If you have any questions, please PM me.

 

Thanks,

 

- Wonder007

 

The seller of this original Gamma Attack did purchase a copy of Gamma Attack from me last July that originally was purchased from Ant.

 

Very interesting.....that answers some of the questions....especially how the rom was acquired. Why buy the repro if you have the original. It's like me buying a repro of Video Life if I already own the real mccoy...makes no sense.

[homerwannabee]

Hello All,

 

As many of you know, I do not like to make waves on iffy subjects. I am also known as a serious collector so you know that my comments are written without any prejudice and "hidden/personal" agendas. I did not want to get involved in this conversation. However, I have been asked via PM's to clear up this situation so I will just give factual information based on what I know and have. Then, I will give my conclusions. I hope this clears up any questions.

 

A) What Wonder007 knows.....

 

1) The parts from my original Gamma Attack do not match with what is being offered currently on ebay.

 

2) My understanding based on the public threads I have read is that the programmer did not have the code of the game (maybe he lost it or something).

 

3) I also understand that the programmer at one time said he did no have any more copies of this game.

 

B) Wonder007's conclusions.....

 

1) Why is the game being offered now? Why not before?

 

2) All of a sudden another copy pops up.

 

3) Why has the game popped out again on ebay?

 

4) Why did the programmer put a black bar over a part of the cart (the pics of the guts that he put up on this thread)?

 

5) Why was the copyright granted after the release of the repro run?

 

6) I thought a copyright cannot be granted after the product that was copyrighted has already been released?

 

7) What is the point of copyrighting something if there is no value to it anymore since the game was released before the copyright was granted (in repros)?

 

If the copyright was issued, I would be interested to know what the copyright # is and when it was issued? That would answer a lot of question. I am surprised that the copyright office did not investigate this game more since 100 of them were released already.

 

9) And, finally, the biggest question of them all, if this is the last copy, why is the sticker coming off....my copy does not suffer from that fate?

 

C) Wonder007's overall comments....

 

Some of my comments/conclusions might be way-off, but one thing is for certain, there are many variables that need to be cleared before I put in a ton of money to purchase this copy that has many question marks.

 

I hope this answers a lot of the PM's I have received based on this game. However, I might have created more questions based on my comments/conclusions. I hope I have not caused any problems for anybody but I needed to clear this up based on the questions/comments I have been receiving from various people on my personal messenger. I did not answer back questions because I wanted to do a general reply on this thread based on the combination of questions I received privately.

 

If you have any questions, please PM me.

 

Thanks,

 

- Wonder007

 

The seller of this original Gamma Attack did purchase a copy of Gamma Attack from me last July that originally was purchased from Ant.

Your telling us the Phantom originally had 2 different copies of this game, where only 2 different copies have been found?

[+Wonder007]

No, what Sean is trying to say is that the programmer bought from Sean one of the repros that Sean bought from the Phantom/Shawn repro run.

[homerwannabee]

No, what Sean is trying to say is that the programmer bought from Sean one of the repros that Sean bought from the Phantom/Shawn repro run.

OK, gotcha. OK, so why would the original programmer need a repro if he already had a cart?

[+Wonder007]

No, what Sean is trying to say is that the programmer bought from Sean one of the repros that Sean bought from the Phantom/Shawn repro run.

OK, gotcha. OK, so why would the original programmer need a repro if he already had a cart?

 

Bingo...the $64,000 question.......

[gamecrawler]

No, what Sean is trying to say is that the programmer bought from Sean one of the repros that Sean bought from the Phantom/Shawn repro run.

OK, gotcha. OK, so why would the original programmer need a repro if he already had a cart?

 

Bingo...the $64,000 question.......

Why did I buy it, No one sent me a copy for my approval. I wanted to see one in person to see

if there was any infingement of my trademark which I have registered.

 

Copyright number TX0006994625 or search on "esken". Used LegalZoom it was received 3/18/2008. I submitted sourcecode listing

and screen pictures. The code & graphics/game screens are copyrighted. This means it is registered, but in reality

it is copyrighted from the date I created & I displayed on the 1982 version the copyright symbol name & date.

 

I did have the code in the the final test rom to disassemble and compare to my development listings. This proves I had the code / EPROM before 3/18/08. A copyright is granted/registered upon receipt at the Copyright Office. It takes a 1 to 2 years

for it to be documented and the requestor to get an official document & show up in the online database.

 

There is no big conspiracy here.

bob e

[Dino]

1) The parts from my original Gamma Attack do not match with what is being offered currently on ebay.

 

3) Why has the game popped out again on ebay?

 

9) And, finally, the biggest question of them all, if this is the last copy, why is the sticker coming off....my copy does not suffer from that fate?

 

 

In relation to 1), there's no big issue there - the seller used a different cart as a donor. He didnt get carts manufactured for him specifically in 1983, he was using donor carts so he could use anything he liked at the time. No controversy here

 

As for 3), trust me, there is nothing sinister there either. I can confirm and will gladly put on the record that I did not back out of the deal becuase I was suspicious of the cart's authenticity. In actual fact having held the cart it looks 100% legit.

 

As for , the sticker is not peeling off the cart - its just the way the photo is taken. Gamecrawler has spare labels and he could have reapplied one on the cart if the original was peeling.

 

Having seen this cart in person, I am certain from the physical appearance on the outside taht it is legit

 

As for the insides, I would like to understand from Shawn Sr why he believes its an aftermarket. That for me is the key.

 

In the meantime, I would suggest that Gamecrawler pull the auction from ebay until this is cleared up. I say that because i'm quite certain that what gamecrawler has is legit and it would be a shame for him not to get top dollar for it because of the uncertainty currently surrounding the cart.

[+Wonder007]

I am not saying that there is a conspiracy, I am saying that there is something that does not connect. The outside of the cart is one thing but the inside is another. The inside does not match mine so that is why there is something that does not jive. If it is from older parts, then it should match mine (and the connections would look older). In addition, the soldering would look old; on the ebay copy, it does not. The parts look new and I do not see any evidence of aging as it should (we are talking about parts from over 25 years ago). Besides, I know for a fact that the parts are newer but I will not discuss that because I do not want to open another can of worms.

 

There is just something weird going on here. I completely trust Dino and him thinking it is real. But, I do have the original one found and there are too many unknowns here.... I am just stating the facts. Especially when I own a lot of other unique one-of-a-kind items and it is not consistent to the stuff I have. I guess another thing on why I want to say something is because I have been ripped off before on more elaborate situations than this. For the record, I am not saying that what gamecrawler has is fake but that it is not consistent to what I have which is a proven copy of the game found in the wild....that's it. I hope that it is real but since people have PM'ed me on my opinion, I am not so sure on what to say, just on what I know, see, observe and base on other items I have. People know my style here on the forums....I have never bad-mouthed anybody and/or tried to put something and/or someone down, I just want to make sure people understand where I am coming from with this particular item.....

[Shawn]

the best it could be looked at is like when Joe Blow takes one of those Answer PROM chips and slaps it on a recycled PCB, I don't know a single person that veiws those frankencarts as legit Gauntlet or Malagi R9\R10's do any of you?

 

My name is Tim not Joe and please don't compare me to someone you're trying to say is scamming people. I know what you're saying but how about not associating me and my legit chips/sales with this situation?

 

 

No, no, you misunderstood. I said "Joe Blow" like as in "John Doe" as there has been a few different people constuct carts from the Answer Chips. It was ment to speak to the level of authenticity of making such a cart, not to speak about any of the many different people that have built carts. My post had as much to do with you as it does Bob Hope.

[Shawn]

I wanted to see one in person to see

if there was any infingement of my trademark which I have registered.

 

 

 

Ya right It's hard to infinge on a copyright that didn't even exist at the time. And why is it agian you never got a copyright for this game 25 years ago??

 

Bob E you wanna let the folks know what the date was and who you bought the eproms from cause insiders already know the answer to this question and it's gonna be amusing to see how you navigate this question.

 

P.S. I'm down to my last apollo board untill I get my next one too!!

[gamecrawler]

I wanted to see one in person to see

if there was any infingement of my trademark which I have registered.

 

 

 

Ya right It's hard to infinge on a copyright that didn't even exist at the time. And why is it agian you never got a copyright for this game 25 years ago??

 

Bob E you wanna let the folks know what the date was and who you bought the eproms from cause insiders already know the answer to this question and it's gonna be amusing to see how you navigate this question.

 

P.S. I'm down to my last apollo board untill I get my next one too!!

 

This is bullshit, I Guarantee that EPROM is 25+ years old. Do u see the type and 1979 copyright on it. My Gammation label shows the age and I bet will not come off because the glue has aged.

I Guarantee this catridge is assembled with my 1982-83 parts.

I have only bought EPROMS from JAMECO & a few 27256's from Midwest Surplus & PCB's from CPUWIZ for my re-release cartridges which I am producing now & being sold on EBAY & my Web site . SO WHAT!!!! BIG SECRET

 

A US copyright exists at the time of creation.

Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act :

"A work that was created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected

from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a

term enduring for the author’s life plus an additional 70 years after the author’s death." PS: I am 62 still alive & loving it.

bob e

[+Wonder007]

Then why buy a repro Gamma cart....you could have just downloaded it from the AtariAge website.

 

Well, after reading everything from all sides and the comments I have received privately, I still have more questions than answers. I would have aggressively gone for this cart if I was comfortable with what I have seen and heard but I am not. The bottom line is that my original cart looks nothing like the one being offered so I do not feel comfortable committing the amount of $$$ I had set aside for this game and I am not b**ls**t***g.