Should I sell Ms. Pac-Man arcade hack?

[Jr. Pac]

ROM:

mspac2600arcadehack final5.bin

[SlowCoder]

I'm sure the original Ms. Pacman is still copyrighted. This means you would be profitting from someone else's work. So the legality might be a bit sticky. Maybe giving away the ROM file free, and charging for the physical materials would be a way around? I'm no lawyer.

[Jr. Pac]

I'm sure the original Ms. Pacman is still copyrighted. This means you would be profitting from someone else's work. So the legality might be a bit sticky. Maybe giving away the ROM file free, and charging for the physical materials would be a way around? I'm no lawyer.

For the 2600? Hm... I thought it's all expired!

[eshu]

I'm sure the original Ms. Pacman is still copyrighted. This means you would be profitting from someone else's work. So the legality might be a bit sticky. Maybe giving away the ROM file free, and charging for the physical materials would be a way around? I'm no lawyer.

For the 2600? Hm... I thought it's all expired!

 

Works created in or after 1978 are extended copyright protection for a term defined in 17 U.S.C. § 302. With the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, these works are granted copyright protection for a term ending 70 years after the death of the author. If the work was a work for hire (e.g., those created by a corporation) then copyright persists for 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shorter.

 

I'd make that 2075 the copyright expires for Ms Pacman on 2600 in the USA....

[SRGilbert]

I'm sure the original Ms. Pacman is still copyrighted. This means you would be profitting from someone else's work. So the legality might be a bit sticky. Maybe giving away the ROM file free, and charging for the physical materials would be a way around? I'm no lawyer.

 

If that were an issue, then how did we get the great Pac-man collection for the 7800?

[bomberpunk]

it was built from the ground up. it wasn't someone else's code.

Edited July 4, 2011 by bomberpunk

[Jr. Pac]

it was built from the ground up. it wasn't someone else's code.

Ms. Pac-Man on that ganme is the original, just with some slight mods. And also, how could there be a Pac-Man arcade hack availible in the store? And Pesco turned into Hack-Em?

[eshu]

All those hacks are also illegal, it's also illegal to distribute the original ROMs without the permission of the company which owns the rights, but plenty of sites do so anyway. I highly doubt you would run into any legal issues selling or otherwise distributing your hacks, but it is nonetheless illegal.

 

Namco do pursue their pac-man copyrights more than you might expect:

https://www.mochimedia.com/community/forum/topic/copyright-issue-with-ms-pacman

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100730/17081510430.shtml

[tep392]

it was built from the ground up. it wasn't someone else's code.

Ms. Pac-Man on that ganme is the original, just with some slight mods. And also, how could there be a Pac-Man arcade hack availible in the store? And Pesco turned into Hack-Em?

 

It doesn't matter if it's coded from scratch or not. You would need permission from the copyright holder if you use copyrighted titles and images. We often get away with it though because this is such an old platform and it doesn't draw too much interest from the copyright holders. That isn't always the case though, so it's best to keep a low profile.

[zylon]

That's why most of the hacks had odd names back in the day(munch-man, munchy, snak-man). Look at the hacks in the store, quite a few would be illegal in some way. You just have to keep a low-marketing profile and keep profits low or nil on paper.

[toiletunes]

Getting back to the original question:

 

If you should sell is less important than if anyone would buy, and if so, how many. No sense in making 50 carts if you can only sell 5. Atari made this mistake with ET, I believe.

 

A lot of homebrew/hack authors do an interest check/signup sheet in the marketplace, this is as good a way as any to find out, but I wouldn't make any carts until they were paid for first, just in case anyone backs out at the last minute.

[Jr. Pac]

And to those moderators who voted no, I am NOT selling these in the store.

Edited July 5, 2011 by Jr. Pac

[Nukey Shay]

And Pesco turned into Hack-Em?

For the record, I never sold the hacks I made from Ebivision's code (it belongs to them should they choose to use it). In fact, the only "cookie" I did get for hacking any game was for work approved by the copyright holder (Flashback2). Other than that, I never made a dime. I prefer to remain in the non-profit "don't ask, don't tell" legal grey area.

[Jr. Pac]

And Pesco turned into Hack-Em?

For the record, I never sold the hacks I made from Ebivision's code (it belongs to them should they choose to use it). In fact, the only "cookie" I did get for hacking any game was for work approved by the copyright holder (Flashback2). Other than that, I never made a dime. I prefer to remain in the non-profit "don't ask, don't tell" legal grey area.

Oh, sorry. I didn't know that.

[Jr. Pac]

bump

[Rex Dart]

Maybe/don't care/don't want to buy it.

 

I certainly wouldn't feel too great about taking money for a game somebody else came up with.

[horseboy]

Maybe/don't care/don't want to buy it.

 

I certainly wouldn't feel too great about taking money for a game somebody else came up with.

 

 

There are tons of cools hacks man. Don't count them all out.

[CPUWIZ]

Maybe/don't care/don't want to buy it.

 

I certainly wouldn't feel too great about taking money for a game somebody else came up with.

 

 

There are tons of cools hacks man. Don't count them all out.

 

This ain't one of them.

[Cebus Capucinis]

Maybe/don't care/don't want to buy it.

 

I certainly wouldn't feel too great about taking money for a game somebody else came up with.

 

 

There are tons of cools hacks man. Don't count them all out.

 

This ain't one of them.

 

LOL

[Jr. Pac]

Maybe/don't care/don't want to buy it.

 

I certainly wouldn't feel too great about taking money for a game somebody else came up with.

 

 

There are tons of cools hacks man. Don't count them all out.

 

This ain't one of them.

What do you expect? I'm just a 10 year old who was messing around in Stella's debugging mode. @ Rex, I came up with this, so how could you say that?

[tep392]

Jr. Pac,

 

I hope you don't get discouraged by the rude comments that some of the members are making. People tend to forget what it's like to be young and inexperienced. I personally think it is cool that you are interested in a system that is 3x your age. Your hack is a bit simple though, which is probably why some people are dissing it, but it is a good first step. Just not enough new content to get too much interest in buying a cart.

 

I'd suggest you take the next step and start learning to program. I got started on my Atari 400 back in the day by picking up a few books on BASIC and playing around with type in games. You might want to give Batari Basic a try since you seem to be interested in the 2600.

 

Good luck and keep having fun. That's what this hobby is all about.

 

TEP392

[SlowCoder]

Maybe/don't care/don't want to buy it.

 

I certainly wouldn't feel too great about taking money for a game somebody else came up with.

 

 

There are tons of cools hacks man. Don't count them all out.

 

This ain't one of them.

What do you expect? I'm just a 10 year old who was messing around in Stella's debugging mode. @ Rex, I came up with this, so how could you say that?

Whether someone is 10 years old, or 50 years old, we should be providing positive feedback to potential contributors. We all have to start somewhere, and in the beginning almost no one will be pumping out great works of art. And it's not like there's a huge number of retro gamers, and only a small percentage of those who can build or hack games.

[+Random Terrain]

I hope you don't get discouraged by the rude comments that some of the members are making.

I think I suggested around 8 years ago that our sex and age be shown below our avatars so people can adjust their posts accordingly. We have no idea if someone is a naive 10 year old or a delusional 35 year old.

 

 

 

Whether someone is 10 years old, or 50 years old, we should be providing positive feedback to potential contributors. We all have to start somewhere, and in the beginning almost no one will be pumping out great works of art. And it's not like there's a huge number of retro gamers, and only a small percentage of those who can build or hack games.

You can be tougher on an older person who wants to sell a hack after about 5.2 seconds of work. An older person should know that he is 'starting somewhere' and that it takes time to create something worth selling.

Edited July 6, 2011 by Random Terrain

[GroovyBee]

We have no idea if someone is a naive 10 year old or a delusional 35 year old.

 

Or a delusional 35 year old pretending to be a 10 year old.

[scutt]

Maybe/don't care/don't want to buy it.

 

I certainly wouldn't feel too great about taking money for a game somebody else came up with.

 

 

There are tons of cools hacks man. Don't count them all out.

 

This ain't one of them.

What do you expect? I'm just a 10 year old who was messing around in Stella's debugging mode. @ Rex, I came up with this, so how could you say that?

 

Just because you're 10 people aren't going to hand you money for nothing. As you put it yourself, you were messing around in Stella's debugging mode. Would you buy a product from me if I was just messing around? Put time and effort into your projects and you can achieve wonders.