Super Game Module now available for order

[128Kgames]

 

His behavior in that thread was a large contributing factor in my decision to clone the SGM.

 

Maybe he'll see the latest developments in this thread (5-11under going the diplomatic route before working on a clone, me already having the RAM expansion bit working), realize that he's going to lose exclusivity (legally -- I don't have a SGM, just used the technical thread and the CV schematics), and do the right thing by you all.

 

Or maybe he'll hit me with a bogus DMCA violation. Or use this to rationalize his apparent decision to take the money and run. At this point, all three options are equally possible.

 

Anyway, back to work ...

 

We don't know that he's taken anything and run at the moment, although personally I really wish someone would let us know what his situation is.

 

I don't think the idea of someone cloning his work would sit well with him to be honest. I remember what happened when he found out Classics cart (not sure if it was the 128 in 1 or the SD one) emulated his mega cart format (or something like that).

 

If this is strictly for your own use, then more power to you, but I wouldn't want to see the info on this become public knowledge until we know for sure whats happened to him.

 

I know if I was in his shoes i wouldn't want to see all my hard work just get pulled out from under me.

[wileyc]

I recall Eduardo talked about the cost of producing the SGM

 

His R&D costs couldn't have been that high (the memory part of the module is taken straight from the Adam Expansion Module and the AY-3-8910 is kinda trivial to interface if you read page two of the data sheet). I know a couple of PCB fabs in/around the Shenzhen area that would produce the boards cheaply (just don't let them do final assembly!), and the parts cost me less than USD$20.00 (retail, not bulk) ...

 

... was most of his expense doing the packaging, then? Because USD$90 for something that can be built (albeit without clear pretty case, sticker, and box) for about USD$30.00 in single-digit quantities seems sort of high ...

 

(Not slagging off on Eduardo. Genuinely curious as to how this budget was carved up)

[slab0meat]

I don't think the idea of someone cloning his work would sit well with him to be honest.

 

 

Sadly, the number of people that care about this factor is probably becoming less and less.

 

 

An update would be swell.

[wileyc]

 

I don't think the idea of someone cloning his work would sit well with him to be honest. I remember what happened when he found out Classics cart (not sure if it was the 128 in 1 or the SD one) emulated his mega cart format (or something like that).

 

If this is strictly for your own use, then more power to you, but I wouldn't want to see the info on this become public knowledge until we know for sure whats happened to him.

 

I know if I was in his shoes i wouldn't want to see all my hard work just get pulled out from under me.

 

Personally, I don't care what he thinks. The module itself is a partial clone of the Adam expansion module, and the sound chip is interfaced to the bus pretty much the same way as was done with the MSX.

 

Whoever owns the copyright to the Adam expansion module hardware might care about the first bit (but, since it's all off-the-shelf parts, the Gemini precedent is in effect), and the second bit is part of the MSX standard. Neither entity, AFAIK, is Eduardo.

 

If he didn't want it cloned, he probably should have fulfilled the orders that he took -- and he definitely shouldn't have posted instructions on how to enable it.

 

Like I said, I'm building one for myself. I'm going to make the schematics and logic decoding goop public. If someone else wants to start making them (and increasing the amount of people capable of playing SGM-only games thereby), then good for them.

 

If it pisses off Eduardo ... well, again, I don't care. He has only himself to blame. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter why Eduardo has stopped fulfilling orders -- death in the family, lost his job, sent to Gitmo, hiding from the Mafia, abducted by aliens, ascended to a higher plane of existence, whatever.

 

What matters is that he took a lot of money for (what you're apparently alluding to as) a proprietary hardware dongle, that appears to be *heavily* based on prior work. There's roughly zero chance that he's going to make amends -- if he was, he would have done so already.

 

If anyone wants to play SGM-only games (either designed for SGM or ported from Adam), building a workalike is the only option.

 

(hmmmm, I said in a previous post that I wouldn't voice my strongly-held opinions about this debacle. Looks like I did anyway. Sorry if I offended anyone -- especially you, TMOSteel, if you weren't actually implying that the SGM design is proprietary)

Edited February 17, 2014 by wileyc

[retroillucid]

 

I don't think the idea of someone cloning his work would sit well with him to be honest. I remember what happened when he found out Classics cart (not sure if it was the 128 in 1 or the SD one) emulated his mega cart format (or something like that).

 

 

Megacart name is owned by Opcode

Bank switching scheme is not

[NIAD]

I think he should have charged a lot more from the beginning. (like 150 instead of 90) If the project was on budget (or close to it) he could have included a game with it. (ex. DKA) It also would have given him money to hire some "helpers" (building, testing, shipping) if the project became to time consuming.

But the problem with including DKA was that the SGM is a fully licensed product by Coleco (aka River West Brands) and licensing rights would have had to be acquired from the Big "N" to include DKA. Aside from the issue of licensing rights, the timeframe in which Eduardo wanted to finally get the SGM released was a factor as well as the added cost. If and when DKA gets released, it will have to be done quietly if you know what I mean.

[retroillucid]

But the problem with including DKA was that the SGM is a fully licensed product by Coleco (aka River West Brands) and licensing rights would have had to be acquired from the Big "N" to include DKA. Aside from the issue of licensing rights, the timeframe in which Eduardo wanted to finally get the SGM released was a factor as well as the added cost. If and when DKA gets released, it will have to be done quietly if you know what I mean.

The best would have been an original creation from Eduardo pack-in exclusively with the SGM

[DoctorTom]

Bottom line is it's not just the people who didn't get the SGM who (at least to this point) have been screwed over, it's the people who GOT THE SGM FOR DONKEY KONG ARCADE -- which are many, including myself. The SGM is personally useless to me without it.

[Troy_Whelan]

As the SGM is a licensed product with Coleco, it is possible that he is working on the ColecoVision 2 and River West Brands (Coleco) requested him to stop work on the SGM as it would be included with the CV2. It is also possible that he cannot comment on any of this at the request of RWB (Coleco). Awkward situation to be in, but very possible. Also possible that those who do not yet have the SGM will get credit towards a CV2. Granted this is pure speculation, but so is most of this thread. I am just trying to find a realistic scenario that would explain all of this, and this seems like a possible scenario as there have been comments here on AA about a CV2 possibility.

 

Troy

[bennybingo]

Bottom line is it's not just the people who didn't get the SGM who (at least to this point) have been screwed over, it's the people who GOT THE SGM FOR DONKEY KONG ARCADE -- which are many, including myself. The SGM is personally useless to me without it.

Let's not forget...the developers who already went to the trouble of porting & producing SGM games are suffering. When I saw Team Pixelboy sitting on copies of games like Dragon's Lair and SGM Zaxxon, it was very disconcerting. I expected these SGM titles to sell out in 5 minutes. This is the type of thing that can seriously affect other people's homebrew business. How do you sell a game when hardly anyone has the hardware to play it on???

 

Personally, I would love to see Eduardo come out from wherever he has been and let us know what is going on. That would be the best case scenario here. That said, if he doesn't, I hope someone else steps up and produces an SGM of their own. We have all waited a long time for this hardware, and it would be a shame to see it vaporize at the point of its' realization.

[+5-11under]

I sent Eduardo an e-mail (info at opcode games) offering to take over the SGM "business", or at least to see if he'd like to start a discussion. We'll see what happens, if he replies.

[goldenegg]

I sent Eduardo an e-mail (info at opcode games) offering to take over the SGM "business", or at least to see if he'd like to start a discussion. We'll see what happens, if he replies.

 

Given the number of e-mails he's likely getting at the moment, I doubt he's looking at that account.

[+5-11under]

 

Given the number of e-mails he's likely getting at the moment, I doubt he's looking at that account.

 

If someone has a better e-mail address, please send me a PM.

[128Kgames]

 

Personally, I don't care what he thinks. The module itself is a partial clone of the Adam expansion module, and the sound chip is interfaced to the bus pretty much the same way as was done with the MSX.

 

Whoever owns the copyright to the Adam expansion module hardware might care about the first bit (but, since it's all off-the-shelf parts, the Gemini precedent is in effect), and the second bit is part of the MSX standard. Neither entity, AFAIK, is Eduardo.

 

If he didn't want it cloned, he probably should have fulfilled the orders that he took -- and he definitely shouldn't have posted instructions on how to enable it.

 

Like I said, I'm building one for myself. I'm going to make the schematics and logic decoding goop public. If someone else wants to start making them (and increasing the amount of people capable of playing SGM-only games thereby), then good for them.

 

If it pisses off Eduardo ... well, again, I don't care. He has only himself to blame. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter why Eduardo has stopped fulfilling orders -- death in the family, lost his job, sent to Gitmo, hiding from the Mafia, abducted by aliens, ascended to a higher plane of existence, whatever.

 

What matters is that he took a lot of money for (what you're apparently alluding to as) a proprietary hardware dongle, that appears to be *heavily* based on prior work. There's roughly zero chance that he's going to make amends -- if he was, he would have done so already.

 

If anyone wants to play SGM-only games (either designed for SGM or ported from Adam), building a workalike is the only option.

 

(hmmmm, I said in a previous post that I wouldn't voice my strongly-held opinions about this debacle. Looks like I did anyway. Sorry if I offended anyone -- especially you, TMOSteel, if you weren't actually implying that the SGM design is proprietary)

 

No man, no offense taken, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, especially on this forum. And I get that people are pissed, really I do. I think its a damn shame honestly, and I really hope Eduardo makes things right.

 

I also don't want to see him bearing the brunt of everyone's frustrations; there are a LOT of homebrew projects in "limbo" right now, and I've got my money sunk into a lot of them, like I'm sure a lot of people here too. The SGM project is NOT the only project people are waiting on.

 

Personally, going forward I don't think I'm going to do any pre-orders on stuff anymore, its just not worth the aggravation. (I like what hair I still have, and the color too). If I lose out, I lose out.

 

I've followed the project since its early days, when Eduardo was first talking about a replacement motherboard instead of an SGM module, incorporating the SGMs features. So I know how much he's got invested in this project, and I'm not talking money here. That was more my concern for him, that his work to get this made would just be forgotten, when the "clones" start rolling out.

 

I may have my SGMs in hand, but I've got money invested in this too, I've picked up all the SGM games to date, so if this thing goes south all I'll have is a nice conversation piece.

[128Kgames]

Megacart name is owned by Opcode

Bank switching scheme is not

 

Yeah, but you remember where this debate led to last time, J-F...

[128Kgames]

Bottom line is it's not just the people who didn't get the SGM who (at least to this point) have been screwed over, it's the people who GOT THE SGM FOR DONKEY KONG ARCADE -- which are many, including myself. The SGM is personally useless to me without it.

 

First, funny ass profile pic, kudos to you.

 

Second, yeah, DK Arcade was what hooked me on it too, and while I won't find my SGM useless without it, it won't be quite as fun. I'm more concerned with CollectorVision and Team Pixelboy halting development of any future games at the present time. THAT's what going to kill this, in my opinion. More games are needed, not none.

 

I completely understand where both teams are coming from, so please guys don't think I am faulting you in any way, shape or form.

[Greg2600]

Hang on, wileyc, are you the same person who's working on a replacement CV PCB (to replace the original one inside the case)? Or is that someone else?

 

PS: For those asking for updates here, unless I am wrong, I don't think anybody on AA has a real clue what is up with Eduardo. I don't think anyone here is "hiding" anything.

[wileyc]

Hang on, wileyc, are you the same person who's working on a replacement CV PCB (to replace the original one inside the case)? Or is that someone else?

 

No, that's 5-11under. I'm the guy that did the ColecoVision -> Intellivision II controller adapter.

Edited February 17, 2014 by wileyc

[+5-11under]

Hang on, wileyc, are you the same person who's working on a replacement CV PCB (to replace the original one inside the case)? Or is that someone else?

 

That'd be me.

edit: replied too late.

Edited February 17, 2014 by 5-11under

[S1500]

Open source hardware? That would never work. I mean this Audrino? it's plentiful & cheap, and super-well documented.

 

Oh..wait...

[atarilovesyou]

Did I say April?...whoops, I meant something different, I'm certain of it

 

Anyways, with the light of recent events things seem to be getting interesting. I read that 10 page post where Eduardo and a bunch of other pots calling each other kettles, and all it does is reinforce the fact that: Eduardo probably got deported.

 

Or maybe not, does it matter at this point? Of course it does, but as the Klingon saying goes, "Revenge is a dish best served cold" and just for the Angela Lansbury in me (ooooh, that's dirty), who can say that his 'swansong' so to speak, wasn't to genuinely make a first run of SGMs with whatever funds he was sent, make enough to send out here and there (whatever his fancy), and once the bait was swallowed by enough people, proclaim a second run (cash orders accepted, of course), and...pull a fast one, laughing all the way to the bank? He literally stood to make almost ten grand from a scheme like that. And people say there's no money in homebrewing! :D

 

Seriously, folks, this is just conjecture but at this point I'm having way too much fun with the "what if" scenarios. Amidst my stupid jokes, allegations and projections into the future based on a shady past, there were too many honest folks here who got had by this guy.

 

I promise, this time I won't comment again until April. I PROMISE!

[AtariBrian]

Did I say April?...whoops, I meant something different, I'm certain of it

 

Anyways, with the light of recent events things seem to be getting interesting. I read that 10 page post where Eduardo and a bunch of other pots calling each other kettles, and all it does is reinforce the fact that: Eduardo probably got deported.

 

 

Not so sure since he was recently selling sgms on ebay .

[wileyc]

Not so sure since he was recently selling sgms on ebay .

 

(last post for today, I really do need to get back to work ... and I'd rather talk about the technical implementation of the SGM hardware )

 

Deportation is not a sudden event, ICE (or whatever they're called these days -- I'm not American anymore, so I don't keep up USAnian LEO stuff ) doesn't confiscate all of your stuff, and being deported doesn't suddenly shut down one's eBay / PayPal account. He could easily ship from wherever he is, or have a friend do so.

 

Hell, if the PayPal account is linked to a Citibank account, he wouldn't even have any issues withdrawing the money from PayPal. Cash out to bank account, then use the local in-network ATM, done. (This is how I deal with money when I'm in China)

 

I'm not saying that he was deported; I am saying that SGM sales on eBay shouldn't be used as evidence that he's still in the US.

Edited February 17, 2014 by wileyc

[+cmart604]

Did I say April?...whoops, I meant something different, I'm certain of it

 

Anyways, with the light of recent events things seem to be getting interesting. I read that 10 page post where Eduardo and a bunch of other pots calling each other kettles, and all it does is reinforce the fact that: Eduardo probably got deported.

 

Or maybe not, does it matter at this point? Of course it does, but as the Klingon saying goes, "Revenge is a dish best served cold" and just for the Angela Lansbury in me (ooooh, that's dirty), who can say that his 'swansong' so to speak, wasn't to genuinely make a first run of SGMs with whatever funds he was sent, make enough to send out here and there (whatever his fancy), and once the bait was swallowed by enough people, proclaim a second run (cash orders accepted, of course), and...pull a fast one, laughing all the way to the bank? He literally stood to make almost ten grand from a scheme like that. And people say there's no money in homebrewing! :D

 

Seriously, folks, this is just conjecture but at this point I'm having way too much fun with the "what if" scenarios. Amidst my stupid jokes, allegations and projections into the future based on a shady past, there were too many honest folks here who got had by this guy.

 

I promise, this time I won't comment again until April. I PROMISE!

You know what, why don't you just stop trolling this thread. Seeing as you're not out a red cent on this project as opposed to many of us who put out money, I find it unbelievable that you've posted more about it than anyone else. We all know your thoughts on this matter so please stop talking.

[atarilovesyou]

You know what, why don't you just stop trolling this thread. Seeing as you're not out a red cent on this project as opposed to many of us who put out money, I find it unbelievable that you've posted more about it than anyone else. We all know your thoughts on this matter so please stop talking.

 

You know what, don't tell me what to do.