What happened exactly to Hozer

[ATARI TROLL]

Sucks that they disappeared. I was going to place a huge order. Any other cut cart producers out there? If anyone knows could they post a link or email me at b0b [email protected] love the name. Thanks

[ATARI TROLL]

its [email protected]

 

sorry

[Godzilla]

what happened with hozer? moral differences between two copy right violators, that led to a bad situation for them. there is a massive thread that is the atariage equivalent of war and peace. but that is it in a nutshell.

[ATARI TROLL]

Thanks for the headsup...guess I will stick to playing what I have and looking for the new ones when advertised.

[Paul Slocum]

You do know that Atariage produces quite a few 2600 homebrews and hacks?

 

http://www.atariage.com/store/

 

-Paul

[Godzilla]

hahahaaaaaa

[Nukey Shay]

Who woulda thunk it??

[Godzilla]

me and me trouble making self finds it humorous to see that mentioned especially with all the 'this is just so atari age can monopolize' conspiracy theory stuff that was flying back then

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

I'm too wondering about things. For example:

 

Will I ever see a penny of royalty for any Gunfight cartridge sold through Hozer?

 

Did actually another author see any of his cash *after* Hozer folded?

 

It may be partially my own fault, because I asked to delay sending the check last year myself (because I wanted to place an order for my cash), but when Hozer folded I sent another mail asking to forget about the order and to just send the cheque...

 

I'm not yet feeling ripped, but...

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[Nukey Shay]

I would.

 

 

Your humility is killing me

[Godzilla]

sadly if 'hozer games' was a company/etc and it went under/out of business, it has no obligations to anyone if i remember my business class correctly... I hope I'm wrong, though, as Authors certainley deserve royalties for their pains in 2600 programming!

[Nukey Shay]

We're pretty much on the honor system I think...but I'd still feel ripped off.

[davidbrit2]

I never understood why everyone suddenly turned on Randy.

 

Thomas modified games to which he held no legal rights, and Randy produced copies of these games, to which he also held no legal rights. Obviously, Thomas' hacks are very well done, but I can't quite figure out why everyone simultaneously decided that Randy was "more wrong." Weird. I guess it's like Robin Hood vs. King John: apparent noble motives tend to obscure views of legality.

[Cybergoth]

Hi there!

 

I would.

 

Maybe in a month. Right now I'm just waiting.

 

Greetings,

Manuel

[fsuinnc]

regardless of the reason Hozer Video is gone (at least for now).

I can't help but wonder why the games from Atari Age seem to cost more than they did from Randy?

[oesii]

I think some of the cost with the AtariAge carts are the slick labels and well-illustrated and colorful manuals. They are also collecting royalties for the homebrew and hack creators something Randy may have not always done with hacks especially.

 

The carts I got for $20-25 from AA are a good deal for me. I bought Marble Craze from Hozer and it was $25 so I'm sure their cheaper prices were because things were cheaper a few years ago but times would have caught up with him too.

[Paul Slocum]

Yeah, the cartridges you get from Atariage are much higher quality than those from Hozer IMO. Not to mention that some of that money goes to help pay for hosting of this free high-traffic website that we happen to be posting on.

 

-Paul

[Nukey Shay]

Erm...it's free?

 

Albert, you LIED to me!! j/k

[Godzilla]

nukey: you mean some people don't pay to use this site??? :-)

[Snider-man]

@ Manuel,

 

I wouldn't feel ripped off yet if I were you. I got my last residual and I believe Thomas did too. If *Thomas* got one, then I believe Randy will honor his debts. You may want to e-mail him again to be sure there wasn't a snafu or something.

 

And, with that, I'm once again stepping in and placing and end to this discussion. Dredge up one of the other bazillion threads or go to RGVC if you feel the need to whomp on this deceased equine.

[Albert]

I never understood why everyone suddenly turned on Randy.

 

Thomas modified games to which he held no legal rights, and Randy produced copies of these games, to which he also held no legal rights. Obviously, Thomas' hacks are very well done, but I can't quite figure out why everyone simultaneously decided that Randy was "more wrong." Weird. I guess it's like Robin Hood vs. King John: apparent noble motives tend to obscure views of legality.

 

Nobody *ever* said that Thomas had any legal rights to prevent Randy from selling his TV Conversions. It was a moral issue, plain and simple. If Randy wanted to benefit from selling the efforts of authors like Thomas, than he should have respected their wishes. Certainly Randy was within his "right" to sell Thomas' hacks, as much as anyone has the "right" to sell copies of these games (which is another issue I won't get into here). But he certainly would not foster good will between homebrew authors and himself by taking actions like that.

 

And there was quite a bit more to it than just the issue with Thomas and Randy. Randy had also wronged us (Alex and myself), as well as Joe Grand, although we didn't step into the fray until Randy posted a scathing and libelous message in RGVC, attempting to make himself a martyr with us as his slayer.

 

I can't help but wonder why the games from Atari Age seem to cost more than they did from Randy?

 

As others have already stated, we take great care in the labels and manuals we are producing for the homebrew games and hacks we are selling. We have created many new label designs for existing games from scratch. The labels are printed with a professional-grade printer on glossy, die-cut label sheets with rounded corners, using a permanent adhesive so they will not peel off. The manuals, many of which we have also created from the ground up, are also printed on the same printer using a variety of high-quality papers. We also thoroughly clean cartridges, ship homebrew games individually enclosed in protective plastic bags, and we generally ship every order within 24 hours.

 

And not all the games are more expensive. For instance, Randy was selling Rob Kudla's Pac-Man hack for $22 and he was not paying Rob royalties. We are selling it for $20, we *are* paying Rob royalties, and you get a higher-quality presentation. And some are the same price, such as Marble Craze, which is $25 (the same price Randy was charging). We feel our prices are more than fair given the effort we invest in the production of these titles.

 

And the money is used to pay for hosting costs, used to invest in new products that we can sell in our store, and used to attend shows like CGE and PhillyClassic.

 

..Al

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I wouldn't feel ripped off yet if I were you. I got my last residual and I believe Thomas did too. If *Thomas* got one, then I believe Randy will honor his debts.

Yup, Randy did pay my royalties (BTW: via AtariAge!) quite immediately. I wouldn't worry too much.

[Snider-man]

And the money is used to pay for hosting costs, used to invest in new products that we can sell in our store, and used to attend shows like CGE and PhillyClassic.

 

But what about that summer home in Tahiti? Or was that supposed to be a secret?

 

Dammit, now Albert will never let me fly on his private Lear jet again....

[Paul Slocum]

I never understood why everyone suddenly turned on Randy.

 

My irritation started way back with him laying into Junie for no reason, then got worse when he went off on other people in mutiple recipient e-mails that I was part of, then got much worse when he sent me bad carts for CGE, etc. The thing with Thomas was just the last straw for me.

 

I got a royalty payment a couple of weeks before he shut down. I am stuck with 15 non-working Marble Craze carts, though.

 

-Paul

[davidbrit2]

Apparently I didn't hear all the details, then. Thomas' hacks were the most publicized issue, it seemed. If anybody has a factual chronology of events, I wouldn't mind reading it.