Atari employee 'master backups', or just bogus bootlegs?

[+thanatos]

Ad on my local craigslist is setting off my BS detector...

 

http://stlouis.craigslist.org/vgm/5463513945.html

[+save2600]

Looks legit to me! Well, as "legit" as copies of programs get anyway.

[Guest LiqMat]

For $100, i would grab it and cry later. Tears of joy or pain to be determined.

[Guest LiqMat]

tape from the 80s is begging to crumble and break. backup that backup

Edited February 25, 2016 by LiqMat

[+MrFish]

Looks like a bunch of junk with a BS story to puff it up. Not even worth $25 in my book.

[+save2600]

Looks like a bunch of junk with a BS story to puff it up. Not even worth $25 in my book.

 

That's the thing… up to whomever to decide if a bunch of "backups" are worth all that scratch. Usually worth zero dollars, right? Who knows though, might be a gem or two in the bunch.

[+MrFish]

That's the thing… up to whomever to decide if a bunch of "backups" are worth all that scratch. Usually worth zero dollars, right? Who knows though, might be a gem or two in the bunch.

 

I'm not that optimistic, when nothing he's naming is special, they're on cheap old cassettes, the title says "Master Dealer" (what's that supposed to mean?), and the pictures show you nothing but commons and backup/copy programs. And what Atari employees would be wasting time backing programs up to cassettes?

 

I'll say your chances are far greater of getting ripped off than finding this elusive gem that he hints at. I suppose if you can have a look for free, go for it; doesn't cost anything to look. At least with that you'd only stand to waste your time.

Edited February 25, 2016 by MrFish

[Joey Z]

if there are truly 200+ cassettes, then you at least got some cheap cassette tapes

new 90 minutes tapes go more than $.50 each, I can tell you that.

 

On the other hand, unless there are more tapes not pictured, there are not even 200 cassettes there, I only count about 170.

Edited February 25, 2016 by Joey Z

[+MrFish]

This looks a lot more interesting to me. They want more than a hundred bucks for it, but at least they're willing to tell you what you're getting, instead of saying "there might be something good in there...".

 

Craigslist: Vintage 2600 Game System

Edited February 26, 2016 by MrFish

[Rybags]

Got real doubts. For starters I doubt any software maker besides Atari would have released anywhere near 200 unique titles.

Even Atari themselves would probably only stumble over the line if you included stuff like the APX and Basic releases.

 

In any case there's a mix of makers listed like Datasoft, Atari, Activision. And Kaboom - plenty of pirated rips of that Rom around on all media types but the game itself was only ever available on cartridge AFAIK.

 

The deal here is that "backup" is being used in the sarcastic pirate way in that we say we're retaining our copies as backups in case the IP owner loses their copy.

[+MacRorie]

This looks a lot more interesting to me. They want more than a hundred bucks for it, but at least they're willing to tell you what you're getting, instead of saying "there might be something good in there...".

 

Craigslist: Vintage 2600 Game System

I feel like I have seen that Craigslist ad before. On AtariAge.

[Tempest]

Those are just pirate tapes. Nothing more.

[fujidude]

Yeah, the seller can't even make up his mind if they used to belong to an Atari employee making "master" backups, or were instead at one time the property of a "master" dealer.

[miker]

Yeah - I think he waits for some sucker or someone with "incredible rich (and even more stupid) uncle".

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Mclaneinc]

As a person who knows how UK Atari worked you can trust me that the employees used disks for every thing, and that included the copies of games they had which fell out the back door on a regular basis...FACT.

 

This is just someone's old decayed tapes that he's trying to spice up with a mention of an Atari employee.

 

Bogus crap......

[charliecron]

Jeez.. some cool old tapes .. One hundred Frickin Seventy of them... someone put time and effort into them, who cares what the seller says. That's some Atarians stuff man. So bitter!

[Tempest]

someone put time and effort into them, who cares what the seller says.

 

Because they're trying to pass them off as Atari history in order to justify the ridiculous price. That's not acceptable. If he listed it as 170 old Atari tapes he wouldn't be able to get anywhere near his asking price.

[Kyle22]

What I'd like to see happen:

 

1> This guy realizes the error of his ways. (hopefully he Googles enough to stumble across this).

 

2> He donates them all to Farb's Software Preservation Initiative: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/234684-atari-8-bit-software-preservation-initiative/

or archive.org, or some other suitable place.

[Mclaneinc]

I'd love to see that too but he's a quick buck guy so I'd doubt it will happen..

 

As content, I would be stunned if there was anything unknown in them, the stuff that went around got pretty much everywhere, my Raid over Libya hack was only given to one mate (the guy that drew the levels) and it still found its way around the globe

 

Then comes the problem of bit rot, unless these have been in a safe place I imagine it would be a nightmare BUT maybe if he drops the price by 75% they just might be worth the hassle.