What happened to the Activision binaries?

[Megamaniac]

I noticed all the activision carts listed on this site do not have ROMs downloadable? Is there a legal precedent here? Of course, I know they're to be had elsewhere , but I was wondering if there was a story here.

[holygrailvideogames.com]

Activision wants to protect their copyrights. Most sites have taken down the roms after hearing from Activision attorneys.

[Megamaniac]

Does anyone else think this is ironic given that Activision was the first company to break into the 2600 market (I think) after a lot of legal wrangling with a then provincial Atari? Meanwhile, Atari binaries are free of strings! Funny how the world turns.

[Albert]

We have a working relationship with Activision and it isn't appropriate for us to have copies of their games on AtariAge. Hopefully in a few months you'll see some fruits from that relationship.

 

..Al

[SS]

We have a working relationship with Activision and it isn't appropriate for us to have copies of their games on AtariAge.  Hopefully in a few months you'll see some fruits from that relationship.  

 

 

If you're (still) talking about what I'm thinking that you're talking about, I'm crossing my fingers!

[CPUWIZ]

We have a working relationship with Activision and it isn't appropriate for us to have copies of their games on AtariAge.  Hopefully in a few months you'll see some fruits from that relationship.  

 

 

If you're (still) talking about what I'm thinking that you're talking about, I'm crossing my fingers!

 

He is talking about what you think he is talking about.

[tyranthraxus]

Does anyone else think this is ironic given that Activision was the first company to break into the 2600 market (I think) after a lot of legal wrangling with a then provincial Atari?  Meanwhile, Atari binaries are free of strings!  Funny how the world turns.

 

It is a bit interesting. The legal costs of having them go through the

motions of forcing a site to take them down would probably cost them

more than what they're worth but I believe everyone removed them

voluntarily. And given their recent software releases its quite

understandble why they wished it so. But there are still out there all you

have to do is a look a little harder

[Room 34]

The legal costs of having them go through the

motions of forcing a site to take them down would probably cost them

more than what they're worth but I believe everyone removed them

voluntarily.

I kind of get the feeling that they didn't go to the trouble of actually forcing this on those sites that didn't do it voluntarily. The ROMs are not THAT hard to find out there.

[liquid_sky]

its really more simple than it seems. They made the anthology project and realized that having the roms running around out there for free might cut into sales because they knew hardcore atari fans would buy it no matter what and so would technolgy newcomers, but the middle line of the road consumer would be torn between buying and emulating. Thus the roms came down to try to stimulate the middle margin man. With anthology remixes out now, i would say that it must have worked

[tyranthraxus]

Yeah it must have done well enough to warrant the other versions. I'm

curious as to what the sale numbers are. I could barely find it around

town.

 

John

[CPUWIZ]

Yeah it must have done well enough to warrant the other versions. I'm

curious as to what the sale numbers are. I could barely find it around

town.  

 

John

 

Last time I checked, the PS2 version of Anthology was at 78,292 copies sold through to the consumer.

[MegaManFan]

No kidding, only 79,000? That seems ridiculously low when compared to .. well.. just about anything in home entertainment retail. Even a medicore indie rap album can sell 100K.

[CPUWIZ]

No kidding, only 79,000?  That seems ridiculously low when compared to .. well.. just about anything in home entertainment retail.  Even a medicore indie rap album can sell 100K.

 

Yeah but those 79,000 copies brought in just over 2 million dollars which considering the development cost for the product is a nice chunk of change.

[MegaManFan]

I wish they could have developed the Pitfall II emulation a little better, or enabled the online support, or saved the high scores to the memory card, or..

 

.. you're right, I don't think there were much development costs at all.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

He is talking about what you think he is talking about.  

And now we know that you know, what he knows and you both know what Albert knows and we don't know.

 

[CPUWIZ]

He is talking about what you think he is talking about.  

And now we know that you know, what he knows and you both know what Albert knows and we don't know.

 

 

You do know, otherwise you wouldn't know that I know what Albert knows.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

You do know, otherwise you wouldn't know that I know what Albert knows.  

I think I know.

[SS]

You do know, otherwise you wouldn't know that I know what Albert knows.  

I think I know.

 

I know that Thomas has to know it.

[Thomas Jentzsch]

I know that Thomas has to know it.

Goodness knows.

[Xot]

Oooh! Oooh! I think I know! I think I know!

 

Of course, if I'm right, I'd better keep my mouth shut!!

[Megamaniac]

Well, hell. I feel left out...I don't know and I started this thread. If anyone wants to shed some light on this and can send me a personal message I'd appreciate it.

 

P.S. Not to stir up too much muck...but one doesn't have to go very far to find the ROMs!

[bcostin]

I'm glad to see that Activision and AA have got something in the works. Looking forward to, er, whatever it is.

 

Just personally, I think having ROMs removed from circulation ultimately hurts a company more than it helps. Take a look at the many "best games" discussions we've all had on this forum. Notice how few of them mention Starpath titles? It's not because those games aren't great, but they're just not on people's radar. I think in large part it's just that the ROMs are aren't as widely available. It's Activision's decision, but ultimately I don't see it selling any more anthologies for them.

[Tempest]

I only thing I know is that I think I don't know, but I may actually know. Who knows?

 

Tempest

[Thomas Jentzsch]

It's Activision's decision, but ultimately I don't see it selling any more anthologies for them.

AFAIK this is a more general problem. As soon as Activision gets aware that their copyrighted binaries are available on a website, they have to ask for removing them or risk to loose their copyrights. And since AA and Activision are cooperating now, it is obvious that Activison must know about the binaries available here.

[tyranthraxus]

So all future PS2 collectors better snag a copy now. The rarity on that

one is going to be