Carts vs roms

[intvdave]

I would LOVE to be able to play Ms. Night Stalker and Super Pro Tennis on my Ultimate Flashback in ROM form. The games don't look very good with my AV-modded Intellivision on a modern TV, and I have no desire to bring an old 200 lb TV back in my house...

 

Purchase them at:

 

http://www.intellivision.us/intvgames/orderroms.php

[+DZ-Jay]

 

So sell the ROM after the physical copies are sold out.

 

Let's face it, people aren't rushing to produce illicit Christmas Carol carts, even though they could. And most other homebrew doesn't even SEE a ROM release, nor a physical re-release, so it's not like there are any sales being cut into there.

 

Other than pride (and intellectual property law, which everyone here follows to the letter of course), I don't see the "damage".

 

In spite of whatever vendetta you have against intellectual property (which you seem very keen to point out at the first opportunity ), my point was that if someone were to do it, it would sell. Do you not agree?

 

My response was to pimpmaul's comment that a risk of being caught and shamed was the only thing stopping it, and I disagreed. I think there are many other reasons why this is not done, including (as you suggested), lack of interest. That said, we have already seen that there's a thriving "secret" market in this community where games are released in private to a selected few.

 

Remember, that's how some of the most sought after "home-brews" came into existence: Intellivision Productions, Inc. was unwilling or unable to release them, and someone decided to do it anyway, in a limited production, to a private circle. It could happen again with other producers, especially as the hardware becomes more accessible, which is bound to happen as the market matures. No amount of pointing fingers will stop collectors from buying them.

 

Regardless of all that hypothetical scenario, the original question was about selling ROM-only instead of Cart releases. Many of these threads degenerate into a DRM discussion because on the one hand collectors want to ensure the authenticity of their investment; and on the other, producers or developers want to guarantee their revenue. The balance tips usually one way deeper than the other, but that's the essence of it.

 

You know what avoids the whole question? Releasing the ROMs for free.

 

-dZ.

[freewheel]

I have no "vendetta" against intellectual property, other than the corporations that abuse it on a continual basis. And the rampant hypocrisy that I often see exhibited in homebrew-type communities about it. I brought it up because the fact is: if you're not selling a product, "piracy" of said product can't possibly be causing you "damage". Other than violating your intellectual property rights. Which is akin to hurting your feelings, for most people. I bring it up repeatedly because when I ask "what's the harm" I invariably get responses from people who may or not be in your situation of "but it will violate my IP rights!!". So I kinda have to address it, because it's literally the only counter-argument that the creative community has ever been able to muster against things like abandonware, etc. And yes, I'd call a game from 10-15 years ago that saw 100 copies and has no indication of ever being published again "abandonware", but I'm an anarchist that way.

 

The point is, if you sit there and don't release/sell a ROM because of fear that someone else is going to take it and put it on a cart because you're afraid of "damage" - the entire argument rings a bit hollow. All you're in fact doing is denying people the ability to play your game. It's a form of taking your ball and going home, but with legal standing.

[+DZ-Jay]

I don't see any of those things that you complain about in this conversation. It's just another opportunity for you to spread your wisdom to the crowd. But, hey, thanks for sharing (again).

 

 

dZ.

[R.Cade]

 

Purchase them at:

 

http://www.intellivision.us/intvgames/orderroms.php

Wait, so there is a way to play alternate games on INTV Flashback besides what comes with it, or not?

[+intvsteve]

Wait, so there is a way to play alternate games on INTV Flashback besides what comes with it, or not?

No. The AtGames Flashback can only play the ROMs included with it.

 

A number of people have pulled the guts out of their Flashback and replaced them with a Raspberry Pi running jzIntv to create an "Ultimate Flashback" -- which, of course, can play whatever ROMs you throw at it.

[atarifan88]

A number of people have pulled the guts out of their Flashback and replaced them with a Raspberry Pi running jzIntv to create an "Ultimate Flashback" -- which, of course, can play whatever ROMs you throw at it.

 

And what a beautiful thing it is too!

Many thanks to Byte Knight for making those dreams come true!

[pimpmaul69]

 

In spite of whatever vendetta you have against intellectual property (which you seem very keen to point out at the first opportunity ), my point was that if someone were to do it, it would sell. Do you not agree?

 

My response was to pimpmaul's comment that a risk of being caught and shamed was the only thing stopping it, and I disagreed. I think there are many other reasons why this is not done, including (as you suggested), lack of interest. That said, we have already seen that there's a thriving "secret" market in this community where games are released in private to a selected few.

 

Remember, that's how some of the most sought after "home-brews" came into existence: Intellivision Productions, Inc. was unwilling or unable to release them, and someone decided to do it anyway, in a limited production, to a private circle. It could happen again with other producers, especially as the hardware becomes more accessible, which is bound to happen as the market matures. No amount of pointing fingers will stop collectors from buying them.

 

Regardless of all that hypothetical scenario, the original question was about selling ROM-only instead of Cart releases. Many of these threads degenerate into a DRM discussion because on the one hand collectors want to ensure the authenticity of their investment; and on the other, producers or developers want to guarantee their revenue. The balance tips usually one way deeper than the other, but that's the essence of it.

 

You know what avoids the whole question? Releasing the ROMs for free.

 

-dZ.

i didnt mean to imply that these were the only reasons why people wouldnt do it. having seen what has happened in the atari world with these people making games of another homebrewers games i was pointing out that they could be outed easier and the board manufacturers could refuse to sell to them easier. I am aware that this is not the only reason. I understand that this is a much smaller community making it less likely to have these problems. I have not personally seen an atari homebrew bootleg but i am curious how the artwork looks compared to the original. Having seen hundreds of bootleg video games i am able to spot a fake a mile away.

[freewheel]

I don't see any of those things that you complain about in this conversation. It's just another opportunity for you to spread your wisdom to the crowd. But, hey, thanks for sharing (again).

 

 

dZ.

 

And I didn't bring it up more than once in this conversation, yet you felt the need to bring in other discussions on the topic.

 

Pot, meet kettle.

 

Anyway - release ROMs, people. It only hurts the community when you sit on them, and it only benefits everyone when they see the light of day.

[7800fan]

I'd agree that Intv roms should be made freely available since it's already hard to make working board. G1 ROMs haven't been available for decades and EPROM needs either convoluted array of TTL chips to handle address and data multiplexing or a CPLD. Not many people are capable of making it work. One would be limited to flash cart like CC or the upcoming Hive.

 

2600, 5200, 7800, CV, Lynx, et all are pretty much capable of working with plain vanilla EPROM with little or no added circuitry and there would be a legitimate reason for not releasing home-brewn ROM.