3DOi Update: They ARRIVED!

[Wing_Commander]

They exist!... These are however reproductions and not actual liscensed products. The address on the Registration Card exists, but 3DOi does not exist at that address in Finland. So the story behind these is likely fake, but I really don't care because these are actually pretty awesome reproductions! I even took side by side photos of the reproduction with my actual sealed copy of Myst.

Now I only opened box 1 and the game Myst to see if I got what I paid for. I got everything advertised on their Istagram Page. Though I haven't had the time yet to test the Game to see if it works, I am thus far pretty impressed ... Most reproductions a crap. There was a lot of effort put into making these, and even the manuals are really nice!

Some are asking "How do I purchase?" , well, I got mine through a fellow that had a few to sell. He sold me one of each. As of right now, he doesn't have anymore to sell .. I know, that sucks! Your best hope is getting in contact through the 3DOi instagram page. I have made contact with them already, and I will see if they will sell these direct. Far as I am aware, they just want distributors like the Guy I bought from who buy a bunch to sell.. Sadly I am not one of them. I will post more information and a more indepth review of these reproductions over the next few weeks.

 

[Wing_Commander]

Here are the inserts: 

[derSammler]

On 12/19/2021 at 8:59 AM, Wing_Commander said:

but I really don't care because these are actually pretty awesome reproductions!

These are unlicensed fakes, not repros. I know that's nit-picking, but repros do not try to mimic the original in a way that makes them indistinguishable from the original. A repro clearly states that it is a reproduction. If it does not, it's a fake copy. Glad you like them anyway, but 200 bucks for unlicensed copies of six games that are neither very good nor expensive. Well...

Edited December 20, 2021 by derSammler

[+swlovinist]

3 hours ago, derSammler said:

These are unlicensed fakes, not repros. I know that's nit-picking, but repros do not try to mimic the original in a way that makes them indistinguishable from the original. A repro clearly states that it is a reproduction. If it does not, it's a fake copy. Glad you like them anyway, but 200 bucks for unlicensed copies of six games that are neither very good nor expensive. Well...

Yeah, I have to agree with this.   There are policies in place at nearly every retro game convention now that would disallow this type of product in the states.  I do not like that someone might get duped into thinking this is a legit product.   

[Wing_Commander]

3 hours ago, derSammler said:

These are unlicensed fakes, not repros. I know that's nit-picking, but repros do not try to mimic the original in a way that makes them indistinguishable from the original. A repro clearly states that it is a reproduction. If it does not, it's a fake copy. Glad you like them anyway, but 200 bucks for unlicensed copies of six games that are neither very good nor expensive. Well...

All repos and ISO DLS ect are boot leg copies, there literally is no legal difference. These are reproductions as are any other... However, I agree that they should be tagged as such for transparency as others out there are. We had this this chat on Panasonic 3DO's facebook page I linked to.. Now in regards to paying 200 bucks, I didn't really buy these to have them, that wasn't the primary motivation.  Nobody was sure exactly what these were and a guy from Brazil contacted me and said he had some of these he purchased from a local shop in his area and offered to sell me 2 of them. I accepted to just to see what exactly these are and to see if they were even a real existent thing vs a hoax etc. 200 bucks is largely due to shipping, I did not pay 200 for the games themselves.  Yes I am happy that I got an actual product and that they turned out to be pretty impressive.., so I don't really care that I have come to conclude that they are bootleg reproductions and not licensed products. I don't mind that they look very close to the real deal, some people want the nestalgia of having a long box collection without having to pay 90-300 per title. Yep, to just get the CIB's in just "Good" condition would cost people more on Ebay than I would have spent if I had bought 2 of each of these. Strahl Factory sealed? Yeah, that in itself is 200+ on Ebay. A lot of people are now looking to reproductions because of the price inflated robbery in the retromarket.    I will however get some Repo stickers that will look nice for these boxes in order to tag them as such myself even though I won't ever sell these since I don't sell or give out bootleg software. These reproductions are literally the only repos I have, and I didn't need to buy them as I have Factory sealed copies of all 6 of these. Thus they remain only as interest pieces in my collection. 

[Wing_Commander]

33 minutes ago, swlovinist said:

Yeah, I have to agree with this.   There are policies in place at nearly every retro game convention now that would disallow this type of product in the states.  I do not like that someone might get duped into thinking this is a legit product.   

I think we can all agree on that.   To be fair, the contact at 3DOi did say they are reproductions rather than licensed.. I did note to them of this issue... Apparrently they thought "3DOi" was good enough to mark them as such. Unmmm NO!

[+jeremiahjt]

Unless I am missing something, the boxes, manuals, and discs all say 3DOi. I think that is plenty to distinguish these as not original copies.

[Wing_Commander]

3 hours ago, jeremiahjt said:

Unless I am missing something, the boxes, manuals, and discs all say 3DOi. I think that is plenty to distinguish these as not original copies.

The manuals have a 3DOi watermark on each page in the bottom corners as well. I have come to find out that they also seem to be planning to release the entire North American Set with Box 3 comming in Feburary. So although these aren't the best games on 3DO, it is note worthy that those that are will get released.  Further more, here is a screen shot of my conversation on this matter:

 

Edited December 25, 2021 by Wing_Commander
Added a screen shot

[jhd]

On 12/20/2021 at 1:54 PM, Wing_Commander said:

I will however get some Repo stickers that will look nice for these boxes in order to tag them as such myself even though I won't ever sell these since I don't sell or give out bootleg software. 

 

I suspect that the concern here is that you may someday die, and whomever is disposing of your estate may not be able to distinguish reproductions from originals (or, for that matter, not care). 

 

My Grandfather had many "treasures" that he would never part with. After he died, however, much was sold or donated as his house was cleared. 

[profholt82]

They clearly say 3doi all over them, even on the discs. Not sure why you would need additional stickers to denote that they're reproductions. Or why guys here are giving you such a hard time about it.

 

That said, they're not something I'd be interested in, and to be frank, I'm not sure why they'd even bother manufacturing these in the first place. It's not like there are tons of 3do collectors out there to market them to, and it's not like the prices of originals are exorbitant or anything. But regardless, the whole ethics lecture in this thread seems a bit much considering that the company marked 3doi in multiple places throughout each game. 

[Wing_Commander]

On 1/21/2022 at 10:55 AM, jhd said:

 

I suspect that the concern here is that you may someday die, and whomever is disposing of your estate may not be able to distinguish reproductions from originals (or, for that matter, not care). 

 

My Grandfather had many "treasures" that he would never part with. After he died, however, much was sold or donated as his house was cleared. 

Well, then they discover it along the way. Once I am dead, it isn't my problem anymore. Best I can do is sticker them myself. Regardless, I only got these to see what they were all about etc as noted above... Repos are really not generally my thing. So far they make as shelf art

[sirlynxalot]

It's cool that someone went to the lengths of making these to this level of detail, but I wonder why they picked these particular games?  They have no particular commonalities such as being in the same genre or by the same company, and I don't think many of them are on anyone's must play list or list of the rarest 3do games...  Legalities and ethics aside, it would be cool to see re-made longboxes for some of the rarer titles like crash n burn. I love that box art.

 

Also kinda unusual that the person doing these longboxes is in Europe, since you'd assume their 3do collection would be Europe-release focused and as I understand it, PAL games were released in thick jewel cases rather than the USA cardboard longboxes.

 

[Wing_Commander]

On 2/1/2022 at 2:34 PM, sirlynxalot said:

It's cool that someone went to the lengths of making these to this level of detail, but I wonder why they picked these particular games?  They have no particular commonalities such as being in the same genre or by the same company, and I don't think many of them are on anyone's must play list or list of the rarest 3do games...  Legalities and ethics aside, it would be cool to see re-made longboxes for some of the rarer titles like crash n burn. I love that box art.

 

Also kinda unusual that the person doing these longboxes is in Europe, since you'd assume their 3do collection would be Europe-release focused and as I understand it, PAL games were released in thick jewel cases rather than the USA cardboard longboxes.

 

from what I understand is that they plan to do the entire North American Set.. As for the rest, I donno.... Perhaps they don't like the PAL games and rather prefer the LongBoxes? I know few people in the UK that prefer the longboxes over the PAL games and see them as worth more or as more collectable. Though you would think that they would begin a box set at "A" .. Who knows what their reasoning is behind the games they pick for each box set, but my conversation with them leads me to believe they will be doing the entire North American set.