24 thousand dollar question

[wrldstrman]

Ok heres my question to everyone it may have been discussed before but here it goes. reproduction like real sports basketball or bugs bunny couldnt they really be classified as small quanity first runs.the games were only ever avaliable in proto types which means they were never actually avaliable to the consumer market. a reproduction to me would be if someone started remaking waterworld and started selling them. kind of like marx rockem sockem robots they were made in 1966 and sold into the mid 70s then year before last they made reproduction sets that are on sale today. hence forth wouldnt any of the games that only exist in protypes that get put out in limited quanties be actually first runs of the game only diffrence that the first runs happened 20 years late.

[Room 34]

I would not try to force them into a classification that doesn't really apply to them... calling them "first run" seems to suggest that the run was actually produced by the original company, at the time when the game was ready for release. Taking something that was locked away in someone's closet for two decades and producing it independently is something unique that deserves its own designation.

[Xot]

I would not try to force them into a classification that doesn't really apply to them... calling them "first run" seems to suggest that the run was actually produced by the original company, at the time when the game was ready for release.  Taking something that was locked away in someone's closet for two decades and producing it independently is something unique that deserves its own designation.

 

Agreed... which is why I also think that "reproductions" may not be the best term for them. There are already people who sell copies of rare games like Quadrun... and certainly things like Snow White, the UA titles, 3D Rubik's Cube and RS Basketball shouldn't be classified the same way. Maybe a new term?

[JB]

I would not try to force them into a classification that doesn't really apply to them... calling them "first run" seems to suggest that the run was actually produced by the original company, at the time when the game was ready for release.  Taking something that was locked away in someone's closet for two decades and producing it independently is something unique that deserves its own designation.

 

Agreed... which is why I also think that "reproductions" may not be the best term for them. There are already people who sell copies of rare games like Quadrun... and certainly things like Snow White, the UA titles, 3D Rubik's Cube and RS Basketball shouldn't be classified the same way. Maybe a new term?

"Modern print run"?

[CPUWIZ]

But they are nothing but reproductions of prototype carts.

[Room 34]

Well, I think Xot has a valid point. They are reproductions, but they are reproductions of something that was never available in its original form, so it's not the same as a reproduction of a commercially-released title. It is the first and only "production" version available.

[Xot]

But they are nothing but reproductions of prototype carts.  

 

Not all of them... heck, not even MOST of them. Most of them have these beautiful box and label art, and then there's Revenge of the Apes, which actually had the code tweaked. That's a bit more than the reproduction.

 

And getting one of these from the AA store is a different product than if I said to you, "Hey CPUWIZ - can you throw RS Basketball on an EPROM for me and send me the cart??"

 

Modern Print Run is accurate, but... cumbersome.

[CPUWIZ]

And getting one of these from the AA store is a different product than if I said to you, "Hey CPUWIZ - can you throw RS Basketball on an EPROM for me and send me the cart??"

 

Modern Print Run is accurate, but... cumbersome.

 

Only if it came without labels etc.

 

I sort of agree but I don't, I definately agree with the tweaked or finished code thought.

[Xot]

Yeah, I mean, when I catalogue my collection, I don't make any special allowances for games like this. I just list the publisher as "Atari Age" or whomever. Of course since they're almost all still available, they'd get a rarity of 1.

 

BTW - what ever happened to Mr. Roboto in the AA store?

[wrldstrman]

actually I really didnt want to make it sound like I think they should be classified diffrently or have ratings.I just think it is awesome that the crew of atari age and others can give us the chance to get these games that were never avaliable to the public. kind of like combat 2 and holy moly I really enjoy those two games and if it werent for people like atari age and other members here we would of never got a chance to have the games to play in our homes. so any way you look at it I just want to say thanks to everyone who makes it possible for me to get copies of old games that never made it to the store shelves.

[Rob Mitchell]

Gosh .. The 64 thousand dollar question got cheaper!

 

Rob Mitchell, Atlanta, GA

[Room 34]

Actually, around here shouldn't it be the 26 HUNDRED dollar question?

 

*Room 34 ducks hurled rotten fruit and scampers away.*

[Keir]

The way I see it, if the code hasn't been changed, it's a repro.

If the code has been changed, it's a hack.

[sku_u]

They are reproductions of prototypes for the most part, therefore, they are repros.

 

Games where the original code has been significantly altered are hacks.

[Room 34]

I think the point wrldstrman is trying to make is that you can't really have a reproduction of something that never was in production in the first place.

 

I say we call them Modern Unofficial Release Prototypes.

 

MURP for short.