Some of the stuff now being sold ...?

[DracIsBack]

I must confess - I love it when games that Atari completed but never released get formally brought to market. I've been digging playing MIDI MAZE on the XE, COMMANDO on the XE, KLAX on the 7800 and also paid out my cash to play TOWERS II, IRON SOLDER II, SKYHAMMER and others on the Jaguar.

 

One thing that I have noticed lately though is that some groups and people are trying to get top dollar for strange stuff. Not games that were complete but never released, but rather stuff that IMO, only has any interests for the most hardcore collectors.

 

Lately, there's been a lot ... you know what I mean:

 

* Here's a 20% complete game that crashes on every level. Yours for $30.

 

* Here's some video from an unplayable game! Only $49!

 

* We found a harddrive originally from Atari with a bunch of stuff! We've back it onto a CD and now you too can have old word processing documents for the bargain price of $20!

 

To be, this is silly and getting a little out of hand.

 

But that's just me!

[K3V]

I don't think it's much different than the 2600 hacks that get released and sold. Some people will find them interesting enough to spend the cash on and others won't think it's worth it.

[+davidcalgary29]

I think it's important that this software is made available; the average user will at least benefit from having the choice to purchase a product that they'd never get to see otherwise.

 

Most unreleased games are being circulated amongst a close-knit group of collectors who will not share their games with anyone else; you know that quite a few people have had TC, Sphear, BHH, and SoulStar (among others) for years. I don't particularly want to collect Jag protos, and certainly don't begrudge collectors their genuine lab loaners or flash carts, but it would just be nice, for once, to actually get to sample the damn games.

[hobbsc]

I think it's important that this software is made available; the average user will at least benefit from having the choice to purchase a product that they'd never get to see otherwise.  

 

Most unreleased games are being circulated amongst a close-knit group of collectors who will not share their games with anyone else; you know that quite a few people have had TC,  Sphear, BHH, and SoulStar (among others) for years. I don't particularly want to collect Jag protos, and certainly don't begrudge collectors their genuine lab loaners or flash carts, but it would just be nice, for once, to actually get to sample the damn games.  

 

AMEN! Preach it brother!

[Gunstar]

Amen here too. I have a flashcart that I originally payed big bucks for and it came with PhaseZero on it, but I was glad when PhaseZero rom image was released because I could then use my flashcart for other things and not worry about losing my PhaseZero game forever. Of course I've since bought the production cart of PZ off of Songbird, so I don't have to bother even loading it up on the flashcart, plus, this way it's officially a game in my collection and not just a rom image on a flashcart, there is a difference, to me anyway.

[jaysmith2000]

As most of you know I'm very big in getting Jag products out to everyone. However, there are "legalities" involved that some people choose to ignore, but I cannot. I really don't want to get sued because I sold a product without the rights.

 

One of the reasons I have decided to sell Robinson's Requiem is in the hopes that this individual can do a better job than I could in securing the rights and releasing the game.

 

Hopefully other games will see the light of day for all of us to enjoy, but again, it should be done in the "right" way.

[Mendon]

As most of you know I'm very big in getting Jag products out to everyone.  However, there are "legalities" involved that some people choose to ignore, but I cannot.  I really don't want to get sued because I sold a product without the rights.  

 

One of the reasons I have decided to sell Robinson's Requiem is in the hopes that this individual can do a better job than I could in securing the rights and releasing the game.  

 

Hopefully other games will see the light of day for all of us to enjoy, but again, it should be done in the "right" way.

 

I understand your position, Jaysmith, and agree with the decision you made because its what you believe in.

 

I sincerely wish that "common sense" would be used in a lot of these cases, though. How nice it would have been if the owner of the rights to RR would have said "Well, we're never going to do anything with it, we don't really care about it, so go ahead and make it available". Or if something like what happened with Battlesphere would have been offered to you, like you might have been told "Go ahead and make some copies of it but all profits, if you sell it, MUST go to charity".

 

I'm sure some of these rights owners may have legitmate reasons for not wanting something released; look at what Activision and the new Atari have done with their recent compliation packages. But in the case of RR (or Soul Star or Total Carnage, etc) if the rights holders have no intention of ever releasing and/or making profit from a title, why not let others at least enjoy it? Why let the artistic effort that went into creating it waste away to nothing?

 

Maybe its just me but if I created something (a book or a song or a video game) and it was long out of print and no publishing company would release it again because there was no profit/interest in it, I'd give the thing away if asked. I would much rather have 1 or 2 people be able to actually read/listen/play my work rather than it be lost and forgotten.

 

But then maybe the thought that there might be a penny of profit to be made somewhere in the future drives some people mad.

 

Mendon

[Stone]

But then maybe the thought that there might be a penny of profit to be made somewhere in the future drives some people mad.

 

It's a good point, and it certainly seems to me that a lot of collectors in Jay's position have ended up making similar decisions purely on the basis of 'their hand being forced' by the fact that other people think in this way and couldn't be relied upon to 'have some common sense'.

 

Personally I think a lot of it's complete madness. But some of it is really unavoidable...with the bigger companies (example: Total Carnage is owned by Midway) they often hold onto their IP with complete fanaticism which completely transcends all reason. And if these companies are the kind that hire people specifically to chase up IP infringements (which many are reported to do; best example being Nintendo) then you end up with an increasingly unattractive prospect for anyone trying to release stuff.

 

I'd be the first to agree it's ridiculous, but what can you do? At the end of the day it's up to the individual retailers if they want to shoulder personal liability if things go sour, and there aren't too many willing to do so.

 

Stone

[Paolo]

Just watch what happens in the ST scene, where even a big one like Steinberg release its Cubase in the public domain (lite).

And a lot of shareware games are put in the PD as well (just think about Munsie).

 

Ah, well...