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Messages - pongstory

#1
Thanks for your details.

I'm definitely not trying to phish a buyer. As I said, that's only an option which isn't my preferred.

The overall opinion on those 185 games is that I would make some  money with the best titles, but would also need a lot of time to sell the rest.
If I could get up to $6500 quickly, I'd definitely opt for it (so no, the guy doesn't owe me $10K) and send the guy his game.

Too bad I didn't know about escrow, that would have probably been easier, but how much does this cost ? A lawyer isn't cheap in any case.
#2
I wish I could make a video and show the game in action, but I have no console right now and all emulators won't run correctly. Sprites don't appear under emulation, but the game works great on a friend's LT. If a video showing an incorrect emulation is ok for you to believe that I actually have this prototype even if I'm completely new to NEC stuff, then I'll be happy to try doing one for you.
#3
I'm not really trying to make some profit on it. At least that's not the goal.
My goal right now is to finish a deal or to find another solution, hence this thread.

Since you seem interested to know what really happened, here's the story:
This game was originally bought in Japan, but not by me (I never said that *I* bought it in Japan).
It was then put in auction in Paris where I live. When I saw this, I got some infos from the auction expert who I know well, and I bought it because my initial idea was to make a release (hence the post that you found). If you know the expert, then ask him yourself to verify.

Just for your info, I once found an unreleased Atari 2600 game: 3D Rubik's Cube. With AtariAge we did a very nice release in a deluxe box, etc. You can check that if you want (and I still have some numbered specimens for sale by the way).

So I wanted to do something similar.  After the purchase, I checked who made some HuCards but it happened to be too expensive at the time (a blank flash cost $49 back then). So I decided to keep it should a better solution exist.
If a cheaper solution did exist at this time, I didn't find it mainly because I didn't have my whole days as I'm raising a young family and run my own antiques shop.

And so I kept the DF prototype until someone contacted me about the auction where other interesting games were sold. Somewhere along the discussion I mentioned what I bought and the guy seemed very interested. We agreed on a price, and you know the rest of the story.

If you find yourself smart or funny by taking parts of texts here and there and then try to build nonsense stories, you're wasting your time and this is totaly useless, for not saying stupid.

As a reminder, the goal of this thread is to know whether I should accept a proposition to finish a deal.

If you really think I don't have the DF proto, that's your option, and it would be quite stupid I must say especially since some other people have seen it in person.

So let's try to do something constructive, right ? This leaves three options.

1) The lot of 185 games is definitely worth what the guy owes me and won't take more than several months to sell. If so, that's fine with me and I'll go for it.
2) The lot is not worth the money (and time). This leaves the last two options: either doing a nice release so that everybody interested can enjoy it, and I can at the same time refund the guy and get my investments back, or simply resell it to whoever will make a serious and acceptable offer, elthough I would much prefer doing a release without loosing money).

If that's not clear enough, well I don't know what else I can say.
It's your right to not believe me, but please stop sharing your mistakes. Thanks.
#4
Quote from: julencin2000 on 06/01/2015, 03:13 PM
Quote from: pongstory on 05/31/2015, 01:32 PMI sold an unreleased PCE prototype.
Quote from: pongstory on 05/31/2015, 01:32 PMI'm not familiar with PCE games
...
And so what ? That's just IT. I don't even have a PCE or similar console. Not even one console running CDs. What's the problem with buying something you don't collect as far as it makes an interesting trade item ?

I haven't even decided to sell it for a second time in order to cancel the initial deal. That's just an idea, not even a way to ask for some offers. If I ever decide to sell it, I will open a new thread.
#5
I have never attempted to distribute anything nor did I share any of my ROM images (I indeed have several other prototypes for other platforms such as Atatri 2600 and Odyssey 2, but not for later systems).
Yes indeed it's me with Ralph Baer on the welcome page of my site. If you click the link just under the picture you'll see the original photo.

If I happen to sell Dino Force to somebody (wherever) I would obviously guarantee that I did not share the rom and that I would keep my single rom image until the buyer physically receives the game, after what I would destroy it. This was also part of the initial sale. However I cannot tell you if any other prototype exists. My prototype was initially purchased in Japan. I really doubt it's a bootleg of some sort, otherwise at least one other copy would have surfaced somewhere.
#6
The prices in the list are on a per copy basis as the guy estimated the total price at $10K or so, supposing everything sells at what he thinks it's worth. What I don't know is how long this would take and I honestly have no serious time to involve in this.

Another approach is that I propose Dino Force here for sale on an offer basis (I won't disclose any price). Maybe that would be an easier option to refund the guy and see a nice release happen (in which case I'd ask for the first specimen, hopefully numbered).

Just thinking of a way to sort this out.....
#7
No, there is no release planned. It's only an idea IF (and only IF) I need to cancel the sale, and IF this can be done without drying the bank up.

My two options are:
1) I take the 185 NOS (sealed) games and sell them in a reasonable amount of time to pay for the balance owed, no matter if I get more than what is owed.
2) I find a way to refund the guy and decide to release the game ONLY IF this can at least pay for the initial investment AND production costs. Here, the problem is to know how many specimens should be made, for how much they should be sold, and what I would get out of this production.

Before talking about the release, what should I do with these 185 NOS games ?
Are they way over-estimated ?
Thanks again for your help.
#8
Thanks for you replies.
I indeed have this Dino Force prototype.
What I forgot to say is that the guy was supposed to pay for the price, and stopped paying without prior notice. That's why I didn't keep the money in a safe way. Anyhow.

The list of games proposed is here:
http://www.pong-story.com/temp/nec.txt

I do not have these games. The prices are what the guy considers they are worth, which I doubt after checking some ebay sales.

There are two questions now.
1) What, in the worst case, would I get from all these games, especially from those which would sell faster, and then once all the rest is sold ?
2) If it's really not worth selling these games, how much would a HuCard release of Dino Force cost, including a nice label / case to make real collector ? How many should I make and what would be the typical resale price ? If this can pay for my investment, I'll then propose the guy to refund him little by little in order to compensate the income from the release. But that's just a blur idea. I'll check the new hucard you're talking about and see how this looks like.

Thanks for your hints. I hope I can solve my problem soon, whichever option is best.
And yes, I would love to see a release of this game to share it, but only if it can cover my initial investment (which I prefer not to disclose so far).
#9
To make it short: we agreed a price. The guy paid 75% of it through several months and then stopped.
The prototype is Dino Fore.
The other option that I considered was to make a limited release, but I don't know how and I would need to refund him, which is not possible.
Making a Hu-Card version would be too expensive as far as I know.
Making a CD would hardly be feasible as I won't share the ROM (I have an MSc in software design and have good notions of assembly coding), and as the ROM is 4 megabit (4 x 128 kilobytes) which is larger than a section on a CD where it can be put (as far as I know).

Anyhow, the questions are:
- Can I post the list of games here ?
- If so, should I include the prices that the guy considered to be fair, or should I simply ask for someone to give me a rough idea of what this stuff is worth ?

Thanks !
#10
Hello,

I'm new to this forum and therefore do not know if this post is at the right place. If not, I hope the admins can move it to the right place.

I run the Pong-Story site about early videogames but had some trouble with somebody to who I sold an unreleased PCE prototype. We agreed the price and the buyer sent monthly payments until he stopped paying (he owes me 25% of the agreed price which I will keep confidential).

In order to finish the deal, he's proposing 185 NOS PCE games which I'm free to sell even if I get more than what he owes me. As I'm not familiar with PCE games I wanted your opinions. But before all, and in order to respect the forum rules, should I post the list here ? If so, should I put the prices that he estimates, or should I rather ask your opinion on how much the lot is worth to compare with what he owes me, and whether it's a reasonable deal or if this would take too much time ?

Thanks for your help !