That Tobias f--k went after Xak III and SO II as pressed CD-ROM releases!

[ToyMachine78]

Y'all stop fighting and praise the goddamned sun already.

Hail Satan! >

[DeshDildo]

Y'all stop fighting and praise the goddamned sun already.

No!  (Chants)  The night time is the right time.  The night time is the right time.  The night time is the right time.

[Sadler]

Yeah, fuck the sun! I fucking hate it too.

[VenomMacbeth]

Dude its sarcasm. Relax. This isn't the first time this bitch fest has raised its head.

Ain't nobody unrelaxed. I was just busting your chops.

And I understand, I've heard of this Tobias character before, but his antics before seemed more detrimental to collectards and, potentially, the IP holders.  The fact that he is screwing over the fans themselves this time around definitely shows that he's clearly not doing this "for the love of it."

[bartre]

Y'all stop fighting and praise the goddamned sun already.

[HailingTheThings]

Y'all stop fighting and praise the goddamned sun already.

Hail Satan! >

Yes, my son, what is it?

[BigusSchmuck]

Wow, what a monster of a thread. I'm sorry this happened, but really it was only a matter of time before some schmuck saw a opportunity to make some cash off of someone elses work. Free pressed discs of Xak 3 and SO2 are tempting, but I feel it would only be enabling the guy to continue this shady business. I'll definitely pass.

[SignOfZeta]

This sort of shit has passed the point where I can keep track of it all. I don't remember who Tobias is. Is he the asshole that made the RGB upscaler site funded by massively overpriced pirate copies of Sapphire, the Megaman port, etc? If so, fuck that asshole.

[esteban]

This sort of shit has passed the point where I can keep track of it all. I don't remember who Tobias is. Is he the asshole that made the RGB upscaler site funded by massively overpriced pirate copies of Sapphire, the Megaman port, etc? If so, fuck that asshole.

Yes.

Space Fantasy Zone, Memories Box Set, Gilded Coin, etc.

[SignOfZeta]

Fuck that guy.

EDIT: €109 for three pirate games!? WTF? That's basically the original retail cost, possibly more depending on how you calculate it. This guy didn't make or translate the games, just pirated them, and wants the same price, with much higher margin since there are no taxes, distributor margins, store margins, etc.

When Rayforce was still in business they answered my dumb gaijin non-kanji-reading-ass questions, over the phone, to get me unstuck in SOII. Will this asshole do the same?

What shocks me is...where do you get a wheelbarrow large enough to carry balls that big? There is a line there that refers to "most requested titles", like they were the next Working Designs or some shit. Requested by whom?

"For the love of it", and also a profit margin 16x bigger than any legit content creator could ever dream of seeing. What a cock.

[xcrement5x]

This sort of shit has passed the point where I can keep track of it all. I don't remember who Tobias is. Is he the asshole that made the RGB upscaler site funded by massively overpriced pirate copies of Sapphire, the Megaman port, etc? If so, fuck that asshole.

Yes.

Space Fantasy Zone, Memories Box Set, Gilded Coin, etc. 

Lol, for some reason "Tobias of the Gilded Coin" seems like a fitting moniker.

[Arkhan Asylum]

Fuck that guy.

EDIT: €109 for three pirate games!? WTF? That's basically the original retail cost, possibly more depending on how you calculate it. This guy didn't make or translate the games, just pirated them, and wants the same price, with much higher margin since there are no taxes, distributor margins, store margins, etc.

When Rayforce was still in business they answered my dumb gaijin non-kanji-reading-ass questions, over the phone, to get me unstuck in SOII. Will this asshole do the same?

What shocks me is...where do you get a wheelbarrow large enough to carry balls that big? There is a line there that refers to "most requested titles", like they were the next Working Designs or some shit. Requested by whom?

"For the love of it", and also a profit margin 16x bigger than any legit content creator could ever dream of seeing. What a cock.

Speaking of wheelbarrows to hold balls.

You don't need one.  You just need the mouths of all the retards that gave this guy money for stuff.

[NightWolve]

When Rayforce was still in business they answered my dumb gaijin non-kanji-reading-ass questions, over the phone, to get me unstuck in SOII. Will this asshole do the same?

Huh, no kidding. Nice history tidbit.

€109 for three pirate games!? WTF? That's basically the original retail cost, possibly more depending on how you calculate it. This guy didn't make or translate the games, just pirated them, and wants the same price, with much higher margin since there are no taxes, distributor margins, store margins, etc.

Agreed, he's apart of what creates a zero tolerance sentiment in a % of people because there's no sense of a reasonable mark-up, it's total price jacking/exploiting, and yet, not a single work hour spent in development of the game, or localizing to English, plus he escaped/evaded license fees to the producers, and also to NEC (since the platform is a closed model like most game consoles, you're supposed to technically talk business with the console manufacturer just for the privilege to produce software for it - Microsoft Windows is an open-model, I/anyone can produce Windows software and not have to buy a license from Microsoft each and every time). The rates he's charging, it's like he did pay $5k-$10k in license fees! Even before that, his first choice in Sapphire was all about exploiting the eBay madness as that was one of the first games selling in the hundreds.

[SamIAm]

Yeah, NightWolve, I think his offer to you is all about preventing a wave of bad press, not about honest goodwill. I suggest that you don't give him any legitimacy.

[NightWolve]

Haven't even replied back - needed a break from the drama anyway. :/ I'm not sure what to do.

[esteban]

Haven't even replied back - needed a break from the drama anyway. :/ I'm not sure what to do.

Don't be tempted by Natas, Jazeta!

You know better than to trust him.

[PCEngineHell]

Haven't even replied back - needed a break from the drama anyway. :/ I'm not sure what to do.

Its pretty simple to be honest. If you value your pride you will turn him down. He is trying to pay you off to get you to stfu. You take cash from him, you're his bitch. He owns you basically while only making you think he gave in to you in some manner. Whatever money he gives you, it wont represent any fare share you'd feel due, nor will it represent actual total sales. And to be honest, I hate to say this, but you're not due any of it anyway. Its all illegal profits from bootlegging. Yeah, you did the translation work sure. But you did this originally knowing full well this wasn't for monetary gain, because it was never going to be used by the original IP holders for any kind of re-release.

You need to chalk it up to lessons learned. As stated prior, you can hit up youtube and post around the net and just let people know of the situation. He used your fan translation for his illegal business. He did not ask for your permission. You are not associated with said business. You are a legit not for profit type when it comes to this fan translation stuff. People are going to learn Tobias is a scum bucket eventually, and you'd do yourself infinite amounts of favors by just not taking his cash and distancing yourself from his profiteering machine.

There is always this too. If the shit by chance did hit the fan, even a super slim chance, you'd be brought down with him too as an accomplice if you did work out an agreement and start taking cash. I'm sure he would keep records of any agreement you'd come to and just rat you out as leverage for a plea if things got bad.  Honestly I cant imagine that a few hundred bucks to a couple grand at the most would be worth the consequences. Granted they don't go after software copyright infringement as much as they used to here in the US. But the few they do go after they throw the book at anymore and issue out prison terms and fines. These days ICE and HSI gets involved in this stuff, especially when money is exchanging hands, even more so if it involves over seas activity.

[synbiosfan]

I know it's a big if that Tobias would actually face litigation but if he did, accepting money would probably make you a target too you'd think.

I hate that you're in this position.

[SamIAm]

Listen to the Professor, NightWolve.

Don't forget, fan translators distribute patches that are in theory to be applied to legally made backups. Sure, there's a taciturn acknowledgement that that's not how it works in reality, and patches themselves are perhaps not at the very whitest part of the legal-ethical spectrum. However, the fan translation scene is functionally legit and legally unchallenged. So you can take the high road here in more ways than one.

[elmer]

I haven't been here long enough for you to know me, but ...

Please take the Professor's advice! You'll regret it later if you don't ... not because you or he will probably get sued ... that's fairly unlikely. But because you'll know that you've compromised yourself for a few bucks and got in bed with known criminal that you hate. That won't wash away.

You know that he's doing this as a money-making enterprise ... there are no if's/but's/or any other rationalization that you can tell yourself about it being for the love of the original games or the platform.

It's out-and-out theft.

I suspect that you won't be happy waking up knowing that you've been a part of that.

You'd certainly never, ever, ever be able to take the high moral ground again if someone steals your IP.

[Emerald Rocker]

But because you'll know that you've compromised yourself for a few bucks and got in bed with known criminal that you hate

I've heard that Tobias is lousy in bed.  According to internet legend, he gouges people with high-priced bootlegs to pay for his "supplements".

[Nazi NecroPhile]

Haven't even replied back - needed a break from the drama anyway. :/ I'm not sure what to do.

I'd tell him to pound salt.  Whatever meager sloppy seconds he's offering isn't worth it, and he could use your donate button if he really wanted to show appreciation for the patches anyway.  Even if he did offer the lion's share of the profits, that'd just make you the gouger by proxy, and who'd want that?

[xcrement5x]

I agree with others about turning down the payment. 

Maybe asking him to just put a notice about origin of the translation patch in/on case?  Maybe something as small as a sticker that says "Based on Xak III Fan Translation by NightWolve" would not be that hard to do I would think. 

[dingsbums]

You guys are aware that he is a member here  : and it's likely that he also reads this thread. So a open discussion how NightWolve should handle this situation is in my opinion not the smartest move - just sayin'  .

[Nazi NecroPhile]

What difference does it make that Tobias is a member?  I don't have a problem telling him to his face (so to speak) that his prices generally suck, that he's a liar, and that stealing work from active peeps is absolute shit.

[dingsbums]

That was not what I meant.
It's not the smartest idea to let the enemy know your steps in advance.

[PCEngineHell]

Fuck him. He can rot. Don't care what he knows or doesn't know. I doubt he'd let a little thing like this forum stand in the way of his funding the purchase of multiple rgb encoders so he can upscale all his gay porn anyway. Whats the worst he can do to us? Nothing. Nothing at all.

[cr8zykuban0]

sorry im late to the party

I think its better to post something like this up so the community can be aware of tobias' s shady actions thats hes been doing. sarumaru told me about this and I thought that was fucked up of him to do what he did. profiting off someone eles work to make a quick buck. what a shady ass bitch!

[SkyeWelse]

The more I think on this I agree with the points that Professor brought up as well. After you mentioned that he is charging so much money for producing these, it became pretty apparent that he is not interested in selling these at slightly over cost giving you a fair deal. But let's say that even if he was being fair to you in your cut of each print/sale, you risk your name as being an accomplice should anything go down about his operation being illegal to the IP holders. There's just no good way to go about this unless say the print/cd pressing house you decided to do business with was only selling fan-developed manuals and fan-developed pressed discs that could still be written to in a CD-Rom burning software program, as then you would not be selling illegal bootlegs of software.

In any case I retract any statements that I may have made previously about it being something to even consider, especially in light of what he has been known to be doing in the past as far as illegal operations go and other games that he is selling pressed discs of, and the sheer amount of money that he is charging for some of these games. Also as one poster pointed out, how come there is a such a vast price difference between certain games if the process for printing and pressing the disc is the same?

-Thomas

[Joe Redifer]

Make up your own mind, Nightwolve. Don't let these guys make up your mind for you. Keep in mind what kind of community this is. If you want to make a little bit of money then that's 100% up to you. Granted it probably won't be a lot of money. And you're under no obligation to let anyone know what decision you make. To me a patch like an English translation is something that should be bought for a flat fee. That is unless that translation was made with the purpose of selling, then I'd recommend a % of each sale. I've noticed that you tend to have lots of problems with people not paying you or giving you your due. Are you burning any bridges that we're not aware of and that makes people distance themselves from you? I don't mean to imply anything, but it often seems like you're extremely upset at the world. Personally I think it'd be great if you guys could work something out as I'd love to see a pressed Ys 4 disc. Tobias does his repros pretty well and I wouldn't want to see a gimpy-looking repro in a card-stock sleeve with no manual. But if you can do a good job yourself then that'd be great as well. Not sure how much luck you'd have trying to press copyrighted CDs in the US, though.

[PCEngineHell]

Don't listen to Joe. He could never beat Samurai Shodown II. He once raged about it being too hard on this very forum. You can never take seriously the word of a man who was never manly enough to beat SS II. Here remains some proof of Joe not being of sound mind. Behold this sad wretch of a man and his pitiful girly complaints about the god of fighting games.

http://www.the-magicbox.com/forums/showpost.php?s=7fd7889f3a591fae6e690ddf840d6d0e&p=426456&postcount=1269

[VenomMacbeth]

You can never take seriously the word of a man who was never manly enough to beat SS II.

Or, uhuh, Sonic the Hedgehog?

[Raizen1984]

Don't listen to Joe. He could never beat Samurai Shodown II. He once raged about it being too hard on this very forum. You can never take seriously the word of a man who was never manly enough to beat SS II. Here remains some proof of Joe not being of sound mind. Behold this sad wretch of a man and his pitiful girly complaints about the god of fighting games.

http://www.the-magicbox.com/forums/showpost.php?s=7fd7889f3a591fae6e690ddf840d6d0e&p=426456&postcount=1269

Was that review intended as a joke?

[SignOfZeta]

That brings up an interesting point. Since we know this guy is really just a crook I never really considered the economic breakdown of the price structure.

If his version of Startling Odessey II is worth $60...and the original game is only worth $10, and his bare-bones version is even cheaper than that, then that means the translation and whatever gilded bullshit adds at least $50 per copy to the game. The translators made this whole project possible, unfortunately.

Tobias would probably love to pay somebody somewhere something because as it is his costs are extremely small and margins super huge. He's transparently corrupt to anyone who isn't an idiot. He would love to "cover costs" so he could have some explanation for this carpet bagging bullshit price tag.

I really think it's a very very bad idea to take any money from this jerk. Furthermore, it's evidently time to do what anime fansubbers started doing in the early 90s when they realized con slugs were selling 10th gen copies of their efforts for $20 per tape: hardcode a message in the intro or title screen that says "This translation was a non-profit effort by fans. If you payed anything for it you were ripped off. To learn more email gundambob@compuserve.com". Something like that. Most of the time the pirates are way too stupid and helpless to remove the message. If you thread it deeply enough into the game there is no way he'll be able to figure the shit out.

The more I think on this I agree with the points that Professor brought up as well. After you mentioned that he is charging so much money for producing these, it became pretty apparent that he is not interested in selling these at slightly over cost giving you a fair deal. But let's say that even if he was being fair to you in your cut of each print/sale, you risk your name as being an accomplice should anything go down about his operation being illegal to the IP holders. There's just no good way to go about this unless say the print/cd pressing house you decided to do business with was only selling fan-developed manuals and fan-developed pressed discs that could still be written to in a CD-Rom burning software program, as then you would not be selling illegal bootlegs of software.

In any case I retract any statements that I may have made previously about it being something to even consider, especially in light of what he has been known to be doing in the past as far as illegal operations go and other games that he is selling pressed discs of, and the sheer amount of money that he is charging for some of these games. Also as one poster pointed out, how come there is a such a vast price difference between certain games if the process for printing and pressing the disc is the same?

-Thomas

[Joe Redifer]

The thing is that the repro scene is FULL of this shit. This isn't the first time someone's translation was taken and sold without consent and you can damn well bet it won't be the last. Any of you who have ever been to any kind of game convention knows this. I'm not justifying it, I'm just saying that this guy isn't the only problem here.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I don't see a warning message doing anything, as everyone that buys these things knows exactly what they're getting and its history.  It'd be like the annoying FBI and Interpol messages on DVDs.

[Medic_wheat]

The thing is that the repro scene is FULL of this shit. This isn't the first time someone's translation was taken and sold without consent and you can damn well bet it won't be the last. Any of you who have ever been to any kind of game convention knows this. I'm not justifying it, I'm just saying that this guy isn't the only problem here.

It is one of those situations where. Honestly?

Someone is always going to try and capitalize on readidly available free shit


Do you think all of those people who spent time ripping roms from video games and arcades are pissed that someone goes out and makes cartd that allow you to play entire back log of games on old systems?

Or that Retron5 used coding from various people like you to run their clone system.

Yes people made a shint but you don't see the Retron5 decreasing in sales or availability.

You need to make your own choice. Even if that choice is to do nothing other then voice your concerns or displeasure.

You are under no obligation to tell anyone if you should accept rembursment for your work or what have you.


But to me. Making it known that your work was used without prior notification or consent to the person making the money was a good move. Maybe better if it was worded more professionally instead of with such heated emotion.

The pro they guy contacted you and is willing to come to some form of terms because you made yourself known


All that is left is to decide if you accept counter with your own terms or say no.


Say what you will but a good faith effort was made on the part of this Tobias guy. Sure it is to save face but at lest the effort was made.


For all he knew he was unable to find the people involved in this patch so he went on his marry way. Played the dumb card until it was point out other wise.

[esteban]

The thing is that the repro scene is FULL of this shit. This isn't the first time someone's translation was taken and sold without consent and you can damn well bet it won't be the last. Any of you who have ever been to any kind of game convention knows this. I'm not justifying it, I'm just saying that this guy isn't the only problem here.

It is one of those situations where. Honestly?

Someone is always going to try and capitalize on readidly available free shit


Do you think all of those people who spent time ripping roms from video games and arcades are pissed that someone goes out and makes cartd that allow you to play entire back log of games on old systems?

Or that Retron5 used coding from various people like you to run their clone system.

Yes people made a shint but you don't see the Retron5 decreasing in sales or availability.

You need to make your own choice. Even if that choice is to do nothing other then voice your concerns or displeasure.

You are under no obligation to tell anyone if you should accept rembursment for your work or what have you.


But to me. Making it known that your work was used without prior notification or consent to the person making the money was a good move. Maybe better if it was worded more professionally instead of with such heated emotion.

The pro they guy contacted you and is willing to come to some form of terms because you made yourself known


All that is left is to decide if you accept counter with your own terms or say no.


Say what you will but a good faith effort was made on the part of this Tobias guy. Sure it is to save face but at lest the effort was made.


For all he knew he was unable to find the people involved in this patch so he went on his marry way. Played the dumb card until it was point out other wise.

Please don't post unless you read this thread. Or the other threads related to this. Thank you.

[geise]

The thing is that the repro scene is FULL of this shit. This isn't the first time someone's translation was taken and sold without consent and you can damn well bet it won't be the last. Any of you who have ever been to any kind of game convention knows this. I'm not justifying it, I'm just saying that this guy isn't the only problem here.

Why would you want Nightwolv to associate himself with a douchebag that will probably lie and give him pennies.  Once that money is taken Nightwolv has already associated himself.  Nightwolv I know the money can be tempting but he is going to short change you anyways and pocket most of it.  I will not judge if this is what you do, but I hope you tell him to just go be the main event at a donkey show.

[BigusSchmuck]

The thing is that the repro scene is FULL of this shit. This isn't the first time someone's translation was taken and sold without consent and you can damn well bet it won't be the last. Any of you who have ever been to any kind of game convention knows this. I'm not justifying it, I'm just saying that this guy isn't the only problem here.

Yeah look at the Dragon Quest 6 repro for one. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dragon-Quest-Warrior-VI-6-Game-Cartridge-SNES-Super-Nintendo-ENGLISH-Version-/291385767171?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43d7f1f503
I'm sure there are countless others but I'm sure the guys who created the english patch for it aren't amused.

[Joe Redifer]

First of all I don't think we should presume what decision Nightwolve should or should not make. That's 100% up to him and nobody else's bidness.

Secondly, it's easy to spew hatred for this kind of thing in the safety of an online forum. But do any of you and I mean ANY OF YOU go up to the countless dealers selling repros at game conventions and give them any sort of shit at all about selling stuff that doesn't belong to them? Do you ask them if they procured permission to use the particular English patch they're using? Why not? When I was at Retropalooza I was blown away by the sheer amount of repros for sale. It almost made wandering around the dealer floor less exciting so I generally just stayed put at my booth.

[SignOfZeta]

I don't see a warning message doing anything, as everyone that buys these things knows exactly what they're getting and its history.  It'd be like the annoying FBI and Interpol messages on DVDs.

I don't know who buys these things, honestly, I really don't. However I don't think every single person who buys them realizes that this is a game you can buy off YAJ for $1 and patch yourself for free, and that Tobias is taking freely available files that cost him nothing, applying a patch some hippie coder spent five years on, and then pocketing $0.95 of every dollar. I really don't think EVERYONE knows EXACTLY that, but then I have to admit I don't know WTF goes through the minds of these idiots.

And the FBI warning reference is completely off base. For starters, pirate copies of things usually have that warning removed. Only paying customers see that shit most of the time, which is why those warnings are counterproductive. (Additionally, threatening your customers with jail time is rarely a smart move). Also, ever since the DVD era those warnings have been mostly unskipable, which isn't something I'm talking about. I'm just suggesting that the title screen, which is probably going to be edited anyway, could have a statement like the one I described. Back in the days of VHS anime fansubs these techniques certainly did work. "If you paid money for this you got ripped off." is actually a pretty powerful message for a person who did in fact just go through that transaction. Some kid would buy the tape at a show for whatever price, sees the thing, and then learns he can get the shit for free or the price of a tape. Those comic convention bootleggers probably drove more people to the actual fansub scene than anyone.

The one thing that has no analog to the 90s fansub scene is the fact that people are making and paying real money for extra special deluxe editions of pirate material. I'm pretty sure that's a new thing.

[esteban]

First of all I don't think we should presume what decision Nightwolve should or should not make. That's 100% up to him and nobody else's bidness.

Secondly, it's easy to spew hatred for this kind of thing in the safety of an online forum. But do any of you and I mean ANY OF YOU go up to the countless dealers selling repros at game conventions and give them any sort of shit at all about selling stuff that doesn't belong to them? Do you ask them if they procured permission to use the particular English patch they're using? Why not? When I was at Retropalooza I was blown away by the sheer amount of repros for sale. It almost made wandering around the dealer floor less exciting so I generally just stayed put at my booth.

????

We have a small TG-16/PCE community (I like to think we have a lot of the "DIY ethic" that characterized punk movement, see anecdote in next post). Tobias is a known entity who has a history with us.

We already have 2+ other threads explaining how profiteering, from Tobias, has negatively affected the folks who actually create indie/homebrew/hack/dub/sub/translation/etc. projects.

Our specific situation with Tobias is just that—our specific situation with Tobias.

Thank you.

[esteban]

I don't see a warning message doing anything, as everyone that buys these things knows exactly what they're getting and its history.  It'd be like the annoying FBI and Interpol messages on DVDs.

I don't know who buys these things, honestly, I really don't. However I don't think every single person who buys them realizes that this is a game you can buy off YAJ for $1 and patch yourself for free, and that Tobias is taking freely available files that cost him nothing, applying a patch some hippie coder spent five years on, and then pocketing $0.95 of every dollar. I really don't think EVERYONE knows EXACTLY that, but then I have to admit I don't know WTF goes through the minds of these idiots.

And the FBI warning reference is completely off base. For starters, pirate copies of things usually have that warning removed. Only paying customers see that shit most of the time, which is why those warnings are counterproductive. (Additionally, threatening your customers with jail time is rarely a smart move). Also, ever since the DVD era those warnings have been mostly unskipable, which isn't something I'm talking about. I'm just suggesting that the title screen, which is probably going to be edited anyway, could have a statement like the one I described. Back in the days of VHS anime fansubs these techniques certainly did work. "If you paid money for this you got ripped off." is actually a pretty powerful message for a person who did in fact just go through that transaction. Some kid would buy the tape at a show for whatever price, sees the thing, and then learns he can get the shit for free or the price of a tape. Those comic convention bootleggers probably drove more people to the actual fansub scene than anyone.

The one thing that has no analog to the 90s fansub scene is the fact that people are making and paying real money for extra special deluxe editions of pirate material. I'm pretty sure that's a new thing.

I agree that a notice on the title screen is actually a good idea for actually *educating* folks.


Let me share a history lesson with everyone here:

Back in the day, lots of DIY punk bands wanted to get their music into as many hands as possible for a fair price. So they charged a fair price via mail order and trusted independent distributors. HOWEVER, lots of greedy bastards (record shops) sold the records at "regular" price, which allowed the record shop to make more profit from ignorant customers.

SO, the bands would put disclaimers on the actual record art "This EP IS AVAILABLE FOR $3.00 from" or "Pay no more than $3.00 for this EP"

This seemingly futile disclaimer actually worked for *some* customers. Many customers are ignorant and remain ignorant. Other customers don't care. But, I guarantee, at least a handful of customers *did care*, and *educated themselves* and stopped filling the pockets of the profiteers.

I was one of those ignorant customers.

Not for long, Thankfully.

Because of a stupid disclaimer.

I started buying records from honest folks instead of price-gougers.

[SamIAm]

Another option might be to make a disclaimer warning screen that says "don't buy this blah blah blah", but make it very easy to hack out....

...then have the game check to see if it's been hacked out halfway through a play, and freeze up if it is. If we're really diabolical, we could even have it jack up the difficulty, then delete the save file 3/4 through.

This is actually what Earthbound did to prevent people from using copiers BITD. That game is the most heavily protected I have ever seen. Even today, I fear playing it via any means other than a real cart.

[CrackTiger]

Another option might be to make a disclaimer warning screen that says "don't buy this blah blah blah", but make it very easy to hack out....

...then have the game check to see if it's been hacked out halfway through a play, and freeze up if it is. If we're really diabolical, we could even have it jack up the difficulty, then delete the save file 3/4 through.

This is actually what Earthbound did to prevent people from using copiers BITD. That game is the most heavily protected I have ever seen. Even today, I fear playing it via any means other than a real cart.

That would require collectards to take their extremely Limited Edition Collector's Sets off their shelves, being carefully not to drop the Limited Edition PC Engine coin, tear open their sealed TurboDuo and actually play through the games.

[SamIAm]

Even the worst collector isn't so stupid as to want a game that doesn't work. If word got out that this guy shipped hundreds of discs that can't actually be played, sales of that particular game would essentially stop, and his reputation would take a big hit.

[technozombie]

First of all I don't think we should presume what decision Nightwolve should or should not make. That's 100% up to him and nobody else's bidness.

Secondly, it's easy to spew hatred for this kind of thing in the safety of an online forum. But do any of you and I mean ANY OF YOU go up to the countless dealers selling repros at game conventions and give them any sort of shit at all about selling stuff that doesn't belong to them? Do you ask them if they procured permission to use the particular English patch they're using? Why not? When I was at Retropalooza I was blown away by the sheer amount of repros for sale. It almost made wandering around the dealer floor less exciting so I generally just stayed put at my booth.

I was also surprised by how prevalent the repros were at Retropalooza. Oddly enough there were no flash carts anywhere. It was really eye opening as to how this hobby has become more about showing off than playing games. If you were interested in playing games you'd get an everdrive, if you want to show off on Facebook and to your friends you buy a repro.

[Joe Redifer]

Man I LOVE stuff like the Everdrive. I really wish there were options for CD based systems that didn't require you to gut out or otherwise molest the system. That said I'd be happy to buy a secondary Dreamcast with a non-working drive once that SD card thingy is ready to go (not the one that attaches on the serial port). But I don't want to lose the ability to play real CDs. That mans I'd have to find an extra Turbo CD and lots of other systems if solutions to those were found.

[Medic_wheat]

Man I LOVE stuff like the Everdrive. I really wish there were options for CD based systems that didn't require you to gut out or otherwise molest the system. That said I'd be happy to buy a secondary Dreamcast with a non-working drive once that SD card thingy is ready to go (not the one that attaches on the serial port). But I don't want to lose the ability to play real CDs. That mans I'd have to find an extra Turbo CD and lots of other systems if solutions to those were found.

Must imagine if you will a Frankienstiens Monster Cd system.


The mangled body of a Sega Saturn/DC with RGB port drilled into one end. And the guts stuffed with a SD card reader.