theredeye (Frank Cifaldi) shared the box art for A License to Kill and Police Academy on Twitter not that long ago (plus a bunch of others)

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Pat topics are always a hoot to read.


That Tengen poster is sweet. The art they had for Skulls and Crossbones in there is quite homely though.

Obviously I can't stop anyone if they want to, but as a personal favor please try to avoid using these for any commercial purpose/etc., I've got a book in mind and I'd really like to have some level of "exclusivity" to it.
 

I didn't think you'd mind me sharing since, but do you want me to edit any links out of my post?
 

Of course not!!! They're there to be shared, I'm just saying I have a project in mind and would appreciate nobody using my work to beat me to it, at least not without asking me. For example, Pat asked if he could put that art in his book, and I asked him not to because I'd like to do a little book of my own for the, uh, 12 people who would buy it.

Heh ok! Just checking. You definitely shared some cool stuff there.
 

If you weren't including me in those 12, then you have 13. Just sayin

14

Probably 15

I'd definitely buy your book Frank.

Actually I was already counting all of you guys in the 12.

(thanks)

Where is this book? =O

Also 16!

What's a book?

Proto owners can dump for preservation without giving the ROMs away for free. These things are not mutually exclusive. Protos are an investment in most cases, and the first thing most (smart) proto owners do is dump the ROMs for backup/preservation purposes.

Generally, IMO, there are two kinds of people in the proto scene:

• Investors. They buy and sell protos for a profit, either by coming up on something for cheap and flipping it, or buying something and doing a repro release. In some cases, the ROMs are released.
• Preservationists. They buy protos strictly to dump and release the ROMs. As altruistic as it gets. They sometimes ask for donations before releases.

At the end of the day, people can do whatever the hell they want with the things they pay for. At the same time, we're free to criticize them for their choices, and so is Pat.

But that doesn't make Pat not a hypocrite.

While i do not often agree with Pat,and to further that,i do think he grates on a bit too much on the negative side however he has a valid point of view and i must admit i agree with him that ALL known software should be dumped,it doesn't need to be dumped and released but i would like to think that the owner of the proto should have a dump as way of a backup,even if he/she refuses to release it,something like that IS important,for instance the proto they are talking about is an unreleased game that could well be a near finished game,what if something happens to the cart ? that game could be here today and gone from history tomorrow and there is nothing anyone can do to replace it.

The topic of whether or not the owner of the cart should be dumping it and uploading it or not,well ... isn't that up to them seeing as they own it fair and square and if they paid a fair deal for it,then they want to retain it's worth,i think it's really up to the owner and they shouldn't be held to ransom over it,it's a really sketchy areas tho,if you were a previous owner and had a dump as way of back up,what do you do with it after selling it ? do you release it and screw over the new buyer who may wish to retain it ?

It's when i think about that,i then think that a proto before dump would be worth way more than after the fact,i remember reading about fans on some forums teaming up and donating to buy a proto just so they could ensure it would get dumped for the greater public and the greater good instead of being locked away,something similar with mame devs and owners of the pcb's who would either donate their boards for dumping or ship away to be dumped and returned,we all can be thankful for these guys doing what i believe to be the "right thing" but yes it's really up to the individual owner to decide,it's their call but it would be nice to know at least,the software it's self is safe and always will be.

The internet made out of a tree.

 

What's a tree?

@kazuo

"Proto owners can dump for preservation without giving the ROMs away for free. These things are not mutually exclusive. Protos are an investment in most cases, and the first thing most (smart) proto owners do is dump the ROMs for backup/preservation purposes."

I see your point but from my perspective, backing up your ROMs onto 1-12 computers/flash drives etc. is not the same as sharing with thousands of people who all back it up throughout the world.

It's a lot safer when the ROM gets dumped.

I agree with the dichotomy you laid out.
"Investors. They buy and sell protos for a profit, either by coming up on something for cheap and flipping it, or buying something and doing a repro release. In some cases, the ROMs are released.
Preservationists. They buy protos strictly to dump and release the ROMs. As altruistic as it gets. They sometimes ask for donations before releases."

The Investors part bugs a lot of people and I understand why. People get upset because it becomes a money making business instead of it being out of altruistic intentions.
I personally have no problems with people making money off of doing something they love.

Also, I think my biggest beef with Investors is potential monopolization.
Let's say I seek out and buy as many carts as possible.

I now control the supply.
With me controlling the supply, I can dictate whatever price I want.

It doesn't even require 1 person. If a group of people join together, the same thing can happen.
The potential for monopolization is what scares most people.

Look at what happened to the guy who jacked up the price (as an experiment) for Rampart for Game Boy by buying multiple copies. He successfully increased the price from $3 to $25 in under one year.

That's just a common game.

What would happen if that happened to rare prototypes or rare games?

EDIT: Removed Factual Errors

Well there is another type of prototype collector and that's someone who likes to collect prototypes. I'm not in it for profit but I'm not in it to give it away. I guess you could say I've bought 90% of all n64 prototypes that have been sold in the last two years but it doesn't mean people are going to start paying crazy amounts for them now.
One has been sitting on eBay for two years now and no one is desperate enough to go for it.
I've only got so many due to out bidding everyone, I've payed top dollar to get them into my collection.
I dump all my prototypes and they are safe but I've spent around $50k USD on them so I won't be releasing them for free. God forbid some unforseen circumstances I may have to sell some, I'll give the new owner the option of releasing it.

@bobo do you have any unreleased n64 games and if so which ones do you have?

This thread is about a game I own.
I have a demo version of the unreleased frogger 2 also.

I can see now that you bought Viewpoint bobo. Don't know why I'm didn't realize that.

I wonder if there is a list of undumped prototypes that are worth playing.

1. Buy rare prototype
2. Dump rom
3. Sell to someone else who intendeds on making repros for twice what you paid
4. Publicly release rom

Doesn't work if the ROM you dump ends up being the same as the retail version.
PS: this thread was mentioned again today on Pat and Ian's Completely Unecessary podcast YouTube channel series thingamajigabob.