7 replies to this topic

[theloon]

I see some excitement going on in the Colecovision section over companies that sell copyright infringing titles and homebrew without permission.
Instead of getting all excited and depressed and, well, whatever, we should make a list of known offenders and just don't purchase from them. Pin the topic. Double check when the companies start to comply and remove them.

Edited by theloon, Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:58 AM.

[rmaerz]

theloon, on Sat Jul 31, 2010 11:56 AM, said:

I see some excitement going on in the Colecovision section over companies that sell copyright infringing titles and homebrew without permission.
Instead of getting all excited and depressed and, well, whatever, we should make a list of known offenders and just don't purchase from them. Pin the topic. Double check when the companies start to comply and remove them.

Go ahead and name one...

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

I admire the intent and idea behind this HOWEVER the problem is what you end up with is free advertising for the offenders and a go to listing of
to obtain copyright roms, so it kind of backfires in my opinion. For example, before the mention in the other thread I was not even aware of the roms being sold on that site, this point of view was mentioned already and that is why some wanted that thread closed/removed. Again, I am not pooping on your idea I think it is admirable but I think it attracts the wrong kind of attention and people.

[theloon]

Sounds like a complicated issue. I remember seeing a list of rogue anti-spyware companies and that was VERY helpful.

Maybe a "Search Engine" where you type in the name of a suspect company and get results?

@rmaerz: Sorry, looks like you'll have to click over to the Colecovision section. I wouldn't want to give these guys more free advertising as OldSchoolRetroGamer says.

[Mord]

theloon, on Sun Aug 1, 2010 4:41 PM, said:

Sounds like a complicated issue. I remember seeing a list of rogue anti-spyware companies and that was VERY helpful.

The difference between the two is that people aren't going to look up a list of known rogue anti-spyware companies and, knowing this, go and buy their products.

And if they DO... well... natural selection I guess.

Edited by Mord, Sun Aug 1, 2010 6:40 PM.

[goldenegg]

I think it's very important to understand the two different discussions that seem to have clumped themselves together in the Colecovision forum.

The original problem was that someone was selling a package containing ROMs. This in itself is completely wrong, but it got more attention as it also included ROMs from homebrew which are not freely available. I am personally all for distributing ROMs, but it must be done at no cost. Once there's a cost involved, that's where myself and many others begin to have a major issue.

Fact is, there will always be those people who will actively seek out those who sell full ROM packages for the simplicity. It might not be the right thing to do, but for those people is the easiest way for them to access the content. I don't personally have an objection to people who want to aid in the preservation of ROMs by offering a DVD burning service (or something similar), where the only cost is for the media and shipping with no profit being made.

The second discussion that came up was the legality and ethics behind selling homebrew versions of copyrighted games. Creating these types of homebrew software is nothing new, but some people have built small businesses around it without permission from the original copyright holders.

The root problem is the same between these two issues, as they both involved charging money for something they don't own the rights to. I completely agree with the others that creating a list, of people who fall in to the first issue, will do nothing more than provide undesired advertising. The best solution is to educate people so they can make their own decisions.

To me, the first issue is easier than the second. SImply don't pay money for ROM packs. It's the second case that gets more confusing. I think it's really up to the homebrew community to decide the best course of action. What I'd like to see occur is that any copyrighted port have a freely distributed ROM available.

[raindog]

goldenegg, on Sun Aug 1, 2010 11:28 PM, said:

It's the second case that gets more confusing. I think it's really up to the homebrew community to decide the best course of action. What I'd like to see occur is that any copyrighted port have a freely distributed ROM available.

I thought we'd gotten to that point years ago, myself. Unauthorized ports are essentially the video game equivalent of cover songs. No one cares what you release unless you make a commercial product out of it. AtariAge and businesses like it provide the service of allowing us to pretend our ports were contemporary to the consoles to which we ported them, by providing cart burning, labels and boxes. I don't see them as selling the code itself unless it's not available except through buying a cartridge.

I don't get email alerts for the Colecovision forum and no one's provided a link to that discussion, so I don't know which games people are talking about. But there are a number of ports for various systems that were released on cartridges but not as ROMs, and I still have the ROMs. Except for the 2600 and Vectrex, I no longer have the means to play any 8-bit games except with the rom-and-emulator method anyway. I would go to Usenet or any of a hundred torrent sites looking for that kind of thing, not buy someone's ROM pack.

And of course there are leeches out there in the form of less scrupulous cartridge duplication companies. Without the loving attention to detail provided by AtariAge, or a cut to the author, or at least fulfillment of the author's license terms, and with low quality printing, and the addition of things like logos implying the guy who burned the cartridge also made the game, and (in the old days) ad copy claiming to be the exclusive source for various games also sold elsewhere, some cartridge burning companies are a blight, not a benefit. I still used one to get a vanity cart of one of my hacks before AtariAge got into the cartridge business, but the experience left a bad taste in my mouth.

[goldenegg]

In the Colecovision homebrew scene, there are devs who create ports and only make the games available for purchase. This is where the discussion came from. There are two threads where this was discussed.

1 - http://www.atariage....homebrew-games/

2 - http://www.atariage....-from-nintendo/

The site in question that was selling ROMs is no longer doing so. As far as the topic of making ports more available, that's something currently in discussion within those threads.