287 replies to this topic

[Shawn Sr.]

Edited by Shawn Sr., Thu Jun 8, 2006 7:47 PM.

[Atariboy2600]

Shawn Sr., on Thu Jun 8, 2006 8:44 PM, said:

attachment attachment attachment

Now thats more like it

[Paranoid]

kenfused, on Mon Jun 20, 2005 6:32 PM, said:

Implemented Bakasama's coily graphics.

Fixed coily sometimes having a missing line in the middle of the body when he was near the top of the screen (although, with the new graphics, now he it taller and sometimes his head will go a little off the top of the screen, but I don't think that is much of a problem)

Shortened coily hatch time a little. Maybe it still needs to be shortned more?

Is the above post the most recent ROM image of Q*Bert for the 7800?

Oh, and on the trademarking litigation.

I do think I understand why the corporations get upset over this stuff. It isn't because of lost sales in this case. I think the concern is that if they do not protect their intellectual property any time they are aware it is being infringed upon, they risk losing control of that IP. This is basically what happened to IBM with the PC. If someone is infringing your rights and you knowingly *let* them, say, because it isn't a threat or isn't hurting sales... when someone comes along and IS hurting your sales, it may be too late to sue. Well, you can sue, but you'll lose when this competitor illustrates that you haven't protected your rights with other entities who were infringing upon your rights. That was the crux of the Compaq argument against IBM. IBM didn't care when small pacific rim companies were making clones and selling them through the back of electronics magazines. When COMPAQ did the same thing but tried to sell retail, they got real upset.

Which sucks, in this case... because I think a lot of companies probably wouldn't mind letting there be limited free-use of their properties in not-for-profit scenarios by hobbyists. But their legal departments probably have advised them that they cannot safely allow this.

Edited by Paranoid, Tue Jun 27, 2006 8:14 PM.

[rockman_x_2002]

Paranoid, on Tue Jun 27, 2006 9:09 PM, said:

I do think I understand why the corporations get upset over this stuff. It isn't because of lost sales in this case. I think the concern is that if they do not protect their intellectual property any time they are aware it is being infringed upon, they risk losing control of that IP. This is basically what happened to IBM with the PC. If someone is infringing your rights and you knowingly *let* them, say, because it isn't a threat or isn't hurting sales... when someone comes along and IS hurting your sales, it may be too late to sue.

...

Which sucks, in this case... because I think a lot of companies probably wouldn't mind letting there be limited free-use of their properties in not-for-profit scenarios by hobbyists. But their legal departments probably have advised them that they cannot safely allow this.

What I'm wondering is, if that's the case and the companies don't mind their properties being used in a non-threatening, not-for-profit type thing, why wouldn't those companies be able to come up with some sort of legal binding, non-transferrable, non-negotiable contract with homebrew programmers that basically "grants" them permission to reproduce those games legally under license, but no one else.

I mean, wouldn't it be the same thing as how Nintendo licensed games from other companies like Capcom or Konami, except there's no money changing hands? All it would require really is a well-written, loophole-free contract and a couple of signatures on a dotted line. That would be documented proof that the companies are protecting interests, but are granting their permission for use in these particular cases.

Since the companies haven't done that, I'm thinking there's more in play at the table here than just a matter of whether copyrights are enforcable after knowingly letting them be infringed upon.

[Paranoid]

Ok... so protecting their IP is the primary concern...

The idea that it isn't good business to give away something that you might be able to sell is probably also coming into play, too.

[gdement]

In principle I don't see why they couldn't sell a license. But there is little money in these kind of deals for an IP owner so they're unlikely to find it worth their time and paperwork.

Edited by gdement, Tue Jun 27, 2006 11:50 PM.

[Mayhem]

I guess First Star decided to for the 5200 Boulderdash, am I right?

[Paranoid]

And the "good-will" they build up with a group of die-hard, fringe loyalists isn't that important, either.

I mean, in general, how many people here were upset with Infogrames/Atari yet still bought an Atari FB2? I bet quite a few.

That is the important thing to keep in mind, I guess. For the companies it is *all* simply business.

[Dauber]

I finally tried out the 7800 Q*Bert-like game, via xmess....all I can say is....BEYOND awesome!

As for those who are trying to convince you to risk lawsuits, just remember: a rose by any other name smells just as sweet....

[Shawn Sr.]

Dauber, on Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:09 PM, said:

I finally tried out the 7800 Q*Bert-like game, via xmess....all I can say is....BEYOND awesome!

As for those who are trying to convince you to risk lawsuits, just remember: a rose by any other name smells just as sweet....

Umm I think the saying goes a "Rose" by any other name will have its thorns hacked to say "Rose".

Edited by Shawn Sr., Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:54 PM.

[shadow460]

Dauber, on Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:09 PM, said:

As for those who are trying to convince you to risk lawsuits, just remember: a rose by any other name smells just as sweet....

So once you get the game home, call it what you want. My copy of Burgertime says Burgertime on both labels and Beef Drop on the ROM. Doesn't matter, and I use both names interchangeably.

But, since it's in my own home, I can call it Majora's Mask if I want to.

[Paranoid]

He wouldn't get sued. He would get a nasty cease and desist threatening to sue if he didn't comply.

Just a minor point.

[kenfused]

Fixed ball on intro text screen from appearing a few pixels at the top.
Updated game name.
Still need to fix problem of a little bit of garbage appearing above a disc if there is one above the top cube on a board and I would like to add at least one more difficulty level.

Attached Files

•  bonQ.zip   25.86K   74 downloads

[Shawn Sr.]

kenfused, on Sat Jul 22, 2006 10:29 PM, said:

Updated game name.

Qbert 7800

04\03\05 - 07\22\06

RIP

[kenfused]

Shawn Sr., on Sat Jul 22, 2006 10:59 PM, said:

kenfused, on Sat Jul 22, 2006 10:29 PM, said:

Updated game name.

Qbert 7800

04\03\05 - 07\22\06

RIP

But if you pause to think about it and do the right thing the old title could return.

[Atariboy2600]

kenfused, on Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:29 PM, said:

Updated game name.

Nope, Naha, Sorry but Im not going to download the last rom before this with the REAL name is find by me I cant see the orange little guy name anything ese other then well....

Q*bert!

Edited by Atariboy2600, Sat Jul 22, 2006 10:11 PM.

[kenfused]

Atariboy2600, on Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:07 AM, said:

kenfused, on Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:29 PM, said:

Updated game name.

Nope, Naha, Sorry but Im not going to download the last rom before this with the REAL name is find by me I cant see the orange little guy name anything ese other then well....

Q*bert!

I just changed the name of the game, for all we know he might be named Q*bert.

[Paranoid]

Doesn't matter WHAT the game is called, it is still an excellent version, my personal control issues aside.

[Trebor]

Hey kenfused - A question (Okay request)... Any possiblity of adding a sound effect/noise for when Ugg and/or WrongWay enter the screen?

I was going to ask the same about Sam and Slick's appearence; however, I don't believe they make 'noise' entering, just when they 'touch' the cubes.

Just thought the above additions/features would be a nice touch to polish this excellent port in mimicing an arcade classic.

-Trebor

Edited by Trebor, Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:02 PM.

[kenfused]

Trebor, on Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:01 PM, said:

Hey kenfused - A question (Okay request)... Any possiblity of adding a sound effect/noise for when Ugg and/or WrongWay enter the screen?

I was going to ask the same about Sam and Slick's appearence; however, I don't believe they make 'noise' entering, just when they 'touch' the cubes.

Just thought the above additions/features would be a nice touch to polish this excellent port in mimicing an arcade classic.

-Trebor

Yea the creatures that look kinda like ugg and wrongway should get some sounds add eventually.
I really wish someone could come up with some Atarivox pheonetics and pitches so it could optionally talk or blabber some.
I also though trying to add a few digitalized sound effects at least when nothing is moving but probably wont have the time or rom space.

[Shawn Sr.]

kenfused, on Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:32 PM, said:

Yea the creatures that look kinda like ugg and wrongway should get some sounds add eventually.

Kinda look like them? Come on now they look exactly like them for a very good reason, cause that what you wanted them to look like. Not kinda like them exactly like them.

[kenfused]

Shawn Sr., on Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:46 PM, said:

kenfused, on Tue Jul 25, 2006 10:32 PM, said:

Yea the creatures that look kinda like ugg and wrongway should get some sounds add eventually.

Kinda look like them? Come on now they look exactly like them for a very good reason, cause that what you wanted them to look like. Not kinda like them exactly like them.

Actually I didnt draw the current version. My versions kinda looks a little less like them.

[kenfused]

Which reminds me that Bakasama will get credit for some of the graphics and probably a cart if I ever get the thing done.

[Trebor]

kenfused, on Wed Jul 26, 2006 2:32 AM, said:

Yea the creatures that look kinda like ugg and wrongway should get some sounds add eventually.

Excellent. Thanks for the info.

-Trebor

[kenfused]

New release. Fixed/changed in this version:

(1) Scores from last screen displayed on title screen (even though the arcade doesn't do this). Title screen is also now black (not sure if I will leave it black).

(2) Support for multiple levels. Currently you can't select them though, so in this version it is fixed to expert (which still isnt hard enough yet, but I will work on that).

(3) Fixed glitch above a disc if it appears above top cube. (note there is an extra disc on the first screen I will remove in the next release, which made it easier to test). One request is if anyone tests this on a pal machine, select a two player game, and make sure there are no glitches in the two player score, or the disc above the top cube.

(4) Title now displays as b*nQ on the High Score Cart screen and not Q*bert.

(5) Coily now is more behaved if you try to get him to jump off from the top cube. Before he would sometimes not jump, and head down instead.

(6) Sounds for Ugh and Wrongway

(7) fixed glitch that was sometimes occuring when the second title screen (with all the text) was appearing. Or maybe this was a new bug never in a released version. The problem did not occur in MESS though.

(8) anything else I forgot.

Attached Files

•  bonQ.zip   27.1K   66 downloads

Edited by kenfused, Sat Aug 12, 2006 1:22 PM.