Zeograd wrote:
>This is tempting but the matter is that when >money will be involved, Nec
>and Hudson are very likely to recover their >memories. Maybe not for the
>amount of money they could grab from there, but >for the principle. I
>don't think they'd like to create a precedent of >the like : "Anyone can
>make money using very old, but still copyrighted >materials"
If we were in Japan, this might MIGHT be a remote consideration. But
Hudson is a shadow of what it once was and the NEC that brought out the TG16
is a different company. You can see it on ROM sites for example. While
Nintendo, Sony, and others actively pursue clearing out ROM sites, the Turbo
ROMS are generally untouched. No one is trying to take them down.
>We have to notice that those which are keeping >japanese games for future
>reselling will be really bothered if amateurs >can bring english versions
>at lower prices (excepted if developpers have to >pay for licences or such)
Again, highly unlikely. If Japanese developers have proven anything,
it's a tremendous lack of interest in the US market (unless they are about to
launch a game). I highly doubt that TelNet, Red, Rivelhill and other PCE
developers have hawks who scour the net looking for what I am proposing. They
were never in touch with this market to begin with. You may as well try to
resell colecovision games (you might get more of a response). Man, you make
it sound as though I'm proposing a huge corporate manuever or something.
There is nothing bigtime about any of this.
>hmm, maybe real fans got a morale. That's why >they don't start anything
>without being sure it's totally lelgal.
look, i'm not some pirate or anything. i am as die hard a fan as anyone
here but i'm not going to balk at doing something really cool either. don't
give me your righteous arguments on legality. some might say that charging
$15 (or whatever it is) for the Magic Engine Emulator may not be legal.
Others may say that manufacturing and selling and buying Kisdos and other
converters isn't exactly legal but I don't remember too much whining over
that- and kisdos wound up going (from TZD) from $35 to $65+. These weren't
legit in the least but they were great projects by fans and for fans and
NEC/HUDSON didn't do a single thing about it either because they didn't know
or they didn't care. need i remind you that the closest surviving relatives
of TTI wound up being TZD. they're as official as it got over the last ten
years (thank GOD for them too) and they are now planning on bringing in new
converters from australia.
>Seeing the result of Implode front to the >expectations, it is legitim to
>wonder how much of such a game could be sold, >and to which price. Even
>if it would certainly be at a lower price than >the original one (since
>it's easier to find) there would be a large >amount of work for all guys
>behind it. If 200 are sold, and 8 people were >working on it and the
>marging is $16 per cd, and the costs are maybe >20 $ - 25$ for a clean cd
>and such. It would be $400 per person for months >of work and up to
>45$-50$ per cd shipped. Does it sound >reasonable ?
first of all, think back to Mindrec's statement. it said something like
'all proceeds will go to future projects'. i'll happily volunteer my services
and ask only that my name is put in the credits of the game. no one is doing
this to become a millionaire. it's a fun way to create excitement. i'd be
willing to bet that a translated & packaged PCE engine game would easily turn
a profit (as i'm sure Implode is close to doing [250 copies at $20= $5,000...i
hope the game didn't cost much more than that). so, let's ask the list:
Hey List, think of a PC Engine game that you'd like to play in English
with English instructions. (I'll say, as an example, Y's IV: The Dawn of
Y's)...would you pay $40 to have a US version of this game? I'd pay $50.
george
>Zeograd