New, rare NES 6-in-1 variant

[Tulpa | 3,537]

3 hours ago, fcgamer said:

No, there's no court case that I'm aware of.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Galoob_Toys,_Inc._v._Nintendo_of_America,_Inc.

[fcgamer | 4,754]

1 minute ago, Tulpa said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Galoob_Toys,_Inc._v._Nintendo_of_America,_Inc.

Yes of course I know of that court case, but I don't know of a court case of alleged developer vs other alleged developer.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

10 hours ago, fcgamer said:

Camerica was just a publisher though. Similarly, it's up for debate who actually developed the Game Genie.

Camerica is literally "Codemasters America."  They published their own developed titles.  As for the development of the Game Genie, I'd put that square on Codemasters as well, with the Taiwanese dude you mention likely being the manufacturer. 

[fcgamer | 4,754]

27 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Camerica is literally "Codemasters America."  They published their own developed titles.  As for the development of the Game Genie, I'd put that square on Codemasters as well, with the Taiwanese dude you mention likely being the manufacturer. 

Disagree. Will discuss in a bit, talking with my brother now.

[fcgamer | 4,754]

1 hour ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Camerica is literally "Codemasters America."  They published their own developed titles.  As for the development of the Game Genie, I'd put that square on Codemasters as well, with the Taiwanese dude you mention likely being the manufacturer. 

Okay, I've never seen documentation that Camerica stands for Codemasters America, it definitely sounds plausible though. Was the guy that founded / in charge of the company from the States or Canada? Also, what about Acemore, how were they involved?

As far as I know, Camerica just acted as a publisher for Codemasters in the USA / Canada. Even the Camerica PCBs were made by the Taiwanense company that has the rights to publishing the Codemasters games on Famicom around the world.

I personally find it most likely that the Game Genie was developed by the Taiwanense guy. Perhaps conceptualized by the Codemasters guys, but actually developed by the Taiwanense guys. It's just my opinion of course, but it seems much more likely.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the lockout bypass stuff was done by the Taiwanense company.

Also, getting a bit pedantic here, but even if Camerica stands for Codemasters America, it's technically a different company from Codemasters. So it's still going to be one company publishing games that the other company developed. 

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

15 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Okay, I've never seen documentation that Camerica stands for Codemasters America, it definitely sounds plausible though. Was the guy that founded / in charge of the company from the States or Canada? Also, what about Acemore, how were they involved?

As far as I know, Camerica just acted as a publisher for Codemasters in the USA / Canada. Even the Camerica PCBs were made by the Taiwanense company that has the rights to publishing the Codemasters games on Famicom around the world.

I personally find it most likely that the Game Genie was developed by the Taiwanense guy. Perhaps conceptualized by the Codemasters guys, but actually developed by the Taiwanense guys. It's just my opinion of course, but it seems much more likely.

Also, I wouldn't be surprised if the lockout bypass stuff was done by the Taiwanense company.

Also, getting a bit pedantic here, but even if Camerica stands for Codemasters America, it's technically a different company from Codemasters. So it's still going to be one company publishing games that the other company developed. 

Just dug up some old articles, and you're right, though plausible, Camerica is a completely separate company from Codemasters.  They just never really did games up until they signed the deal with Codemasters, they pretty much were a joystick distributor.  Acemore only seems to fit as a smaller company who's products were licensed to Camerica for distribution and sale.  From what I can tell as well from all that is that Codemasters were the ones behind the development of the Game Genie.  I'd like to see something about this random Taiwanese guy because this thread is literally the first I'd ever heard of it.  Regardless though, it's not uncommon for companies to contract out development of their ideas to smaller companies or even individuals, and typically in signing contracts for those deals, those companies/individuals sign over any sort of rights they have to the item in question, meaning that even if this random Taiwanese guy came up with it or did all the design/development on it, if he was contracted to Codemasters, the rights were signed over to them in the process.  It's legal semantics, but basically if he was doing the work for them, then officially as well as legally, the company developed it, not the employee working on it.  The only way he'd have any sort of chance of being recognized as the developer is if he developed it independently and sold it to them. 

[fcgamer | 4,754]

49 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Just dug up some old articles, and you're right, though plausible, Camerica is a completely separate company from Codemasters.  They just never really did games up until they signed the deal with Codemasters, they pretty much were a joystick distributor.  Acemore only seems to fit as a smaller company who's products were licensed to Camerica for distribution and sale.  From what I can tell as well from all that is that Codemasters were the ones behind the development of the Game Genie.  I'd like to see something about this random Taiwanese guy because this thread is literally the first I'd ever heard of it.  Regardless though, it's not uncommon for companies to contract out development of their ideas to smaller companies or even individuals, and typically in signing contracts for those deals, those companies/individuals sign over any sort of rights they have to the item in question, meaning that even if this random Taiwanese guy came up with it or did all the design/development on it, if he was contracted to Codemasters, the rights were signed over to them in the process.  It's legal semantics, but basically if he was doing the work for them, then officially as well as legally, the company developed it, not the employee working on it.  The only way he'd have any sort of chance of being recognized as the developer is if he developed it independently and sold it to them. 

Honestly don't care about legal semantics, the guy that programmed the shit is the developer, the guy that put their name on it as it's being sold is the publisher. 

I'm not going to post specifics here, but look into the company(s) that made the Camerica PCBs, which also published the Codemasters games on Famicom. It relates to the whole Game Genie thing.

I personally think that company is more likely to have developed it than Codemasters themselves, similarly about the actual lockout defeating device. Historically, literally all that stuff was developed by Taiwanense, aside from Tengen who had the pants sued off of them (it's great to live in a country where copyright law is not respected..)

[fcgamer | 4,754]

As an aside, let's play a game: you mention an unlicensed company, I'll trace it back to the island I'm living on. Essentially all the unlicensed stuff relates back here, no kidding

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

20 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Honestly don't care about legal semantics, the guy that programmed the shit is the developer, the guy that put their name on it as it's being sold is the publisher. 

I'm not going to post specifics here, but look into the company(s) that made the Camerica PCBs, which also published the Codemasters games on Famicom. It relates to the whole Game Genie thing.

I personally think that company is more likely to have developed it than Codemasters themselves, similarly about the actual lockout defeating device. Historically, literally all that stuff was developed by Taiwanense, aside from Tengen who had the pants sued off of them (it's great to live in a country where copyright law is not respected..)

Yes, he developed it, under contract to Codemasters.  If they weren't funding it, it wouldn't have been developed, making Codemasters the developer.  If I work for a company, that company gets credit for my work as long as I'm employed.  That's the way things go.  Unless he did it independently of Codemasters, there's no argument here.  As for looking it up, I'm not gonna do that.  Why should I?  I asked for evidence to the claims you made, and you failed to provide it.  It's not up to me to prove your arguments.  And again, yeah, they may very well have developed it, but if they did it using Codemasters' money, then it's a Codemasters product, plain and simple.  Contracted development is a commonplace thing, and basic logic such as that has been established long before the game industry was even a thing.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

23 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

As an aside, let's play a game: you mention an unlicensed company, I'll trace it back to the island I'm living on. Essentially all the unlicensed stuff relates back here, no kidding

Active Enterprises

[ThePhleo | 2,186]

12 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Active Enterprises

 

The true one king of 8-Bit isolation. Such an interesting story with them.

I don't think they have any ties to anyone in the industry. Just one day they woke up and said "lol, let's make 53 crap fantastic games"

...

Also, f**k I this post made me lose my vacation status. Clock reset: 2 more weeks.

Edited September 8, 2021 by ThePhleo

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

Just now, ThePhleo said:

 

The true one king of 8-Bit isolation. Such an interesting story with them.

I don't think they have any ties to anyone in the industry. Just one day they woke up and said "lol, let's make 53 crap fantastic games"

Apparently their programmers had no NES knowledge at all, and were sent on a field trip to a company for a crash course.  There's anecdotal and circumstantial evidence pointing to Lucasarts, but there's nothing substantial to prove it.

As an aside, I'd be interested in seeing someone with actual NES programming skills and time to kill take Action 52 and actually finish it

[fcgamer | 4,754]

4 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Yes, he developed it, under contract to Codemasters.  If they weren't funding it, it wouldn't have been developed, making Codemasters the developer.  If I work for a company, that company gets credit for my work as long as I'm employed.  That's the way things go.  Unless he did it independently of Codemasters, there's no argument here.  As for looking it up, I'm not gonna do that.  Why should I?  I asked for evidence to the claims you made, and you failed to provide it.  It's not up to me to prove your arguments.  And again, yeah, they may very well have developed it, but if they did it using Codemasters' money, then it's a Codemasters product, plain and simple.  Contracted development is a commonplace thing, and basic logic such as that has been established long before the game industry was even a thing.

Nope, you need to do the research. In my initial post I mentioned that two different parties have been attributed as the developer of the Game Genie, and that it therefore is unknown for certain who developed it and who didn't, without further research.

I don't know if it were the boys at Codemasters or the other guy(s?), I haven't researched it that far; however, considering that you didn't even know that it was a thing, you haven't researched it either and know even less on the matter being discussed 

 

[fcgamer | 4,754]

4 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Active Enterprises

Easy.

52 in 1 bootleg cart that inspired Vince Perri to do his Action 52. Hell, even the menu code seems to have been almost the same, they both start with the 5th game highlighted, and the prototype even uses the same graphics.

[fcgamer | 4,754]

4 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

 

The true one king of 8-Bit isolation. Such an interesting story with them.

I don't think they have any ties to anyone in the industry. Just one day they woke up and said "lol, let's make 53 crap fantastic games"

...

Also, f**k I this post made me lose my vacation status. Clock reset: 2 more weeks.

Well they apparently did some "borrowing", at the very least

[fcgamer | 4,754]

Sorry guys, I really didn't want to do this, but I just had to.

[fcgamer | 4,754]

Also the Genesis version of Action 52 had boxed (bootleg) carts made and released in Taiwan and likely other places in Asia. I've always felt that they were bootlegs, though it is within the realm of possibility that they were licensed somehow.

Anyways, Active Enterprises is out, scratch that from the list, let's choose another company.

[fcgamer | 4,754]

The above cart is for sale if anyone is interested in it, btw.

[fcgamer | 4,754]

Hmm.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

That's because I have nothing new to add to the conversation.

[fcgamer | 4,754]

7 hours ago, the_wizard_666 said:

That's because I have nothing new to add to the conversation.

That's a shame, I thought you might have something to say regarding the Active Enterprises bit.

But yeah, Game Genie, disputed developer.

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

16 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

That's a shame, I thought you might have something to say regarding the Active Enterprises bit.

But yeah, Game Genie, disputed developer.

Okay, I may have new shit to contribute.  My brain just isn't properly functional lately and I don't wanna sound dumber than I already am

[fcgamer | 4,754]

8 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

Okay, I may have new shit to contribute.  My brain just isn't properly functional lately and I don't wanna sound dumber than I already am

Nah, actually I really respect your passion and interest in these games, sorry if I came across as aggressive earlier. 

[the_wizard_666 | 1,325]

10 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Nah, actually I really respect your passion and interest in these games, sorry if I came across as aggressive earlier. 

I think we've had a few of these chats in the past, don't worry, I enjoy them too.  Just that my head isn't all there lately.  I'm far from my best self these days, and it must be clear considering how it showed through in my posts before. 

[fcgamer | 4,754]

26 minutes ago, the_wizard_666 said:

I think we've had a few of these chats in the past, don't worry, I enjoy them too.  Just that my head isn't all there lately.  I'm far from my best self these days, and it must be clear considering how it showed through in my posts before. 

Yeah I haven't been my best self recently either, unfortunately.