Lincoln

I bought my tg16 with an rgb mod already done. It has a genesis model 2 av port added, and i have a hdretrovision component cable i can use with it. It looks great.

I dont know what the mods entail as i haven't needed to do it myself. The hdrv sega cables are like $80 iirc because they do rgb>component inline. a bit spendy but they are quality. 

20 minutes ago, LeatherRebel5150 said:

This is the real issue that can never be overcome. There are a lot more people (look at reddit, facebook, etc) that are more concerned with how it will look than the authenticity. I've already admitted I hate the look of famicom carts and have no interest in owning them, but I have Repro's (yea I'm still gunna call them that I not playing "PC" speech in gaming) of them and have no issue with not having the real thing. The same can be said about my Firebird. I don't give to shits if the interior is original as long as it looks original.

In the example of my car, all I want is to create a small bubble of 1977 when I sit in it. As long as the stuff looks and functions the same as it did back then, than I can suspend my disbelief and lose myself in the time machine affect. The fact that the shifter knob was has a 2020 manufacturing stamp under it instead of 1977 doesn't change the feeling. My guess is most casual people picking up these games feel the same way. The label been replace? The shell is new? The PCB is new?..."Doesn't matter, it looks the same as I remember from when I was a kid and still goes into my NES."

cars are an entirely different beast. replacement parts are necessary and expected as cars get damaged and rebuilt. in some cases, like new 1st gen mustang bodies, you can get proper reproductions from original molds, but original appearance isn't generally a concern for non-cosmetics. i think it's the norm there because a non-functional car isn't much good for anything. even still, for collectors, an original survivor can be significantly more desirable and valuable than a restored example.

5 minutes ago, Khromak said:

I have to admit I haven't read every post because this has blown up, but from what I read last night and what I'm reading this afternoon I think the difference of opinions here boils down to two sides, let me know if I'm way off base here but I think this summarizes pretty cleanly:

1. These 1:1 repros aren't OK at all because, while the person selling it right now may not be trying to, they can be passed off, and harm the hobby in general, because the very fact that this exists makes collectors' lives more difficult
2. 1:1 repro isn't a problem because this seller isn't trying to defraud anyone and is being upfront about what they're selling. People should do their due diligence and there are some ways to tell the difference.

Personally, I'm in the camp of #1, but I understand where #2 is coming from. Unfortunately, if they're realistic enough they can catch some buyers and even the possibility of that happening is absolutely not OK. Even if you aren't doing that or trying to do it, you're letting this loose and once, twice, or 50x in the future, your product could be used to do that. That's not OK. You're potentially causing harm down the line.

IMHO if you're keeping it for yourself it's less harmful, but even then...you will die and your estate might unknowingly sell it as original. You might be robbed and then it's in the wild...

It's like genetic modification, you have to understand that there are ripple effects and even though you're being careful in your sale, it will echo and reverberate.

The closest other instance to this i can recall is when someone on NA (tusk, i think) made up a contra force box "for personal purposes". The title design on the front was intentionally different so that it was immediately obvious when you compared. It still ended up on ebay somehow with no explanation it was not original, and lots of bids.

Stuff like this always finds its way into the world and eventually will try to sell it, intentionally or not, without disclosing what it is.

45 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Sure.

Khan's Leisure Suit Larry

Khan's Frogger

Sintax's Pokemon Leaf

Sachen's Rockman X

Tengen Tetris

 

Ohh ill play. 

Larry: assuming it was done with permission from ip holder, then its just a homebrew. If not, its also a bootleg

Frogger: assuming no permission, homebrew and bootleg

Pokemon leaf: not familiar, is it done with a license? If so, legitimate release i guess. If not its bootleg. It might be an original creation bootleg, but still bootleg. 

Rockman x: this is using capcoms rockman ip? With or without license? Do you see where this is going? 

Tetris: i don't know an obvious term for this other than "infringing". It was done under the assumption they had proper rights to produce an original game using tetris ip. They turned out to be wrong, but that doesn't automatically make it a bootleg. If they had continued to produce that version after the judgment then you could argue that. Very out there edge case that isnt relevant for 99% of this discussion.

Contra cart you posted elsewhere: no idea. Looks like a legit konami board. Is it? Did they do the shell/label too? If its one yes and one no, i don't think you can qualify it as a whole, you need to consider the parts individually. Is this common in your finds?

Other post with several games you made a bunch of strawman arguments for: have no familiarity with any of those games, dont tell me what i would call them.

Do they use existing ip without license/rights/permission? If so they are bootlegs. 

In the cases where they attempt to copy ip in its entirety, program and package design, they are also counterfeit.

Are they original games using no infringing ip? Then they are legitimate releases, regardless if done by nintendo or sachen or whatever random noname shop produced them. 

In regards to the nwc counterfeiter, you have no insight into her financial situation, stop trying to argue reporting her to ebay is going go ruin her life. Based on her posts at nesdev, this appears to be a personal challenge/exercise. While not legal, i can appreciate it on a technical level, if thats where it ends. Producing more copies to sell crosses an ethical line. 

3 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

But you don't, because you can look at a pic and see it's a fake.

The truly bad stuff is fakes that are of items that never existed, i.e. what people used to and still do "repro"

That stuff really screws people up trying to document obscurities...is it a real item, or fan made? That's much more devastating to the hobby...

I can't imagine how the collecting community has gotten along 20+ years having polar viewpoints to yours. Its a wonder we havent all gone broke blindly chasing phantom grails

8 minutes ago, fcgamer said:

Seller states they are repros , they aren't 1:1, I think all things considered they look really nice.

Creating a French eBay account just to shit on someone else's projects though, I dunno man.

All the tantrums you've thrown over the years about repros and you're defending this? GTFO

Edit: the one auction i found shows up on ebay.com using the listing id, no need to make a new account to report/follow

Counterfeits are always grounds for not as described, so you can get a return based on that. Ebay wont facilitate a partial return afaik. You could try to work that out privately with the seller if you feel its worth it, but if they're not cooperative you'll have to open a cade and return the whole lot.

46 minutes ago, Code Monkey said:

I was referring to how he somehow thought bootleg and counterfeit were different but man, seeing Warez again is like looking through a time machine. I remember I went to a Warez site once and the website showed me a folder view of all the personal folders on my computer. After that I was more selective on what I installed.

That sounds like it was directed at me? If you disagree with something i said i would be interested to hear it rather than a passive dig.

8 hours ago, fcgamer said:

I think in terms of this NWC, it can be considered an unofficial reissue.

It's not 1:1, there's a market for these so people can host their own nwc competitions, etc, and it's not causing problems for the vast majority of the community. What's the problem?

Edit: Besides, this one was made for the French region, therefore it would be bootleg not counterfeit territory

Reissue is something done officially, as something can only be properly issued by whoever owns it. Unofficial and reissue are contradictory terms. Those mega mans, street fighter ii, and disney games from recent years as close as we get to reissues as they are all backed by licenses. Even the gold ducktales was done with capcom backing so it would fall into the same group. You can argue the if the colored shells or new artwork disqualify them as reissues but thats basically what Nintendo did with metroid back in the day.

This nwc was made in france but its attempting to be a 1:1 american cart, so its counterfeit. Where it happens to be is irrelevant. If i was doing 1:1 famicom games in correct famicom shells and printing original artwork labels form them, thats still counterfeit if I'm in america the whole time.

Anything that isnt copying a source item directly and without rights holder's involvement is a bootleg. So that's famicom only games in a nes cart, vs games on a cart, hacks and translations, etc. 

"Repro" is the colloquial term for bootlegs in the community, but there is nothing that is truly a repro in our hobby. anything that aims to replicate an original item (quality notwithstanding) would just be a counterfeit, since we're dealing largely with intellectual property. 

There's a lot of creative things you can do with bootlegs that make them interesting to retro gamers and collectors alike, but most people understand counterfeits are bad for collecting and serve little purpose for gaming. This nwc is squarely in counterfeit territory, even given subtle identifiers, and is unacceptable to release into the community. 

and happily posted about it at nesdev being pleased with himself

http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=21857

apparently he has a hidden marker of some kind so it can be distinguished but it looks like it's gonna take closer examination than you can reasonably do online

nes qix missing all sales since last october

https://gamevaluenow.com/nintendo-nes/Qix?gameid=505

nes adventure island 3 missing everythigng from january at least

https://gamevaluenow.com/nintendo-nes/Adventure-Island-3?gameid=20

nes defender of dynatron city missing all but 1 sale since october

https://gamevaluenow.com/nintendo-nes/Defenders-of-Dynatron-City?gameid=174

nes break time nothing since december

https://gamevaluenow.com/nintendo-nes/Break-Time-The-National-Pool-Tour?gameid=104

seems like lots of less common nes games not getting recorded, maybe just go down the list and check them all

god i remember bidding on a sealed snatcher in like 2001, and tapping out at $75 thinking "that's too much". that will haunt me forever. good luck.

Replacement vs originality generally comes down to functionality vs art.

Comics, sports cards, video game labels/boxes/etc are art, where the point of collecting is finding nice original examples.

Cars and arcade machines are built out of serviceable parts. These items are expected to work and there's much less value when they don't. Although I'd still prefer a slightly worn cab or vintage car with mild patina over something that's been scrubbed and sanitized of all character. 

3 hours ago, ThePhleo said:

I wish you luck in trying to find it then! I’m trying to gauge how often they show up by watching every Tecmo NBA Basketball on eBay and I’ve only seen one loose copy in the 4 or 5 months I’ve been watching.

There’s also a matching box and manual... I managed to score mine at a local game store for $25

 

iirc it took me 8 months of checking every day to find a loose N7 cart with a verifiable photo. I got a second one a month or 2 later.

There was a sealed n7 copy (or box at least) available for most/all that time but i wasn't going to bite on that since i wanted a cart to dump.

14 hours ago, Reed Rothchild said:

...also, holy shit.  I've been trying for 30 years to remember a show or movie where a guy is tied to a motorcycle and crashed into a wall to die in a silly explosion.  Somehow the mere mention of a Flash TV show was enough to make me remember that that's where that came from.

Thank you @Lincoln

Yeah that was in the pilot.

There are only a couple scenes i remember from the original airing. One is in the pilot where he runs for the bus and overshoots by 30 miles before he figures out whats happening. The other is him being timed alphabetizing books, which i haven't come across yet.

I didn't remember much else but the t Hong immediately apparent upon rewatch is how much this was influenced by batman 1989.

13 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Watch out, this Turbo Express being used in 'Enemy of the State' is some high tech tracking device, clearly!

Great movie, ahead of its time. The tg express in the movie was a hiding spot for a memory card with surveillance footage on it. Fun fact a turbo collector i know has one of those units used in the movie.

watching the flash (1990) series and sighted this lightly disguised power glove, got a kick out of it

holy shit i found something. unfortunately i don't think there's any way i can get to it myself. 

if anyone wants to attempt a local pickup on my behalf in Louisville KY please hit me up. thanks

Edit i got another hit in midland tx if anyone is near there.

I called my local store and the guy told me they don't do store to store transfers anymore due to the pandemic. So i need someone close by.

If anyone has something they want me to search for go ahead and post or dm me if you want to keep it quiet

ok I think i'm on to something. I grabbed a list of all zips with lat+long and processed them down to a list of zips that are not within 125 miles of each other, to prevent too much overlap but minimizing gaps due to whatever variance is in play. here's what the plot looks like for that list

I've excluded for alaska and hawaii for simplicity. this should give me very good coverage for gamestop stores assuming they are using similar lat+long for their zip code list.

here is the working list: https://justpaste.it/2yzh9

i can run through it in ~5 minutes, which is fine for now but can probably be sped up. forcing a different radius value may still be viable as well, will have to look into that more. 

current plan is to beat on the store directory page using the 500 mile trick to get a list of all stores. i have the methodology worked out, i need to hand build a list of zip codes to input.

the search results contain lat and long for whatever the search input was, so i can use that to get lat and long that gs associates to each postal code. i can generate a list of postal codes and run them through the search.

after that i think i can pare down the postal code list for 100 mile searches with some basic math. this is probably a data science problem i'm oversimplifying but it's somewhere to start.

the mile value fudge doesn't seem to produce results when searching for product inventory. like i know that contra is here, so i can use the general store locator to pull up stores in a 500 mile radius (it works on that page). but picking a zip code from those results and plugging it into the contra search doesn't bring up the store that has it. seems like it might be capped at 100 server side.

7 minutes ago, FireHazard51 said:

So goes GameStop actually have good prices for old cart games?  

there are some yes, particularly when there are deals like now or when discount codes work (cag16)

3 minutes ago, Gloves said:

If you can help it, do it on a VPN. If they see these API calls they're likely to IP ban.

i hammered on their site for like 5 years before i had any issues. i got temp banned for a while, and now i can access the site again but i believe they've locked down all their services to prevent direct calls. so i'm doing it the hard way through a headless browser, we'll see how long it lasts.

18 minutes ago, Gloves said:

@Lincoln

FYI, the Gamestop internal API looks to be not particularly strict. You can edit the value of the Option tag on the dropdown for radius, and it'll actually pass that value to their server call. Looks like you CAN go too high, but this might help you do more at once at a wider radius, if nothing else.

 

1000 was too high (500 internal server error), but 110 worked fine:

 

So somewhere between 100 and 1000, there's a "highest possible" number, likely due to some timeout or something server-side. Find that sweet spot number and your life is that little bit easier.

 

EDIT: 500 worked fine:

that is an excellent find, thanks. will simplify things considerably. too bad i can't hit that service url directly, that would make it so easy. i was doing that for quite a while but they got smart about it.