Flintstones Viva Rock Vegas

I would disagree with you there GSL. Legits attitude isn't selfish....his attitude would only be selfish if he bought hte game just so that no-one else could play his White label of it....which is untrue. He bought it so he could play it, not to stop others playing it.

I know its a pain to know some people have unreleased games and wont share (I want to play Castlevania Ressurection _so_ badly), But I also think its unfair to call them selfish for not ripping the games they paid so much for.

 

It's hardly selfish. Maybe he wanted to be one of the few to actually own an unreleased title? And not have all the warez monkies pissing all over it? That sounds fair enough to me.

 

True. While games are made to be played, unreleased games do become an investment oportunity.

However, is the original media distinguishable from the warez-ripped version? I sure hope so, for Legit's sake, because then both parties would have what they want from this deal - wherever anyone stands on the warez issue.

I for one don't think Legit's selfish - nor do I think Warez people do this to directly spite legitimate collectors like him.

It's just a clash of interests.

Plus, the game probably sucks immense amounts of arse, so the only thing about it with any redeemable value is "original" copies like Legit's. Is it not?!

 

I actually disagree - just because Half-Life and Propeller Arena have been released, the value of the GD-ROM discs hasn't plummeted. And also, some whitelabels of the more popular games - ones like Shenmue 2, Skies Of Arcadia, and Rez aren't exactly dirt-cheap either. Going outside Dreamcast as a further example, I hardly think the Earthbound NES or Starfox 2 protos are worthless simply because of the availability of ROM files on the internet.

Basically, the argument that ripped unreleased games hurt the value of originals is bullshit. The games are almost always easy to tell apart by the downsampled audio and video, the custom bootscreens or file comments that warez groups usually always leave, or the rather obvious lack of official label and being on a CD. No my friends, the "a game released will hurt the value of my original!" is just a scare tactic that has been propagated around the internet since game were released. I'm not sure what it accomplishes, aside from giving a few people elitist feelings of pleasure that they have something nobody else does.

Personally, I stand by my conviction that unreleased games should be shared to those of us who can't afford the ridiculous prices that things like this commend. Call it an air of community, of camraderie, or just plain call it selflessness. Either way, your original GD or whitelabel isn't going to depreciate in value because all the people who couldn't afford the game anyway are going to have access to it.

It's funny... I have no interest whatsoever in this game, but it's the same attitude that is most likely ensuring things like Castlevania Resurrection, Soul Reaver 2 on Dreamcast, or a number of other games will never see the light of day, and I can't help but be annoyed by it.

 

I may be a bit greedy and selfish (ain't we all though to some extent, whether we are aware of it or not...) but that's not why I was pissed nor the reason I got it. Already had all this out on DreamcastHistory a week or 2 ago hehe. There may be so few of these games unreleased games to the public because [1] the games may have never got onto any media to rip as they had no need at the time to move off the GD-M [2] the game never got far enough into development to have many GD-R floating about (also similar to point [1]) [3] they may be in the hands of people who don't use the internet, or not within certain established circles [4] peeps may have them and keeping hold of them in a "my dick is bigger than yours" ego trip kind of way ... [5] people may have them and not know how to rip them, but don't want to break the law and get caught [6] the game could have come at a great expense and as much as they would like everyone to play it, they want to protect their investment [7] the game is unreleased anyway, so by the owner keeping it to themselves the community loses nothing, nor should they expect to have it as if they have the right to just because someone has it.

That and it expanded my collection of white labels - gotta catch 'em all ;-)

That too! Ripping the game = losing my investment - and the investment didn't come cheap. it was 100euros, added to the fact I'm unemployed and it cost me the equivalent of 2 weeks food, rent and the rest of it money doesn't help matters at all.

How many people will be willing to spend hundreds or thousands on a game the rest of the world (maybe themselves included) have been playing for free? Whilst maybe it would not put off the wealthy hardcore collectors so much, being a collector and poor It would rule me out completely. I have no interest in paying $100 - $1500 for a game when 6 billion people have to pay $0 for the exact same thing and I'm not alone in that mentality.Yes there is still the original media ... which wil leventually degrade and be worthless within 10 - 100 years anyway but it's hardly the same as having an unripped game or stage of development...

Those of you have played it on white label or the rip would know how much the game sucks .. Would you really have been missing out on anything had it not been ripped? Would you also be willing to pay copious amounts for it now that the planet can play it for $0 and you've witnessed 1st hand how much it sucks?

 

I personally know the person who ripped The Flintstones and yes I had it on my Hard Drive before most of you knew about it. I won't be putting it up for download in respect to our fellow member LeGIt. Maybe in the future I will but for now please look elsewhere. I will tell you that it's not a complete game. It's defiantly a 80% or so build. The chip generated music f*cks up sometimes and it's very easy to crash the game or drive to places you're not meant to. Overall it's a pretty crap game. Even if it was finished it would still be crap. The handling of the cars it just sooooo bad.

Yakumo

 

Any screens available?

 

legit, you havent lost 100euros.... I'm still willing to buy the disc for 100euros... and there will be allot of other potential buyers who would pay the same (or even more) for it!

 

Wait Wombat, you're not supposed to do that - it's worthless now, remember? It's been released on the internet!!

*sigh* You don't understand the way the rarity game works... :-(

</sarcasm> ;-)

 

These are all available as MP3 - hence the seller is a ripoff, they're all worth shit! :smt042

 

I'm sure google will turn up some.

Yakumo

 

Yes! Since the original demo is quite different from ripped versions, it's still worth something as an investment (however crappy the game itself is), no matter how many of the ripped version copies exist.

Both products are on different supply/demand curves - simply because they are built to satisfy different necessities

Product A, the Original disc mister Legit owns has a very small supply, so if there's X demand for it, the price CAN still be extremely high, even if product B exists - because product B satisfies the necessity to play this particular title, whereas product A satisfies the necessity to collect. Thus, the supply of product B may rise exponentially and will only affect the demand/price of B, whilst leaving A without change.

That way, fortunately, Legit's collectible does not devaluate, since it has different characteristics and purpose from that of the cracked version - and since they're different, the supply of B does not affect the price of A.

What worries me, however, is that the videogame industry might be affected by the speculation of collectors - creating a demand for "collectors" items that creates a wide supply, thus negating the rarity value.
Sounds like paranoid ranting, but it all but destroyed the comic-book industry in the early 90s or late 80s, did it not?

 

no mather if the game is hot or not, it's still a prototype of a never released game from a classic serie....and it's for the dreamcast, so we need an iso of it! :smt045

 

I say piracy does affect the value of games.

Take eBay. Collectable games are bought by 2 types of people

1. Gamers
2. Collectors

Not to say you can't be both, but I mean people who wanna play the game, and people who want to have it in pristine condition with inserts etc.

Category 2 people are always going to pay high (or what they think its worth) to get it. Category 1 people is a mixture of gamers who don't mind paying stupid prices to play a game (aka Neo Geo owners ;-)) and people who object to paying a lot for a game.

If those who object to paying can download a game for free, they no longer have interest in purchasing the original. Therefore fewer people bid, therefore it goes for less.

I just don't condone piracy. People can moan all they want that a collector sits on a game. It is that person's choice. They don't have this automatic right to play a game that they think they do.

Wasn't this game ripped a while back anyway?

 

That makes little sence. Purely because the people you are talking about are people who would of made the small priced bids because they wouldnt pay much for the game. The collectors and gamers willing to pay do want the original discs and will be still willing to pay good money.

 

You can't compare the price of warez to the price of an original disc.

...An original disc will always be worth, whatever it's worth, in my opinion.

...An original disc will always keep its value due to it's rarity.

...A true enthusiast or collector will always pay top dollar to get the original.


Warez has a totally different 'throw-away' type market.

...People who 'enjoy' warez expect it to be 'free' and take things no further.


Two totally different market forces, thankfully :smt023

 

Well I erm...Acquired the game last night, and have just had a quick 5 minute play. And it is absolutely appaling. Sound is dull, just some music in the background and in the car i used (Fred Flintstones) what is supposedly the pattering of his feet. The graphics look like they've come straight out of the very very early PS/SS games. The handling is pretty bad, although not as bad as i have heard from some people. Basically a Shite game. Can take some screenshots if people want at some point

 

Msiter OldEngineer, Sir.

I am in fact saying the same thing you are. There are no differences in the collectors market because the Warez Market offers a whole different, more superficial, satisfaction to a necessity that's different from that of collectors.

thus, both curves are independent and a shift in supply in curve B does not affect demand or price in curve A.

Which is good news for Legit and other Legitimate collectors, but also does indicate that Piracy does not directly affect the core market of legitimate games (while it may cost it some of its more fickle customers, or attract customers where legitimate games are not available, and become an "A-Curve" luxury)

 

Spot on :smt023

 

You want picture? You've got'em :-D Sorry for the crap quality but I couldn't really be bothered to take any.






Yakumo