Info about Resident Evil 1.5

Sold on an Italian beach? Wow, I need to get somewhere near there this summer. But seriously, never came across anything like that. Usually most of the BETA builds I got back in the day came from some friends (I think I had a Soul Reaver buggy build and something else I forgot entirely).

 

Well, there was that auction earlier this year, where I got not one but TWO extremely rare PlayStation games. One's not so rare anymore (cough-cough), but the other ... well ... I dunno. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it, so I'm just sitting on it for now.

 

Probably washed up ashore.

Actually, did Italy ever really have the whole "PolyStation" thing going? People selling HK Silvers of various games, branded as "PolyStation" titles or "PlayerOne" and shit like that? I know some street vendors in touristy areas in Greece used to sell 'em, in Spain you could find some in certain places too, and in Yemen they were seemingly quite common (When we did mailorders for cheap-o silvers and multi-disc rips and stuff like that, the packs would usually come from Yemen, iirc. The ass old BH2 prototype was usually on those lists, along with some wonky RE3 copy with a trainer applied, some game series crammed on the same disc w/out streamed music and FMVs, etc. and the occational unofficial local lingo translation of stuff, like the Russian versions of the first RE games and such. The odd prototype would pop up every now and then, think stuff like the Tony Hawk Prototype, one of the common Soul Reaver builds and some Tomb Raider proto were amongst the more common ones to bump into, and they'd later also make the rounds on PSX ISO sites, 'cause they were usually pretty barebones and 56k download friendly and perfectly sized for free hosting sites like Geocities/Fortunecity/Tripod/etc... rather than using MyDrive/Freedrive/etc.)

 

Hmm so which Game whould be the second game?? Hmm maybe no other Resident Evil Game I think?!? ^^

 

I think he has Superman, for one.

 

I do ... along with early betas of Red Dead Revolver and Pillage and some PD stuff. The complete listing is available from several sources, if anyone's interested, but it is all safely off-line. I'm not making the same mistake that I did with the 40% build of RE15. As for the PS2 Test console that came with that auction, I've decided to keep it. I'd like to be able to play the Team's RE15 Trial Edition on real hardware, once it's released.

 

So do you upload those things in future for public?

 

Polyphony Digital?

 

Absolutely not. No offense meant, hopefully none taken. I learned my lesson there. I'll do like the real private collectors do, and keep them as trade bait for other things.

 

Much less of a headache than trying to keep track of people trading your stuff away hah. Even in the best of scenarios, you can't trust many of the people around here

 

Well, part of all that was my fault, and I'll readily admit to that. I let myself get too personally involved in the politics of the RE scene. At the same time, though, there were those other two guys (or should I say three?) who took advantage of a screwed-up situation and ran with it for all it was worth. I didn't become aware of what was happening until almost two full days later, due to job pressures at the time. I've since forgiven them - hell, I was young once, and if I had been in their shoes I'd probably have done the same - but I'm not making the same mistake again.

Anyhow, as I was planning on releasing the raw 40% build anyway, once the right conditions were in place. I'd say it all worked out for the best. All they really did was jump the gun, and present it in a way I never intended and never would have approved. Still, it's out now, and that's that. And if I may quote one of the foremost RE authorities on the scene, "The 40% build needs to be made worthless." Well, it has ... and everyone's better off, I say. (big Igrin)

Finally, for what it's worth, I knew when I placed my first bid on that disc that I was "going to lose" everything I spent on it. Why? I intended to release it from the start. See MarkGrass' list of reasons how RE15 would eventually get released. If I remember, it was #3 - the collector with the heart of gold. That was my intent, anyway. The only thing that held me back was D.Birkin's concern about some of the code it contained coupled with the state of the Team's efforts back then. I just wish it hadn't gotten so screwed up. Oh, well. If wishes were horses, we'd all own thundering herds of 'em.

 

That whole fiasco went bad man. The way it all happened... It wasn't your fault man. I was one of the people who you gave the beta to and I kept my word that I wouldn't release it, but the others got way too antsy.

The one major positive now is that collectors can no longer charge an insane amount for the beta. As you said, it's been made worthless. I would even say the 80% build's value has gone down to.

 

If anything, I'd dare say that the "value" of any significantly different build is now likely higher than what was probably originally paid for this one and there's one less bargaining chip available in play (supply and demand) and probably at least a good few people who're now less likely to offer their support, thanks to newfound trust issues or some sort of previously non-existant grudge.

 

Trust issues have been huge trouble with the RE community for quite a long time, from what I could see for myself. Clearly at this point the chances of anything new surfacing is extremely low or close to non-existent.

 

Point taken ... although if it were up to some, nothing would have been released, the 40% build would still be in the tight-fisted hands of a very small and elite group of people in the RE community "saving it" in the vain hopes that the private collectors didn't already have it,and the public at large would be stuck with that earlier forced-release version of RE15 - the MZD build (which isn't that much better, in the opinions of some). That's a whole 'nuther can of worms, though. Perhaps that will help you understand why I forgave the people involved. I understood from where they were coming.

You know, I've already been in touch with several private collectors as I try to pick back up the trail of the final build of RE15. I mentioned to one - we'll call him "Ralph" - that business about saving the 40% build for a better build, and he just laughed at me. He also had some rather nasty things to say about "those dumbasses over there" and such, but I won't repeat them here. He and his fellows don't think very highly of the Team, it seems. Two things I did learn from him, though. First, the private collector community came into possession of the 40% build about when we thought it did, and it had been quite the prize back in its day. Second, although I didn't get any solid leads, he confirmed the Team's story about that private collector and his "other builds." While he wouldn't say that the final build itself was among them, he did say that there was, and I quote, "a very advanced build" of RE15 out there - and then rather sarcastically wished me good luck in trying to find it. So ... I think it's fair to say we'll see results (and better ones, I might add) out of the Team LONG before we luck into another true development build of RE15. I think Gemini's called it right on that point, IMO.

The one good thing that came out of that 40% build release mess, though, is this: everybody learned the Team wasn't lying. The proof was there in downloadable form for anybody to try out for themselves. The 40% build really WAS that broken, as the Team had said all along. Because of that, there's now a real appetite out there for the up-and-coming demo of the Team's build, and that's a good thing. Well ... I think so, anyway. What about you?

 

I truly do appreciate the diplomacy of everyone in this thread. Things may have gotten bad a few times, but we've always defaulted back to civility. I admit, though, it's a shame to think the 80% build will be that much harder to find; Some of us have been waiting half our lives for what has been released so far.

I'll admit that the phrase "a very advanced build" makes my head spin, but I'm not going to let that take away from the wealth of content we've gotten so far.

Perhaps we'll be watching this topic for another 15 years before we get that final piece of RE1.5. I can live with that; I can't think of any other beta game that I'd rather wait around for. (Maybe an old build of Super Mario RPG that contains the scenario involving Mario and Peach locked up in a sewer.)

 

I wonder if there's an even more complete build than the 80% build.... Now that would be something!

 

Amen to that, brother. I'm still sifting through the latest data that's come in from the RE15 email hotline (re15finalbuild@gmail.com). 99% of it is what you'd typically expect (smile), but there's that 1% that makes you wonder. Some of my friends with better contacts than I are chasing that data down in the hopes that it might put us back on the trail of the final build again. In the meantime, though, like Carinvol, Alzaire, and all the other "old hands" did before us, all we can do is wait ... and hope.

And let's not jump on "Ralph," either. Private collectors are who they are, no matter what it is they're collecting. He's probably of that ilk that looks at their collection as an investment, and not for sheer enjoyment. He did prove helpful, though, so I'll take what data he gave me and go from there.

I've got one announcement to make that might cheer everyone up a bit, though. We've secured some major financing from a well-heeled source for the new hunt. I'm not going to say how much is involved; I don't want to make the same mistake the old hands did back in the Bioflames days, before the Curator showed up. Let's just say that money's not going to be an issue for a while. Should this "advanced build" show up - or any other build, for that matter, that the Team or others in the community might desire (I want the best "green sewers" build possible, for one) - then the funds will be there. That's one lesson I learned from the Team's experience, and I hope it bears fruit ... someday.

See y'all next year (grin).

 

Never heard of the RE1.5 email hotline. Definitely a much needed positive update on the search, thanks

 

I'm still sure there will be the day when the 80% build is in our hands, but when that is, might be years and years down the line.