RE: [SWCollect] Auctions 101 for newbies
--On Tuesday, June 25, 2002 9:31 PM -0700 Hugh Falk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [Snip] > Finally, I've never done this, but I've seen others who do. This might be > pushing your moral boundaries, but I'll leave it to you. You can make > reference in your ad to something that is a popular search item (like > Ultima). For example, "I'm selling my most prized possessions, including > my rare Ultima 1 and Akalabeth. See my other auctions" So when > people search for Ultima, they get your items as well. I know this might > annoy some of you...DON'T FLAME ME! I've never done this, but I've found > many good items this way I wouldn't have found otherwise. On a practical note, this is likely considered 'keyword spamming' by eBay. If someone gets irritated enough to complain eBay will pull your auctions and possibly suspend your account temporarily. I know as a buyer if I'm looking for stuff I really don't want to see pages of items that aren't relevant to my search. If I'm interested in a seller I'll check out their auctions though and I don't mind a simple, 'I'm selling lots of stuff, please check out my other auctions' link. I pretty much agree with the rest of the other excellent advice you've been given. The one counterpoint I would make is that if you aren't going to be selling over the long haul and if getting your money is important carefully consider using Paypal. Since I'm a very occassional buyer I don't use it. The hassles of someone deciding to be a jerk and doing a charge back months later isn't something I want to do deal with. Thus I require money orders or cashiers checks only and I explain in my auction _why_. The problem isn't so bad in computer games, but in my experience current computer hardware and console games of any generation seem to have a high number, well, too high for my tastes :), of deadbeat buyers. Again, if you want to sell on a regular basis Mr. Forman is spot on and Paypal is one of those costs of doing business. Oh, I'd make sure you pay for any insurance on an item you ship. As far as eBay is concerned the seller is completely responsible for an item until the buyer receives it. Also, when I ship via USPS Priority Mail I spring for the delivery confirmation. That allows my to check online if an item was delivered. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Auctions 102
--On Friday, June 28, 2002 12:47 PM -0500 "C.E. Forman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [Snip] > Sounds like you're speaking from experience here, Fortran... Care to > elaborate? Luckily for me I've never had to deal with Paypal as a seller. My knowledge of the horror stories of Paypal comes from talking with people that make their living selling on eBay. They basically accept they need to have Paypal/Billpoint/Bidpay accounts just like most business accept credit cards. I don't mean to single out Paypal because they all can have problems. Generally most of the online payment systems work well, but when they don't it can make you so soured you don't want to ever deal with them again. My main concern was to make sure Mr. Leonard knew there were some potential downsides to Paypal et al.. When you are in a situation where you have serious money problems, which I understand all too well, potentially having money you counted on suddenly get taken away from you may not a risk you want to take. Or if you do, don't tie it your normal checking/savings account. Oh, also, if you want a good source of information on eBay and a place to ask questions, check out the Usenet newsgroup alt.marketing.online.ebay. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Auctions 102
--On Monday, July 1, 2002 2:08 PM -0400 Adam Baratz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [Snip] > I believe the main "problem" was that in order to track down people using > PayPal maliciously, they were locking down the accounts of those malicious > people as well as the naive people they were doing transactions with. I > think those were the only people who got much trouble. In short, just be > sure you're dealing with an honest person. Which you won't know until after the deal is well completed. ;-) eBay's feedback system isn't always an accurate indicator of future actions either. I've had problems with people having hundreds of positive feedback and no negs as well as the proverbial newbie with less than ten feedback. The negative feedback is less than perfect because a number of people choose to say nothing rather than risk the chance of getting a retaliatory negative after leaving a negative comment. Again, the systems generally work correctly. Only Mr. Leonard can decide if his situation will withstand a worst-case scenario. We would be remiss however if we didn't indicate that there might be some worst cases and what some of those worst cases might be. What you choose to do as a hobby is different than what you choose to do if you were trying to raise cash when unemployed. The former is a major irritation, while the latter could be financially devastating. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] eBay Actually INCREASES Functionality!
--On Tuesday, July 23, 2002 6:43 PM -0500 "C.E. Forman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > You got PHP? I would be interested in the script, as well. Thanks, Edward -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Re: The World of Roland
--On Friday, August 9, 2002 11:30 AM -0500 Jim Leonard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [Snip] >> I also have two questions left: I won't be able to plug _both_ to my >> sound system, will I? > > If your stereo has multiple inputs on your receiver, of course you can. > No game will use both of them at the same time so you can switch as > necessary. If you only have one connection on your stereo, you can use a > Y-cable, but this reduces the sound output of both devices by half and I > don't recommend it. For both devices to a single output, you would be > better off with a simple mixer. I use the MidiMan multimixer 10 > (http://www.midiman.net/products/m-audio/multi10.php) but something as > simple as the multimixer 6 > (http://www.midiman.net/products/m-audio/multi6.php) should work too. I > bought my 10 for $99 at www.audiomidi.com, so the "street" prices are > lower than the MSRP you see on the manufacturer's website. And using a > mixer means that you can hook up a Sound Blaster as well and hear them > all at the same time -- Sound Blaster for sound effects playing at the > same time you hear wonderful music (some games allow you to choose > different devices for effects and music). Wing Commander 1 and 2 in > particular use this to great effect, especially if you have the Speech > Pack. It's cool hearing cinematic music taking a turn for the worse as > your damage mounts, and your radio crackles with your enemies mocking you > and your wingmen screaming as they go down :-) I have both an MT-32 and an SC-55. I went with external units so that I could plug and unplug as needed for games. I used a midi cable to connect the midi port on my SB Audigy (was an AWE64, later a SB Live!) to the Roland unit and then fed the outputs of each Roland via a reverse splitter back into the LineIn jack of the soundcard. Once I built my retro-gaming PC (MS-DOS 6.22/WfW 3.11/Win98) I just duplicated the setup on that machine. Now if I want to play the more finicky games (Ultima VII) I don't have to move hardware around. Of course, I can get away with this because my wife and I have set aside a bedroom as a dedicated 'computer room'. Having the space for multiple computers is really nice. > Let me know how it goes, and what games you feel are more significantly > enhanced by the music, I'm curious... The MT-32 definitely enhances Ultima VII (the main game I bought it for), plus the Sierra titles such as Quest for Glory 1 are much nicer with the full Roland support over the simpler Adlib. I will say, however, that if you've gotten used to the music of one type of soundcard anything else will sound odd at first. Once the music burns itself into your cerebral cortex variations are unsettling. :) -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Re: The World of Roland
--On Sunday, August 11, 2002 10:55 AM +0100 Pedro Quaresma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [Snip] >> I have both an MT-32 and an SC-55. I went with external >> units so that I could plug and unplug as needed for >> games. I used a midi cable to connect the midi port on my SB Audigy >> (was an AWE64, later a SB Live!) to the Roland unit and then fed the >> outputs of each Roland via a reverse splitter back into the LineIn jack >> of the soundcard. > > Adding a question here Edward: can you too be a bit more descriptive > about the cables? I don't understand a thing about audio audio cables, > unfortunately. Sure. I had the same problems myself. I had to figure out what I needed by asking people and doing some websearches. Ok, here are the cables and adapters you need to hook up an MT-32 to a sound card (I'm assuming a typical SoundBlaster or clone) with a MIDI port and a line-in jack. Each of these links has a picture so you can see the exact cable. A) The MIDI cable <http://www.cablesnmor.com/midi-cable.html> B) The 1/4 inch to RCA *mono* adapter <http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname= CTLG%5F005%5F003%5F009%5F004&product%5Fid=274%2D320> C) Stereo to RCA Y adapter <http://www.cablesnmor.com/w13200.html> D) Male to Female Stereo extension cable <http://www.cablesnmor.com/stereo-extension-cables.html> Notes: 1) Make sure you plug the MIDI-OUT connector on the cable to the MIDI-IN hole on the MT-32 and the MIDI-IN connector on the cable to the MIDI-OUT hole on the MT-32. I screwed up at first and did IN to IN and OUT to OUT which is wrong. 2) Make sure you get the *mono* adapter. I bought stereo adapters the first time around which won't work. The mono adapter will connect properly to C which is what combines the two mono singles into a stereo signal for your sound card's line-in jack. 3) On your sound card make sure you enable the line in and set the volume accordingly. Also, if you are using the MT-32 under Windows you might need to change the control panel setting for a SoundBlaster so all MIDI stuff goes out through the MIDI port instead of to the SoundBlaster's MIDI unit. 4) For my SC-55 I just needed A, C, & D. >> Once I built my retro-gaming PC (MS-DOS 6.22/WfW >> 3.11/Win98) I just duplicated the setup on that >> machine. Now if I want to play the more finicky games (Ultima VII) I >> don't have to move hardware around. > > But you didn't port either your AWE64 or your SB Live! to your > retro-gaming PC too, did you? I put the AWE64 (an Value version) in my retro-gaming PC. Since I already had the card it was the easiest one to use, plus I thought it would be the most compatible card for older games. The Live! would have been wasted there simply because it is a Live! Platinum and I have other Windows PCs where the LiveDrive would be more useful. ;-) Oh, another thing I did was to use two video cards. I use a Riva128 card for 2D graphics and a Voodoo2 (Diamond Monster with a 'whopping' 12MB of video RAM) for those games that support Glide. The Riva128 is useful in that it also has Windows 3.x drivers for those times that I want to tempt fate and try to game under Windows 3.x. I can give you a complete listing of what I did with that PC if you are interested. [Snip] >> The MT-32 definitely enhances Ultima VII (the main game >> I bought it for), plus the Sierra titles such as Quest >> for Glory 1 are much nicer with the full Roland support over the >> simpler Adlib. > > QfG1 EGA or the VGA version? It's a game I'm bound to try as it was the > game that made me fall in love with RPGs. Both. I'm using the Quest for Glory Anthology so I'm trying out each version. [Snip] >> I will say, however, that if you've gotten used to the >> music of one type of soundcard anything else will sound >> odd at first. Once the music burns itself into your cerebral cortex >> variations are unsettling. :) > > I've noticed this when trying MT32 emulation with my SBAWE64 playing > Ultima 6 actually :) I'll let you all know how it sounds with the "real > thing". You might not notice a difference with Ultima 6. I don't think Origin used the SysEx commands on the MT-32 in Ultima 6. They most definitely did on Ultima VII and the AWE64 does _not_ emulate the SysEx commands. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
RE: [SWCollect] Massive Ultima collection
--On Sunday, August 11, 2002 10:53 AM -0700 Hugh Falk <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Um...how can you tell how much he wants > > It is an impressive collection though. I wonder if that CPC Programe version of Ultima comes with the Japanese instructions? -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Massive Ultima collection
--On Sunday, August 11, 2002 2:06 PM -0500 Jim Leonard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [Snip] > But look at those trinkets!!! There's shit in there I didn't even know > existed! Truly impressive. Japan always seemed to get the best trinkets. :-/ -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Re: The World of Roland
--On Monday, August 12, 2002 2:35 PM +0100 Pedro Quaresma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [Snip] > If I'm hooking up a MT32 to a SB sound card does this mean I won't be > needing the midi interface card anymore? No, you won't need that. You would only need that if you didn't have a sound card, but wanted to use the MT-32. [Snip] > How do I distinguish the "mono" adapter from any "stereo" adapter? I have > an adaptor pretty much like that one in the picture, but I don't know if > it's a stereo or mono one... Here's a link to the stereo adapter <http://www.cablesnmor.com/stereo-adapter.html>. It isn't the best picture, but if you look closely you'll notice _two_ black rings. Those rings separate the plug connection so that you can send two channels (stereo) signals through it. The mono plug has one ring which means only one channel of sound. Using a stereo plug means that the signals don't get combined properly in the Y adapter cable. I don't know exactly where things go wrong in the stereo adapters, but I know the mono adapters work correctly. :) [Snip] > What do you mean by "enable the line in"? Make sure the line-in isn't muted or the volume for it isn't set to zero. I can't give you more precise instructions without knowing which particular sound card/DOS drivers/Windows version/etc.. You'll have to check your documentation for more details. [Snip] > The D was only need for a matter of distance between the Roland and the > computer, I assume? Exactly. I have my computers on the floor (they are towers) and the Roland units on the desktop. A 1 to 2 meter cable should be more than enough length for you, but you'll have to measure things to make sure. [Snip] > I'll most probably use the SB16, since the SBPro is currently in use. For > the games I'm wanting to play (U6, U7, BaK) I think it'll be enough. I agree. Most games seem to be quite happy with an SB Pro, so the SB16 should be just fine. >> I can give you a complete listing of what I did with >> that PC if you are interested. > > If possible, that would be great :) I'll answer this part in another email. I don't want to hold this one up any longer. [Snip] > At least the music must sound a bit better than with simply a SBPro! Oh yes. :-D The Roland sound samples are just superb to my non-musician ears. > >> They most definitely did >> on Ultima VII and the AWE64 does _not_ emulate the SysEx commands. > > Please explain a bit further. Are there SysEx messages too on MT32 when > playing U7? SysEx messages are System Exclusive commands that set the MT-32 up to play the following MIDI sounds a certain way. When you load Ultima 7 you should see something like "Origin Sound System!" on the MT-32 while the game loads some SysEx commands for the opening intro. After the Guardian's speech is done you'll see it again just before you get the menu screen. And once more when you Journey Onward. :) So, while some sound cards say they emulate an MT-32, they only emulate the default sounds of an MT-32. Unfortunately that is only part of what a real MT-32 (or compatible Roland sound card) can do. Without the SysEx commands you still won't get the full music/sound you would with the genuine stuff. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] The Motherlode
On Tuesday, September 10, 2002, at 06:26 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: [Snip] > Personally I'd love to pool money with a bunch of other collectors and > buy > it up, but then we're faced with the impossible question of who gets > what. > B-) Highest Pac-Man scores picks first. ;-) Or, if you wanted to follow similar rules to the Curious Republic of Gondor, the person that contributed the most money would get to pick first... -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Buy 1 get 2
On Tuesday, September 17, 2002, at 11:27 AM, Lee K. Seitz wrote:
[Snip]
> a) the thrift store I bought this game at was selling it to me
> illegally. ("[...] selling [...] this product is a violation of
> law.") Does this mean Ye Olde Infocomme Shoppe is into hard-core
> piracy just by reselling original copies? Or am I reading this term
> too literally?
License agreements aren't necessarily legally binding. Lawyers love
to load up agreements with everything possible hoping that something
will stick. :) (Side note: which is why lots of agreements have a
clause stating that if one part is struck down you agree the other
clauses still hold.) First sale doctrine (here in the US, anyway)
would most likely override that clause of the Ballyhoo license
agreement. The same arguments were played out with used book sellers
and publishers at the turn of last century.
> b) even if this was considered a legal copy, I cannot play it on my
> Palm using an Infocom emulator. ("[...] intended [...] for use only
> on the computer system specified," which is IBM PC/MS-DOS compatible
> computers in this case.) Likewise, I can't play my Apple II Infocom
> games on my PC using an Apple II emulator.
Fair Use should apply here. Otherwise those of use that copied our
LPs to cassette tapes or our CDs to MP3s for our own personal use would
be rampant lawbreakers.
Of course, all of this is still being hashed out or has to be hashed
out in the court system. :sigh:
--
Edward Franks
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
--
This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to
the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect'
Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] computergamecollector
On Wednesday, September 18, 2002, at 01:21 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: > Alexander Zoller wrote: >> >> Can't say I ever heard of him before... I'd probably know his eBay ID >> if I see it. Site is employing a price guide for mint sealed games, >> this >> ought to create some controversy. > > Whoa, I didn't catch that at all! Not good... I like the availabilities of "not sure", "rare", "extremely rare", and "insanely rare". :) -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Piracy Today
On Wednesday, September 18, 2002, at 05:16 PM, Adam Baratz wrote: >>> The Bilestoad was an awesome Apple II game... >> And some additional notes for Adam... > > Thanks for all the info and links. That's really too bad that piracy > basically bankrupted him. I wonder if piracy today still proves to be > as > much of a problem. People like the IDSA certainly make a big deal > about it, > but I wonder if it's just an issue of upholding their copyrights. There was a good article on Gamasutra <http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20011017/dodd_01.htm> that went into the technical details of current console game copy protection. Basically, most of the companies have about two months to make 30 to 50% of their money on the games they create. This is because most of the sales happen in the first two months. :-/ If they get widely pirated in those first couple of months they are sunk. Here <http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ newsdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number=14&article=52> is also an article from a shareware game developer called Ambrosia Software. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Saturday, October 5, 2002, at 01:10 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: [Snip] > That's the worst part of it. They decrease their costs but don't pass > any > savings on to us. (Same way movie theaters piss me off by showing 10 > commercials before a flick while ticket prices remain constant.) I imagine their development costs have sky-rocketed to the point that they are just breaking even or making a small increase in profit. An example: One of the reasons Origin was sold to EA is that the price to create an Ultima shot up tremendously, but the total sales of each Ultima had remained flat since Ultima III. In the decade since that happened the situation has gotten far worse. The then unimaginable $14 million costs of Wing Commander III look fairly reasonable these days. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Saturday, October 5, 2002, at 01:04 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: [Snip] > That and bulk lots. With a price guide, someone can go through every > game > they have, add up the "prices", and there's no shot at a bargain. > (Worse, > they'll pick the good stuff out and sell it separately.) I don't like > to > rip people off, but I do like to get bargains. If we reach a price > where > they're happy and I'm happy, that's great. A price guide would pull > the two > sides in different directions, making that difficult to achieve. The other difficulty with price guides is that they don't reflect regional (or national) variations in prices. One price does *not* fit all. Also, I would second your comments on buyers determining the values of their games. Most people look at the high end prices if there is a price guide and assume that is the going rate for whatever they have. They 'bond' with that price and tend to be unhappy if their stuff doesn't fetch that amount. If someone was going to keep a price guide I'd like to be able to see the data behind it. Knowing how many data points make up that price (and who the buyer was) is crucial. I personally wouldn't accept any number as reliable until it was backed up by at least a 100 sales/auctions over the course of a couple of years. For example, one shrinkwrapped Apple II Starcross saucer driven up to $2,000 in an auction isn't a number with any relevance to long term collectibility. This is where it would be invaluable for eBay to make the results all of its past auctions available. :sigh: -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Friday, October 4, 2002, at 10:54 PM, Hugh Falk wrote: [Snip] > However, the news for me is that I don't have it anymore :-(. I've > moved > from Florida to California, and I couldn't take my house with me > (which is > unfortunate since houses are so expensive out here). I'm renting > right now, > but when I buy, there will be another room with another set of similar > shelves. One of the things we did was to buy the stackable, collapsable wooden bookshelves. You can stack two together and have a nice bookshelf for odd (small) sections of the wall or put them side by side in a spare room's closet. Our problem is that we have far more books than we do games, so our bigger bookshelves are needed for books :) (including the huge living room one that is built into the wall -- think of a large bookcase 12 feet high and 11 feet wide). -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Wednesday, October 2, 2002, at 05:12 PM, CcomputerGameCollector wrote: [Snip] > Let's hope that the number of people collecting computer games is > growing > though. That's what we all want, isn't it? The more people who get > into > collecting classic computer games, the funner, and more valuable > everything > will become. Only then will long-time collectors benifit from being > in on > the "ground level" so to speak. The main goal of my website is to > promote > all facets of collecting classic computer games, be it by trading, > buying, > selling or auctioning, and provide basic information about box types & > releases. It's all done with hopes that the community will grow as a > result. Ya know? The downside is that you can attract the speculators who buy up anything that is shrinkwrapped or vaguely collectible. The speculators can really create a boom/bust cycle for those casual people that just want to have fun picking up and/or trading some old games they have fond memories about. (The speculators damned near killed the comics market because Marvel tried harder and harder to make their mass produced comics appear collectible. The two feed each other in an ugly parasitical relationship.) Without the casual collectors game collecting in general will stay pretty static. For me, the fun is in picking up a complete copy of old games that I can _play_. Though I have a few only-copy-I-know-of games, most of my stuff is fairly common. I want to enjoy my games, not look at them unable to examine the actual contents. YMMV. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Wednesday, October 2, 2002, at 03:18 PM, CcomputerGameCollector wrote: [Snip] > I think what computer software packaging has become is disguisting. > Tiny > boxes, and NEVER shrinkwrapped. It's sad, esp. in a time where some > of the > coolest boxes could probably be created. Was there an offical "cut > off" > time where the packaging of games changed so much? I mean, I've always > visited the computer stores over the years, and noticed the slow > change, but > I just suddenly realized that a computer game shelf doesn't look > anything > like it used to.. Part of that is because it costs big bucks to buy that shelf space in stores like Wal-Mart or Best Buy. Smaller boxes means you can put more SKUs on the shelf and hopefully means more money (from the companies' viewpoint). Just be glad that we aren't at the stage of the console games where all you get is a CD and jewel case. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Saturday, October 5, 2002, at 02:59 PM, CcomputerGameCollector wrote: [Snip] > If I want to play any of the old games, they are relatively easy to > acquire > these days over the net. Unfortunately that's true. As a programmer I tend to view piracy (or abandonware for those too delicate to pirate ;-)) in a very negative light. Abiding by the law you want to protect you and all that. > I agree that it is cool to see the contents of the > boxes, but it's also very cool to own an old piece with it's original > wrap > on it. Yes, it is. Just realize that not everyone values a game in shrinkwrap as a being worthy of a premium. Another thing to affect a potential price guide... > I'm not sure what your point was with the speculators though. When you talk about more people becoming collectors and thus making peoples' collections more valuable you are opening the door to the speculators to potentially have a strong negative affect on prices. I remember a number of Ultima fans complaining that the prices had gone crazy for the older games when people were trying to by them as some sort of quick money machine. People that just wanted a modest copy of the seminal Utimas were frozen out of the market for a time. This seems to have corrected itself since the death of the Ultima series, but I wonder how many potential collectors never bothered trying to pick up old favorites because the Ultima they remembered and loved wasn't available at a sane price? Note: I'm making a distinction between someone that speculates on games or even tries to artificially keep the prices up and a collector that buys and sells their games at a profit (for fun or to pay for their own collection). A fair and healthy profit is a Good Thing for collectors as a whole because it keeps a steady supply of quality games on the market. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Saturday, October 5, 2002, at 03:12 PM, CcomputerGameCollector wrote: [Snip] > With CGC, I don't plan on representing an "exact" value, which is why > I use > the range approach. (I.E. $20 - $40) And given human nature people will focus on the high end of your range. :-D After all, that means their game is worth more money. [Snip] > Wether there is a price guide price or not, people have an idea about > what a > game is worth. For many games, yes. For some, no. For example, what is the worth of one of Richard Garriott's twelve Computerland Akalabeths? The sample size is just too small to determine a fair market value for one of them. It is too easy for someone to fall in love with the idea of owning one and paying 'whatever it takes' for someone to assign a reasonable value/worth to one. It gets even worse if a game hasn't been seen yet. Mr. Falk once stated in an article that Mt. Drash might be worth over $2,000 if one was found. He was only off by nearly an order of magnitude from what my only known complete copy was purchased for. ;-) I mean, just what *is* Mt. Drash worth? There is only one complete one and one partial one known (to me) to exist. There are more RG Computerland Akalabeths around than known Mt Drashs. Does this make Mt. Drash worth more than Akalabeth? And how would one determine the worth of my complete copy of an Apple II Personal Software Zork still in 95% shrinkwrap (only the top of the shrinkwrap/box is open)? Zork 1 is certainly a much more important and seminal game than Akalabeth! (I say that as a big time Ultima fan, by the way.) On the other hand, take a grey box Zork 1 with everything in good shape. There are enough of these around that one can look at the overall sales/auction prices and figure what, on average, it is worth. This is not to say a price guide is worthless. I think one would be doable for many games. My mine problem with them is educating potential buyers and sellers to all the caveats and assumptions behind the numbers. Too many people take any number they see written down as gospel. :sigh: In the comics world many people will check several different price guides and take the highest one they find. And this is after 20+ years of trying to educate the market. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Saturday, October 5, 2002, at 03:13 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: [Snip] > Exactly. That was (to my knowledge) the first shrinked saucer ever > listed, > and it created quite a stir. The last one, IIRC, fetched around $600 > - $800 > which is a bit more reasonable, though still more than I'd go. It's > hard to > set a good price on items you rarely if ever see up for sale. (Wonder > what > the "going rate" for Mt. Drash would be.) That's the problem. Is Mt. Drash only worth what I paid for it or is it worth more? (See my previous email about my speculations about the problems determining its worth.) [Snip] > Good luck there. I doubt they've even kept data going back that far. Oh, I know it is a pipe dream. eBay has decided to chase after the big corporate sellers in order to fuel their growth. The small personal seller and buyer aren't a market that is going to sustain their Wall Street focussed growth. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Saturday, October 5, 2002, at 07:37 PM, Hugh Falk wrote: > I didn't know there was a shrink-wrapped Personal Software version of > Zork. > My PS Zork is in a magazine-sized ziploc. What kind of box is yours? > Do > you have a scan? > Here you go <http://homepage.mac.com/fortranamid/PhotoAlbum1.html>. Given the fragility of the box it is in pretty good shape for something that was sold in a United Kingdom software store. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Saturday, October 5, 2002, at 07:39 PM, Hugh Falk wrote: > Do you mind giving a "range" for what you paid for Drash? :-) :chuckle: I paid exactly what I offered for three years in comp.sys.cbm. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Saturday, October 5, 2002, at 10:44 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: > I remember this auction. Gave up around $300 myself. It's an Apple II > version, right? Smaller manual than the TRS-80, which is about the > size of > an Infocom folio. This is the only boxed PS Zork I've ever seen, > though I > have a loose disk and manual. Wonder how the heck it ended up in the > U.K. Yes, this is the Apple II version. The disk is in working condition (I've since backed it up). This is what the seller told me: "I mentioned working in Microdigital, Liverpool in a previous message... well, that was pretty much the first retail microcomputer outlet in the UK - Apple IIs being their main product - hence they used to sell the software too. It was around summer 1981 that I joined them. Not only was Zork still a Personal Software release back then, but Visicalc was one of theirs too - before they went their own way, like Infocom, and became Visicorp. These were the days when Microsoft's biggest product was probably the Z-80 & CP/M card/software they made for the Apple II!" He was a really nice guy and it tickled me to know that the price I paid him funded his and his girlfriend's vacation to Spain. :) I was recently reminded of all of this when I saw you comments on YOIS about wished you had bid more for this Zork. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Sunday, October 6, 2002, at 08:07 AM, Alexander Zoller wrote: [Snip] > It's obviously futile to debate the value of this game. I'd call it a > safe > bet though it would fetch a princely sum on eBay. Personally I wouldn't > hesitate to put down serious money myself, I'm actually keeping some > substantial funds aside for the day a Drash should come along. I've always wondered what John Romero would pay for one (assuming he doesn't have one already). :) He's a big time Ultima and Apple ][ fan. I think he would be a great member of this list if he isn't already. > > As for the Computerland Aks, I'm not so sure anymore if there really > are > more around than Drashs. Only if you count those Akalabeths assembled > recently from parts, and their number will increase further as Richard > is handing them out in exchange for small favors ;) I remember the guy that runs the Origin Museum claiming that there are four of the original twelve currently known to exist. Since that is one of his specialties I see no reason to doubt him. > In any case, Drash must be worth less than one of the Twelve > Akalabeths, > with just a few copies of both titles around it's the significance that > counts, not their exact number. I'd say Akalabeth had a _slightly_ > greater > impact on the history of computer games. No, if you said Ultima III or IV, I would agree with you. However, Akalabeth is only important in that it lead to Ultima. It was the Ultimas that everyone tried to imitate. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Sunday, October 6, 2002, at 08:26 AM, Alexander Zoller wrote: > *stares* > > A decent price, really ;) It took three years for someone to agree with me on the price. :) Even then I had a number of people try to scam me, but the magic word "COD" tended to ward those off quickly. Though one guy might of actually had one or access to one because he knew what the back of the box said. > > I have a definite (and highly self-seeking) interest in playing down > the > value of Drash, because settling it in the $2000 area would put it out > of > reach (for the time being anyway). Nonetheless it's probably correct to > say at least a half dozen collectors would consider paying several > times > the amount you offered. This is the conundrum of high prices and eBay. A high price on eBay tends to draw out other copies for sale (thus generally driving done the prices). A rare $20 item just doesn't get people excited enough to sell their old junk, while a rare $500 item will flush a few more out over thime. > > Btw, I believe that only a fraction of the Ultima collectors is > actually > regarding Drash as something special and ultra-collectible. To many, > it's > merely an obscure and poorly designed offshoot that can only claim > Ultima > fame and value by its title. Oh, I agree that it is a minor game that is Ultima in name only. The only unusual thing about it is the fact that it is so scarce. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Sunday, October 6, 2002, at 08:07 AM, Alexander Zoller wrote: [Snip] > It's obviously futile to debate the value of this game. I'd call it a > safe > bet though it would fetch a princely sum on eBay. Personally I wouldn't > hesitate to put down serious money myself, I'm actually keeping some > substantial funds aside for the day a Drash should come along. I am, unfortunately, in the position of looking at some serious medical bills. At this point if I could sell Drash for enough to make a dent in those bills I would (it wouldn't be worth it for any thing less -- I have enough minor stuff I can sell/auction off). -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Tuesday, October 15, 2002, at 05:42 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: >> I am, unfortunately, in the position of looking at some serious >> medical bills. At this point if I could sell Drash for enough to make >> a dent in those bills I would (it wouldn't be worth it for any thing >> less -- I have enough minor stuff I can sell/auction off). > > Aw man, sorry to hear that, Fortran. Nothing terminal, I hope. Nothing less than something terminal would get me to part with Drash. ;-) Seriously, my wife has been diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. Barring a miracle, the lung cancer is basically incurable. I feel awkward bringing it up, but I'm interested in getting all the advice I can about selling Drash. > I agree with Alexander's advice. Sell your lesser stuff first if you > have > to. You can always find another big-box Ultima II, but that Drash is > pretty > irreplaceable. If you're auctioning stuff, let the other Dragons > know, and > mention in your listings that it's for medical expenses: You might be > surprised by how generous people are. I remember when (the late) > George > Alec Effinger when auctioning stuff to pay for his hospital bills, the > fans > really came out to help him. I've thought about running a reserve price auction on Drash. I know as a buyer reserves are annoying, but if I can't reach my reserve it wouldn't be worth selling the game. I've also thought about making the auction 'private' in the sense you wouldn't know who would be bidding on the game. Do you all think that this would be a good idea or a bad one? I thought about posting the auction and the whys of the auction to the appropriate newsgroups. I could also email some collectors/Ultima people such as John Romero or even Richard Garriott himself. If I do this I would want to make a real production of it (for obvious reasons). Any suggestions are welcome. :) -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Tuesday, October 15, 2002, at 08:57 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: [Snip] > Definitely a good one, in the sense that you'd be sparing the winner > from > being harrassed with requests for image copies. But do offer to > e-mail an > HTML version of the final auction page after close (with the winning > bidder's info edited out of course) so people can at least check on the > other bidders and get assurance that you're not using shilling to > drive the > price up. (Then again, you have a good rep as one of the Dragons, > hopefully > this wouldn't be necessary. But it never hurts to be proactive and > assure > your public.) Hmm. I'm not sure about that. Letting everyone know who bid, except for the winning bidder seems to me to be killing the idea of a private auction. Maybe if I gave the list to the winning bidder since they are the one who would be most vulnerable to shills. I'll need to ponder your idea for a bit from the perspective of a buyer. [Snip] > Talk to Eli Tomlinson. He seems to have done a good job of promoting > his > quarter-million games auction. (Even though it didn't sell, it sure > got a > lot of attention.) Thanks. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Tuesday, October 15, 2002, at 09:08 PM, Lee K. Seitz wrote: [Snip] > I'm very sorry to hear about that. Makes my continuing unemployment > seem trivial in comparison. I wish you both the best in getting > through it. I guess I shouldn't tell you how long I've been out of work. I think my life has decided to give me a "annus horribllus" instead of the usual mid-life crisis. ;-) Thanks of the kind thoughts. It is much appreciated. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Wednesday, October 16, 2002, at 06:12 AM, CcomputerGameCollector wrote: [Snip] > Sorry to here that bro. A group of fund-type auctions were surely > help. I'm > sure. As far as promoting, there are many ways. Eli Thomlinson would > gladly put a link on his page, I would put one on CGC, as I'm sure just > about anyone else you contact would. One of my problems is that a fair number of the more valuable games my wife and I have are ones we gave each other. (It was through trying to help people find Ultima games that we first started talking with each other.) So a number of things we might sell have a sentimental value. On the pragmatic hand, given the economy, people just aren't paying the prices they used to for most of the stuff we collected (Ultima, Infocom). Infocom folios, for example, just aren't fetching what they used to and Origin seems to have done an excellent job of killing the Ultimas. :-( All of this is a long-winded way of saying I think you have an excellent idea, but I'll have to figure out which games I have that would work well with your idea. Thanks for your thoughts on the subject. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Wednesday, October 16, 2002, at 06:57 AM, C.E. Forman wrote: [Snip] > Ditto YOIS, just let me know what your plans are when you decide. Thank you. Both my wife and I have been touched by everyone's support. It is a big boost to us to see all the support from our fellow collectors despite any past clashes. Helping other enthusiasts is what got both of us into collecting and trading the old games in the first place. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Wednesday, October 16, 2002, at 06:58 AM, C.E. Forman wrote: >> If it's ok with you guys I'll try to contact him and invite him to the >> list. > > Sure, it'd be great to have someone in the industry who's also a > serious > collector. I'll second that. In my (limited) dealings with John I've always had a pleasant experience with him. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Two questions
On Wednesday, October 16, 2002, at 07:38 AM, Chris Newman wrote: > Wow, RBBS-PC, the good old days! I don't know if it would have any > serious sale value, but it probably has sentimental value (which might > translate) to many folks. > > This might lead to a good thread. What was your favorite BBS program? > Was it the venerable PC-Board, the easy to navigate Searchlight, the > pirate's delight of Telegard, or something else? As a user I preferred connecting to a PC-Board system. They were usually easy to get around. I miss the BBSes at times. They always felt a lot more personal than the 'net does in general. However, the vast resources of the 'net obviously win hands down. As an admin, I can only speak about the Major BBS from Galacticomm. One place where I worked we used that and Galacticomm's 8 or 16 (I can't remember which) serial port expansion chassis to give our remote salescritters support and feed them info. I think I still have my Procomm Plus disks around somewhere, though I think I've lost my registration code in one move or another. Procomm Plus and ZModem for downloads was the best. :-D What was everyone's favorite communications program? Anyone else remember the original MS Access telecommunications program? I think I still have a copy of that with the funky plastic case. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Thursday, October 17, 2002, at 03:15 AM, Pedro Quaresma wrote: [Snip] I'm sorry to hear about your wife. I hope you two find the miracle you seek. Thank you. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Thursday, October 17, 2002, at 02:33 PM, Marco Thorek wrote: [Snip] I am a bit late about it, but all the best to your wife, Ed! Thank you very much. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Multi-format floppy drive
On Tuesday, November 5, 2002, at 12:18 PM, John Romero wrote: I'm pretty sure the interface card mimics the 1571's processor that controls the drive mechanics. Reading in the data from a disk is the hardest part (hardware related) -- decoding that data on the computer (emulating the C64 OS) is the easiest part. Now if they'd only come out with an Apple II disk reader... ;) The ISA version does. ;-) <http://www.e-trade.to/en/catweasel/catweasel.html> or go to <http://www.jschoenfeld.de/indexe.htm>, choose Products, then choose Catweasel. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Counterfeit Sierras
On Friday, November 8, 2002, at 08:50 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: New Shoppe column: http://www.if-legends.org/~yois/column.php?column_date=2002-11-08 Everybody interested in preserving the integrity of this hobby ought to read this, to see what we're up against. Thank you for being willing to stand up and say what you said. Many people wouldn't because they'd be afraid of potential lawsuits. FYI: The Atari Ultima 1 auction you list would have passed my muster. I wonder if this was an original used as a template for his other fakes. The only thing I see in it that is odd is the the disk sleeve is the wrong generation for the games. The disk sleeve that comes with my wife's copy is the brown one with the old Sierra logo (the one where you can see the trees in front of the mountain). Also, the plastic tray that holds the disk and documentation and stiffens the box is missing. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Counterfeit Sierras
On Saturday, November 9, 2002, at 04:15 AM, Alexander Zoller wrote: [Snip] That was an original one, yes. I confirmed this by talking to the winner of the auction. Here's a larger picture: http://uw3.de/eyal/Dcp_0119.jpg That's some honest wear and tear a faker should find quite impossible to imitate. I'm glad the buyer got a genuine game. I think I've dealt with the buyer before and I would hate to see him ripped off. Given the efforts that people go through to fake wear and tear on art objects, I wouldn't be surprised to see someone try the same thing on an older game. Someone might attempt that to alleviate the possible suspicion that the fake was in too good a shape to be real. This picture was actually what got me suspicious in the first place, Eyal sending me the same image for the proposed trade that he used for the auction. Yeah. Saving eBay auction pages for future reference is very handy. :-D -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Counterfeit Sierras
On Saturday, November 9, 2002, at 11:15 AM, CcomputerGameCollector wrote: Hmm that wouldnt be a bad idea for a website - browse ebay history auctions. Anyone doing this already? Or perhaps a things-to-watch-out-for web site? -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [ SWCollect ] What's your favorite find?
On Saturday, November 9, 2002, at 05:09 PM, John Romero wrote: Figured I'd switch topics here since it had to happen sooner or later! What's your favorite old software find that you have? My favorite find was a big box Ultima II. I found it at a used bookstore that was starting to resell old computer software. I was startled to see a number of Apple ][ Ultimas there. As I looked through the stacks there it was. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw the price tag of $4. Yes, four dollars. When I opened it, though, I realized that I had made the mythical killer find. You see, there were two cloth maps, two sets of disks, two manuals (one being a first edition!)... I had one box with double the fun. :-D Another favorite find was Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure by Robert Clardy (Synergestic Software). I remember the hours and hours I used to play this game in college. Finding a mint copy was a fun bit of nostalgia. Even better I found I still enjoy the game today. Ultima: Escape from Mt. Drash is one simply because it took me three years to find a copy. Before I found my copy several people had claimed to own a copy, but when asked to share some information about the game they had numerous excuses why they couldn't share (my favorite being the one where the person claimed their Drash cartridge (!) was cracked). -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [ SWCollect ] What's your favorite find?
On Saturday, November 9, 2002, at 08:41 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: [Snip] I remember this one, this was a GREAT game! It's in four parts, right? First you fight monsters, trade, and acquire enough money to build a ship and leave the island, then you have to navigate the ocean, find a magic artifact in some catacombs (my memory here's a bit fuzzy) and then use it to storm the bad guy's fortress. My cousin and I used to play it on his IIe. The only thing was, he'd gotten a pirate copy so a lot of the text had been hacked to display dirty words. That's the one. :) It is wild to see how inventive people were with such limited resources. IIRC, there was also a sequel, "Apventure to Atlantis" I think. I have that one as well. I haven't started it yet as I need to complete my Odyssey first. Hmm. Now I have an urge to go find Dungeon Campaign and Wilderness Campaign... -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [ SWCollect ] What's your favorite find?
On Sunday, November 10, 2002, at 12:45 AM, Hugh Falk wrote: [snip] I'm also proud of my complete collection of EA flat box games...not that they're rare or expensive. I just haven't seen another complete set...anybody on this list collect EA flats? The EA game I have are the common Bards Tale and Wasteland ones. Color me a classic RPGer. :) To expand on your point about not particularly rare or expensive games, I collect the old Avalon Hill computer games. They had some nifty hybrids (computer game with mounted map board and counters) and a messy listing of games. Trying to figure out what games are out there and then finding them is the fun for me. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Time for my introduction
On Sunday, November 10, 2002, at 03:52 AM, Stefan Lindblom wrote: [Snip] Then there was Edward Franks, hi Edward. I bought a big box of old SSI Apple II games from him, the big box format. Hello there. I remember that big box of SSI games I shipped to you. I was happy to get them off my hands and into the hands of someone that loved to have them. It is good to see you here because it makes this list an even bigger treasure trove of software collecting knowledge. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Re: [SWCollect] [ SWCollect ] What's your favorite find?
On Sunday, November 10, 2002, at 12:24 PM, Hugh Falk wrote: [Snip] I also collect AH games. My list is here: http://www.classicgaming.com/gotcha/avalonhill.htm (no history section for AH yet...need to get to that). For some reason AH games are not very desirable on ebay (with only a few exceptions like Telengard). AH was one of the most prolific publishers of the early 80's, but I guess their products overlapped and were just overshadowed by SSI. I think part of the problem with AH is that their board sport games and wargames overshadowed the computer games in the company. They had moved more to publisher role by that time unlike SPI which designed and developed almost all of their wargames in house. The other thing that might of counted against AH is that while their wargames got the premier treatment -- it helps to own your own printing presses! -- the computer games just didn't compare goodie-wise with an Infocom or Origin game. There were a few exceptions, Empire of the Over-Mind comes to mind, but by and large the goodies and the games just weren't that exciting. Then again, I may be biased. I still have some of my AH board wargames. :) -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [ SWCollect ] What's your favorite find?
On Sunday, November 10, 2002, at 09:36 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: [Snip] I've been thinking about this... and wouldn't it be safer to play off backup copies? I mean, the disk could get munched in the drive, the label could get scratched going in and out... or is that attitude too anal for the rest of this group? B-) If you can make backup copies. Grrr. Magazines like The Computist can be invaluable if you just want to make your legal backups. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [ SWCollect ] What's your favorite find?
On Sunday, November 10, 2002, at 10:32 PM, Dan Chisarick wrote: [Snip] Mega off-topic: There are emulators for PDA's... so where are the joysticks? Who wants to abuse the integrated buttons for those things, anyway? :) I guess its called the "external keyboard". Sigh. Sony has a game pad you can connect to their Clie PDAs if you want a PalmOS device. <http://www.palminfocentre.com/view_story.asp?ID=4295> -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [ SWCollect ] What's your favorite find?
On Sunday, November 10, 2002, at 11:20 PM, Hugh Falk wrote: [Snip] Now here's a question. If you own the 20-year-old original, is buying 20-year-old copies (likely pirated 20 years ago) still pirating? :-) Yes. ;-) Assuming that the copyright holder hasn't given permission for people to copy the game -- such as what Dr. Cat did with his Caverns of Freitag -- then it is protected for at least 50 more years. You can thank Sonny Bono and Disney for this state of affairs in the US. :-/ -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [ SWCollect ] What's your favorite find?
On Sunday, November 10, 2002, at 11:38 PM, Hugh Falk wrote: [Snip] That reminds me of another good poll for you guys. I mentioned some of the best games I got for free. But I'd be curious...what is the most you paid for a single game? I don't want to know about a group of games...just one game. The most I've actually paid for a game -- I've bid higher, but not won the auction -- was ~$675 for an orange castle coversheet Akalabeth. (:chuckle: I needed the coversheet as those are what I'm missing from my other Akalabeth and my Ultima.) For me, the interesting thing is that the seller was one of the programmers for Arena and Daggerfall. It is cool to see that the people who develop the games are as serious collectors as us. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [ SWCollect ] What's your favorite find?
On Monday, November 11, 2002, at 12:04 AM, John Romero wrote: Hmm. Now I have an urge to go find Dungeon Campaign and Wilderness Campaign... Yes! I have mint copies of these two as well. Man, I am pretty loaded with Synergistic Software. :) Why do I have the feeling that the list of games you want, but don't have is pretty small? ;-) Is there anything in particular that you're still looking for? On a more general note, I'd love to see everyone's collections some time. I feel like a dilettante compared to the rest of you. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [SWCollect] What's your favorite find?
On Monday, November 11, 2002, at 06:36 AM, Alexander Zoller wrote: [Snip] Favorite finds: items previously believed to NOT exist. Ultima III by US Gold, for example, or the slipcased Ultima Trilogy. Was this a US version? -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Time for my introduction
On Monday, November 11, 2002, at 10:43 AM, Lee K. Seitz wrote: [Snip] Yeah, well ask my how many copies of Space Invaders or Missile Command I have for the Atari 2600 and plan to keep. (They're label variations.) Ah. the 2600. :-D I keep one around to occasionally play Adventure. I bought the Sears version of both when they first came out with the money I had earned that summer. My brother and I spent all night playing Adventure and the other games we bought. The funny thing was that we found the easter egg 'dot' that night, but never realized what it was for until many years later! -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [ SWCollect ] What's your favorite find?
On Monday, November 11, 2002, at 01:33 PM, Chris Newman wrote: But isn't the 50-year marker the rule of Public Domain? What did Disney do to tighten the restriction? Surely the rule pre-dates the 30s, when Disney was on its way to becoming a stable company? See <http://www.wikipedia.org/w/ wiki.phtml?title=Sonny_Bono_Copyright_Term_Extension_Act&printable=yes> for details. Basically, 20 year old software won't be in the public domain for another 75 years. The US Supreme Court is deliberating on this law, but who knows what they'll decide? Especially since it involves some of our treaty obligations. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] What's your favorite find?
On Monday, November 11, 2002, at 02:24 PM, Origin Museum wrote: [Snip] 1. Lord British Starter Kit--Akalabeth and Ultima 1 sold together by California Pacific--still in the original baggie (also the most I ever paid for a title--$1,200.00 in a bundle w/about 20 other worthless titles--does this price set some kind of record?) I don't believe so, not for an Ultima-related title. I vaguely remember someone complaining about snipers on Usenet after they lost an Ultima around $1,500. I could be wrong on that one, though. I do know that a shrinkwrapped Starcross saucer went for $2,000 on eBay. Oh, by the way, I got the $250 figure from a gentlemen who was at the UO Faire where that Akalabeth was auctioned. Normally he is reliable about such things. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] [SWCollect] What's your favorite find?
On Monday, November 11, 2002, at 02:27 PM, Alexander Zoller wrote: [Snip] o, it was a European release by Microprose. They used to distribute Origin's games in sturdy, small-sized, two-piece cardboard boxes (same measurements as the Rainbird blue boxes -- a bunch of Level 9 and Magnetic Scrolls titles came in these). For some inscrutable reason, they took the same box type for the Trilogy again but used an additional slipcase, leaving the box halfs plain and white. It has been speculated this happened right before their "joint venture" with Origin ended (the license was turned over to Mindscape), and they may have been pressed for time. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that instead of printing a custom-sized manual for this release, they simply 'trimmed' the Trilogy's manual by about an inch so it would fit in the box. Ah, that sounds like my CPC Progame version of Ultima. My Japanese version only differs from the regular version by the addition of a cheap photocopy of the manual that was partially written in Japanese Kanji (?). I can email you some pics. Also of the US Gold U3 if interested. I'd like to see those. I always thought that the US Gold box for U4 was one of the best. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@;oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] esnipe and bid groups
On Sunday, November 17, 2002, at 04:16 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: I'm not sure how many of us use automatic sniping services, but I saw the following planned new feature for the new version of esnipe that I thought people would be interested in: [Snip of description] Personally, I think this is awesome. It guarantees you the best price for something without having to fudge out of bids for items you don't want. It doesn't guarantee you would get the best price. It just increases your chance of getting one. :-) You see, one of those cancelled-bid auctions might have given you a better price. -- Edward Franks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] MindCandy
Hmm. ./ed. Congratulations. :-D I hope the slashdotting generates some sales for you. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Saturday, January 18, 2003, at 03:09 PM, John Romero wrote: [Snip] (3) Your question "Was King's Quest 1 really the first quasi-3D adventure game released for the IBM line?" The answer: King's Quest 1 was the first GAME ever released for the new IBM PC back in 1984. The release date on MobyGames is incorrect -- that's the release date for the remake. Don't you mean the IBM PCjr? ;-) The IBM PC was released in August 1981. The first game for _that_ was Microsoft Adventure according to Dan Bricklin. <http://www.bricklin.com/ibmpcannouncement1981.htm> -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 09:29 AM, Jim Leonard wrote: [Snip] It seems to me, the farther we move into the present, the harder it is to classify a game. Some genres have blurred beyond recognition. Trust me, I can classify them. :) Genres haven't blurred; people's minds have. Go ahead -- hit me with something difficult. System Shock? Taking into account all the combinations of the difficulty levels? :-D -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Tuesday, January 21, 2003, at 03:01 AM, John Romero wrote: [Snip] The Apple II version of King's Quest was one of the early double-resolution 16-color games and subsequent Sierra adventures used that graphics mode. Double-res on the Apple II was 160x192 with 16 colors. Mixed-mode graphics on the C64 was 160x200 with 4 colors (from a 16-color palette) per 4x8 character block. It was just a logical decision to use the same assets and resolution as the other popular platforms. From a game developer's viewpoint, when or what things made the IBM PC the platform of choice over the Apple IIs, C64s, etc.? I know that on the business side of programming the common wisdom is that 640K RAM was the key (VisiCalc vs. Lotus 1-2-3). Was it the ubiquity of the PC clones? VGA graphics? Reaching the limitations of 8-bit platform or an intersection of all three? In a way the PC seemed to be a step backward for games in the mid '80s to about '90 because of the lack of decent sound. Though, for example, Sierra pushed the various sound cards and external units, most of the people I knew didn't buy sound cards until the time of Wing Commander or Doom. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Tuesday, January 21, 2003, at 06:48 PM, Marco Thorek wrote: [Snip] Beside documenting pretty much ignorance from people who publish articles, this also shows that there still is no public appreciation for the roots of computer gaming, not even among those who like to play games. Old movies are considered classics and are watched, old games are just obsolete. Except for, well, us and a few others. How many people watch silent movies from the 1910s and 1920s? Or even the run of the mill Black and White talkies? I would imagine that the early games are similar to silent movies for most people. Computer games as an entertainment medium is still very young. Give it a couple of more decades. :) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 10:09 AM, Jim Leonard wrote: [Snip] At its most basic, Adventure + Action, subgenres Cyberpunk, Dark Sci-Fi. There are strategy elements but they are not overwhelming. Moby has it as: http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,681/ and if you check the genre classifications, I agree with them. Ah. I see I differ in that I would say that System Shock is more role-playing than adventure, but I would have Role-Playing as a equal genre of adventure rather than as a sub-genre. But that's a different argument, so given the Moby definitions, I'd say you have it fairly well down. That was it? What about stuff that's offbeat, like Harmony or Zyll? Come on, kick me!! :-) I'm afraid I haven't been playing the more exotic games. :) I'll have to sit back and see what the others bring up. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 10:43 AM, Jim Leonard wrote: [Snip] Adventures progress through decision, not action. Since you can't significantly change Mafia's story or outcomes based on your decisions, it's not an adventure game. People confuse this a lot; they think that great storytelling equals "adventure game", which is incorrect. Half-Life had excellent storytelling, but was it an adventure game? No, but Half-Life swiped a number of elements from adventure/role-playing games to give a needed twist to first person shooters. For example, the very end was definitely an adventure-style situation. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 01:02 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: [Snip] Most people don't have a problem with the way MobyGames defines a genre, but some people have a problem with the Main genres (Action, Adventure, Educational, Racing / Driving, Simulation, Sports, Strategy). Every month we refer people to the FAQ question "Why isn't RPG a Main genre?". The problem is that you can easily swap in role-playing games as a basic building block in place of Adventure. The same justifications work for either. The two are so close together (more than any of the other categories) that it is hard sometimes to see the unique differences. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 02:35 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: Edward Franks wrote: [Snip] I completely disagree. All RPGs are adventures, but not all adventures are RPGs; because of this, RPG is a subgenre in our system. Before you debate further, here is our definition of Adventure (a main genre) and RPG (a subgenre). Please read them over before responding. You have the cart before the horse. Adventure games descended from pen-n-paper RPGs, specifically, D&D. Adventure, the grandfather of adventure game has its roots in D&D. Computer RPGs are attempts at recreating the original pen-n-paper games RPGs. To reverse this is to seriously misunderstand where and how these game genres came about. You would have a better argument if you posited that adventures were a subset of RPGs. At least the histories of the games would give you that support. ;-) Both computer RPGs (crpgs) and adventure games are twin genres coming from the same parent (D&D). They share many similarities (genetic code), but have taken different paths to the entertainment end. In the end they are distinct siblings. (Examples: Zork 1 had a complex combat system based on D&D, but that was removed in the later Infocom games because combat was really downplayed. Where as Wizardry and it sequels really focused on combat and action, not decision. And then there are the Rogue-likes such as Nethack. I can't see anyone seriously calling Nethack an adventure. It is a hack-n-slash crpg.) [Snip] Here's an example clarifying how important the main categories are: Think about the materials we see around us. What's the common classification expression -- Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral, right? That's a pretty good example: I am animal, the taco I just ate was vegetable, and the toilet I will no doubt be visiting shortly is mineral. Asking for the RPG genre to join the main list is like asking for "rocks" to join the Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral list when it's clearly already a mineral. It doesn't matter if the rock is in the shape of, say, an animal; that doesn't change the fact that it is a rock. [Snip] Now, if you see any problems in that logic, please let me know. The first thing that comes to mind is that your justification for your taxonomy isn't on solid ground. Any scientist will tell you that the real world is messier than what the taxonomies say 'should be'. For example, the duck-billed platypus or a virus. With some research I imagine I con find something that is either a plant or animal depending on your mood that day. :-D An accurate gaming taxonomy needs to include, even draw attention to, the messy nature of defining adventure games and crpgs. The two share a lot common features. Believe me, I understand the desire to have a nice, clean, and tidy taxonomy. They are so very appealing, but to be ultimately useful the taxonomy simply must reflect the reality of the games. Then again, I wouldn't be the one making all the changes to the database. :-D -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 05:33 PM, John Romero wrote: I have a question: why do I get these messages twice? ;) In my case I tend to hit Reply to All so the To: line picks your work address and the Cc: line gets the [EMAIL PROTECTED] email address. (I've done it right this time. ;-)) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Wednesday, January 22, 2003, at 05:26 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: [Snip You've presented some strong arguments and I'm going to have to think about them before coming up with a rebuttal. But first let me pose some situations and questions: 1. Adventure was the first computer game, yes? Nope. :) Space War was (circa 1960). MIT students meet the PDP-1 and the cathode-ray tube. It was not an RPG. So computer adventure games came before computer RPGs, right? Yes. However, adventure games came from pen-n-paper RPGs. From the _first_ pen-n-paper RPG to be exact which started a whole new game genre. The reason I'm pointing stuff out that is outside computer games is that in the case of Adventure there is no prior computer game influences for it. You have to look outside of computer games to see what the influences/lineages was. 2. The Adventure genre encompasses *all* fantasy-style gaming. So RPG fits into it, yes? If not, why? No, because you you can have non-fantasy based RPGs. Wasteland and Fallout for example. (I'm assuming that you are using the term fantasy to mean the generic pseudo-medieval Tolkien-esque settings.) Like with fantasy, one of the problems with the word adventure is that it can mean a very, very broad category. So broad that it can become meaningless. (Role-playing has the same problem as you are basically playing a role in every game.) In fact, if you wanted to you could view the SSI Gold Box crpgs en-masse as the RPG system and each individual game as a particular adventure. This would have a nice correspondence to the pen-n-paper world where the rules are the RPG and each module is the adventure. But this is really more having on an adventure rather than playing an "adventure" game. :) Darn those multiple word meanings. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Thursday, January 23, 2003, at 09:37 AM, Chris Newman wrote: Hackers, by Steven Levy is a great book, and has an entire chapter on the creation of Spacewar. The entire book is online, and here is a link to the spacewar chapter. http://www.stanford.edu/group/mmdd/SiliconValley/Levy/ Hackers.1984.book/Chapter3.html Levy's web page on the book <http://mosaic.echonyc.com/~steven/hackers.html> points people to Amazon. At $10.50 it is a great bargain. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Thursday, January 23, 2003, at 11:18 AM, Marco Thorek wrote: [Snip] You know I'm all for drawing a line between RPGs and Adventures, but is the focus of the former really on fighting? It usually is a component of a RPG, but the focus? The Ultimas beginning with IV had conversation as a strong component, in Planescape: Torment you could advance your character through the right decisions in conversations. Though experience-points-from-combat is the D&D way of advancing your character, I'd say that RPGs focus more on improving your character's innate abilities (levels/stats/skill percentages) where as in adventures your character stays pretty much the same. You could say that adventure games have you pick up items instead, but you do that as well in RPGs. I'd stay that the two big sub-genres of RPGs are hack-and-slash/combat/action subclass (Wizardry 1, Might and Magic, Diablo) and the character/story/this-is-you[1] subclass (Ultima IV - VII, Planescape: Torment). Some games, Fallout, allows you to do either equally in a single game. I'd also say that Adventure games are much more likely to be linear. At least you tend to know what you need to do next and have areas completely closed off until you get to that point. Where as RPGs tend to be more open-ended (Morrowind) and you can do things pretty much in any order you like. Though to make RPGs more 'accessible' you have games like Dungeon Siege that have you run a single path from start to finish with no real branching or back-tracking. [1] In the pen-n-paper RPG world this is called role-playing as opposed to the hack-n-slash end of the spectrum. I don't know if would want a Role-Playing -> Role-Playing classification. That smacks too close to the one time proposed Homo Sapiens Sapiens classification for modern man. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] New topic--Collectors UNITE!
On Tuesday, January 28, 2003, at 10:59 AM, Chris Newman wrote: Freaking kids Young 'un. ;-) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] New topic--Collectors UNITE!
On Tuesday, January 28, 2003, at 09:55 AM, Feldhamer, Stuart wrote: Mine is Apple 2. In fact, I didn't even know that there was a big box Ultima 2 for IBM...are you sure that there is one? I own one. -- Edward Franks
Re: [SWCollect] New topic--Collectors UNITE!
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 02:25 AM, Pedro Quaresma wrote: [Snip] Who's not on the above list, start talking ;) Tom? Jim? Edward? I'm 39 and not holding. ;-) -- Edward Franks
Re: [SWCollect] New topic--Collectors UNITE!
On Thursday, January 23, 2003, at 07:26 PM, John Romero wrote: Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I do have several copies of the same games in baggies, though. ;) Sure, it doesn't hurt. I was just wondering what a "Dungeon Campaign" might go for. Heh. :drool: :drool: :drool: Geez, you know how to tempt people. :-D -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] New topic--Collectors UNITE!
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 01:26 PM, Feldhamer, Stuart wrote: [Snip] I don't know...I hate the idea of keeping software in shrinkwrap. I can understand that shrinkwrap makes the value higher, because someone buying a piece of old software would rather buy a new item than a used item. But as a collector, why would I want my software shrinkwrapped unless I'm in the hobby for profit? I couldn't really enjoy my collection if it was all shrinkwrapped and I couldn't examine the documentation, feelies, etc. I mean, I also collect comics. If they were shrinkwrapped, forget it. I would never have gotten into the hobby. Collecting shrinkwrapped software, you might as well just be collecting the box art. I know some of you keep shrinkwrapped and non-shrinkwrapped copies of the same game...maybe if I had a warehouse I would do this too... : ) I'm with you on the shrinkwrap. While it can be fun to have a complete shrinkwrapped collection, I most enjoy replaying the old games with all the goodies at hand. There's nothing quite like playing Suspended with the face mask staring at you over the monitor while you chart where the robots are or using the cloth map in an Ultima to see where you want to go next. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Geekness! (was: Re: [SWCollect] Gosh, you look weird)
On Thursday, January 30, 2003, at 10:38 AM, Pedro Quaresma wrote: [Snip] Actually you reminded me of something I've been wanting to suggest: Come on everyone, 'fess up some geek (gaming related) acts you've committed, typical of a "you know you're a gaming/game collecting geek when..." guide :) I'll start: Last time I got a cellphone I asked for 858462 (ULTIMA) on its number. Since it wasn't available, went for 282827 (AVATAR). Didn't have either, unfortunately :) Anyway since the new cellphone gives me the possibility to write sheet music, I've spent hours writing and perfecting Stones (most famous Ultima tune) on it. Who's next? ;) My email address (xyzzy). :-D I've gotten lots of comments about it, including a number of tech-/customer-support folks from the different online stores I've done business with. -- Edward Franks
Re: [SWCollect] WC3: Premiere Edition
On Saturday, February 1, 2003, at 05:34 AM, Alexander Zöller wrote: I was surprised to see two shrinkwrapped copies on eBay within as little as two weeks: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3000847934 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3002417968 I know we've been discussing this before - production run significantly lower than that of the Kilrathi Saga, Premiere Edition's value *should* be higher than the Saga's in view of its availability, etc. I remember that someone on this list gave the Saga's production figure as 22,000 copies and the Premiere Ed's as 1,500. Wondering if anyone is able to confirm this, especially if the discrepancy really is that big. I remember seeing 50 or 60 of the WC3: Premiere Editions at our local Sam's Club (warehouse-style bulk-purchase members-only store -- it is owned by Wal-Mart). I could be wrong, but I can't see a limited-edition game getting into Sam's Club. They just don't deal with such small runs of things. That was the first time I saw one. I didn't buy my copy there, but from EA directly when a friend tipped me off that EA was selling off their remaining stock. All that money just for the damn soundtrack CD. ;-) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Ebay Gets Crazier and Crazier
On Saturday, February 1, 2003, at 07:34 PM, Stefan Lindblom wrote: Appearantly since I am a non US Ebaydealer I can't view "mature" stuff. Enlighten us please? The title of the auction is: I need help for college Here's the description: Hi...I'm 18 Years Old...and well, it looks like I have to resort to this to pay for tuition and books and things...I don't have any family to help me so..I got my friend's password for this e-bay thingy and now I am going to take pictures of myself and try and sell them here I have a couple of pics already, I'm still very shy as you can see from the picture, but if you help me out - I will send you bunches more- you can also request some things for me to do cause, I like don't know what to do... Please help!!! Tuition is coming up soon and I don't want to miss my second semester.. Thanks Heather ps...I will give you my e-mail for requests - but nothing to strange ok? ok...bye... oh and one of my friends Beth wants to take some picture with me...I mean if you want... There's also a photograph that suggests a topless young lady, -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Ebay Gets Crazier and Crazier
On Saturday, February 1, 2003, at 06:06 PM, Stuart Feldhamer wrote: OK, look at this. I found this auction on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=11047&item=3004366043 I was thinking, this is weird. It says 125 games, but only a few are listed. And the feedback rating is only 3. So I figured, let's see what else this guy has to offer. And look what came up! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=323&item=2909591867 Here's one that's truly annoying: <http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2303780307&category=189>. There's so much verbiage (note the False Negative Feedback section) that you just want to pass on by. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Ebay Gets Crazier and Crazier
On Saturday, February 1, 2003, at 11:23 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: Edward Franks wrote: Here's one that's truly annoying: <http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2303780307&category=189>. There's so much verbiage (note the False Negative Feedback section) that you just want to pass on by. Now that is scary. And I Automatically Don't Trust Anyone Who Inexplicably Uses Mixed Caps Throughout The Entire Sentence. I'm leery of anyone that whines about getting negative feedback. Rightly or wrongly I tend to suspect someone that has to justify their policy. No one likes negative feedback, but you are bound to run across someone that you can't square things with at some point. You just take the hit and move on. This person's policy comes across as feedback extortion: "Don't leave me negative feedback I don't like or I'll get you!". I wonder what eBay would do if someone reported him? -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] King's Quest 1
On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 06:14 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: Edward Franks wrote: 1. Adventure was the first computer game, yes? Nope. :) Space War was (circa 1960). MIT students meet the PDP-1 and the cathode-ray tube. I meant PERSONAL computer. Adventure was playable on CPM machines if memory serves; it was certainly the first game I ever played (on an Osborne) in 1979. There was also a CP/M game called Ladder (platform jumping). If you include any BASIC games (Star Trek, Wumpus, etc.), then it would be difficult determining just what the first game was. The first commercial game would probably easier to figure out. BTW, it is 90% certain RPG will join the main list of genres at MobyGames, so I thank all of you for taking time to illustrate your viewpoints. Cool. :-D (But I am not budging on King's Quest being primarily IF+G, because honestly that is what it is. The input is all text (moving your character can be done with joystick but that is all a joystick can do in that game) and the output is text and graphics, so that pretty much clinches it.) I'm not fussed either way when it comes to King's Quest. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Software collecting videos
On Tuesday, February 4, 2003, at 02:51 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: [Snip] I wasn't planning to charge for the DVD so I didn't think there would be legal issues. It doesn't matter if you charge for it or not. EA might not be able to get punitive damages, but their lawyers could kill your pocketbook. :-/ There's always the option of a "bootleg" where I don't charge for it and don't put any names on it... In any case I'll certainly ask. I also have another Origin promotional tape, that was distributed to software stores circa 1989. They are cheaply made advertisements for old Origin games like Windwalker, Knights of Legend, 2400 AD, and another (no Ultima tho.) They were obviously made 'in-house', and they are not the best-produced commercials that I've ever seen, but they are an interesting look at the birth of computer game advertising. Again, if you get the permissions, I'd be glad to contribute! :) Who would I talk to about that? EA or someone else? EA hadn't purchased Origin by that time. If the tapes were Origin property -- I don't see why they wouldn't be -- I imagine they all became EA's property when EA bought Origin. Other than Akalabeth and Lord British I can't think of anything that was negotiated as a separate property. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Software collecting videos
On Wednesday, February 5, 2003, at 11:45 AM, Jim Leonard wrote: [Snip] You are correct. Well, then here's my current plan: Master the entire disc with as much material as possible (so that I have a list of material to ask permission for), then if permission is not granted, remove the material before distribution. In other words, I don't want fear of not getting permission to hamper the product. That sounds like the best way to go. I know that some companies, or rather some people in some companies are supportive of these things. Laird Malamed (sp) at Activision comes to mind. [Snip] Getting a response back from EA's legal department is like pulling teeth. Ugh. They sound like Sierra/Vivendi's legal department. I tried to see if I could get Mt. Drash redistributed for historical curiousity purposes, but I might as well have tried to get a message out of a black hole. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] New topic--Collectors UNITE!
On Monday, February 3, 2003, at 09:44 PM, Karl Kuras wrote: [Snip] You know that brings up a good question. It would be interesting to see what systems each of us mainly collect for. I'm guessing it'll reflect our age. I'm mainly (virtually only) C64 and Amiga stuff. How about the rest of you? For me it is mostly the Apple ][, IBM PC, and a few Macintosh games. I really don't collect for a particular hardware platform, though. I tend to pick up the games I'm interested and if they span platforms I'll follow (for example, the Might and Magic series). -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] New topic--Collectors UNITE!
On Monday, February 3, 2003, at 09:45 PM, Dan Chisarick wrote: [Snip] As an aside, first Apple game I played was Castle Wolfenstein. There was a mainframe at the school as well (I think it was an HP of some variation). It had a game whose name escapes me (Mystery Mansion?). Haunt? -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Friday, February 7, 2003, at 01:41 AM, John Romero wrote: Speaking of Zork, y'all might not care (or you might think it's neat), but I co-created Infocom's "InfoDOS" that was the OS for Zork Zero, Arthur & 2 other Infocom titles. Back in the 80's. :O I love the old Infocom games. Zork is one of my favorite series and I was glad to see the games were available on the Apple II to the very end. Was it difficult to fit that version of the ZCode interpreter onto an Apple II? Did you have to make any compromises from the other versions? How was it working with Infocom (Activision?) at that time? On an unrelated note, there's something I'm curious about. I remember reading in an old issue of CGW that when you guys came to name Wolf3D you did a search for the then-current owner of Silas Marner's Castle Wolfenstein. CGW claimed that the copyright had somehow lapsed in the many changes of hands CW went through (someone was supposedly still selling copies from their garage). Is that story true or did you just buy the existing CW copyright? -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Greetings
On Friday, February 7, 2003, at 07:15 PM, John Romero wrote: [Snip] The ZCode stuff was external to the OS - I just did the OS part. Ah, my fault. I forgot some of my Apple ][ history. I had forgotten how easy it for people to write their own OSes for the A2. Did you do anything different for the IIGS or was InfoDOS just targeted to the II+/e/c Apples? I never worked with the IIGS so I'm curious if much game development was done for or on the IIGS itself. [Snip] Wolf3D-wise, yes the copyright had lapsed on Castle Wolfenstein. Muse Software went out of business in 1985 so seven years later when we were looking for the owner of the copyright it ended up that someone bought their inventory and was selling that from their house, but didn't keep up any of the copyrights so we just registered it and got it. Thanks for the info. Given the current climate of hanging onto any and all intellectual property I just wondered if the CGW story was accurate. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] House (Off-Topic)
On Saturday, February 8, 2003, at 02:56 PM, C.E. Forman wrote: Hey gang, Getting way off-topic here, but I'm looking at buying a house, soon, and could use some advice from anyone who's been down this road before. Here's a couple of thoughts just off my head: I'd suggest getting a home inspection, especially if your state doesn't mandate the seller listing all known problems with a house. You might look into getting two loans (one big, one small) if you want to get around having a 20% down payment. Just make sure that before closing time your loan company actually wrote _two_ loans, not one. We ran into that one. :-/ Don't take points on a loan. Points are a way of making you pay for the privilege of reducing the loan. It is especially bad right now because interest rates are pretty low. The most important thing of *all*: the real estate agent works for the _seller_ not you. Because they get paid by the seller their 'loyalty' is to them, never you. (Note: If you are using a buyer-broker this is different.) Also, they see so many people house-shopping that until you have completed a close you might just be another hot/cold buyer. If this is a brand new house make sure you budget for blinds/curtains. Builders don't provide those. Many, many people get tripped up by that and move into a wide-open house... -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] The first? -- Thread was King's Quest 1
On Tuesday, February 4, 2003, at 02:53 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: Hugh Falk wrote: I don't even know what the first commercial game would have been. The first game you had to pay for for a personal computer. For the Apple ][ [A] it looks like Rocket Pilot by Bob Bishop (of Apple-Vision fame ;-)) was possibly the first commercial game. The question is if Softape was asking money for the game. Scott Adams's Adventureland would also be a decent candidate for the first successful commercial game (that is, it sold enough to keep him in business for a number of years). [A] I believe the Apple ][ actually shipped before the Commodore PET, and both of these were announced before the TRS-80. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] The first? -- Thread was King's Quest 1
On Monday, February 10, 2003, at 11:30 PM, Hugh Falk wrote: The earliest copyright I have for a Scott Adam's Adventureland is 1980. Unless someone knows of an earlier one, that's definitely not the first. I'm guessing there is an earlier version out there. My December 1980 issue of Byte has Scott Adams stating that the copyright on Pirate Adventure is 1978. Adventureland should be the same vintage. Adams states he wrote the game on a TRS-80 Level II and that it took him six months to write it. So that would place the game in 1978. Do you know what year Rocket Pilot was copyrighted? July 1977 according to this link <http://www.geocities.com/robertjamesbishop/softlist.html>. TRS-80 was released in August 1977 PET 2001 and Apple II were also released in 1977 (unsure of the months) July 1977. -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] The first? -- Thread was King's Quest 1
On Monday, February 10, 2003, at 11:56 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: Weren't there any games you were obligated to pay for for the Altair? Because that would pretty much take the crown. Fire in the Valley by Freiberger and Swaine mentions a backgammon game (pg 63, Collector's Edition hardcover), but no details on if that game was ever sold. A number of the early games were used to demonstrate the early hardware. The first game I can see listed in the book as being sold is a chess program -- MicroChess -- by a guy name Peter Jennings (not related to the news anchor). The book states the game sold for $10, including a fifteen page manual (with source code) for the KIM-1 micro. Ironically, that game lead to the creation a company called Personal Software. The money from MicroChess paid for the marketing of VisiCalc... This will teach me to go look in my reference books _first_. ;-) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] The first? -- Thread was King's Quest 1
On Monday, February 10, 2003, at 11:56 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: Weren't there any games you were obligated to pay for for the Altair? Because that would pretty much take the crown. Here's photos of MicroChess and Peter Jennings. <http://www.digibarn.com/collections/systems/kim-1/peter-jennings/ page_01.htm> -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] RPG moved to main genre list
On Thursday, February 13, 2003, at 05:56 PM, Dan Chisarick wrote: Sidebar... who's got the best manuals? (SSI, Origin and EA, but if I had to pick one, I'd say SSI.) How about Rowan? I remember one of their WW1 flight sims (Flying Corp?) included an authentic 1919-vintage how-to-fly paperback. Then again, most of the flight sims have had excellent manuals (ie, Falcon 4.0). -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Using MobyGames Info
On Thursday, February 13, 2003, at 01:59 AM, Jim Leonard wrote: No feedback on this -- is this information helpful/useful? If not, let me know. We aim to please. I'm not doing enough to need the info at the moment. By the way, is this auction <http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3008172904&category=11050> legitimately using Moby Games images? -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/swcollect@oldskool.org/
Re: [SWCollect] Platform
On Friday, February 21, 2003, at 11:48 PM, Dan Chisarick wrote: Guess what platform its really for: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3561&item=3008682923&rd=1 Apple made other computers than the Mac? ;-) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Lure of the Temptress
On Wednesday, April 2, 2003, at 10:14 AM, Feldhamer, Stuart wrote: Another item that may be of interest: Revolution, creator of the Broken Sword series, has rereleased their classic first adventure game "Lure of the Temptress" as a free download. It's available here: http://www.revgames.com/_display.php?id=10 Stuart Survey: Is this type of info appropriate to this list? a) Sure it is, keep it coming! b) I get enough spam already so quit it! A) definitely. Either I've forgotten or never knew about this game, so having this link helped me learn a little. :) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Value of Apple ][ Goldfinger
On Thursday, July 24, 2003, at 08:59 PM, Lee K. Seitz wrote: [Snip] That's what the Apple //c is for, silly. 8) Speaking of which, I just got one from a friend. It's just the bare system (computer & power supply). I asked him to keep an eye out for software, but I'm not expecting much. He's not into computers. He's apparently had this one since college (which is when we met), but never got a monitor for it, so never used it. So now I've got a //e, //c, and IIgs. Just need a II+ and II (yeah, right), and I'll have a complete collection. 8) Sell someone's kidney ;-) and you might be able to afford one of the (honestly) rare Apple *I*s I've seen up for sale -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: FW: Re: [SWCollect] (OT) Kids games
On Tuesday, August 5, 2003, at 05:26 PM, Jim Leonard wrote: Some mail clients don't honor the Reply-To: field, unfortunately. Except that John's email is showing *two* reply to headers. Does the list software just append a reply to or override/append the reply to? Or should we just tease John? ;-) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Ebay trader experiences
On Sunday, August 31, 2003, at 09:23 AM, Stefan Lindblom wrote: Ahoy mates! Just curious about a certain trader on Ebay who seems to be alot into vintage games, with over a 1000 feedbacks. The traders Ebay name and mailadress is [EMAIL PROTECTED] And I was just wondering if any of you have had any experiences with him/her/them.. and if so, what they are? The reason I ask.. well, I won a few of their auctions, including a high prized SSI one. I was outbid on one however, but was approached later by them asking if I wanted to pay my highest bid for another copy they had. My highest bid was more than double the listed starting price so I asked if we could come an agreement with would mean a 7$(from 32$ to 25$) cut in my offer. Listing price was 15$ so I thought that was a fair offer. No risks for them, no time waiting, and no ebay fees. I got a very short and rude reply. Surely more than one of you guys have dealt with them before.. what have your experiences been? I've dealt with them (Software and More) on eBay and before that on their (very basic) website <http://members.aol.com/swmoretp/AP.html>. I've never had a complaint or a problem with them. However, they do know that their stuff is worth some money so I imagine cutting a deal with them isn't an option. Also, as a psychological matter, when a buyer has indicated how high they would go with a bid it becomes very difficult to retreat from that monetary amount. I've personally only been able to do it once (IIRC) and that was in eBay's early days. The seller has the advantage over the buyer in this situation. There is just no incentive for the seller to retreat from that high bid -- the buyer has gone so far as to place a bid for that amount! The whole 'can I get more money now or later?' line of thought seems to just go down the drain, which kind of screws the buyer looking for an after-auction deal. I'd basically just let the whole thing go just as you would for a lost auction. It gets too easy to get yourself upset at the situation and/or seller when you'll probably want to buy something from them in the future. (Being in California they seem to get a small, but steady supply of some rare items.) I'm sorry I can't give you a better answer. Good luck with the next auctions! -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
[SWCollect] Ultima 11
Gotta love auctions -- http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/ eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2750965793&category=4610 -- with text descriptions like "ULTIMA 11 IS THE SEQUWL TO THE BEST-SELLINH FANTASY-ROLE PLAYING GAME ULTIMA!" :-D -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
Re: [SWCollect] Ultima 11
On Tuesday, September 2, 2003, at 08:59 PM, Stuart Feldhamer wrote: Looks like its in good condition too. Edward, I assume you aren't bidding on this or you wouldn't have advertised it before the auction was over. : ) No, I'm not bidding. Given the fact most of us watch eBay it really doesn't matter if I mention an auction or not. ;-) (At the moment I'm more likely to be selling since I have a surplus of Ultimas.) -- Edward Franks -- This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to the swcollect mailing list. To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect' Archives are available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
