[SWCollect] Some good Phoenix software info

[Stephane Racle]

Hello eveyone,

I was able to dig up some good information and items on Phoenix 
Software, which published software from 1981 to 1984. I thought it might 
be of interest! I've included links to some pictures at the following 
address:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/sracle

Some interesting tidbits about Phoenix, which some of you may already know:

-The first game published by Phoenix was "Adventure in Time", a text 
adventure a la Time Zone (in fact, it came out before Time Zone - 
perhaps there was some "sharing" of ideas? LOL) - published for the 
Atari and the Apple II
-This was followed by "Birth of the Phoenix", a very easy, introductory 
level adventure. The manual is pretty impressive though - at 20 pages, 
it includes all sorts of tips on mapping, typical puzzles, parsers, etc. 
- once again published for the Atari and the Apple II
-"Queen of Phobos" was the next adventure game, and this time it 
included graphics, although not in colour. Only about 150-200 copies of 
Queen of Phobos were ever published. From the info I have, this one was 
strictly Apple II.
-Phoenix's two most popular games were "Sherwood Forest" and 
"Masquerade", which both came with colour graphics. Approximately 1500 
copies were made of each of these two. In fact, Sherwood Forest (which, 
incidentally, is called "Sof-Toon #1", even though there was never a 
second one) was translated in Japanese and sold a few hundred copies in 
Japan. Apple II only for Sherwood Forest and Masquerade, although I hear 
rumours of a C-64 conversion for Masquerade. The Phoenix Software 
catalog only lists it for the Apple though.
-Masquerade was considered so difficult that there was in fact a contest 
associated with the game - the first person to finish it could win 
$1000. (I have included a scan of the contest form on my website). 
Phoenix Software was sold to American Eagle shortly after the release of 
Masquerade and American Eagle promised to honour the contest. Rumour is 
that a woman in New York won, however whether or not the money was paid 
out is not known.
-One of the reasons Phoenix was sold was because it was being sued by 
another company of the same (or a similar) name. Phoenix settled out of 
court and would have had to change its name anyways. The other major 
factor in the sale of Phoenix was that very large companies (Disney, 
Hasbro, etc) were starting to get involved in software publishing. 
Advertising rates were going up, and it was difficult for a small 
company like Phoenix to compete. (as an added note, Phoenix never had a 
storefront or business office - it was run out of someone's bedroom, 
just like many of the companies of the time)
-"Fraktured Faebles", in the same style as Sherwood and Masquerade,  is 
sometimes attributed to Phoenix. However, it was published strictly by 
American Eagle after Phoenix was bought out. American Eagle never 
re-packaged the Phoenix games.
-Phoenix also published a few arcade-style games called "Mad Rat", "Bats 
in the Belfry", and "Gemini". These were Apple II-only items that were 
never widely distributed.
-The most successful Phoenix products were not games but utilities. Five 
items were released for the Apple II called "Forms Foundry", "Invoice 
File", "Communicate and Win", "Banner Magic", and "Zoom Grafix". The 
last one, a screen-dump printing software, is probably the most 
well-known . It sold nearly 10 000 copies (which is fairly good, 
considering the user base was probably around 25 000 back then) - this 
included sales to the US DoD, the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab, etc
-Phoenix packaging for most items consisted of a piece of stock 
cardboard folded in half - with the instructions printed on the inside. 
Packages included a disk in a Tyvek sleeve with the Phoenix logo, a 
registration card, and perhaps a catalog. "Adventure in Time" was 
slightly different, as it essentially consisted of a cardboard pouch. As 
well, "Birth of the Phoenix" came into a Ziploc bag with a bound manual 
and disk. The other game packages were shrinkwrapped, except for Queen 
of Phobos which also came in a Ziploc.
-An interesting tidbit is that Sierra's Ken Williams actually sued 
Phoenix for the use of the name "hi-res adventure". This was eventually 
settled out of court too, given the fact that by that time, neither 
Sierra [On-Line] or Phoenix were using the terminology anymore.

Well, that's all I can think of now. Hopefully this will prove 
interesting to some of you! I have a few more Phoenix items (stationery, 
sales brochures, etc) that I plan to scan when I have the chance.

Stephane



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Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Stephane Racle]

  
So, to revisit a discussion, how do the rest of you try to estimate
the market value of these types of games?  What would, say, the first
release of Zork -- the PDP-11 version -- be worth?

  
  
Brian Moriarty estimates that less than 50 of these were ever sold.  Look at
his closing prices, factor in that it's an actual game rather than a
commemorative giveaway, major historical value... I'd say at least $2-3K,
likely more.
  


On a slightly tangential note, does anybody even have a picture of
this, or know what it includes?

Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Stephane Racle]

Well, for one thing, some of the games (or variations) you mention
below were produced in extremely small quantities, and I doubt that
many copies survive to this day, except perhaps with the author or
publisher - and even then, not in all cases. Furthermore, not many
people know or care about them... If I recall, the sales figures for
the "rare" Akalabeth were in the tens of thousands, and similarly even
the rarest Infocoms sold many thousand copies (except perhaps for the
TRS-80 release of Zork for which I recall hearing that something like
1500 copies were sold - still, that's over a thousand). Contrast that
to perhaps 150-200 copies for Birth of the Phoenix (and that might be
pushing it!). As far as numbers, it's a lot rarer than Akalabeth. No
doubt someone has a copy stashed somewhere, but that doesn't mean it'll
show up on eBay (incidentally, I have a copy of that one stashed very
close by... :-) Of your list, besides BotP, I have also seen a few of
the early Synergistic releases. Interestingly enough, I have a manual
for "Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure", but no diskette... I have never
seen one.

Brian the Fist wrote:

  Incidentally, here's a few games I have never once seen (other than
perhaps a loose disk) on eBay, in several years of searching - no idea
why - Labyrinth of Crete (Scott Adams), Birth of the Phoenix, Black
Magic (Datasoft, US Boxed version), Coveted Mirror (Comprehend version),
Crypts of Terror (In-Home software, saw loose disk once..), Dungeons
Dragons and Other perils (XLent software), Fraktured Faebles (American
Eagle), Gelfling Adventure (Sierra), Palace in Thunderland (Micro Lab),
Quarterstaff (Simulated Environment Systems, before Infocom bought it),
Secret of Easter Island (Three Sigma), Seventh Sword of Mendor
(Grandslam), Sorcerer of Siva (Epyx), most Synergistic Software early
games, Spirit of Glenmore Castle (On Target), Troll's Tale (Sierra),
Zombies (Bram).  And my personal holy grail of hard to find games,
Dungeons of Despair (Wizardry Zero??).  There are very few references to
this latter one, though it is on the Giant Game Programmers list, and
from what I can scrounge, this may have been a Wizardry I beta demo,
released to the Apple user group community as the game was being made? 
Anyone know any more on this one?  and as for the other games listed
here, have any of you ever seen any of them, ever, anywhere?  Maybe I've
just had bad luck?  I suppose some of these, might not exist though I
know most do.  Anyhow, these all appear to be rarer than Akalabeth and
friends.  Oh yes, there's also the Dysan 3 1/2" Infocoms, and DEC
Rainbow ones...

  
One that immediately comes to mind is Destiny by Software Investments

Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Stephane Racle]

One package I had never seen on eBay until tonight was Zorkquest II. 
I've seen all the other Infocomics about a hundred times, but never that 
one. Is it that uncommon? One would think they'd be plenty of copies 
lying around...

Incidentally, here's a few games I have never once seen (other than
perhaps a loose disk) on eBay, in several years of searching - no idea
why - Labyrinth of Crete (Scott Adams), Birth of the Phoenix, Black
Magic (Datasoft, US Boxed version), Coveted Mirror (Comprehend version),
Crypts of Terror (In-Home software, saw loose disk once..), Dungeons
Dragons and Other perils (XLent software), Fraktured Faebles (American
Eagle), Gelfling Adventure (Sierra), Palace in Thunderland (Micro Lab),
Quarterstaff (Simulated Environment Systems, before Infocom bought it),
Secret of Easter Island (Three Sigma), Seventh Sword of Mendor
(Grandslam), Sorcerer of Siva (Epyx), most Synergistic Software early
games, Spirit of Glenmore Castle (On Target), Troll's Tale (Sierra),
Zombies (Bram).  And my personal holy grail of hard to find games,
Dungeons of Despair (Wizardry Zero??).  There are very few references to
this latter one, though it is on the Giant Game Programmers list, and
from what I can scrounge, this may have been a Wizardry I beta demo,
released to the Apple user group community as the game was being made? 
Anyone know any more on this one?  and as for the other games listed
here, have any of you ever seen any of them, ever, anywhere?  Maybe I've
just had bad luck?  I suppose some of these, might not exist though I
know most do.  Anyhow, these all appear to be rarer than Akalabeth and
friends.  Oh yes, there's also the Dysan 3 1/2" Infocoms, and DEC
Rainbow ones...

 



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Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Stephane Racle]

Interesting. Perhaps very few copies were published since it was the
last of the four Infocomics and the other ones had relatively little
success? 

Yes, I was referring to the $19.99 "Buy It Now". That Deadline grey is
interesting I just saw a shrinkwrapped Deadline folio go for $29.99
(although that was a "Buy It Now" as well). Come to think of it though,
Deadline folios seem to come up on eBay fairly regularly - and a good
number of them are still in the shrink. In fact, I think I've seen more
Deadline folios than Deadline greys over the last few years.

I agree with you on actual vs perceived value. Actually, until last
year, I didn't particularly care for Infocomics, which I perceived as
relatively uninteresting computer comic book experiments. Only after
finding a three-pack of them as part of a larger bundle of software did
I decide I should try to get the last one. On the other hand, Suspended
and Starcross were no brainers... and I suspect they are on many
software collectors' lists.

Marco Thorek wrote:

  Stephane Racle schrieb:
  
  
One package I had never seen on eBay until tonight was Zorkquest II.
I've seen all the other Infocomics about a hundred times, but never that
one. Is it that uncommon? One would think they'd be plenty of copies
lying around...

  
  
It indeed is that uncommon. Much more so than a Starcross saucer,
Suspended mask or sealed Fooblitzky. I have been on ebay now for five
years and only saw it once and that one was even sealed. 

I managed to win that auction for a mere $50, as there was only one
other serious bidder. And the current auction you probably talked about
ended with $19.99 via "Buy it now." On the other hand I was outbid
several times on a number of Fooblitzkys, which do turn up every other
month.

Maybe we have to differentiate between actual value, which considers
factors such as rarity and item condition, and perceived value.

Looking through ebay's completed auctions I just saw a Deadline grey go
for $76... 

Marco

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Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Stephane Racle]

I still remember that $2000 Starcross saucer very well! Although IMO, 
someone drove up the price on that one... although if I recall, the 
buyer was more than happy with the result.

Edward Franks wrote:


  I believe that most collectors have somewhat limited
cash flow, and so I have never seen any single game sell for over $1000
that I can recall, and I don't know if it ever would.


I've seen stuff hit the $2,000 mark.




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Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Stephane Racle]

I also noticed just a couple of days ago that my Odyssey manual was 
actually very different from his. Mine is essentially black and white, 
almost newspaperish, while his has a full colour cover. I wonder if your 
disk goes with the one I have? Or do you have the same book as Howard too?

Edward Franks wrote:

On Jan 6, 2004, at 8:41 PM, Brian the Fist wrote:

few of the early Synergistic releases. Interestingly enough, I have a
manual for "Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure", but no diskette... I
have never seen one.


http://deep.mshri.on.ca/people/feldman/vgmuseum/miscgame/ 
odysseycompleat-disk.jpg


Interesting.  My copy has a different label.  It has the logo (the 
SS  and the words Synergestic Software) from here  
 only it is black letters on White.  Above  
the logo it just says ODYSSEY: The Compleat Apventure.



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Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Stephane Racle]

Yes I did... Do you have a copy too? He used to run auctions fairly
regularly, but I haven't seen or heard anything from him in months. By
the way, which Phoenix games are you missing? I think I have an extra
copy of Masquerade, and perhaps another game, though I'd have to check.

C.E. Forman wrote:

  
  
  
  
  Stephane,
   
  You got your BotF from the former
president of Phoenix, didn't you?  I recall he was selling some stuff
awhile back, I got a few pieces from him myself.
   
  
-
Original Message - 
From:
    Stephane Racle 
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent:
Tuesday, January 06, 2004 8:34 PM
Subject:
Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value


Well, for one thing, some of the games (or variations) you mention
below were produced in extremely small quantities, and I doubt that
many copies survive to this day, except perhaps with the author or
publisher - and even then, not in all cases. Furthermore, not many
people know or care about them... If I recall, the sales figures for
the "rare" Akalabeth were in the tens of thousands, and similarly even
the rarest Infocoms sold many thousand copies (except perhaps for the
TRS-80 release of Zork for which I recall hearing that something like
1500 copies were sold - still, that's over a thousand). Contrast that
to perhaps 150-200 copies for Birth of the Phoenix (and that might be
pushing it!). As far as numbers, it's a lot rarer than Akalabeth. No
doubt someone has a copy stashed somewhere, but that doesn't mean it'll
show up on eBay (incidentally, I have a copy of that one stashed very
close by... :-) Of your list, besides BotP, I have also seen a few of
the early Synergistic releases. Interestingly enough, I have a manual
for "Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure", but no diskette... I have never
seen one.

Brian the Fist wrote:

  Incidentally, here's a few games I have never once seen (other than
perhaps a loose disk) on eBay, in several years of searching - no idea
why - Labyrinth of Crete (Scott Adams), Birth of the Phoenix, Black
Magic (Datasoft, US Boxed version), Coveted Mirror (Comprehend version),
Crypts of Terror (In-Home software, saw loose disk once..), Dungeons
Dragons and Other perils (XLent software), Fraktured Faebles (American
Eagle), Gelfling Adventure (Sierra), Palace in Thunderland (Micro Lab),
Quarterstaff (Simulated Environment Systems, before Infocom bought it),
Secret of Easter Island (Three Sigma), Seventh Sword of Mendor
(Grandslam), Sorcerer of Siva (Epyx), most Synergistic Software early
games, Spirit of Glenmore Castle (On Target), Troll's Tale (Sierra),
Zombies (Bram).  And my personal holy grail of hard to find games,
Dungeons of Despair (Wizardry Zero??).  There are very few references to
this latter one, though it is on the Giant Game Programmers list, and
from what I can scrounge, this may have been a Wizardry I beta demo,
released to the Apple user group community as the game was being made? 
Anyone know any more on this one?  and as for the other games listed
here, have any of you ever seen any of them, ever, anywhere?  Maybe I've
just had bad luck?  I suppose some of these, might not exist though I
know most do.  Anyhow, these all appear to be rarer than Akalabeth and
friends.  Oh yes, there's also the Dysan 3 1/2" Infocoms, and DEC
Rainbow ones...

  
One that immediately comes to mind is Destiny by Software Investments

  

Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Stephane Racle]

Funny you mention that. It actually is a three-pack of Infocomics,
although as I recall, it's three individual Infocomics shrinkwrapped in
one package. Probably a store job... but you never know. Perhaps
Infocom/Activision did package them like that to get rid of excess
inventory? I don't recall anything unique about the packaging
suggesting this, but then again, I don't think I looked very closely. I
can try and dig them out... and see if we can come to a better
conclusion. And you know what, unless I'm mistaken, I have two of these
three-packs (the guy was desperate to get rid of his Apple II items). 

C.E. Forman wrote:

  
  
  
  
  Just to clarify, Stephane...  Did
you find three individual Infocomics being sold together?  Or did you
find a literal three-pack of Infocomics (with some kind of unique outer
packaging)?  I always have to be sure if someone sounds like they have
a package I haven't seen before.  B-)
   
  
-
Original Message - 
    From:
Stephane Racle 
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent:
Wednesday, January 07, 2004 7:30 PM
Subject:
Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value


I agree with you on actual vs perceived value. Actually, until last
year, I didn't particularly care for Infocomics, which I perceived as
relatively uninteresting computer comic book experiments. Only after
finding a three-pack of them as part of a larger bundle of software did
I decide I should try to get the last one. On the other hand, Suspended
and Starcross were no brainers... and I suspect they are on many
software collectors' lists.
    
Marco Thorek wrote:

  Stephane Racle schrieb:
  
  
One package I had never seen on eBay until tonight was Zorkquest II.
I've seen all the other Infocomics about a hundred times, but never that
one. Is it that uncommon? One would think they'd be plenty of copies
lying around...

  
  
It indeed is that uncommon. Much more so than a Starcross saucer,
Suspended mask or sealed Fooblitzky. I have been on ebay now for five
years and only saw it once and that one was even sealed. 

I managed to win that auction for a mere $50, as there was only one
other serious bidder. And the current auction you probably talked about
ended with $19.99 via "Buy it now." On the other hand I was outbid
several times on a number of Fooblitzkys, which do turn up every other
month.

Maybe we have to differentiate between actual value, which considers
factors such as rarity and item condition, and perceived value.

Looking through ebay's completed auctions I just saw a Deadline grey go
for $76... 

Marco

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Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value

[Stephane Racle]

I looked and unfortunately my only duplicate is Masquerade. Just a
couple of notes: Fraktured Faebles was never actually released by
Phoenix - it came after the sale to American Eagle. And the deal for
the second Japanese game never happened...

I have some scans of Phoenix stuff at www3.sympatico.ca/sracle if you
haven't seen them.

C.E. Forman wrote:

  
  
  
  I have:
   
  Adventure in Time
Masquerade
Sherwood Forest (U.S. and large-folder Japanese release)
   
  Still need:
   
  Birth of the Phoenix
Fraktured Faebles
Queen of Phobos
One other game that was done in the large-folder Japanese package...
Can't remember which one, though he sent me a copy of the letter he
sent to the Japanese distributor.
  
  
-
Original Message - 
From:
    Stephane Racle 
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent:
Friday, January 09, 2004 8:55 PM
Subject:
Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value


Yes I did... Do you have a copy too? He used to run auctions fairly
regularly, but I haven't seen or heard anything from him in months. By
the way, which Phoenix games are you missing? I think I have an extra
copy of Masquerade, and perhaps another game, though I'd have to check.

C.E. Forman wrote:

  
  
  Stephane,
   
  You got your BotF from the
former president of Phoenix, didn't you?  I recall he was selling some
stuff awhile back, I got a few pieces from him myself.
   
  
-
Original Message - 
    From:
Stephane Racle 
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent:
Tuesday, January 06, 2004 8:34 PM
Subject:
Re: [SWCollect] Mt. Drash cassette and market value


Well, for one thing, some of the games (or variations) you mention
below were produced in extremely small quantities, and I doubt that
many copies survive to this day, except perhaps with the author or
publisher - and even then, not in all cases. Furthermore, not many
people know or care about them... If I recall, the sales figures for
the "rare" Akalabeth were in the tens of thousands, and similarly even
the rarest Infocoms sold many thousand copies (except perhaps for the
TRS-80 release of Zork for which I recall hearing that something like
1500 copies were sold - still, that's over a thousand). Contrast that
to perhaps 150-200 copies for Birth of the Phoenix (and that might be
pushing it!). As far as numbers, it's a lot rarer than Akalabeth. No
doubt someone has a copy stashed somewhere, but that doesn't mean it'll
show up on eBay (incidentally, I have a copy of that one stashed very
close by... :-) Of your list, besides BotP, I have also seen a few of
the early Synergistic releases. Interestingly enough, I have a manual
for "Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure", but no diskette... I have never
seen one.

Brian the Fist wrote:

  Incidentally, here's a few games I have never once seen (other than
perhaps a loose disk) on eBay, in several years of searching - no idea
why - Labyrinth of Crete (Scott Adams), Birth of the Phoenix, Black
Magic (Datasoft, US Boxed version), Coveted Mirror (Comprehend version),
Crypts of Terror (In-Home software, saw loose disk once..), Dungeons
Dragons and Other perils (XLent software), Fraktured Faebles (American
Eagle), Gelfling Adventure (Sierra), Palace in Thunderland (Micro Lab),
Quarterstaff (Simulated Environment Systems, before Infocom bought it),
Secret of Easter Island (Three Sigma), Seventh Sword of Mendor
(Grandslam), Sorcerer of Siva (Epyx), most Synergistic Software early
games, Spirit of Glenmore Castle (On Target), Troll's Tale (Sierra),
Zombies (Bram).  And my personal holy grail of hard to find games,
Dungeons of Despair (Wizardry Zero??).  There are very few references to
this latter one, though it is on the Giant Game Programmers list, and
from what I can scrounge, this may have been a Wizardry I beta demo,
released to the Apple user group community as the game was being made? 
Anyone know any more on this one?  and as for the other games listed
here, have any of you ever seen any of them, ever, anywhere?  Maybe I've
just had bad luck?  I suppose some of these, might not exist though I
know most do.  Anyhow, these all appear to be rarer than Akalabeth and
friends.  Oh yes, there's also the Dysan 3 1/2" Infocoms, and DEC
Rainbow ones...

  
One that immediately comes to mind is Destiny by Software Investments

  

  

Re: [SWCollect] "Modern" classics

[Stephane Racle]

I loved Bard's Tale as well - however, I felt BT2 was kind of weak. 
Thing is, as enjoyable as it is, BT3 probably doesn't stand up too well 
nowadays. The emphasis is on fights with more and more monsters... I 
still distinctly remember standing at the bridge in Malefia facing 
something like hundreds of Death Vortexes (vortices?) as well as many 
other groups of monsters. The NUKE spell did about 2000 damage to each 
of them, but they had thousands and thousands of hit points, so it 
didn't even help. And the ending was... well... easy? Still, a good game 
all in all. BT1 is probably the most balanced (although does anyone else 
remember Harkyn's Castle - 99 Berserkers x 4? Mind Blade would get rid 
of them all though) and the best of the series. Very atmospheric game, 
too. The music on the Apple II sounded amazing for the time...

If I recall, the "real" sequel to Wasteland was called "Mean Time" and 
was never released. Something about the project being abandoned... 
perhaps someone here knows how much work was actually done on it? I'm 
going from memory here, I could be wrong.

Howard Feldman wrote:

If you like Wasteland, you absolutely MUST try the Bard's Tale series 
(III is the best, but the others are great too) and Dragon Wars 
('Bard's Tale IV').  You might also try Fountain of Dreams, the real 
sequel to Wasteland.  You've also got another 5 gold box games to go

Entire Pool of Radiance gold box series (all four games)
Wizardry 1 (haven't tried 2-8)
Fallout (haven't tried Fallout 2)
Wasteland (my #1 favorite game of all time)
Arcanum
Hack
I got through half of Lands of Lore 1 but never finished it.

With that in mind, what would you recommend?




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Re: [SWCollect] "Modern" classics

[Stephane Racle]

Good info, too bad it never happened!

As far as modern games go, I would consider some of the Tex Murphy 
adventures as classics. Overseer was a bit of a let-down (I think it was 
the first game ever on DVD, however, which makes it somewhat 
interesting), but Under A Killing Moon and The Pandora Directive are 
good. Particularly Pandora... it's actually more than good. It's an 
excellent game, and unlike many modern ones, it takes more than a day or 
two to complete! I'm not sure how much these go for on eBay, although I 
know Martian Memorandum regularly sells for $30-$50.

Jim Leonard wrote:

Stephane Racle wrote:

If I recall, the "real" sequel to Wasteland was called "Mean Time" 
and was never released. Something about the project being 
abandoned... perhaps someone here knows how much work was actually 
done on it? I'm going from memory here, I could be wrong.


You're correct; http://wasteland.rockdud.net/meantime.html has more 
info.  The project got as far as an Apple prototype.  However, it 
turned out to be "just another game using its engine, like Foutain of 
Dreams."




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Re: [SWCollect] Paranoid seller and tax evasion

[Stephane Racle]

We have a similar issue here in Canada as anything that comes in with a
value of more than CAN $20 (or CAN $60 if it's declared as a gift) is
taxed at 15%. I've actually had items shipped to me where the seller
had declared a higher value than the eBay auction value, thinking it
made no difference. So now I always indicate in my e-mails that it's
important that the declared value not be higher than the final auction
value. If the seller chooses to put a lower value on it, then great,
but as long as it's no higher than the actual auction value, I can't
really complain about it. If it's a traded item, then I will ask for a
low value since no money has changed hands. Otherwise, I can kind of
understand that it doesn't look good on you to ask the seller to be
dishonest. Still, the guy does sound somewhat over the top.

Stefan Lindblom wrote:

  
  
  
  Hey gang,
   
  I won an auction the other day on
Ebay, and last night I sent a mail to the seller of the item. In the
mail I gave him my address and and also left him instructions on how to
package the game, which means... no receipt, declare it as a gift
etc... customs still have a way of overdoing it over here, and paying
tax for items they consider new even though they are 15-20 years old is
not my idea of fun and well spent money. Anyway, here is the first mail
I got:
   
  
  
Hello Stefan,
First, thanks for bidding our auction. Second, we understand that you
are trying to avoid the VAT and we symphathize with you. Should there
really be much VAT, if any, on this. Also, since you are asking us to
help you "dodge the law" so to speak, will you be willing to break the
law for us? Say...go rob the neighborhood jewelry store for us. We
realize you do not know us but hey, what the heck, one good turn
deserves another.
We can face serious legal consequences (imprisonment, fines, etc) for
violating our international laws. All of our incoming and outgoing
email messages are routed and filtered through legal authorities now,
due to terrorism activities, so the chances of being caught are very
very high.
We are here for fun and a little profit and really do no wish to become
entangled with legal problems, so we will do everything "above board"
and legal. Besides, is it really worth smearing you character over
paltry sums. If you are going to do it, make sure it involves millions.
Would we not look stupid being dragged in handcuffs in public because
we tried to evade customs , etc, for maybe nothing or pennies.
Still want to deal? We, now, will only accept cold hard cash from you
for your purchase. Since you have indicated that you want to thwart the
law, maybe you are willing to thwart payment to us also. Some people
like to pay and after receiving their item, cancel the payment. Who
wins?
Regards,
national-server 
   
   
   
  I was like... what? Never gotten
anything like that before in 4 years of trading. Was not sure how to
reply but after a while I started writing. Both professionally and
pretty personal as well, and since he was so paranoid I just felt I had
to annoy him.. just a little. So I included this in my mail:
   
  "So you mean that all your e-mails
are possibly being read by others? So if I in this mail add words like
muslim, Bush, bomb, terror.. the chance of having it read will be
greater?"
   
   
   
  Part of his reply included:
   
  "The authorities tap the internet
backbone whenever they wish for "national security" purposes and do not
necessarily use just "keywords". Your messaging (and now mine) most
likely will be flagged for watching because you did use keywords which
causes automatic backbone routing to federal and international
authorities. Tensions run high here now and just "joking" around is not
immune to utmost surveillance. You see, we are not a free people
anymore in the sense that we were. National security and "Homeland
Defense" are and have been the nation's #1 priority ever since 9/11.
Of course, we won't be paranoid because we have nothing to hide and
wish to continue on with our day to day business transactions."
   
  
As if I didnt know they would be flagged, that was why I wrote it, pure
annoyance factor ;) And no, he is not the least paranoid.. sure..
   
   
   
  Just thought I should share this
with you. Has any of you guys had any trouble with people reacting
hostile when you want them to ship it discrete in order to try to avoid
unnecessary involvement by the customs? Guy has zero feedback btw,
although he claims to have another user as well.
   
  /Stefan

[SWCollect] A game called "Whiz Kid"

[Stephane Racle]

Talking about preserving games... I have an old Apple II diskette with a 
graphic adventure game called "Whiz Kid". It's in the style of the early 
Sierra Hi-Res Adventures, with graphics on the top and text on the 
bottom of the screen. The following information is given at bootup:

Venturwiz (tm)
Graphic Adventure Series #2
Softdisk - Rich 'n Famous Series
"Copyright 1984 Gary Bond"
As well, it mentions later on that the author has also written:

"Graphics and Sound Wizard"
"The Princess and the Valley of Fire"
Searching the web and the newsgroups doesn't bring up a single match. 
Neither does it show up with anything related to Softdisk. Has anybody 
else heard of this game or know of any other games in the "Graphic 
Adventure Series"? It actually seems like a decent adventure although 
the parser is not exactly of Infocom caliber.

Stephane

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[SWCollect] Talking about rarity/value

[Stephane Racle]

Wow...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3561&item=3073649958



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Re: [SWCollect] Weird Ultima auction on eBay

[Stephane Racle]

Perhaps someone who worked at Origin in some fashion? Location is 
Austin, TX...

Edward Franks wrote:

On Feb 1, 2004, at 7:40 PM, Per-Olof Karlsson wrote:

Did anyone see this auction?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? 
ViewItem&category=11050&item=3075606212

Seems pretty peculiar to me.. Why would somebody have 10 copies of  
these
thingies?? Apparently he's had more of these auctions out as well,
suggesting he's got at least 10, possibly more. Smells fake all over  
if you
ask me, eh?? I'm no Ultima expert so I can't see if the pic looks  
suspicious
or not, perhaps somebody can?


First off, he might have screwed up the auction listing.  It 
happens  to us all.  ;-)

The four runes on the left look correct.  I can't tell from the 
photo  about the runes on the right.  One should be an I and the other 
should  be |` (that is, a upright I with a serif descending from the 
top to the  right).  That doesn't necessarily mean anything either 
way, though.   Anyone with a set plus the availability of some 
aluminum and a stamp  could easily churn out fakes.

The cloth map itself looks right at first glance.  That would 
almost  certainly be genuine as the cost to making them is hideous.  
Richard  Garriott has said that economic pressures cause folks to want 
to  eliminate the map and that Origin always "burned" the map makers.  
That  is, the map makers discovered that the maps were always a 
losing  proposition and never did them again.



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Re: [SWCollect] Oh my G*d!!!!

[Stephane Racle]

Heh. Actually, that's an interesting one. I never understood the
fascination with this particular package. It routinely sells on eBay
for anywhere between $100-$200, but it's really not that interesting...
For that price, you can probably grab 5 or 6 grey boxes, a couple of
folios, and some Invisiclues hint books to go with that. 

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Awhile back there was a
private web page selling games for "ludicrous" prices but this seller
is setting new records for insane, here is one example:
  
  Infocom Adventure Collection
Activision 
   
  
  Price: $650.00
  
Where's my credit card, better get this one QUICK As I said only
one example, another Stonekeep for $165, for pity's sake!!!
  
Tom
  
Visit my web page for many games for sale/trade and screen shots of
Ultima Escape from Mt. Drash,  Tom's
Ultima, Infocom and RPG page 
  
   

Re: [SWCollect] Oh my G*d!!!!

[Stephane Racle]

Let's validate the system:

Ultima IX: Ascension is worth $80 + $9 - $90 = -$1, so $0. This must
therefore be be a good system!

Although I still like the -$1 value, because if I had to play this game
again, I'd definitely want to be paid for it! :-P

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  Lee,

Thanks for pointing out a couple of flaws in my otherwise perfect system.  So here are a couple of changes:

Numbers (and punctuation) do not count as "letters."

Subtitle letters do count, but are only worth 10% of the title letters.  

Subtract (the value of 1 letter) x (sequel #) for sequels.

So for example, Ultima II:  Revenge of the Enchantress is worth:

$600 + $230 - $200 = $630

Note:  Regardless of how many sequels a game has, a game can never be worth less than $0.

With those modifications, I think the system is ready to roll out.  Enjoy.

Hugh

-Original Message-
From: "Lee K. Seitz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Feb 4, 2004 12:02 PM
To: Software Collecting <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Oh my G*d

[EMAIL PROTECTED] stated:
  
  
This is really shameless.  I suggest a standard for classic =
game prices as follows:

1994 - Present:
Price = (number of letters in game name) x $10
1986 - 93:
Price = (number of letters in game name) x $20
1977 - 85:
Price = (number of letters in game name) x $100

I think this is much more reasonable.  Feel free to use this method
on your sites.  No need to mention me as the source (please).

  
  
Makes me glad I'm not an Ultima collector.

   Ultima (1981) = $600
   Ultima II (1982) = $800
   Ultima III (1983) = $900
   Ultima IV (1985) = $800
   Ultima V (1988) = $140

Especially if we add subtitles!

   Ultima (1981) = $600
   Ultima II: Revenge of the Enchantress (1982) = $3100
   Ultima III: Exodus (1983) = $1500
   Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar (1985) = $2400
   Ultima V:  Warriors of Destiny (1988) = $480

(I was nice and didn't count the colons.)

I might actually part with my original Infocoms at some of these
prices:

   Zork (1980) = $400
   Zork II (1981) = $600
   Zork III (1982) = $700
   Starcross (1982) = $900
   Suspended (1983) = $900
   Planetfall (1983) = $1000
   The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1984) = $3000
   Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986) = $480
   Stationfall (1987) = $220

And again, you don't want to collect Zork and count subtitles.

   Zork: The Great Underground Empire (1980) = $2900
   Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz (1981) = $2400
   Zork III: The Dungeon Master (1982) = $2300

  

[SWCollect] LF website host for a classic gaming site

[Stephane Racle]

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for someone to host a website related to classic gaming. 
Yes, I know... yet another one? I'd prefer not to reveal too many 
details in public right now, but I can say that the information included 
on the site is, to my knowledge, not readily available anywhere else on 
the web, if it is available at all. It needs about half a gig of space. 
It's sitting on my hard drive right now, not quite finished, but nearly 
ready to go... If you have space available somewhere, or know someone 
who may be able to help, please send me an e-mail - I'll give you all 
the details.

Thanks!

Stephane

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Re: [SWCollect] eBay change

[Stephane Racle]

It is? Sub-category of which category? I don't see it anywhere...

Pedro Quaresma wrote:

  It's now a sub-category, which you
can choose on the "navigator" on the left hand side
  
--
Pedro R. Quaresma
Salvador Caetano IMVT
Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division
Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / 
Lotus Notes Administration and Development
[EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492)
  
Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 38K km., "Esperanza"
  
'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because
they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes
  
  
  
  

  






             
       


        

Para:
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

A/C: 

Ref: 

cc: (bcc: Pedro
Quaresma/SCAETANO)

Assunto: [SWCollect] eBay
change

  
  



"Hugh
Falk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

28-02-2004
20:19

  
  



Solicita-se
resposta a swcollect


  

  
  
  
  Did eBay just change
their categories?  Apple II gone?
  
   
  
  Hugh
  
   
  
   
  
   
  
  
  
  
ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online
http://www.toyota.pt
  
  

Re: [SWCollect] Castle Wolfenstein

[Stephane Racle]

First time I see that one too... interesting. I think the first ever 
release was the one with the orange booklet in a baggie. Does anyone 
know for sure? I think, however, that Zork/Zork I wins hands down for 
the most package variations!

Dan Chisarick wrote:

I think Castle Wolfenstein should win the "most package variants of 
any  software title ever".  Not counting overseas packing and I don't 
think  they had 'budget' packing, there's like 4-5 variants of the 
Apple II  version perhaps?  I never saw this one before:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? 
ViewItem&item=2791458202&category=4610

Sheesh.

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Re: [SWCollect] Trivia questions answers (spoiler if you still wanna try), BT was wrong

[Stephane Racle]

I'm with Howard on this one. From what I recall, the plan was actually
to release a number of games in the "Tales" series, the first one being
the Bard's Tale... this was to be followed by things like The Knight's
Tale, The Wizard's Tale... hence why BT1 was actually Tales of the
Unknown: Vol 1 - The Bard's Tale. I'm not sure at what point Interplay
changed its mind. Of course, it could it's possible that the game was
in fact originally titled Spectre Snare, but I've never heard anything
to that effect either.

Howard Feldman wrote:

  
BT question

"the original name of Bard's tale was Spector Snare.
Mike Crawford did a virtuoso job with it back in the
early days of Interplay, right after they were formed
from Boone Software."

So how about it folks, can anyone refute this or does this fellow know more than us? I'm guessing he does for sure on GS UI since he
actually did the music for it ;)

  
  
As far as I know (and I like to think of myself as somewhat of a BT
expert..), the released game was always known as Tales of the Unknown
Volume I: the Bard's Tale.  However, the Spectre Snare was the name of
the most powerful weapon in the game (worth 200,000 gold I think).  See
here for example:
http://people.stdnet.com/jonathan/emu/bardstaleequip.htm
In a dungeon you can find the message "On the wall is etched: The
Spectre Snare can catch a foe and bind him lest his spirit go..."

So it is conceivable that the game was originally named after the most
powerful weapon in the game (after all, BT2 was named after the Destiny
Wand, the most powerful weapon in that game), but I have seen no
evidence that this was the case.

  

Re: [SWCollect] Microbe, Synergistic Software

[Stephane Racle]

That was one of my favourites. What would you like to know?

Stephane

Matthew Sewell wrote:

Hi All,

I've been going through my old stuff and I'm wondering if anyone can
tell me about the game Microbe from Synergistic Software. Thanks
Matt



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Re: [SWCollect] Red Crystal, the Seven Secrets of Life

[Stephane Racle]

This would be more recent. The box says 1993.

Jim Leonard wrote:

Stephane Racle wrote:

It was easier to find than I thought... Looks like an RPG with "modem 
play"!


Really?  What year?  I believe American Challenge: A Sailing 
Simulation was semi-officially the first modem 2-player game but I'd 
always like more data for MobyGames.


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Re: [SWCollect] Wireless Optical Mouse and ebay

[Stephane Racle]

I have a Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer 2.0, and I have to
admit it works quite well. No lag, quite comfortable to use, and the
batteries last for a while. It was bought new for CAN $50, so it
shouldn't be too far off your mark...

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Need wireless rechargable
optical mouse. Anyone have suggestions (want cheap, maybe $25
shipped?). Tried ebay but most sellers have shipping cost of $11-20
(yes for one mouse), I refuse to buy from such a seller. Ebay needs new
search function, shipping cost search, taking way too long to find one
with reasonable s+h (probably searched 20 auctions, don't have time for
that crap).
  
Thanks,
Tom
  
Visit my web page for many games for sale/trade and screen shots of
Ultima Escape from Mt. Drash,  Tom's
Ultima, Infocom and RPG page 

Re: [SWCollect] Need a picture

[Stephane Racle]

I have a few pictures that may work for you... Try this:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/sracle/images/QoP-1.jpg

Jim Leonard wrote:

Does anyone have any pictures of early "plastic/ziplock baggie" 
releases online I can use to show someone that, yes, software used to 
come in baggies?


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Re: [SWCollect] Need a picture

[Stephane Racle]

That was their first game? I think I have a copy of that booklet 
somewhere. Do you know what else, if anything, was included in the 
package besides a diskette?

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

Here is Broderbund's first game:

http://www.classicgaming.com/gotcha/Broderbund.htm

-Original Message-
From: Jim Leonard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Mar 12, 2004 11:57 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [SWCollect] Need a picture
Does anyone have any pictures of early "plastic/ziplock baggie" releases 
online I can use to show someone that, yes, software used to come in 
baggies?
 



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Re: [SWCollect] Here we go.....

[Stephane Racle]

Indeed... why selling? Are you truly selling off your entire Ultima
collection?

Josh Lulewicz wrote:

  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  Edward what are earth are
you thinking!?!?!?!?
   
  Let the circus begin……I
think you all know what
I am referring to.
   
  -josh
  

Re: [SWCollect] Here we go.....

[Stephane Racle]

I guess we'll have to see if CNET (I think that's who it was) was right 
when they stated that a complete Drash could sell for up to $2000!

Edward Franks wrote:

On Mar 15, 2004, at 1:43 AM, Josh Lulewicz wrote:

Edward what are earth are you thinking!?!?!?!?


That I'd like to keep my house.  Seriously, the seasonal job I 
have covers most of my bills, but not all.  If Drash goes for what I 
think it will go then I've made a house payment.  That buys me just 
that much more time to find a full time job.  I didn't do this 
lightly, but in the end I know what is more important to me.

The three year journey of finding Drash was as important to me as 
actually holding it in my hands.  That's something I'll never lose.  
Now it is time to allow someone else to have their journey with Drash.

Oh, if I sound a bit loopy, it is because I just got off work 
(graveyard shift) and I'm pretty tired.  The funny thing for me is 
I'll be at work when this auction ends and I won't know what happens 
for hours.  ;-)

Later,
Edward


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Re: [SWCollect] How did you find your Drash?

[Stephane Racle]

I bought most of my Infocom grey boxes from a place called Compsult, in 
California, back in 1991. They still sell stuff on eBay as "Software 
Outlet" or something similar... I think I purcshased 15-16 titles, brand 
new, still in the shrink for $5 each... Sci-Fi classics with the 
slipcase for $15. Mind you, I unshrinked them all back then, but they 
are still in nice condition!

Also, probably my luckiest buy... Back in 1992 or 1993, I purchased 
brand new Infidel, Sorcerer, and Planetfall folios, and a Starcross 
saucer for about $50. The person from whom I bought these items had a 
few Personal Software Zorks - but I didn't know any better, so I never 
asked for one. But he decided to throw one in anyways!

Howard Feldman wrote:

I guess my luckiest find (that I can recall) was probably Softporn
Adventure.  I got it complete for $5 on USENET.  Ironically, although I
knew it was the precursor to LSL, I had no idea of its value.  Since I
mostly collect RPGs I was hesitant to even buy it!  Glad I did though :)
Oh, and I got not 1, but 2 copies of the original release of Beneath
Apple Manor - for free! (Donations to the 'museum' - which are welcome
anytime btw, lol) (someone on this list is the happy owner of one now :)
)  For some reason thats just not a popular game among collectors I
guess.
Also picked up tons of bargains from C.E. (does that count?)

Found Troll's Tale cheap too.  If anyone's in the Syracuse area, there's
a great little store (see http://www.waynes.com/) that still has tons of
Apple II software and hardware.  (But dont get too excited, I took most
of the good stuff already).  He's got dozens of old games though, many
still in the original boxes, for relatively cheap. He told me he had
crates more of the stuff in 'the attic' but he wouldn't let me go look
:(
 

Or any of your most prized software posessions, for that matter?  Any
good stories out there?
   



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Re: [SWCollect] Here we go.....

[Stephane Racle]

Oh well, it happens. I will comment on it even though it's not for
me... :-) From reading your message and others earlier today, I had to
comment...

I just think wanting to "keep it a mystery" is a fine line. And I don't
just mean for Drash. Certainly a good part of the fun is finding new
games or items, especially if very little is known about them. And of
course it's always nice to be able to gloat a little bit after a nice
find. :-) 

On the other hand, one of the reasons I look for new items is so that I
can share them with other collectors and enthusiasts, for example by
making a scan, a disk image, or simply by giving out some details  that
weren't previously known. I understand why people are worried about
counterfeit items. However, are we simply collecting for the purpose of
hoarding items? I know I'm not. It's a lot more fun if you're able to
show what you have and discuss it with others. Plus you never know what
people will come up with... if the Drash image haden't been released,
then nobody would have ported it to the PC. Everybody has a different
interest, whether its technical, historical, etc...  Not to say fakes
aren't an issue, because they are. But there's a difference between due
diligence and simply putting everything out of sight. 


[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
In a message dated 03/15/2004
10:27:02 PM Central Standard Time, AvatarTom writes:
  
Oh crap, this was supposed to be a personal mail, oh well...  
  
  

You can't make a fake
anything from the 4K 
> computer file 


It's not just making "fakes" either, part of it is the mystique of
Drash. Was more so before those last few cassettes showed up and Josh
got his but still there. And as I said someone could sell the images
easily. Best to keep it a "mystery" to most people, then if they
actually find one it will be a lot more fun :) And just FYI, Edward
thinks if he gets 2K for his that would be a lot, I'll just say I was
offered a LOT more than 2K for mine without the box. 
  
  
  Visit my web page for many
games for sale/trade and screen shots of Ultima Escape from Mt. Drash, 
  Tom's
Ultima, Infocom and RPG page 

Re: [SWCollect] Here we go.....

[Stephane Racle]

Maybe Edward has a hot tip for another Drash, he's not just telling us
and seeing what he can get for this one. :-)

Josh Lulewicz wrote:

  
  
  
  
  

  
  
  >>
  I'll
just say I was offered a LOT more than 2K for mine
without the box. 


   
  I too have
been offered A LOT more than 2K
for mine….
   
  -josh
   
   
  

[SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

I'm pleased to announce that my web site, the Computer Gaming World 
(CGW) Museum, is finally on-line! The Museum is dedicated to the 
preservation and presentation of all CGW items related to the time 
period covered by the first 100 issues of Computer Gaming World 
magazine. Currently there is not a whole lot of textual information 
available, but you will find scans of the covers of most of the first 
100 issues, among other things. The goal is, of course, to expand as 
time allows, and all suggestions/constructive criticism/comments are 
welcome!

Anyhow, you are all welcome to take a look! I am hoping that this will 
prove to be a useful resource for the vintage gaming community, as I do 
not believe that the information provided by the Museum is available 
elsewhere on the web.

You will find the museum at cgw.vintagegaming.org. Many, many thanks to 
Freddie Bingham for hosting!

Oh, and never mind the March 20th date on the news page. Amazingly, 
we're 3 days early... :-)

Stephane

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Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

Doubtful I could do that without incurring the wrath of ZD...

BL wrote:

  Great job man, looks awesome.  If your ultimate plan is to have the entire
mags scanned, I can't wait!

Brad

- Original Message - 
From: "Stephane Racle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "swcollect" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 3:01 AM
Subject: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum


  
  
I'm pleased to announce that my web site, the Computer Gaming World
(CGW) Museum, is finally on-line! The Museum is dedicated to the
preservation and presentation of all CGW items related to the time
period covered by the first 100 issues of Computer Gaming World
magazine. Currently there is not a whole lot of textual information
available, but you will find scans of the covers of most of the first
100 issues, among other things. The goal is, of course, to expand as
time allows, and all suggestions/constructive criticism/comments are
welcome!

Anyhow, you are all welcome to take a look! I am hoping that this will
prove to be a useful resource for the vintage gaming community, as I do
not believe that the information provided by the Museum is available
elsewhere on the web.

You will find the museum at cgw.vintagegaming.org. Many, many thanks to
Freddie Bingham for hosting!

Oh, and never mind the March 20th date on the news page. Amazingly,
we're 3 days early... :-)

Stephane


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Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

Hehe. You may be willing to cut up my magazines, but I'm not! Well, I'd 
cut up duplicate issues. It probably wouldn't be too difficult for 
issues 25 and up, but the earlier ones can be difficult to find.

I guess the options are...

Stick to covers/ToC - ZD is probably less likely to notice and may not 
care all that much. But then, you don't get all the interesting articles!
Contact ZD - High (?) chance of getting rejected, but potentially 
permission to scan the articles.

The question is... how much does ZD care about these older magazines? 
Would they be willing to let someone scan/display them for free? The way 
I see it, this only generates interest for the magazine. However, ZD may 
want to make people pay.

Any thoughts? Anybody know anyone at ZD? :-) Some of these early 
articles are extremely interesting and very well written. It really 
would be great to have them available.

Stephane

Jim Leonard wrote:

Regardless of how it turns out, please make sure to provide text or 
text-aware file formats, like PDF that has been OCR'd, or DjVu (no 
OCR'd text, but separates text and background graphics and compresses 
each with separate algorithm for better compression, also supports 
progressive downloading and localized decoding which is great for 
modem users (they can look at a section of the page without 
downloading the whole thing)).

As for approaching it the right way, tell ZD about your project and 
ask that you are willing to host the pages, do all the scanning, tell 
them you'll offer pages in multiple formats, etc. and that all you ask 
in return is permission from the company to do so.  To help sweeten 
the deal, tell them you're willing to cut up the magazines for the 
best scan.  Seriously.  Crappy 300 DPI JPG scans that are warped 
because the magazine binding is still intact won't impress anyone :)

However, you run a big risk of getting a cease and desist letter in 
return.  But since you already run the risk of that, you might as well 
contact them right now instead of running the site for two years, 
building it up, and THEN getting the cease and desist letter.

I wish the best of luck, I personally would love to read some of those 
older reviews.  If/When contacting ZD, make sure you actually call 
people on the phone; email inquiries to generic addresses rarely get 
to the *right* person.

Feldhamer, Stuart wrote:

Hey, if you approach it the right way, they might even pay you to do 
it...
 
Stuart

-----Original Message-
*From:* Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
*Sent:* Wednesday, March 17, 2004 11:49 AM
*To:* swcollect
*Subject:* Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum
Doubtful I could do that without incurring the wrath of ZD...

BL wrote:

Great job man, looks awesome.  If your ultimate plan is to have the 
entire
mags scanned, I can't wait!

Brad

- Original Message -

From: "Stephane Racle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "swcollect" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 3:01 AM
Subject: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum
 

I'm pleased to announce that my web site, the Computer Gaming World
(CGW) Museum, is finally on-line! The Museum is dedicated to the
preservation and presentation of all CGW items related to the time
period covered by the first 100 issues of Computer Gaming World
magazine. Currently there is not a whole lot of textual information
available, but you will find scans of the covers of most of the first
100 issues, among other things. The goal is, of course, to expand as
time allows, and all suggestions/constructive criticism/comments are
welcome!
Anyhow, you are all welcome to take a look! I am hoping that this will
prove to be a useful resource for the vintage gaming community, as 
I do
not believe that the information provided by the Museum is available
elsewhere on the web.

You will find the museum at cgw.vintagegaming.org. Many, many 
thanks to
Freddie Bingham for hosting!

Oh, and never mind the March 20th date on the news page. Amazingly,
we're 3 days early... :-)
Stephane

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This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to
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[EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of 'unsubscribe swcollect'
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Information in this message reflects current market conditions and is 
subject to change without notice.

It is believed to be rel

Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

Actually the early CGW issues had a number of articles about Muse. 
RobotWar was a popular topic - CGW held about 3 or 4 annual RobotWar 
tournaments. Castle Wolfenstein also came up a number of times.

Nice job on Wolf, you made the cutoff by 2 issues. :-)

John Romero wrote:

Wow, in the first issue of CGW were some articles about Silas' RobotWar.
Very cool.  Luckily, Wolf3D made it in issue 98! :)
- John

-Original Message-
From: Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 12:02 AM
To: swcollect
Subject: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

I'm pleased to announce that my web site, the Computer Gaming World 
(CGW) Museum, is finally on-line! The Museum is dedicated to the 
preservation and presentation of all CGW items related to the time 
period covered by the first 100 issues of Computer Gaming World 
magazine. Currently there is not a whole lot of textual information 
available, but you will find scans of the covers of most of the first 
100 issues, among other things. The goal is, of course, to expand as 
time allows, and all suggestions/constructive criticism/comments are 
welcome!

Anyhow, you are all welcome to take a look! I am hoping that this will 
prove to be a useful resource for the vintage gaming community, as I do 
not believe that the information provided by the Museum is available 
elsewhere on the web.

You will find the museum at cgw.vintagegaming.org. Many, many thanks to 
Freddie Bingham for hosting!

Oh, and never mind the March 20th date on the news page. Amazingly, 
we're 3 days early... :-)

Stephane

--
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]/



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This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to
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--
This message was sent to you because you are currently subscribed to
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Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

Yes, I have LOL. But it's not so bad if it's progressively. A few now,
a few then... might take a year to get all of them up. But yes... it
would require lots of time, space, and bandwidth. So right now the
status quo is much easier. :-)

Freddie Bingham wrote:

  Have you considered the time it would take to scan 100 magazines? :eek:

Freddie

Vintage Gaming - http://www.vintagegaming.org
 

  
  
-Original Message-----
From: Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 1:48 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

Hehe. You may be willing to cut up my magazines, but I'm not! 
Well, I'd cut up duplicate issues. It probably wouldn't be 
too difficult for issues 25 and up, but the earlier ones can 
be difficult to find.

I guess the options are...

Stick to covers/ToC - ZD is probably less likely to notice 
and may not care all that much. But then, you don't get all 
the interesting articles!
Contact ZD - High (?) chance of getting rejected, but 
potentially permission to scan the articles.

The question is... how much does ZD care about these older magazines? 
Would they be willing to let someone scan/display them for 
free? The way I see it, this only generates interest for the 
magazine. However, ZD may want to make people pay.

Any thoughts? Anybody know anyone at ZD? :-) Some of these 
early articles are extremely interesting and very well 
written. It really would be great to have them available.

Stephane

Jim Leonard wrote:



  Regardless of how it turns out, please make sure to provide text or 
text-aware file formats, like PDF that has been OCR'd, or DjVu (no 
OCR'd text, but separates text and background graphics and 
  

compresses 


  each with separate algorithm for better compression, also supports 
progressive downloading and localized decoding which is great for 
modem users (they can look at a section of the page without 
downloading the whole thing)).

As for approaching it the right way, tell ZD about your project and 
ask that you are willing to host the pages, do all the 
  

scanning, tell 


  them you'll offer pages in multiple formats, etc. and that 
  

all you ask 


  in return is permission from the company to do so.  To help sweeten 
the deal, tell them you're willing to cut up the magazines for the 
best scan.  Seriously.  Crappy 300 DPI JPG scans that are warped 
because the magazine binding is still intact won't impress anyone :)

However, you run a big risk of getting a cease and desist letter in 
return.  But since you already run the risk of that, you 
  

might as well 


  contact them right now instead of running the site for two years, 
building it up, and THEN getting the cease and desist letter.

I wish the best of luck, I personally would love to read 
  

some of those 


  older reviews.  If/When contacting ZD, make sure you actually call 
people on the phone; email inquiries to generic addresses 
  

rarely get 


  to the *right* person.

Feldhamer, Stuart wrote:

  
  
Hey, if you approach it the right way, they might even pay 

  

you to do 


  
it...
 
Stuart

    -Original Message-
*From:* Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
*Sent:* Wednesday, March 17, 2004 11:49 AM
*To:* swcollect
*Subject:* Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

Doubtful I could do that without incurring the wrath of ZD...

BL wrote:



  Great job man, looks awesome.  If your ultimate plan is 
  

  

to have the 


  

  entire mags scanned, I can't wait!

Brad

- Original Message -

From: "Stephane Racle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "swcollect" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 3:01 AM
Subject: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum


 

  
  
I'm pleased to announce that my web site, the Computer 

  

  

Gaming World


  

  
(CGW) Museum, is finally on-line! The Museum is dedicated to the 
preservation and presentation of all CGW items related 

  

  

to the time 


  

  
period covered by the first 100 issues of Computer Gaming World 
magazine. Currently there is not a whole lot of textual 

  

  

information 


  

  
available, but you will find scans of the covers of most of the 
first 100 issues, among other things. The goal is, of course, to 
expand as time allows, and all suggest

Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

Hugh,

I'm actually not familiar with the mini-reproduction you're talking
about. Is it an actual paper reproduction or something on a CD? I do
have issue 200 but I don't believe it had anything special with it. Of
course, I got it second-hand so it is quite possible that it was
missing.

I'll contact you privately about the rest.

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  I have a friend who used to be (fairly recently) the Editor in Chief of CGW.  I believe he is still with ZD in the web arena.  If you want to compose a message to him, I can be sure to pass it along.

One conern for ZD would be if they decide to ever publish a DVD-ROM with every issue.  Dragon Magazine did this, and it is really a nice reference.  Lot's of classic game ads, by the way.

Stephane, do you happen to have the mini-reproduction of CGW issue #!?  I beleive it came with CGW #200.  That might be worth putting on your site, even though it is more recent.

Hugh

-Original Message-
From: Stephane Racle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Mar 17, 2004 1:48 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

Hehe. You may be willing to cut up my magazines, but I'm not! Well, I'd 
cut up duplicate issues. It probably wouldn't be too difficult for 
issues 25 and up, but the earlier ones can be difficult to find.

I guess the options are...

Stick to covers/ToC - ZD is probably less likely to notice and may not 
care all that much. But then, you don't get all the interesting articles!
Contact ZD - High (?) chance of getting rejected, but potentially 
permission to scan the articles.

The question is... how much does ZD care about these older magazines? 
Would they be willing to let someone scan/display them for free? The way 
I see it, this only generates interest for the magazine. However, ZD may 
want to make people pay.

Any thoughts? Anybody know anyone at ZD? :-) Some of these early 
articles are extremely interesting and very well written. It really 
would be great to have them available.

Stephane

Jim Leonard wrote:

  
  
Regardless of how it turns out, please make sure to provide text or 
text-aware file formats, like PDF that has been OCR'd, or DjVu (no 
OCR'd text, but separates text and background graphics and compresses 
each with separate algorithm for better compression, also supports 
progressive downloading and localized decoding which is great for 
modem users (they can look at a section of the page without 
downloading the whole thing)).

As for approaching it the right way, tell ZD about your project and 
ask that you are willing to host the pages, do all the scanning, tell 
them you'll offer pages in multiple formats, etc. and that all you ask 
in return is permission from the company to do so.  To help sweeten 
the deal, tell them you're willing to cut up the magazines for the 
best scan.  Seriously.  Crappy 300 DPI JPG scans that are warped 
because the magazine binding is still intact won't impress anyone :)

However, you run a big risk of getting a cease and desist letter in 
return.  But since you already run the risk of that, you might as well 
contact them right now instead of running the site for two years, 
building it up, and THEN getting the cease and desist letter.

I wish the best of luck, I personally would love to read some of those 
older reviews.  If/When contacting ZD, make sure you actually call 
people on the phone; email inquiries to generic addresses rarely get 
to the *right* person.

Feldhamer, Stuart wrote:



  Hey, if you approach it the right way, they might even pay you to do 
it...
 
Stuart

-Original Message-
*From:* Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
*Sent:* Wednesday, March 17, 2004 11:49 AM
*To:* swcollect
*Subject:* Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

Doubtful I could do that without incurring the wrath of ZD...

BL wrote:

  
  
Great job man, looks awesome.  If your ultimate plan is to have the 
entire
mags scanned, I can't wait!

Brad

- Original Message -

From: "Stephane Racle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "swcollect" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 3:01 AM
Subject: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum


 



  I'm pleased to announce that my web site, the Computer Gaming World
(CGW) Museum, is finally on-line! The Museum is dedicated to the
preservation and presentation of all CGW items related to the time
period covered by the first 100 issues of Computer Gaming World
magazine. Currently there is not a whole lot of textual information
available, but you will find scans of the covers of most of the first
100 issues, among other things. The goal is, of course, to expand as
time allows, and all suggestions/constructive criticism/comments are
welcome!

Anyhow, you are all welcome to take a look! I am hoping that this w

Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

Actually I think that's a great idea. I may just start something out
very shortly!

BL wrote:

  
  
  
  
  Stephane,
   
  Here's an idea -- a random article
of interest scanned in and put on the site weekly!  Would be a cool
thing to have.
   
  Brad
  
-
Original Message - 
From:
    Stephane Racle 
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent:
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 4:58 PM
Subject:
Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum


Yes, I have LOL. But it's not so bad if it's progressively. A few now,
a few then... might take a year to get all of them up. But yes... it
would require lots of time, space, and bandwidth. So right now the
status quo is much easier. :-)

Freddie Bingham wrote:

  Have you considered the time it would take to scan 100 magazines? :eek:

Freddie

Vintage Gaming - http://www.vintagegaming.org
 

  
  
-Original Message-
From: Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 1:48 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

Hehe. You may be willing to cut up my magazines, but I'm not! 
Well, I'd cut up duplicate issues. It probably wouldn't be 
too difficult for issues 25 and up, but the earlier ones can 
be difficult to find.

I guess the options are...

Stick to covers/ToC - ZD is probably less likely to notice 
and may not care all that much. But then, you don't get all 
the interesting articles!
Contact ZD - High (?) chance of getting rejected, but 
potentially permission to scan the articles.

The question is... how much does ZD care about these older magazines? 
Would they be willing to let someone scan/display them for 
free? The way I see it, this only generates interest for the 
magazine. However, ZD may want to make people pay.

Any thoughts? Anybody know anyone at ZD? :-) Some of these 
early articles are extremely interesting and very well 
written. It really would be great to have them available.

Stephane

Jim Leonard wrote:



  Regardless of how it turns out, please make sure to provide text or 
text-aware file formats, like PDF that has been OCR'd, or DjVu (no 
OCR'd text, but separates text and background graphics and 
  

compresses 


  each with separate algorithm for better compression, also supports 
progressive downloading and localized decoding which is great for 
modem users (they can look at a section of the page without 
downloading the whole thing)).

As for approaching it the right way, tell ZD about your project and 
ask that you are willing to host the pages, do all the 
  

scanning, tell 


  them you'll offer pages in multiple formats, etc. and that 
  

all you ask 


  in return is permission from the company to do so.  To help sweeten 
the deal, tell them you're willing to cut up the magazines for the 
best scan.  Seriously.  Crappy 300 DPI JPG scans that are warped 
because the magazine binding is still intact won't impress anyone :)

However, you run a big risk of getting a cease and desist letter in 
return.  But since you already run the risk of that, you 
  

might as well 


  contact them right now instead of running the site for two years, 
building it up, and THEN getting the cease and desist letter.

I wish the best of luck, I personally would love to read 
  

some of those 


  older reviews.  If/When contacting ZD, make sure you actually call 
people on the phone; email inquiries to generic addresses 
  

rarely get 


  to the *right* person.

Feldhamer, Stuart wrote:

  
  
Hey, if you approach it the right way, they might even pay 

  

you to do 


  
    it...
 
Stuart

-Original Message-
*From:* Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
*Sent:* Wednesday, March 17, 2004 11:49 AM
*To:* swcollect
*Subject:* Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

Doubtful I could do that without incurring the wrath of ZD...

BL wrote:



  Great job man, looks awesome.  If your ultimate plan is 
  

  

to have the 


  

  entire mags scanned, I can't wait!

Brad

- Original Message -

From: "Stephane Racle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "swcollect" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 3:01 AM
Subject: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum


 

  
  
I'm pleased to announce that my web site, the Computer 

  

  

Ga

Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

I'll have to see about getting one. In the meantime if anyone is
willing to scan it, I'd be happy to put it up. Of course, I could
always go back to the original issue #1 and scan some of it, too.

Hugh Falk wrote:

  
  
  
  
  Just
checked…it was definitely the
200th issue (March 2001).  The reproduction is paper and
basically the same size as an SSI catalog.  You can see it here:
   
  http://www.classicgaming.com/gotcha/CGW1repro.jpg
   
  However, it
is only 14 pages and contains
only excerpts from the original (including some ads).
   
  Hugh
   
  -Original
Message-
  From: Stephane Racle
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 
  Sent: Wednesday, March
17, 2004
8:10 PM
  To: swcollect
  Subject: Re:
[SWCollect]
Announcing the CGW Museum
   
  Hugh,
  
I'm actually not familiar with the mini-reproduction you're talking
about. Is
it an actual paper reproduction or something on a CD? I do have issue
200 but I
don't believe it had anything special with it. Of course, I got it
second-hand
so it is quite possible that it was missing.
  
I'll contact you privately about the rest.
  
  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
  
  
  I have a friend who used to be (fairly recently) the Editor in Chief of CGW.  I believe he is still with ZD in the web arena.  If you want to compose a message to him, I can be sure to pass it along.
   
  One conern for ZD would be if they decide to ever publish a DVD-ROM with every issue.  Dragon Magazine did this, and it is really a nice reference.  Lot's of classic game ads, by the way.
   
  Stephane, do you happen to have the mini-reproduction of CGW issue #!?  I beleive it came with CGW #200.  That might be worth putting on your site, even though it is more recent.
   
  Hugh
   
  -Original Message-
  From: Stephane Racle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
  Sent: Mar 17, 2004 1:48 PM
  To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum
   
  Hehe. You may be willing to cut up my magazines, but I'm not! Well, I'd 
  cut up duplicate issues. It probably wouldn't be too difficult for 
  issues 25 and up, but the earlier ones can be difficult to find.
   
  I guess the options are...
   
  Stick to covers/ToC - ZD is probably less likely to notice and may not 
  care all that much. But then, you don't get all the interesting articles!
  Contact ZD - High (?) chance of getting rejected, but potentially 
  permission to scan the articles.
   
  The question is... how much does ZD care about these older magazines? 
  Would they be willing to let someone scan/display them for free? The way 
  I see it, this only generates interest for the magazine. However, ZD may 
  want to make people pay.
   
  Any thoughts? Anybody know anyone at ZD? :-) Some of these early 
  articles are extremely interesting and very well written. It really 
  would be great to have them available.
   
  Stephane
   
  Jim Leonard wrote:
   
    
  
Regardless of how it turns out, please make sure to provide text or 
text-aware file formats, like PDF that has been OCR'd, or DjVu (no 
OCR'd text, but separates text and background graphics and compresses 
each with separate algorithm for better compression, also supports 
progressive downloading and localized decoding which is great for 
modem users (they can look at a section of the page without 
downloading the whole thing)).
 
As for approaching it the right way, tell ZD about your project and 
ask that you are willing to host the pages, do all the scanning, tell 
them you'll offer pages in multiple formats, etc. and that all you ask 
in return is permission from the company to do so.  To help sweeten 
the deal, tell them you're willing to cut up the magazines for the 
best scan.  Seriously.  Crappy 300 DPI JPG scans that are warped 
because the magazine binding is still intact won't impress anyone :)
 
However, you run a big risk of getting a cease and desist letter in 
return.  But since you already run the risk of that, you might as well 
contact them right now instead of running the site for two years, 
building it up, and THEN getting the cease and desist letter.
 
I wish the best of luck, I personally would love to read some of those 
older reviews.  If/When contacting ZD, make sure you actually call 
people on the phone; email inquiries to generic addresses rarely get 
to the *right* person.
 
Feldhamer, Stuart wrote:
 
    

  Hey, if you approach it the right way, they might even pay you to do 
  it...
   
  Stuart
   
      -Original Message-
      *From:* Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
      *Sent:* Wednesday, March 17, 2004 11:49 AM
      *To:* swcollect
      *Subject:* Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum
   
      Doubtful I could do that without incurring th

Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

Currently it's image only due to the fact that it's only the covers and
the Table of Contents. I did, however, plan to include some text
information about each issue. If I do end up putting up the contents of
the magazines, then I will make sure to choose a format that is
text-aware, so that you may be able to search individually each
throughout each issue. As for an overall index, that's a possibility
too. Actually I believe CGW did put out annual indexes starting in 1986
or so, but I have never seen one.

Stephane

Tomas Buteler wrote:

  I checked it out, and liked it a lot. Great idea, by
the way.

One doubt, though: is it image only, or some amount of
text input will be available as well? I'm no expert in
database or anything, but I'd like to be able to
search the magazines for contents (reviews, previews,
hints or even ads), without having to browse through
all the images. Any ideas? Am I talking nonsense here,
or got the wrong idea about the museum?

Anyway, I got a few magazines myself (20-30), some of
them are even cut out already :) Never did have much
care for them, even though I was an avid reader.
Although mine are mostly post-92/93 (hey, some of
those mags are almost as old as me!), I would be glad
to help out in the beginning.

Best regards,

Tomas


--- Stephane Racle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
  
  
Hehe. You may be willing to cut up my magazines, but
I'm not! Well, I'd 
cut up duplicate issues. It probably wouldn't be too
difficult for 
issues 25 and up, but the earlier ones can be
difficult to find.

I guess the options are...

Stick to covers/ToC - ZD is probably less likely to
notice and may not 
care all that much. But then, you don't get all the
interesting articles!
Contact ZD - High (?) chance of getting rejected,
but potentially 
permission to scan the articles.

The question is... how much does ZD care about these
older magazines? 
Would they be willing to let someone scan/display
them for free? The way 
I see it, this only generates interest for the
magazine. However, ZD may 
want to make people pay.

Any thoughts? Anybody know anyone at ZD? :-) Some of
these early 
articles are extremely interesting and very well
written. It really 
would be great to have them available.

Stephane

Jim Leonard wrote:



  Regardless of how it turns out, please make sure
  

to provide text or 


  text-aware file formats, like PDF that has been
  

OCR'd, or DjVu (no 


  OCR'd text, but separates text and background
  

graphics and compresses 


  each with separate algorithm for better
  

compression, also supports 


  progressive downloading and localized decoding
  

which is great for 


  modem users (they can look at a section of the
  

page without 


  downloading the whole thing)).

As for approaching it the right way, tell ZD about
  

your project and 


  ask that you are willing to host the pages, do all
  

the scanning, tell 


  them you'll offer pages in multiple formats, etc.
  

and that all you ask 


  in return is permission from the company to do so.
  

 To help sweeten 


  the deal, tell them you're willing to cut up the
  

magazines for the 


  best scan.  Seriously.  Crappy 300 DPI JPG scans
  

that are warped 


  because the magazine binding is still intact won't
  

impress anyone :)


  However, you run a big risk of getting a cease and
  

desist letter in 


  return.  But since you already run the risk of
  

that, you might as well 


  contact them right now instead of running the site
  

for two years, 


  building it up, and THEN getting the cease and
  

desist letter.


  I wish the best of luck, I personally would love
  

to read some of those 


  older reviews.  If/When contacting ZD, make sure
  

you actually call 


  people on the phone; email inquiries to generic
  

addresses rarely get 


  to the *right* person.

Feldhamer, Stuart wrote:

  
  
Hey, if you approach it the right way, they might

  

even pay you to do 

    
  
    it...
 
Stuart

-Original Message-
*From:* Stephane Racle

  

[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]


  
*Sent:* Wednesday, March 17, 2004 11:49 AM
*To:* swcollect
*Subject:* Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW

  

Museum


  
Doubtful I could do that without incurring
 

Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

I have put up the first of (hopefully) many regular excerpts on the
site. This one is from CGW issue #1 and mentions an Ultima
pen-and-paper RPG! Note that the file isn't text-aware yet, but I
intend ensure this is done in the near future.

Enjoy!

BL wrote:

  
  
  
  
  Stephane,
   
  Here's an idea -- a random article
of interest scanned in and put on the site weekly!  Would be a cool
thing to have.
   
  Brad
  
-
Original Message - 
From:
    Stephane Racle 
To:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
Sent:
Wednesday, March 17, 2004 4:58 PM
Subject:
Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum


Yes, I have LOL. But it's not so bad if it's progressively. A few now,
a few then... might take a year to get all of them up. But yes... it
would require lots of time, space, and bandwidth. So right now the
status quo is much easier. :-)

Freddie Bingham wrote:

  Have you considered the time it would take to scan 100 magazines? :eek:

Freddie

Vintage Gaming - http://www.vintagegaming.org
 

  
  
-Original Message-
From: Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 1:48 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

Hehe. You may be willing to cut up my magazines, but I'm not! 
Well, I'd cut up duplicate issues. It probably wouldn't be 
too difficult for issues 25 and up, but the earlier ones can 
be difficult to find.

I guess the options are...

Stick to covers/ToC - ZD is probably less likely to notice 
and may not care all that much. But then, you don't get all 
the interesting articles!
Contact ZD - High (?) chance of getting rejected, but 
potentially permission to scan the articles.

The question is... how much does ZD care about these older magazines? 
Would they be willing to let someone scan/display them for 
free? The way I see it, this only generates interest for the 
magazine. However, ZD may want to make people pay.

Any thoughts? Anybody know anyone at ZD? :-) Some of these 
early articles are extremely interesting and very well 
written. It really would be great to have them available.

Stephane

Jim Leonard wrote:



  Regardless of how it turns out, please make sure to provide text or 
text-aware file formats, like PDF that has been OCR'd, or DjVu (no 
OCR'd text, but separates text and background graphics and 
  

compresses 


  each with separate algorithm for better compression, also supports 
progressive downloading and localized decoding which is great for 
modem users (they can look at a section of the page without 
downloading the whole thing)).

As for approaching it the right way, tell ZD about your project and 
ask that you are willing to host the pages, do all the 
  

scanning, tell 


  them you'll offer pages in multiple formats, etc. and that 
  

all you ask 


  in return is permission from the company to do so.  To help sweeten 
the deal, tell them you're willing to cut up the magazines for the 
best scan.  Seriously.  Crappy 300 DPI JPG scans that are warped 
because the magazine binding is still intact won't impress anyone :)

However, you run a big risk of getting a cease and desist letter in 
return.  But since you already run the risk of that, you 
  

might as well 


  contact them right now instead of running the site for two years, 
building it up, and THEN getting the cease and desist letter.

I wish the best of luck, I personally would love to read 
  

some of those 


  older reviews.  If/When contacting ZD, make sure you actually call 
people on the phone; email inquiries to generic addresses 
  

rarely get 


  to the *right* person.

Feldhamer, Stuart wrote:

  
  
Hey, if you approach it the right way, they might even pay 

  

you to do 


  
    it...
 
Stuart

-Original Message-
*From:* Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
*Sent:* Wednesday, March 17, 2004 11:49 AM
*To:* swcollect
*Subject:* Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

Doubtful I could do that without incurring the wrath of ZD...

BL wrote:



  Great job man, looks awesome.  If your ultimate plan is 
  

  

to have the 


  

  entire mags scanned, I can't wait!

Brad

- Original Message -

From: "Stephane Racle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "swcollect" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 3:01 AM
Subject: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

Funny you mention that. That's what I tried to use yesterday when I put 
up the excerpt from CGF #1. It did a reasonable  job (actually, an 
excellent job), for anything with a light background. The problem was 
with text areas with darker backgrounds (for example, the Ultima tidbit 
and the Data East/Epyx lawsuit). Acrobat tended to identify those as 
image zones and didn't recognize the text. And unfortunately the Acrobat 
plug-in doesn't give you the option of identifying which zones are text 
and which are not. So that's why I didn't bother with OCR for now.

I'm looking into other option - one possibility is Adobe Acrobat 
Capture, which is a much more robust solution. However, I think it's a 
fairly expensive program (in an case, definitely not free). In the mean 
time, if anyone has other suggestions... please share!

Dan Chisarick wrote:

I just got a chance to take a look (its been a truly awful week @ 
work), and it is a thing of beauty.  Crisp scans, good color, (an 
appropriate watermark)... definitely a next best thing (to owning the 
actual mags).

I was going to scan my Computist collection as PDF files.  While I've 
never used it apparently Adobe has a free plug-in that does OCR of 
scanned PDF files so you can search the text?  Anyone have any 
experience w/how effective this is?

On Mar 17, 2004, at 3:01 AM, Stephane Racle wrote:

I'm pleased to announce that my web site, the Computer Gaming World 
(CGW) Museum, is finally on-line! The Museum is dedicated to the 
preservation and presentation of all CGW items related to the time 
period covered by the first 100 issues of Computer Gaming World 
magazine. Currently there is not a whole lot of textual information 
available, but you will find scans of the covers of most of the first 
100 issues, among other things. The goal is, of course, to expand as 
time allows, and all suggestions/constructive criticism/comments are 
welcome!

Anyhow, you are all welcome to take a look! I am hoping that this 
will prove to be a useful resource for the vintage gaming community, 
as I do not believe that the information provided by the Museum is 
available elsewhere on the web.

You will find the museum at cgw.vintagegaming.org. Many, many thanks 
to Freddie Bingham for hosting!

Oh, and never mind the March 20th date on the news page. Amazingly, 
we're 3 days early... :-)

Stephane

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Re: [SWCollect] Announcing the CGW Museum

[Stephane Racle]

I'll try and find it although I'm having a hard time remembering where
I saw it. Probably CGW, but it could be any of about 15 issues. 

Stephen Emond wrote:

  
  

  
  
  
  
  
  The “Ultima RPG”
pen & paper project would
have used simplified versions of the algorithms used for combat and
spell
resolution in the Ultima V. It was intended to sell in the same sized
box as
the computer series and had a projected price of $30. A lot of work was
done on
the project, but mostly organizational rather than developmental. While
it was a
project Garriott wanted to do, Origin wasn't willing to schedule it for
a
release and it eventually got put aside.
   
  Do you know
anything more about “Ultima IV Part
II”? If you have the article I’d love to read it.
   
  Steve
   
   
  
  
  
  From:
Stephane Racle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 
  Sent: Saturday, March
20, 2004
12:07 AM
  To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
  Subject: Re:
[SWCollect]
Announcing the CGW
  Museum
  
   
  Absolutely
right, thanks for catching that! I think
it's properly identified on the site. I'm curious about that Ultima
pen-and-paper RPG too. Any Ultima collectors have more info? I'm
guessing it
never went anywhere. That reminds me of another article I read a while
ago
about an "Ultima IV Part II" that was supposed to be released prior
to Ultima V. Another project that was cancelled?
  
Hugh Falk wrote:
  
  
  Quick
correction…that’s CGF
#1, not CGW #1.  I haven’t read that since 87…great stuff!
   
  I forgot
about the Epyx/Data East
Suit.  World Karate Championship and Karate Champ are hardly
similar.  They’re as similar as any other two karate games.  I
wonder what became of the suit…obviously didn’t set much of a
precedent for infringement so I’m guessing it was dismissed.
   
  Also, did
that Ultima pen-and-paper RPG
ever see the light of day?
   
  Hugh
   
  

Re: [SWCollect] I'll be the first to say..

[Stephane Racle]

Edward -

Putting insurance on that shipment? ;-)

Per-Olof Karlsson wrote:

3605!

I'm stunned. I'm happy for Edward of course, but I couldn't dream of it
getting that high!
In any case, it found a great new home, and most likely it'll be
immortalized in print soon.. :)
- Peo

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Re: [SWCollect] I'll be the first to say..

[Stephane Racle]

Those were significant bids! Trying to make sure nobody else has one?
;-)

Josh Lulewicz wrote:

  Would you guys have killed me if I had won it???

  
  
:)

  
  
-josh



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Re: [SWCollect] So obviously Mt. Drash is no longer rare....

[Stephane Racle]

Is that who "jeffcowe" is?

Josh Lulewicz wrote:

Well it was fun while it lastedguess I should have sold mine when it
was rare.
Please don't let Eyal get this one.





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Re: [SWCollect] I don't like this at all...

[Stephane Racle]

While I'm appreciative of the fact that my collection is increasing in
value, I don't see high prices as a good thing. I know I don't collect
for money... I wonder how many of us share your perspective? I'd much
rather be able to add new items to my collection for reasonable prices.

If the prices stay too high, then we may start seeing people who have
no interest in the games, but are rather just there to make money - buy
high, sell higher.

Stephane

BL wrote:

  Why would you hope it fades back to normal?  I think it's great - if I
thought that 50 years from now all the games I've collected were going to be
worth the same amount of money, I wouldn't feel any urgency to collect.
Sure it's certainly happened suddenly - and that is a little puzzling.  I
was thinking - perhaps this extreme surge has something to do with that
history of gaming special on the Game Show Network.  They did do what I
would consider to be a fairly indepth piece on Sierra in it.

Brad

- Original Message - 
From: "Jukka Eronen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 3:55 AM
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] I don't like this at all...


  
  
Yeah this is crazy. And concerning.
First the prices doubled and now there's been over
500% rise _from that_ in many titles recently.

Is it perhaps something to do with the Drash-appearings?
Anyways public awareness of these games and collecting urge
has rised significantly lately for some reason, like
has been pointed out.
And maybe some investors are joining too.

Surely hope this will fade away back to normal soon.
Any predictions what will happen?
Is this temporary or will the prices continue to go
even more insane or stay where they are?

When the high-enders get their own copies of given titles
will they leave those alone in next time appearings or do they
gather everything they can get, even multiple times?

The prices will probably begin to tempt forgers to come
out too at any time now (not to sound pessimistic ;).
So get absolutely sure what you're bidding on
(if one can even afford anymore).

- Jukka

-- 
http://koti.mbnet.fi/psychic/  -  Synchronic Web


- Original Message - 
From: Josh Lulewicz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 10:15 AM
Subject: [SWCollect] I don't like this at all...




  What is with the sudden surge outrageous prices on Sierra stuff???

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8103599251&category=4
315&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWA%3AIT&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8103019861&category=4
315&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWA%3AIT&rd=1

I mean Cranston I might understand...but Threshold!?!?

What the heck is going on here?

The economy isn't that good...

-josh
  


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Re: [SWCollect] YEAH-HA-HAAAAA!

[Stephane Racle]

The corner of the picture has a French flag and something that almost
looks like "Version Française"... Hmmm... ;-)

C.E. Forman wrote:

  It's a rare graphic adventure game, saw very limited release here.  One of
the ones I see on a lot of people's want-lists.

Heh, just realized, God I hope it's in English.  B-)

- Original Message - 
From: "Marco Thorek" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2004 4:20 PM
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] YEAH-HA-HA!


  
  
Indeed, what is it?

Marco



Hugh Falk schrieb:


  Never heard of it...is there a story behind it?

Hugh

-Original Message-
From: C.E. Forman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2004 1:22 PM
To: Software Collectibles Mailing List
Subject: [SWCollect] YEAH-HA-HA!

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8103582942

Last one sold in the U.S., $300+!  I've got a guy who's going to pay and
reship for me, should come to about $35 - $40 total.

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Re: [SWCollect] Talk about boneheads...

[Stephane Racle]

I've purchased a few items from them in the past. While the items were
generally fairly nice, the service was pretty poor. Minimal
communication, no answer to questions, high shipping cost. I stay away
from their auctions unless it's something I really want. 

Can't say I'm too fond of the fact they are auctioning off single
diskettes (without the right sleeves, at that) with a $24.99 starting
bid in some cases. 

Freddie Bingham wrote:

  The seller of this auction has *never* responded to any email I have sent
asking innocent questions about his auctions, hence I don't bid on them.

-freddie

Lucasarts Museum - http://lucasarts.vintagegaming.org
 

  
  
-Original Message-
From: Josh Lulewicz [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 7:23 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [SWCollect] Talk about boneheads...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8103158348&
category=4
315&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBDW%3AIT&rd=1



-josh


p.s. If the winner is on the list I offer no apologies...




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Re: [SWCollect] Talk about boneheads...

[Stephane Racle]

I guess then it's a good thing the other bidder didn't bid... oh say,
$98? :-)

Josh Lulewicz wrote:

  Heh actually that was supposed to be 9.99 

I didn't realize it until after the end of the auction :(

Damn IE autofiller...

-josh

-Original Message-
From: C.E. Forman [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] 
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 7:26 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Talk about boneheads...

  
  
Unfortunately this bidder didn't do his/her homework and paid $100 for

  
  a
  
  
disk that is probably worth less than $5 by itself.

  
  
Um, not to criticize, Josh?  But i'n't that you who bid $99 on it?


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Re: [SWCollect] Cornerstone on Ebay

[Stephane Racle]

Hmm... That looks like the ones I've seen before.
Stephane
Marco Thorek wrote:
Look at this,
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3773&item=3677785326&rd=1
and note the "Sophisticated Database..." cover only over the lower left
of the box.
Wasn't there a slipcase that went entirely over the plastic box?
Marco
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Re: [SWCollect] Retro PC game collecting officially became big business

[Stephane Racle]

I was actually thinking along the same lines, and I'm sure I wasn't the
only other one. Some of the prices make it seem like $100 for a game is
nothing... I don't know, but to me, $100 is a lot of cash! The other
thing I've noticed too is that there's at least a couple of bidders who
seem to be doing more than just collecting. I think Bryron, for one,
would still be ready to pay big bucks for a game even if he already had
ten copies of it - perhaps an investment? I believe C.E. made a similar
statement not too long ago regarding Starcross saucers and Suspended
masks. 

I found this one particularly interesting since I got a copy off eBay
only three or four months ago and I was the only bidder. Now all of a
sudden, there's 10 bids:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=4315&item=3091242158&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

I think the fact that knowing people are bidding high is driving more
people to bid even higher.

While I'm glad my collection is worth more, I wouldn't be overly
thrilled if this hobby became a business. I'm not exactly sure it would
be a good thing if every game sold for $100+. On the other hand, I'm
almost tempted to sell some of my stuff at these prices. :-)

Stephane


Hugh Falk wrote:

  
  
  
  
  I was waiting for things
to die down a bit before bringing
this topic up, but the last few weeks have brought an extraordinary
amount of
activity on eBay…both in the number of good, old PC games for sale and
the prices being paid.  My watch list has never been so full.  In
fact, I’d say my watch list over the last few weeks was as long as the
previous six months (maybe a year).  At least 3 individual sellers had
lots to offer:
   
  Hopey
  Rbgamehunter
  Carol!yahoo
   
  Combined with lots of
one-off sellers.
   
  But what really struck me
was that even with all the supply,
the ending prices were just so much higher than I’ve ever seen
before.  I would have expected prices to drop with so much stuff on the
market, but it didn’t happen.  Things I’ve seen go recently in
the $10 - $30 range were going for over $100.  Many of the usual
suspects
were bidding, but the most noticeable was Peter (sorry to call you out
Peter),
who by my rough calculations has dropped AT LEAST 10 grand in the last
2
months.
   
  In some ways it is really
great to see games appreciating in
value so much.  Maybe we’ll remember March and April 2004 as the
months that Retro PC game collecting officially became big business.
   
  Hugh
   
  

Re: [SWCollect] Even marginally ethical?

[Stephane Racle]

And it goes on every day in a number of industries. :-)
Jim Leonard wrote:
Dan Chisarick wrote:
Not quite.  The idea is that no outsider bids on the item.

Doesn't matter -- it's still deception to raise the price of an item. 
Just because *that one auction* doesn't sell at the higher price 
doesn't mean that others won't.  It's artificial price fixing.  (slaps 
Dan on wrist)

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Re: [SWCollect] Even marginally ethical?

[Stephane Racle]

I didn't mean to imply that it should, and I'm with you on this. I just 
thought it was a funny juxtaposition of words:

"It's artificial price fixing.  (slaps Dan on wrist)"
That is, a lot of white-collar criminals only get a "slap on the wrist".
Stephane
Jim Leonard wrote:
Stephane Racle wrote:
And it goes on every day in a number of industries. :-)

Yes, but that doesn't mean it has to go on in ours.  This mailing list 
has several prominent people of the software collecting movement as 
members, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that, if we all acted 
in unison, we could strongly influence the state of software 
collecting today.  So, (slaps Dan on the wrist again)

BTW, if it sounds like I'm mad or harboring something, I'm not.  I'm 
just presenting one side of the debate.  Belive me, I have a lot of 
software that goes for $5 today and would have gone for $40 4-5 years 
ago... price fixing would help me earn some cash.  But I'm not willing 
to trade my morals and ethics for it :)

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[SWCollect] SSI games

[Stephane Racle]

Does anyone have a list of which SSI games were released in both large 
and small box variations?  So far, I know of:

Computer Quarterback
Computer Baseball
Questron
As well, I've seen Broadsides in both a standard small box and a 
flimsier "RapidFire" box. Anyone known of any other titles like this?

Thanks!
Stephane
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Re: [SWCollect] Loose floppies bundle going for a small bundle

[Stephane Racle]

Yes, I had my eye on those disks too, but there's no way I'm paying $175 
for seven disk labels. :-)

Dan Chisarick wrote:
I was looking at this, figuring that since they were loose disks 
they'd  go for cheap.  Cannonball Blitz drew some attention recently, 
so I  thought it'd be nice to score an original of that too.   Sadly 
it was  not meant to be:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? 
ViewItem&item=4130397939&category=4610&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWA%3AIT&rd=1

The artwork on the label is different from the one that sold for a  
small fortune:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? 
ViewItem&category=4315&item=8103158348&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

I'll guess that the disk in the first link came first, and that the  
second is a re-issue?  Personally I like the artwork on the first 
link  better.

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Re: [SWCollect] Nit-picking at its finest

[Stephane Racle]

Not all swords are two-handed. And that trident looks pretty wimpy...
like someone could actually use it with one hand. :-) Of course, I'm
not sure that this is the best combination for someone who wants to
fight with two weapons! Probably would get a -5 penalty on the THAC0.
:-)

Dan Chisarick wrote:
Tom apparently has the solution to labels falling off of
old disks (of
course I'm not sure I want to drive four holes through all my disks).
  
  
On a slightly different topic, don't you think it'd be pretty hard to
fight with both a sword AND a trident at the same time? A trident is
typically a two-handed weapon. So is a sword for that matter.
  
  
  
On May 21, 2004, at 10:39 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
  
  
  In a message dated
05/21/2004 7:51:11 AM Central Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:




Well
if it was for display purposes, and he was planning on keeping it in
his personal collection forever, then I could definitely understand it.




 Display yes, if JUST
collection purposes no. Heck I've got an original on the backing
Akalabeth disk label, I plan on keeping it like that, rarer than the
game ;)


Tom

Re: [SWCollect] So obviously Mt. Drash is no longer rare....

[Stephane Racle]

I didn't look at it closely, but I'm guessing that second listing was a
"second-chance" offered only to King Dragon...

Peter Olafson wrote:

  
  Interesting. Just out of curioisity, what would happen if
someone else had found and acted upon that second listing before
the high bidder from the original auction?
   
  Peter 
  
  Stefan Lindblom <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
  


Once you see it in this context,
you could almost assume that the seller contacted the highest bidder
after the auction and felt satisfied with the bid, even though it didnt
reach the reserve :)
 
Here he didnt win:
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8105492467
 
And here he did:
 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8107661690
 
Another Drash found a new home.
 
 
 

  -
Original Message - 
  From:
  Jukka
Eronen 
  To:
  [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
  Sent:
Monday, May 24, 2004 10:33 PM
  Subject:
Re: [SWCollect] So obviously Mt. Drash is no longer rare
  
  
  The
second Drash ended without meeting the reserve.
  
  

  
  

Re: [SWCollect] Sierra cover artists (was: Drash...)

[Stephane Racle]

Jukka Eronen wrote:
Yeah :). Quite an impossible task to locate the originals, though.
And even then to get to have them.
BTW does anyone here own original game art?
Cover art or ingame?
 

One of my most prized items is the original cover art for Masquerade (by 
Phoenix). It's a breathtaking 8.5" x 14" painting.  I also have the 
cover art for Sherwood Forest.

Stephane

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Re: [SWCollect] Ultima III

[Stephane Racle]

Sure looks like it. I'm going from memory here, but I think the original 
Ultima III disk has blue writing and shows a small drawing of the head 
of a demon on the right side of the label...

Dan Chisarick wrote:
My Google skills fail me these days.  I can't find a site that has 
the  pictures of the disk to Ultima III from the original (or 2nd) 
release  vs. the Ultima Trilogy release.  Correct me if I'm wrong, 
this is the  Ultima III disk from the trilogy, yes?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? 
ViewItem&category=62053&item=8108022888

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[SWCollect] Hee hee...

[Stephane Racle]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=51333&item=5703206634&rd=1
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Re: [SWCollect] Another one?!

[Stephane Racle]

In Canada, this would be legal. 

Quick, you still have time to move, Jim. ;-)

Stephane

[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:

  I believe that this is as illegal as copying *ANY* music file.

Why doesn't Jim just bid on it, and then he can do what he wants with the music?
  
  
From: "Pedro Quaresma" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: 2004/06/07 Mon AM 10:56:08 EDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [SWCollect] Another one?!

Would this be legal? :) If so I have no problem of trying to rip .mp3 
files from it and ftp-ing them to you. 

I won't send you a copy of the CD overseas though as customs might get me 
in trouble...

--
Pedro R. Quaresma
Salvador Caetano IMVT
Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division
Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes / 
Lotus Notes Administration and Development
[EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492)

Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., "Esperanza"
 
'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because 
they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes








 

 
Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
A/C: 
Ref: 
cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO)
Assunto: Re: [SWCollect] Another one?!

Jim Leonard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
04-06-2004 18:08

Solicita-se resposta a swcollect


For anyone who already has this:  Is anyone willing to make a copy of this 
for 
me?  I am working on a streaming radio station of game music, and I would 
like 
to have selections from this be a part of it, but I would rather avoid 
spending 
$120 just to get the music (I am not an Origin collector).

Pedro Quaresma wrote:



  Yes these are particularly rare. Or were at least :) These are the 
"fabled" Origin Soundtrack Vol. 1 we talked about a month ago.

--
Pedro R. Quaresma
Salvador Caetano IMVT
Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division
Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes /
Lotus Notes Administration and Development
[EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492)

Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., "Esperanza"

'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old because 
they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes








Para: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
A/C:
Ref:
cc: (bcc: Pedro Quaresma/SCAETANO)
Assunto: Re: [SWCollect] Another one?!
   *Jim Leonard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>*
03-06-2004 16:53
   Solicita-se resposta a swcollect



Are these particularly rare?  I wouldn't imagine this fetching a lot, 
but then
again I'm not an Origin devotee so I wouldn't know.  I bought the Rocket 
  


  Ranger
comic book (an item in a similar vein) for $2, for example...

Pedro Quaresma wrote:

 >
 > 
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8108709630&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1 

 >
 >
 > Surely this seller must've found the motherlode of Origin 
  

Soundtracks? :)


   >
 > --
 > Pedro R. Quaresma
 > Salvador Caetano IMVT
 > Div. Sistemas de Informação / Systems and Information Division
 > Administração e Desenvolvimento Lotus Notes /
 > Lotus Notes Administration and Development
 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] // +351 22 7867000 (ext. 3492)
 >
 > Toyota Prius '01, Aqua Ice Opalescent, 40K km., "Esperanza"
 >
 > 'People don't quit playing because they grow old. They grow old 
  

because


   > they quit playing.' - Oliver Wendell Holmes
 >
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online
 > http://www.toyota.pt


-- 
Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/
A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/
Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings:   http://www.oldskool.org/


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ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online
http://www.toyota.pt

  


-- 
Jim Leonard ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
World's largest electronic gaming project:http://www.MobyGames.com/
A delicious slice of the demoscene:http://www.MindCandyDVD.com/
Various oldskool PC rants and ramblings:   http://www.oldskool.org/


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ToyotaShopping - A sua Loja Toyota Online
http://www.toyota.pt



  
  
  
  
  
  
  Would this be legal? :) If so I have
no problem of trying to rip .mp3 files from it and ftp-ing them to you.
  
  
  
  I won't send you a copy of the CD
overseas though as customs migh

Re: [SWCollect] Time to blend topics

[Stephane Racle]

Following up on this thread - the software industry often mentions 
billions in losses due to piracy. But is that based upon an estimate of 
how many illegal copies of software packages are in use, or is it based 
on an estimate of how many people use copied products but would actually 
have paid for them had they not been able to get an illegal copy? 
There's a big difference between the two, and I suspect many people who 
pirate software would not bother purchasing it anyways. Not that I'm 
saying one is better than the other, but I am curious about the numbers 
being wielded around by the software industry.

Stephane
Jim Leonard wrote:
Tomas Buteler wrote:
Ouch! That hurt... :) As a third-world resident, allow
me to clear a couple of issues:

I should have explicitly mentioned Asia, since that was what I was 
thinking about -- sorry!

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