That Tobias f--k went after Xak III and SO II as pressed CD-ROM releases!

[HailingTheThings]

Y'all stop fighting and praise the goddamned sun already.

Hail Satan!

Yes, my son, what is it?

[BigusSchmuck]

Wow, what a monster of a thread. I'm sorry this happened, but really it was only a matter of time before some schmuck saw a opportunity to make some cash off of someone elses work. Free pressed discs of Xak 3 and SO2 are tempting, but I feel it would only be enabling the guy to continue this shady business. I'll definitely pass.

[SignOfZeta]

This sort of shit has passed the point where I can keep track of it all. I don't remember who Tobias is. Is he the a$$hole that made the RGB upscaler site funded by massively overpriced pirate copies of Sapphire, the Megaman port, etc? If so, f*ck that a$$hole.

[esteban]

This sort of shit has passed the point where I can keep track of it all. I don't remember who Tobias is. Is he the a$$hole that made the RGB upscaler site funded by massively overpriced pirate copies of Sapphire, the Megaman port, etc? If so, f*ck that a$$hole.

Yes.

Space Fantasy Zone, Memories Box Set, Gilded Coin, etc. 

[SignOfZeta]

f*ck that guy.

EDIT: €109 for three pirate games!? WTF? That's basically the original retail cost, possibly more depending on how you calculate it. This guy didn't make or translate the games, just pirated them, and wants the same price, with much higher margin since there are no taxes, distributor margins, store margins, etc.

When Rayforce was still in business they answered my dumb gaijin non-kanji-reading-ass questions, over the phone, to get me unstuck in SOII. Will this a$$hole do the same?

What shocks me is...where do you get a wheelbarrow large enough to carry balls that big? There is a line there that refers to "most requested titles", like they were the next Working Designs or some shit. Requested by whom?

"For the love of it", and also a profit margin 16x bigger than any legit content creator could ever dream of seeing. What a cock.

[xelement5x]

This sort of shit has passed the point where I can keep track of it all. I don't remember who Tobias is. Is he the a$$hole that made the RGB upscaler site funded by massively overpriced pirate copies of Sapphire, the Megaman port, etc? If so, f*ck that a$$hole.

Yes.

Space Fantasy Zone, Memories Box Set, Gilded Coin, etc. 

Lol, for some reason "Tobias of the Gilded Coin" seems like a fitting moniker.

[Arkhan]

f*ck that guy.

EDIT: €109 for three pirate games!? WTF? That's basically the original retail cost, possibly more depending on how you calculate it. This guy didn't make or translate the games, just pirated them, and wants the same price, with much higher margin since there are no taxes, distributor margins, store margins, etc.

When Rayforce was still in business they answered my dumb gaijin non-kanji-reading-ass questions, over the phone, to get me unstuck in SOII. Will this a$$hole do the same?

What shocks me is...where do you get a wheelbarrow large enough to carry balls that big? There is a line there that refers to "most requested titles", like they were the next Working Designs or some shit. Requested by whom?

"For the love of it", and also a profit margin 16x bigger than any legit content creator could ever dream of seeing. What a cock.

Speaking of wheelbarrows to hold balls.

You don't need one.  You just need the mouths of all the retards that gave this guy money for stuff.

[NightWolve]

When Rayforce was still in business they answered my dumb gaijin non-kanji-reading-ass questions, over the phone, to get me unstuck in SOII. Will this a$$hole do the same?

Huh, no kidding. Nice history tidbit.

€109 for three pirate games!? WTF? That's basically the original retail cost, possibly more depending on how you calculate it. This guy didn't make or translate the games, just pirated them, and wants the same price, with much higher margin since there are no taxes, distributor margins, store margins, etc.

Agreed, he's apart of what creates a zero tolerance sentiment in a % of people because there's no sense of a reasonable mark-up, it's total price jacking/exploiting, and yet, not a single work hour spent in development of the game, or localizing to English, plus he escaped/evaded license fees to the producers, and also to NEC (since the platform is a closed model like most game consoles, you're supposed to technically talk business with the console manufacturer just for the privilege to produce software for it - Microsoft Windows is an open-model, I/anyone can produce Windows software and not have to buy a license from Microsoft each and every time). The rates he's charging, it's like he did pay $5k-$10k in license fees! Even before that, his first choice in Sapphire was all about exploiting the eBay madness as that was one of the first games selling in the hundreds.

[SamIAm]

Yeah, NightWolve, I think his offer to you is all about preventing a wave of bad press, not about honest goodwill. I suggest that you don't give him any legitimacy.

[NightWolve]

Haven't even replied back - needed a break from the drama anyway. :/ I'm not sure what to do.

[esteban]

Haven't even replied back - needed a break from the drama anyway. :/ I'm not sure what to do.

Don't be tempted by Natas, Jazeta!

You know better than to trust him.

[ProfessorProfessorson]

Haven't even replied back - needed a break from the drama anyway. :/ I'm not sure what to do.

Its pretty simple to be honest. If you value your pride you will turn him down. He is trying to pay you off to get you to stfu. You take cash from him, you're his bitch. He owns you basically while only making you think he gave in to you in some manner. Whatever money he gives you, it wont represent any fare share you'd feel due, nor will it represent actual total sales. And to be honest, I hate to say this, but you're not due any of it anyway. Its all illegal profits from bootlegging. Yeah, you did the translation work sure. But you did this originally knowing full well this wasn't for monetary gain, because it was never going to be used by the original IP holders for any kind of re-release.

You need to chalk it up to lessons learned. As stated prior, you can hit up youtube and post around the net and just let people know of the situation. He used your fan translation for his illegal business. He did not ask for your permission. You are not associated with said business. You are a legit not for profit type when it comes to this fan translation stuff. People are going to learn Tobias is a scum bucket eventually, and you'd do yourself infinite amounts of favors by just not taking his cash and distancing yourself from his profiteering machine.

There is always this too. If the shit by chance did hit the fan, even a super slim chance, you'd be brought down with him too as an accomplice if you did work out an agreement and start taking cash. I'm sure he would keep records of any agreement you'd come to and just rat you out as leverage for a plea if things got bad.  Honestly I cant imagine that a few hundred bucks to a couple grand at the most would be worth the consequences. Granted they don't go after software copyright infringement as much as they used to here in the US. But the few they do go after they throw the book at anymore and issue out prison terms and fines. These days ICE and HSI gets involved in this stuff, especially when money is exchanging hands, even more so if it involves over seas activity.

[synbiosfan]

I know it's a big if that Tobias would actually face litigation but if he did, accepting money would probably make you a target too you'd think.

I hate that you're in this position.

[SamIAm]

Listen to the Professor, NightWolve.

Don't forget, fan translators distribute patches that are in theory to be applied to legally made backups. Sure, there's a taciturn acknowledgement that that's not how it works in reality, and patches themselves are perhaps not at the very whitest part of the legal-ethical spectrum. However, the fan translation scene is functionally legit and legally unchallenged. So you can take the high road here in more ways than one.

[elmer]

I haven't been here long enough for you to know me, but ...

Please take the Professor's advice! You'll regret it later if you don't ... not because you or he will probably get sued ... that's fairly unlikely. But because you'll know that you've compromised yourself for a few bucks and got in bed with known criminal that you hate. That won't wash away.

You know that he's doing this as a money-making enterprise ... there are no if's/but's/or any other rationalization that you can tell yourself about it being for the love of the original games or the platform.

It's out-and-out theft.

I suspect that you won't be happy waking up knowing that you've been a part of that.

You'd certainly never, ever, ever be able to take the high moral ground again if someone steals your IP.