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

[SamIAm]

Someone named tobias.albrecht.hh just registered here on the 25th. That's him, isn't it? Should this guy be allowed to be a member?

[ProfessorProfessorson]

Sounds like its him. He has a old id here also from way back when he was lying about the Sapphire shit also.

[elmer]

Someone named tobias.albrecht.hh just registered here on the 25th. That's him, isn't it? Should this guy be allowed to be a member?

My personal feeling is "yes" ... at least for a while.

There's a lot of negative talk about him here and in other threads.

I think that anyone, Tobias included, should have the chance to be able to respond to online trash-talk and defend themselves. I don't think that it is good to hide the discussion behind closed doors when people years from now can still come in and find it ... and not to see his side (if he wants to expound it).

Now, if he acts like a total dick and doesn't obey the forum rules ... then it's perfectly right to ban him, just like anyone else would be banned.

[SignOfZeta]

I think the time bomb code is only a good idea if there was some way to get the game working again later, like a decade later. I'd hate to think of a great game being pressed onto real CDs permanently self destructing. Quite a waste.

No because that would only happen to unauthorized copies.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN AUTHORIZED COPY!

[vestcoat]

There's a lot of negative talk about him here and in other threads.

I think that anyone, Tobias included, should have the chance to be able to respond to online trash-talk and defend themselves. I don't think that it is good to hide the discussion behind closed doors when people years from now can still come in and find it ... and not to see his side (if he wants to expound it).

God, this place never f*cking changes.

I appreciate a good devil's advocate, but don't be an idiot. The old "two sides" argument kind of breaks down when the evidence is absolutely irrefutable, as in the case of... oh, I don't know, Tobias/Fudoh or the Holocaust.

Calling a spade a spade isn't trash talking. No one is wildly accusing Tobias of being a profiteering piece of shit,  HE IS A PROFITEERING PIECE OF SHIT. He feigned ignorance regarding the authenticity of the Sapphire bootlegs THAT HE REPLICATED so he could charge premium prices. Don't believe me? His lying posts are still on the forum, unmodified. Look it up. He profited on  Bonknut's free Megaman hack without permission, motivating Bonknuts to stop distributing ISO releases. Don't believe me? Find an archive of his webstore. He stole Xak III.

Now we can debate the morality and ownership of physical pirating, digital pirating, unauthorized fan translations and hacks until we're blue in the face and I'm content if we agree to disagree. Unfortunately, the handful of people with the skills and interest to hack and translate NES and PCE games (i.e., Nightwolve and Bonknuts) are getting pissed off, and that's bad news for everyone on these forums. So, don't defend Foduh, you f*cking idiot. Also, he already has an account here and is free to post at any time. No one is silencing him.

[Emerald Rocker]

What Vestcoat said.

To spare people the effort of looking it up, here's what Tobias/Fudoh said about the Sapphire copies that he himself created:

Please let me make clear that I sell them as what they are: Sapphire reprints of unknown origin. Back a few years Hudson mentioned that these could be "waste", something like pre-production samples or a production run rejected due to sub-par quality - not illegal, but not meant for sale either. I simply don't know.

In other words, he is a proven liar.

[elmer]

To spare people the effort of looking it up, here's what Tobias/Fudoh said about the Sapphire copies that he himself created:

Thank you.

So, don't defend Foduh, you f*cking idiot. Also, he already has an account here and is free to post at any time. No one is silencing him.

If you don't agree with my use of the phrase "trash talk", and you believe that it only means "stuff that isn't true" ... then I understand your comment ... but you misunderstood mine.

If you think that I was defending Fudoh, then ...
[uldecimal][li]You don't understand English.[/li][li]You haven't bothered to read my posts in the other sections, and so have no clue what my job is.[/li][/ul]
And if he's already got an active and unbanned account here, then "no", he doesn't need a new one.

Have a nice day.

[Bernie]

Never understood why certain peeps resort to calling people names round here.  But whatever.

[Black Tiger]

It doesn't matter if the disc has a anti modification measure or not since most of the buyers won't bother opening the actual box with the game...

Like I said, all that's necessary is for the word to get out. Even if it's a trophy, nobody wants a broken game.

That doesn't explain people paying ridiculous prices for Exile WP. What's more important is that is has a cardboard sleeve.

[BigusSchmuck]

It doesn't matter if the disc has a anti modification measure or not since most of the buyers won't bother opening the actual box with the game...

Like I said, all that's necessary is for the word to get out. Even if it's a trophy, nobody wants a broken game.

That doesn't explain people paying ridiculous prices for Exile WP. What's more important is that is has a cardboard sleeve.

off topic... but if anyone has a sleeve in good shape I'll pay $35 for it OR trade you a PCE Memories Repro Repro (burned em and used my own inkjet)

You can have the sleeve to my okidata 390 turbo that has your name all over it.

[Joe Redifer]

To all the title-screen/time bomb people here: If there was something on the title screen saying something to the effect of "Translated by so and so" and it was removed, the translation itself would still be HUGE evidence of who translated it. It's not like two different people/groups are going to translate it separately and have them be word-for-word exact.

[esteban]

To all the title-screen/time bomb people here: If there was something on the title screen saying something to the effect of "Translated by so and so" and it was removed, the translation itself would still be HUGE evidence of who translated it. It's not like two different people/groups are going to translate it separately and have them be word-for-word exact.

No, the disclaimer would say "If you paid for this, you are a fool because it is freely available at blank.com ... ... and a DIY version of physical media  should only cost a few Dollahs."

The point of the disclaimer would be to educate folks about the DIY/fan ethic...and how to enjoy the fruits of the DIY/fan ethic/process.

Joe, in your world, it would akin to a PSA.

ALSO NOTE: There was never any timebomb. Ever. A person was skimming the thread and did not read carefully. Sadly, an all-too-common problem in threads like this.

[SignOfZeta]

To all the title-screen/time bomb people here: If there was something on the title screen saying something to the effect of "Translated by so and so" and it was removed, the translation itself would still be HUGE evidence of who translated it. It's not like two different people/groups are going to translate it separately and have them be word-for-word exact.

I don't know why you are mentioning this.

[SamIAm]

To all the title-screen/time bomb people here: If there was something on the title screen saying something to the effect of "Translated by so and so" and it was removed, the translation itself would still be HUGE evidence of who translated it. It's not like two different people/groups are going to translate it separately and have them be word-for-word exact.

"Time-bomb" gives an inaccurate idea of what the concept is. It's something a bit different, and it has two parts.

First is to add a piece of code to the game's startup sequence that causes a message to be displayed, and to design this message to harsh the buzz of anyone who paid for a reproduction as much as possible. Something like:

"This is a non-profit fan-translation. The people who made it do not wish to see it bought or sold, and have not and will not ever accept money for it.

If you buy or sell a copy of this translation, you are disrespecting and damaging the entire community of translators and hackers who work hard to release fan-translations like these.

If you purchased this copy unknowingly, please return it, download a patch from romhacking.net, and use it to make your own CD-R."

Second is to add another piece of code to some loading sequence that occurs midway through the game. Say, a load before a major boss fight. This code will check to make sure that the first piece of code with the message has not been tampered with or bypassed. If it has been tampered with or bypassed, this second piece of code will go ahead and crash the game and delete the player's save file, possibly after making the player fight a boss with two-to-ten times his normal HP.

That doesn't explain people paying ridiculous prices for Exile WP. What's more important is that is has a cardboard sleeve.

I'm not talking about a couple of harder enemies. I'm talking about having the game freeze and nuke your save file halfway through a play if our anti-reproduction message is tampered with. Harder enemies could be added before the crash just to make people all the more frustrated. It's kind of a dick move, but hey, if it turns more people against bootleggers, I think it's all right.

Some people might buy a reproduction, see that message, and totally ignore it anyway. That's all right. There's nothing we can do about them. But I believe that some people have enough conscience to not want to give money to an obvious bootlegger.

[Emerald Rocker]

To all the title-screen/time bomb people here: If there was something on the title screen saying something to the effect of "Translated by so and so" and it was removed, the translation itself would still be HUGE evidence of who translated it. It's not like two different people/groups are going to translate it separately and have them be word-for-word exact.

Joe Redifer is right.  Translators should not consider placing their names anywhere in the game code.  Also, authors should stop putting their names on book covers and film credits should be abolished.  By analyzing the work itself, it's OBVIOUS who created it!