Sinistron - Hardcore Gaming 101

[Gentlegamer]

Posted at HG101 Feb 7 -

Alfa System is a developer that even more passionate gaming enthusiasts will rarely talk about, but anyone heavily interested in games has probably played at least a few of their titles. Alfa has worked on everything from excellent shoot-em-up series like Down Load and Shikigami no Shiro, the light gun shooter Elemental Gearbolt, and several installments in Namco's massive Tales Of... RPG series. In their early days, however, they worked exclusively on games for the PC Engine and its various CD accessories. While being released in 1991 caused Sinistron to quickly get lost in the crowd both in Japan and in the US due to the former country already having a several flashier CD-ROM games available and the latter's game playing populace being fixated on the SNES and Sega Genesis, Sinistron is still worth a look today for its solid level design and some original ideas.

   

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/sinistron/sinistron.htm

This reminds my I should take this on for the 2016 challenge.

[Gentlegamer]

Sinistron may be best well known for being featured in the Ultimate Gaming Rig scam that ran for several years in game mags of the era.



http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2006/11/column_game_mag_weaseling_15_y_1.php

[johnnykonami]

Sinistron may be best well known for being featured in the Ultimate Gaming Rig scam that ran for several years in game mags of the era.

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2006/11/column_game_mag_weaseling_15_y_1.php

I remember this!  It was a scam?  I didn't realize that.  I may have even put in the initial entry once.

[Gentlegamer]

Sinistron may be best well known for being featured in the Ultimate Gaming Rig scam that ran for several years in game mags of the era.

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2006/11/column_game_mag_weaseling_15_y_1.php

I remember this!  It was a scam?  I didn't realize that.  I may have even put in the initial entry once.

You pay to enter several rounds. The linked article assumes there were winners, but if so, don't you think the ads would have a little blurb with past winners?

[incrediblehark]

I entered that once when I was a kid, luckily I didn't have enough money to keep playing each round. It wasn't until years later when I read about it being a scam.

[johnnykonami]

You pay to enter several rounds. The linked article assumes there were winners, but if so, don't you think the ads would have a little blurb with past winners?

Yeah, I know I didn't pay for anything like that for sure, that would have stopped me dead in my tracks.  You'd think they could just make up names for past winners all day long if the whole thing was a scam.

[Dicer]

One of my fave hu shooteys...

[Gentlegamer]

Challenged it this evening... first three stages are easy, then the asteroid stage destroys you.

[NightWolve]

Sinistron may be best well known for being featured in the Ultimate Gaming Rig scam that ran for several years in game mags of the era.

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/magweasel/ugr01.jpg

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2006/11/column_game_mag_weaseling_15_y_1.php

Oh wow, I remember that! I believe I entered it a few times too. So it was a scam all along ??

[ParanoiaDragon]

I don't think I ended up playing that scam, though, it's possible I did a round or 2, memory be fuzzy!

[780racer]

That is pretty crazy to saw the least, but really cool to learn about this. Has there been any other big scams related to NEC?

[ccovell]

16-bit*
TurboBooster just to get AV
TTI would work harder than NEC to promote the Turbo
SuperGrafx
PCE Shuttle
...

quite a long list, actually.



*graphics

[TheClash603]

I remember winning the Ultimate Gaming Rig.

[NightWolve]

EDIT: Oh right, there was a $5 entry fee. I can't imagine I entered it more than once or twice come to think of it...

So, how do they know it was a scam, the company that ran it got prosecuted ?

Were gaming mags so desperate for ad revenue that they were totally clueless about these guys and let their magazine customers get suckered in ?

EDITx2: Hm, does seem like a great scam idea when you think about it... It's in the comments section where you have 2 people claiming the contest operator would weasel out when you won... :/

M0therf--ker, I want my $5 back!!!!!

[DragonmasterDan]

Oh right, there was a $5 entry fee. I can't imagine I entered it more than once or twice come to think of it...

So, how do they know it was a scam, the company that ran it got prosecuted ?

Were gaming mags so desperate for ad revenue that they were totally clueless about these guys and let their magazine customers get suckered in ?

If you notice the rules there's a tiebreaker question at the end. If the total value of everything in the ultimate gaming rig is 5,000.00 and they have 500 winners of the tiebreaker the rules state that "winners will split the value of the prices". So 500 people who put at minimum 11.00 each into the contest win 10.00 each at a loss of 1.00 per person.