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

[NightWolve]

https://pceworks.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/xakiii-and-soii/
https://pceworks.wordpress.com/2015/02/20/xak-iii-deluxe-edition/



To be clear, I was not contacted in any way, shape or form about Xak III... SO II is Tru's project mainly by agreement, though I helped him start it ages ago, and is outside of my concern. Xak III is my issue and the fact that this f--k is likely getting ready to press Ys IV down the road, and so my hopes of eventually doing it myself someday, the right way (partly), by contacting members that can be, taking votes, working out deals, redubbing any voice actor who refused inclusion (e.g. like BurntLasagna's brother for a soldier character I'd definitely have to redub), etc. that's all dashed as I don't think I could ever catch up to this guy's expertise in doing this and I'm far too busy to even try this year! He definitely thinks he should get to do it and pocket 100% of the earnings!

As many know, I'm not a fan credo fanatic and against the concept in principle, but sneaking around and doing it in secret when you COULD contact the people's fan translation work you are using, is where there's an issue for me! Avoiding the company which would want $5k-$10k-$15k in licensing fees is understandable and would mean no bootlegs/repros would ever happen, so escaping that, I understand.

[NecroPhile]

*sigh*

It was just a matter of time before this happened.  First he stole Tom's stuff, now he's going for translated goodies; any bets that he'll again claim ignorance of who did the work?

[seieienbu]

That fucking sucks.  I'm quite sorry that some scumbag is profiting off of your hard work.

[seieienbu]

Just a thought, but on your Emerald Dragon translation, I would make sure to include a new title screen with something like "This is a fan translation provided for free.  If you purchased this then you ripped off by cretinous scum" or something

[xcrement5x]

HOOOOOLYYYYYY SHIT. 

I am sorry to hear this man.  First the Deucebag shit with XSEED and now this, I honestly don't blame you for being so friggin pissed off.  I really hope he does not steal the YsIV translation because if he does there is going to be a shitstorm coming. 

[Dicer]

He does it because as we have seen, there is a demand for these...https://www.pcengine-fx.com/forums/index.php?topic=17720.0

I think it's sad but it's come down to this, if you care about profits then whatever project you are working on needs to be kept under wraps until such time as you can create your own pressed discs before someone else does. But, if you are doing it for the love of it and for the fan base, then fuck this guy he shouldn't bother you one bit.

Not everyone can recreate a disc like this, and sure he is making a tidy profit, but that's only because people are paying.

I'm sure Y's IV is in the sights meanwhile we bicker back and forth because of one guy that pretty much put the kabosh on a community version happening with out a bunch of reworking.

I love this system and I am eager to see the coming translations...however either they need to be done in secret or done without worrying about one shitty profiteer.

Only good thing that came out of this I was unaware of SO translation, going to have to give that a go.

As always just my .02 on the matter, sorry if I offended anyone...well not really lol

[jtucci31]

HOOOOOLYYYYYY SHIT.
I am sorry to hear this man. First the DeuceBag shit with XSEED Games and now this, I honestly don't blame you for being so friggin pissed off. I really hope he does not steal the YsIV translation because if he does there is going to be a shitstorm coming.

*sigh*

It was just a matter of time before this happened.  First he stole Tom's stuff, now he's going for translated goodies; any bets that he'll again claim ignorance of who did the work?

But how in the hell can he even begin to claim ignorance? That's just ludicrous.

[esteban]

*sigh*

It was just a matter of time before this happened.  First he stole Tom's stuff, now he's going for translated goodies; any bets that he'll again claim ignorance of who did the work?

But how in the hell can he even begin to claim ignorance? That's just ludicrous.

Why engage in a debate when you (as bootlegger) can claim ignorance and avoid incriminating yourself further?

TOBIAS has nothing to gain by arguing. He knows he is a douchebag and he is happy to sell his wares to knowing and unknowing PCE fans.

I think his designs are very nice, but that doesn't excuse his douchebaggery.

TOBIAS is purely motivated by money. Sadly, too many folks buy from him, so he knows he will profit (increasingly so, it seems).

[BlueBMW]

It seems maybe he has heard some of this negative response....  apparently now you can buy loose discs of Xak 3 and SO2 for like 11 euros...  I dunno, still rubs me the wrong way though.

[NecroPhile]

I don't really care for the goofy booklet packaging.  What's wrong with a nice jewel case?

[NightWolve]

[VenomMacbeth]

"And by it, of course, I mean money".

[CrackTiger]

And all the PCEFX n00bs cheered...

[xcrement5x]

It seems maybe he has heard some of this negative response....  apparently now you can buy loose discs of Xak 3 and SO2 for like 11 euros...  I dunno, still rubs me the wrong way though.

That's still a hefty markup in my opinon, though I guess if he's getting them pressed over in Europe maybe 11 euro plus international shipping is pretty close to cost.

[CrackTiger]

Just found the email about the new bootlegs. Who are the French, German, American and Ukrainians who helped him rip everyone off, or is he simply referencing all the people he ripped off with this round?

[NightWolve]

I sent him this email to both of these addresses:
inquiries@pceworks.net
info@pceworks.net

Hey a$$holes,

I go by the alias NightWolve - do you know who I am ? I led the translation project for Xak III, Ys IV and even helped Tru get the SO II project off the ground as well.

I bet you didn't know you should've contacted me (or Tru), morally/ethically, right ??

I bet you don't understand that public distribution of fan translation software for non-profit/fan-purposes is not just to avoid problems, but that is how you can ethically get free work hours from all parties involved in the project, from the programmer, me, to the translator, Paul England. You see, if I make it a business by commercializing/selling the work, I gotta talk business with everyone in the project, otherwise it's not fair to them that I take 100% of the earnings per commercial sale if I do what you're doing!!!!

Why then, a$$hole, do you think you should get to pocket 100% of the earnings for Xak III when I sacrificed thousands of work hours to make that game in English, when I damaged my career as a Software Engineer, losing $100,000+ in wages when I should've been working a real job, but was instead working on fan translation projects like Xak III ?? I did ALL that work for free, so a butthole like you could come along in the end, claim it, package it up in a pretty plastic, and pocket all the earnings $$$$ ???

Tell me, you cheating f--k, WHY ??? That the patches are freely distributed under non-profit terms is precisely to avoid the situation of unfairness when one guy makes and pockets 100% of the earnings, while others who actually worked on the project, don't!

That makes you a f--king cheat, do you understand that ?

Burn in hell you sorry, cheating m0therf--cker!

We know you already did this to Bonknuts and his Megaman hackulation. You pocketed 100% of the earnings for that, you spent not a single work hour developing it, and you never contacted him for permission, let alone to negotiate a royalty split agreement because, in principle, you think you should get to pocket 100% of the earnings, the sorry f--k that you are!!

A$$hole! F--k you, prick!!!!

I don't care if that makes me look bad or whatever, but that's what I feel about it!

[DeshDildo]

I sent him this email to both of these addresses:
inquiries@pceworks.net
info@pceworks.net

Hey a$$holes,

I go by the alias NightWolve - do you know who I am ? I led the translation project for Xak III, Ys IV and even helped Tru get the SO II project off the ground as well.

I bet you didn't know you should've contacted me (or Tru), morally/ethically, right ??

I bet you don't understand that public distribution of fan translation software for non-profit/fan-purposes is not just to avoid problems, but that is how you can ethically get free work hours from all parties involved in the project, from the programmer, me, to the translator, Paul England. You see, if I make it a business by commercializing/selling the work, I gotta talk business with everyone in the project, otherwise it's not fair to them that I take 100% of the earnings per commercial sale if I do what you're doing!!!!

Why then, a$$hole, do you think you should get to pocket 100% of the earnings for Xak III when I sacrificed thousands of work hours to make that game in English, when I damaged my career as a Software Engineer, losing $100,000+ in wages when I should've been working a real job, but was instead working on fan translation projects like Xak III ?? I did ALL that work for free, so a butthole like you could come along in the end, claim it, package it up in a pretty plastic, and pocket all the earnings $$$$ ???

Tell me, you cheating f--k, WHY ??? That the patches are freely distributed under non-profit terms is precisely to avoid the situation of unfairness when one guy makes and pockets 100% of the earnings, while others who actually worked on the project, don't!

That makes you a f--king cheat, do you understand that ?

Burn in hell you sorry, cheating m0therf--cker!

We know you already did this to Bonknuts and his Megaman hackulation. You pocketed 100% of the earnings for that, you spent not a single work hour developing it, and you never contacted him for permission, let alone to negotiate a royalty split agreement because, in principle, you think you should get to pocket 100% of the earnings, the sorry f--k that you are!!

A$$hole! F--k you, prick!!!!

I don't care if that makes me look bad or whatever, but that's what I feel about it!

Meh... I actually think you toned it down more than I would have if I were in your shoes.  I wonder if you'll ever get a response.

[NecroPhile]

I sent him this email...

You should've told him how you really feel.  Don't sugar coat it like that. 

[Bernie]

Only way to avoid this, is to just do it ourselves. Just a matter of time before Ys IV and Dracula X get this done. Don't think for one moment its not on the back burner.  I know the argument, I know it well.  But lets face it, it WILL get done.  Question is whether it will be done for profit, or done by us at cost.At least if we do it, some funds can go back to the folks that worked on it.  Thats just my opinion.

[PCEngineHell]

Only way to avoid this, is to just do it ourselves. Just a matter of time before Ys IV and Dracula X get this done. Don't think for one moment its not on the back burner.  I know the argument, I know it well.  But lets face it, it WILL get done.  Question is whether it will be done for profit, or done by us at cost.At least if we do it, some funds can go back to the folks that worked on it.  Thats just my opinion. 

The only way to avoid this is to stop giving the cunt more money. Any of you that bought that Rockman, Space Fantasy Zone, or PCE Memories shit basically made it possible for him to continue this nonsense and fuck more people over, so that is on you, whether you like it or not. The guy was already busted for being a lying scamming fraud over the Sapphire incident. People here still chose to do business with him anyway knowing the additional harm he would eventually cause to the scene, or feigning ignorance of it. Some of you still are doing business with him now as I post this. This isn't his IP to sell, nor are you entitled to it just because you think you have to have it in some pressed form.

I like some of you guys a lot, but lets be honest here, some of you bought shit from him knowing it wasn't right. I don't need to name names, you know who you fucking are. You got what you wanted because it suited your "oooh pressed disc box sets, gimmie gimmie me me me I have to have this game on my collection shelf too" mentality. Fuck all to everyone else it may have affected or will eventually affect.

The only recourse now is to heavily put the word out, including contacting people who have been promoting his warez, like the Happy Console Gamer guy on youtube, and inform them of the situation to try to get them to stop promoting his shit. That and turn him over to the IP owners so they can take legal action if they want to do so.

Outside of that, nothing else can be done. In all honesty, half the time this place creates its own problems and 9 years later the shit has gotten old and I'm glad i dont care to fuck with any of it anymore. Seeing a thread like this doesn't surprise me in the least. It was obviously going to happen the moment a bunch of you kliked that order button for the Memories box sets and spread the word around that he was selling them.

[poponon]

From a n00bs perspective - This does really suck, but I agree it is unavoidable - someone will eventually do it for all fan translated projects.  Personally I would never buy a reproduction game copy, and barely "collect" myself - I just play games. I think if you guys don't want to see this happen in the future, you need to include plans to sell/distribute reproductions as part of the entire project. If ethics is an issue, like Bernie said, sell them at cost (maybe include development in the cost).

[SephirothTNH]

I sent him this email...

You should've told him how you really feel.  Don't sugar coat it like that. 

Agreed.  Message seems pretty tame all things considered.  I'm really sorry this has happened to you.

[WoodyXP]

I hope Tobias gets herpes.

[ClodBusted]

That really sucks, I feel for you.
For projects still in the making or future projects, is there a way to cover the patches with some sort of license that forbids commercial use?

[VenomMacbeth]

I've gotten wiser about repros recently, and after making my own Metal Warriors cart, I can honestly say that DIY is the way to go.  That way, nobody gets screwed but yourself...but not as screwed as you'd be buying an original copy & paying out the earholes for it.

Come to think of it, I might repro a couple more SNES games & raffle one off here.  Any suggestions for games?  Drac X, right? ;)

[SamIAm]

Just a thought, but on your Emerald Dragon translation, I would make sure to include a new title screen with something like "This is a fan translation provided for free.  If you purchased this then you ripped off by cretinous scum" or something

Seriously, I think this should be done. Something like, don't buy or sell this translation out of respect for the people who made it. It could appear before the title screen, for a couple of seconds, like an FBI warning in movies.

[quoth09]

I haven't posted here in a long time, and it's mainly due to the mentality that most of you people have over here, including the mentality that what this worthless fuck is doing, is ok in any regard. It's not. A lot of stuff you people do over here is NOT ok with me, or others, and no one speaks up. I barely visit any gaming forum for anything anymore because I want damn near nothing to do with half the things going on in the gaming community as a whole, especially another forum that I won't bother speaking the name of here. Your behavior makes me want to sell all my games, but that's just a side note to what is going on here. Everyone always talks about preservation and collecting, but in reality all most of you care about is money and your ego, Tobias included. I think the whole Sapphire stunt and the letter should have been a clue about that a long time ago and he should have been shunned after, but most of you through it was great. -barf-

Funny how all of you are bitching now that he put out translated discs without permission, but you had no qualms about him ripping off Toei with Godzilla (including the music stolen/pirated), or any of the other games that he re-issued under his crappy label.

You didn't care because it wasn't something you worked at, wasn't something you owned the IP to or copyright, and was nothing more to you people than games that you could now 'get cheaper'. I'm not focusing on the translator that did whatever he did (that really sucks that this happened to him), I'm talking about all of you. None of you did anything to report him to whomever owns Bonk (Konami?), Dungeon Explorer II (Atlus), or any of the other games, which all have still valid copyrights, and now he's gone off and done it to something that some of you had a hand in.
You claim you care about the games and the system, but really, you don't. Even worse are the passive 'I just play games' people.
It's equivalent to someone saying, 'oh I just don't like people', all the while stabbing people in the face with a large knife, and no one calls the cops.

With that being said, what's done is done. No company is going to give a shit about a measly 100 or even 200 something copies of an almost 30 year old game that they have no plans to do anything with ever. That's why he won't get busted and why nothing will happen to him, short of a petty cease and desist on one or two titles at most, if even. It's the same reason why Nintendo hasn't taken any action against anything going on with all the repros on the NES/FC or SNES/SFC, or Sega on the Genesis/Megadrive. Cost of legal action versus lost profits.

This is what happens when you don't get rid of a growing weed in a lawn.
I'm sure all of you will be looking forward to PCE Works future releases, and he will likely do Ys IV since you mentioned it now as well. Will you contact Nihon Falcom when that happens? Nah, probably not.



Also, all you people saying, he should put a new title or maybe put something:

before the title screen, for a couple of seconds, like an FBI warning in movies.

Learn the difference between translations and coding, and come back to that thought.

Back to your normal conversations amongst yourselves, about 'wow that sucks dude, I have ideas and things, and hey I got this but you don't'.

[PCEngineHell]

He doesn't even know wtf that is. I'm fairly positive he is referring to the worthless fucking Neo-Geo.com forums. You know, the one that's basking in the $30,000 Aero Fighters 3 scam and whatever other garbage they have going on on any given Thursday.

[SkyeWelse]

Wow, this really sucks that someone is making presses of all of these translations and hacks without any consent to your team, Nightwolve.

I agree with the other comments that were suggested before such as setting up an operation to press these discs yourself or from a few groups willing to do it in the community that would be sold under a store/community label and to include a disclaimer for the patches that are released going forward that state that if you paid any money for this game, you have been cheated out of your money by a repro-seller.

What I meant by community label, I guess I should explain more on. As I am really into the MSX Computer hobby, as a community of MSXers there are really only a handful of trusted online shops that produce new MSX games. They will write the roms to cartridges, and produce nice looking boxes and manuals. The biggest online shops are the MSX Cartridge Shop, Matra/Bitwise, and Repro Factory MSX Shop and one called Sunrise, which is now defunct after probably roughly 15 years of activity. Everyone in the community knows and trusts these operations as the folks that run these places are known members of the community and reproduce these with permission from the original authors.

But even the MSX community will still see repros on eBay or the Dutch auction site called Marketplaats.nl. Stuff like Metal Gear 2 Solid Snake will be sold as a Repro and the community does everything they can to report it in a thread and contact the site that is allowing them to sell this.

Now that this is happening in your community more frequently, I personally feel that perhaps it's time you all had a system similar to what the MSX guys are doing, a club where everyone knows your name and knows when something pops up that is not legitimate. I guess the main difference is that the MSX guys are not selling patched software and new software or ports to the system, but I'm sure a similar concept could be done.

Another angle that would make it pretty legal... I think.. would be to simply sell the discs, artwork and case along with a patch that is not the one floating out on the internet, but rather a complete one that perhaps replaces that disclaimer with one that states a different disclaimer such as your release group or pressing label group and logo.

Hmm, I guess an example for Xak III would be something like this. This Repro guy Tobias currently has an unfinished patch that could be made finished with the inclusion of some script adjustments, voice acting for the cutscenes and ending of the game, and distributed in two versions:

Version 1, for free use and distributed over the internet with a big fat disclaimer that says all the stuff you want about this not being something that should be reproduced and sold for money and if you bought it, you are a sucker.

And, Version 2, which is nothing more than a nice disc press, artwork and case without the game burned on the disc and sold through a community label and site with instructions for how to patch the game and an official non-internet version of the patch included along with it either on a separate disc, or emailed directly from your community label/website contact through an invoice number that removes the free internet disclaimer in lieu of "Nightwolve Productions" and a logo. The user who then bought this can follow these instructions and write the rom to the disc themselves. The invoice thing might be important for collecting their contact info and name so that you have a record of their purchase order with you and if say their disc messes up or doesn't write correctly, perhaps an arrangement can be made to have a new disc mailed out with or without the game pre-patched and installed.

I'm know I'm kind of rambling here, but I think if your community worked together on this, these could lead to some definite methods of fighting back against these Repro guys who are using stuff without your consent and permission.

-Thomas

[bob]

I haven't posted here in a long time, and it's mainly due to the mentality that most of you people have over here, including the mentality that what this worthless fuck is doing, is ok in any regard. It's not. A lot of stuff you people do over here is NOT ok with me, or others, and no one speaks up. I barely visit any gaming forum for anything anymore because I want damn near nothing to do with half the things going on in the gaming community as a whole, especially another forum that I won't bother speaking the name of here. Your behavior makes me want to sell all my games, but that's just a side note to what is going on here. Everyone always talks about preservation and collecting, but in reality all most of you care about is money and your ego, Tobias included. I think the whole Sapphire stunt and the letter should have been a clue about that a long time ago and he should have been shunned after, but most of you through it was great. -barf-

Funny how all of you are bitching now that he put out translated discs without permission, but you had no qualms about him ripping off Toei with Godzilla (including the music stolen/pirated), or any of the other games that he re-issued under his crappy label.

You didn't care because it wasn't something you worked at, wasn't something you owned the IP to or copyright, and was nothing more to you people than games that you could now 'get cheaper'. I'm not focusing on the translator that did whatever he did (that really sucks that this happened to him), I'm talking about all of you. None of you did anything to report him to whomever owns Bonk (Konami?), Dungeon Explorer II (Atlus), or any of the other games, which all have still valid copyrights, and now he's gone off and done it to something that some of you had a hand in.
You claim you care about the games and the system, but really, you don't. Even worse are the passive 'I just play games' people.
It's equivalent to someone saying, 'oh I just don't like people', all the while stabbing people in the face with a large knife, and no one calls the cops.

With that being said, what's done is done. No company is going to give a shit about a measly 100 or even 200 something copies of an almost 30 year old game that they have no plans to do anything with ever. That's why he won't get busted and why nothing will happen to him, short of a petty cease and desist on one or two titles at most, if even. It's the same reason why Nintendo hasn't taken any action against anything going on with all the repros on the NES/FC or SNES/SFC, or Sega on the Genesis/Megadrive. Cost of legal action versus lost profits.

This is what happens when you don't get rid of a growing weed in a lawn.
I'm sure all of you will be looking forward to PCE Works future releases, and he will likely do Ys IV since you mentioned it now as well. Will you contact Nihon Falcom when that happens? Nah, probably not.



Also, all you people saying, he should put a new title or maybe put something:

before the title screen, for a couple of seconds, like an FBI warning in movies.

Learn the difference between translations and coding, and come back to that thought.

Back to your normal conversations amongst yourselves, about 'wow that sucks dude, I have ideas and things, and hey I got this but you don't'.

LOL!  That was rich.

[SamIAm]

Wait a minute...Didn't the Startling Odyssey 2 translation literally use babelfish or some other automated system?

And Xak III's translation is wrong in places, too, and it doesn't have the spoken parts translated.

NightWolve, man, I'll translate the spoken parts in Xak III. We could spruce up Paul England's script a bit and do a re-release.

[SkyeWelse]

And Xak III's translation is wrong in places, too, and it doesn't have the spoken parts translated.

NightWolve, man, I'll translate the spoken parts in Xak III. We could spruce up Paul England's script a bit and do a re-release.

Hey if you guys do that, sign me up for LE autographed copy pre-order for sure. I'm pretty sure my friend from the MSX community and the original translator of Xak I for MSX would want a copy too.

I can probably help with beta testing it on real hardware as well since you might say I'm a pretty big Xak fan.

-Thomas

[DeshDildo]

Only way to avoid this, is to just do it ourselves. Just a matter of time before Ys IV and Dracula X get this done. Don't think for one moment its not on the back burner.  I know the argument, I know it well.  But lets face it, it WILL get done.  Question is whether it will be done for profit, or done by us at cost.At least if we do it, some funds can go back to the folks that worked on it.  Thats just my opinion. 

The only way to avoid this is to stop giving the cunt more money. Any of you that bought that Rockman, Space Fantasy Zone, or PCE Memories shit basically made it possible for him to continue this nonsense and fuck more people over, so that is on you, whether you like it or not. The guy was already busted for being a lying scamming fraud over the Sapphire incident. People here still chose to do business with him anyway knowing the additional harm he would eventually cause to the scene, or feigning ignorance of it. Some of you still are doing business with him now as I post this. This isn't his IP to sell, nor are you entitled to it just because you think you have to have it in some pressed form.

I like some of you guys a lot, but lets be honest here, some of you bought shit from him knowing it wasn't right. I don't need to name names, you know who you fucking are. You got what you wanted because it suited your "oooh pressed disc box sets, gimmie gimmie me me me I have to have this game on my collection shelf too" mentality. Fuck all to everyone else it may have affected or will eventually affect.

The only recourse now is to heavily put the word out, including contacting people who have been promoting his warez, like the Happy Console Gamer guy on youtube, and inform them of the situation to try to get them to stop promoting his shit. That and turn him over to the IP owners so they can take legal action if they want to do so.

Outside of that, nothing else can be done. In all honesty, half the time this place creates its own problems and 9 years later the shit has gotten old and I'm glad i dont care to fuck with any of it anymore. Seeing a thread like this doesn't surprise me in the least. It was obviously going to happen the moment a bunch of you kliked that order button for the Memories box sets and spread the word around that he was selling them.

THIS!  I can't believe there wasn't a big shit storm when the threads were made announcing these boxed sets.  There were quite a few peeps on here excited to purchase them and even give ideas on what games should have been included.  However, I would also be lying to myself if I said I never played a "boot leg".  I've made many translated titles for NES and some of the Uber expensive titles for TGCD.  I made these for my own personal use though, until that day comes that a I can afford $500 or whatever the hell Dynastic Hero sells for these days.

[SamIAm]

And Xak III's translation is wrong in places, too, and it doesn't have the spoken parts translated.

NightWolve, man, I'll translate the spoken parts in Xak III. We could spruce up Paul England's script a bit and do a re-release.

Hey if you guys do that, sign me up for LE autographed copy pre-order for sure. I'm pretty sure my friend from the MSX community and the original translator of Xak I for MSX would want a copy too.

I can probably help with beta testing it on real hardware as well since you might say I'm a pretty big Xak fan.

-Thomas

I appreciate your enthusiasm and your offer to help, but personally, I don't want any of my translations to be pressed at all. If the hackers want it, I might be flexible, but if it were up to me, I wouldn't allow it, period.

You know, I do want people to enjoy the games in every way possible. That's why I've also translated manuals, and even some promotional materials. But when money and questionable ethics enter the picture, things stop being fun for me. My own ideal for the community is people playing sharpied CD-Rs and appreciating them for what they are, as well as what they aren't.

[synbiosfan]

He doesn't even know wtf that is. I'm fairly positive he is referring to the worthless fucking Neo forums. You know, the one that's basking in the $30,000 Aero Fighters 3 scam and whatever other garbage they have going on on any given Thursday.

LOL

You forgot to mention Waseem Daker in your whining about the place

[ParanoiaDragon]

My beef is mainly with Tobias making a profit off anybody.  Whether it be Godzilla or Xak 3.  If he sold these for a few doll hairs, that'd be different.  But he's selling these for what, something like $70 IIRC?  He's making dough on these things, & that sucks.  If he made an original game of his own, more power to him, but he didn't.

[SkyeWelse]

And Xak III's translation is wrong in places, too, and it doesn't have the spoken parts translated.

NightWolve, man, I'll translate the spoken parts in Xak III. We could spruce up Paul England's script a bit and do a re-release.

Hey if you guys do that, sign me up for LE autographed copy pre-order for sure. I'm pretty sure my friend from the MSX community and the original translator of Xak I for MSX would want a copy too.

I can probably help with beta testing it on real hardware as well since you might say I'm a pretty big Xak fan.

-Thomas

I appreciate your enthusiasm and your offer to help, but personally, I don't want any of my translations to be pressed at all. If the hackers want it, I might be flexible, but if it were up to me, I wouldn't allow it, period.

You know, I do want people to enjoy the games in every way possible. That's why I've also translated manuals, and even some promotional materials. But when money and questionable ethics enter the picture, things stop being fun for me. My own ideal for the community is people playing sharpied CD-Rs and appreciating them for what they are, as well as what they aren't.

I definitely understand your position on this. I guess I just think there could be some alternatives so that you can have both the sharpie marker written title on a freshly baked cd-r experience, yet also a collectible experience for those that really want them that is fully supported by the community and translation/hacking team, even if it's only sold to cover the costs of production and a few bucks for a sandwich and a coke. I guess my vision is to have it both ways and an effective model that could easily counteract the moves of a non-ethical reproduction house. 

In any case, my offer to help as a beta tester stands regardless of what happens release-wise. I've already played it through once through an emulator, and I'd love to play a version 2.0 final on real hardware.

Also, I wrote to PCE Works asking them to discontinue their projects that they have not received permission to distribute and explained to them that if they really did love PCE and wanted to become a legitimate distribution house, they should consider turning a new leaf and actually working with the original translation teams. I pretty much explained to them that the ball is in their court, but if they did not stop distributing Xak III, I would be making an announcement at my Xak website as well as at other forum communities that I frequent regarding what they are doing and to not support them.

-Thomas

[geise]

To be clear, I was not contacted in any way, shape or form about Xak III... SO II is Tru's project mainly by agreement, though I helped him start it ages ago, and is outside of my concern. Xak III is my issue and the fact that this FUCK is likely getting ready to press Ys IV down the road, and so my hopes of eventually doing it myself someday, the right way (partly), by contacting members that can be, taking votes, working out deals, redubbing any voice actor who refused inclusion (e.g. like BurntLasagna's brother for a soldier character I'd definitely have to redub), etc. that's all dashed as I don't think I could ever catch up to this guy's expertise in doing this and I'm far too busy to even try this year! He definitely thinks he should get to do it and pocket 100% of the earnings!

As many know, I'm not a fan credo fanatic and against the concept in principle, but sneaking around and doing it in secret when you COULD contact the people's fan translation work you are using, is where there's an issue for me! Avoiding the company which would want $5k-$10k-$15k in licensing fees is understandable and would mean no bootlegs/repros would ever happen, so escaping that, I understand.

The other thing, this MOTHER FUCKER never donated a single penny, a single FUCKING penny ever, the FUCKING prick that he is! If you're in this forum, Tobias, FUCK you ASSHOLE! FUCK you, you piece of FUCKING scum!!

What a piece of fucking shit. 

I also have to add I agree 100% with what the Prof said.  I was surprised to read certain forum members that were even considering purchasing any of this shit. 

Oh and Quoth09 welcome back.  We missed you!  It seems like forever!  Thanks for thinking that the forum as a whole is based off your ideas of a few people posting their thoughts.  Again welcome back.

[Psycho Punch]

I'm so glad I haven't bought anything from him. What a low blow. I guess that's a lesson everyone on PCEFX learned, while people here were arguing if we should fund bootleg pressings or not, Tobias just went and did it without asking for authorization to anyone...
Now that his latest scheme has hit closer to home no one can ignore the damage this causes for our community. Myself included.

EDIT: Prof you're a respected old member and with good reason. Could not agree more with everything you said.

[roflmao]

The only way to avoid this is to stop giving the cunt more money. Any of you that bought that Rockman, Space Fantasy Zone, or PCE Memories shit basically made it possible for him to continue this nonsense and fuck more people over, so that is on you, whether you like it or not. The guy was already busted for being a lying scamming fraud over the Sapphire incident. People here still chose to do business with him anyway knowing the additional harm he would eventually cause to the scene, or feigning ignorance of it. Some of you still are doing business with him now as I post this. This isn't his IP to sell, nor are you entitled to it just because you think you have to have it in some pressed form.

I like some of you guys a lot, but lets be honest here, some of you bought shit from him knowing it wasn't right. I don't need to name names, you know who you fucking are. You got what you wanted because it suited your "oooh pressed disc box sets, gimmie gimmie me me me I have to have this game on my collection shelf too" mentality. Fuck all to everyone else it may have affected or will eventually affect.

The only recourse now is to heavily put the word out, including contacting people who have been promoting his warez, like the Happy Console Gamer guy on youtube, and inform them of the situation to try to get them to stop promoting his shit. That and turn him over to the IP owners so they can take legal action if they want to do so.

Outside of that, nothing else can be done. In all honesty, half the time this place creates its own problems and 9 years later the shit has gotten old and I'm glad i dont care to fuck with any of it anymore. Seeing a thread like this doesn't surprise me in the least. It was obviously going to happen the moment a bunch of you kliked that order button for the Memories box sets and spread the word around that he was selling them.

This. 100%.

[Arkhan Asylum]

NOTE:

All future translations should have a warning disclaimer in the code that says IF YOU PAID FOR THIS DISC, YOU GOT FUCKED.

etc.

Fuck this guy.  I hope he gets his dick caught in a car door.

[PCEngineHell]

He doesn't even know wtf that is. I'm fairly positive he is referring to the worthless fucking Neo forums. You know, the one that's basking in the $30,000 Aero Fighters 3 scam and whatever other garbage they have going on on any given Thursday.

LOL

You forgot to mention Waseem Daker in your whining about the place

Its not whining, its stating the fucking obvious. The place is a shit hole. Always has been, always will be.

Also, I wrote to PCE Works asking them to discontinue their projects that they have not received permission to distribute....

Never going to happen. The stupid cunt probably needs another hundred XRGB and Extron units or something, so the presses shall never stop... Oh yeah, you guys probably don't know about that.

http://scanlines.hazard-city.de/

http://retrogaming.hazard-city.de/

Because when one upscaling setup is not enough, you have to buy them all....

[mackdanger]

Wait, so the guy doing those PCE pressings is Fudoh? Or is he just running ads for the guy doing the pressings on his site?

[PCEngineHell]

Wait, so the guy doing those PCE pressings is Fudoh? Or is he just running ads for the guy doing the pressings on his site?

Its the same guy. Tobias "Fudoh" Reich is the name he goes by. Don't know if its actually his real name given he also attaches said name to his illegal activities. He may just toss it out there on all his sites as an alias.

[SuperDeadite]

Yes this is the same guy that does all that scanline and video processor stuff.

Also I love how on the page's upcoming list Bonk 3 CD is going to be 49 Euros, while Godzilla will be 29 Euros.  Why the hell would Bonk be more expensive to produce?  ROLF, he just knows Bonk will sell more, hence may as well charge more.   Never bought anything from him myself either.

[esteban]

FATIGUE: I am glad Prof posted because I was too exhausted to post anything here after the last thread.

I was going to copy and paste from the other thread, but why bother?

Prof said it.

YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.

(sorry if this hurts your feelings)

You bought from Tobias/Fudoh, knowing his only motive was profit. Knowing that it frustrated our small band of indie developers/hackers/coder and threatened current/future hacking/translation projects.

You are literally providing Tobias/Fudoh his lifeblood. He will continue as long as it is profitable.

A Poem (As subtle as a punch in the face)

it looks nice
so very, very nice
on the shelf

gimmee superficial packaging (now)
instead of PCE hacks/translations/subs/dubs (in the future)

short-sighted,
but it looks nice
so very, very nice
on the shelf

suck my left one


GENUINE PROBLEM: When Tobias/Fudoh receives "mainstream" coverage from "retro gamers" who have a large audience...

YOU KNOW THAT ANY MAINSTREAM ATTENTION FROM, say, HAPPYSHITEGAMER and other "YubeTube personalities" must have increased sales. We are small community here, but Happyshitegamer has a huge audience. Even if only a fraction of folks in his audience have a passing interest in PCE/TG-16 and have a few $$$ to spare, it is a much bigger pool of potential customers than the handful of folks here.


I HAVE SURVIVED WITHOUT PLAYING MANY GAMES, EVER:

For the folks who "JUST GOTTA HAVE IT"...well, I can't convince you otherwise.

There are games I haven't played since launch...and somehow I have managed to survive.

One day, if I really become infatuated with a title, I'll burn a CD-R...otherwise, I have plenty of other games to enjoy.

Yes this is the same guy that does all that scanline and video processor stuff.

Also I love how on the page's upcoming list Bonk 3 CD is going to be 49 Euros, while Godzilla will be 29 Euros. Why the hell would Bonk be more expensive to produce?  ROLF, he just knows Bonk will sell more, hence may as well charge more.   Never bought anything from him myself either.

I know   There is no subtletity to it...

His motive is profit, and it punches you in the face.

[synbiosfan]

He doesn't even know wtf that is. I'm fairly positive he is referring to the worthless fucking Neo forums. You know, the one that's basking in the $30,000 Aero Fighters 3 scam and whatever other garbage they have going on on any given Thursday.

LOL

You forgot to mention Waseem Daker in your whining about the place

Its not whining, its stating the fucking obvious. The place is a shit hole. Always has been, always will be.

No.

You may not like a few members there but to say the whole forums is a shit hole makes you look childish. It would be like saying because Evil EvoIX posts here the whole forum is full of dicks.

Grow up.

[Sadler]

I'm somewhat hesistant to post this, but I emailed him too.

Tobias,

You know I'm a big fan of your work. I've been an unapologetic defender of SFZ, Sapphire and your box sets. Having said that, this set of disks is unforgivable. I'm pretty pissed you'd do this again. It was wrong when you appropriated Bonknuts' work, and it's just as wrong to steal Nightwolve's work. There are very few people that both care enough about the system and have the skillset necessary to provide translations. Why wouldn't you at least contact the guys that made these possible? You are alienating a lot of people with this and I won't be buying. If you honestly give a shit about "PCE memories" I hope you take a step back and reach out to fix this situation.

Sadler

He wrote back:

Hi Sadler,

thanks for your email (honestly!) and your concerns.

Eventually it's a balancing act. We're talking to NightWolve already.

In the meantime we're offering the translated discs for free to everybody.

Best
Tobias

Nightwolve, can you confirm he's spoken to you and is trying to make things right?

[bob]

He doesn't even know wtf that is. I'm fairly positive he is referring to the worthless fucking Neo forums. You know, the one that's basking in the $30,000 Aero Fighters 3 scam and whatever other garbage they have going on on any given Thursday.

LOL

You forgot to mention Waseem Daker in your whining about the place

Its not whining, its stating the fucking obvious. The place is a shit hole.

+100

[synbiosfan]

Since there are a number of people here who have contributed to the site (not me, I haven't been here long enough ) and are members there, what's that say about this place.

If you want to post individuals who are a$$holes, fine but to say the site is a shit hole is laughable.