There's no shortage of excuses for why prototypes aren't made public. As Billy Pitt also says, ""It's just a matter of time."
I think Billy Pitt once offered a very reasonable stance on the subject, and there's less leeway to do what you told considering Neo Geo is already an order of magnitude more expensive than regular consoles in retail stuff alone.
Aka to not scare away people with more protos, and try to get more than what you have, you have to shut up about ROM releases and just trade away. Even selling is a no-go if you want to get to the highest amount of protos possible.
When you do a controlled release you sign away any rights to be able to trade any other protos with hoarders/collectards/whatever you wanna call 'em, and they will never sell unless they're hurting for cash. Again, Atari/Nintender/Saygah has many more controlled releases and even people notorious for that sort of thing, but they don't get blocked because "the stakes" are significantly lower and there's a large range of teh ra3rs prototypes going around, so selling one of your protos won't make it as difficult to get another one as if you sold a Neo proto and went for another one.
Personally I don't really care about protos enough to hunt/obsess over them like some people in retrogaming circles, nor do I play pretend museum archivist. Good if they get released publicly, but if someone offered Mystic Wand to me right now I'd just AT MOST act as a middleman for a community release. It's too much money for games that aren't all that interesting to justify it, and often incomplete/unplayable. I get more enjoyment out of other, more capable people documenting them.
Well I think anyone dumping mountains of money into them earned the right to use them. And you can't disagree that I made a reasonable point from a collector's POV.
Well, again, not wholly accurate depending on how exactly the item was released or obtained.
I disagree but I just don’t feel like arguing it right now.
I didn't want this, or my QP post to become a shitshow about prototypes. I think the drama surrounding them in the Neo scene is absolutely pathetic, and those hanging onto them stirs this up. I just want more information about these games to be known in English. I find the information fascinating and it gives us a better look at them without playing them.
I will just add that I'm not the sole authority either.
I have a strong opinion and view on this. A lot of others do as well. They're all at least somewhat valid and that's the point.
Yeah with this type of stuff no one can ever be the sole authority. Some people will have more knowledge than others on it, but no one knows everything regarding this type of stuff.
Your information is appreciated. It is better than nothing if the rom is never public. However, if the rom never sees the light of day, all the screen shots and developer quotes still amount to little more than gamer blue balls in the end. The posturing and excuses from proto owners mean little in the face of what it would mean to Neo Geo fans to make these games public. Instead of benefitting the Neo Geo scene and gamers who love this system, these "collectors" put greed first.I didn't want this, or my QP post to become a shitshow about prototypes. I think the drama surrounding them in the Neo scene is absolutely pathetic, and those hanging onto them stirs this up. I just want more information about these games to be known in English. I find the information fascinating and it gives us a better look at them without playing them.
Other consoles get the roms out. Neo Geo has a bad record on this.
There's an opportunity for "controlled release". One trusted third party from the community verifies and holds a copy of the rom and collects payments to compensate the prototype owner for the value. There are people out there currently holding onto unreleased roms. I'd gladly kick in a few hundred dollars for the public rom release of a unreleased Neo Geo game.
I respect everyone's stance and viewpoint regarding this topic. I appreciate all the kind words regarding the effort it's taken to compile this information together. Do I think bringing up decades of Neo proto drama is a fruitless effort? Yes, I do. However, I do understand why this topic always strays in this direction. My frustration stems from nothing ever coming of discussion like this. Neo Alec, you can bring this up every time protos are discussed, but at the end of the day it's just spinning your wheels aimlessly. If the people owning these games don't change, nothing ever will, and that's what pisses me off the most. Old, senile, idiotic proto collectards who are stuck in the DHP days getting in the way of what needs to be done.
Other consoles get the roms out.
Personally I don't really care about protos enough to hunt/obsess over them like some people in retrogaming circles, nor do I play pretend museum archivist. Good if they get released publicly, but if someone offered Mystic Wand to me right now I'd just AT MOST act as a middleman for a community release. It's too much money for games that aren't all that interesting to justify it, and often incomplete/unplayable. I get more enjoyment out of other, more capable people documenting them.
I get it... kind of.
For Billy Pitt.As Billy Pitt also says, ""It's just a matter of time."