Dear Neo-geo.com community,
I write this email to humbly apologize to the community at large. If my report detailing my observations of the game has in any way resulted in unhappiness now on the part of some buyers, I offer my sincerest apology.
A little more about the report I would ask you guys to remember. I have believed for many years that aero fighters 3 US AES probably existed. This goes back to a direct talk I had over 15 years ago with Adol. This was many years before conversions and fake games, and when his memory was sharper than it is today, as his “sighting” had only occurred 3 years before that. Adol has never lied to me about anything and back in the DHP days he was adamant about that. Having seen no reason for him to lie, I always believed it.
So, when I saw the game for the first time, it was obviously leagues above and beyond any fakes that I ever saw before for ANY game. The obvious conclusion based upon the information I had at that time was that it was legitimate.
I learned about Power Spikes 2 ONLY AFTER completing all portions of my report on AF3. I realized then that we were dealing with a new ball of wax and the only answer to prove legitimacy was to have DavidG come forward publicly and explain all. Something I have been trying to accomplish for some months, but something I wanted since learning that fact.
I’m not trying to shift blame to anyone here. If anyone perceives I had a “role” in this, this email is to clarify the absolute unaltered truth about what my “role” was and what I did so you guys can understand from my perspective what my involvement was. Obviously, I agree that given the information presently known, these games have not been sufficiently proven to be legitimate (understatement of the year right?)
Anyhow, as a result of what has happened I have resolved to do the following:
Effective immediately, I am going to resign as a moderator at neo-geo.com. This is not something I was asked to do by anyone, but it’s something I want to happen. It really has nothing to do with my involvement in the AF3 thing. The primary reason for this is because there are fellow moderators who have gone out of their way to speculate about me and my integrity both publicly and privately to others and have proven to have no respect for me or my word. Other fellow moderators are long time friends whose opinions and judgments I will always respect. But, I’m tired of putting up with the daily dose of crap from these other people. There are additional reasons Shawn is aware of which I’m not going to discuss with anyone, publicly or privately, period. I wasn’t a very good moderator anyway because I never really “moderated” anything and my participation at the site over the years has dwindled. Not to say I haven’t enjoyed myself here, I just don’t want to be a mod anymore. And that is my final comment on that.
I want to turn over the Master List to someone else. I don’t want any perceived bias on my part to affect the value and credibility of the list. This is particularly important to me in light of the newfound “union and neutrality” between NGF and this site, something I will probably never understand. NGF was the whole reason I wrote the list 12 years ago. I hope you long time members will remain diligent in safeguarding the TRUE history of these guys and the system we all enjoy. Anyway, I digress… I also just have not had the time necessary to devote to it over the past few years despite the fact that I have a ton more knowledge and research about the Neo geo. That will probably come out from me in different ways but not in the list itself, at least as it currently exists. I do request the ultimate decision on who would be an appropriate person to take over and welcome all of your comments. I don’t have anyone specific in mind at the moment. Sorry, I won’t agree to the suddenly credible long time experts Dion, ChrisR, FTL or Vinh Trieu. Nor will it be DavidG or TonK, ok?
I spoke with DavidG briefly last night and applauded him for resolving to offer buyers refunds. I hope and trust that he will honor his word. Since this whole thing started a few days ago, I have done my best to resolve issues the buyers had, both privately and publicly. I have somewhat limited means to do so as I never handled anyone’s money associated with their deals with David.
For those of you asking if I will demand a refund for my copy of Aero Fighters 3, the answer is 100% NO. I weighed the risks when I bought it and made a decision with the full knowledge that public opinion of the game might turn into what it is today. And, to state again for those questioning, I DID buy it with thousands of dollars of MY money. Further, there are people who own the game who are much more upset about this than I am, and I don’t want to be an obstacle to them getting their money.
Again, I had nothing to do with the purchase, negotiation or handling of funds on the part of ANY other buyers. TonK did send me an email just prior to the chamane purchase where they went back and forth. Why, I don’t know, but I didn’t comment to either of them about their deal at all. I intentionally didn’t want to know about the terms of other’s transactions because it simply was not my business.
The only item I have ever purchased from DavidG is my Aero Fighters 3 cartridge, and I will not be engaging in any further deals with him until the day he can prove 100% the legitimacy of his claims, if that day ever comes. The ball is in his court on that.
I really don’t have anything else to say about this whole debacle. I’m a big man and can admit when I’m wrong, or have made a bad decision. However, I absolutely did not defraud anyone, knowingly leave things out of my report, write the report to “generate sales”, and I was not paid to write it, asked to write it (I volunteered) and I can assure all of you, regardless of what you ultimately believe, that my intentions were 100% honorable.
That is the 100% TRUTH here. I hope you guys can accept that as well as my apology.
I hope this post, at least in part, helps the community move forward and talking about Neo Geo again.
Best regards to all
John
I write this email to humbly apologize to the community at large. If my report detailing my observations of the game has in any way resulted in unhappiness now on the part of some buyers, I offer my sincerest apology.
A little more about the report I would ask you guys to remember. I have believed for many years that aero fighters 3 US AES probably existed. This goes back to a direct talk I had over 15 years ago with Adol. This was many years before conversions and fake games, and when his memory was sharper than it is today, as his “sighting” had only occurred 3 years before that. Adol has never lied to me about anything and back in the DHP days he was adamant about that. Having seen no reason for him to lie, I always believed it.
So, when I saw the game for the first time, it was obviously leagues above and beyond any fakes that I ever saw before for ANY game. The obvious conclusion based upon the information I had at that time was that it was legitimate.
I learned about Power Spikes 2 ONLY AFTER completing all portions of my report on AF3. I realized then that we were dealing with a new ball of wax and the only answer to prove legitimacy was to have DavidG come forward publicly and explain all. Something I have been trying to accomplish for some months, but something I wanted since learning that fact.
I’m not trying to shift blame to anyone here. If anyone perceives I had a “role” in this, this email is to clarify the absolute unaltered truth about what my “role” was and what I did so you guys can understand from my perspective what my involvement was. Obviously, I agree that given the information presently known, these games have not been sufficiently proven to be legitimate (understatement of the year right?)
Anyhow, as a result of what has happened I have resolved to do the following:
Effective immediately, I am going to resign as a moderator at neo-geo.com. This is not something I was asked to do by anyone, but it’s something I want to happen. It really has nothing to do with my involvement in the AF3 thing. The primary reason for this is because there are fellow moderators who have gone out of their way to speculate about me and my integrity both publicly and privately to others and have proven to have no respect for me or my word. Other fellow moderators are long time friends whose opinions and judgments I will always respect. But, I’m tired of putting up with the daily dose of crap from these other people. There are additional reasons Shawn is aware of which I’m not going to discuss with anyone, publicly or privately, period. I wasn’t a very good moderator anyway because I never really “moderated” anything and my participation at the site over the years has dwindled. Not to say I haven’t enjoyed myself here, I just don’t want to be a mod anymore. And that is my final comment on that.
I want to turn over the Master List to someone else. I don’t want any perceived bias on my part to affect the value and credibility of the list. This is particularly important to me in light of the newfound “union and neutrality” between NGF and this site, something I will probably never understand. NGF was the whole reason I wrote the list 12 years ago. I hope you long time members will remain diligent in safeguarding the TRUE history of these guys and the system we all enjoy. Anyway, I digress… I also just have not had the time necessary to devote to it over the past few years despite the fact that I have a ton more knowledge and research about the Neo geo. That will probably come out from me in different ways but not in the list itself, at least as it currently exists. I do request the ultimate decision on who would be an appropriate person to take over and welcome all of your comments. I don’t have anyone specific in mind at the moment. Sorry, I won’t agree to the suddenly credible long time experts Dion, ChrisR, FTL or Vinh Trieu. Nor will it be DavidG or TonK, ok?
I spoke with DavidG briefly last night and applauded him for resolving to offer buyers refunds. I hope and trust that he will honor his word. Since this whole thing started a few days ago, I have done my best to resolve issues the buyers had, both privately and publicly. I have somewhat limited means to do so as I never handled anyone’s money associated with their deals with David.
For those of you asking if I will demand a refund for my copy of Aero Fighters 3, the answer is 100% NO. I weighed the risks when I bought it and made a decision with the full knowledge that public opinion of the game might turn into what it is today. And, to state again for those questioning, I DID buy it with thousands of dollars of MY money. Further, there are people who own the game who are much more upset about this than I am, and I don’t want to be an obstacle to them getting their money.
Again, I had nothing to do with the purchase, negotiation or handling of funds on the part of ANY other buyers. TonK did send me an email just prior to the chamane purchase where they went back and forth. Why, I don’t know, but I didn’t comment to either of them about their deal at all. I intentionally didn’t want to know about the terms of other’s transactions because it simply was not my business.
The only item I have ever purchased from DavidG is my Aero Fighters 3 cartridge, and I will not be engaging in any further deals with him until the day he can prove 100% the legitimacy of his claims, if that day ever comes. The ball is in his court on that.
I really don’t have anything else to say about this whole debacle. I’m a big man and can admit when I’m wrong, or have made a bad decision. However, I absolutely did not defraud anyone, knowingly leave things out of my report, write the report to “generate sales”, and I was not paid to write it, asked to write it (I volunteered) and I can assure all of you, regardless of what you ultimately believe, that my intentions were 100% honorable.
That is the 100% TRUTH here. I hope you guys can accept that as well as my apology.
I hope this post, at least in part, helps the community move forward and talking about Neo Geo again.
Best regards to all
John