Xacrow and the Protos
TonK said:
bump for the most interesting post this year... more please
Gentlemen,
It’s great to see that the subject of the neogeo protos has managed to catch the attention of some more people around here. And there is no doubt that the more we work on the project together, the better our chances of finding them by tracking the big leads down. As everyone knows, the latest lead that we have been following comes from a guy named Xacrow who lives in Japan. Xacrow has enticed us 3 times (so far) with screenshots, pics, and information. However, his claims are still unconfirmed and his intentions are still uncertain.
The Dynamic Duo from Nevada & Colorado, Ray Young from Canada, and now Xacrow from Japan all had one thing in common…lots of flair, but absolutely no substance. Notice how the first two have all but fallen off the planet. They are not even part of our community anymore. But even discussing the latest “claim jumper” Mr. Xacrow, again he too has failed to provide even the most FUNDAMENTAL basic requests.
However, despite this, Xacrow has STILL been “handled” no differently then any of the aforementioned groups of bullshitters. Initially, I ALWAYS give each and every claim the benefit of the doubt. No, I am not “gullible”, but rather I am “hopeful”. So in the end, despite his lack of cooperation, I have STILL made several attempts with Xacrow to arrive at some kind of an arrangement. So far, none of them have come to fruition. Now, with all this in mind, I want you guys to have a look at what WAS my original plan. Only a few of you have seen this (emailed privately as a “feeler” to some of you) but now I will show it publicly to everyone.
The main reason I am doing this now is because I know there are people here who like me, and there are people here who dislike me. HOWEVER, I want to make damn sure that those who actually dislike me do so for other reasons and NOT for reasons pertaining to my falsely perceived reputation on these forums which has been largely based on rumors, assumptions and misinterpretations.
Anyhow, on January 17, 2005, I wrote the following post with the intention of posting it here on these forums after receiving Xacrow’s reply to my offers. However, since my correspondence with Xacrow was limited to just a few personal emails between us which yielded no positive results, it was never posted and simply sat here on my computer:
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January 17, 2005
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Gentlemen,
I have given some serious thought to the recent developments and debates over the fate of the Xacrow protos. I have come up with what I consider to be a smart and fair way to handle the situation. Below is my solution to the problem. Please read through the entire process to ensure that it is understood and then feel free to give me any feedback on it.
Phase One
I am currently in negotiations with Xacrow to purchase the protos. He is still sitting on my last offer, but eventually Xacrow will arrive at whatever his cost is. With protos it is impossible to tell just how “greedy” sellers can be, but I would estimate his price to fall somewhere in the range between $1,000 to $3,000 per proto. Obviously I will try to negotiate the best possible price, but that part is out of my hands and the reality is I couldn’t care less what he wants, he’ll get it from me no matter what. (but for the sake of making an example, lets say $2,000 per) Once the protos are paid for and safely in my possession, I will immediately post the NGH code numbers as well as several screenshots for each game and without any watermarks. At that point, a poll can be run to decide which of the protos is the most desirable and will therefore be released first.
Phase Two
The chosen proto is immediately sent to Jeff Kurtz who holds onto it as a trust in escrow. I and he alone will have it. At that point 20 members of the neo-geo.com community will be asked to step forward and pay $100 each. Who will these individuals be? Well, that’s up to YOU guys to decide. This will separate the talkers from the walkers. You guys can argue amongst yourselves as to who will be the chosen 20. The payments can be sent to Jeff Kurtz. Once the 20 payments of $200 is confirmed as received and paid in full, the data for the proto will be immediately emailed to ONLY those 20 initial contributors who sacrificed there own personal money. Also, from that moment, a 10 day countdown begins.
Phase Three
During the 10 day period, those individuals can enjoy the game first before anyone else as a reward. They may also try to recover there own $100 by finding say 5 more people at $20 each, etc. Regardless of how they handle it, neither Jeff, them, or myself are allowed to release the roms until the midnight hour of the tenth day. Once the 10 days have passed, the ROMS are RELEASED and POSTED online by me and made available as a free shareware download for everyone to enjoy.
Notice
EVERYTHING will hinge on the FIRST proto. It will set the precedence. If everybody works together and there is no back-stabbing, name-calling, bad-mouthing, trash-talking, pushing, shoving, yelling, screaming, raping, killing, mugging, etc. then we will proceed and immediately do the same with the next proto and start it up again and continue until they are all released!
If I get screwed at any point by anyone, and the game becomes shareware BEFORE I am able to recoup my $2,000 then you have all sealed your own fates and the rest of the protos are locked away forever never to be seen again! So play friendly!
In the end, I alone am taking the high end risk with my own personal money and I am sacrificing all shipping costs, all payment costs, the poor match up of the dollar versus the yen, etc. (there are always hidden costs involved) Jeff is sacrificing his time and energy organizing the payment aspect. And the investors are sacrificing $100 each as well to fund the project. So EVERYONE involved is losing something. BUT, everyone in the end also gets the game. Granted, there will be hundreds of non-contributing free-loaders who also get the game, but that is the way life is. We have this in the music, movies, and all other industries. Some people buy it while some people get it for free.
Everyone talks about how they would do this or that, well now is their chance to prove it because now it’s up to you guys. The game has already started on my end, so let me know if you guys are ready and willing to play ball on your end.
Regards,
Billy Pitt
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This was my plan, and it might have worked, but that's that.